“It doesn’t matter how you feel, what you do, or who you are. What matters is what people think of you – and people think you’re great. You’ve made it. You’re a success. The world lays down a constant assault but you stand alone and unbroken against it all.
Why shouldn’t they be impressed? When the storm rolls in, why shouldn’t they take shelter behind you? Perhaps they would rather die alone and exposed; so be it.”
Since the moment humans discovered they could wield tools with which to hurt each other, they’ve sought ways to avoid being hurt. The Armour started out as animal pelts, thick furs layered over soft, vulnerable skin. It’s come a long way since then.
Armour is polished steel, layered silk, lacquered wood and hardened leather. Armour is as much the filigree and flash as it is a physical barrier. It’s expensive. If it’s not, it’s not Armour – it’s just safety equipment.
What is the Armour?
Armour in most TTRPGs is purely for defence. Not in Hollows. You can do a lot of damage to someone with an armoured fist. Even so, most of the Armour’s abilities are protective. They allow the wearer to weather blows that would fell other Hunters and – very much in line with the Armour’s arrogant belief that it’s the shield behind which others cower – set up bulwarks to defend allies.
Armour takes many forms. Metal, which predictably reduces Wound damage; Hide, which turns aside the glancing blows of Resolve damage; and Silk, which offers an Armour build based on the Quick stat, and allows you to become Ready when you move or defend. (Aside: everyone should try running around in Silk Armour with a Knife at least once. Sickening.)
The Armour’s abilities are based around the wearer’s status as Ready – on guard, prepared to turn aside a blow – or not. At Tier 1, when you’re Ready you’ll reduce or ignore Wounds, or take them so your allies don’t. Alternatively, you can use your Ready status to command your Allies, granting them extra manoeuvres if they listen to you and fall in line.
At Tier 2, you’ll shrug off killing blows, make counterattacks, and throw yourself into the Entity’s jaws to deny your companions the glory of suffering. At Tier 3, every use of Ready gives you an extra attack. By that stage, you can choose to always use your Hard stat for defence, which makes it really easy to push one stat to its maximum and become almost impossible to harm.
What is Armour Really?
The Armour is a message, turning the wearer into a beacon of security and prosperity. The Armour says: you’ve made it, and it wants others to hear.
The Armour wants you to understand that what people think of you is infinitely more important than what you do or who you are. Honesty, integrity, and earnestness are all well and good but they’re useless compared to letting others bask in your glory. Everyone else is looking blindly for the answers to questions they don’t even know how to ask, but you can show them the way.
The Armour’s favourite lie is of the self-made man – that the bearer did it all themselves, that they had no unfair advantages on their path to success, and that similar outcomes are available to anyone with enough gumption. It laughs at the thought that anyone helped them get to the top. It despises the idea of luck. You don’t need luck when you’re this good.
The Armour knows it’s lying, and it’s doing it to cover the real truth: each time you drown out the weak part of you inside, what little humanity remains is made smaller and weaker, until you’re left strange and empty, and only the image of the Armour remains.
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