Armor Upgrades

A creature can personalize armor by purchasing and installing armor upgrades, described below, which add bonuses or customized abilities to armor. Some individuals keep a collection of upgrades at hand, swapping them out as needed (requiring 10 minutes to replace the unit and re-secure all connections). Explanations of entries for upgrades’ statistics follow.

Adaptive Energy Shield
This intelligent polymer weave covers the entire armor. When in an unattuned state, the first time you take energy damage (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic), the adaptive mesh transforms to better withstand attacks of the same type; your armor thereafter grants you energy resistance 5 against that energy type. The energy resistance does not apply to the initial attack. The armor remains attuned to that energy type (even if you take other forms of energy damage) until it has taken no damage of the attuned type for 5 minutes. It then becomes unattuned.

Agility Enhancer
This upgrade consists of replacing the hard corners of armor with more expensive flexible materials carefully angled and reinforced to increase mobility without sacrificing protective values. Agility enhancers reduce the armor check penalty of your armor, to a minimum of 0. Some agility enhancers apply only to Acrobatics, while others apply to any skill affected by armor check penalties.

The amount depends on the agility enhancer type, as listed below.
 * Mk 1 (Level 1): Reduce the penalty by 1 for Acrobatics.
 * Mk 2 (Level 5): Reduce the penalty by 1 for all skills.
 * Mk 3 (Level 9): Reduce the penalty by 2 for Acrobatics.
 * Mk 4 (Level 13): Reduce the penalty by 2 for all skills.
 * Mk 5 (Level 17): Reduce the penalty by 3 for Acrobatics.

This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.

Auto-CPR Unit
This device monitors your blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and temperature. When one or more of these vital signs falls below an acceptable level, the device administers aid, injecting you with stimulants and resuscitating you with a defibrillator as necessary. If you have 0 Hit Points and are dying, at the end of your next turn the auto-CPR unit attempts to stabilize you, attempting a Medicine check to administer first aid to stabilize you with a +5 total skill bonus. If you have a computer interface (see page 82), you can have the computer control activate the auto-CPR unit to attempt first aid when you have the bleed condition, and you add the tier of the computer in the interface to the auto-CPR unit’s total Medicine bonus.

Auto-Injector
This armor upgrade has a compartment the size of a small vial. As a full action, you can place a single serum within the compartment. As a move action, you can activate the upgrade to inject the serum into your body, where it affects you as though you had drunk it.

Automated Loader
This device attaches to powered armor and consists of a small robotic arm and a storage compartment that holds up to 2 bulk of ammunition and batteries. You can activate the automated loader as a move action to reload or recharge a weapon that’s mounted to the powered armor (but not to replace the batteries of the powered armor itself). Abilities that let you reload faster than a move action don’t apply to an automated loader.

This upgrade can be installed only in powered armor.

Backup Generator
You can connect charged electric items such as batteries to this miniature generator to recharge them. The electricity comes from the kinetic energy of your movement, which generates 1 charge every 10 minutes of movement. No more than one item can be plugged in at a time, and the generator doesn’t produce charges when you’re resting or otherwise stationary.

Battery Unit
This upgrade, usually installed on the chest or back of the armor, has a compartment capable of storing any one battery. Power cables run from the battery slot to the palms of your hands. As a full action, you can install a battery in the compartment or remove a battery from it. When you attack with a powered weapon or use a technological item you are holding in your hand, you can expend charges from the battery stored in the upgrade rather than the weapon or item’s own battery, provided that the item is capable of using a battery of that capacity.

Computer Interface
Your armor is wired to allow an integrated onboard computer to monitor your condition and operate some functions of your armor. An armor interface comes with a tier 1 computer with an artificial personality and a single control module linked to your armor. You can access this computer without exposing it or yourself to the environment outside of your armor, and you receive information from it through heads-up displays and broadcasts via your armor’s integrated comm unit.

