Passive Defense and 4e

[Glimmerman]

To recreate PD in 4e you could subtract PD of an armor from an attacker's successes instead of adding to the armor-user's defense roll. If Successes-PD is less than zero, the blow has been deflected from the armor after defender's unsuccessful or non-existing defense roll.

For more tweaking you can readjust PD penalties: hard leather/wood has PD 1, chain/scale has PD 2 and basic plate armor has PD 3*.

For even more tweaking for each 3 dice of damage that an attack does, it eliminates 1 point of PD from the target's armor. And 1-handed crushing weapon removes PD penalty by 1, 2-handed by 2.

*PD 4 for TL4 Maximilian armor with more curves and narrower ridges (ribbed plate), which creates better deflecting angles.
__________________
Glimmerman
www.gurpsgroundzero.com
"Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."