[Perilouslands] Scene 30: Re: The Red Gem of Death

[J Hooten]

I have always wondered about that as well. But here is the fun thing... 
The book never actually says 'add' the helm to the armor, it is only 
implied because it is listed as +1 etc.
Book2 1.21) DAMAGE MODIFIERS
E) HELMETS—The AV of Helmets is applied on all Severe and Deadly hits 
scored on the wearer.

Book1 pg 31 says
Armor Value
Armor A factor that is subtracted from damage scored against the armor 
wearer.
Helmets The +X factor, as for Armor above, is only applied when a Severe 
or Deadly hit is scored against the wearer.

Nowhere does it say they are added, no examples are provided. It is only 
assumed so from the +X use which could just be a notation method like 
'Av6+3' for plate and helm quality.
If they do add then magic plate with magic helm can cause severe hits to 
do less damage than regular ones.

So only way to be sure is ask on the PnP mailing list and see if the 
Designer of the game will answer of if it has been answered before

Always the devils advocate in games... otherwise characters have it too 
easy ;)
Of course PnP is quite lethal without making it worse, only those in 
full plate are likely to see the difference!


lev at mimesisrpg.com wrote:
>> I always thought it was because a "severe" or "deadly" hit was assumed to
>> hit in the head or neck.  So a helm would provide additional protection
>> specifically for those hits.  Just speculation though.
>>
>>     
>
> *nods* That was my thoughts as well on why helms are used, but it also
> seems that the rest of one's armour is used as well which strikes me as a
> little strange.
>
> Mori has been hit twice with a severe hit now, but with the combination of
> normal armour plus helm it's hard for the Dragon to even penetrate...
>
>