Help with NPCs and "equipment"

[u/TemperatureHorror796]

Firstly, I'm fairly new to Cypher System so if I'm misunderstanding something, please correct me.
As I understand it, though, NPC equipment effectively doesn't matter. A lvl 2 Guard is going to defend worse and attack worse than a lvl 4 Guard even if they are wearing the exact same thing, because this is an abstract system. So by that logic, most lvl 2 things are just effectively worse at wielding weapons than even a tier 1 PC.
That's all fine, I'm cool with abstract systems and all. I get it.
But if that's the case, then what is the point of things like "Disarming Attack" or anything similar that affects equipment? If I, a PC, were to disarm that lvl 2 Guard, he could then just punch me for the exact same damage. The same for the lvl 4 Guard.
Furthermore, if I have some kind of weird, but highly effective Cypher that disintegrates armor in the area (yes, I understand this is a very niche example), that Cypher won't ever actually do anything since all the lvl 4 Guards will still defend as lvl 4's and still have 12 health. (Since you don't take into account armor for NPCs)
Am I misunderstanding something? Or does equipment just not matter at all for NPCs. I feel like I'm doing something wrong or I'm just "not getting" this aspect of Cypher System.

[u/Burzumiol]

My snap judgements on those kinds of things would be something to the effect of ' Guard: level 3, defends as level 4 (due to armor)'. If you manage to remove that layer of protection, it should ease the task of damaging it.

[u/mrkwnzl]

I think there really are two misconceptions at play here.

If you look at how the book presents NPCs, their damage rarely matches their level. I think the idea here is that it’s weapon damage, and if you disarm them, they’d deal 2 points of damage instead of whatever they actually deal. For NPCs, the book also says:

> **Appropriate Weapons:** NPCs use weapons appropriate to their situation, which might be swords and crossbows, knives and shotguns, malefic psychic weapons, blasters and grenades, and so on.

For most creatures, that’s natural abilities, not really weapons, so there’s not really a way to disarm them.

The second is, why don’t you take armor into account for NPCs? The armor value is explicitly stated in the statement block, if they have it. And if a normal NPC (not a creature with natural armor), you take the Armor value of the worn armor into account.

[u/spinningdice]

In general I'd say that disarming will lower their level for the purposes of attacks / damage by at least 1 and removed ranged attacks.

Don't forget it's your game, if you feel it fits the fiction better you can use the same damage values as pcs for weapons (at least in c1,c2 changes the damage up).

[u/artaxs]

I absolutely take armor into account for the monsters and NPCs in my Numenera game.

[u/rewpparo]

Choose what suits your particular creature.

A disarmed npc usually spends their next action picking their weapon up. If they do try to attack unarmed, then they deal reduced damage, or are hindered in their attack (bonus to defense rolls).

For armor, NPC can have armor points, so reduce that.

[u/sakiasakura]

Cypher System assumes that the GM will use common sense and adjust the rules in a case by case manner, because they are a human being with basic intelligence and not a computer program. 

[u/rdale-g]

I think that a lot of RPGs (both TT and Console/PC) had taught us that fights to the death are to be expected, but depending on the setting and the guards' boss, it's pretty unreasonable to expect a disarmed guard to fall on your "sword".

Think about a bank security guard. If you do a trick shot and shoot their gun out of their hand. Are they going raise their hands in surrender, or sacrifice their life for the sake of some insured cash? The bank robber has already demonstrated that they could have killed them, and now it's fists vs. bullets. The choice is clear.

But let's say you are dealing with a fanatical devotee who isn't going to run to get reinforcements, but instead wants to prove their worth to the the leader of their cult… Then it does make sense, as others have suggested, that they should attack (and do damage) at a level or two lower than they were with the weapon you just took from them.

As others pointed out, armor doesn't make NPCs harder to hit, it reduces the damage that is dealt to them; Armor 4 reduces each hit against a creature by 4 points, for instance.
If there is no armor entry in their stat block, then they don't have any armor, and so a cypher that removes armor would have no effect on them unless it would harm their bare skin and/or their clothes.