Armor

Most respectable knights wear armor to battle. Not only does an armor offer crucial protection, but it is also a great place to adorn heraldry proclaiming your House, Order, Kingdom, and Achievements. No honorable knight would wade around without a clear indication of whom they are.

Arms, Head, Legs, and Torso are the primary hit locations that armor protect. Certain armors provide full coverage over all areas and some only cover a single location. Helms exclusively protects the head of the wearer. A chain mail, on the other hand, might both protect the head, the torso, and the arms.

Types
Armors come in three categories: Light, Medium, and heavy.
 * Light armor offers the least protection but in turn the most freedom of movement.
 * Medium armor offers decent protection and no hindrance to movement.
 * All Agility and Reflex Trait rolls (Except Weapon Skill rolls) suffer a +5 TN penalty.
 * All Fate and Fire Spells have +5 TN.
 * Heavy armor is very tough but encumbers and hinders the wearer's movement a lot.
 * All Physical Trait rolls (Except Mettle and Weapon Skill rolls) suffer a +10 TN penalty.
 * All spells, except Earth Spells, have +5 TN.

Quality
Each type of armor can be found in a myriad of states. Most armors are created by skillful artisans and are of Regular quality. Some armors are crafted for nobles and are of Great quality. When an armor has seen many battles and adventures it becomes more and more damaged. At some point, it breaks, and the overall quality of the armor goes down. Maybe even to a degree where it shatters.

Thus armor has a life span, just like a character. It moves from Great to Regular, to Broken, to Shattered. See Durability below.
 * Great is polished and reinforced. It offers great protection and can be adjusted to fit the wearer perfectly.
 * Regular armor is good and practical. It has the necessary proportions and straps to make it work.
 * Broken armor is worn and tattered. Armor pieces are splintered and the straps are cut. It cannot be fitted correctly and needs to be mended by a smith or risk being Shattered.
 * Shattered armor has straps hanging loose, huge exposed areas, and many pieces missing or destroyed. It can barely be mended and should be discarded.

ATN
All armors have a chance to simply thwart an attack roll against you. This is illustrated with the ATN bonus.

Cushion
Even the flimsiest leather padding offers a little cushion against wounds. When you take damage from a successful attack, you may reduce that by an amount equal to the Cushion of the armor.

Resistance
Equipment can't really defend itself. Luckily it doesn't have vital organs and is usually made of steel and hardened leather so it does have a great amount of Resistance.

Poise
Even the best armor constraints and burdens the wearer. Subtract this number from your Poise to see which Strain Rank you are.

Durability
If your armor is damaged its benefits are reduced. This is where Durability comes into play. Durability is a bit like Wound Levels. All equipment has two Durability levels as indicated in its entry. 10/10 means it can take 10 points of damage before it is Broken. And 10 again until it is Shattered.
 * Broken armors have -2 ATN and half Cushion.
 * Shattered armors have -4 ATN and no Cushion.

Price
Under most circumstances, a knight is offered armor of Regular quality for free. You are a defender of the kingdom and certain upkeep is expected of them to keep you functional. However, in certain cases, you might wish to procure something unique. In which case you barter with gold pieces (gp).

Light Armors
Light armors provide minimal protection but hinder the wearer's movement the least.

Cloth

Even simple pants and a shirt offers a little bit of protection against wind and weather. ___________________________

Padded Armor

Padded Armors is the foundation you wear beneath all armor. But it is also a decent armor in itself. Cheap to make, easy to move around in, and basic protection.

Medium Armors
Medium armor offers good protection with no added drawbacks.

Leather

Leather Armor is a broad category that encompasses everything from Leather Plate Mail to Hide Armor. It is usually very easy to make, only requiring hides, metal studs, and string, to make and repair. ___________________________

Brigandine

Brigandine is a leather or cloth armor reinforced with straps of metal. It offers very good protection while keeping the wearer fairly nimble.

Heavy Armors
Heavy armor offers great protection but makes reactive defenses worse.

Mail

Mail is very cumbersome, but stalwart. It is fairly easy, although time-consuming, to make. This makes it a favorite among men-at-arms, that doesn't carry the same heavy purse as nobles. ___________________________

Plate

The pinnacle of defensive craft is the Plate Armor. It offers perfect protection and makes the wearer impervious to weak weapon attacks. It is also a status symbol and knights and nobles alike sport these when riding into combat.

Shields
Shields are not only a very affordable way to defend yourself they are also highly important in combat to show the enemy which side you are on. If you do not have a shield or a tunic with your order's emblem, you might catch friendly fire.

Type
Shields have three types and no sub-types. To gain the listed benefits below you simply need to wield it freely. However, to perform attacks it is recommended that you buy ranks in the Shield Skill.
 * Buckler. When you wield a Buckler you may add your Reflex Trait to your ATN.
 * Kite. When you wield a Kite Shield you may add an additional +2 to Deflection when you are in the Full Defense Stance.
 * Tower. Tower Shields adds a tremendous bonus to ATN, but you suffer a penalty of +5 on all TN's in return. When you wield a Tower Shield you may add an additional +4 Deflection when you are in the Full Defense Stance.

Wielding a Shield
In many regards, shields are like weapons. You wield them like weapons; Like weapons, you can attack with them; And you can specialize in them like weapons.

Shields are not the best weapon though. Their damage is measly compared to that of a good sword but they do offer a significant amount of protection.

Conditions
Certain conditions render a shield's bonus to ATN obsolete. If a character is Entangled or Stunned they gain no bonus to ATN from wearing a shield. If a character's shield arm is Mangled or Destroyed, they also gain no benefit from wielding a shield.

Fair is fair, the GM might rule a Tower Shield covering a character who is at the Wound Rank "Out" might still gain a bit of cover.

Sundering a Shield
Attacking, and destroying, a shield is a common way to bypass its great defensive bonuses. Since it is meant to take blows, you don't have to raise to make a Called Shot, Disarm, or Sunder maneuver to hit it. Instead, you simply declare that you attack the shield.

A shield's ATN is the character that is wielding it's Reflex bonus to ATN. Thus a character who is wearing heavy armor, or has some other penalty to their Reflex, is less reactive and therefore has a shield that is easier to hit.

Shields are tough and durable, but not indestructible.

Durability
If your shield is damaged its benefits are reduced. This is where Durability comes into play. Durability is a bit like Wound Levels. All equipment has two Durability levels as indicated in its entry. 10/10 means it can take 10 points of damage before it is Broken. And 10 again until it is Shattered.
 * Broken shields have -5 ATN
 * Shattered shields have -10 ATN

Tower
** You may wield this one-handed even though the size of this item is Large.