Making Armor Interesting - TTRPG Design

Comments · 37

• HE

  @HeadHunterSix · 1 year ago

  Whatever terms you use, there are three qualities of any kind of armor:<br>Deflection - the damage that armor will stop outright, that is to say anything below that threshold just won&apos;t get through, no matter how many times you try (shoot a 9mm pistol at a tank all day, and it won&apos;t do a thing)<br>Reduction - the amount by which penetrating damage is decreased before being applied to the wearer<br>Ablation - how much damage (or how many hits) a piece of armor can stop or reduce before it becomes useless. &nbsp;Some systems may represent this by increasing the likelihood that a shot hits an area that&apos;s no longer armored, others take a more all-or-nothing approach.<br>Furthermore, any piece of armor might have different qualities vs. different types of damage - slashing, piercing, blunt trauma, fire, etc.

  10

• AN

  @andrewlustfield6079 · 1 year ago

  From my perspective, when thinking about armor--the place to start is really HEMA. The types and properties of different armor types are pretty well known.

  13

• XP

  @Xplora213 · 1 year ago

  You make a very interesting point there - move away from armour, and towards clothing. I had players acquire fancy clothes for the Royal Ball after they won the joust. Their armour was loaned by the king. Those clothes might have been more memorable if they were packing clear bonuses and penalties to give them more influence in their interactions. <br><br>And sneaky point, mages can’t wear armour so they can walk around like a noble dandy all the time anyway 😂

  14

• FI

  @finnostendorp546 · 2 days ago

  algorythem oh algorythem we are so gratefull for your blessing

• BU

  @Bunit_Berg · 8 months ago

  I&apos;ve been stuck on the armor dilemma for years. this was monumentally helpful.

  2

• BU

  @bunchofferalgoblins · 1 year ago

  First and foremost I love the pacing of this video. Also good stuff including the transition between intro and the rest of the video. 🎉 &nbsp;I&apos;ve been struggling with my weapon and armor design lately, and your videos really help!

  4

• AT

  @Athorment · 1 year ago

  A simple way of making armor matter might be via it&apos;s damage/Crit threshold.<br><br>Everyone loves a Nat20... but imagine if, just like Pathfinder, a certain amount over the AC meant a crit? Suddenly the type of armor can change the balance of what classes wear.<br><br>A rogue might have insane AC because of high dexterity, making them hard to hit... but with low or no armor? The amount you need to roll to crit them should be lower than a Paladin who shares a similar AC because of their armor... but because of the heavy plating, they need to roll much higher to roll actual Crits.

  4

• TT

  @TTRPGeniuses · 1 year ago

  Great thoughts ryan! Keep up the good work 👊<br><br>Working on combat right now so your timing on this video is impeccable!

  2

• DO

  @Doyga-1999 · 1 year ago

  I think that this sort of stuff has to be implemented as a campaign evolves and advances, i remember a few years back when i DMd for some friends and decided so each one&apos;s armor and weapons gave them some unspoken bonuses, these include.<br><br><br>The robes of both the Cleric and Wizard gave them +1d4 extra spells and a 50% (literal coinflip) on not spending a spell slot per long rest.<br>The non-armor for the barbarian gave them a bit of confidance, letting them halve the damage of 1 hit per long rest, but taking that each turn instead of all at once, something that saved them from more than one TPK.<br><br>And gain, i think that adding this stuff little by little and &quot;handmade&quot; for what the group does instead of only following the rules on the books makes for a more engaging experience.

  1

• SC

  @scylla_scryer · 1 year ago

  Yeah, different stats are the best way to do it I think.<br>I think armor is inherently a little less interesting than weapons and other items, so it&apos;s not bad to keep it simple and allow the complexity to come from other parts of the game.

  2

• BI

  @birsecreative · 1 year ago

  Good points on armour design. <br>&apos;where can we make armour shine?&apos; and nice pun 😛

  1

• TX

  @txdude19d · 10 months ago

  Great concept for using armor.