Alternate Armor Rules

This is a set of alternate rules for armor in GURPS, inspired in part by HarnMaster and in part by TimeLords (published by Columbia Games and by BTRC, respectively). The table below requires some explanation. The effects of armor have been differentiated vs. four standard types of damage: Blunt damage is most of the attacks that GURPS calls "crushing" (but not bullets), Cutting damage is everything from edged objects like slashing swords or axes, Impaling damage is everything from sharp pointed objects, and Fire damage is also used for "pure energy" attacks and lasers and that sort of thing. Also, DR has been divided into "hard" and "soft" DR, to work with my house rules on "bruise" damage. Note that all DR is "hard" vs. Fire. The notation for armor rating is A:B/C, where A is PD, B is "hard DR", and C is "soft DR".

The table also lists the weight and price per BODY% of covering. Each "hit location" is considered to represent a certain percentage of the body's total area; these are listed further below. Be aware that jointed rigid armor over the various extremities would cost rather more than simply covering all the relevant hit locations. This type of articulated armor doesn't seem to have been at all common until the very end of TL3 and for most of TL4 historically. Before then, someone with "platemail" armor would be vulnerable to attacks in the gaps between adjacent plates of armor; aiming at them might be a -4 called shot, and should sometimes happen randomly (perhaps a 1 in 6 chance when attacking an area where such gaps exist). Against a successful attack aimed at the gap between armor plates, the plate layer should of course be ignored. Also, these gaps tend to coincide with major joints (hip, knee, shoulder, elbow) which are more easily crippled. Even articulated armor should be somewhat weaker at the joints; reduce DR by 1 for those types.

Note: So far, this table only contains armor types appropriate for an early-to-middle TL3 campaign.

ARMOR TYPES

Armor Type
Light Cloth
Heavy Cloth
Soft Leather
Rigid Leather
Quilt
Reinforced Leather
Butted Mail
Riveted Mail
Scale
Thin Plate
Medium Plate
Thick Plate
Weight
.05
.10
.20
.25
.30
.40
.50
.50
.70
.70
.75
.80
Cost
$2
$4
$8
$10
$8
$14
$20
$30
$20
$40
$45
$50
Blunt
0:0/1
0:0/2
1:0/1
3:2/1
1:1/2
2:1/2
2:1/1
2:1/1
3:2/1
3:2/1
3:2/2
3:3/2
Cutting
0:0/1
0:0/2
1:1/2
3:2/2
2:0/2
2:3/3
3:2/6
3:3/5
3:3/3
4:3/3
4:4/3
4:4/4
Impaling
0:0/0
0:0/1
1:1/1
2:2/1
1:1/1
2:2/2
1:1/4
1:2/3
3:2/1
4:2/1
4:2/2
4:3/2
Fire
0:0/0
0:1/0
0:2/0
1:2/0
0:2/0
0:1/0
0:1/0
0:1/0
2:3/0
3:3/0
3:4/0
3:5/0
Layering armor functions quite intuitively: DR is simply added together (hard and soft DR are added up separately), and the best PD value of any single layer is used. Use common sense as to how many layers may be used; in general, several layers of flexible armor may be combined with one layer of rigid armor. The wealthiest knights commonly wear quilt (or sometimes soft leather), covered by mail, with some plates on top of that. Such a combination would weigh in excess of 120 pounds, and give (at the best-protected spots, assuming Medium Plate and Riveted Mail over Quilt) PD 3, DR 4/5 vs Blunt attacks; PD 4, DR 7/10 vs Cutting attacks; PD 4, DR 5/6 vs Impaling attacks; and PD 3, DR 7/0 vs Fire attacks.

Not everyone weighs 150 lbs; the Size Multiplier is derived from the character's body weight, and both weight and cost of armor should be multiplied by it. It is derived from the "square-cube law", and is probably not entirely accurate since people aren't all the same shape, but what the heck. The "BODY%" table shows how many "percentages" of armor must be used to cover each location. Also included is a list of normal material costs and labor requirements to make one "percentage" of each armor type.

Weight (lbs)

50 - 58
58 - 65
66 - 74
75 - 83
84 - 92
93 - 102
103 - 112
113 - 122
123 - 133
134 - 144
145 - 156
157 - 167
168 - 178
179 - 191
192 - 203
204 - 215
216 - 228
229 - 241
242 - 255
256 - 268
269 - 282

Size Multiplier

0.50
0.55
0.60
0.65
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95
1.00
1.05
1.10
1.15
1.20
1.25
1.30
1.35
1.40
1.45
1.50
 

  % OF TOTAL BODY AREA

     4%  Skull/Head
     3%  Face
     2%  Neck
     3%  Both Shoulders
     6%  Both Upper Arms
     2%  Both Elbows
     5%  Both Forearms
     5%  Both Hands
    12%  Chest
    12%  Abdomen
     9%  Both Hips
     1%  Groin
    14%  Both Thighs
     3%  Both Knees
    12%  Both Calves
     7%  Both Feet


 Materials ($) and labor (hours) 

    
       Light Cloth:           $0.8,  1 h.
       Heavy Cloth:           $1.6,  2 h.
       Soft Leather:          $2.4,  4 h.
       Rigid Leather:         $2.0,  5 h.
       Quilt:                 $2.4,  4 h.
       Reinforced Leather:    $2.2,  9 h.
       Butted Mail:           $1.6, 20 h.
       Riveted Mail:          $1.6, 23 h.
       Scale:                 $3.2, 13 h.
       Light Plate:           $2.6, 26 h.
       Medium Plate:          $2.8, 28 h.
       Heavy Plate:           $3.0, 30 h.

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Last modified: Wed Mar 12 13:31:08 PST 1997