Hi,

anybody got rules how long it takes to don armor (of course depending on the kind of armor)?

Well each round is roughly ten seconds as far as i know so it will depend on how many pieces of armour they are putting on, a helmet i think would be a half action and most others would be about a full action each i reckon, really the type of armour would change some of these but i think that should be left to you to decide when appropriate.

As I understand it, a round is 4 seconds.

A helmet would be a half action or full action, depending on type and circumstances.
Most torso-covering armour would be 5-10 rounds, as they have to be secured properly.
Things like full power armour would be all but impossible to don in combat (which is the only time I'd count something like that).

Actually i have just found it in the book it says it is 5 seconds, i was thinking of what it would be in WFRP, i sometimes get the two mixed up on minor details.

My point about the helmet remains though, all you really have to do is jam it on to your head which should only take about half an action maybe a full one if they are panicking or non-military characters. For main armour though it can be as simple as putting their arms through some sleeves for leathers or coats of some sort, the amount of actions should really depend on what it is being put on though, power armour would obviously take the longest and would probably be incredibly difficult to put on in combat situations, probably out of the question altogether though. carapace is a quite secure so probably has more fastenings im not sure on time for that, flak would probably take at least 3 to 4 actions depending on whether or not it was a coat or a harder to put on piece of armour.

Try putting on different pieces of clothing and seeing how long it takes for you to put it on, then try it with someone poking you or some other physical distraction, that may give you some idea on how long it could take for some armour to be put on in different situations, you of course cant test flak armour or something similar so you will have to alter your times slightly to account for their material properties.

We had this issue come up in my game a few times. It is of course a total non-issue in normal situations, as the characters simply suit-up "off camera" and show up ready to go like the professionals they are. So far there have been two situations where this has come up, and they were both dramatic moments. The admittedly half-solution that we worked out was to allow a character who is standing right next to his wargear to spend a full round action to hastily slap on one location worth of armour or two rounds to secure it properly. Helmets/hats being the exception: Helmets being a half action for hasty and full action for secure, hats being a half action and done... This is based on the premise that the character in question has practiced hasty doning of their wargear and they have carefully stacked their gear in a deliberate fashion to facilitate this. Granted not all acolytes can reasonably fall into this description but in my experience it is mostly characters that DO meet this description that tend to spend time trying to slam on some armour during a surprise fight: Guardsmen, Arbitrators and other professional "tough guys". The "squishier" characters are more prone to just wear a bodyglove or perhaps some mesh to sleep if they expect trouble. Flak, carapace and the like are usually the issue.

Anyone have something better than this for their game? I would love to hear about it.

We also had this issue recently.

My players found themselves recently in a situation where the mansion they were sleeping in was raided by a group of Mercenaries that had the PCs as their main target. Two of them woke up when the door was blasted by a melta charge and they knew that they would only have a few rounds before whoever would reach them in the second floor. So, when the rest of the group was woken, they began donning armour and arming themselves.

I ruled that it would take half a round to don a Flak Helmet, a full round to a Flak Vest (as well as the body part of a Guard Flak Armour), a full round to don the Guard Flak Armour for each arm and/or leg as these are rather tricky to strap on (so it would take 5.5 rounds to don a full Guard Flak Armour). I proposed a successful Agility-Test could half the amount of time, but a mistake could mean it takes even longer as one fumbles around. A Flak Coat/Cloak (as well as Light and Great) would take half a round to don. Mesh Armour took either half a round or a full round to don completely. No one had Carapace Armour, but I would rule that it takes at least as long as the Guard Flak Armour and most probably even longer to don completely.

All this led to the situation, in which our groups Guardsman ran barefoot through the mansion and chased lone Mercenaries wearing only his undershorts, his Flak Vest (part of his Guard Flak Armour) and his Flak Helmet and being armed with his Pump-Action Shotgun…

I thought about it and i'll use the D20 rules, i changed them a bit.

Armortype Don Don hastily Take off
Helmets 2 Rounds 1 Round ½ Action
Cloth, Leather, Fur etc. 1 Minute 6 Rounds 1 Minute *
Armaplast, Aramid, Chainmail etc. 4 Minutes * 1 Minute 1 Minute *
Plate etc. 4 Minutes only with help 4 Minutes * 2 Minutes *
Servo etc. 6 Minutes only with help 6 Minutes * 3 Minutes *

* With help ½ Time
Duration is for all Bodyparts except Head (2 Arms, 2 Legs, Body)

1 Minute =12 Rounds
Don Hastily = Armorbonus -1

darkwerks said:

Now I don't like the "don hastily" minus here. I think it would be better to say that the armor counts as "poor" in that case. After all, poor armor's -10 agi comes from it being poorly fitted and that sounds like what armor would be like if it was just thrown on instead of adjusted.

