Item Damage

An item can be broken or destroyed if it takes enough damage. Every item has a Hardness value. Each time an item takes damage, reduce any damage the item takes by its Hardness. The rest of the damage reduces the item's Hit Points. Normally an item takes damage only when a creature is directly attacking it—commonly targeted items include doors and traps. A creature that attacks you doesn't normally damage your armor or other gear, even if it hits you. However, the Shield Block reaction can cause your shield to take damage as you use it to prevent damage to yourself, and some monsters have exceptional abilities that can damage your items.

An item that takes damage can become broken and eventually destroyed. It becomes broken when its Hit Points are equal to or lower than its Broken Threshold (BT); once its Hit Points are reduced to 0, it is destroyed. A broken item has the broken condition until Repaired above its Broken Threshold. Anything that automatically makes an item broken immediately reduces its Hit Points to its Broken Threshold if the item had more Hit Points than that when the effect occurred. If an item has no Broken Threshold, then it has no relevant changes to its function due to being broken, but it's still destroyed at 0 Hit Points. A destroyed item can't be Repaired.

An item's Hardness, Hit Points, and Broken Threshold usually depend on the material the item is made of. Information on materials appears in Starfinder GM Core.