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Old 07-30-2011, 05:02 AM   #1
dds_ks
 
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Default "Hardened" for artificial armor?

For Damage Resistance (DR) it is possible to buy the enhancement Hardened, which reduces the Armor Divisor (AD) of the attacker (B 46, 47).

Is there any way to get this for artificial armor, especially magic armor?
Shatterproof (M 118) and Toughen (M 119) don't seem to fit.

If not: What should a newly invented Make & Break spell "Reinforce Armor" look like? And what about an enchantment "Unpenetratable Armor"?
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Old 07-30-2011, 07:51 AM   #2
DouglasCole
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dds_ks View Post
For Damage Resistance (DR) it is possible to buy the enhancement Hardened, which reduces the Armor Divisor (AD) of the attacker (B 46, 47).

Is there any way to get this for artificial armor, especially magic armor?
Shatterproof (M 118) and Toughen (M 119) don't seem to fit.

If not: What should a newly invented Make & Break spell "Reinforce Armor" look like? And what about an enchantment "Unpenetratable Armor"?
My pyramid article on bows suggests x20 cost at TL4 or less will get you +1DR (that's straight out of Low Tech, but at x4) and one level of Hardened.

For metal armors of certain types, hardened is just a lot of careful pounding and a careful heat treatment, plus careful selection of good quality metal.

For modern materials, you'll need things like hard plates, usually ceramics, but occasionally ultra hard or face-hardened metals.

The thing about Hardened is that if two projectiles of the same energy have an equal change to penetrate, but one's AP and the other isn't, you have it. If the AP projectile can get through a larger thickness of your 'hardened' armor than the non AP of a given energy, your armor is just higher DR.

That's an interpretation of game rules for the real world, not the other way around, of course.
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Old 07-31-2011, 12:19 PM   #3
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by DouglasCole View Post
For modern materials, you'll need things like hard plates, usually ceramics, but occasionally ultra hard or face-hardened metals.
High-tech seems to avoid using generic hardened at all, but rather uses specific rules for laminate, reactive, and similar armor technologies.

It seems possible for Low-Tech armors that reduce ADs from targeting chinks (through uniform thickness) or ADs from weapons (arrows, and the optional rule from LTC:2) but not necessarily both.
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Old 07-31-2011, 12:42 PM   #4
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
It seems possible for Low-Tech armors that reduce ADs from targeting chinks (through uniform thickness)
That's not actually an armor divisor, is it? It divides the armor without reference to the armor divisor mechanism.
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Old 07-31-2011, 12:49 PM   #5
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
That's not actually an armor divisor, is it?
No idea, I've always treated them as ADs, but I suppose you are probably right. At any rate High-Tech seems to imply that Hardened isn't realistic (or else it would have used it instead of composition specific rules). Of course a spell that grants Hardened doesn't need to be realistic, and has a more legitimate place in the current rules than Deflect does; it's absence seems to be yet another example of Magic's incompleteness.
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Old 07-31-2011, 01:07 PM   #6
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
No idea, I've always treated them as ADs, but I suppose you are probably right. At any rate High-Tech seems to imply that Hardened isn't realistic (or else it would have used it instead of composition specific rules). Of course a spell that grants Hardened doesn't need to be realistic, and has a more legitimate place in the current rules than Deflect does; it's absence seems to be yet another example of Magic's incompleteness.
I have a weird hunch that Magic will eventually be overlooked in favour of MH RPM, even outside the genre. Based on the number of threads lately, sure, but it could become a trend.
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Old 07-31-2011, 02:17 PM   #7
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
I have a weird hunch that Magic will eventually be overlooked in favour of MH RPM, even outside the genre. Based on the number of threads lately, sure, but it could become a trend.
RPM is probably appropriate for some settings/genres but I don't see it as being anywhere near universally applicable.
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Old 07-31-2011, 03:06 PM   #8
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Default Re: "Hardened" for artificial armor?

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Originally Posted by dds_ks View Post
... Is there any way to get this for artificial armor, especially magic armor? ...
The Reinforce Armor imbuement (Pyramid #3/4, p. 13) can temporarily add the Hardened enhancement to armor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dds_ks View Post
... What should a newly invented Make & Break spell "Reinforce Armor" look like?
Since a level of the Hardened enhancement costs one-fifth that of a level of the DR advantage, I'd look at pricing a Reinforce Armor enchantment at one-fifth the cost of the Fortify enchantment (p. M66) -- 10 energy per DR for one level of Hardened, 40 energy per DR for two levels, 160 energy per DR for three levels, etc. This will make it possible to give one or two levels of Hardened to lighter armor using Quick and Dirty enchantment (consistent with the first level of Fortify being Q&D), but heavier armor or more levels of Hardened will generally require Slow and Sure.

Last edited by munin; 07-31-2011 at 03:13 PM.
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