How do Astrazoan deal with armor?

[Christopher#2411504]

Someone on my discord asked a interesting question: How do Astrazoans deal with armoring each form, if they are different?

According to the images they can make "clothing" from their body. But actual armor would still be a issue.

The only 2E option that comes to mind is hardlight armor, which could cover each form equally well:
"A projector fastened to a belt or lapel encases the wearer's body in this shimmering hardlight shell."

But what about the ones that need heavier armor?
Does armor already adapt to the wearers size and body form? Or was there some Upgrade or special armor for them in 1E?

[Agonarchy]

Preaumably they somewhat deconstruct the armor and position it as needed, like a gelatin mold full of metal bits trying to move in the path of an incoming attack.

[Kishmo]

I think you just roll with it. In 1e, there was a blanket rule that said "unless specifically stated, all gear works with all physiologies." I haven't read the 2e Core book cover-to-cover yet, so I'm not sure if that wording is still in there, but I think the spirit is, for weirdo offbeat species like Astrazoan.
Oh, also, FWIW, there is the flavour text for Swarmsuit armour, which specifically says it is designed to work with transformable physiologies.

[Dragonchess Player]

SF1 had shiftskin armor, which could be configured to accommodate two different forms.

Other armors could only accommodate a single form and had to be adjusted to fit another form each time, which required an Engineering check (possibly taking 1 or 2 hours; as crafting an item would take 4 hours). IIRC, in The Threefold Conspiracy AP an astrazoan just put all their equipment in a null-space chamber when shifting to a different form.

A SF1 astrazoan technomancer (or a character with Technomantic Dabbler) could also cast junk armor in a pinch.

[Curious_Corvids]

The feat 'I'm the Real One' sort of implies that they can shift the appearance and form of their armor, doesn't it? Otherwise that wouldn't really work.

[Wendy_Go]

In addition to hardlight, the Swarmsuit would work without needing any changes to description or special adaptation by the shapeshifter. The description actually mentions it works for users with "transformable physiologies."

[Justnobodyfqwl]

Armor should adjust for an Astrazoan's size for the same reason a Barathu can put on a +1 Riot Vest they found in a Skittermander Sherrif's office. The ratio of verisimilitude to "annoying and unfun" just isn't worth it.

[Christopher#2411504]

Curious_Corvids wrote:

The feat 'I'm the Real One' sort of implies that they can shift the appearance and form of their armor, doesn't it? Otherwise that wouldn't really work.

They can make fake clothing or armor from their body, so they would have little issues to pull off the exact look. Which would not help if shit at.

I guess as several people said, armor is just assumed to be adaptable enough.

[kaid]

Kishmo wrote:

I think you just roll with it. In 1e, there was a blanket rule that said "unless specifically stated, all gear works with all physiologies." I haven't read the 2e Core book cover-to-cover yet, so I'm not sure if that wording is still in there, but I think the spirit is, for weirdo offbeat species like Astrazoan.

Oh, also, FWIW, there is the flavour text for Swarmsuit armour, which specifically says it is designed to work with transformable physiologies.

This is kind of my impression as well to just go with the flow as long as it is not specifically called out. There are a couple astrazoan feats that DO call out specifically have limitations about armor usage. So it seems like if they are not called out specifically just go with it. They talk about how a lot of the armor heavily incorporates force field technology I am just going with the armor is nanotech and shifts its layout with my body style. Given how many freaky aliens are in SFT something like this makes reasonable in universe sense rather than making different armor for any one of the thousands of potential species of different sizes and shapes.

[LaughingAmdy]

At least one piece of art work shows the Astrazoan “shifting” their clothing/armour as well as their skin.

For me I would say that yes, if you were to take the construct copycat heritage the I would allow it. I would assume that they absorbed the armour plating into their body and shift it around as they change shape. The clothing would just be the Astrazon’s skin, made to look like clothing.
Which would give a cool Mystique kind of vibe to the character. That of course is untill they go somewhere cold and that lack off clothing things means that they now need to give themselves fur or freeze.

Or you could say that their clothing has been designed to accommodate multiple forms. Like extra arm holes if they wanted to shift into a skittermander. Or a flap at their backside they could open to take on a form with a tail. But for these I think I would need to state that you can only have one or maybe two such things built in. And they would need to be noted down. So I have extra arm holes for Kith, the Skiitermander skin they have. Or a tail flap for Ballen their Pathra skin.

I think this is what makes Astrazoan’s so fun. Given time they can look like anyone from any ancestry. But doing it on the fly requires a lot of planing.