I'm thinking of going all in on these (Armor as DR, Called Shots, Piecemeal Armor, Wounds and Vigor, Wound Thresholds) in a homebrew campaign I'll be running. Anyone have any experiences with these rules systems, or recommendations about them that you'd care to share?
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I have a little experience with the Piecemeal Armor system.
It's a decent subsystem in a low-level, low-magic campaign where the (mostly martial) PCs are almost entirely dependent on using what they find. However that can turn into an inventory management game where the players are having to decide how much weight of "extra" pieces to carry in case it matches a set better.
For a campaign where the players can buy/build the armor they want, and get it enchanted the way they want, a reasonably clever group of players will most likely end up with the same armors as the CRB - possibly with some improvements. Should you buy chainmail from the CRB or chain arm, chain leg, and chain torso? Same AC and Max Dex, but the ACP and speed is better using piecemeal. And since you are going to enchant the torso the costs are the same. Let me try the same thing with full plate. . . wait. The difference here is that Piecemeal full plate has an ACP one worse than buying from the CRB.
Personally I don't care for it because it isn't really doing anything *unique* unless you're in that "you can use only what you find" campaign. No new abilities. You can basically build a spreadsheet to tell you your best choice. You could do that with standard armor too, but in a much simpler spreadsheet. So to me Piecemeal Armor is a lot of extra complexity to arrive at nearly the same stats (and therefore game mechanics) as standard armor.
When it comes to the Piecemeal Armor system, I'm planning to modify it so that it serves as a sub-system for the Armor as DR system and (a slightly modified version of) Called Shots. So yes, it's going to take into account the ACP considerations you bring up, but it will also be a mechanism for differentiating what DR a character enjoys depending on the part of the body being attacked.
What you are describing is the point where I ask myself "why don't we just play gurps or Runequest?"
I like the Wounds and Vigor option but it makes combat last even longer. Throw in the armor as damage reduction (which I use in my homebrew setting) and it lasts longer still.
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What you are describing is the point where I ask myself "why don't we just play gurps or Runequest?"
Valid question. The answer to it comes down to a combination of system preference/familiarity, a desire to mix things up, and a reluctance to do so with a new system.
I like the Wounds and Vigor option but it makes combat last even longer. Throw in the armor as damage reduction (which I use in my homebrew setting) and it lasts longer still.
Yeah, I can see this even in the formative stage of putting these systems together.
EDIT: I think one way I'm going to try to mitigate this will come down to the number of encounters per day, and--concurrently--which XP advancement table I use to compensate. Another way will be to consider to what extent enemies will fight to the death. At lower levels, most enemies will go down after a couple of hits, so this won't be as much of a consideration. At higher levels, I may have them err more on the side of self-preservation. Of course, that will require a re-think in terms of how and when PCs acquire treasure.