I have found the role of armor in the Palladium Universe to be both ineffective and wasteful.  Armor is designed with the sole purpose of saving the life of the wearer. In the Palladium systems, that is very seldom the case.  All Armor has an Armor Rating (AR) that gives the GM and the players an idea of its basic protective capability, and a certain SDC value to show how many times this protection is available. For instance, a standard bullet proof vest in the real world is capable of stopping up to .44Mag rounds, but it is usually only good for a couple of shots. Therefore, it will have a decent AR, but few SDC. Using this idea as a basis, I have rewritten the rules for AR and redone most of the armors available in modern day to fit.

How It Works

As always, all rolls (w/ bonuses) under 5 miss completely (under 9 if 60' or more away).

Sequence

Roll to strike as normal, if above 4 (or 8), then defender attempts to dodge. If defender fails to dodge, then compare the attackers NATURAL roll with the targets AR. If the roll EXCEEDS the AR of the defenders armor, then armor is penetrated and takes 1/4 of total rolled damage while the defender takes 3/4 total rolled damage (armor always affords "some" protection). If the roll does not exceed the AR, then the armor takes full damage. In either event, defender can attempt to roll with punch, fall, & impact to reduce damage.

Armor Modifiers

As the defenders armor is whittled down, it isn't likely to afford the same protection as it would in new condition. To represent this, when a suit of armor drops to below 50% SDC, then subtract 1 from the AR Subtract a further 1 from the AR when the armor is down to 10% SDC or less. The maximum modifier is -2 unless there is an extenuating circumstance (i.e. defender has a gapping split across his chest from an energy axe attack).

Penetration Values

All attacks have a given damage associated with them. However, this damage doesn't necessarily reflect how well this weapon can penetrate armor. Below I have rated most weapons by their likelihood of tearing through armor and inflicting wounds to the defender inside. The number in parenthesis is the number of points of damage that a weapon is capable of. (I.e. attacker shoots a AK-47 round at the defender. The round can do up to 30 pts of damage, so it has a penetration value of 5)

PV Type of weapon or attack

0   Punches, Kicks, Blunt Melee Weapons(clubs, bats, flails), Crushing Attack's, Falling, Collisions, Fire & Heat Attacks...

1   Body Weapons(teeth, claws, horns), Particle Beams, Plasma Blasts, Napalm, Most Explosions...

2   Lasers(10 & less), Other Energy Weapons(ion, magic, mind bolt), Swords, Wide Blade Knives, Slashing Weapons(axes, scythes, forearm blades), Shurikens...

3   Knives w/Reinforced Points(Tantos, Daggers, Benchmade), Throwing Knives, Stabbing Weapons(shortswords, spears, pikes)...

4   Stilettos, Ice Picks, Pick Weapons(kusari gama, military pick, bec de corbin), Ballistic Blades, Hand Crossbows, Fragmentation Explosions & Shrapnel...

5   Bullets(30 & less), Lasers(11-20), Crossbows, Bow & Arrows, Javelins(w/atlatl)... 6 Vibro Weapons(SDC), Coherent Energy Weapons(energy sword, energy axe)...

7   Bullets(31-40)...

8   Lasers(21-30)...

9   Bullets(41-50)...

10  Electrical Bolts, Lightning Attacks...

11  Bullets(51-60), Lasers(31-40)...

12  Armor Piercing Rockets & Missiles, Explosive Tank Rounds...

13  Bullets(61-80)...

14  Lasers(41-50)...

15  Bullets(81-110)...

16  H.E.A.T. Tank Rounds...

17  Bullets(111-130), Lasers(51-60)...

18  Bullets(131 & up), Lasers(61 & up), Discarding Sabot Tank Rounds...

Special Rules

An AR cannot be penetrated by a weapon with a PV of 12 less than it's AR. The bullet values given are for ammunitions fired from a rifle.  If using a pistol or shotgun with slugs, then all PVs are -2 (but never less than 0). If using a shotgun with shot, then PV is -3.

For magical and Psi attacks, use the appropriate energy to determine PV. Otherwise they have a base PV of 2.

Certain bullet types have modifiers for PV. For convenience, I've listed these below:

Full Metal Jacket (no modifier)
Explosive Tipped (no modifier)
Solid Lead (-1 PV)
Hollow Point (-3 PV)
Flat-Nosed/DumDum (-5 PV)
Mercury Tipped/Glaser Safety (-7 PV)
Bird Shot/Snake Shot (-10 PV)
Partitioned (rifle only) (+1 PV)
Discarding Sabot (shotgun slugs only) (+1 PV)
SolidCore Armor Piercing (+1 PV)
Teflon Armor Piercing (+2 PV)
Teflon SolidCore AP (+3 PV)

Some rounds are specifically designed to have better penetration, these rounds may receive modifiers to their PV.

Some weapons, such as axes and polearms, can be modified to include a spike or pick.  This will give the weapon an Anti Armor versatility.

Natural Armor works differently than synthetic armor in a number of ways.  First of all, natural armor isn't depleted like synth armor.  Secondly, natural armor can completely prevent damage from certain attacks.  There are certain attacks that will do damage to beings with natural AR.  Explosives, plasma, & particle beams will do half damage to the target if they don't penetrate (full damage if they do penetrate obviously).

Individuals in armor can still take damage, even if armor isn't penetrated, from certain sources. These include falls, explosions, and high speed collisions. Character takes 1/4 damage from all of these attack types...

Types Of Armor: