Armor and Shields
Click Here for a spreadsheet of stats for armor and shields.
This article is still under construction, with many entries being only brief descriptions rather than fully fleshed out. If you spot problems let me know.
QUALITY:
Armor is available in Normal, Good and Excellent quality. Normal quality stats are given in the armor table. Good quality gear increases the maximum dexterity bonus by 1, and reduces all penalties by 1 (or by 5% for ASF), but costs 50% more. Excellent quality increases the armor bonus and all DR types by 1, increases the maximum dexterity bonus by 2, and reduces all penalties by 2 (or 10% for ASF), in addition to giving an additional gadget slot, but costs twice what a normal suit of the type would.
A word on improvised armor:
I'm not going to try to come up with set-in-stone stats for improvised armor. There are far too many types of readily available apparel that could be used in an attempt to protect yourself from attacks, from protective gear for sports like hockey or American football, to workplace safety equipment, to a simple padded life vest - and this is all before getting to people who staple metal plates to a jacket and call it armor. I have included one example of where this sort of madness can lead (the Street War Gear), which is enough to get an idea of the kinds of problems it can face.
In actual play, if a player or npc tries to cobble together some makeshift armor, or go into battle wearing goalie gear, just make up the stats. Most decently protective stuff will add more to DR than to AC, and in any case it should be worse than real armor in some way. Realistically, improvised armor should fall apart after receiving heavy damage, but that kind of realism can kill the fun in a game so feel free to ignore it if it's out of line with the tone you and the players are going for.
Armor descriptions:
Armor or Shield Bonus: This is the number the suit adds to your armor class. It can be improved with magic or gadgets, but usually does not stack with other bonuses of the same type, although there are exceptions (see Longcoats below, for example).
Maximum Dexterity Bonus: How much of your Dexterity bonus to armor class can be applied while wearing this armor.
Armor Check Penalty: This states the penalty you take to movement skills that might be impeded by coating your body in metal, such as jumping, swimming, dancing or sneaking.
Arcane Spell Failure Chance: This is the chance that your armor will get in the way of the funny little gestures you have to do to cast arcane magic.
Speed Reduction: This is the amount you are slowed by wearing the armor, due to its weight, bulk, or lack of flexibility.
Weight: How much the armor weighs.
Powered: Whether or not the armor has powered movement assistance (or enhancement). Y and N are yes and no; O means that powered movement options are available as gadgets for this armor.
Physical Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by a physical attack, whether that be a baseball bat or a shotgun blast.
Fire Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by an attack that does fire damage, such as a laser blast, a Fireball spell, or the fire damage of a flaming sword.
Electrical Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by an attack that deals electrical damage, such as a particle weapon, a Lightning Bolt spell, or sticking a fork into a wall socket like a dumbass.
Cost: How much a suit of this armor costs when purchased at a store. This price assumes that the armor is in good repair and has no obvious defects.
Tags: Any special modifiers are indicated here, see armor tags below.
Gadget Slots: How many gadgets you can have built into the armor. See Armor Gadgets below.
New armor tags:
B: Bulky. For whatever reason, this armor incorporates what amounts to crumple space, sticking out far past where your body ends. Very common with power armor, since all those servos take up space, but also common in inexpensive plastic body armor, which trades bulk for weight to protect you with enough material to actually keep you safe.
C: Concealable. This armor is so thin and flexible that it can be worn under any sort of clothing without standing out, as long as that other clothing covers it up - and sometimes even if it doesn't, since it might just look like an undershirt. It can also be worn under other sorts of armor, but if you do this this additional protection provided is limited - apply only half of the damage reduction from the inner layer, and use whichever armor bonus is greater, ignoring the other.
F: Fashion-oriented. This armor is focused on exemplifying a certain type of fashion. In some situations, this might provide you with a bonus on charisma checks or charisma-based skill checks; in other situations, it could apply a penalty instead. Fashion is subjective, after all!
SC: Semi-Concealable. This armor is definitely armor and looks the part, but it's slim enough that you could probably hide it under some sweatpants and a letter jacket or something. A DC 13 perception check is all that's required to spot it, but normally people who aren't looking for armor won't even notice.
S: Soft. This armor only applies half of its physical damage reduction (round up) against melee attacks.
Armor accessories:
Longcoat: As practical as they are edgy, these hypothetically stylish coats provide a modicum of protection from chin to knee in addition to keeping the rain and cold off. A typical example would be the Oniqlo DaiDuster.
Longcoat, Badass: A piece of apparrel actually *meant* to provide protection to its wearer, the Badass Longcoat has padding and advanced materials included in the construction to provide some actual protection. A typical example would be the Tall Collar Street Frock by REBELYES.
Longcoat, Armored: Favored by actual street gangs, armored longcoats are a sort of entry-level staple for armored clothing that is off the rack, rather than having to be fitted. Plates of hardened polymer suspended between layers of ballistic fiber make for a construction that harkens back to the lamellar or brigandine armors of yore, but much lighter, much more flexible, and more suited to modern urban combat. While some brands of armored longcoat have the flashy, grimdark or edgy styling of other longcoat types, most are straightforward and intended to be practical; it's decent lightweight armor that you can put on or take off quickly. A common example is the HelmTech Class 1 Protective Overcoat.
All longcoats can by donned in a single round, or donned hastily as a move action; they're just coats, after all. They can be worn over other armor to provide additional protection (from the elements, if nothing else), and if used in this fashion their armor class bonuses stack. For damage reduction values, add half of the bonus (round down) from the coat. The exception is any armor with the Bulky tag, which is too big and clunky to even try to wear a coat over.
