Does anyone know a reference for an Armour and Shield system a little different then standard D&D?
I am looking for a shield system where the player rolls to see if he blocks the attack. And an armour system where the armour has hitpoints. Nothing TOOOO complicated, but just to add a little bit of flavour.
well i used a system once where armor was DR and you had a defance skill. that added to your ac more or less something like that may work for ya.
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Well, D&D 3.5 assumes that all characters have a base of 10 for AC. If you want to roll to see if a character blocks, you can just reduce all ACs by 10 and then roll d20 in its place.
3.5: AC = 10 + armor + Dex + shield + other
New: AC = d20 + armor + Dex + shield + other
Then, you can rule that if an attack misses by the armor+shield bonus or less (but not more than the armor bonus alone), the opponent has struck the shield. If the attack misses by the armor bonus or less only, the opponent has struck the armor. If the attack bypasses the armors hardness (see PHB page 166 or here for hardness and hp) then it damages the armor. If an attack misses by more than the armor+shield bonus, it is a total miss. A fumble is always a total miss.
So, let's say you have a fighter with AC 10 from full plate (+8) and heavy steel shield (+2). An opponent has +5 to hit.
Opponent d20 = 10 = 15 to hit
Fighter d20 = 6 = 16 AC
Result = opponent misses by 1, less than or equal to armor bonus, therefore the armor has been hit. Damage vs hardness, then deduct hp from armor if necessary.
Opponent d20 = 5 = 10 to hit
Fighter d20 = 10 = 20 AC
Result = opponent misses by 10, equal to the armor+shield bonus, therefore the shield has been hit. Determine damage dealt.
Opponent d20 = 5 = 10 to hit
Fighter d20 = 15 = 25 AC
Result = opponent misses completely.
Keep in mind this system does three things:
1) Slows down combat at the expense of realism. You need to roll twice for each attack (or at least, roll AC once per round) and determine misses and damage to items.
2) Favors unarmored combatants more, since armor now takes damage.
3) Favors non-fighters, since a fighters previously high AC is now unstable it is more difficult to judge challenges for fighters.
I like the idea of this system for ultra-gritty games, and it also lets players know when they are getting close (at least, without the variable d20 to AC). I would recommend:
The Game of Thrones Rpg has a system like this (the D20 version). Shields give a higher defense bonus, Armor is DR, Classes have Defense scores.
I liked it a lot, but my ground wasn't so keen on remembering a new mechanic at the time.
Check it out, if you can.