New GM/How do I balance Armor?

[AnotherSkip]

"Magic always works, but the player is going to get suspicious when all the enemy wizards throw STR suppress and AP/Penetrating RKAs, yet never throw AE DEX drains or RKA explosions..."- the old man

well because no one ever invented the things?



sorry couldn't resist.

[The Monster]

Maybe magicians don't use DEX Drains becasue they're too bloody expensive to be effective against people that have high DEX, whereas STR drops much faster for the same cost. You don't need magic to take care of random thugs; that's what bodyguards or your own gear and training are for. Battle magic is to do things professional soldiers can't easily do: take out large groups, and take out the heavily armored knights (well, plus futz with the enemy's control, communications, and sensory input). So it's kind of a stupid magician whose combat spell is a simple 2d6 RKA; at least it should be AP, EX, or something, or he's better off using a regular bow or crossbow (and no chance of side effects!). Whether it's swarms of insects, superhard steel, manifesting demon claws, or raw mystic energy, a magical attack should be something special - especially in Hero, where mages can wear armor and heft swords like anyone else. The "balance" between magician and warrior shouldn't depend on the magician's ability to use magic to do the same things the warrior does.

More to the orginal point though, if armor is really a problem in a campaign, I suppose encumbrance or DCV/DEX penalties could work (yes, you can run and do martial arts (even marital arts if you believe "Excalibur"), but you can't do them as well). The ultimate system fix is to charge points for armor and weapons. It's not the usual way of doing things, but if it's that big a concern and is making the campaign less fun, it's an easy and fair way to do it. You could even grandfather the characters in, granting them a certain number of points to buy their accustomed gear. Of course, you ought to have full build sheets for the various pieces of armor and weapons, but surely that isn't too big a problem.

Now, this still doesn't by itself solve the question of thieves wearing plate, but at least there is a clear point value to choosing armor over magic or skills.

[ShadowRaptor]

My .02

1. I don't know if this is in the rules, since I am still a newbie for all intents and purposes, but I do know that for heroic games to use a weapon well without penalties you need a Weapon Familiarity for it...so why not do the same thing for armor and have Armor Familiarities, and if a person is wearing they don't have a familiarity in then they suffer OCV/DCV penalties because they are not familiar with them.

2. You could do it like others have already stated, present a penalty to DCV based on the type of armor and material its made of...or just entirely base it off the weight of the armor and maybe come up with a talent or perk that allows people to fight better in armor, which could simulate somebody better trained in armor and in this case the person spent some points to become better in armor and can lower his penalty this way.

3. Use the rules as is, but why do that...

These are just ideas I have come up with, please reply to them and let me know what you all think of them.

[LordGhee]

Alright Green, I assume you listen and learn. that you are busy playing to learn the system. So what have you learned and discovered. How are you running your combat?

My final advice was just use it all end mods, strengh mods, dex mods and lenght of weapon rules and play.

so How you doing

sincerely
Lord Ghee