An encounter is defined as the time during battles, excursions, and activities, when you may use your skills and abilities. You are considered to be in an encounter during any time you are not in a recovery period. A recovery period is interrupted by using any skills, taking damage, or becoming involved in combat, and must be restarted.

If you spend at least 120 seconds (2 minutes) actively roleplaying attempting to restore your energy, you will refresh your per-encounter abilities. This does not restore Endurance or refresh your items. You may not run or use skills, and you must remain out of combat and take no damage during this period. You must actively roleplay recovering by doing things such as reloading and checking your weapons, or meditating and stretching.

If you spend at least 15 minutes completely out of harm’s way, you will refresh all of your Endurance (see Endurance below) and the integrity of any armour you are wearing, in addition to refreshing your per-encounter abilities. If you wish to recharge the ability of any reusable items, you must spend at least some time roleplaying recharging each item.

This may not take place on a battlefield, or if you are aware of any combat in your vicinity. It includes spending time sitting down, or going to get food and drink – including time spent Out of Character, such as overnight. You can recover in this way while Exhausted (see Exhaustion below). If you become involved in combat, use a skill, or are forced to run during a recovery period, you must restart the recovery period again upon reaching safety.

Characters with the Engineering, Medicae or Thaumaturgy skill may attempt to analyse certain objects, people or environments, often indicated by a self-ref card. This ability is used by engineers to examine and interact with technologies, by medics to diagnose and autopsy, and by Omega users to investigate anomalies. (Please note that to investigate the spiritual and emotional impacts caused by Omega effects, the Psychometry ability of the Omega Spirit Attunement is used instead.) Characters with the appropriate skill may attempt to analyse systems. All systems will have a difficulty rating, and a number rating.

The difficulty rating of a system can be either Standard, Advanced, or Expert – relating to the Engineering, Medicae or Thaumaturgy skill tiers 1, 2 and 3 respectively. This indicates that at least one member of the analysis team must have the same tier or higher than the rating shown in the appropriate skill.

The number rating of the system indicates the collective total tiers in the appropriate skill required to perform the task. The number also indicates the time requred to analyse the system, in minutes. A Multispec (or Omnispec) is needed to analyse Engineering systems, a Medispec (or Omnispec) is needed to analyse Medical systems, and a Focus is needed to analyse Omega anomalies.

Please note that Vrede may reduce the time required to perform engineering or medical tasks

Example: A system to analyse an unknown ailment is “Medicae Analysis Advanced 5”.
This means it requires a total of 5 tiers of Medicae, and takes 5 minutes to analyse.
At least one of the team must have Medicae Tier 2

Characters with the Engineering skill may attempt to hack and manipulate electronic systems, often indicated by a self-ref card. All systems will have a difficulty rating, and a number rating.

The difficulty rating of a system can be either Standard, Advanced, or Expert – relating to the Engineering skill tiers 1, 2 and 3 respectively. This indicates that at least one member of the hacking team must have the same tier or higher than the rating shown.

The number rating of the system indicates the collective total tiers in the Engineering skill required to perform the task. The number also indicates the time required to hack the system, in minutes. A Multispec (or Omnispec) is needed to perform hacking actions.

Please note that Vrede may reduce the time required to perform these tasks.

Example: A system to unlock a door is “Hacking Advanced 4”. This means it requires a total of 4 tiers of Engineering, and takes 4 minutes to hack. At least one of the team must have Engineering Tier 2.

Classes with one of the “Teacher” attributes are able to teach other characters how to craft items that the teacher has the relevant Knowledge cards for. The teacher must contribute 25% of the research WP cost of the item, rounded up, and the student must contribute another 25% of the research WP cost, rounded up, as well as the entire material cost.

Upon completion the student will receive:

• A knowledge lammie for the item.
• One item lammie for the item you have just learnt (item lammies must be attached to player provided physreps at all times where appropriate).

Please note that Vrede-Tech cannot normally be taught to non-Vrede.

Blueprints and Formulae
Blueprints and Formulae act as a way of teaching knowledge for Engineering or Medicae items. They are created by Researchers when a Research project is completed. Additional Blueprints/Formulae can be created by anyone with Knowledge of the item, at 50% of the research WP cost of the item. No materials are required for this process. Anyone with the Engineering/Medicae skill can learn from Blueprints/Formulae respectively.