With a successful Computers check (DC = the DC needed to hack the computer) you can set the computer to give basic information about your condition (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and so on) to authorized users (which you designate), or to anyone with a medkit, advanced medkit, or medical lab. Characters who can access this information gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Medicine checks they attempt on you.

With 10 minutes of work, you can set the computer’s control module to operate any one system in your armor, as long as that system doesn’t take a full action or longer to activate or deactivate. Common applications are environmental protections or a force field armor upgrade. You can set the computer to operate the upgrade at your command (allowing you to activate one such item each round without taking an action to do so), or set it to automatically trigger the system under specific conditions as follows: the first time you take damage, the first time you take Hit Point damage, when you are stunned, when you are staggered, when you are unconscious, or when the atmospheric conditions change. If the trigger occurs, the computer automatically activates the linked system. This occurs at the end of your next turn after the condition occurs. The control module can be linked to weapons or tools that are part of the armor, subject to the normal limitations of control modules (Core Rulebook 215).

You can install a higher-tier computer into the computer interface, as long as it has light or negligible bulk. You must pay for the additional computer separately, and installing it requires a successful Computers check with a DC equal to the DC to hack the new computer. The computer cannot have countermeasures that require links to the environment beyond the armor (such as a shock grid) or control modules that control anything other than armor systems, and it cannot activate more than one system each round (even if linked to multiple systems with automatic triggers).

Concealed Compartments
This upgrade consists of many hidden compartments that are difficult to distinguish from the armor’s surface. Your armor grants you a +5 bonus to Sleight of Hand checks when hiding items on your body. You can store up to 1 bulk worth of items in your concealed compartments.

Deflective Reinforcement
This upgrade gives your armor a uniquely slippery texture. Your armor grants you DR 5/—. In addition, your armor check penalty is reduced by 2 when you attempt an Acrobatics check to escape.

Descent Thrusters
Developed by kasathan engineers long ago to help them navigate the steep cliffs of their native Kasath, descent thrusters are miniature jets that slow your fall. You fall at a rate of only 60 feet per round, and you take no damage upon landing. You can trigger decent thrusters as part of an action when jumping down, or as a reaction if you fall.

Easy Access Kit
This set of mechanical supports and electric connectors allows you to install a single technological item with light or negligible bulk on your wrist or another easily accessible body part. Installing or swapping out a technological item attached to the upgrade requires 10 minutes, as though you were swapping out an armor upgrade. Whenever at least one of your hands is free, you can use the item as though it were in your hand. If the item normally requires two hands to use, you still need two free hands to use it.

Electrostatic Field
This field over your armor grants you electricity resistance, and any creature that touches you or deals damage to you with a melee weapon takes electricity damage. The resistance granted and damage dealt depend on this upgrade’s type, as noted below.


 * Mk 1: Resistance 5 and 1d6 electricity damage.
 * Mk 2: Resistance 10 and 2d6 electricity damage.
 * Mk 3: Resistance 15 and 3d6 electricity damage.

Exit Pod
This body harness fits into a suit of powered armor or is built into the frame of heavy armor, allowing you to exit the armor as a move action instead of as a full action. Entering the armor is no faster with an exit pod.

This can be installed only in heavy armor or powered armor.

Explosive Defense Unit
These additional armor plates offer protection against explosions and shrapnel, granting you a +2 enhancement bonus to Reflex saves against weapons with the explode special property. As a full action, you can place a grenade inside a reinforced, eggshaped compartment in the armor upgrade. As a standard action, you can detonate the grenade. This explosion is centered on you, but the upgrade creates a temporary containment field that shields you from the explosion. In all other ways, the grenade functions normally.

Filtered Rebreather
This upgraded rebreather supplements your armor’s ability to provide fresh air and filters out common toxins and poisonous vapors. Armor with this upgrade can provide fresh air for a number of weeks equal to its level. You also gain acid resistance 5 and a +2 bonus to saving throws against poison and disease.

