By: Jared Biti
In this article, I am going to talk about the variety of defensive equipment that can be found in TTRPGs. I will also address a few ways it can be acquired in those game worlds/settings. This will include buying it, crafting it, and earning it.
Alright lets start with the simple things. Armor and defensive “weapons”. So armor is pretty straightforward. It’s something that usually has a weight to it that the PC can wear that increases their ability to either take more damage or to avoid taking damage altogether. In fantasy settings, it is normally the latter. This comes in scales of “weight”. So we have light, medium, and heavy armors. Typically, the light armors are your leather, studded leather, bone, that kind of thing. These armors allow the wearer to still benefit from their dexterity or agility stat towards their defense. The medium armors are like your breast plates, banded armor, or half plate. It also covers more than the light armor. It is typically heavier and either limits or removes the dex/agility attribute contribution. This armor classification also often limits the wearer’s ability to be stealthy. This is presumably from the weight and the added pieces that make it a better defense, but it makes noise when the wearer moves. And lastly, we have the heavy armors. This is your chain mail, your full plate, etc. It’s typically only worn by the full-class fighters or soldiers. This armor does not allow for any benefit from the dexterity and agility of the character, but usually provides significant benefits in the defense department. The other advantage is that it allows the PC to not worry about the dexterity or agility so much and focus on their strength and constitution/endurance that are typically desired for heavy fighter types.
The drawback, in my opinion, of the AC, armor class-based systems that limit the ability of attacks to land at all, is that you can hit a point of immunity. Using 5e D&D as an example: If your PC has a combined AC 23 and your enemy creature has a max of +3, then they only hit 5% of the time; less than that, they do not hit at all. The other defense mechanic, other than limiting hit ability, is “Damage Reduction,” also known as DR.
In non-fantasy settings, the armor often functions as a simple DR. So the armor rating is the amount of damage it keeps from reaching the wearer. Some armor requires training in its use. Others, like the light armors mentioned above, do not. The armor provides DR to incoming damage, and it allows the mechanics of defense to be more granular. It also means the combat mechanics are likely tuned to where you get hit more often, but with little to no damage. The end result of either armor system can result in being so equipped that no amount of incoming attacks of a certain caliber will ever reach the wearer of the armor. As a GM/DM, I would try to avoid this, as it gives the PCs the feeling of impunity when dealing with “common folk” in your settings.
Other equipment can include things like shields or magical items that boost the armor rating of the wearer. Again, in typical D&D fantasy, this means making the PC harder to hit. In other settings, shields can give a “cover rating”. All this implies is a defense akin to a character hiding behind a piece of scenery. This applies to the defense in much the same way as the D&D armor. Usually, a negative modifier of -1 to -3 to the incoming attack.
Now we come to how it can be acquired. The first way is from the PC’s starting equipment. This is based on PC Class in D&D or based on Careers in a system like Traveller. The other obvious way is for the PCs to buy it. This relies on the GM/DM allowing it to be available to purchase in the setting from a merchant or shop. If this is done, I would recommend the GM get a “wish list” from the players so they know what to try and plant in loot or make available. This brings us to another way. Loot. This method requires the GM to pay more attention to what the PCs and their characters need or would likely use. Of course, if you want to keep it to purchasing, then just give them the ol’ “giftcard” in the loot in the form of the settings currency so they can go back in town and buy what they want. I personally prefer the loot method over others just because I do not like just giving out currency in my games.
Lastly, they can craft the equipment they want. I plan to go more in-depth in crafting in a later article, so I will only touch on it here. The general gist is to provide them with the ability to buy or find the raw materials they will need. Depending on how granular you want to go with this part of your game play will determine how detailed you get with the materials, but generally, you want the materials to craft something to be roughly half the value of the finished product. And then they need to have the tools, or be able to borrow them, and have a shop more often than not, in which to do the work. If you want to nickel-and-dime them, you could include a rental fee for the shop space, but even with that, I would advise against having the crafting cost above 60% of the value of the finished product. Look for the future article where I delve into that.
That said, I hope that gives you a real general idea of the types of items that are out there to help make a PC’s defense stats better! If you have more ideas or want to contribute what you have seen, come talk with us on Discord! Thank you for reading, and Game On!
About the Author
Jared “Martel” B has been GMing and playing in several TTRPG’s since late 2013. Enjoys the challenge of bringing his players worlds and stories straight from his mind in the moment that it happens. He is one of the Founders of RPGCounterpoint, happy husband to an active historian wife, and father to two puppers and a toddler!
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