Armor One Stop Shop

Armor Class has been changed.

First, Why?

Two reasons:
1. The armour class system was not too customizable, adding +1 made some characters too strong, where as others were lacking.
   
2. There was no armour identity, a light armour 15 AC and a 15AC heavy armour both deflected the same shots the same way.

With that in mind, the defensive stats in Beyond the Boundary West Marches have been shifted to be slightly different, but while trying to stay close to 5th Edition base rules as possible.
Second, What did we do? We've broken it down into 4 different Defensive stats: The first is standard Armor Class (AC), The second Armour Reduction (AR), and the third is Evasion Value (EV).
The fourth we'll discuss later in this article, called Guard Points.
Finally, How does it work? In order to better differentiate the armor options, each armor now has an Evasion Value to Armor Class range, (EV-AC) range.
We have a beautiful infographic just below that explains exactly how attacks and damage interact with your armor.

Armour Class

Armour class still comes from what armour piece you are wearing but is now the value that can tell you if an attack roll hits or glances off. If your armour class is greater than the roll, the damage they deal is reduced as their weapon scrapes off your plates or bounces from the padding.

Armour Reduction

Armour Class as we know it represents your armour being hit, but it's ability to protect you from direct harm.

Evasion Value

Evading a hit entirely is evasion class, and is your ability to maneuver or protect yourself tactically.
Click here to read more about armour classes and shields new AC Value .
Important Note: EV/AR/AC is sometimes modified by Armor Quality, as detailed HERE but please finish this article first, it's important for you to understand this first

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If It Still Doesn't Make Sense

In order to better differentiate the different armor options. Your EV and AC will often be referred to as your EV-AC range that's represented by a couple of numbers. For example, when wearing Plate armor your EV is 8 and your AC is 18, which will be represented as 8-18 and referred to as your EV-AC range. When an attack made against you, and the roll is:
● above your AC; you are hit and take full damage.

● below your EV; you evade the hit and take no damage.

● within your EV-AC range, equal to or above your EV, and below your AC; you are hit but take reduced damage as determined by your AR value.

This system increases the likelihood that you will be able to hit your enemies, same as they will be able to hit you, but depending on your armor (or lack thereof) you will be able to improve your chances of evading a hit (EV) or reducing damage when you are hit (AR).

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Guard points

Guard Points are meant to let each of the 4 different armour types (unarmoured included) feel different, giving an active mechanic to armour.
Guard Points are used in response to being attacked and do not require you to spend a Reaction. On your turn you may spend 15ft increments of movement to gain 1 Guard Point per increment to improve your defensive awareness until the start of your next turn, which can be used to activate the armors Guard Point Effect.
Each type of armour grants different effects for what those Guard Points can be spent on. For example, Light armour will be more mobile, Heavy Armour will be tankier, and Medium Armour will be in the middle and can do a little of both but not better than the others.

Standard Guard Point Effects

Unarmored Guard: If you are targeted by an attack while not wearing armor, you can move to an unoccupied space within 15ft of you that is still within the attack’s range. When you do so, you impose DisADV on the attack against you.
Robed Guard: If you are targeted by an attack while wearing Robed Armor, you can move to an unoccupied space within 10ft of you. When you use your Robed Guard you can move without provoking an attack of opportunity. When you do so you can flair your robes cape or cloak, you impose DisADV on the attack against you. The attack that would hit will hit you before you leave opportunity range.
Light Guard: If you are targeted by an attack while wearing Light Armor, you can move to an unoccupied space within 5ft of you that is still within the attack’s range. When you do so, you impose DisADV on the attack against you.
Medium Guard: If you are the target of an attack while wearing Medium Armor, you may choose to Increase your AC by 4 against that attack.
Heavy Guard: If you are hit by an attack that deals damage while wearing Heavy Armor, you automatically reduce the amount of damage taken, by your prof. bonus. You can stack these multiple times.

