History Main / BodyArmorAsHitPoints

* In ''VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'' the Cuotl have the deflector shield version, explained by the SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology of AncientAstronauts.
* Armor upgrades in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' increase hit points rather than damage resistance. This is because the game engine relies on armor type to determine damage taken.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' features the Cloth Armor and Chain Vest items which avert this trope and reduce damage from physical attacks. However, the Warmog's Armor and the now-defunct Leviathan are breastplates that give a huge chunk of hitpoints.

Compare CallAHitPointASmeerp, ClothingDamage. Using this system rather than making armour a separate stat that {{Armor Piercing Attack}}s can circumvent may help avert ArmorIsUseless. [[note]]{{Armor Piercing Attack}}s can still be useful in this sort of system by bypassing extra "armor" hit points.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'':
** ''Videogame/{{Unreal|I}}'', ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII'' zig-zag this depending on the armor type, with different armor giving different amounts of damage absorption. ''Unreal''[='=]s armor doesn't have a set percentage of damage absorption, but rather only lets one out of every X number of damage points through, so the actual protection percentage fluctuates based on the attack - the Assault Vest and Kevlar Suit deal with regular damage, absorbing respectively 9 out of every 10 points and 4 out of every 5, while the Toxin and Asbestos Suit only absorb 1 out of every 2 points for respectively toxic and burning damage types. ''[=UT99=]'' onward switched to actual percentages, with its thigh pads and ''III''[='=]s helmet protecting from 50% damage (and, in the latter case, making you immune to a single [[BoomHeadshot headshot]]) and armor vests absorbing 75% of damage taken. ''[=UT99=]''[='=]s first Bonus Pack also includes a "Defense" relic that can be added to games, which provides another 60% damage absorption over anything that armor doesn't absorb. Also, despite the total amount of armor points being abstracted as one number, all the different armor types stack separately (except the Kevlar, Toxin and Asbestos Suits in ''Unreal'', which are {{mutually exclusive|Powerups}}), thus requiring new pickups for all your armor types to fully replenish it - ''Unreal'' and ''UT'' allow for a combined 150 armor points (50 from the respective different Suits and Thigh Pads, and 100 from the Assault and Armor Vests), while ''[=UT3=]'' allows a combined 100 (20 from a helmet, 30 from thigh pads, and 50 from armor). The Shield Belt, however, will absorb ''all'' damage taken until it's knocked out. In ''Unreal'' and ''[=UT3=]'', shields stack separately on top of regular armor, adding another 100 points on top of your armor (with the former also including a single Power Shield that gives you 200 shields), while in ''UT'' it replaces regular armor entirely and can be recharged by picking up other armor pickups.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY3'' subverts this for SWAT units and specials, who have separate health and armor pools[[note]][[TheGoomba Beat cops]] and [[PatrollingMook guards]] lack an armor pool[[/note]]. Damage taken will fully apply to a unit's armor pool, whilst damage to health is calculated based on the armor's hardness (which ranges from 1.0 for [[FragileSpeedster Cloakers]] to 4.0 for [[MightyGlacier Bulldozers]]) and the weapon's penetration (which acts as a penalty to hardness). If the weapon's penetration fails to reduce hardness below 1.0, it will deal no damage to a unit's health until armor is depleted.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY3'' subverts this for SWAT units and specials, who have separate health and armor pools[[note]][[TheGoomba Beat cops]] and [[PatrollingMook guards]] lack an armor pool[[/note]]. Damage taken will fully apply to a unit's armor pool, whilst damage to health is calculated based on the armor's hardness (which ranges from 1.0 for [[FragileSpeedster Cloakers]] to 4.0 for [[MightyGlacier Bulldozers]]) and the weapon's penetration (which acts as a penalty to hardness). If the weapon's penetration fails to reduce hardness below 1.0, it will deal no damage to a unity's health until armor is depleted.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrails'' series, most enemies come with a layer of armor, once the bar has been fully reduced, the enemies become weakened and attacks they receive become {{Critical Hit}}s.
* In ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'', armor modifies your maximum HP and allows you to carry more usable items into battle.

*** As a humorous side-note, in the TabletopRPG, you fall unconscious after taking 2 damage points and die after 3. A .44 magnum revolver inflicts 2 damage points. Therefore, ''if you take the rules literally'', as long as you're not wearing armor, you cannot commit suicide with a .44 magnum, even if you put the barrel in your mouth and pull the trigger.
* ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' deflector shields roughly fit this (armour is the standard D20-style where it makes you harder to hit); there's a maximum damage quantity they can take, although they also have a time limit and a maximum they can absorb from any one attack.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' plays the trope straight, with a third layer devoted to biotic barriers or shields. Most boss-type units in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' have at least armor or shields. On [[HarderThanHard Insanity]] difficulty, all enemies have armor or shields, and boss-type units have shields/biotic barriers, armor and finally health. However, huge or purely mechanical enemies ''only'' have armor, not health. Once their armor is depleted, it's assumed the last shot hit something vital and killed/destroyed them.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', armor is implemented as an alternate form of health for enemies (either armor or health, never both). Armor reduces damage per shot by a set amount, and while some powers are more effective against armor than health, armored enemies are immune to certain abilities even if their shield/barrier is depleted.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'', the Barrier chips act like this. Each Barrier has a set amount of health, so if you have a 200 Barrier, 20 attacks with 10 damage will break it, but so will the attack with 200 damage. The only way to restore it is it get another barrier. The subversion lies in the sister set, the "Aura" chips. They can only be destroyed by an attack that is equal to or more powerful than their HP.