Light Armors:
Armored Clothing: Exactly what it says, but there's also a lot more to it. Made with bleeding edge material science and the most painstaking attention to movement and comfort, armored clothing represents some of the finest stuff you could wear to that hot gang war zone that everyone's talking about. Unlike even EndoArmor, Armored Clothing is always custom fit and made specifically to guarantee the greatest possible comfort and range of movement for the wearer, and as such a suit of armored clothing has no maximum dexterity or spell failure chance when worn by the person it was tailored for. For everyone else, the maximum dexterity bonus is 3, and the arcane spell failure chance it 35%.
While most suits of armored clothing are made by small workshops, a few large fashion lines have rolled out their own, with perhaps the most well-known being the LeShaye Empressive line of armored ball gowns for women and the entire Forger&Forger line for both men and women, literally any season of any year.
While not every suit of armored clothing is designed to be outstanding fashion - some are designed to be inconspicuous, businesslike, or even frumpy - many are, especially among products of the larger fashion lines. Armored clothing can have the Fashion Forward gadget without any additional cost, and without using up a gadget slot.
Armored Flight Suit: A vacuum suit with added protection, for anyone expecting trouble on their flight. While intended for combat pilots, a lot of people who aren't tend to wear armored flight suits just for its protective value, or even as a fashion statement. It's not the most protective gear out there, but for some the incredible flexibility makes up for that. A fairly common example in use with the Veejer Constabulary is the Thales-Dassault Triomphateur line of protective flight suits.
Armored Vest and Helmet: Most commonly seen on police or security forces, this is a protective vest and helmet intended to be worn over normal duty clothing. While it leavs much of the body uncovered, it provides excellent protection for the wearer's vitals, which are the hardest parts to replace if they get shot. People assigned this armor will sometimes wear a longcoat to add some extra protection, but this is usually frowned on unless the organization actually has longcoats as part of their uniform. Probably the most commonly seen example of this sort of protective gear is the HelmTech GuardGuard ("for making sure your protectors are protected").
EndoArmor, Light: A garment made of numerous layers of lightweight, flexible protective material like Thinlar(tm) or Bellastic(tm), you could scarcely tell these apart from a fabric catsuit (and don't pretend you haven't been exploiting this to the max with your choice of model, GenuFlex(R)!). They're easy to put on and take off, can be worn under clothes or even other armor, and provide genuine protection, though, and generally provide the mid-level offerings for inconspicuous defense. The GenuFlex(R) Light EndoArmor is the model most associated with this type of armor, for stupid sexy reasons.
General Combat Armor, Light: This is what most people nowadays will think of when they think 'armor'. Plates of metal, ceramic or polymer affixed to a jumpsuit provide serious protection from most modern day combat hazards. You can wear it under loose clothing, but anyone who is actually looking will probably spot it (especially if you're wearing the helmet, duh). A basic example worn by just about every security company and PMC out there is the HelmTech Light Protective Suit.
Renfaire Armor, Light: For everyone who wants to dress like the hero from FinalQuest XLII (and don't pretend that one wasn't your favorite), this offering lets you do that while also actually protecting yourself from the people who will beat you up for advertising what a dork you are. Jokes aside, armors of this type grew out of the latest HEMA rennaisance and are, despite their looks, shockingly practical options for combat defense. Most outfits involve a chain shirt or breastplate worn over a leather jumpsuit with additional areas of stiffened leather to protect the shins and forearms and such, but there's dozens of options to customize your fantasy hero look and they all involve the latest in protective material science that's just pretending to look old-timey, just like the wearer is. In addition to the normal benefits, Light Renfaire Armor has Light Fortification, granting a 25% chance to turn a critical hit into a normal hit. Each suit of Renfaire armor is more or less unique, making it not really correct to label anything 'typical', but about one in four is made by the CosuKaji ("costume smith") workshop.
Medium Armors:
Armored Clothing, Heavy: Pushing the boundary of what kind of armor you can wear while still having it look like a business suit, Heavy Armored Clothing sacrifices the flexibility of its lighter counterpart for increased protection by incorporating stiffer materials in greater amounts, and even plates of actual armor material in strategic places. A common commercial line of such clothing is the J. Crew Power Suit; women's fashion offering this level of protection is always custom made by a workshop.
Battle Armor: This is a category that covers a wide assortment of dedicated combat armors most commonly worn by military squads expected to see frontline combat, but also occasionally used by PMCs, security companies and adventurers. It offers full-body coverage with a variety of stiff plates of advanced material, providing excellent all-around protection. While the armor's materials manage to keep weight reasonable, they are also bulky and can sometimes impede movement and vision. While there are dozens of manufacturers who make armors of this category, the differences between them are fairly small and tend to come down to aesthetics and comfort. Easily the most popular line on M4 is the HelmTech Heavy Security Suit.
EndoArmor, Heavy: A more protective version of the Light EndoArmor, the Heavy EndoArmor offers the same degree of low-profile concealability while also boasting much more substantial protection. Unfortunately, the cost of achieving this is to use stiffer materials that make the fabric weave much less flexible, limiting the wearer's range of motion to a degree that's a bit more severe even than clunky suits of Battle Armor. However, Heavy EndoArmor is still much lighter and more comfortable than dedicated combat armor, and being able to wear it in situations where wearing visible armor would be a faux pas (such as weddings and job interviews) makes the tradeoff very worth it in many people's consideration.
Renfaire Armor, Medium: Offering more substantial protection than Light Renfaire Armor (as well as a being better for cosplaying as Cid), RenFaire armor has more areas of the body protected by metal (or by high-density ballistic ceramics with metalic paint), coming logically at the cost of being heavier, more cumbersome, and more expensive. A bit more rare than its Light and Heavy counterparts due to most wearers of medium armor in fantasy games or shows being guards and other disposable mooks, it's most popular amongst long-time warriors from lower-technology societies who want modern-era protection without giving up their ancestral swagger. Consequently, the most popular maker of Medium Renfaire Armor is the Brasstwister Workshop, a large company of Dwarven smiths headed by the venerable but eminently capable Dunbar Brasstwister.
