Grade     Damage     Armor Rating Penalty     1     Pierced     -     2     Worn     -1     3     Tattered     -2     4     Mangled     -3     5     Shredded     -4*
This optional rule is used to simulate the deterioration of armor and shields, which occurs through regular use. Armor integrity is tracked using a similar health meter to that of characters (see the table at right). As armor becomes damaged, a penalty is applied to its armor rating. Armor damage is tracked for full armor, cuirass, hauberk, and shields only—the use of the word armor below refers to one of these types.

Whenever an attack penetrates armor and the character sustains injury from the attack, a second damage roll must be made. The number of dice rolled is equal to the amount of injury (but not fatigue) that penetrates the armor from the attack. Determine the number of dice that are greater than the current armor rating and subtract one. This value indicates the number of grades of deterioration applied to the armor. When the armor sustains five (5) grades of damage, it no longer offers any protection against injury—it may still protect against fatigue, but with a penalty of -4*. The only way to remove damage is to repair it. While the amount of time required is up to the director, a single sustained forging task with minimum and incremental times of one hour can repair one (1) grade of damage. The base difficulty is equal to the armor’s current number of grades of damage.