Tech Core Tech Gear Armor

High-grade Armor

Some especially advanced or expensive armor doesn't exist at lower grades and must be initially purchased or crafted at a higher grade. The benefits of such armor's starting grade, such as an increased AC bonus and the resilient trait, is included in its listed statistics and doesn't need to be applied. When improving high-grade armor past its starting grade using the Armor Improvements table, subtract the adjustments listed in the table for its starting grade from those for the new grade; for example, elite aeon guard battle dress has room for one upgrade, rather than two.

Many types of high-grade armor have preinstalled armor upgrades built into their chassis, as listed in their descriptions. Such upgrades don't count against the number of upgrades that can be installed in the armor and can't be removed, but they can be improved to higher grades of the same upgrade.