Heavy Armors:
Assault Armor: Assault Armor is a category of military gear that is usually reserved for elite teams expecting heavy resistance on short sorties. While highly protective without sacrificing much mobility, Assault Armor is heavy enough that wearing it for long periods of time can be exhausting; consequently you never see it used on security guards or other people who stand around and wait for trouble, nor is it issued to soldiers who are expected to do a lot of walking.
That said, adventurers have a different sense of what is or isn't practical, especially when they're the guy whose job is to keep the 40-foot troll-rat focused on him while the others whittle its health away. For this reason, it's fairly common for whoever's tanking to wear a suit of Assault Armor, often with spikes on it because why the hell not?
A common line of Assault Armor on M4 is the HelmTech Assault Advantage line.
Breach Armor: A favorite of SWAT units, Breach Armor is designed for situations where the wearer is expected to move towards enemy fire. As such, the armor itself is heavily focused towards the front; against attacks to the front of the wearer, this armor's DR is doubled.
Renfaire Armor, Heavy: This is what Full Plate armor was always meant to be; Protective, mobile, and above all stylish. While very expensive, suits of Heavy Renfaire Armor are a dream for LARPers and adventurers alike, providing excellent, full-coverage protection without sacrificing too much mobility, especially if you're using exotic materials like Mithral in the construction - and if you're already spending this much on armor, why not use them? A variety of workshops produce Heavy Renfaire Armor, and while the competition is stiff enough (and the turnaround time long enough) that no single shop is in the lead for popularity, The Metallicana Smithy has recently been gaining notoriety for their spectacularly edgy Dark Knight stylings.
War Gear, Street: Street War Gear is a heavy, bulky, often awkward suit of armor made from whatever durable materials some lunatic can cobble together into a wearable shape. Street War Gear is not available in higher qualities, because if it's made by someone competent it's going to be one of the other armor types, usually Assault Armor or Battle Armor. While it offers a lot of protection in theory, people who don't know how to make real armor tend to overlook a lot of avenues of attack, and as such any critical threat against a wearer of Street War Gear ignores the armor bonus when rolling to confirm. There is, thankfully, no typical maker of street war gear.
Power Armors:
All armors in this category require the Power Armor Proficiency feat, in addition to the normal armor proficiency for its weight category.
Boost Suit:
Less of a suit of armor and more a suit of enhanced skeletal muscles, a Boost Suit covers its wearer in a mesh of artificial musculature that enhances their strength and speed. While it offers some protection due to the artificial musculature taking damage before you do, it's meant more for avoiding hits than soaking them up. This can be fixed to some extent by adding aftermarket protection, but most people who purchase Boost Suit are far more concerned with offense.
A Boost Suit's main advantage is that it greatly enhances the wearer's strength and speed. Baseline bonuses are +4 strength, +2 on reflex saves, and +15 feet to movement speed. A Boost Suit also doubles the wearer's jump distance.
An odd secondary advantage that a Boost Suit has is that it's relatively slender, being a full body liner that's only about an inch thick at its thickest points. Because of this, it can be worn under clothing without looking too odd, although people who know you might ask if you've been bulking lately. There is a downside to this, however; those artificial muscles produce a lot of heat, and anyone who wears a Boost Suit under enough clothing to hide the fact that they're wearing a Boost Suit is going to start making fortitude saves as though they were in severe heat, with the penalty for wearing heavy clothing. There is a cooling gadget available that can negate this problematic heat buildup, but that can be obvious in its own way once people start looking for the heat shimmer coming off your back or from under your pant legs.
Light Power Armor
Light Power Armor is quick, agile powered exoskeleton wrapped in a shell of lightweight materials that covers the full body, with coverage focused on the front. It is designed to allow troops to quickly swarm and overrun enemy positions, and is very popular with SWAT teams across M4. A person wearing Light Power Armor receives a +4 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +30 Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 120 feet per round with Good maneuverability. A typical suit of Light Power Armor is seven feet tall, and as such can easily fit in most doors and hallways on M4. The most common Light Power Armor in service on M4 is the Lupin Tactical Power Suit from the Thales-Dassault Group.
Medium Power Armor
Medium Power Armor is a fine balance of speed and agility, designed for special combatants that need to move quickly while under fire. A person wearing Medium Power Armor recieves a +8 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +20 Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 60 feet, good maneuverability. Moreover, the armor is big and strong enough to count as Large for weapon use, allowing the user to freely use heavy combat weapons that normally need to be mounted to something. A typical suit of Medium Power Armor is eight feet tall and weighs about half a ton, but is still clear for most indoor environments. The most common Medium Power Armor in service on M4 is the Helmtech Spartan.
Heavy Power Armor
Heavy Power Armor is a basic suit focused on durability and strength over other concerns, with the design philosophy that shrugging off enemy fire means you don't need to dodge. A person wearing Heavy Power armor recieves a +12 Equipment bonus to Strength, and a +10 Equipment bonus to walking speed. Heavy Power armor cannot fly, but it does possess drop jets that allow it to fall considerable distances safely so that it can be deployed by air drop. A typical suit of Heavy Power Armor is Large for all intents and purposes, and is about twelve feet tall and seven feet wide at the shoulder. The most common Heavy Power Armor in service on M4 is the Helmtech Atlas.
Siege Power Armor
Siege Power Armor is not widely commercially available, most commonly used by M4Gov and reserved for when they're done playing nice with some district's government. Siege Power Armor is typically 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, fills space as though it were Large but uses weapons as though it was Huge, and has a seat behind the wearer where a gunner sits, controlling more weapons. The wearer of the armor benefits from a +16 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +30 foot Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 240 feet (average). The only Siege Power Armor in common production is the Dai-Bushi armor by Matsumoto Heavy Industries, although most corporations that produce fighting vehicles have a handful of units that they're always trying to make into the next very big thing.
