Of ST and Armor

[Kieddicus]

I didn't find my Father's old system on how ST affects wearing armor, but my brother did come up with an interesting idea today.

To start off all weapons require 2 less ST to wield than normal. Then instead of armor reducing your DX, it adds to your weapon's ST requirement. So for example chain-mail makes your weapon require 3 more ST to properly use.

One of the nice things this does is make fighters of equal ST not all have the same weapon. Instead of a ST 13 fighter only having either a Bastard Sword, Morningstar, or Halberd, one fighter might have leather armor with one of the previously mentioned weapons, while another might have no armor and a Battle Ax, and yet another might be wearing Plate Armor while dual wielding Sabers.

[JimmyPlenty]

I do like this idea, although I would highly prefer the DX penalty not be taken away. 13-14 gets close to auto-hit mode. I like the idea of keeping that at bay.

But, unless someone proves it broken, I like it!

[hcobb]

It's been changed

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/legacy_first.html#Gameplay

My hack is to use Toughness to reduce armor penalty.

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/house_rules.html#IQ9Talents

[Kieddicus]

Originally Posted by JimmyPlenty

I do like this idea, although I would highly prefer the DX penalty not be taken away. 13-14 gets close to auto-hit mode. I like the idea of keeping that at bay.

But, unless someone proves it broken, I like it!

That is a fair point, no reason we can't have both.

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by hcobb

My hack is to use Toughness to reduce armor penalty.

Nicely subtle!

I've toyed with the idea of trying out ST minimums for both armor and shields for years, but the roadblock that keeps stopping me is that the way things already are, both work as if proportional to a figure's size without ever having to set or track that size. Of course this comes with the implication that armor tailored for a halfling shouldn't fit an elf, and elf's shouldn't fit a dwarf, etc. Each of the species should have different sizes or proportions even if you had one figure of each, and they were all ST 12. In which case, new weights should be assigned to the armor for each if and when you are factoring weight carried into encumbrance. (But then the complication in assuming everything is proportionate to its owner is that, logically, if a beefy human drops their small shield and a halfling picks it up, shouldn't it count as a large shield when used by the halfling?)

All of which starts becoming such a pain, it's easier to just leave things alone and use the RAW. Never once have I seen figures wish to trade armors in play. But if it came up I'd house rule whether or not I'd allow it on an individual basis. Or I'd house rule a cargo of 20 suits of halfling chain male weighed less than 20 suits of human chain male, if and when there ever was a moment where it mattered.

The best enchantment for a set of armor would really be to have it adjust it's size and fit to whomever tried putting it on, with the perfect fit perhaps reflected in a smaller DX penalty as well.