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How damage works

When you're hit:

1. The shooter rolls the weapon's damage.
2. The armor's SP where you were hit is subtracted from the damage. If the head wasn't the target of an aimed shot, the hit lands on the body. Whatever is left goes to HP.
3. If even 1 point of damage got through to HP, the armor in that spot loses 1 SP — that's ablation. Didn't get through — the armor is intact.

Fire, poison, suffocation and the like go to HP past the armor — each such kind of damage says so.

SP: head and body

Armor has two locations: head and body. Each gets its own armor, and SP is counted separately. Without a helmet the head is SP 0, and an aimed shot to it doubles whatever gets through.

SP doesn't stack. A leather jacket over a kevlar vest doesn't give SP 4 + 11 — only the highest source in that location counts. But every layer worn in that location ablates at once.

Ablation

Every time damage gets through armor, its SP in that location drops by 1 and stays that way until the armor is repaired. An armorjack that has caught a dozen bullets isn't what it used to be.

Worn armor is repaired by a tech — or simply replaced with new armor.

Armor table

Kevlar isn't a vest, it's a fabric: jackets, suits and anything else are made from it. The Bodyweight Suit is made for Netrunners — with room for a cyberdeck and plugs.

Heavy armor penalty

The armor penalty is subtracted from REF, DEX and MOVE — and with them from everything calculated from them: shooting, Evasion, Initiative, running.

• Only the largest penalty among what you wear counts, once — a helmet and an armorjack with −2 each give −2 together, not −4.
• The penalty can bring MOVE down to 0 — and then the character can't move at all in that armor.

Melee and armor

Melee weapons and Martial Arts cut armor in half (rounded up): a machete blow against SP 11 meets SP 6. Fists and thrown weapons face full armor. Details are in melee combat.

Critical Injury

If the damage dice show two or more sixes, it's a Critical Injury: the target suffers a Critical Injury and 5 more damage straight to HP. The target takes these 5 damage and the injury even if the main damage didn't get through the armor, and they don't ablate it.