Alternate Armor System

[Manly Man]

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Final Fantasy d20 Alternate Armor Rules
While the normal rules for armor in Pathfinder, and by proxy Final Fantasy d20, are relatively simple and straightforward, something to consider is that this is Final Fantasy d20, and things like Armor Class don’t fit quite right. For those who want an experience closer to a traditional Final Fantasy game, these rules present a closer fit, although they in turn offer complexities not present in the base game.

Defense Score
When using this rules variation, you do not have an Armor Class. Instead, your defensive capabilities are represented with a Defense score and damage reduction.

To determine a Defense score, you have a total of 10 + shield bonus + Dexterity modifier + any other bonuses you may have. This represents how hard you are to hit effectively, taking into account things like dodging and fending off blows with your shield, similar to one’s touch AC. Circumstances that would cause you to lose your Dexterity bonus to your Armor Class or cause you to be flat-footed also deny you your Dexterity bonus and shield bonus to your Defense score. When using a shield with which you are not proficient, you apply the shield’s armor check penalty to your shield bonus, as well as the normal penalties for non-proficiency. The penalty for non-proficiency also applies to your flat-footed Defense score; the shield in such cases is more of a hindrance than a help, getting in the way instead of blocking oncoming blows.

To determine damage reduction, you add the bonuses offered by your armor. You also gain a +1 bonus to your damage reduction for every five levels when wearing armor. With standard equipment, the damage reduction offered is DR/adamantine or magic. The materials used to make the armor have an affect on what bypasses the damage reduction, as seen on the table below.

Creatures that traditionally have natural armor bonuses to Armor Class also enjoy the benefits of damage reduction. Those with other forms of innate damage reduction not granted by armor or natural armor gain better kinds of damage reduction. As well, creatures wearing armor that have natural armor add the damage reduction granted by their armor to the total damage reduction provided by their natural armor.

The AC bonus class feature of the black belt, dancer, monk, and ninja is added to both the character’s Defense Bonus and their damage reduction; treat it as magical armor for purposes of damage reduction.

[Manly Man]

Critical Hits and Defense
When a creature threatens a critical hit, it does not make a critical hit confirmation roll. Instead, the target of that critical hit makes a critical defense check. A critical defense check is 1d20 + a bonus equal to the creature’s DR + the creature’s Dexterity modifier + any deflection, insight, profane, sacred, shield, or untyped bonus to the creature’s Defense score. The DC of the roll is the critical threat roll + ½ the attacking creature’s base attack bonus + 1 for each critical feat the attacking creature possesses (maximum 10) + 1 for every size category larger the attacking creature is than its target. On a failed check, the target takes the full damage of the critical hit, applying damage reduction as normal. If the check succeeds, the target only takes normal damage, applying damage reduction as normal.

The fortification special armor quality acts in concert with the check, coming into play if the check fails.

Armor Slots
In most Final Fantasy games, one’s armor is not determined as one full suit, instead being divided into multiple slots. In this rules variation, there are three slots: head, body, and arms. To determine the bonuses and penalties granted by your gear, you simply add them all together. The armor check penalty and spell failure chance for each slot stacks, and the size category of the armor you are considered to be wearing is that of the heaviest piece of your three slots. Each slot also occupies the appropriate slot for magic items, as is appropriate for the piece worn (wrists take the wrist slot, gloves and gauntlets take the hand slot, etcetera).

Types of Armor
Final Fantasy games that have armor typically have various kinds of armor that is usable by different classes. For example, one does not normally see a white mage wearing plate armor, nor does one usually find a ninja wearing anything but cloth. Keeping true to Final Fantasy, when using this rules variation, armor is as follows on the tables below.

