Some alternative armor ideas.
Background: I'm not thrilled with Armor acting as additional hit points in Anarchy. Not only is it unrealistic, it also slows down gameplay because each and every armored goon is going to need 3+ attacks to chew up their armor and then their damage track.
Method 1 - Roll soak
Idea: The SR4-5 method. Roll Strength + Armor. Remaining damage goes to the condition monitor.
Pros: Established, reasonably balanced. One-shots potentially possible due to bad soak rolling.
Cons: Separate dodge and soak rolls = more rolling.
Method 2 - Armor auto-soaks
Idea: Armor soaks hits at a 3:1 ratio with no rolling. Armor rating 12 is now effectively Armor 4. Optional: armor degrades 1 point after each Physical (not Stun) attack until repaired.
Example: Armor 12 would now auto-soak 4 hits the first attack, 3 hits the second attack, 2 hits the third attack, then 1 hit the last attack. The remaining damage goes to the condition monitor.
Pros: Maintains the idea of armor degrading. Motivation to spend plot points on armor repair. No additional rolling required. Similar to the SR1-3 approach.
Cons: No opportunity to one-shot an opponent. Stacked auto-soaking could lead someone to be impervious (see Chrome Bison, p. 91, who would auto-soak 9 boxes per attack).
Method 3 - All attacks assumed to have Armor Avoidance
Idea: Base damage goes to armor, net hits go directly to damage track.
Pros: Established precedent. Getting wounds on the damage track will lead to negative modifiers sooner, which could then help end battles faster. The least invasive/radical change.
Cons: Invalidates the AA benefits of attacks that currently have it. One-shots are still impossible. Preserves some of the unrealistic ways that armor would degrade after meaningless attacks. (Twelve punches from Granny still wipe out your milspec suit.)
Method 4 - Armor adds to your dodge pool at a 3:1 ratio
Idea: You roll dodge + armor dice. Armor no longer soaks.
Pros: No additional rolling.
Cons: Makes dodging all but mandatory. That removes any gradation between "uninjured" and "almost dead".
Method 5 - Compare net hits on the attack vs. dodge and armor separately (but simultaneously)
Idea: Roll dice for dodge and armor at the same time. The results determine whether the damage goes to the armor or to the condition monitor.
• If attack hits > dodge hits + armor hits, then armor doesn't soak and the damage goes straight to the condition monitor.
• If attack hits > dodge hits but < dodge hits + armor hits then armor soaks.
• If attack hits < dodge hits then attack misses.
Pros: Potential for one-shots vs. bad dodge/armor rolls. Realistic that most attacks would hit full body armor.
Cons: More rolling. Much more mental math to figure out where the attack connects. On average, most attacks will hit armor, so this is no faster than the current system.
Fully open to other ideas and feedback.