Specialized Guard Point Effects

Bounding Guard: Point spend 15 ft of movement to prepare to leap, at the beginning of your next turn you can choose to Leap an additional 5ft horizontally or an additional 2ft vertically without a running start using a running start value (i.e str10= standing 15ft leap)
Prepared attack + Guard point bonus: if you prepare an action to attack you can additionally spend 15 ft of movement to make the number of attacks taking the Attack action would allow you to make. (For example, an 11th level fighter would have Extra Attack (2), allowing them to make a full complement of 3 attacks)
Additional combat related Guard Points are available from the Armours special properties in tier 1.5 & higher
Armour Tiers

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Rebalanced Armor Statistics

Armor Name		(AC)	(AR)	(EV)	Req. Dex	Req. Str	Stealth	Acrobatics	Cost
Robed Armour
Padded		AC10+ DEXmod + CONmod(max2)	prof mod.	10+Dex Mod	Dex 13			DisADV acro	35gp
Muffler		AC10+ DEXmod + INTmod(max2)	prof mod.	10+Dex Mod	Dex 13			DisADV acro	50gp
Manteau		AC10 + DEXmod + WISmod(max2)	prof mod.	10+Dex Mod	Dex 13			DisADV acro	70gp
Light Armour
Leather		11 + Dex Mod	1	10+Dex Mod					25gp
Studded Leather		12 + Dex Mod	2	10+Dex Mod					75gp
Plated Leather		13 + Dex Mod	3	10+Dex Mod			DisADV		25gp
Glass ✝✝		12 + Dex Mod	Special.	10+Dex Mod	Dex 15			DisADV acro	25gp
Medium Armour
Hide		12 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	2	10+Dex Mod (max 2)					10gp
Chain Shirt		13 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	3	10+Dex Mod (max 2)					50gp
Scale Mail		14 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	4	10+Dex Mod (max 2)			DisADV		100gp
Breastplate		14 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	4	10+Dex Mod (max 2)				DisADV acro	400gp
Gladiator ✝		13 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	5	10+Dex Mod (max 2)				DisADV acro	125gp
Half Plate		15 + DEXmod(max2) + CONmod(max2)	5	10+Dex Mod (max 2)			DisADV	DisADV acro	750gp
Heavy Armour
Brigandine✝✝✝		13	4	8			DisADV		50gp
Ring mail		14	4	8			DisADV		50gp
Chain mail		16	6	8		Str 13	DisADV	DisADV acro	150gp
Splint		17	7	8		Str 15	DisADV	DisADV acro	500gp
Plate		18	8	8		Str 15	DisADV	DisADV acro	1,500gp
Fur Plate✝✝✝		17	8	8		Str 15	DisADV	DisADV acro	1,300gp

* ✝✝✝ Brigandine and Fur Plate: Lower AC than its AR due to its design. "Downtime Crafting: Smithing" only way to get it. * ✝✝ Glass Light Amrour: effect is now "EV now only has a hit damage reduction not fully evade, when hit take half OR 10 less damage which ever is lower (after resistances)". Additionally you are not classified as hit for on hit effects (elemental additional damage on hits/poison saves/acid saves/divine smite style effects) * ✝ Gladiator Medium Armour: Lower AC than its AR due to its well made design (AR=5). "Downtime Crafting: Smithing" only way to get it.

Rebalanced Shield Statistics

Armour Name	AC	Properties	Strength	Stealth	Acrobatics	Costs
Light Shields
Light shield	+1	Stable, Simple				5 gp
Buckler	+2	Defensive, Simple			DisADV acro	20 gp
Disk Buckler	+1	Thrown				10 gp
Medium Shields
Medium Shield	+2					10 gp
Phalanx ✝	+2	ShieldWall	13	DisADV	DisADV acro	75 gp
Large Shields
Kite shield	+3	Offensive	13	DisADV	DisADV acro	75 gp
Tower ✝	+3	Bulky, Tower	13	DisADV	DisADV acro	100 gp
Bulwark	+4	Bulky, Deployable	15	DisADV	DisADV acro	80 gp

✝Craftable with Downtime Crafting: Smithing * Anytime a shield grants AC, it also increases your EV by the same amount. This is one way for characters that aren't as nimble to still be able to increase their EV.

Shield Properties

Shield Bulky: for shields Bulky can be wielded using one or two hands. When wielding this shield with only one hand, your speed is reduced by 10ft and you have DisADV on Dexterity Checks
Muffled: Armor with this property negates DisADV on Stealth Checks.
Simple: Can be used by those who do not have proficiency in shields, will impose these users a disADV to athletics and acrobatics while wielding this shield.

