Armor

Armor referes to clothing and gear your character wears for protection.

Armor Rating and Type
Armor's primary stat is Armor Rating, which is mainly determined by the type of armor you use. See the table below for a list of Armor types and their typical Armor Rating: The rating is added as a modifier to your defensive rolls. So with plate armor, your defensive rolls gain a +4.

Damage Type and Resistances
Armor is also effected by the type of damage you receive, referred to as the Armor's Resistance.

Each type of armor has a Resistance modifier for each type of damage, determining its effectiveness at protecting against that type. These modifiers are: By default, all standard armor is weak against Bludgeoning damage (such as from Maces) and the heavier armor types are stronger against Slashing and Piercing damage.
 * Strong: +2 to Armor Rating.
 * Average: No change to Armor Rating
 * Weak: -2 to Armor Rating.

The following table shows standard armor resistances per type: So standard Plate Armor vs Slashing and Piercing damage is a +6, but vs Bludgeoning only a +2. Leather armor offers +2 defence to Slashing and Piercing, but no defence to Bludgeoning damage.

Standard armor offers no resistance against magic damage whatsoever.

For more information on damage types, see Damage Types.

Armor Requirements
Some armor has requirements to wear it effectively, and failing to meet that requirement might impact negatively on your character's stats, if they try to wear armor not suited to them. See the list below:

Plate Armor
Plate Armor is heavy and requires Strength to wear without lowering your mobility. You require Strength equal to your Amor Rating, and falling below this will lower your Dexterity by the difference.

''E.g. +4 Plate requires +4 Strength. If you had only +2 Strength, your Dexterity would suffer a -2 while wearing the it.''

Mail Armor
Mail armor is also heavy, though considerably lighter than its Plate counterpart. You require Strength equal to half your Armor Rating (rounded up), and falling below this will lower your Dexterity by the difference.

''E.g. +3 Mail requires +2 Strength (3/2 = 1.5, rounded up) to wear. If you had only +1 Strength, your Dexterity would suffer a -1 while wearing it.''

Leather Armor
Leather armor is lighter and does not restrict your movement, but is usually weaker as a result. There are no requirements to wear Leather armor.

Cloth Armor
Like Leather, Cloth armor is very lightweight and does not restrict you, but is weaker than all other armor. There are no requirements to wear Cloth armor.

Modified Armor and Special Armor
The above information refers to what is considered to be standard armor; military issue plate, mail, leather etc. Some characters might have modified their armor to be lighter, or protect better at one type at the expense of another, or be enchanted to protect against certain types of magic, etc.

For example, armor made of Saronite might protect fully against magic, allowing you to add your armor rating to defence rolls against magic damage.

For now such modifications will be done on a case-by-case basis and if you want your armor to be unique somehow, discuss it with your DM.

Guidelines will be added for modified or special armor as people ask for them.