Further On Shields

"The Old Witch had a menagerie of Familiars with her. Some were like small animals. Others like insects. One looked a small boy, but couldn't have been her child. Another was a wooden box beset on a set of steel pins that it scurried around on. They gathered around as I approached. Silently she gestured to the menagerie and they scurried to the other corner of the cabin."
-Anis Al-Farid, Explorer of Nod

I did some further refining of the calculations for Armor as per my reflections on this post. As a result I have further refined my thinking on Shields. Here is how they currently work:

A Shield is used in one of your Hands slots: in the Off Hand paired with a Weapon in the Main Hand. Equipping a Shield has three effects. Note: I talk about the various Weapon Styles in more detail previously in this post.

1. A Shield confers a passive bonus to Armor Class, Damage Reduction or even Special Resistance -- depending on the Shield itself.
2. A Shield opens up the option of Blocking in response to an Attack. This immediately increases your Armor Class by 4 -- though some powerful Shields increase BOTH Armor Class and Special Resistance. This move requires a Stun Save as with other defensive actions whose difficulty (Easy, Standard or Hard) depends on the Shield. Blocking with a Shield you do not have the Strength to wield effectively automatically Stuns.
3. A Shield can be used to make a Basic Attack which triggers an Opportunity Attack with your Main Hand Weapon when rolling Natural-Evens (as with Dual Wielding). Using a Shield in this manner negates the passive bonus to defense until your next Action. Attacking with Shield you do not have the Strength Requirement to wield is a Clumsy Attack as with other Weapons. Also: the Opportunity Attack triggered by this move follows the same rules as Dual Wielding Weapons, Requires Agility of 2, otherwise the Opportunity Attack is Clumsy.

Also: Fighters who have Proficiency in Shields use their Shield for the making the Advanced and Power Attacks associated with the Proficiency, not their Main Hand Weapon.

Some Examples:

Iron Buckler (Light Shield, Requires: Strength 1)
This small, round shield wraps around the forearm and provides decent protection. 
+1 Damage Reduction, Blocking: Easy Save
+0 Attack, 1d6 Damage, Scaling Grade: (Strength * 1.0)

Composite Tall Shield (Large Shield, Requires: Strength 1)
This tall, rectangular shield is made of wood inside a reinforced iron frame.
+2 Damage Reduction, Blocking: Normal Save
+0 Attack, 1d6 Damage, Scaling Grade: (Strength * 1.0)

Strange Leather Shield (Light Shield, Requires: Strength 2)
This circular shield is a steel frame which has the black, bubbly hide of an unknown Ur-Beast stretched across it.
+2 Special Resistance, Blocking: Easy Save
+1 Attack, 2d6 Damage, Scaling Grade: (Strength * 2.0)

Who didn't love the combat in the movie 300?

Example Armors and Rings of Power

"You'll need to bring your weapons and armor in for repairs when you return. If your weapon breaks, it will become less effective. If you keep using this cracked weapon, it can be rendered useless and irreparable."
-Albion the Armsmith

I spent some time today recalculating the numbers for Armor and Rings. Note: While Armors can be bought, repaired through normal channels -- Rings can not. While it is possible to find Rings for sale in the Free Market or the Black Market, it is more typical to find these covetously possessed by their owners as the Charge possessed by each Ring is irreplaceable. Once depleted, a Ring of Power is a simple trinket with no magic.

Additional note regarding the Durability of Armor and the Charge of Rings. Armor checks for Durability loss only during Resting and once during Upkeep. Rings only check for loss of Charge when removing the Ring. Also: Rings provide their bonus to the wearer following a complete Rest as Rings of Power attune themselves to wearers over the course of a complete sleep cycle. However, removing a Ring immediately cancels whatever enchantment it provided the wearer as well as triggering an immediate check for loss of inherent Charge.

I have included some examples below of Armor and Rings that will included in the playtest. Some of these will a part of a Character's Background, other pieces may be examples of what is for sale at particular locations or possible to find in troves of treasure.

