Wear and Degradation
Armor and shields do not degrade over time during standard combat, however at the Storyteller’s discretion certain circumstances may cause them to become less effective or to break outright. The quality or condition of an item might be altered by a significantly devastating attack for example; an exceptional melee attack can dent the opposition’s sword or armor, while fire and acid have direct effects on materials and ice can make metal brittle or cause wood to burst.

Should armor become damaged or degraded, the Storyteller may impose a negative modifier to its effectiveness. The player may still roll for mitigation and a modifier is applied to the result. If the modifier reduces the mitigation value to zero, the armor is no longer effective.

Should the armor become so damaged that the modifier is equal to the dice roll assigned (example: -4 on a 1d4 roll), the armor will be considered damaged beyond repair and should be discarded. Even when damaged beyond repair, the armor still imposes the prescribed amount of impact.

Armor and shields may also be degraded such that they only perform as well as their lighter counterparts, reducing the dice rolled by one or by one tier. A heavy shield for instance might be damaged such that it only acts a light shield, changing the dice set used for defensive rolls. Look to your Storyteller for guidance.

The same mechanic is assigned to shields and can be assigned to weapons if desired.