Armor Rules - HMS APOLLYON

HMS APOLLYON – Revised Armor Rules

Normal "Body" Armor comes in three basic varieties: Light, Medium and Heavy.  Armor is determined by variety and maximum AC, rather than material.  Frogling beaded cord armor is just as good as ringmail (Light AC 7) and Steward Segmentata is as effective as a merrow-crafted coat of teeth. (Heavy AC 4).  While Armor has a listed AC, this is the best AC that the armor will provide for a trained user. All classes except magic users receive some armor training as part of their basic package of skills, and selecting certain proficiencies can both provide training previously untrained types of armor and expertise in the use of armor that grants additional bonuses.

Better AC (to 0) can be provided by powered armor, or boiler mail, which also grants (often considerable) damage reduction.


While there is no class requirement for wearing armor, untrained users will not receive the maximum benefit for wearing an armor and always gain the AC benefit of the worst AC in that class of armor.  For example: A specialist may wear plate armor, but will not receive an AC of 2, only the AC 4 provided by the untrained use of heavy armor. Untrained use of armor also eliminates any Dexterity based bonus to AC and the untrained use of Heavy Armor causes that PC to act last in a round (just like the untrained use of Two Handed Weapons) regardless of initiative.

Training is part of the initial class skills, and may only rarely (War Mages, Duelists & Crusaders) be acquired later through skill selection, while expertise is always determined by skills and grants improvements in armor use over the proper use training provides.

Expertise in a type of armor provides increased bonuses to it's use, and comes from the class proficiencies of: Light Armor (Specialist,Fighter), War Mage (MU), Medium Armor (Cleric, Fighter), Duelist (Specialist), Heavy Armor (Fighter, Cleric), Crusader (Cleric)
For Example: Heavy Armor, with a level obtained each at 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th after selecting the proficiency is as follows:

Level 1 - Efficient Use - Penalties for the use of heavy armor are eliminated (Initiative Penalties, Movement Penalties, and Dex Penalty) - player may still not engage in stealthy movement or swim effectively.
Level 2 - Endurance - long use of heavy armor grants additional resilience and endurance in the form of +1 HP per HD. Additional skill with armor also grants a 1 point bonus to AC (to maximum of 2) while wearing heavy armor.

Level 3 - Overpowering Force - Use of the hard edges and increased weight of the armor give PC +1 to damage in  melee while wearing heavy armor.
Level 4 - Juggernaut - The heavy armor wearer's faith in his protection allows him to ignore most mind effecting spells while in battle and he gains an additional save vs.sleep, charm, hold and similar spells while in combat. All saving throws receive an additional +1 bonus if made while in heavy armor.

Armor	Worst/Best AC	Trained	Expert (with Skills)
Light	8/7	Specialist, Fighter Magic User (with Skill)	Fighter, Specialist
Medium	6/5	Specialist(with Skill), Fighter, Cleric,	Fighter, Cleric
Heavy	4/2	Fighter, Cleric(with Skill)	Fighter, Cleric

Largely outside the system of body armor, steam armor (or boiler mail) is a armored suit with internal power, the pinnacle of technological and sorcerous advancement aboard the Appollyon.  Boiler mail requires special skill to use, and the skill level provides a bonus to boiler-mail "stability".  Powered Armor is finicky and temperamental even during normal use, but when exposed to the rigors of combat it becomes downright unreliable, depending on pilot skill and frequent repair to work well.  Additionally it is not like regular armor and provides the following penalties when used without exceptional piloting skill.  Piloting can eliminate penalties marked with an "*", including the chance of catastrophic failures.

