A very important tool, armor comes in many shapes and forms. From a bullet-proof vest to a trash-can lid stuffed inside a jacket, armor increases your soak dice pool. Add armor's rating to your character's Stamina score when determining the number of dice in your pool. Armor can help protect against both bashing and lethal damage. Appropriate types of armor are required to resist lethal damage. Against lethal attacks, your soak dice pool consists of armor rating alone, not your character's combined Stamina and armor.
Attackers may make targeting rolls to hit unprotected portions of a defender and thus ignore armor. The Storyteller assigns the attack's difficulty modifier — typically +1 or +2.
No armor is indestructible. If the damage rolled in a single attack equals or exceeds double the armor's rating, the equipment is destroyed.
Armor may hinder mobility, too. It subtracts a number of dice from dice pools related to bodily coordination and agility (most Dexterity-based dice pools). Dice pools penalties are provided on the Armor Chart below. Hunters must weigh mobility versus protection when they stalk the unknown. It is better to take more damage and walk away, but be a lumbering target? Or is it better to hunt unencumbered to attack freely, but to risk life and limb at all times?
Armor Chart
| Class | Armor Rating | Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Reinforced clothing | 1 | 0 |
| Armor T-shirt | 2 | 1 |
| Kevlar vest | 3 | 1 |
| Flak jacket | 4 | 2 |
| Full riot gear | 5 | 3 |
