Armour

THIS ARTICLE IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW

Armour absorbs damage. Ideally, when a character is hit in a location protected by armour, some of the damage which would have been suffered will be blocked or absorbed by the armour protecting it. However, how much protection armour provides will depend upon its composition (Armour Type) and upon the type of damage delivered by the blow (Damage Type). Some Armour Types are better at absorbing certain Damage Types than others. A record of the armour worn by a character and its type should be kept on the character sheet together with any associated reductions to movement for weight or encumbrance.

Heidi creeps up behind Johann and smacks him hard on the head with a skillet. Fortunately for Johann, he is wearing a metal skull cap and a padded coif so a significant amount of the potential damage inflicted is absorbed by his head protection. Nevertheless, he will certainly have a headache in the morning.

Armour Types

The chart below lists the various Armour Types used by these rules.

ARMOUR TYPE	DESCRIPTION
Padded Armour	A multi-layered garment or other item of clothing stuffed to provide some protection against the force of a blow. Absorbs some bludgeoning damage and arrows but provides no protection against stabbing attacks etc.
Leather Armour	Soft Leather clothing designed to absorb bludgeoning attacks and provide some protection against slicing or cutting blows. But easily pierced by stabbing weapons.
Studded Armour	A leather or linen garment embossed with metal studs or plates often decorative but sometimes located deliberately over vulnerable areas such as the heart and often hidden inside the garment. Provides partial protection against stabbing attacks.
Mail Armour	A garment made from thousands of small interlocking metal rings. Good at blocking cutting and slicing attacks and absorbing some bludgeoning damage. But can be pierced by impaling weapons such as crossbow bolts, bodkin arrows and spiked maces and hammers.
Scale Armour	A garment made of leather or linen onto which has been added a layer of overlapping metal or similar small scales. This armour will provide good protection against cutting and stabbing attacks but will only partially block bludgeoning damage.
Plate Armour	A solid metal plate which provides good protection against cutting and stabbing damage, but can only provide partial protection against bludgeoning attacks from hammers, spikes and bolts.

Armour Quality

The quality of a piece of armour may vary significantly from a poorly fitting rusty item looted from a corpse on a forgotten battlefield to a perfectly fitting item crafted by a master armourer. The difference will be reflected in the item's description but is confirmed by a numeric value known as its 'Armour Points' (AP).
The default AP for armour of a standard quality such as that issued to an Imperial Soldier is AP10, but individual items can vary significantly from AP5 (Shoddy, poorly made, badly fitting) to AP20 (Epic, custom-made items)

ARMOUR QUALITY	TYPICAL AP VALUE	ARMOUR QUALITIES & FLAWS
POOR	5	Ugly, Shoddy
STANDARD	10
GOOD	15	Fine
EPIC	20	Fine, Durable

However, these are only guidelines and actual AP values, qualities and flaws may vary.

Types Of Damage.

Each Armour Type is designed to counter a different type of damage and attackers must choose what Damage Type they wish to deliver in order to minimise its effect. Some weapons can only deliver a single type of damage, a Club can only deliver Blunt/Bludgeoning Damage. Other weapons can deliver a range of different types of damage, a Halberd can be used as a spear, hammer or axe giving its user a choice of Damage Types.

DAMAGE TYPE	CRITICAL TABLE	TYPICAL WEAPON	WEAPON QUALITY(4e)	DESCRIPTION
CUT/HACK	Sharp	Swords, Axes, Knives	HACK	Cutting, or slashing attack.
BLUDGEON	Blunt	Club, Mace, Staff	PUMMEL	A bludgeoning attack.
BITE	Teeth & Claws	Teeth Claws	BITE, TEAR, WORRY, RIP	A gripping or tearing attack.
STAB	Arrow or Stabbing	Broad-Headed Arrow, Dagger, Foil	IMPALE	A stabbing attack using a sharp point.
PENETRATE	Firearm	Shot, Bolts, Bodkin Arrow	PENETRATING	A high-velocity attack
SMASH	Falling Or Crushing	Rocks,Canonballs,Traps	FALL, CRUSH, SMASH	Shock or Compression damage
MAGICAL	Fire Or Energy	Magical Attacks	BLAST	Shock or Heat Attacks

Armour Protection

How armour protection is calculated.

1. Armour protection is expressed as a Damage Modifier to the basic damage inflicted by a blow. e.g. 14 Damage -10 = 4 damage.
2. The Damage Modifier is expressed as a percentile value of the Armour Quality (AP) - e.g. 50% AP of AP10 Armour = -5 Damage
3. The Damage Modifier is determined by comparing the Damage Type to the Armour Type protecting the location hit.
   For example, Hans is struck on the 'Body' by a sword using a 'Cutting Attack', but he is wearing a standard quality 'Metal Breastplate' AP10. The Armour Protection of Plate Armour v Cutting Attacks is 100% AP. Therefore the damage mitigation is -10. The Sword only inflicted 7 Damage therefore it simply glances off the breastplate and does no damage.
4. The Armour Protection Table below identifies the Damage Mitigation to be applied to every combination of Damage Type to Armour Type.

ARMOUR PROTECTIONTABLE	PADDED	LEATHER	STUDDED	MAIL	SCALE	PLATE
CUT/HACK	100%	100%	100%
BLUDGEON	50%	100%	100%
BITE	50%	75%	100%
STAB	NONE	50%	75%
PENETRATE	NONE	NONE	NONE	10%	25%	50%
SMASH	NONE	NONE	NONE
MAGICAL	NONE	NONE	NONE

List of Source References.

1. Plate Vs Mail Armour
2. Warbow v Padded Gambison - Mike Loades Video
3. WFRP 4e Quick Reference Sheet
4. RPG Armour Sucks - Here's How To Fix It.
5. Testing a Roundel Dagger
6. Longbow v Breastplate
7. Arrows v Armour - Medieval Myth Busting
8. Lockdown Longbow - Do shields stop arrows?
9. Roman Leather Muscle Armour Breastplate Stress Test
10. Trying Sword Thrusts Vs. Ballistic Gel and Fantasy Armor (Studded Leather)