Shields:
Magna Buckler: The lightest offering among the 'powered shield' chocies, the Magna Buckler uses a magnetic field to attract weapons, projectiles and particle streams towards the reinforced center of the buckler. Once contact is immenent, the field reverses, sending the attack back away from the wielder in a predictable and controlable fashion. While this extra bit of defense is fine and good, the Magna Buckler really shines in the hands of people who have practice in parrying attacks, making the parrying of melee attacks much simpler while also making the parrying of ranged attacks possible at all... so long as it's a blast or a round or two, rather than a continuous stream of energy or bullets. Using the Magna Buckler in this way costs 1 charge from a power pack (10 charges per standard-density pack) and grants a +4 bonus on rolls for parrying melee attacks, weather through the Swashbuckler's Opportune Parry and Riposte Deed or maneuvers of the Iron Tortoise school.
It is also worth mentioning that between the reinforced center of the buckler and the nature of the rebounding magnetic field, the Magna Buckler can also be used to perform shield bashes. This also costs a charge but the hilarity is well worth it.
Magna-Shield: Heavy Steel Shield AC, good DR, bonus on Iron Tortoise maneuvers. Bonus costs charges.
Riot Shield: Big AC bonus, good DR against physical, bad against energy guns
E-Frame Shield: Basically a heavy steel shield that can deploy a damage dispersal field with the shield as its focal point, giving 50 hp of protection that applies against any external damage source, but only up to 10 points at a time. After 50 hp have been absorbed in this way, you need to replace the power pack or the shield shuts down. A standard action is needed either to deploy the shield or to replace the power pack.
Tower Shield, Ballistic: A heftier, less transparent counterpart to the riot shield, this large slab of microceramic
Tower Shield, E-Frame: Like the E-Frame Shield, but more focused. When wielding an E-Frame Shield, you can use a move action on each of your turns to declare one facing of your square to be a wall that provides total cover to you and anyone in your square. The shield's damage disperal field, powered by two energy packs, provides 100 hp of protection; consider it a wall with 100 hp and hardness 5. Once the 100 hp are gone, the energy packs are spent and the shield functions as a mundane tower shield until they are replaced (replacing one is a standard action, replacing both is a full round action).
When not being used as a portable wall, the E-Frame Tower Shield works as a normal tower shield that also grants DR 6 against physical, fire and electric attacks (half that if the power packs are exhausted).
Armor Gadgets:
Armor can be modified in a number of ways; the following list is not exhaustive. The number of Gadgets a given piece of armor can support is listed in the armor's entry on the armor and shields table, and that value increases by 1 if you splurge on getting Excellent quality armor.
This article is still under construction, with many entries being only brief descriptions rather than fully fleshed out. If you spot problems let me know.
QUALITY:
Armor is available in Normal, Good and Excellent quality. Normal quality stats are given in the armor table. Good quality gear increases the maximum dexterity bonus by 1, and reduces all penalties by 1 (or by 5% for ASF), but costs 50% more. Excellent quality increases the armor bonus and all DR types by 1, increases the maximum dexterity bonus by 2, and reduces all penalties by 2 (or 10% for ASF), in addition to giving an additional gadget slot, but costs twice what a normal suit of the type would.
A word on improvised armor:
I'm not going to try to come up with set-in-stone stats for improvised armor. There are far too many types of readily available apparel that could be used in an attempt to protect yourself from attacks, from protective gear for sports like hockey or American football, to workplace safety equipment, to a simple padded life vest - and this is all before getting to people who staple metal plates to a jacket and call it armor. I have included one example of where this sort of madness can lead (the Street War Gear), which is enough to get an idea of the kinds of problems it can face.
In actual play, if a player or npc tries to cobble together some makeshift armor, or go into battle wearing goalie gear, just make up the stats. Most decently protective stuff will add more to DR than to AC, and in any case it should be worse than real armor in some way. Realistically, improvised armor should fall apart after receiving heavy damage, but that kind of realism can kill the fun in a game so feel free to ignore it if it's out of line with the tone you and the players are going for.
Armor descriptions:
Armor or Shield Bonus: This is the number the suit adds to your armor class. It can be improved with magic or gadgets, but usually does not stack with other bonuses of the same type, although there are exceptions (see Longcoats below, for example).
Maximum Dexterity Bonus: How much of your Dexterity bonus to armor class can be applied while wearing this armor.
Armor Check Penalty: This states the penalty you take to movement skills that might be impeded by coating your body in metal, such as jumping, swimming, dancing or sneaking.
Arcane Spell Failure Chance: This is the chance that your armor will get in the way of the funny little gestures you have to do to cast arcane magic.
Speed Reduction: This is the amount you are slowed by wearing the armor, due to its weight, bulk, or lack of flexibility.
Weight: How much the armor weighs.
Powered: Whether or not the armor has powered movement assistance (or enhancement). Y and N are yes and no; O means that powered movement options are available as gadgets for this armor.
Physical Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by a physical attack, whether that be a baseball bat or a shotgun blast.
Fire Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by an attack that does fire damage, such as a laser blast, a Fireball spell, or the fire damage of a flaming sword.
Electrical Damage Reduction: While wearing the armor, subtract this value from the damage whenever you are hit by an attack that deals electrical damage, such as a particle weapon, a Lightning Bolt spell, or sticking a fork into a wall socket like a dumbass.
Cost: How much a suit of this armor costs when purchased at a store. This price assumes that the armor is in good repair and has no obvious defects.
Tags: Any special modifiers are indicated here, see armor tags below.
Gadget Slots: How many gadgets you can have built into the armor. See Armor Gadgets below.
New armor tags:
B: Bulky. For whatever reason, this armor incorporates what amounts to crumple space, sticking out far past where your body ends. Very common with power armor, since all those servos take up space, but also common in inexpensive plastic body armor, which trades bulk for weight to protect you with enough material to actually keep you safe.