Flashbinders
The crystals used at the core of this upgrade are harvested from a slow-moving, geode-like beast that hunts the dark side of Verces and stuns its prey with flashes of light. You can activate this upgrade as a move action to emit a strobe-like burst of radiance. All creatures other than you within 20 feet must succeed at a Reflex saving throw (DC = 10 + half the upgrade’s item level + your Dexterity modifier) or become blind for 1 round. A set of flashblinders recharges automatically after 1 minute.

Force Field
You can activate or deactivate your armor’s force field as a standard action. Once active, the device generates an invisible force field around you, including all your worn and carried items. The force field blocks solids and liquids but not gases or light (including laser beams). You can breathe while the field is active, but you can’t eat or drink.

While a force field is active, you gain a number of temporary Hit Points depending on the force field’s power. All damage dealt to you is subtracted from the force field’s temporary Hit Points first. A force field has fast healing, meaning that it regains temporary Hit Points at a fixed rate each round at the end of your turn, up to its normal maximum. If the force field’s temporary Hit Points are reduced to 0, it is inactive until the end of your next turn, when its fast healing restores some of its Hit Points. The charge capacity, amount of temporary Hit Points granted, and rate of fast healing vary according to the force field’s color code. A force field has a usage of 1 charge per round.

More powerful force fields also have a fortification ability, which gives a percentage chance that a critical hit is treated as a normal attack, dealing normal damage and not applying any critical effect. You roll your fortification percentage chance before the critical hit’s damage is rolled. If a force field is inactive, its fortification ability does not function. A suit of armor cannot support more than one force field upgrade.

Fortified Plates
This upgrade reinforces critical areas of your armor with extra defensive plates, granting you a fortification ability, which functions as a force field’s fortification (Core Rulebook 206) except the ability is always active. The fortification granted by fortified plates doesn’t stack with a force field’s fortification or other similar abilities. The percentage depends on the upgrade’s type, as listed below.
 * Mk 1 (Level 14): 20% chance
 * Mk 2 (Level 15): 40% chance
 * Mk 3 (Level 16): 60% chance
 * Mk 4 (Level 17): 80% chance
 * Mk 5 (Level 19): 100% chance

This upgrade can be installed only in heavy or powered armor.

Hover Field
This system of minor gravity generators creates an invisible but supportive gravitational bubble underneath you, supporting your weight from below by anchoring to a stable surface within an inch or so of your feet, without placing downward pressure on that surface. You hover an inch above the ground, and you don’t leave tracks or trigger any mechanical traps that use a floor-based location trigger. The gravitational bubble needs a strong, stable surface to remain stable—you can move briefly across delicate flooring that won’t support your weight and across water or other liquid surfaces, but you must end your move on a surface that can support you normally or this upgrade ceases to function until you are once more on a stable surface for a full round.

This upgrade can be installed only in light armor.

Hydrojet
When you activate this set of impellers as a move action, you gain a swim speed equal to half your land speed. If you already have a swim speed, this upgrade instead grants a +10-foot enhancement bonus to your swim speed.

This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.

Infrared Sensors
You gain Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Invisibility Detector
As a move action, you can activate this set of optical lenses and seismic sensors. This upgrade must be installed in a suit of armor for 24 hours before it functions, and when the upgrade is removed from the armor, no other upgrade can use its vacated slot for 24 hours. While the upgrade is activated, you can see invisible creatures within 60 feet as translucent shapes, per see invisibility. An invisibility detector’s charges replenish each day.

Jet Pack
You gain a fly speed of 30 feet (average maneuverability). You can use this for “cruising flight” at a usage of only 1 charge per minute, but you are flat-footed and off-target while doing so. Changing from normal flight to cruising flight or vice versa is a standard action. A jetpack can’t lift you if you’re encumbered.

This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.