To learn how to craft an item from a set of Blueprints/Formulae, you must pay:

• 75% of the research WP cost of the item.
• The entire material cost of the item.

Upon completion, you will receive:

• A Knowledge lammies for the item.
• One item lammie for the item you have just learnt (item lammies must be attached to player provided physreps at all times where appropriate).

Blueprints and Formulae are multi-use items, and must be attached to a player-provided physrep. As items, they have a maintenance cost, and if not maintained accordingly, the item will be destroyed IC. For example, paper tears and ink fades, and digital data becomes corrupted.

The maintenance period for Blueprints and Formulae will be double the maintenance period of the item that the blueprint or formula relates to, and they do not have a material maintenance cost. For example, if a researched item requires maintenance every year, its corresponding Blueprint/ Formulae will require maintenance every two years.

To maintain a Blueprint or Formulae you must have researched or learned it first, as maintenance requires comprehensive understanding of the item. The maintenance cost for all Blueprints and Formulae is 1 Work Point.

Some classes have attributes that allow them to research new items or abilities, and teach recipes. These attributes are only available to those classes, and cannot be purchased with skill points.

Engineering and Medicae
In order to research an item, you must complete a crafting form and the required roleplay and then go to the Games Organisation Desk to drop off the form and any required resources. The crafting opening times will be displayed on a noticeboard outside the Games Organisation Desk.

Research (Class Attribute)
Classes with the Engineering Research attribute are able to use a crafted Workbench to research Engineering projects, and classes with the Medical Research attribute are able to use a crafted Laboratory to research Medical projects. This process allows characters to create items for which there is no pre-existing knowledge.

Research will take a different amount of time and Work Points (WP) depending on the complexity of the item being made.

Example: A simple project, such as upgrading a bionic arm to give it +1 armour, would cost 10- 20 EWP to research. A complex project, such as upgrading a bionic arm so that it speeds up hacking, and can do three Knockdown calls per day, would cost 40+ EWP.

Occasionally, research projects will require you to seek out information on an item in-play, and bring to the crafting referee. You will be informed whenever you spend Work Points if this is applicable to you.

Before you start researching, you must fill in a research form with details about your proposed project, and email it to crafting@greencloaks.co.uk.

Once your research proposal has been approved, you can start putting Work Points into it by completing a crafting form on-site, and handing it in to the Games Organisation Desk. You may have as many open research projects as you want, and are not required to finish them.

Once your project is approved, you will receive:

• Confirmation of the WP target for your project.
• Confirmation of the materials required for the researched item itself.
• Confirmation of any unique ingredients or research material needed. Please note, these will not be required for repeat manufacture of an item, simply for the research project.

Once a Research project is completed, and you hand in the required materials, you will receive:

• The Knowledge lammie for the item.
• One set of Blueprints/Formulae (see Blueprints and Formulae below).
• One item lammie for the item you have just learnt (item lammies must be attached to player- provided physreps at all times where appropriate).

Researching in a Team
Any character of a class able to perform Engineering or Medicae Research may have up to two Assistants to help with their project. These Assistants must have the relevant crafting skill and the Research class attribute.

The Lead Researcher and Assistants, once designated, may not normally change for the duration of the project – in the case of losses to the team through character death, replacement researchers may be added to the team at a cost to the progress of the project.

Only the Lead Researcher is required for progress to be made, and both Assistant slots do not have to be filled initially. The Lead Crafter is responsible for completing the research paperwork and acting as liaison with the Games Organisation Desk to register progress on the project as it is made. If the Lead Researcher contributes at least 50% of the WP towards the research goal, they will receive a set of Blueprints/Formulae and a Knowledge lammie (see Blueprints and Formulae below). If any researcher on the team contributes at least 25% of the WP towards the research goal, they will receive a copy of the Knowledge lammie.

If a researcher contributes less than 25% of the WP towards the research goal, they get a 50% discount in WP on learning the Knowledge for this project from a Teacher or a set of Blueprints/ Formulae in future.

Reverse Engineering and Deformulation
A less efficient way to learn how to craft an item is through Reverse Engineering or Deformulation, which is a specialised form of Research.

