Cracked

is the effect applied to a random piece of the player's equipment if they are hit by Cleave or Shattering Blows. This effect can stack - if continuously cracked, the AV penalty for a single piece of equipment will increase by 1 each time. This effect can increase in AV penalty to a maximum based on the attacker's strength. Unlike Cleaved, this effect can reduce AV to this maximum for each piece of equipment worn.

The Sturdy item mod will prevent equipment from being cracked.

Fixing cracked items

 * is only temporary. You can simply wait for the duration to expire. The duration is typically 300 turns, except if the effect is applied by Shattering Blows, which causes a duration of 2000 turns.
 * If you would like to fix a item immediately, you can Repair it or use  on the item.

Trivia

 * This effect is unique because it generally can only affect the player. If a non-player is hit by Cleave or Shattering Blows, the creature becomes cleaved instead, and their equipment is not affected.