Armor and clothes

= Armor and Clothes =

This document describes how armor and clothes will function in PARPG. They are closely linked to hitlocation_placeholder. Armor is just clothing that has added protection against weapons.

Areas of Coverage
See also: Item types

Clothing (and armor) can be carried or worn (see above). Clothing covers a certain set of "hit locations" which also represent target locations for combat or other effects. As of this moment, they are not exactly defined, but it will be roughly something like the following (odd numbers on the left side or centerline, higher numbers are lower):
 * Head - Locations 1-2 (1 is "braincase", 2 is "face")
 * Neck - Location 3
 * Shoulders - Location 4/5 (2)
 * Chest - Location 6-9 (4)
 * Abdomen - Location 10-13 (4)
 * Right Arm - 14,16,18,20 (4)
 * Left Arm - 15,17,19,21 (4)
 * Groin - 22
 * Hips - 23/24 (2)
 * Left Leg - 25,27,29,31,33 (5)
 * Right Leg - 26,28,30,32,34 (5)

Locations 4-13 also have front and back; some armor will protect on the front. Clothes always protect both sides (I am ignoring capes, you weirdo)

These hit locations are meant to be approximately equal in surface area - this allows us to create piecemeal armor using only the material density. (i.e. 1 hit location worth of 5mm plate steel is the same encumbrance whether it is a helmet or pot helm.  This corresponds to a bulk (for carrying) of 1 small item (bulk 16-30)

Clothing (Armor) Materials
Pieces of clothing and armor are made from a particular material or combination of materials with shared properties.

Clothing and armor materials have the following properties:
 * A name (description) - for ease of use (i.e, 5mm plate steel or cotton poly-blend)
 * Optional: The above types can be grouped together (e.g, "light cloth", "heavy cloth", "ballistic nylon", "metal chain maille/mesh") as long as the below properties are identical in game terms.
 * A weight (per location) - (i.e., 0.4kg, 0.04kg). A good way for designers to determine this is either from tables or by weight of action items, divided by number of locations it covers.
 * A flexibility (0-1) - (0 being solid, 1 being effectively liquid) - (0, 0.9 in our above examples). Less flexible armor over joints is a harder task to manufacture.  Solid (lower flexibility) armor has gaps that may make it less effective vs. certain types of attacks (liquids, thrusts from small weapons) because it does not completely cover the location (otherwise you could not move)
 * 3 types of damage resistance, numerical (thrust, cut, crush) - (8/8/6 for plate, .1/.1/.1 for t-shirt)
 * A cold resistance (in degrees 0), the temperature below which the item fails to protect vs. cold
 * A water proofing (0, 0.5, 1) - not proof, resistant, totally waterproof - this effects the function of the item when wet, in particular - reducing cold resistance and adding weight (up to double if 0 and soaked)
 * flame resistance (optional) - how does the material fare when burned
 * A failure property (optional) - some types of armor (generally not clothing) have rather poor failure properties to certain types of damage. Example, plastic can shatter, plate armor can crumple, poly acetate can melt to the wearer.  This results in the destruction of the item (no future use as armor for that location, except as raw materials), and possibly extra damage done to wearer.  The failure properties should be defined in terms of "type" of damage (thrust/cut/crush/fire) and threshold which cases failure.

Padding and Reinforcing
Armor or clothing can be padded and/or reinforced - this changes it's properties. Both typically add weight and decrease flexibility. Padding improves cold resistance, and crush protections (small effect on cut/thrust depending on thickness). Reinforcement increases thrust, cut protection (small effect on crush).

An item of clothing (armor)
A single "piece" of clothing is defined as one (or more) of the above materials and a set of covered hit locations. The total weight (and trivially, bulk) is determined by summing the weight per location over the number of locations. A piece of clothing (like most items) has a "Quality" rating, representing construction expertise and materials. This "Q" rating (0-5) can modify the material properties by 10-20% (in either direction). An item can also be handed (only goes on left or right arm/leg) Some Examples (note that numbers are completely made up, unverified, and subject to change without notice!)
 * Military Steel Helmet: 7mm Steel Plate, padded (Metal plate, heavy), location 1 (weight 3 kg, def 10/10/9, flex. 0) - Q4
 * T-Shirt: Cotton-Poly Blend (Light cloth), locations 4-13 (weight 0.4 kg, def .1/.1/.1, flex 0.9) - Q3
 * Chain mail hauberk: 9mm linked rings, aluminum (Metal mesh, light), locations 4-24 (weight 8kg, def 2/7/2, flex 0.5) - Q4
 * Hockey glove: Light leather, padding, Reinforced (Heavy reinforced padding), locations 18/20 or 20/21 (handed) (weight 0.5 kg, def, 3/3/5, flex 0.3) Q3
 * Crude, improvised plastic shoulder (light plastic), location 4 or 5 (not handed) (weight 0.2 kg, def 3/3/3, flex 0.2), Q1
 * Fancy Trench Coat, leather: (light leather) locations 4-28 (weight 3 Kg, def 2/1/2, flex 0.7), Q5.

Stacking Clothing
When stacking clothing - use the following methods for combining values:
 * Weight: Sum directly, all layers
 * Flexibility: Use least flexible, -10% per layer
 * Damage Resistance: Use best for each class, +1/4th of 2nd best. Ignore 3rd or "worse" layers
 * Cold Resistence: Sum directly, all layers + 10% (air is an insulator!)
 * Water resistance: Use outermost layer
 * Fire resistance: Use best, outer "worse" layers will burn.
 * Failure properties: Treat independently, outer first. If outer fails, apply remaining defense to "failure" damage + 1/2 initial damage.

GUI
Roughly speeaking the inventory GUI will have a "paper doll" view of the character with places on the body (all hit locations IDd) for clothing.