Armor Failure Point

[Eddie T]

Is there a point at which a suit of armor (be it medieval plate or TL11 monocrys), structurally fails? The armor is no longer useable?

I don't mean ablative armor, per se. I'm thinking more like modern day ballistic plates cracking if you drop them the wrong way, a suit of armor getting riddled by machinegun fire and looking like swiss cheese after, a breastplate getting pierced to the same effect, etc.

I've looked at Basic Set, Ultra-Tech and High-Tech (I don't own Low-Tech) and I can't find anything that talks about it.

The closest I've come is the HP and DR of Structures table on B558 and B559, with the small paragraph about repeated damage at the same spot effectively being ablative.

[mlangsdorf]

Modern ballistic armor should really be ablative for the early Kevlar generations and semi-ablative for the more modern stuff. They are really not intended to be used again after being shot a few times.

Rules for general armor damage appear in Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors p 25.

[Culture20]

(Chain) maille is easy to repair; rivet a few links in the hole and Bob’s your uncle. For plate armor, the steel doesn’t change material if it’s been cracked or punctured. A competent smith could forge weld it back together and make it functional again, but it wouldn’t be a fast process, as the whole piece would have to be laborously reshaped for the (presumably) new wearer and heat treated to proper hardness again. If it was corroded by acids or rusted by magic, give it to a smith as scrap steel to make housewares from.

[DanHoward]

Plate armour was usually repaired by riveting a patch over the damaged section. It also looks like they might have had a kind of "spackle" that they used for smaller repairs. Once it was damaged too much to repair, it was cut up and turned into jacks of plates.

[khorboth]

I've seen a number of optional and/or house rules on the subject. In general, I haven't seen anything where the increased realism is worth the headache of the extra bookkeeping. In my group, we accept that there is armor and weapon maintenance going on in the background and that it doesn't need to rise to the level of bookkeeping.

[mr beer]

Originally Posted by khorboth

I've seen a number of optional and/or house rules on the subject. In general, I haven't seen anything where the increased realism is worth the headache of the extra bookkeeping. In my group, we accept that there is armor and weapon maintenance going on in the background and that it doesn't need to rise to the level of bookkeeping.

That's how I feel about it too.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by mr beer

That's how I feel about it too.

Likewise. If I was running a gritty game that used modern armour with ballistic plates, I might suggest that they needed replacing every time they stopped lots of damage.

[sir_pudding]

The normal rules for damage to objects should apply, so an armor piece is going to have to start rolling for failure at -HP and automatically fail at - 5×HP.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Likewise. If I was running a gritty game that used modern armour with ballistic plates, I might suggest that they needed replacing every time they stopped lots of damage.

That is the case anyway. You always replace SAPIs that have been hit, this is actually printed on the things in real life.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Plate armour was usually repaired by riveting a patch over the damaged section. It also looks like they might have had a kind of "spackle" that they used for smaller repairs. Once it was damaged too much to repair, it was cut up and turned into jacks of plates.

I don't think I've ever seen any such plate in fiction or artwork. My "Google-fu" sucks. Could you link to some images if you know of any?