One of the tricky things about responding to this type of question is that HQ2 isn't the kind of game where this particular comparison matters that much.
The question is what does the better armour actually give an advantage for? What is the context of the contest?
HQ2 is entirely based on framing the contest with goals, and you are asking a question about relative modifiers as if there is some kind of objective measure outside of the contest. There just isn't.
So let's imagine that Pete Plate is fighting Mike Mail. For a start what are their goals, is one of them a PC, are either of them using a specific ability.
If Pete's Goal is to humiliate Mike in front of his superior plate wearing pals then his main ability is going to be his plate mail. If he is engaged in a duel of honour then it may be appropriate for him to bring in his plate mail as an augment, but HQ requires this to be a separate roll, ideally with a separate goal in mind, (polishing his plate the day before in an attempt to intimidate the opponent for example).
There is nothing in the rules that absolutely insists on every augment being novel, it has to be interesting and one measure is how novel it is. But, augments are not really designed to be used as simple buffs to other skills. That kind of thing is better left to situational modifiers or adjustments to the resistance. Even modifiers are best folded into the resistance unless they can be directly played with by the players.
Jamie
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