I have some rules on this that try to avoid some of the pitfalls of the
balance between complexity and realism of RQ.
I deal with quality in a way similar to Steve. But I also developed rules
to deal with the personal usability of weapons and (specialy) armor. The
rational is that not all weapons or armor suit everybody due to physical
differences in size and shape.
Characters do have a certain type of body shape. For humanoids, they are:
1- Very thin 2- Thin 3- Athletic 4- Compact 5- Fat
So, if you are, say SIZe 10 and Thin and try to use the armor of someone
that his SIZe 12 and Compact, you get a penalty that's equal to the summ of
the difference between each category involved. For body shape we have: 1
for athletic + 2 for Compact = 3; for SIZe we have 1 for SIZe 11 + 2 for
SIZe 12 = 3. The total 6 points penalty converts to a penalty in
ENCumbrance. In the special case of oversized helms, when they're hit there
is a chance that they will move and cover the eyes of the character carring
them.
The second effect of using armor of a wrong size and shape is that it
protects less then the right one. I apply a penalty to APs in this case.
That's why rich people afford to buy armor made specialy to them.
The interesting part is that lazy and well being characters may grow too
much for their armor... Or if they starve, they may get too thin for it...
The only solution to avoid the pitfall of wrongly shaped armor is to find
someone to adapt it to the body of the character. In some types of armor
this may cost more then buying a new armor.
Using oversized weapons results in penalties (calculated according to the principles above) to the skill in using them because they are unbalanced.
Sergio
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