HiBRiD Things for Your Game #2: Armor (Damage Absorption)

In most popular D20/OSR games (Hackmaster Basic™ being the exception and I am sure there are a few others…please feel free to correct me and educate me if I missed any others…I can always learn more and expand my personal game collection!), the protection of armor is reflected as a decreased probability to damage a target. The system assumes that armor always affects a standard attack and a successful attack does full damage. This creates a clean, all-or-nothing mechanic on the to-hit roll. The method assumes that the armor was completely bypassed by the attack in some way. Additional complexity to account for touch attacks, unarmed attacks, called shots, and so forth results with a variety of modifiers on the task roll to hit, often resulting in a table being required.

In contrast, HiBRiD™  reflects the protection of armor as a damage absorption mechanism, reducing damage inflicted by an attack. Like the previous system, HiBRiD™  also assumes that armor affects all standard attacks. Unlike the other systems, however, the armor reduces the damage inflicted rather than the probability of inflicting damage. This places the complexity of the action resolution in the damage system not the attack roll.

The debate over armor affecting hit probability vs. damage reduction has been hashed out for decades in many forums (from USENET in the 80s, to ENWorld™  in the 90s, to Reddit nowadays), and I will not enter it here because I see merits to both. I would say that at first glance, damage absorption seems to fly in the face of the HiBRiD™  philosophy by requiring mental subtraction during combat. In a situation of multiple attackers and hordes, determining damage to a target has the potential to get complicated as each attack must be accounted for when applying damage to the target, also seeming to fly in the face of HiBRiD™  gaming style. 

The Reason Why

So, why did I choose this system? Well,

• With a lower number required to hit a target, Reflexes/Dexterity plays a bigger part in the defensive scheme. Characters with higher attributes in this category also have a tendency to try more crazy things and get more creative during actions scenes rather than standing toe-to-toe slogging it out.
• With lower defense ratings, the likelihood of hitting the target increases. Knowing you have a relatively high chance of a success when you attack encourages players to be more assertive, attempt more risky actions during an action round, and get more heroic rather than simply attacking.
• Player characters are more likely to get hit, making combat feel more lethal. Knowing there is a good chance of getting hit adds tension. It makes players think twice about diving into yet another combat situation, subtly reemphasizing problem-solving rather than just powering through yet another combat session.
• When there are a large number of low-power mooks, heroes can completely shrug off their attacks that do minimal damage and focus on the big hitters. This gives combat a more epic feel when fighting evil hordes. (By the way, this also mitigates the problem mentioned above of having to do the damage calculations for most low-power mooks).
• When fighting large and seemingly invincible opponents, players are forced to think of ways to penetrate or subvert armor and try more heroic actions, such as called shots, using environmental factors, et cetera. This also creates a change in action flow when having to do the calculations also tends to subtly bring the lethality of attacks into focus for those characters wearing armor.

I have played systems with more lethal combat and noted how combat scenes could be sped up. In less lethal games, I like the old-school simplicity of the hit-then-damage mechanic, but become bored with hours of attrition-based combat. So, basically, when I decided on the role of armor, I chose to meld (or HiBRiD™ize) the various factors from both types of games into one, and create a different kind of combat scene. I wanted armor to represent a delay of the inevitable downfall of the hero more obviously with STUN/hit points rather than relying on the subtleties of probabilities on the attack roll. I wanted to combat to be short, deadly, colorful, and have meaning.

The Crunch

So you like damage absorption, Hujraad. But what can I use to HiBRiD™ize my game?

1. First, the director needs to decide if armor will either minimize or completely absorb damage. This will determine a number known as an intent factor. A desire to minimize damage indicates an intent factor of 2 while the damage to completely absorb as much damage as possible indicates an intent factor of 1.

2. Next, take the armor class of the armor in the game and determine the number of steps it affects Armor Class. An armor class of 2 (Old School) (or 18 New School) has a value of 8.

3. Finally, divide the number of AC steps by the intent factor, rounding all decimals up. This creates new stat, the Armor Value, of the armor in question.

An Example: In D20/OSR games, a dagger does 2.5 damage and a zweihander does between 5.5 (Old School) and 7 (New School). A director minimizing damage will have a campaign where a standard hit from a zweihander/greatsword on a plate armored character will still inflict 1.5/3 points of damage. A director cancelling damage will have a campaign where a standard hit from a zweihander/greatsword on a plate armored character will inflict no damage   

One final note: This only affects worn armor; shields are treated normally within the game system being used

Conclusion

But wait a minute…

This doesn’t seem to solve the problem of attrition you talked about before. In fact, doesn’t damage absorption seem to actually foster it? Nickel and diming players for hours on end rather than dropping their hit point totals in large, scary chunks?

At first glance on paper and taken by itself, that would be absolutely correct. But there are other ways to balance this.

Ways I’ll be discussing in my next entry…