Juggernaut Boosters
Your armor greatly increases your momentum when you rush forward. When you move at least 20 feet toward the target before attempting a bull rush combat maneuver, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the check, and if the attack hits, you can move the target an additional 5 feet. Your armor also grants you a +4 bonus to Strength checks to break down doors and other barriers if you move at least 10 feet toward the barrier before attempting the check.

This upgrade can be installed only in heavy or powered armor.

Jump Jets
You can activate jump jets as part of a move action in order to fly during your movement. You can fly up to 30 feet (average maneuverability) with a maximum height of 10 feet, or you can fly up to 20 feet straight up. You must land at the end of your move action. Jump jets can’t lift you if you’re encumbered.

This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.

Leapers
This system of electric motors and hydraulics augments the strength of your leg muscles, granting you a +8 enhancement bonus to Athletics checks when jumping. As long as you are proficient with the armor it takes no time to activate the leapers, you can choose to activate them or not as part of making a jump check.

This upgrade can be installed only in light armor.

Light Projector
This set of powerful lights includes a compact but long-lasting battery. While activated, a light projector increases the light level by one step in a 100-foot cone or a 50-foot radius. You can activate or deactivate the light projector or switch between the two light modes as a move action.

Load Lifter
This set of artificial muscles increases the amount of bulk you can carry while wearing your armor by 3.

Longstrider Module
his actuator system mimics the action of leg muscles and tendons when you run, providing assistance and support at the ankles, knees, and hips. This grants you a +10-foot enhancement bonus to your land speed.

This upgrade can be installed only in light armor.

Medical Interface
This medical upgrade stimulates your metabolism and natural healing capabilities with nanites. When you take a 10-minute rest to regain Stamina Points, you also recover some Hit Points. The amount of healing depends on the type of the medical interface, as listed below.
 * Mk 1 (Level 9): 5 Hit Points
 * Mk 2 (Level 15): 10 Hit Points
 * Mk 3 (Level 19): 15 Hit Points

Mobility Enhancer
This system of elastic braces and joint support structures reduces the stress heavy armor exerts on your body, allowing you to move faster despite the armor’s bulk. A mobility enhancer reduces the armor’s speed adjustment by an amount determined by the upgrade’s type, as listed below. The speed adjustment of the armor can’t increase above 0 feet.
 * Mk 1 (Level 3): Reduce the armor’s speed adjustment by 5 feet.
 * Mk 2 (Level 8): Reduce the armor’s speed adjustment by 10 feet.

This upgrade can be installed only in heavy armor.

Phase Shield
You can activate this upgrade to generate a glowing, translucent blue shield on one of your arms that helps you block incoming attacks. Activating or deactivating the shield takes a move action. While the shield is active, you gain a +1 enhancement bonus to EAC. The phase shield interferes with your ability to use the arm it’s installed on, so while the phase shield is active, you can hold an item in that hand but not use it or make attacks with it.

This can be installed only in heavy or powered armor.

Privacy Shield
These white noise generators embedded into armor plates constantly shield against clairvoyant abilities and surveillance technology, per nondetection. This upgrade must be installed in a suit of armor for 24 hours before it functions, and when the upgrade is removed from the armor, no other upgrade can use its vacated slot for a 24-hour cool-down period.

Quick-Release Sheath
This articulated compartment can hold a one-handed weapon of no more than light bulk. You can activate this upgrade as a swift action to put the item in your hand as though you’d drawn it.

Radiation Buffer
This device grants a +2 bonus to your initial saving throw against radiation (see page 403) in addition to any bonuses from your armor’s environmental protection. This doesn’t provide any bonus to saves against the secondary effects of radiation.

Rampart Plates
These extra-thick armor plates don’t increase your defense in general, but add a little extra protection when you specifically try to defend yourself. When you have the cowering condition or take the total defense or withdraw action, you gain a +2 bonus to AC.

This upgrade can be installed only in heavy armor.