Basic Boiler Mail Penalties: No dexterity bonus to armor class, Boiler Mail wearer acts last in each round of combat*

Stability: Basic Stability is intrinsic to each suit of armor and determines how much damage it can take before needing repair or readjustment. Stability is improved by pilot skill, and reduced by malfunctions and combat. Each time a piece of Boiler mail is stuck in combat and damage actually occurs to the pilot (is not cancelled by the armor's damage absorption) the armor subtracts '1' from stability value.  Each time the pilot rolls a natural '1' on any roll related to a physical task the armor has malfunctioned and the pilot rolls 1D6 and adds the current stability rating, using the table below for results. A duplicate result means that the next lowest result should be used.

D6 -1 Armor Stability	Breakdown Table for Boilermail
> 1	Warning - Smoke, disturbing noises, warning lights. Function is unimpaired, subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
1	Overheated – Suit overheats or otherwise temporarily seizes up.  It will reactivate in 1D4 rounds.  Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
0	Out of Fuel – Suit must be refueled, can operate for 1D3 additional rounds before freezing up.  Refueling takes 1 turn and requires either assistance or the pilot to desuit.(refueling counts as repair).
-1	Pressure Loss – Suits hydraulics and/or boiler lose pressure and suit’s strength drops to 12. All strength bonuses lost, and suit may not wield suit sized melee weapons. Must punch and wrestle in melee for 1D6 points of damage. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-2	Knocked Over - Suit falls over, either from the force of a blow, gyroscope failure or slipping.  Pilot must save vs. Paralysis or be knocked unconscious.  Suit will take 1D4+1 rounds to get back up, during which time it is vulnerable to melee attacks, with an effective AC of 5. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-3	Malfunction – Suit pings, fizzles and begins to slow, all future rolls are at -2 as some subsystems are now broken. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-4	Leg Lock – The suit’s legs seize and lock in place, movement is impossible.  The suit may still fight, but AC is penalized by 2 and suit attacks at -1 in melee. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-5	Arms Lock - The suit's arms or upper body freeze in place preventing melee attack, AC is also penalized by 1. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-6	Lock Up - The suit locks and will not move until repaired.  Pilot may escape in 1D4 rounds with a successful Strength check.  All attacks on trapped Pilot while in the suit are against an AC of 5.  Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability.
-7	Grease Fire - Suit catches fire and cannot act until fire is doused.  Fire does 1D6 points of damage per round to pilot until put out.  A Successful roll vs. Intelligence (with bonuses of +1 per level of Piloting Skill) will douse the fire after the first round, and may be attempted once per round. Subtract  ‘1’ from current stability for each round fire burns.
-8	Minor Explosion - A minor venting of searing steam, jolt of electricity or burst of shrapnel is released into the cockpit of the suit, suit is also damage suffering -2 to all rolls.  Pilot suffers 2D6 points of damage. Subtract  ‘3’ from current stability.
-9*	Catastrophic Mechanical – A cascade of mechanical failures cause the suit to grind itself to pieces.  Engines howl to a stop, gears lock and shatter, pistons rupture.  The mechanics of the suit are destroyed, and repair will cost ¾ the value of the suit and many months of work.  The pilot is trapped until rescued unless the is of a light variety, in which case she may work herself free with a number of successful strength checks equal to the base stability of the suit – one check per round.
-10*	Catastrophic Fire – Grease, oil, thurmaturgical essence and fuel ignite turning the suit into a pyre.  Pilot  is incinerated and suit destroyed
> -10*	Catastrophic Explosive – The fuel lines rupture, the reactor bursts and a sudden explosion/meltdown kills the pilot and does 6D6+10 HP of damage to everything in 10’.  Individuals may Save vs. Breath Weapon for ½ damage.

Repair and Recovering Stability.  A trained pilot or mechanic may return armor that is not catastrophically damaged to operational condition at a rate of 1 point of stability per turn of repair and refueling. This cannot be done effectively in combat. A maximum of field repair of stability equal to 1D8 plus the level of the pilot or mechanic's Piloting or Tinkering skill, plus any bonuses, may be made this way.  Prolonged repairs in a machine shop will repair a suit back to full stability between sessions.