Armors, How to use:
Armoring can turn weapon strikes as well as acid (or acidic attacks), cold, electricity and fire attacks. Remember, not all attacks are from a foe; miss-strikes from an ally and nature can, at times, strike as well.
The following are certain armor types and pieces, and how they protect the wearer:
Armor (Barding, Humanoid and Wardog)
Armor (Barding, Humanoid and Wardog):
Armors are designed for different forms of defense against certain attacks based on their design.
Every armor type (armor a person wears (Humanoid Armor), Barding (for horses and ponies) and Wardog armor, is designed as a shield and protection from attacks from all angles. When the wearer of armor is struck, armor will protect at times turn the attack completely.
See: "Special abilities" for further rulings on armoring.
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Cape-guard:
The cape-guard is designed to add extra protection from attacks from the BACK, or BACK-SIDE of the wearer. When struck from the back or back-side, a cape-guard will protect the following areas:
Even though certain areas listed here are not the back or back-side of the body, a back attack which strikes the abdomen is treated as the back (as well as the chest).
Abdomen
Back
Chest
Hip
Legs
If a strike connects to these areas from behind while wearing a cape-guard, it will protect, and even may turn the attack, for the wearer.
See: "Special abilities" for further rulings on armoring.
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Shield:
The shield is designed to increase the success chance of blocking strikes vs. HAND-HELD, HURLED and THROWN weapons. The shield is an excellent means by which one can defend against an attack that would normally be very difficult to evade.
In the Character Sheet, the following line will appear:
"Shield is currently guarding:________________________ Large shield guards 2 areas of the body which connect. Small shield guards one.".
Pick 2 connecting areas of your character's body that your shield will always be guarding. For a small shield, pick 1 area that your shield will always be guarding. If you do not write this in the character sheet, you will not be in a defensive stance, and an area that would automatically be guarded, will not be. This means, you will have to make a successful defensive roll to block a weapon-strike.
There is a 2nd shield listed in your character sheet. When a second shield is used, this will indicate you are wearing one of the two shields upon your back, or on the other arm.
See: "Special abilities" (below) for further rulings on armoring.
Note:
A shield has 4 (quarter) sections. Each section will have damage-points. The damage of a weapon-strike against a shield will damage it, but first check for the % roll needed to turn a weapon in the "Special abilities", then check for "Damage-Reduction" before actually damaging the structure of a shield.
Once a shield's damage-points reach 0, it will only deflect an attack with its "Special abilities" and "Damage-Reduction", which means the shield will have to be fixed in order to absorb direct damages that slip past its "Special abilities" and "Damage-Reduction".
Special abilities:
The following are all the "Special abilities" of each type of armor worn. Each an every armor will have "Special abilities" to turn attacks as follows:
Acid:_____+
Blunt:_____+
Cold:_____+
Electricity:_____+
Fire:_____+
Needle:_____+
Sharp:_____+
Each and every type of armor listed in the game will give the % Roll, or higher, to turn an attack.
In some instances, there will be the following information given:
"Can't":This indicates this armor type cannot turn this form of attack.
"Maximum-Strike": This indicates this armor is highly susceptible to this form of attack (i.e., metal armor is a conductor of Electricity).
Notice that with shields, the needed % roll to turn a needle attack is 01+. This means, if a needles (like a blowpipe dart) strikes a shield, it does not have a chance to penetrate the surface; if successfully blocked, a needle attack will automatically be turned away harmlessly (unless the needle attack does enough damage to pierce the shield (which is rare). In any case, always check the "Special abilities" and "Damage-Reduction" first.
Note:
The following are the rulings for wearing any type of armoring as found in each area of information within all types of armors listed on your character sheet:
Adjusted Coordination / Dexterity: The wearing of armoring is cumbersome and heavy at times. The adjusted Coordination / Dexterity will indicate a lowering of those two characteristics while wearing armor. Most every piece of armor worn (i.e., armor, cape-guard, or shield) will lower your Coordination and Dexterity to some degree while being worn. These adjustments must be enforced. Though armors worn can lead to lowered defense and offense, they protect the wearer. Some deem this a worth while exchange.
Adjusted Movement: Wearing armor will usually decrease the normal movement of the wearer. Each number will represent 1 space decrease/penalty in movement per turn. Example: -3 will indicate the wearer will be slowed by 3 spaces (15') per turn. If a wearer can usually move 10 spaces per turn, by wearing a piece of armor with an "Adjusted Movement" of -3, he or she can only move 7 spaces (35') per turn.
Damage-Reduction: See: "Damage-Reduction, Explanation of:" in the D Section of the Basic Rules Book.