(Author’s Note: this post was written based on the Daggerheart Open Beta v1.5)
In 5e, when you get hit, you typically don’t have much say in the matter. You grimace, subtract some hit points, and the DM keeps cycling through the monsters turns. You just have to take it.
In Daggerheart, when you get hit, you can choose whether you want to spend armor slots to reduce the damage. It’s straightforward to use and makes sense within the game fiction.
It’s all about having a choice
Most importantly, The armor mechanic gives the player agency when they’re under attack. It’s not quite as much or as flexible as, say, Blades in the Dark resistance rolls. However, maybe it’s for the best that it is mechanically lighter. In fact, the GM can continue the rest of a fight while the player determines how it goes.
Angry had a nice post a few months ago called “You Don’t Need to Run an Open-World Game.” He makes some good points about the importance of the illusion of choices and rails within a game. As I thought about it, some of these ideas extend more broadly into the flexibility in mechanical choices we have in TTRPGs. We typically talk about the spectrum from fluff to crunch in how complex and prescriptive a system is.
With armor in Daggerheart, I suspect that it by-and-large won’t be too complicated to figure out when to spend armor slots. And since it will probably be clear what is optimal, it’s not really a choice.
However, as a player, I think the illusion of choice of important. There’s the interactivity that makes this a game to be played rather than a script to be read.
Better magical armor
The armor mechanic also makes for better magical armor. Armor can do more than grant resistance or immunity or tweak armor class: it can make some bigger changes to how using armor plays out.
I hesitate to provide more specific examples since Darrington Press has been very clear on their stance about home-brew content based on the open beta. Also, they already hinted at mechanical changes to armor in their pre-release stream.
However, consider this a whole new dimension for what armor can do in your game.
Final thoughts
I’m very much looking forward to seeing how they decide to implement armor in the released version of Daggerheart. I doubt it will be mind-blowing, but it hopefully will be smooth and intuitive in play.
Elsewhere in Daggerheart
Critical Role did session 0 for their Critmas show featuring the Daggerheart system. There are some tidbits of changes to various abilities that other viewers have picked out already. I more so just enjoyed the cast getting into 80s nostalgia.
Shield’s Rest has a video about creating encounters. In addition to the actual play out there, I like seeing content around running a better game.
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