Plot Armor

Plot Armor is an informal term referring to a character's unusual ability to survive, due to their importance to the story.

In the Call of Duty series, this can be seen when certain NPCs shrug off machine gun fire, grenade blasts, and other normally fatal events. Commanding officers directly in charge of the player character tend to have plot armor throughout the game, while other plot-critical characters may lose their "armor" once their role has been fulfilled. Although certain important NPCs are invincible, if they get shot enough times they will often fall down as if they died but will get up after a few seconds.

Characters without plot armor can die from any fatal event, including accidental death at the hands of the player.

If the player deliberately fires upon such NPCs, play will cease with the normal "Friendly fire is not tolerated" message. However, enemies can fire all they want, to no effect. Because of this, the player can use friendlies with plot armor to draw fire from enemies, especially at higher difficulty levels.

In addition to friendly NPC's with plot armor, certain enemies throughout the series may have plot armor if their actions are important to the plot.

Call of Duty

 * At one point during "Ste. Mere-Eglise- Day", Martin's squad is pinned down by Tiger tanks. Sgt. Moody is still visible to the enemy despite taking cover, and is repeatedly shot at by the second tank's machine gun.
 * During the Brecourt, Crossroads, Noville, and Karakov II, one part the player will be assigned the target to protect Sgt. Moody or Sgt. Antonov, during this time their plot armor will be removed, and if the player didn't protect them well, they can be killed and result in game over.

Finest Hour

 * The player's Russian commander, Oleg Puskov, is scripted to die by sniper fire, as he discovers the German sniper has targeted Private Sokolov. Until then, he is unstoppable.
 * In the British campaign, Sgt. Starkey has plot armor.
 * In the American Campaign, Benny Church also has plot armor.
 * All the American soldiers in the last level have plot armor.

Call of Duty 2
Adherence to CO/Main Character rule.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
Adherence to CO/Main Character rule.

Call of Duty 3
Adherence to CO/Main Character rule.
 * In the level, Falaise Road, the randomly generated canadians that come over the wall have plot armor.
 * Richter has plot armor untill the end of the level where he is killed
 * In Mayenne Bridge, a german in a house has plot armor untill he finishes shooting away the railing that blocks your way.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * Until this entry to the series, player characters had an immunity from plot-related death. This changed when Paul Jackson, thousands of other Marines, and uncounted civilians were annihilated by a nuclear explosion.
 * Gaz, Vasquez and Griggs are immune until their scripted deaths in "Game Over" and "Shock and Awe".
 * Captain Price has plot armor throughout the game (except, naturally, when the player assumes the role of Price during the flashback missions).
 * Massey has plot armor until the player clears the initial target building.
 * In "Sins Of The Father", Sergeant Kamarov lacks his usual plot armor, as he can be killed during the second firefight at the guard post. This is possibly explained by the use of other character models, as the characters had disguised themselves as the Ultranationalists they had killed during the first assault on the guard post. Despite this, Kamarov is scripted to appear towards the end of "Game Over".
 * In Safehouse, the loyalist assisting the SAS has plot armor, since he is scripted to be present at Al Asad's interrogation.
 * In Heat, Barton and Arem cannot be killed, whilst in Crew Expendable, Wallcroft, Griffen and the final troop are invincible.
 * In All Ghillied Up, Macmillan does not have plot armor, and can be killed by gunfire or dog.
 * Macmillan in One Shot One Kill has normal plot armor until his scripted injury where the player has to carry him the rest of the level. After this point he is completely immune to grenades and the like, and enemies will not attack him.

Call of Duty: World at War

 * Sgt. Reznov and Pvt. Chernov both have plot armor, until Chernov's scripted death during "Heart of the Reich".
 * Likewise, Tom Sullivan has plot armor until his scripted death.
 * Pvt. Polonsky and Sgt. Roebuck both have plot armor. During Breaking Point, depending on the player's actions, one of them loses his plot armor and dies (another scripted death), while the other keeps his plot armor.
 * When Sergeant Daletski is under MG fire in Vendetta, he just falls down and gets back up when he is shot.
 * The Japanese soldier who stabs Sullivan cannot be killed until he stabs Sullivan.
 * The German who burns Chernov cannot be killed until he does so.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * During the events of "No Russian", Makarov and Viktor not only have plot armor, but are also capable of shooting through any obstacle when necessary, with the exception of the bulletproof lifts. If shot many times by the player, Makarov and the rest of the group will shoot and kill the player, calling him/her a traitor. When the player betrays them, Viktor loses his plot armor and can die. However, Makarov keeps his and he will kill the player eventually. This is the only time in the game and the second time in the series (the first being Imran Zakhaev in the previous game) where the player faces enemies with plot armor.
 * NPCs from the TF141 include Captain Price (the only plot armored NPC to live through both Modern Warfares), Ghost (until his scripted death - Ghost is the only one of the three main TF141 NPCs that is scripted to die in the campaign), and "Soap' MacTavish. In Takedown, Royce is invincible until Meat dies, and in Loose Ends, Ozone and Scarecrow are invincible until the DSM is connected.
 * NPCs from the Rangers include Sergeant Foley and Corporal Dunn (these two are the only plot armored Rangers to survive the entire campaign). Pvt. Wells, in"Wolverines!, is invincible until Foley carries Raptor to Burger Town. After escorting Foley, he will stay at the Burger Town parking lot, where he will most likely die if he is not protected enough.
 * Pvt. McCord has plot armor in Second Sun, as there is scripted dialog from at least one of the Rangers. Sandler is kill-able at any point, and a randomly generated Ranger is scripted to die.
 * In this entry to the series, friendly NPCs are able to detect and react when the player shoots past them, and will give the usual "friendly fire" warning. Prior to this, NPCs only responded when they were actually shot by accident.
 * General Shepherd cannot be killed in Endgame until he is scripted to be killed by the player's knife at the climax of the level.
 * Private Morgan has plot armor until the player puts a smoke screen around the BTR.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * Woods, Bowman, Reznov (Vorkuta only), Sergei, Dimitri Petrenko and his squad-mates, Dragovich, Kravchenko, Steiner (the latter three in Project Nova), Swift, Harris and Clarke have Plot armor until their canonical death.
 * In missions other than Vorkuta, Reznov not only has plot armor, but can be attacked by the player indefinitely without being penalized for friendly fire.
 * Reznov technically doesn't have Plot armor as he is a hallucination and not real.
 * Reznov does not have plot armor when he is playable.
 * Hudson, Weaver, Brooks and Carlos have plot armor that lasts throughout the game.
 * Hudson does not have plot armor when he is playable.
 * The Viet Cong who stabs Swift cannot be killed until he kills Swift.
 * The Spetsnaz soldier who destroys the walkway in WMD (which causes the death of Harris) cannot be killed until he performs this action.
 * Woods briefly loses his plot armor when Alex Mason is hit by a mortar at the top of a enemy infested hill in SOG, until he is saved from the NVA soldier.