Luthor Harkon said:

Back in the army I once got woken up to alert in middle of night... Getting out of sleeping bag in boxer shorts I threw on vest (no, I didn't secure the side straps, so it was just hanging on my naked chest), put on boots and ran out with rifle in one hand and helmet on other (attaching the chin-strap takes so much time and I didn't want it dropping out of head while running).

Yes, the few guys outside in full combat-dress looked at me a bit funny.

From my personal experience I can say that vest type stuff is pretty quick to don, taking just few seconds, but strapping them so that they are comfortable to wear and also cover your body from sides takes time and we usually did it assisted. Helmets are like oversized, heavy hats. It takes 1 second to put it on if you don't attach the chin strap... and several minutes to recover once the un-attached chin-strap leads to your helmet dropping and bouncing its merry way down the stairs after you turn your head a bit too fast to look up the stairs (don't ask). Things like kneepads, gauntlet-type gloves, wrist protectors and so on take a lot more time. Donning the whole combat-dress so that it is actually comfortable to wear is several minutes (assisted).

In a similar situation I ruled 1/2 an action per item of armour. However things like armoured body gloves/power armour would take a substantial time to put on...

Turn this problem round. Ask you players how long do you want to spend messing around with armour?

I did this to my players, cue a running gunfight with all the players running around in PJs!

Of course, the real solution is to have mesh PJs .

Polaria said:

Real life experience soundslike a good baseline. From the way you describe your scramble. You were done in 2-3 rounds adding only body armor and helmet? Would you describe it as fair to say that the armor would have the poor quality (-10 ag) and that the helmet would fly off after helping to stop a snigle round?

Sister Callidia said:

Yeah, sounds about right. But hey, I have access to modern body armor in my current work, too, so tomorrow when I get back I'll just get me a vest and helmet and time how much it takes

That's definitely dedication to the cause of role-playing there!

To don hastily a helmet (1 rnd) and a aramid body armor (1 minute=12 rnds for body, arms, legs so time divided by 3 for just the body armor = 4 rnds), would take 5 Rounds (20 sec.). i don't think that's too long.
Hastily means that the straps are not secured and/or the armor is worn with a loose fit. In rules -1 Armor on head and body. To secure all the straps takes 4 times longer (without help) that means 2 rnds for the helmet and 16 rnds for the body armor = 18 rnds (1,5 minutes). WIth help would half the body armors time so that would be 11 rnds (55 seconds).

RedMike said:

Right-O. Decided to make it into a warm-up before nightly jogging and I timed first five times from lying-down position with vest and helmet beside me to standing up with helmet and vest on (unstrapped). Then I timed another five times from lying-down to standing up but with helmet and vest fully strapped and tightened.

Results:

Donning flak vest and helmet hastily 6 to 11 seconds with average of 8 seconds. I'd rule that two (2) rounds total, one round for helmet and one for vest. One interesting thing I noticed it is that when you don't strap and tighten vest properly the collar-piece will be left open and the side-plates (things that protect your body from shots coming from the sides under the arms) are not aligned properly which leaves huge, gaping holes in your armor when compared to fully strapped vest. Maybe a penalty to armor value would actually be realistic?

Donning flak vest and helmet properly 20 to 22 seconds with average of just over 20 seconds. I'd say four (4) rounds, with maybe two (2) rounds for helmet and vest each?

I'd say flak and mesh armor would be pretty much like this. Its heavy, but its designed to be donned fast and feels basically just extra heavy and thick clothing with straps to make up for the size difference. I imagine carapace armor would be more like medieval plate and thus take several minutes to put on even when assisted... and Power Armor is probably nigh-impossible to don without assistance anyway. After all, its supposed to weigh so much that you need the powered exo to move it properly.

Polaria said:

Thanks for the hard work trying this out. I think I will use your efforts as benchmark. 2 rounds for the helmet and 2 rounds for the vest it is. Anything more will take longer.