Weaponry & Armor
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Weaponry & Armor “Imagine walking five hundred miles over the course of two weeks, carrying an arquebus, a bardiche, a stone of grain, another stone of water, ten pounds of shot, your own armor, your tent, whatever amenities you want for yourself, and your lord’s favorite dog. In the rain. In winter. With dysentery. Alright, are you imagining that? Now imagine that as soon as you’re done with that, you need to actually fight the enemy. You have a horse, but a Senator’s nephew is riding it. You’re knee-deep in mud, and you’ve just been assigned a rookie to train. He speaks four languages, none of which are yours, and has something to prove. Now he’s drunk and arguing with your superiors, you haven’t slept in thirty hours, you’ve just discovered that the fop has broken your horse’s leg in a gopher hole, and your gun’s wheellock is broken, when just then out of the dark comes the beating of war-drums. Someone screams, and a cannonball lands in your cooking fire, where you were drying your boots. “Welcome to war. Enjoy your stay.” -Mago Straddock Dacian Volkodav You’re probably going to see a lot of combat in Song of Swords, and you’re going to want to be ready for it. This section includes everything you need to know about weapons, armor, and the cost of carrying them to battle. That includes fatigue and encumbrance. When you kit up, remember that you don’t have to wear all of your armor all of the time, nor do you need to carry everything physically on your person. Buy a horse, and load him up instead, don’t carry more hardware on your person than is strictly necessary, unless you expect a fight to go down around the next corner. Weight & Encumbrance A character’s Encumbrance is the degree to which they are hindered by the equipment, baggage and armor that they’re wearing and carrying. This is as much tied to the awkwardness of the things being carried as it is to the weight. A character’s Encumbrance Level is determined by their Endurance Score, and the total Weight they are currently carrying. Weight is determined by the following: -Stowed/Sheathed/Holstered Weapons (Weapons currently being wielded do not add to Encumbrance) -Worn or carried Armor -Miscellaneous Gear/Equipment/Items carried in pockets, satchels, and backpacks. Generally, 20 lbs in a backpack or 10 lbs in pockets/over the shoulder should equal 1 Weight. Superior carrying equipment, like a large framed backpack or a harness may further decrease these numbers, situationally. There are four Levels of Encumbrance. Unencumbered, Light, Medium, and Heavy. Each Encumbrance Level has a different effect on a character’s Combat Pool, Mobility, certain Skill Checks, and also on Exhaustion. Skills that suffer additional difficulty from Encumbrance have a special tag, as shown in the Skills section. Table X.X Encumbrance Level Encumbrance Mobility Skill Exhaustion Recover Weight CP Effect Level Effect Penalty Speed Speed Less than END Unencumbered 0 0 0 x1 1x Equal to END Light -1 -2 +1 RS x 1.5 1x 2x END Medium -2 -4 +2 RS x 2 1/2x 3x END Heavy -3 -6 +3 RS x 3 1/4x 4x END Overloaded -4 -8 +4 RS x3.5 None At 5x Endurance and beyond, the character is too heavily encumbered to move, and cannot engage in combat or make any sort of skill or attribute tests that involves moving. Reducing the load is the only way to continue moving. Exhaustion & Fatigue As characters exerts themselves physically, either in combat or other strenuous activities like running, jumping or severe lifting, fatigue will begin to set in. -side bar- [Fatigue rules add another layer of realism to combat, but also another layer of complexity. These should be considered Optional Rules, and can be safely ignored in campaigns with new players, those more interested in heroic action, and those who wish to keep bookkeeping to a minimum.] Fatigue Points At the beginning of each Bout Cycle (go to page X.X), while in combat, all characters in the combat who acted in the previous Cycle gain one Fatigue point. Encumbrance and Environmental effects can increase this amount (being Medium Encumbered, for example, causes a character to gain double the normal number of Fatigue). Once a character reaches the amount of Fatigue to move to the next level of Exhaustion, they suffer penalties until they’ve had a chance to rest. Table X.X Fatigue Level Mobility Fatigue Level Exhaustion Level CP Penalty Skill Penalty Penalty Less than 10 Fresh 0 0 0 11-20 Winded -1 -1 -1 21-30 Tired -2 -2 -2 31-40 Very Tired -4 -4 -4 41+ Exhausted -6 -6 -6 Resting A character who takes no Actions during a Bout Cycle (or who only takes Actions that do not