Armor Is Useless: Difference between revisions
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** Firearms, if allowed, render armour useless at close range since they are treated as touch attacks.
* [[Star Wars]] d20 had armor that really was useless, unless you were already almost dead. It provided damage reduction only when you were out of vitality points or against a critical hit, when damage went to wound points. So for most of a battle, all most armor did was provide a situation bonus to one ability and an armor check penalty to certain skills. ...yay? It also denied you your class-based AC and limited your max Dex Bonus. This could be designed to reflect the stormtrooper armor's uselessness.
** In ''[[Star Wars]]: Saga Edition'', characters gain bonuses to their Reflex Defense (the defense that keeps blaster bolts hitting you) from armor or a [[Statistically Speaking|level-based bonus]], and they don't stack. At higher levels, it's better to go into a fight naked, rather than wearing the heaviest protection you can find, and at early levels it's unlikely you can afford armor better than your bonus. However, it isn't played completely straight as the bonuses to Fortitude Defense from armor do stack and with the right talents, you can get them to stack with the Reflex Defense as well. For NPCs (who don't get higher reflex defense with level unless they're important enough to have levels in a PC class) however, armor is mandatory and gives foes respectable Reflex Defense.
** Fantasy Flight Games' system (''Edge of the Empire'', ''Age of Rebellion'' and ''Force and Destiny'') averts this. Armor adds to your soak (damage reduction) and sometimes Defense (harder to hit) at the mere cost of money and encumbrance (and if it's actually worn, often not even that). The book notes that while Stormtrooper armor can't stop blasters, it '''can''' stop frag grenades and other shrapnel (indeed, issuing armor just to stop shrapnel has ample precedent in the real world). Two important things to note: Stormtrooper armor is ''not'' heavy armor, it's quality ''light'' armor with non-armor accessories like vision upgrades in the helmet and environmental protection in the glove (the same was true of the above d20 system). One of the better armor options in the core book however is "armored clothing", [[Exactly What it Says on the Tin|which is armor disguised as clothing]].
* One of the most notable examples in the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' background is the standard issue flak armour of the Imperial Guard - a bulletproof, heat and shrapnel resistant uniform with potentially extra armoured-areas by our standards... and is generally useless against most of the weaponry of the other species within ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. The [[Power Armor]] worn by the [[Space Marine]] Mascots, on the other hand, is generally an aversion. Most weapons have a better than even chance of bouncing off harmlessly, and the even more powerful Terminator Armor is protection against anything short of Heavy Anti-tank weaponry or plasma weapons, and for dealing with such weapons, [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|Storm Shields]] and [[Energy Shields|The built in energy shield]] of terminator armor still provide reasonable protection.
** Admitedly, the weaponry used by other species includes, but is not limited to, [[BFG|armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades]], [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|mono-edged high-speed shurikens]], [[Abnormal Ammo|armored flesh-eating acidic worms]] or [[Energy Weapon|droplets of superheated plasma]]. And thats just what the line infantry uses. Especialists and other elites can, and often do, pack much deadlier weaponry. On the other hand, flak armor provides quite decent protection against lasbolts, bullets (even high-caliber ones) and most conventional melee weapons and its one of the best armors available to starting characters in the [[Dark Heresy|RPG]].
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