By spending 75% of the research WP cost of an item and destroying it, a character may be able to gain a knowledge card from a crafted item. However, some items may not give up their secrets and instead return usable resources or research insights.

The crafting skills Engineering, Medicae and Thaumaturgy give a character the ability to create in- game objects or abilities, using materials found in the game.

In order to craft an item, you must complete a crafting form and the required roleplay and then go to the Games Organisation Desk to drop off the form and any required resources. The crafting opening times will be displayed on a noticeboard outside the Games Organisation Desk.

Please note that although Engineers can craft explosives, they cannot use them without the Explosives skill.

Work Points

When you take the Engineering, Medicae or Thaumaturgy skill, you get a certain number of Work Points (WP) per event according to your tier in that crafting skill. Work Points represent the understanding your character has with working on projects; each project will have an associated cost. These are skill-specific; you cannot generally use Engineering Work Points for medical or thaumaturgy projects, and vice versa.

The below table shows the total amount of work points per skill tier of Engineering, Medicae an Thaumaturgy:

Skill Tier	Work Points
Tier 1	10
Tier 2
Tier 3

Some craftable items can grant characters additional work points. The most common of these are the Advanced or Expert Workbench and Laboratory for Engineering and Medical projects respectively. Workbenches and Laboratories, although primarily required for Research projects, can be used by anyone with the relevant crafting skill.

You cannot use the bonus points from items such as Workbenches and Laboratories on their own, they are to supplement the personal work points you supply to the project.

You do not have to use all your work points for an event in one go; if you wish to use some and reserve some in case you wish to do ad-hoc crafting (see Ad-hoc Crafting below) or in case of other unforeseen needs; you may simply fill out another form later in the event and drop it to the Games Organisation Desk as usual. These remaining points must be spent at the current event, any points not spent in an event do not carry over to the next event.

Crafting in a Team
Any character able to craft Medical or Engineering items may have up to two Assistants to help them with their project. These Assistants must have the relevant crafting skill.

The Lead Crafter and Assistants, once designated, may not normally change for the duration of the project – in the case of losses to the team through character death, replacement crafters may be added to the team at a cost to the progress on the project.

Only the Lead Crafter is required for progress to be made, and both Assistant slots do not have to be filled initially. The Lead Crafter is responsible for completing the crafting paperwork and acting as liaison with the Games Organisation Desk to register progress on the project as it is made.

Maintenance and Expiration
With time and use, things break. Every piece of tech made using Engineering or Medicae has either a maintenance date and a set maintenance cost, or an expiration date. If there is a maintenance cost, it must be fulfilled at the Games Organisation Desk before the end of the event listed on the item’s lammie, otherwise this item will break and become unusable. To maintain an item you must have the knowledge to make the item. If an item has an expiration date, it must be used before the end of the listed event or it will become useless. Thaumaturgy powers must also be refreshed at the Omega Sphere.

Ad-hoc Crafting
Ad-hoc crafting is a subset of crafting, undertaken in the same way as normal crafting. It is used to attempt to create an item needed for a very specific purpose, often in response to an unforeseen circumstance in the field. Any character with the Engineering or Medicae skill may attempt to craft an item such as this without researching how to do so.

This type of crafting follows the same procedures as normal crafting, and still requires Work Points. However, given the character’s limited knowledge about what they are doing, these items cost more resources to make, are extremely unstable, most likely will not function exactly how the crafter wishes them to, and always have an extremely short period of use.

Due to the nature of this type of crafting, it is extremely unlikely it will produce the same results twice, and items created in this way cannot be used for research.

To perform Ad-hoc crafting you will need to go to the Games Organisation Desk and discuss what you intend to do with the crafting team, who will then confirm the time, Work Points and materials required for your Ad-hoc project, and determine the outcome of your impromptu crafting.

In reference to age-old Terran ideas fitting to this arcane art, the act of attempting to use an Omega Sphere is known as Ritual. Once you have located an Omega Sphere, if you wish to perform a ritual, you should speak to the Sphere Watchers. They can be found observing the sphere from nearby, and will be able give you advice and tell you when the sphere will be available and stable enough for use. Powers and items granted by ritual are seldom permanent, unless the sacrifice is great. As such they will expire in time, the exact date being indicated on the lammie that will be given once an item or power is acquired.