cause Fatigue) loses Fatigue equal to his Endurance score, modified by his Encumbrance level (see Recovery Speed). Full-Face Helmets and Visors half a character’s Endurance for this purpose, unless lifted or removed (see Movable Visors later in this section for more details. Armor Armor Value The Armor Value, or “AV” of a piece of armor, has three entries. Armor versus Cutting (AVC), Armor versus Piercing (AVP) and Armor versus Bludgeoning (AVB). • When an individual is attacked with a weapon and suffers damage, the Armor adds its AV to his Toughness for the purposes of resisting that damage. The AV used is, obviously, of the category of damage that is being suffered. So if a piece of armor has AV 8/7/6, and a character suffers a Piercing attack to the area protected by this armor, then he benefits from 7 AV. Armor Weight Armor Weight is a measurement not on the literal weight in pounds of the armor, but of the amount of subjective weight that the wearing of it imposes upon the character. Much as modern backpacks endeavor to distribute weight evenly between shoulders and hips, armor worn on the torso is much less encumbering than armor worn on extremities. Armor Weight across the character is added together, and used for determining their current Encumbrance. Don’t forget that backpacks and other non-armor loads are also used in determining Encumbrance. Coverage The Coverage of a piece of armor details what hit locations the piece covers, and provides AV to. Some Armor provides only Half AV to certain Hit Locations. These will be marked with an Asterisk (*) in their entries. Armor can be layered within reason, but the AVs do not combine unless specifically stated in the Special section of the armor. However, layered armor always uses the highest AV of the layered pieces against any attack to that area. This can be very advantageous against certain kinds of weapons. • For example, combining Padded Armor with Chainmail provides a character with an extremely high bonus against armor- piercing arrows (AV 8 from the Textile Armor), as well as the Mail’s exceptional AV against broadhead arrows (AV 6 or 8, depending on the Mail’s weight), and thoroughly taking the bite out of arrows with the Spatulate-Tip rules, like those infernal “Swallowtail” arrows. • Some armor cannot be layered. Obviously only one helmet can be worn at a time, but a coif or padding can be worn beneath a helmet. In general, it is impossible for multiple armors of the same type (quilted, leather, chain, plate, etc) to occupy the same space unless one of them has the Layer special quality. • If an armor’s Coverage ever lists “Full X,” with X being a limb (Arm, Leg), the Torso, or the Head, then every hit location on that section of the body is covered by the armor. • “Leg” refers to the Thigh, Knee, Shin and Foot. • “Arm” refers to the Shoulder, Upper Arm, Elbow, Forearm and Hand. • “Torso” refers to the Chest, side, hip, and belly. • “Head” refers to the Upper Head, Lower Head, and Face. • The Neck/Throat and Groin, are never included in “Full” armor listings, and are not covered unless they are listed separately. • All Armor is considered symmetrical by default. The cost and weight of any Shoulder, Arm, Hip or Leg armor includes two pieces, one for each arm/leg/shoulder/hip/etc. For Asymmetrical armor (a pauldron on one arm, a greave on one shin, etc) halve the cost and weight of the armor piece. If the Weight is .5, reduce it to 0. Special The Special rules of a piece of armor note any unusual and special effects of that armor, like it layering with other armor in a unique way, providing unique armor bonuses against certain types of attacks, influencing encumbrance/exhaustion differently than normal, etc. Some of these rules are Generic, and are compiled at the end of the Armor section in their own table. Perception Penalty Only Helmets and other head-covering pieces of armor have this category. Perception Penalty (PP) is a penalty applied to Perception, so long as the helmet is being worn. This represents the obscured vision and limited breathing of the helmet. This penalty can sometimes be alleviated by raising or lowering the helmet’s visor, as detailed in the helmet’s Special section, or the section of its Visor if the visor is attached. Cost This is the cost of the piece of armor. At the GM’s discretion, this number can vary greatly depending on availability and local economic climate. If a gigantic battle was fought in the fields outside of the city, and the markets are now flooded with the looted swords, armor and other goods of the dead, then it is quite reasonable for the cost of second-hand gear to have gone down significantly.