Leather Hardcoat (Light Armor)
This long leathered coat reaches past the knees and has a high collar that protects the back of the neck and face.
+2 Armor Class, Durability: 6 of 6, Requires: Strength 1

Slumming Leathers (Light Armor)
This common outfit worn by slummers is made up of a pair of stiff leather pants and leather jack.
+1 Armor Class, Durability: 4 of 4, Requires: Strength 1

Brigandine Suit (Heavy Armor)
This iron-lined doublet comes with reinforced breeches and arm-guards.
+1 Armor Class, +1 Damage Reduction, Durability 5 of 5, Requires: Strength 1

Old Breast Plate (Super Heavy Armor)
A cast-off from a full set of plate. Offers a degree of protection.
+1 Damage Reduction, Durability 4 of 4, Requires: Strength 2

Bronze Laminar (Super Heavy Armor)
This hardened-bronze laminar breast plate comes with cuisses for the legs and iron bracers.
+2 Damage Reduction, Durability 6 of 6, Requires: Strength 2

Ring of Protection
This iron band is warm to the touch. A humming seems to emanate from it when brought to one's ear.
+1 Special Resistance, Charge 4

Ring of Shielding
This silvery ring has a purple stone embedded into a divot. It pulses with a warmth, as if alive.
+6 Maximum Hit Points, Charge 4

Ring of Coagulation
This red band of metal is extraordinarily smooth.
Saves against Bleeding effects are one step easier. I.E.: Standard Saves are Easy, Hard Saves are Standard. Charge 3

Ring of Inoculation
This greenish band of copper is shaped as an intertwined knotting of vines.
Whenever you are hit with a Poison effect, make an immediate Save against the effect. This Save does not count against the Poison effect. If you are already under the effect of Poison, successfully Saving against the new Poison will prevent the new Poison from enhancing the already-existing effect. Charge 5

Defenses, Armor Et Cetera

"Being chartered as a Privateer allows me to act on contracts through the Guard, but without any of the oversight being a charge of the State brings. Unfortunately, that makes me an easier target by those who disapprove of us meddling in criminal affairs. I have no particular grievance with the Thief Guilds, I'm looking to make some coin just like them!"
-Jones the Fighter

Blah. So, I've been revising the Armor and Defenses systems several times over in developing Sophia's Children. The Weaponry and Attacks system is well-forged at this point -- but that went through many more iterations before I settled on something. This blog post is going to be my thoughts on where things are at in the design -- so it is a little stream of consciousness.

Initially I started with a piece-meal armor system that calculated the total Armor Points of all Armor worn to calculate Armor Class and Special Resistance. I realized in doing character creation and some very minimal play testing that this was WAY TOO unwieldy and would bog down the play of the game itself. I retained the system, but "behind the scenes" to create the Armor items themselves which resulted in:

My second iteration which has all Armor worn as a single piece of equipment. While this has the simplicity I desire for a tabletop game, I am still flummoxed by my desire to differentiate further the two kinds of defenses in the system: Armor Class and Special Resistance.

The goal of the design is to present the choice to the player of gearing up against mundane attackers or against supernatural attackers. The other level of differentiation is between simpler abilities and stronger "special attackers" that usually target Special Resistance.

I am still mulling over several different systems and am actually mining all sorts of game design documents for ideas. Here is what I am presently considering:

All equipment is on four "slots." Your Main Hand and Off Hand which may include one two-handed weapon, two weapons or a weapon + shield. Your Armor which is a single piece of equipment that confers defense against mundane attacks. And your Ring which is a magical piece of equipment that confers defense against supernatural abilities.

I have, in this current iteration, split Special Resistance away from Armor. Your Ring (the only "magic item slot" in the system) can confer additional points of Special Resistance and may also provide additional bonuses to defenses against status effects. Some Rings even have additional abilities that go beyond just providing defense. I talk about Rings some more in this post.

Armor will continue to be in three type: Light, Heavy and Super Heavy. Light Armor will provide Armor Class points only. Heavy Armor will provide Damage Reduction and Armor Class. Super Heavy Armor will provide Damage Reduction only, but will only reduce the Agility bonus to Armor Class in half -- not the Intellect bonus to Special Resistance.

Armor providing bonus Maximum Hit Points was starting to create strange exceptions in my systems, it is simpler to recalculate the Armor types based on them only providing Armor Class and Damage Reduction.

Rings can now provide Special Resistance and / or Maximum Hit Points. The bonus Hit Points provided by Rings are a sort of supernatural effect of wearing the device. This does not cause strange effect as with Armor since Rings must be worn over a night's sleep (during a Rest, basically) to attune themselves to their wearer.

A result of this change is taking a look at how Dodging, Parrying and Blocking impact the defenses. Presently, all three reactive moves generate the same +4 to AC and SR -- though only Parrying can be used against Melee Attacks. As of now, in the design documents, Dodging will be useful against both AC and SR Attacks of all kinds (Melee or Ranged). Blocking is good against AC Attacks, both Ranged and Melee. Parrying is only good against AC Melee Attacks.

Sometimes my brain gets "stuck" trying to come up with a solution to these issues. While the above feels like a good solution and creates the diversity I am looking for at the complexity-threshold appropriate for a tabletop RPG, I still need to sit with it awhile.