ARMOR

You can find the rules for Armor on page 169 in the DR Corebook

Characters can wear ARMOR in the game that provides them additional protection in combat. This is an ITEM CARD that can be obtained in game that provides additional Body levels to a character.

BASIC ARMOR RULES

Armor is a very handy tool for newer players, as it lets you quickly gain additional combat survivability without requiring XP! Let’s cover the basics:

  • Armor is equipment that gives you additional pool of Body to your character equal to the Armor rating. This ranges from 5-20 points of Armor at the moment, but later Augment blueprints will allow you to exceed the cap of 20.

  • Damage is dealt to these Armor points FIRST, unless you take a call with the “Body” or “Rend” modifier (p. 103, DR Corebook). If your Armor is reduced to zero Armor Points, it is BROKEN and cannot be used to absorb damage until it is repaired.

  • Temporary Upsurge buffs like Master Combat Tactics can stack on top of item card sources, and go above the cap of 20. Remember, most temporary buffs are Upsurge effects and you cannot have more than one Upsurge effect.

  • Weapons like the Moulen Shank, Glass Stilleto, or skills like Pyrokinetics or Piercing Strike that deal Body Damage skip this pool of Armor altogether and deal damage directly to you. This means that Body damage does not actually Break your armor. This is an important distinction, for reasons you’ll find out this weekend. :)

  • If someone uses the Break Skill to declare “Break Armor”, or a monster uses a Break Armor ability on you, your Armor is considered BROKEN, regardless of how many Armor points you had remaining.

  • When you lose Armor points or the Armor is broken, the only way you can regain them is by someone either using the Basic Artisan skill (p. 117) or by using a similar item or room augment. This can also be done for FREE by any character using the Starter Workstation room augment (there’s even one of these inside the Depot in Bravado!).

armor coverage

Armor must also be represented by a physical representation of some sort. This doesn’t have to actually be metal or heavy material, but should at least appear to be a protective layer of some sort (metallic paint is your friend!).

You must cover a portion of your body equal to 5% per Armor Point, up to a maximum of 80%. This means that Basic Armor (10 points) requires 50% coverage, Proficient Armor (15 points) requires 75%, and Master Armor (20 points) needs 80% coverage. There are some other types of Armor that can reduce the amount of coverage you need, like the Merchant’s Coat or the Striker’s Coat.

You can use a burn coverage chart (see to the right) as a loose approximation of what kind of coverage you need. In general, torso coverage (front and back) is about 40%, Each arm is about 10%, each full leg is about 20%, and head coverage is about 10%. In DR: Texas, during inclement weather we will reduce the total coverage to only you need to portray to only 50%, cause it’s too hot to wear that much!