Armor

If your character knows the Armored Combat skill, you can wear armor, which increases your ability to withstand damage.

Physical Representation

Unlike other items in the game, which, for safety reasons, cannot be real, in-play armor must be represented by the real thing out of play. Thus, if you want your character to wear a set of full plate, you must own and wear a real set of full plate. As with boffer weapons and shields, armor must be inspected by a prop marshal before it can be worn in play.

Armor Points

The amount of protection you gain from wearing armor is measured in armor points. Armor points act as bonus health and are deducted first as you take damage. Unlike health, armor points cannot be healed, but are automatically replenished after one minute of rest.

The number of armor points granted by a piece of armor is determined by its type and location, as shown on the chart below. Torso values apply to armor worn on the chest and back. Appendage values apply to armor worn on the arms, legs, feet, hands, and head.

Stacking

Note that it is not possible to stack multiple pieces of armor on the same location for cumulative benefit. However, additional layers of protection may qualify armor as higher tier, as determined by the prop marshal who checks the armor in. A partial plate chest piece on top of a hardened leather jerkin, for example, may qualify as Tier IV rather than Tier III.

Material Points

Armor crafted from special in-play materials may grant additional protection in the form of material points. Material points are identical to armor points in every way; they act as bonus health, cannot be healed, and return after one minute of rest. The only difference is that material points do not count against the character's maximum armor point total.

Non-Proficiency

The Armored Combat skill indicates a maximum number of armor points at each rank. A character wearing more than this maximum does not benefit from armor points above the maximum. Thus, a character with one rank in Armored Combat who wears 24 points of armor can only benefit from 20, since that's the maximum at rank one. Note that a character with no ranks in Armored Combat cannot benefit from armor at all, but suffers no ill effect from wearing it.