Quick-release: You can doff this armor as an action.
Deployable: As an action, you can deploy Bulwark shields in an unoccupied space within 5ft of you that you can see. While deployed, the shield becomes a 5ft wide wall that grants 3/4 cover to one Medium or smaller creature standing behind it. The shield can be picked up using an action.
Defensive: The extra armour this light shield provides reduces your offensive capabilities while moving. You make all attack rolls at DisADV if you’ve moved since the start of your last turn.This penalty is reset when you start your turn.
Offensive: The damage die of the shield becomes a d8 if you wield it with the other hand free of any items.
Thrown: You can make a ranged weapon attack (range 15/30) using the shield. You use the light ability modifier (Finesse and one-handed) and uses a 1d4 bludgeoning damage dice. Once thrown, you are not considered to be wielding the shield until you don it again.
Shield Wall: Allied creatures within 5 feet of you gain an 1 to their AR and AC while you are wielding this shield and not incapacitated.
Tower: Creatures trying to hit a creature behind suffer the effect of have half cover.

Defense House-Rules for Unarmoured Defence

The rules for unarmoured defence is based on class features from Monk, Pugilist and Barbarian.

Barbarian Unarmoured Defence

> The unarmoured defence for barbarian is the most complex so it will be listed here:
> - Evasion Rating 10+DEX
> - Armour Class 12+DEX+CON (no limit to CON)
> - Armour Rating is Prof. Mod (additional +1 at level 9 and 16) *when rage damage increases from +2*
> - Can use shields to gain additional EV & AC.
> - Unarmoured Guard Points or Medium Guard Points (players choice when being hit)

Pugilist Unarmoured Defence

> Pugilist takes "Iron Chin" feature which allows them to add CON mod to their light armour and unarmoured, we will discuss the unarmoured version here:
> - Evasion Rating 10+DEX
> - Armour Class 12+DEX+CON (no limit to CON
> - Armour Rating is Prof. Mod +1
> - Cannot use shield
> - Unarmoured Guard Points or Heavy Guard Points (players choice when being hit)

Monk Unarmoured Defence

> Monk takes unarmoured defence too changed to balance closer to Light Robed armour using Wis
> - Evasion Rating 10+DEX+(half WIS/Rounded up)
> - Armour Class 12+DEX+WIS (no limit to WIS)
> - Armour Rating is Prof. Mod
> - Cannot use shield
> - Unarmoured Guard Points
> *Monk unarmoured speed is useful for guard points*

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Additional Armor House-Rule - Quality

Armours are now able to be purchased or discovered with a new tier system Untiered versions of armors are still available, however Untiered armors do not gain the benefits of using Tiered armor.
Tiered armor 'below' Tier 1 gain Additional properties as detailed below.
Armour Tier 5: Pristine - The armour which is so well crafted and fitted to your character the critical range for enemies changes to additionally miss automatically on natural 1s and 2s. (Cost: x4)
Armour Tier 4: Worn - This is the new fully completed. With the circumstances on the island this will be a costly option to be fully kitted out in your starting classes armour intended in the AC calculation. (Cost: x2)
Armour Tier 3: Well-Worn. The armour is created from most of the pieces needed to create the standard armour of choice. Using other robes, cloths or smaller pieces of medium (chainshirt) in examples of the heaviest armour.
Armour Tier2: Scared- Armour in piecemeal bits, be it part of a plate or leather stitched together with heavier cloths. (Cost: x1/4)
Armour Tier 1: Broken- Amour in piecemeal bits, but made of scrap versions of ruined, busted, slashed in half plates and chains with obvious faults. Falling apart. (Cost: x1/8) Sometimes given away or found on the battlefield.

Quality Properties:

Well-Worn Armour: Lowers armour class in EVACAR by 1 but having 2/3rds of the weight value of standard (i.e Piecemeal Plate is 17AC and 8AR)
Scarred Armour: Lowers AR & armour class in EVACAR by 1 * min (1) . Often having 2/3rds of the weight value of standard (i.e Cobbled Plate is 17AC and 7AR, not the same as Piecemeal)

Broken Armour: Lowers evasion class in EVACAR by 1 * min (3) and has Scarred armour property. Often having half the weight of the standard version as it is cobbled scrap.

Material Additional Armour Properties

These properties can show up on non-magical material armours (gem enhanced or fully stone based Gravite/Granite armour)
Endure (Damage): When the item is found or purchased it will be assigned a type (i.e Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder etc). Using a reaction you can opt to when you would take damage of the chosen type, reduce it by your prof. bonus.
Bulky: Bulky armour cannot be hidden from plain sight. Bulky armor imposes DisADV on Athletics, Acrobatics, and Constitution Checks to swim, climb, run, and perform similar activities. At the end of a long rest, a creature resting in Bulky armour gains 1 level of Exhaustion.