C: Concealable. This armor is so thin and flexible that it can be worn under any sort of clothing without standing out, as long as that other clothing covers it up - and sometimes even if it doesn't, since it might just look like an undershirt. It can also be worn under other sorts of armor, but if you do this this additional protection provided is limited - apply only half of the damage reduction from the inner layer, and use whichever armor bonus is greater, ignoring the other.
F: Fashion-oriented. This armor is focused on exemplifying a certain type of fashion. In some situations, this might provide you with a bonus on charisma checks or charisma-based skill checks; in other situations, it could apply a penalty instead. Fashion is subjective, after all!
SC: Semi-Concealable. This armor is definitely armor and looks the part, but it's slim enough that you could probably hide it under some sweatpants and a letter jacket or something. A DC 13 perception check is all that's required to spot it, but normally people who aren't looking for armor won't even notice.
S: Soft. This armor only applies half of its physical damage reduction (round up) against melee attacks.
Armor accessories:
Longcoat: As practical as they are edgy, these hypothetically stylish coats provide a modicum of protection from chin to knee in addition to keeping the rain and cold off. A typical example would be the Oniqlo DaiDuster.
Longcoat, Badass: A piece of apparrel actually *meant* to provide protection to its wearer, the Badass Longcoat has padding and advanced materials included in the construction to provide some actual protection. A typical example would be the Tall Collar Street Frock by REBELYES.
Longcoat, Armored: Favored by actual street gangs, armored longcoats are a sort of entry-level staple for armored clothing that is off the rack, rather than having to be fitted. Plates of hardened polymer suspended between layers of ballistic fiber make for a construction that harkens back to the lamellar or brigandine armors of yore, but much lighter, much more flexible, and more suited to modern urban combat. While some brands of armored longcoat have the flashy, grimdark or edgy styling of other longcoat types, most are straightforward and intended to be practical; it's decent lightweight armor that you can put on or take off quickly. A common example is the HelmTech Class 1 Protective Overcoat.
All longcoats can by donned in a single round, or donned hastily as a move action; they're just coats, after all. They can be worn over other armor to provide additional protection (from the elements, if nothing else), and if used in this fashion their armor class bonuses stack. For damage reduction values, add half of the bonus (round down) from the coat. The exception is any armor with the Bulky tag, which is too big and clunky to even try to wear a coat over.
Light Armors:
Armored Clothing: Exactly what it says, but there's also a lot more to it. Made with bleeding edge material science and the most painstaking attention to movement and comfort, armored clothing represents some of the finest stuff you could wear to that hot gang war zone that everyone's talking about. Unlike even EndoArmor, Armored Clothing is always custom fit and made specifically to guarantee the greatest possible comfort and range of movement for the wearer, and as such a suit of armored clothing has no maximum dexterity or spell failure chance when worn by the person it was tailored for. For everyone else, the maximum dexterity bonus is 3, and the arcane spell failure chance it 35%.
While most suits of armored clothing are made by small workshops, a few large fashion lines have rolled out their own, with perhaps the most well-known being the LeShaye Empressive line of armored ball gowns for women and the entire Forger&Forger line for both men and women, literally any season of any year.
While not every suit of armored clothing is designed to be outstanding fashion - some are designed to be inconspicuous, businesslike, or even frumpy - many are, especially among products of the larger fashion lines. Armored clothing can have the Fashion Forward gadget without any additional cost, and without using up a gadget slot.
Armored Flight Suit: A vacuum suit with added protection, for anyone expecting trouble on their flight. While intended for combat pilots, a lot of people who aren't tend to wear armored flight suits just for its protective value, or even as a fashion statement. It's not the most protective gear out there, but for some the incredible flexibility makes up for that. A fairly common example in use with the Veejer Constabulary is the Thales-Dassault Triomphateur line of protective flight suits.
Armored Vest and Helmet: Most commonly seen on police or security forces, this is a protective vest and helmet intended to be worn over normal duty clothing. While it leavs much of the body uncovered, it provides excellent protection for the wearer's vitals, which are the hardest parts to replace if they get shot. People assigned this armor will sometimes wear a longcoat to add some extra protection, but this is usually frowned on unless the organization actually has longcoats as part of their uniform. Probably the most commonly seen example of this sort of protective gear is the HelmTech GuardGuard ("for making sure your protectors are protected").
EndoArmor, Light: A garment made of numerous layers of lightweight, flexible protective material like Thinlar(tm) or Bellastic(tm), you could scarcely tell these apart from a fabric catsuit (and don't pretend you haven't been exploiting this to the max with your choice of model, GenuFlex(R)!). They're easy to put on and take off, can be worn under clothes or even other armor, and provide genuine protection, though, and generally provide the mid-level offerings for inconspicuous defense. The GenuFlex(R) Light EndoArmor is the model most associated with this type of armor, for stupid sexy reasons.
General Combat Armor, Light: This is what most people nowadays will think of when they think 'armor'. Plates of metal, ceramic or polymer affixed to a jumpsuit provide serious protection from most modern day combat hazards. You can wear it under loose clothing, but anyone who is actually looking will probably spot it (especially if you're wearing the helmet, duh). A basic example worn by just about every security company and PMC out there is the HelmTech Light Protective Suit.
Renfaire Armor, Light: For everyone who wants to dress like the hero from FinalQuest XLII (and don't pretend that one wasn't your favorite), this offering lets you do that while also actually protecting yourself from the people who will beat you up for advertising what a dork you are. Jokes aside, armors of this type grew out of the latest HEMA rennaisance and are, despite their looks, shockingly practical options for combat defense. Most outfits involve a chain shirt or breastplate worn over a leather jumpsuit with additional areas of stiffened leather to protect the shins and forearms and such, but there's dozens of options to customize your fantasy hero look and they all involve the latest in protective material science that's just pretending to look old-timey, just like the wearer is. In addition to the normal benefits, Light Renfaire Armor has Light Fortification, granting a 25% chance to turn a critical hit into a normal hit. Each suit of Renfaire armor is more or less unique, making it not really correct to label anything 'typical', but about one in four is made by the CosuKaji ("costume smith") workshop.