* The Mobile Phone game ''VideoGame/BattlelootAdventure'' has armor increase your max HP instead of your defense stat.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', this trope was completely averted before the Evolution of Combat update. Before the update, there was no way to raise a players hitpoints above the maximum, and armour only served to reduce the probability of taking damage at all. A player wearing strong armour would be more likely to 'dodge' attacks and take no damage from them, but weren't more durable against attacks that would always hit.
* ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' has armor that grants endurance, which is like health that regenerates.

* ''VideoGame/CubeColossus'': Your LifeMeter is called ''Shields''.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkDevotion'', your armor acts like an extra life bar. Each pip in the armor bar blocks one attack, and enemies cannot damage your health until your armor is fully depleted. Damaged armor can be repaired with the Pieces of Armor consumable item.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Characters have two sets of ArmorPoints for physical and magical armor; damage sources of either type need to exhaust those armor points before they can affect the character's HitPoints. Each type of armor also [[AntiDebuff protects against]] specific StatusEffects while any points remain. Protective equipment, character abilities, and temporary consumables and spells can all add to a character's armor points, and their total is [[AfterCombatRecovery refreshed at the end of combat]].
* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' zigzags with this: Visually, Shields are displayed as a second life-bar in the interface, but are, in the engine, a damage prevention effect ("Prevent the next X amount of damage"), and can be bypassed by some effects (such as plain damage and damage that can't be prevented); this also causes issues with LifeDrain style effects.

* The ''Franchise/XenobladeChronicles'' games have Damage Immunity from ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 1]]'' and Armor Veil from ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 3]]''.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'' plays this straight, though slightly differently depending on the mode. The Ballistic Vests pointstreak in multiplayer adds a flat 50 points to your RegeneratingHealth, with the caveat that once you've been brought down below the extra health it applies, it's gone until you grab another vest. Special Ops Survival instead has an actual separate counter for body armor, which provides 250 points worth of protection but has to be repaired or replaced by purchasing a new vest from the equipment armory between waves; until that armor is gone, none of the damage you take will go to your actual health.

* ''VideoGame/RedSteel'': Picking up body armor will give the player a second life bar. This life bar does not regenerate.

** [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} The 1993 original]] was the TropeCodifier for first-person shooters. Body armor comes in 2 varieties, with green security armor having 100 points and absorbing one-third of all damage, while blue "megaarmor" comes with 200 points and absorbs one-half of all damage. There are also "armor bonuses" that give you a single point of armor per pickup, [[FridgeLogic giving you the effects of green armor if you don't have any already]] and otherwise allowing you to repair armor without having to replace it entirely, and to bring green armor past 100 points. This adds some tactical thinking to a game [[ShallowParody "famous" nowadays]] for [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 not really requiring tactical thinking]], where grabbing a full green armor pickup will overall be less efficient than sticking with blue armor brought down to around 75% and relying on piddling amounts of armor bonuses to keep it active until you can find another blue vest.

* ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'' has an entire system for determining each weapon's armor-piercing capabilities, with standouts across the board being the HV Penetrator (with the highest penetration among normal weapons) and the VK-12 shotgun (with the lowest penetration, though dealing so much damage that it's just as good simply through brute force). The second game plays this almost entirely straight, however, with only the successor to the Penetrator and ghosts being able to damage you through armor, after which the third game removed armor entirely to focus on full RegeneratingHealth.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsKnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' deflector shields roughly fit this (armour is the standard D20-style where it makes you harder to hit); there's a maximum damage quantity they can take, although they also have a time limit and a maximum they can absorb from any one attack.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' plays the trope straight, with a third layer devoted to biotic barriers or shields. Most boss-type units in ''Mass Effect 2'' have at least armor or shields. On [[HarderThanHard Insanity]] difficulty, all enemies have armor or shields, and boss-type units have shields/biotic barriers, armor and finally health. Especially tough boss-type units have biotic barriers, shields, armor and health. However, huge or purely mechanical enemies ''only'' have armor, not health. Once their armor is depleted, it's assumed the last shot hit something vital and killed/destroyed them.

* GranblueFantasy zigzags with this: Visually, Shields are displayed as a second life-bar in the interface, but are, in the engine, a damage prevention effect ("Prevent the next X amount of damage"), and can be bypassed by some effects (such as plain damage and damage that can't be prevented); this also causes issues with LifeDrain style effects.

* In ''ComicBook/Empowered'' the titular protagonist wears a skin-tight super-suit which degrades as it protects her from attacks, and becomes useless once it has torn up completely.