Armour protects you and reduces damage when you are hit. There are three broad armour types: Light, Medium, and Heavy.
Being Struck in Armour
You are struck more easily while wearing heavier armour:
- Medium armour: attackers get +1 to hit you.
- Heavy armour: attackers get +2 to hit you.
Damage Reduction
Armour reduces damage based on damage type:
- S = Slashing damage
- P = Piercing damage
- C = Crushing damage
- E = Energy damage
Proficiency
Using armour effectively requires at least 1 rank in the matching proficiency ability:
- Light Armour Proficiency
- Medium Armour Proficiency
- Heavy Armour Proficiency
- You lose 1 additional point of movement.
- You take -1 to hit with attacks.
- All movement provokes reaction.
- Attackers gain +1 to hit you, in addition to the armour's normal penalty.
Casting in Armour
Casting spells in armour increases the chance of an awry result. The listed Awry value increases the number you need to roll, or less, on a d20 for a spell to potentially go awry.
Shields add to this chance. For example, leather armour with +1 Awry and a medium shield with +2 Awry creates an awry chance of 3.
Light Armour
| Armour | Armour Category | Incoming Hit Bonus | Slash | Crush | Pierce | Awry | Fatigue | Move Modifier | Cost | Weight | Notes |
| Hide | Light | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | - | 0 | - | - | Includes tough skin and hide-like protection |
| Leather | Light | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | - | 0 | - | - | Flexible light armour |
Medium Armour
Attackers get +1 to hit you while you wear medium armour.
| Armour | Armour Category | Incoming Hit Bonus | Slash | Crush | Pierce | Awry | Fatigue | Move Modifier | Cost | Weight | Notes |
| Scale | Medium | +1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +2 | - | -1 | 75 | 35 | Includes scale-like armour |
| Medium | +1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | +3 | - | -1 | 120 | 45 | Flexible linked armour | |
| Mail with coat of plates | Medium | +1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | +4 | - | -1 | 145 | 60 | Reinforced mail |
| Mithril mail | Medium | +1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | +3 | - | 0 | - | - | Lighter magical or exotic mail |
| Wood | Medium | +1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +3 | - | 0 | - | - | Unusual or regional armour type |
Heavy Armour
Attackers get +2 to hit you while you wear heavy armour.
| Armour | Armour Category | Incoming Hit Bonus | Slash | Crush | Pierce | Awry | Fatigue | Move Modifier | Cost | Weight | Notes |
| Bar mail | Heavy | +2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | +7 | - | -2 | 300 | 60 | Heavy linked armour |
| Ring mail / Banded | Heavy | +2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | +5 | - | -1 | 380 | 45 | Heavy banded armour |
| Crystal | Heavy | +2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | +5 | - | -1 | - | - | Exotic armour |
| Plate | Heavy | +2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | +7 | - | -1 | 1100 | 55 | Standard heavy plate |
| Stone | Heavy | +2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | +8 | - | -2 | - | - | Extremely heavy exotic armour |
Donning and Doffing
| Category | Don | Doff |
| Light Armour | 2 minutes | 1 minute |
| Medium Armour | 5 minutes | 1 minute |
| Heavy Armour | 10 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Shield | 5 feet of movement | Free |
Armour Degradation
When you are struck by a telling blow, your armour degrades. If you are using a shield, you can choose for the shield to degrade instead.
| Condition Order | Condition |
| 1 | Peerless |
| 2 | Masterwork |
| 3 | Crafted |
| 4 | Standard |
| 5 | Scratched |
| 6 | Dinged |
| 7 | Battered |
| 8 | Damaged |
| 9 | Broken |
| 10 | Ruined |
| 11 | Destroyed |
| 12 | Disintegrated |
Once armour is Damaged, its AR is reduced by 1 in all categories. This reduction continues at each later degradation step.
Armour damaged in this way needs to be repaired or it becomes less effective. Repair normally requires the Armoursmith ability, 8 hours, and appropriate tools. Armoursmith can also increase maximum armour quality: rank 1 creates crafted armour, rank 2 masterwork armour, and rank 3 peerless armour.
Helms
Medium armour and heavier normally includes a helm or helmet. While worn, the helm gives +2 on WIL saves against Psionic attacks.
Partial Armour
If you only had time to throw on pieces like a helmet and gauntlets, you can make an AGL check when an opponent hits you. The check has a penalty equal to how much they hit by. On success, the blow strikes the partial armour. On failure, the partial armour has no effect.
The GM can grant a bonus from +0 to +10 depending on how much time you had to armour up. If unsure, roll D10 or 2D6-2.
Exotic Armour
Any other armour can be specified with different values. Magical or exotic armour might have higher or lower damage reduction, reduced awry chance, reduced weight, resistance to specific damage types, or special properties.
Examples include:
- Shard plate imbued with precious stone
- Magehelms with invisible full visors
- Padded armour or dense wool gambesons
- Mithril variants that reduce awry and weight