Types of Armor (and What This Means for You)
A new mechanic to this system is armor type. When equipping armor and determining proficiencies, both the weight category of the armor and the type of armor are taken into account. If a character equips armor with which they are not proficient either by weight or type, they apply the usual non-proficiency penalties. The modified list of proficiencies goes thusly, with the armor type listed being the heaviest combination of weight and type they can wear:

Archer: Medium suits, hats, and gloves.
Astrologian: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Bard: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Beastmaster: Medium suits, helmets, and gloves.
Black Belt: Robes (robes that add DR when unenchanted affect class abilities), hats, and wrists.
Black Mage: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Blue Mage: Light suits, hats, wrists, and light shields (but not heavy or tower shields); the armored mage ability allows use of light suits and light shields without penalty, as normal.
Chemist: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Chocobo Knight: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (including tower shields).
Cleric: Robes, hats, and gloves, and shields (but not tower shields); the armored mage ability increases armor proficiency to light suits at 3rd level, and medium suits at 7th level, and affects shields as normal.
Dancer: Robes (robes that add DR when unenchanted affect class abilities), hats, and wrists.
Dark Knight: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (but not tower shields).
Dragoon: Heavy mail, helmets, and gauntlets.
Engineer: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Fencer: Medium suits, hats, gloves, and bucklers.
Fighter: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (but not tower shields).
Gambler: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Geomancer: Light suits, hats, wrists, and shields (but not tower shields).
Gunner: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Holy Knight: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (but not tower shields).
Illusionist: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Knight: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (including tower shields).
Medic: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Monk: Robes (robes that add DR when unenchanted affect class abilities), hats, and wrists.
Necromancer: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Ninja: Robes (robes that add DR when unenchanted affect class abilities), hats, and wrists.
Red Mage: Light suits, hats, gauntlets, and shields (except tower shields); the armored mage ability increases armor proficiency to medium suits at 3rd level, and medium mail at 7th level, and affects shields as normal.
Samurai: Heavy mail, helmets, and gauntlets.
Scholar: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Summoner: Robes, hats, and wrists.
Sword Saint: Heavy mail, helmets, gauntlets, and shields (but not tower shields).
Thief: Light suits, hats, and gloves.
Time Mage: Robes, hats, and wrists.
White Mage: Robes, hats, and wrists.

For spellcasters whose spellcasting is hindered by armor, wearing anything heavier than what is listed here for your class interferes with your spellcasting, applying all penalties as normal.

[Manly Man]

Magical Armor
The question of how to enchant one’s armor and the effects thereof may have already come to mind; thankfully for you, this is easy to determine. Consult the tables below for pricing:

When enchanting a piece of armor, you don’t simply add the enhancement bonus to both the Defense bonus and damage reduction; what the magic affects is determined by the armor’s weight and type. Hats, wrists, gloves, and robes solely increase the item’s Defense bonus when enchanted, whereas helmets and gauntlets grant their bonus to damage reduction. Suits may have their enhancement bonus be assigned to either the Defense bonus or damage reduction, each point added separately (though the item can still only be given a total of +5 in enhancement bonuses). Medium mail adds the enhancement bonus only to damage reduction, and heavy mail adds the enhancement bonus to both. Special abilities from all three pieces apply, but any matching abilities overlap, rather than stack.

Special Materials
Seeing as how armor is divided into separate slots, pricing it when made of special materials is going to be a bit more complicated and, in the long run, a tad more expensive. For the body slot, the costs for making them out of other materials are cut in half, with robes and light suits counting as light armor, medium suits and mail counting as medium armor, and heavy mail counting as heavy armor, when determining what cost modifier to halve. For the head slot and arm slot, the price is determined by the weight of the piece, if such a pricing is available. If not, then it is considered to be light armor, and then cut in half. Shields retain their normal pricing.

When determining the type of damage that bypasses the damage reduction granted by your armor, you use the damage reduction granted by your body slot; the bonuses to the damage reduction itself from the other pieces of the armor still apply, e.g. a knight wearing a pair of +2 adamant gauntlets, a +1 mythril helmet, and a +1 heavy plate would have DR 14/adamant, even though the other pieces are made of stronger materials. Special materials that offer other effects all overlap with the rest of the effects of the armor’s special materials, except those that offer other forms of damage reduction; these are all determined by the armor in the body slot. For example, making armor out of Elysian bronze does not offer the effect of treating it as adamantine against the natural attacks and unarmed strikes of magical beasts and monstrous humanoids, unless the armor in the body slot is made of Elysian bronze.

[Manly Man]

Okay, so here're the rules all on the forum. Tell me if there's anything you think I've missed!