Armor rating help

[TaylorBland]

Okay. i am using the authoring kit to modify and learn how scripts work.

Now, in the AK Armor has a bonus to Defense as Shields but instead i want an Armor Rating that reduces damage instead. how to i rewrite the script in such a manor?

[Mathias]

I'm sorry, but this is a very wide-reaching question, and you've offered very little detail about how the game mechanics you're implementing function.

Could you please narrow this down to something smaller in scope? I'll try to help you with the individual pieces of this task.

[TaylorBland]

Well, instead of Armor adding to defense; like in the Authoring Kit, i want an Armor Rating that will reduce damage by that amount. I am kind of working off of Fantasy Age a bit with some other ideas mixed in and AR in Fantasy Age reduces damage taken by the amount specified. so an AR of 3 will absorb 3 points of damage. Penetrating damage ignores AR altogether while Piercing Damage only ignores half.

i was also thinking of having a penalty to Speed for heavier armors but we can worry about that later.

[Mathias]

How are you setting up the armor rating? For this sort of thing, the details really matter, like what happens when a character uses two separate pieces of armor? How is the armor rating calculated then? Are there any ways to adjust a character's armor rating (magic spells or items, for example)? Does this system use hit locations, so each location needs to track a separate armor rating?

I'm afraid it sounds like you're jumping ahead - trying to rebuild the armors before you've set up the mechanics to support them.

[TaylorBland]

Well, i have 2 types of armor per category.

Light Armors are:
Leather: AR 2, Speed Penalty 0
Studded: AR 3, Speed Penalty 1 (-1 to speed)

Medium Armors:
Chain Mail: AR 4, Speed Penalty 2
Splint Mail: AR 5, Speed Penalty 3

Heavy Armors:
Half-Plate: AR 6, Speed penalty 4
Full Plate: AR 7, Speed Penalty 5

Certain Abilities can decrease Speed Penalty as well, but that can come later.

The AR absorbs that much damage per strike. so if a person deals 10 points of damage to one wearing Splint Mail, then the wearer only takes 5 points.

As far as piecing armor, i am not allowing that. it is a full set or none at all.

FYI: Speed is a Derived Trait i added that is 10+Dexterity and it how far you can move in yards per combat round. wearing heavy armor will reduce your ability to move in combat.

So do i change the name and not add it to defense (Remove that formula from the data)?

[TaylorBland]

my system is actually simple. it is mostly the authoring kit itself with some modifications. you roll either Melee Skill (Attached to Fighting Attribute) or Shooting skill (Attached to Accuracy Attribute). this is 3d6+Attribute+Skill to beat either Dodge (Ranged) or Parry (Melee). If the defense is beaten then damage for the weapon is rolled and armor will reduce damage at that point. hit locations and the like i never really liked so i am trying to keep it simple.

As far as spells, i have not gotten that far yet. i was aiming for the minutia to be done first.

[TaylorBland]

It might help that i added in a Derived Trati; Toughness: it lets the player ignore an amount of damage per round equal to their Constitution score. maybe if Armor can attach to Toughness, that might help with the design a bit more.

I am still new to the coding thing, so i only know the basics...any amount of help would be freaking awesome.

[trTough] is the name of the trait code, to help