Reaction Accelerator
This upgrade analyzes stress hormones in your bloodstream and, when you are in a threatening situation, stimulates your glands to release hormones that allow you to react quickly. It must be installed in a suit of armor for 24 hours before it functions, and when the upgrade is removed from the armor, no other upgrade can use its vacated slot for 24 hours. When you roll initiative, after seeing the result of your initiative check, you can immediately spend 1 Resolve Point to reroll your initiative with an additional +4 bonus and take the better of your original result or your new result.

Slickskin
This upgrade gives the armor a particularly slippery coating which is generally a combination of low-friction surfaces, long-lasting lubricants, and a redesign of surfaces to remove anything likely to catch on protrusions or be easily grabbed. Your armor grants you a +2 circumstance bonus to AC against grapple combat maneuvers and a +4 bonus to Acrobatics checks when using the escape task.

This upgrade can be installed only in light armor.

Sonic Dampener
This device muffles the incidental sounds you make, and sonic attacks lose power in your vicinity. You gain sonic resistance 5 and reduce your armor check penalty by 1 when making Stealth checks.

Stabilizer Springs
These carefully calibrated, high-quality springs installed around the ankles and knees of the armor make your stance more balanced. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Acrobatics checks to balance on narrow surfaces, a +2 circumstance bonus to AC against trip combat maneuvers, and a +2 circumstance bonus to Reflex saves against effects that knock you prone (such as the knee shot operative exploit).

This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.

Tactical Scaffold
As a full action, you can attach a small arm, longarm, heavy weapon, or sniper weapon to this counterweighted mechanical weapon support. Removing a weapon from it is also a full action. As a move action, you can activate the scaffold, bringing the weapon to your hand or hands. You can activate the scaffold as part of a move action to move, but Quick Draw and other abilities that allow you to draw weapons faster than normal don’t affect the time required to activate it. You can’t wield a weapon mounted to the scaffold without it being activated.

When activated, the scaffold tracks your motions and provides support for the weapon attached to it, allowing you to wield two-handed weapons using only one hand. If you wield a heavy weapon with two hands while using the scaffold, treat your Strength score as 2 higher for the purpose of meeting the minimum Strength score for using heavy weapons. If you wield a sniper weapon with two hands while using the scaffold you can use its aimed range increment without taking a move action to aim. If you drop the weapon (or it is successfully disarmed), the scaffold automatically folds away and stows the weapon for later use

Targeting Computer
This targeting computer helps you compensate for poor visibility conditions. Ignore concealment on attacks you make. This doesn’t have any effect against targets with total concealment.

Tensile Reinforcement
When calculating your armor’s hardness and Hit Points (see page 409), treat it as if its item level were 5 higher.

Thermal Capacitor
This upgrade regulates heat, protecting you from extreme temperatures. You can exist comfortably in conditions between –50° and 170° F without needing to attempt Fortitude saves. In addition, the armor grants cold resistance and fire resistance. The amount depends on the capacitor’s type, as listed below.


 * Mk 1: Resistance 5
 * Mk 2: Resistance 10
 * Mk 3: Resistance 15

Thrower Arms
This upgrade consists of small motors and other machinery that enhance the motions of your arms from the shoulders to the wrists, allowing you to launch weapons with a greater velocity and precision. You treat the range increments of thrown weapons as 10 feet greater than normal.

Titan Shield
This emitter generates a wide, unidirectional energy shield that protects against incoming attacks. You can activate or deactivate the shield as a move action. When you activate it, choose one edge of your space. The shield extends along three continuous edges in a straight line centered on the chosen edge. The shield provides cover against attacks coming from the far side of the shield but not against attacks originating from the side you’re on.

Vibration Sensors
These special armor plates are equipped with piezoelectric sensors connected to a computer that analyzes vibrations in the ground and the air around you, and presents the information as visual and audible input. Your armor grants you blindsight (vibration) with a range of 30 feet.

If you move, you can reposition your shield, moving it to a different edge of your space. You can also spend a move action to reposition the shield without leaving your space.

This upgrade can be installed only in powered armor.