Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

[bluesguy]

Ok one of the things I noticed when building Fantasy characters using Hero Designer (and this isn't really a Hero Designer question) is that when your character 'buys' clothing as equipment there is PD/ED associated with those articles of clothing. Usually 1 or 2 PD/ED.

 

So how do you handle that PD/ED when the character isn't wearing any armor?

 

How about when they are wearing armor?

[djkester]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

Are you asking what happens to their pd or Ed?

 

I think the answer you are looking for is:

You reduce their current pd and Ed by the amount granted by their armor.

[bluesguy]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

Maybe it would be better with a scenario...

 

Joe my fighter is walking around town with his tunic (1 PD/ED) + leather jacket (1 PD/ED) and leather pants (2 PD/ED). He has natural 3 PD/ED. So let us say he gets into a fist fight and someone hits him and the stun is 12. Let us also assume we are not using hit locations. Does he take:

 

Including clothing - Tunic + Jacket + Natural PD = 5 PD so 12 - 5PD = 7 Stun

 

Or

 

Just Natural PD so 12 - 3 PD = 9 Stun

 

Thanks

David

[Escafarc]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

Do the pieces of "Armor" (i.e. tunic,leather jacket,leather pants) have an Activation Roll to represent that they don't cover everywhere?

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

In games I've run, letting appropriate clothing count as 1PD/ED armor (leather or heavy cloth, not just a light tunic) was really a way to help keep the heroes from getting killed when they didn't have their armor for whatever reason. Sure I would allow it in a bar fight, but the protection from 1 STUN pip isn't going to make a big difference.

[Ternaugh]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

Maybe it would be better with a scenario...

 

Joe my fighter is walking around town with his tunic (1 PD/ED) + leather jacket (1 PD/ED) and leather pants (2 PD/ED). He has natural 3 PD/ED. So let us say he gets into a fist fight and someone hits him and the stun is 12. Let us also assume we are not using hit locations. Does he take:

 

Including clothing - Tunic + Jacket + Natural PD = 5 PD so 12 - 5PD = 7 Stun

 

Or

 

Just Natural PD so 12 - 3 PD = 9 Stun

 

Thanks

David

 

Usually, in Heroic games, armor doesn't stack (FH 225), so you'd use the better value of the two armors. For a character wearing armor only on certain locations, you could either use a hit location roll, an activation roll, or average DEF. I tend to prefer using the Hit Location Chart (6E2 109) in situations like this.

 

So, using the example above, the tunic + leather jacket would provide 1 PD/ED to locations 7-13, and the leather pants would provide 2 PD/ED to locations 14-17. I'd assume that the character would also have boots (location 18) that provide at least 1 PD/ED. These would add to the character's natural PD/ED.

 

So, a punch to the head (location 3) wouldn't have any protection beyond the natural 3 PD, while a punch to the stomach would have 4 PD subtracted from the damage.

 

Killing attacks are a little different. Let's say that our sample character is hit in the arm (location 7) with a sword strike. He would get 1PD (armor only) against the BODY damage, and 4 PD (armor + natural PD) against the STUN damage of the attack.

 

Now, in my campaigns, I usually don't give characters any protective values from normal "street" clothes. Cloth armor (DEF 1) is really heavy cloth-often padded-and is different than a light shirt or tunic. Heavy work clothes could provide limited armor, however. See the Hero System Equipment Guide, p. 228 for more information.

 

JoeG

[bluesguy]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

Thank you. The stacking rule was a useful reminder as well.

 

I think I will use the clothing PD/ED for when the characters are wandering around town and wearing obvious armor would attract unwanted attention from the guards.

[Vondy]

Re: Clothing, Armor and PD/ED

 

I generally give characters wearing layers, quilted clothing, or soft leather 1PD/1ED non-resistant defense. Its a gimme. I use hit locations and called shots, so activation isn't a question.