PmWiki | IronLegion / Armor

The dust bowl is a lot of things, but a safe place it is not: wildlife attacks are common and law enforcement or military presence either nonexistent or actively hostile. While larger settlements have some form of gun control law in place (generally requiring weapons to be carried openly and peace-bound), travelers without means of self-protection, whether it be weapons or armor, do not last long. The reality of ambushes also makes it a good idea to know how to defend oneself with no or improvised weapons.

Possibly owing to the simple fact that ammo manufacturing has taken a step backwards since old times, the eternal antagonism between weapons and armor has switched back in favor of the latter.

Armor gives extra Threshold to a character according to its armor value; it may also give a bonus of 1 to defense rolls against melee or ranged attacks.

Type	Example	Armor value	Bonus against
Light wear	Naked; sundress; swimming suit; rags; pijamas	0	None
Medium wear	Suit and tie; casualwear; white-collar work clothing	1	None
Heavy wear	Inuit furs; blue-collar work clothing; overalls; hiking or climbing getups	1	Ranged
Light armor	Police uniform; military fatigues; padded vest	2	Melee
Flak armor	Blacksmith's apron; military flak jacket; duelist gear; leathers	2	Ranged
Medium armor	Chainmail; ironback battle armor; riot police gear	3	Ranged
Heavy armor	Segmented plate; socketed plate; ironback duel armor	3	Both

Anything expressly designed as armor will eventually cause fatigue to anyone who isn't trained in its use; medium and heavy armor will cause fatigue regardless, but do so much more quickly to untrained users. Armor can be custom-tailored to reduce this effect for the character the armor is being tailored to. Note that horse armor, while a good idea, is also going to fatigue the horse tremendously.

Armored fighters are known as ironbacks, may be footed or mounted, and train specifically to spend a lot of time in armor without penalty.

Shields

Shields work as mobile cover in firefights, and tools to parry a blow in melee fights. Defense bonuses due to shields are removed from the damage calculation if the blow hits, since the shield has effectively been bypassed. Light shields give a bonus of 1, medium shields give a bonus of 2, and heavy or tower shields and partial cover gives a bonus of 4. Full cover gives a bonus of 8, but cannot be fired through.

Like armor, medium and heavy shields will eventually cause fatigue to anyone who isn't trained in their use; heavy shields will cause fatigue regardless, but do so much more quickly to untrained users.