In my present system, armor is capable of being damaged. It doesn't give less protection or fall off unless all of its hit points are gone (Even I knew that would be too much work), but it does have hit points, and its own damage reduction in the form of hardness, based on the thickness and material.
This means, though, that I need to keep track of a slew of different armor classes for the same character. I need to know what is needed to hit them directly, to hit their armor and/or shield if they have one, as well as the difference in their AC if they are surprised and therefore don't get their Dex bonus. If it hits the armor, damage is rolled to see if it gets past the hardness to damage the armor. Same for the shield, if there is one. If it hits the character, then unless it was some force effect that bypasses normal armor, it also might damage the armor.
Now, I could just roll the attack, tell the player what it is, and make them do all the work as to what it hit. Except I like theatrics, and heightening suspense, so instead I keep track of these numbers, make a Perception check for the character, and then tell the player whether their character thinks it will hit or miss. That's their cue to determine what defensive action, if any, they want to take. True, this may mean they waste some resources in defending an attack that would only have hit their armor, or that a failed Perception check could make them think they're safe only to have them take a solid hit. But, that's battle for you.
In an automated game, all this number-crunching would be handled behind the scenes in a matter of seconds, if that. In pen&paper, it's not so easy. Now that I've created this monster of a system, I'm concerned that it will end up being more trouble than it's worth, bogging down combat in a way that isn't fun, rather than adding theatrics and suspense. But removing it means I'll need to rework my armor list to re-balance it, since the hardness and hit points of armor was one of the balancing factors.
Thoughts?
3 comments:
I have to agree on all points. It would be great dramatically, and a nightmare organizationally.
One possible alternative: Any hit which damages the player damages the armor too. While it's true that, in a more realistic combat system, this is not how it would work at all, it balances out. The armor that offers the most protection due to toughness would shrug off most lesser hits and so would last longer.
Well, I suppose if I'm going to base things off of the character's Perception, any hit that would hit the armor would look like it will hit, in which case it comes down to the player trusting in their armor or using a skill to try and evade/deflect. At that point, the effect of the roll comes down to the player to keep track of. Meanwhile, I just have to know what their Armored vs. Unarmored AC is.
Trickier is when someone uses a shield. If it is going to hit the shield, does it appear like it will hit, or does it look like a miss? I suppose, for the sake of ease, I could say it looks like a miss. It's the first line of defense past a person's Dex bonus. And if it ends up hitting the shield, well, them's the breaks. Better it than you.
Or, find the midpoint in the AC they gain from Armor and Shield. If it's higher than midpoint, it looks like a hit.
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