FalloutTTSRPG

💎Hardness

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💎 Hardness represents a material’s resistance to Physical damage (ballistic, kinetic, or concussive).
It determines whether physical attacks are blocked, chip away at cover, or penetrate through it.

Hardness applies to Cover Objects and to 🦾 Power Armor pieces. Both resolve incoming attacks with the penetration rules below rather than by subtracting a value. Ordinary worn armor does not use Hardness — it uses 🛡️ Physical DT.

A Cover Object’s Hardness is determined by its 🧱 Material — see the 🧱 Materials table for the canonical values (wood, concrete, steel, etc.). A Power Armor piece carries its Hardness on its own stat block.

Effect of Hardness

When a Physical ⚔ Attack strikes a Covered Limb, compare the attack’s damage to the cover’s 💎 Hardness.

Penetration Resolution

Let:

  • D = Physical damage of the attack
  • R = the cover’s 💎 Hardness
Damage ComparisonResult
D < RThe attack is fully blocked. No damage is dealt to the cover or the target.
R ≤ D < 2RThe attack chips the cover. The cover takes D − R damage. The target takes no damage.
D ≥ 2RThe attack penetrates the cover. The cover takes D − R damage, and the target takes D − 2R damage.

Reducing Hardness

Two weapon tags cut through Hardness. Because the bar to penetrate is 2R, every point of Hardness removed is worth 2 damage — which is why the two tags apply differently.

TagAgainst HardnessLasts
Piercing XReduces Hardness by half X, rounded down (min 0)The attack only
Sunder XReduces Hardness by X, at full valuePermanent until 🔧 repaired — stacks across attacks

Piercing is halved so that a point of it is worth about the same whether it meets 🛡️ DT or Hardness. Sunder is not, because it does not bypass the plate — it ruins it, and the damage stays.

Anti-Materiel Rifle vs. X-01 torso

The rifle carries Piercing 4 and Sunder 2; the plate has Hardness 10.

  • Shot 1 — Piercing 4 halves to 2, so R is 8 and the attack needs 16 to get through. On a hit, Sunder drops the plate to Hardness 8 for good.
  • Shot 2 — R is now 8, halving to 6, needing 12. Sunder drops it to 6.
  • Shot 3 — R is 6, halving to 4, needing 8.

The first rounds ring off the plate. Then it starts coming apart.

See Also

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