Edge Protection rules?

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by restlessgriffin

Armor not worth troubling with? Dungeon Fantasy is based on GURPS. Although it is definitely cinematic, most characters really need armor! It is more lethal than D&D and there are no huge benefits for short rests and especially not for long rests!

Well, it depends.

There are scenarios where armor is fantastic: exploding Doomchildren, for example, or other large-area attacks and explosions of relatively low damage (3d6 / 3 * range). Dragons' breath weapons, Create Fire spells, fields of caltrops, and many traps also fall into this category. Ditto medium-strength enemies like orcs who target random hit locations instead of specifically the torso. A light segmented plate (DR 3) gauntlet can be the difference between losing 4 HP to a 6 cutting damage blow to the hand, vs. losing 5 HP and the hand. Plate mail boots can keep you from getting crippled by caltrops. Etc.

There are scenarios where armor doesn't matter: swashbucklers with high defenses supported by Luck and Bless when they go up against a Sword Saint or Giant Ape are going to be either fine or dead.

There are scenarios where armor is useful but not necessarily worth the loss of mobility and movement speed. That's pretty common in dungeons: if you wear DR 6 plate you'll be too slow to run away from Black Puddings, but you have a better chance against Horde Pygmies (especially if you've got a full helm that protects your face) and a better chance not to get your arms chopped off if you meet a peshkali who likes to go for the arms. But if you don't know which threat you're going to face, which do you pick?

The answer isn't obvious, but as a GM you should do your best to make players with no armor sometimes wish they had worn armor, and players who wear armor sometimes wish they had less encumbrance. Don't make it an easy question.