Medium Armors:
Armored Clothing, Heavy: Pushing the boundary of what kind of armor you can wear while still having it look like a business suit, Heavy Armored Clothing sacrifices the flexibility of its lighter counterpart for increased protection by incorporating stiffer materials in greater amounts, and even plates of actual armor material in strategic places. A common commercial line of such clothing is the J. Crew Power Suit; women's fashion offering this level of protection is always custom made by a workshop.
Battle Armor: This is a category that covers a wide assortment of dedicated combat armors most commonly worn by military squads expected to see frontline combat, but also occasionally used by PMCs, security companies and adventurers. It offers full-body coverage with a variety of stiff plates of advanced material, providing excellent all-around protection. While the armor's materials manage to keep weight reasonable, they are also bulky and can sometimes impede movement and vision. While there are dozens of manufacturers who make armors of this category, the differences between them are fairly small and tend to come down to aesthetics and comfort. Easily the most popular line on M4 is the HelmTech Heavy Security Suit.
EndoArmor, Heavy: A more protective version of the Light EndoArmor, the Heavy EndoArmor offers the same degree of low-profile concealability while also boasting much more substantial protection. Unfortunately, the cost of achieving this is to use stiffer materials that make the fabric weave much less flexible, limiting the wearer's range of motion to a degree that's a bit more severe even than clunky suits of Battle Armor. However, Heavy EndoArmor is still much lighter and more comfortable than dedicated combat armor, and being able to wear it in situations where wearing visible armor would be a faux pas (such as weddings and job interviews) makes the tradeoff very worth it in many people's consideration.
Renfaire Armor, Medium: Offering more substantial protection than Light Renfaire Armor (as well as a being better for cosplaying as Cid), RenFaire armor has more areas of the body protected by metal (or by high-density ballistic ceramics with metalic paint), coming logically at the cost of being heavier, more cumbersome, and more expensive. A bit more rare than its Light and Heavy counterparts due to most wearers of medium armor in fantasy games or shows being guards and other disposable mooks, it's most popular amongst long-time warriors from lower-technology societies who want modern-era protection without giving up their ancestral swagger. Consequently, the most popular maker of Medium Renfaire Armor is the Brasstwister Workshop, a large company of Dwarven smiths headed by the venerable but eminently capable Dunbar Brasstwister.
Heavy Armors:
Assault Armor: Assault Armor is a category of military gear that is usually reserved for elite teams expecting heavy resistance on short sorties. While highly protective without sacrificing much mobility, Assault Armor is heavy enough that wearing it for long periods of time can be exhausting; consequently you never see it used on security guards or other people who stand around and wait for trouble, nor is it issued to soldiers who are expected to do a lot of walking.
That said, adventurers have a different sense of what is or isn't practical, especially when they're the guy whose job is to keep the 40-foot troll-rat focused on him while the others whittle its health away. For this reason, it's fairly common for whoever's tanking to wear a suit of Assault Armor, often with spikes on it because why the hell not?
A common line of Assault Armor on M4 is the HelmTech Assault Advantage line.
Breach Armor: A favorite of SWAT units, Breach Armor is designed for situations where the wearer is expected to move towards enemy fire. As such, the armor itself is heavily focused towards the front; against attacks to the front of the wearer, this armor's DR is doubled.
Renfaire Armor, Heavy: This is what Full Plate armor was always meant to be; Protective, mobile, and above all stylish. While very expensive, suits of Heavy Renfaire Armor are a dream for LARPers and adventurers alike, providing excellent, full-coverage protection without sacrificing too much mobility, especially if you're using exotic materials like Mithral in the construction - and if you're already spending this much on armor, why not use them? A variety of workshops produce Heavy Renfaire Armor, and while the competition is stiff enough (and the turnaround time long enough) that no single shop is in the lead for popularity, The Metallicana Smithy has recently been gaining notoriety for their spectacularly edgy Dark Knight stylings.
War Gear, Street: Street War Gear is a heavy, bulky, often awkward suit of armor made from whatever durable materials some lunatic can cobble together into a wearable shape. Street War Gear is not available in higher qualities, because if it's made by someone competent it's going to be one of the other armor types, usually Assault Armor or Battle Armor. While it offers a lot of protection in theory, people who don't know how to make real armor tend to overlook a lot of avenues of attack, and as such any critical threat against a wearer of Street War Gear ignores the armor bonus when rolling to confirm. There is, thankfully, no typical maker of street war gear.
Power Armors:
All armors in this category require the Power Armor Proficiency feat, in addition to the normal armor proficiency for its weight category.
Boost Suit:
Less of a suit of armor and more a suit of enhanced skeletal muscles, a Boost Suit covers its wearer in a mesh of artificial musculature that enhances their strength and speed. While it offers some protection due to the artificial musculature taking damage before you do, it's meant more for avoiding hits than soaking them up. This can be fixed to some extent by adding aftermarket protection, but most people who purchase Boost Suit are far more concerned with offense.
A Boost Suit's main advantage is that it greatly enhances the wearer's strength and speed. Baseline bonuses are +4 strength, +2 on reflex saves, and +15 feet to movement speed. A Boost Suit also doubles the wearer's jump distance.
An odd secondary advantage that a Boost Suit has is that it's relatively slender, being a full body liner that's only about an inch thick at its thickest points. Because of this, it can be worn under clothing without looking too odd, although people who know you might ask if you've been bulking lately. There is a downside to this, however; those artificial muscles produce a lot of heat, and anyone who wears a Boost Suit under enough clothing to hide the fact that they're wearing a Boost Suit is going to start making fortitude saves as though they were in severe heat, with the penalty for wearing heavy clothing. There is a cooling gadget available that can negate this problematic heat buildup, but that can be obvious in its own way once people start looking for the heat shimmer coming off your back or from under your pant legs.