More info in the Armour Tiers article

Shield Quality

Shields are able to take properties from both weapon and armour properties. As they are able to gain their own properties the following properties when applied to shields are giving a different effect, which is combining the Armours and Weapons properties into a tier system with the weapon properties tier names.
Shields Tier 5: Pristine - This shield can be used to reduce the effects of three critical hits to normal hits before downgrading its quality to faulty. The shield is harder to degrade as a result of corrosion, heat or freezing. (Cost: x4)
Shields Tier 4: Worn - This shield can be used to reduce the effects of two critical hits to normal hits before downgrading its quality to faulty. (Cost: x2)
Shields Tier 3: Well-Worn- The shield you have can be sacrificed to block a Critical Hit (You cannot block a bullet's Critical Range property's effect critical hits over 17-20). The block of a critical is a reaction that does not cost your reaction.
Shields Tier2: Scarred - Shield with missing portions or damaged exteriors, be it part of a plate or leather stitched together with heavier cloths. Lowers Armour class provided by the shield by 1 to a minimum of (1) Lowering the AC of a Bulwark makes it a 3AC/4EV shield (Cost: x1/2)
Shields Tier 1: Broken - Shield ruined, but made of scrap versions of cobbled, busted, slashed in half plates, wood cracked and leather bounding with obvious faults. Has the properties of Faulty. Lowers Evasion Value provided by the shield by 1 to a minimum of (1) A "Broken" quality shield will have Scarred and Broken property if Broken tier, lowering AC and EV to a score of 1 AC/EV (Cost: x1/8)

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So what is my Armour Reduction if I'm wearing x Armour?

Your AR is calculated from this formula: Armor Reduction Value: (AC - 10) * Based on the Armours base stats (no dexterity modifier) So from the above example with an EV-AC of 10-18, your AC = 18, so then your AR = 8. The best part is that these numbers don't change, so players can record their EV, AC, and AR in the Armor Class section on their character sheet. It's also easy to remember AR is -10 from your AC. Final Example with all 3 scenarios: You are wearing Heavy Armor and have an EV-AC of 10-18 which means your AR = 8.
• A creature rolls a 7 to hit, that would deal 10 damage → That misses you → you take 0 damage.
• A creature rolls a 15 to hit, that would deal 10 damage → That hits your ARMOR → you REDUCE the 10 damage down by 8 damage, and only take 2 damage.
• A creature rolls a 22 to hit, that would deal 10 damage → That hits YOU (weak spot/ bypasses armor/ etc) → you take the full 10 damage from the hit.
Basically anytime you get hit within your EV-AC range you reduce the damage of the attack by your AR. Everything else is either a full hit or a full miss.

FAQ: Quality Formulas

Question: I have a broken armour what's the equation to get my Evasion Value, Armour Class and Armour Rating?
Answer: EV-1 AC-1 AR-1 (example Broken Swampwood Splint: EV7 (8-1) AC16 (17-1) AR6 (7-1))
Question: I have a Scarred armour what's the equation to get my Evasion Value, Armour Class and Armour Rating?
Answer: AC-1 AR-1 (example Scarred Swampwood Splint: EV8 AC16 (17-1) AR6 (7-1))
Question: I have a Well-worn armour what's the equation to get my Evasion Value, Armour Class and Armour Rating?
Answer: AC-1 (example Well-Worn Swampwood Splint: EV8 AC16 (17-1) AR8)
Question: How do I calculate my Evasion Class?
Answer: Light and Robed: 10 + Dexterity / Unarmoured: 10+dex+CON or WIS / Medium: 10 + Dexterity [max:2]/ Heavy: 8
Question: How do I raise my Evasion Class?
Answer:
> - There is a few spells (Shield of Faith)
> - two talents (Medium Armour Master (makes max EV on medium 10+dex[max:3] instead of 10+dex[Max:2]) and Offhand Steel)
> - shields (the bonus AC from equipping a shield is also EV & Additionally +1, +2 & +3 shields add that value to EV too)
Question: How can I increase my Armour Rating?
> - There is a few spells (Barkskin sets to 6/Mage Armour sets to 3)
> - Magic Armour +1, +2 & +3 grant their bonus to AR
> - Downtime crafting: Smithing creates armours that are higher AR than their AC or with a larger prodution cost you can produce armour that has Mastercrafting bonus to AR.

Important to this calculation is the items condition and how much of the fully completed set of armour you are wearing. This information is outlined in

Armour Changes - Quality Propterties