The normal rules for lammies apply; if you obtain a ritual item lammie, it must be attached to an appropriate physrep to be used, and if you obtain a power or ability, then you must wear it alongside your character card.

Items and powers can be renewed via ritual before they expire. During a ritual, one person must lead the process, however any number of people may contribute to it. Rituals must last at least 5 minutes. Generally speaking, more intricate and impressive rituals stand to have more potent outcomes. See the Performing Rituals section below for more information.

In order to gain what you wish from the Sphere, you must sacrifice things in return. What you
choose to sacrifice can be almost anything, including but not limited to FP; money; memories; or even your life essence. What is your wish worth?

Remember to be very clear when explaining to the Omega what you want and what you wish to sacrifice. One wrong word can change the meaning of a ritual significantly.

Foci
Foci are incredibly important for Omega users. They allow for the performance of Thaumaturgy (with the relevant skill), and Rituals. Human Adepts, Mascen Shamans, and Myr’na Healers are the only classes who may create a Focus.

To create your first Focus, you need to perform a Focus ritual. The first of these is a small and easy ritual that will give you a taste of what to do in other rituals – they have a very low threshold for success, and tend to be forgiving for most first time mistakes. Please note that you do not need to already have a Focus in order to perform a Focus ritual.

You can create two more Foci after the first, for a total of three Foci per character. Your second and third Foci will require significantly more complex and difficult rituals to create, and much greater sacrifices in return for the Foci.

A Focus can be anything the Omega user wants, whether it be a book, a staff, an amulet, or any portable object of significance to the person. Please note, you must keep your Foci on you, as they contain a portion of your spirit and in the hands of others can be used against you. If your Focus is stolen, you have an urge that you must recover it which increases in intensity the longer it is missing.

The Focus ritual is the start of the journey the Omega user is taking and the sacrifice should have an effect that represents that journey. The second Focus ritual should show a greater commitment to that journey and have harsher restrictions. The final Focus ritual is highly difficult and carries severe risk; many choose not to make this level of commitment to their path through the Omega.

How Foci Work
Each Focus has 6 empty slots. You can fill these with ritual slots and/or Thaumaturgy spaces. Ritual slots are used to help power the user while they conduct a ritual, helping to unlock the sphere and accomplish particularly powerful rituals. The slot remains filled for the duration of the effect of the ritual, and ends once the ritual’s effect expires.

A Focus may hold the following types of ritual effects (up to its 6 slot limit):

• 1 bound improvement ritual
• 1 bound item ritual
• 1 unbound improvement ritual
• 1 unbound item ritual
• 2 temporary rituals
• Unlimited miscellaneous rituals

Any empty Focus slot may also be used to store Thaumaturgy abilities.

All Foci must be refreshed every year at an Omega Sphere. If not refreshed then all powers attached to them will become dormant and cannot be used. This includes items and powers on other people. Performing Rituals

A ritual is a performance, taking place inside an Omega Sphere to get an in-game result for the betterment of yourself or your allies, or to the detriment of your enemies. It usually requires a sacrifice, and though the performance can be varied and creative, it should follow the same basic procedure each time.

Rituals can be used to initiate conversations with strange beings from the Omega plane, grant personal power, give you information, create strange items of your design, or even make small temporary changes to yourself.

How to Prepare
If you wish to perform a ritual, please inform the Sphere Watcher. Some types of rituals must be booked before an event, which includes anything that has a permanent effect or is world-impacting. In these cases, you must submit a completed ritual form to ritual@greencloaks.co.uk at least one week prior to an event, to allow the ritual referees to discuss the outcome in advance. Please make it clear to the referee exactly what you wish to achieve in your ritual.

Performing the Ritual
Before you begin your ritual, you will want to decide what kind of performance it will be. Rituals are as diverse in the ways they can be performed as they are in outcome. For example, some may call upon Omega beings directly and ask them for guidance through their ritual, while others may bring in an engineer and some tech and try to talk to the Omega via radio.

You can do almost anything in the ritual, but it is recommended that you choose themes that are important to your character, or to those the ritual is intended for.

