| From: | "S. Keith Graham" <vapspcx@***.GATECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Armor in SR.. |
| Date: | Tue, 5 Apr 1994 21:36:36 -0400 |
Heavy armors slow the user, but provide extra padding to
help absorb damage.
No amount of quickness, training, or strength will counteract
the penalty. Just helps to be fast to begin with.
Any armor with an "Impact" rating of greater than 3 reduces
quickness (and calculated reaction) by 1 for every point.
Partial armor is -1, Full Armor is -3. However, these armors
add 1 and 3 points respectively to body vs. all attacks.
Discard the current "slowing" rule. Having a high quickness is
a benefit in and of itself, and shouldn't be a "double bonus".
=======================================
Justification:
Even a "vest with plates" doesn't provide "full" coverage. Nor does
it cover (and block) most joints. It helps, but only if you're able
to get hit in the torso.
A Body 1 character who gets hit by a *deadly* wound from a pistol has
been shot by a fairly skilled character (and/or completely from
suprise and/or at very close range.) Odds are, even with light armor,
he's taken a shot to the head, or had his arm nearly blown off, etc.
(And we're assuming no combat pool in these examples.)
Heavier armor helps (up to a 4 body with full armor), but still won't
get them off without damage. Remember, this is a *really* frail person.
Probaby someone that an average computer geek could hurt with bare hands. :)
And I don't think anyone makes body armor today that can stop a .50
cal slug. Maybe after its been through the side of a helicopter, but
not in direct fire. They just have *way* too much kinetic energy.
(And most police body armor doesn't have a hope of stopping any rifle,
including assault rifles... And most military armor is designed to stop
fragmentation weapons, or so I've been told, not direct fire.)
Keith Graham
vapspcx@***.gatech.edu
