In the core rulebook there is a bit of conflicting information whether armour protects the use from heat,cold etc.
Does armour that isn't out of charges for its proper functioning completely protect the wearer from enviromental effects?
Environmental rules seem fairly straight forward?
Pg. 196, continued on pg. 198 after armor tables on the CRB.
Temperature
Armor’s environmental protections reasonably protect you
against both cold (temperatures below –20° F) and heat (air
temperatures over 140° F). This prevents you from having to
attempt Fortitude saving throws to avoid damage from the
environment, and it prevents you from taking any damage listed
for breathing in the environment. This does not protect against
cold or fire damage from other sources or against environments
It's not complete protection, but armor typically protects against all but extreme environments.
Yeah but then if you go into the GM section of the CRB it is stating that hot temperatures cause damage and that fortitude checks must be made. Sorry don’t have the CRB with me but I’ll re-read and post the relevant information. I was under impression exactly what you posted was how it worked til I read that GM section and it seemed to contradict. I could be wrong though.
Doesn't protect against cold or fire damage from other sources.
Typically active environmental protections protect you from everything environmental.
The exceptions would be things like molten planets, high enough radiation levels depending on armor level, exceptionally corrosive atmospheres.
Interesting.
So under cold, page 400 (emphasis mine)
Cold Dangers
Cold and exposure deal nonlethal damage to the victim. A character can’t recover from the damage dealt by a cold environment until she gets out of the cold and warms up again.
An unprotected character in cold weather (below 40° F) must succeed at a Fortitude save each hour (DC = 15 + 1 per previous check) or take 1d6 nonlethal cold damage....
But under Heat, page 402
Heat deals nonlethal damage to the victim. A character can’t recover from the damage dealt by a hot environment until she gets out of the heat and cools off.
A character in very hot conditions (above 90° F) must attempt a Fortitude saving throw each hour (DC = 15 + 1 per previous check) or take 1d4 nonlethal fire damage. Characters wearing heavy clothing or armor of any sort take a –4 penalty to their saving throws. A character can attempt a Survival check to receive a bonus to this saving throw, and might be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well (see page 148).
There's a subtle difference here - the word "unprotected". Armor would seem to protect against cold. I suspect that may be what's causing the confusion.
That said the specific rule for armor explicitly says what it protects from so if you feel they're in conflict, I'd go with what's written for armor. You aren't just in armor; you're in a space suit.
Armor protects against heat just fine:
heat (air
temperatures over 140° F). This prevents you from having to
attempt Fortitude saving throws to avoid damage from the
environment, and it prevents you from taking any damage listed
for breathing in the environment.
Just because the word 'unprotected' is missing in heat dangers doesn't mean armor stops working in heat.
It doesn't protect you from catching on fire or swimming in lava, and it doesn't protect you from swimming in boiling water, but it does protect you from fortitude saves vs. hot temperatures and from taking damage by breathing hot air.
If the environment is hot enough that you just take damage without breathing (boiling water and swimming in lava being examples), the armor doesn't protect you.
After doing some more reading the deciding factor on whether you are actually protected is if you use a standard action to engage the environmental protections of the armour. The wording in the heat section had me confused as it says even characters in armour take damage but I’m assuming that means a person in armour who hasn’t engaged the protection system of the armour.
Yeah, armor will protect you from extreme heat or cold in the environment, but I sure wouldn't recommend swimming across a river of lava, running through a forest fire, or plunging your arm into a vat of liquid nitrogen.
Yes, the difference is whether protections are on. The penalty to heat saves for wearing armor comes in if you're out of power, conserving power, wearing archaic armor, etc.