There is a structure to rituals that one is suggested to adhere to when performing:

• Open the Sphere by lowering the wards
• Call forth the power or entity you wish to communicate with from the Omega
• Raise the wards
• Perform your ritual – the method of this is the most flexible
• Lower the wards
• Dismiss whatever power or entity was summoned
• Cleanse the ritual Sphere
• Leave the Sphere
• Close the Sphere by raising the wards once more

Missing out or mixing up these steps will not automatically cause your ritual to fail, and in some cases unusual circumstances may lead to you choosing not to follow the usual method. Remember, however, that doing so may have interesting consequences. Also remember, Rituals must last at least 5 minutes.

Be very clear when explaining to the power or entity you have summoned what it is you want, and what you wish to sacrifice, else you may receive some very unexpected results!

Advice on Rituals

• There is always a cost and a risk.
• Do your research, ask around for information. Someone may have already done what you are trying to do, and may offer advice.
• Focus Points, money and memories as a sacrifice are worth very little.
• Theme your rituals appropriately, both in how they are performed and the sacrifice required. Make sure it all ties together.
• If you want an in-game effect, you need an in-game sacrifice. Likewise, a roleplaying affect will need a roleplaying sacrifice, and a permanent effect will need a permanent sacrifice.
• The more complex your outcome, the harder it will be to achieve. Keep it simple.
• The more things you aim for in your ritual, the harder they will be to achieve. It is better to aim for one big thing than three smaller things.
• The more things you sacrifice in your ritual, the harder it will be to achieve your desired outcome. It is better to sacrifice one big thing than three smaller things.
• If you have any queries about ritual, please speak to a Sphere Watcher.

Types of Ritual

Focus Rituals
Limited to 3 per character
As stated above, this is the first ritual an Omega user must perform, before they can delve further into the power of ritual, or use the Thaumaturgy skill. The first of these rituals will typically be a simple, easy process, to ease a ritualist into the method of performing rituals.

Your first Focus ritual cannot totally fail, but it can still go wrong and have adverse outcomes. An Omega user can perform a total of three Focus rituals, and each successive ritual of this type will become progressively harder to complete.

The completed Focus is linked to its creator. The owner will be extremely attached to the object, and will not let it out of their sight or give it to others for an extended period of time, if at all. If your Focus is lost or stolen, please inform a referee after approximately 1 hour, if you have not located it.

If the owner of a Focus dies, the Focus will immediately lose all of its power. Any ritual or thaumaturgy slots attached to the Focus will also lose their effects.

Bound Improvement Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual has a direct impact on the skills or abilities of a single person. This improvement must be permanently bound to one person, either the ritualist or another participant of the ritual. Individuals without a Focus of their own may only have one ritual effect bound to them. Trying to bind two of this type of ritual to a person without a Focus will replace the original effect.

The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Unbound Improvement’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of both the ritualist and the person the improvement has been bound to.

If the person this improvement is bound to dies, the improvement is lost immediately. If the Omega user that created this improvement dies, the improvement is lost at the end of the event they died at, regardless of whether or not it is bound to someone else.

Bound Item Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual creates or imbues an item with skills, abilities or effects. This item must be permanently bound to one person, either the ritualist or another participant of the ritual.

Individuals without a Focus of their own may only have one ritual effect bound to them. Trying to bind two of this type of ritual to a person without a Focus will replace the original effect.

The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Unbound Item’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of both the ritualist and the person the item has been bound to.

As with Foci, the owner of the item will be extremely attached to the object, and will not let it out of their sight or give it to others for an extended period of time, if at all. If the item is lost or stolen, please inform a referee after approximately 1 hour, if it has not been located.

If the person this item is bound to dies, the item’s effect is lost immediately. If the Omega user that created this item dies, the item’s effect is lost at the end of the event they died at, regardless of whether or not it is bound to someone else.

Unbound Improvement Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual has a direct impact on the skills or abilities of a group of people. Due to the variable nature of these improvements, they are often less powerful than Bound improvements, but they can affect multiple individuals, and the ritualist has the opportunity to change which individuals are affected.

Please note that the ritualist who created this improvement cannot use it on themselves. The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Bound Improvement’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of the ritualist who created the improvement. During renewal or improvement rituals, the ritualist may amend the people who fall under the influence of the improvement.

If the Omega user that created this improvement dies, the improvement is lost at the end of the event they died at.

Unbound Item Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual creates or imbues an item with skills, abilities or effects. This item does not need to be bound to a single person. Due to the variable nature of these items, they are often less powerful than Bound items, but can be used by anyone.

