Alright. The fact that armour does not degrade at all, and cover degrades far too slowly in Dark Heresy is, in my very humble opinion, ridiculous. Consequently, I came up with this ruleset to address the issue. Be warned; the content strives to arrive at a reasonably realistic system, so it may be a little verbose and over complex for some. Questions and constructive feedback are very welcome.

Armour/Cover Degradation: Armour and cover degrade if they are sufficiently damaged, and certain types of damage logically are more capable of inflicting Degradation than others. A piece of armour or cover is applicable for Armour Degradation if the damage and Penetration (post-modifiers) dealt to it is in excess of its Threshold, or twice its post-modifier Armour Point value (this includes special Armour Point values vs certain types of damage, or virtual increases versus Primitive type damages). The following passages describe in detail the differing rates of Degradation between the various damage types:

Impact Damage: Striken areas of the armour/cover all have their Armour Points reduced by 1 point, plus an additional 1 point for every two exceeded Threshold increments beyond the first. Treat damage from Las weapons as Impact damage for the purposes of calculating Degradation.

Explosive Damage: Striken areas of the armour/cover all have their Armour Points reduced by 1 point for each point of damage dealt in excess of its Threshold.

Energy Damage: Striken areas of the armour/cover all have their Armour Points reduced by 3 points, plus an additional 2 points for every exceeded Threshold increment beyond the first. Treat damage from Las weapons as Impact damage for the purposes of calculating Degradation.

Rending Damage: Striken areas of the armour/cover all have their Armour Points reduced by 2 points, plus an additional 1 point for every exceeded Threshold increment beyond the first.

Repairing Armour and Cover: Armour and cover can be repaired if they have any Armour Points remaining. The cost to restore an Armour Point in materials (not counting labour) is equal to 1, divided by the original Armour Points of the piece to be repaired, multiplied by that piece's base market price, divided by 4. The base market price for a piece of armour is equal to the base market price of the suit it is from, divided by the number of locations that armour covers. Round fractions to the nearest whole number.

Restoring a cover Armour Point costs an amount in materials (again not counting labour) equal to one divided by the total Armour Points of the piece of cover, multiplied by its base market value (as determined by the GM), divided by four.

A Profession(Armourer) skill Test can be used to repair damaged armour, and a Profession(Mason) skill Test can be used to repair damaged fortifications and cover. The difficulty of the check depends on the condition of the object to be repaired. If the armour piece has more than 75% of its Armour Points, the test is Ordinary (+10) If the armour piece has 75% or less of its maximum Armour Points, the test is Challenging (0). If the piece has 50% or less of its maximum Armour Points, the test is Difficult (-10). If the piece has 25% or less of its maximum Armour Points, the test is Hard (-20). Primitive Armours are two degrees easier to repair. These modifiers stack with the inherent difficulty of working certain armour types as detailed in the Inquisitor's Handbook. Durations are as per the IH.

An untrained Intelligence Test, or alternatively an Ordinary (+10) Tech-Use Test can be made to jury rig crude repairs as above, requiring half the time and material value, but any Armour points regained in this way count as Primitive until they're properly fixed.

Tests to repair armour may benefit from tools and aids at the GM's option.

Replacing Armour and Cover Any armour or cover piece that has had its Armour Points reduced to 0 is utterly and permanently destroyed. A piece of armour destroyed in this way cannot be repaired, and must be replaced. Armour pieces have the same Availability as the armour set they're from. Characters may also have to pay for the labour and expertise needed to integrate the new piece with the rest of the armour.

Example: Xavius with Guardsman Flak Armour takes 13 Explosive damage from a frag grenade burst spread across all areas. This is more than the Threshold of his Flak Armour (5 x 2 or 10 versus Explosive damage), so Armour Degradation applies. The amount of excess is equal to 3, so the Flak Armour's Armour Points in all areas is reduced from 4 to 1 point; leaving the Flak Armour a mere 1 point of damage from being irrevocably and completely destroyed! Repairing the 3 points of Degradation for even a single piece of armour will cost at least 9 Thrones ((3/4 * 300 / 6) / 4) for materials. Repairing it completely for all 6 areas will cost at least 6 times that amount.

Example: Nihilus the Arbitrator, wearing a Flak Jacket, somehow takes 18 damage from a Lasgun in the torso. This is more than the Flak Jacket's Threshold of 6 (3 x 2). Though the Lasgun deals energy damage, it counts as Impact damage for the purposes of Armour Degradation. Consequently, the Flak Jacket's Armour Points are reduced by 1, plus an additional 2, as four multiples of its original Armour Points were dealt in excess of its Threshold ((18 - 6) / 3 / 2 = 2). The chest piece's Armour Points are reduced to 0, and it is utterly destroyed. Nihilus may purchase a replacement at the cost of 25 Thrones, not including the cost of labour for its reintegration.

Shameless Plug: If you liked this ruleset, you may well like another I've authored that encompasses (relatively) realistic wounding and injury, or my collection of weapon upgrades and attachments.

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AkumaKaze - Good Idea   | Registered | 2008-09-08 18:13:14 I like the idea you have with this concept. If there was a way to simplify it a bit more I could easily see it used a lot more. One key feature I would change in your concept would be the threshold. Just from studying ballistics in the military, the moment a round punches through the armor, it is rapidly losing its structural protection (note: this only applies to PEOPLE wearing armor). However, armor would not deteriorate quite as quickly as your examples listed. The easiest way to fix this would be to reduce the armor by one point every time a hit strikes and does damage. Once it reaches zero, it is destroyed. Explosives, on the other hand, are meant to casue large amounts of structural damage. For every hit that damages with EXPLOSIVES would reduce the armor rating by 2 points instead of one. If you are using the concept of ablative armor in your game, it should always reduce to zero before you subtract from the actual armor, since ablative armor is meant to be destroyed on consecutive hits before the "core"armor takes over for protection.

Surrealistik   | Author | 2008-09-08 21:32:25 Quote: One key feature I would change in your concept would be the threshold. Just from studying ballistics in the military, the moment a round punches through the armor, it is rapidly losing its structural protection (note: this only applies to PEOPLE wearing armor). However, armor would not deteriorate quite as quickly as your examples listed. The reason I instituted the Threshold element was both to prevent overtly fast degradation, and to represent the inherent resilience of an armour's materials and construction. A suit of Power Armour, for example, would degrade far less readily than a suit of Chain Mail, even assuming penetration on both accounts. Think of Threshold as the sum of the armour's 'Toughness' bonus, as well as its inherent protection. I do agree with you though, from a strictly realism orientated perspective; the moment a piece of armour is penetrated, it loses considerable structural integrity, but again, to inflict degradation strictly on the basis of mere penetration would result in almost all armour being far too easily destroyed.

cylle123   | Author | 2008-10-26 06:59:49 In my game we use the simple rule that NPC armour doesnt degrade (since this rarely has any impact on gameplay. ANd the GM - me decides if it is possible to salvage any equipment from defeated opponents) While armour worn by player characters degrade whenever the NPC that hit the player rolls '10' on the damage dice. this means that NPC's get to damage PC armour whenever they roll '10' on a damage dice. Damage means that the location hit is degraded 1 point. Repairing armour requires time & 10% of the armours price in materials, non-power armour repair parts are common availability, while parts for PA's are Rare availability.

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