Light Power Armor
Light Power Armor is quick, agile powered exoskeleton wrapped in a shell of lightweight materials that covers the full body, with coverage focused on the front. It is designed to allow troops to quickly swarm and overrun enemy positions, and is very popular with SWAT teams across M4. A person wearing Light Power Armor receives a +4 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +30 Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 120 feet per round with Good maneuverability. A typical suit of Light Power Armor is seven feet tall, and as such can easily fit in most doors and hallways on M4. The most common Light Power Armor in service on M4 is the Lupin Tactical Power Suit from the Thales-Dassault Group.
Medium Power Armor
Medium Power Armor is a fine balance of speed and agility, designed for special combatants that need to move quickly while under fire. A person wearing Medium Power Armor recieves a +8 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +20 Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 60 feet, good maneuverability. Moreover, the armor is big and strong enough to count as Large for weapon use, allowing the user to freely use heavy combat weapons that normally need to be mounted to something. A typical suit of Medium Power Armor is eight feet tall and weighs about half a ton, but is still clear for most indoor environments. The most common Medium Power Armor in service on M4 is the Helmtech Spartan.
Heavy Power Armor
Heavy Power Armor is a basic suit focused on durability and strength over other concerns, with the design philosophy that shrugging off enemy fire means you don't need to dodge. A person wearing Heavy Power armor recieves a +12 Equipment bonus to Strength, and a +10 Equipment bonus to walking speed. Heavy Power armor cannot fly, but it does possess drop jets that allow it to fall considerable distances safely so that it can be deployed by air drop. A typical suit of Heavy Power Armor is Large for all intents and purposes, and is about twelve feet tall and seven feet wide at the shoulder. The most common Heavy Power Armor in service on M4 is the Helmtech Atlas.
Siege Power Armor
Siege Power Armor is not widely commercially available, most commonly used by M4Gov and reserved for when they're done playing nice with some district's government. Siege Power Armor is typically 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, fills space as though it were Large but uses weapons as though it was Huge, and has a seat behind the wearer where a gunner sits, controlling more weapons. The wearer of the armor benefits from a +16 Equipment bonus to Strength, a +30 foot Equipment bonus to walking speed, and a Fly speed of 240 feet (average). The only Siege Power Armor in common production is the Dai-Bushi armor by Matsumoto Heavy Industries, although most corporations that produce fighting vehicles have a handful of units that they're always trying to make into the next very big thing.
Shields:
Magna Buckler: The lightest offering among the 'powered shield' chocies, the Magna Buckler uses a magnetic field to attract weapons, projectiles and particle streams towards the reinforced center of the buckler. Once contact is immenent, the field reverses, sending the attack back away from the wielder in a predictable and controlable fashion. While this extra bit of defense is fine and good, the Magna Buckler really shines in the hands of people who have practice in parrying attacks, making the parrying of melee attacks much simpler while also making the parrying of ranged attacks possible at all... so long as it's a blast or a round or two, rather than a continuous stream of energy or bullets. Using the Magna Buckler in this way costs 1 charge from a power pack (10 charges per standard-density pack) and grants a +4 bonus on rolls for parrying melee attacks, weather through the Swashbuckler's Opportune Parry and Riposte Deed or maneuvers of the Iron Tortoise school.
It is also worth mentioning that between the reinforced center of the buckler and the nature of the rebounding magnetic field, the Magna Buckler can also be used to perform shield bashes. This also costs a charge but the hilarity is well worth it.
Magna-Shield: Heavy Steel Shield AC, good DR, bonus on Iron Tortoise maneuvers. Bonus costs charges.
Riot Shield: Big AC bonus, good DR against physical, bad against energy guns
E-Frame Shield: Basically a heavy steel shield that can deploy a damage dispersal field with the shield as its focal point, giving 50 hp of protection that applies against any external damage source, but only up to 10 points at a time. After 50 hp have been absorbed in this way, you need to replace the power pack or the shield shuts down. A standard action is needed either to deploy the shield or to replace the power pack.
Tower Shield, Ballistic: A heftier, less transparent counterpart to the riot shield, this large slab of microceramic
Tower Shield, E-Frame: Like the E-Frame Shield, but more focused. When wielding an E-Frame Shield, you can use a move action on each of your turns to declare one facing of your square to be a wall that provides total cover to you and anyone in your square. The shield's damage disperal field, powered by two energy packs, provides 100 hp of protection; consider it a wall with 100 hp and hardness 5. Once the 100 hp are gone, the energy packs are spent and the shield functions as a mundane tower shield until they are replaced (replacing one is a standard action, replacing both is a full round action).
When not being used as a portable wall, the E-Frame Tower Shield works as a normal tower shield that also grants DR 6 against physical, fire and electric attacks (half that if the power packs are exhausted).
Armor Gadgets:
Armor can be modified in a number of ways; the following list is not exhaustive. The number of Gadgets a given piece of armor can support is listed in the armor's entry on the armor and shields table, and that value increases by 1 if you splurge on getting Excellent quality armor.
- Air filtration: This Gadget protects against airborne toxins and pathogens, provides a limited air supply. Obviously, this requires that the armor include a helmet or other head covering in order to function. Modifying your armor with Air Filtration costs 500 cbux.
- Boost Suit Cooling System: For people who want to wear a Boost Suit without it being obvious that they're wearing a Boost Suit, this liquid cooling rig worn under the Boost Suit (which is, in turn, under your clothing) will keep you from running too hot. The BSCS costs 500 cbux.