Please note that the ritualist who created this item cannot use it themselves. The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Bound Item’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of the ritualist who created the item.

If the Omega user that created this item dies, the item’s effect is lost at the end of the event they died at.

Temporary Ritual
Limited to 2 per Focus, per event
This ritual allows a temporary effect or change in skills or abilities with a maximum duration of 1 event. The targets and effects of these rituals can vary greatly. These rituals are often low in cost, since they last so short a time, but their outcomes can be highly unstable.

Miscellaneous Ritual
Omega users can attempt this type of ritual as often as they wish. These rituals can have no benefit to skills or abilities. They are used to assist characters in discovering information, contacting people or entities over long distances, and furthering efforts towards plot objectives.

Some classes have the natural or augmented ability to access and harness the power of the Omega plane. Human Adepts, Mascen Shamans, and Myr’na Healers all have the ability to do this. It is not clearly understood how beings from the Alpha plane gain access to the Omega plane. However, it is known that intense focus, discipline, and concentration is required to do so.

Focus Points
Activating Omega abilities costs Focus Points (FP). If you are a class with Omega abilities, then you will be given paper Focus Point slips at each event, with an allowance for each day. FP do not carry over to the next day, if you do not use them they are wasted. The amount of FP you have per day depends on your class and your tier of the Focus skill (if you have it). When an Omega ability is activated, the user must rip the correct amount of FP slips for that ability, to show that they have been used up.

Attunements

There are 5 Omega Attunements:

Body – Affecting someone’s corporeal form, usually with healing

Energy – Directly damaging Omega utilisation

Mind – Affecting someone’s thoughts and perceptions

Protection – Focusing on Warding, shielding and protecting others from Omega affects

Spirit – Allows one to influence local ‘spirits’ and use them to do basic commands

Sphere Watchers
In the Novus sector, rituals require a Sphere Watcher to draw enough power through to perform a ritual. These are powerful ritualists who have bound themselves to the Sphere. Thanks to their connection to the Omega, Sphere Watchers will be able to answer the majority of your questions about Spheres and the Omega. The Watchers are characters in their own right, and have their own personalities and motivations, but are also referees who will be able to support you OOC with anything you wish to know about the Omega, Thaumaturgy and Ritual.

Omega Spheres
The small focal points where the power of the Omega seems to break directly through to the Alpha are known as Omega Spheres. Omega Spheres come in different forms, and some are easier to identify than others.

Energy shields are engineering items which grant additional Armour hits, the number of which varies depending on the shield’s design. Energy shields are created IC by characters with appropriate skills, and grant protection as specified on their lammie. They must be visibly worn to grant protection. The Vrede classes are issued with a vrede-tech Light Energy Shield at character creation. A character may benefit from the effects of only one energy shield. If you wear multiple energy shields, then none will give protection.

Armour represents the protection granted by the physical armour you are wearing. A character may benefit from the effects of only one set of physical armour. To grant Armour hits, armour must cover at least 50% of the torso, as well as at least one of the following:

• 50% or more of 2 limbs
• 25% or more of 4 limbs
• An appropriate helmet or headgear
  Different character classes and races can wear different tiers of Armour, The different tiers of Armour are defined in the table below based on material and physical appearance:

Armour Tier	Hits	Description
Light	2	The lightest armour, generally composed of heavy cloth. Very thin leather armour, leather jackets, padded armour, and gambesons also fall under this category. The green cloak that the task force is named after is also an example of this armour type, being woven with ballistic material designed to repel small-arms fire.
Medium	4	Medium armour is generally made of thicker leather. Classical leather armour falls under this category, as do full tactical vests, and most other modern armour that doesn’t contain rigid plates.
Heavy	6	Heavy armour is generally defined as any metal armour, or any armour that appears rigid or contains foam or plastic plates. Chainmail, scalemail, metal plate armour, a modern plate carrier, or motocross armour with rigid plates fall under this category, as does sturdy foam armour.

Armour does not stack; you will only gain the benefit of the highest tier of armour you are wearing. Although you may wear additional layers for costume or comfort purposes, including armour from which you are unable to gain protection, you may not count those additional layers as armour once the highest tier is destroyed. If you are unsure what tier of armour you have, a ref will be able to help you.