(Answered) Barrier armor question

[Acolyte]

So, how does barrier armor work? Do you just use the BAR value and transfer the rest to your character or does it work like tactical armor until it's gone.

Pg 187 says this:

When attempting to determine the effects of an attack against (or through) a barrier, the rules for tactical armor degradation apply. The barrier receives a special "barrier integrity" value that reflects how easily it may be shattered (or destroyed for cover and barrier purposes) by the resulting damage. snip this value reflects the barriers overall ability to maintain enough structural integrity to present an obstacle.

but pg 185 seems to contradict it, saying that both the character and the barrier take damage.

So, do you factor in the integrity at all for damage through or should thicker barrier (like sandbags) simply have a higher BAR?

   - Shane

[Paul]

Depending on the barrier, you may take damage, you might not.

Example, BAR8 wall is in between you and the 4 AP / 3BD attack.
The BAR/AP difference is -4, so the 3 BD attack is reduced to 0.

Let's say you were behind a BAR 4 wall instead.
The BAR/AP difference is 0, so the shot will do 4AP/3BD damage to you, as the attack's AP is equal to (or more) than the BAR.

Let's say you were behind a BAR 6 wall when this attack hit.
The difference is now -2, so the 4AP/3BD attack now becomes a 2AP/1BD attack against you.

All of that's covered on p.185.

The integrity comes in to play whenever a barrier is hit, as each hit will degrade it. It's separate from the question if a given attack will hurt the person behind the barrier.
Using the above AP 4/3BD attack against a BAR 4, 6 or 8 wall will reduce its integrity by 1, 0 and 0 respectively. Yet you still took (potential) damage in the case of the BAR 6 wall. (Odds are decent your armor was able to deal with the AP 2 / 1BD attack).

As noted on p.187, integrity and BAR are two separate things, such that something with a high BAR might have a low integrity, or vice versa. Sandbags, as you note, likely have substantial integrity, even if they only provide a BAR of 4, you could justify 10 integrity points.