- Cyber-Compatibility: Your armor has been altered to work in tandem with cybernetic alterations that would otherwise present a problem. This can be boots designed to work with Foot Anchors, break-open flaps on the back of your vest to let your wings out, or gloves that allow your Magspider Pads to work uninterrupted. Such modifications are usually minor and only cost 100 cbux total for all modifications needed to work with all of your cybernetics.
- Enhanced Strength: This armor Gadget optimizes an articulated endoskeleton built into your armor to provide a +2 equipment bonus to your Strength score. It works with any armor that covers all four of your limbs (so, not vests or longcoats), and it requires that the armor have the Powered gadget. This Gadget costs 500 cbux.
- Enhanced Dexterity This armor Gadget optimizes an articulated endoskeleton built into your armor to provide a +2 equipment bonus to your Dexterity score. As with Enhanced Strength, it requires limb covering and the Powered gadget to be useful. This Gadget costs 500 cbux.
- Enhanced Movement: This armor Gadget optimizes an articulated endoskeleton built into your armor to provide a +10 equipment bonus to your base speed, and also a +5 equipment bonus to acrobatics and athletics checks. Requires Powered. This Gadget costs 500 cbux.
- Fashion Forward: This armor Gadget represents impeccable style and exacting presentation, giving a +2 equipment bonus to Charisma checks and rolls where applicable. Keep in mind that not everyone agrees with what is proper attire, and therefore this can sometimes impart a -2 penalty instead; a gang of street rats struggling to keep themselves fed won't appreciate you walking into their den dressed like a walking faberge' egg. This Gadget costs 1000 cbux for a high-society look, and 100 cbux for a street fashion look. For another 200 cbux, the fashion aspect of your armor can be made modular, so that you can change between appearances as needed without buying multiple suits of armor.
- Full Coverage: This armor Gadget is very simple and does not take up a gadget slot. It simply makes additions to your suit of armor that enables it to cover your entire body - although not with armor. Examples of this would be gloves and a hood or balaclava for armored clothing or a longcoat, or fabric sleeves and leggings for an armored vest and helmet. While this does not provide the benefit of the armor itself for the parts covered in this way, it does enable some of the other Gadgets in this section to work with armor they normally couldn't. The enabled Gadgets are Air Filtration and Thermoptic Camoflage. Modifying armor for Full coverage usually only costs 100 cbux.
- Improved Flexibility: A mix of fibrous armor materials and articulated hinges, among other innovations, allow for armor to be made more flexible, allowing a greater range of motion for the wearer. Adding this Gadget to a suit of armor costs 500 cbux.
- Improved Protection: Armor can be optimized against threats, improving the AC by 1 or improving one category of DR by 2. This Gadget can be taken multiple times, but not for the same defense type. Each helping costs 500 cbux.
- Integrated Equipment: Because you can never be too prepared, this Gadget lets you build up to three handheld devices into your armor. A fairly common setup for adventurers is a grappling hook, a med injector and a fire extinguisher, because you never know when shit will hit the fan and burst into flames. Other common devices to integrate include tool kits and exocomps. Modifying your armor in this way costs 100 cbux per item, plus the cost of the items you are integrating.
- Jetpack: This is the future, after all. A back-mounted ion jet can propel the wearer through the air at 120 feet per round with Poor maneuverability for up to 10 rounds before exhausting its fuel supply. Activating the jetpack is a swift action, and once activated thrust can be maintained or deactivated each round as a free action. Jetpacks cost 1500 cbux and are illegal in some districts.
- Ki Compliant: Despite the name, this Enhancement does not actually have anything to do with the user's Ki, usually; that's just branding. Instead, it is a series of exacting customizations that allow the user to move without being impeded by the armor at all. This takes a particularly knowledgeable tailor to accomplish, and is thus rather expensive, usually costing around 3000 cbux. This procedure can be implemented on Light EndoArmor, Armored Flight Suits and Light Renfaire Armor. Armored Clothing already includes this benefit.
- Powered: This Armor Gadget transforms a normal suit of armor into a limited version of power armor, building in an articulated endoskeleton enabling options that require it. On its own, the benefit provided by this gadget is rather minimal; the endoskeleton is only strong enough to carry the armor's own weight. Admittedly, while this doesn't help in the pitch of battle, it's a tremendous boon for soldiers or guards who have to stand watch over an entrance or person while wearing heavy armor for hours on end. If you wear armor with this Gadget, do not count its weight when calculating encumberance by weight, and it does not slow your movement speed (although it still counts as wearing armor for, say, a monk's fast movement - to deal with that, see Ki Compliant above). Making a suit of armor Powered costs 500k cbux.
- Stripped Down: This armor Gadget is for the high-mobility type of fighter who is also on a budget. The armor is, as the name suggests, stripped down, with material weight and stiffness being reduced to allow greater mobility at the cost of lessened protection. The result is a -1 penalty to each defensive category - that is, armor class bonus and each type of DR provided - along with a 25% reduction in weight. The benefits are worth it for some, though, increasing the armor's maximum dexterity bonus by two, and reducing the armor check penalty by 2 to a minimum of zero. You do not strip down a suit of armor that has already been made; instead, this is a term for brands that are differently optimized from their making, and usually cost the same amount as the base armor.
- Thermoptic Camoflage: This modification for any full-coverage armor distorts your visual and thermal profile, making you more difficult to notice. This grants a +5 equipment bonus to stealth against anyone trying to see you through vision or heat detection. This bonus does not stack with other things that make it harder to see you visually, such as the Invisibility spell. Thermoptic Camoflage costs 1k cbux to apply to your armor, and is illegal in some districts (which isn't to say you can't get it in those distructs, just that it will be much more expensive).
- Whispersoft(tm) Contact Dampeners: This armor Gadget cushions your feet and gives you a +5 bonus on Stealth checks to avoid being heard moving. Whispersoft(tm) costs 200 cbux.
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