What does a helmet actually do?

[colonelclick]

Sorry in advance if this has been covered, but after a few minutes of searching the forums I could not find an answer, and I have looked high and low in the book as well.

Certain professions start with an iron or steel helmet. Helmet is decidedly absent so I can see there is no AC bonus.

So, what does a helmet do, beyond flavor and story?

Thanks!

[Jim Skach]

A helmet is stifling, it narrows your vision. And you must see far.

[Bilgewriggler]

Some ideas:

They could sell it or trade it for something more useful.

Since they're 0 level, you could just give them a +1 to armor class out of pity.

If an opponent has a choice of who to target, decide based on whether the circumstances make a helmeted character seem more or less attractive as a target. "He must be the leader! Kill him first!" Or "From this distance and angle, I'd rather shoot my sling at an unhelmeted guy than a helmeted one."

If you choose who to attack based on luck, and there's a tie, say that the helmet dissuades the attacker enough that they pick the other unlucky character.

+1 on saves against falling objects, but +2 to the rolls of anyone trying to sneak by or hide from the character.

Allow the character some benefit against crit results that affect the head.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

Several of the critical hit effects actually differentiate whether the target has a helmet or not, so yeah- protects your head!

[GnomeBoy]

This was just recently asked on the DCC RPG Rocks! Facebook group, and here's the (edited) thread:

Can any of you fine folks give me the stats for a steel helmet?
It's part of the starting equipment for a level zero squire but I can't find modifiers or descriptions.

I would rule that it can prevent head-related crits. Otherwise, it's just flavor.

Cool. Thanks!

This.

Yeah, it's all circumstantial, not numeric. It might do more than just protect against head-related crits, but that's down to the specific situation and up to the Judge...

IIRC Crawl#2 has a great helmets and shields crit absorption rule. They'll make your characters last a bit longer and also destroy a lot of equipment which is fun.

Yup-- I always use their helmet and shield rules.

Head-butt for 1d4 damage and also serves as a cook pot

Lol! Nice!

Steel Helmet (common armor)
Damage: 1d3 (headbutt) / 1d2 (thrown)
In addition to being useful as a piece of armor, the steel helmet may be used as an improvised cook pot or, with some work, a small game trap.

cool!

It also obscures your features, can be used as a dice cup, is handy for measuring out 1/2 gallon of liquid, and you can store your chewing gum in the inside of the peak...

[colonelclick]

Haha thanks, these are a lot of good replies!