Yea I get that but that's why it's important not to exasperate it by House Rules that allow things like layering Armor, stacking Armor and Cover, and ignoring or hand waving Encumbrance.

That not really the issue though...

GM: "You guys find a tracker vest in the closet."

Player: "Cool. My scoundrel would look fly in a vest. He puts it on."

GM: "Um, you can't. You are already wearing heavy clothing."

Player: " itsjustavest... "

GM: "Sorry, no house rules."

---

Player: "Does the merchant have any personal deflector shield generators for sale?"

GM: "Sure. If you can afford to pay the exorbitant price."

Player: "Totally. I've been saving up for months! I buy one. And put it on."

GM: "Um, you can't. You are already wearing a tracking vest."

Player: " itsafrickinforcefield... "

GM: "Sorry, no house rules."

---

Where do the rules start? Where common sense ends?

Thats a misrepresentation of what I'm saying.

This is how it would work:

GM: "You guys find a tracker vest in the closet."

Player: "Cool. My scoundrel would look fly in a vest. He puts it on."

GM: "Sure, You are already wearing heavy clothing though so it doesn't change your defensive values."

Player: "But why?"

GM: "In the scale of the system it's just not a big enough change to effect those values, however you do get the other benefits of the Tracker Vest (or you could wear regular clothing and the Tracker Vest and be less conspicuous when walking through town)"

---

Player: "Does the merchant have any personal deflector shield generators for sale?"

GM: "Sure. If you can afford to pay the exorbitant price."

Player: "Totally. I've been saving up for months! I buy one. And put it on."

GM: "Sure, You are already wearing a tracking vest though so it doesn't change your defensive values."

Player: "But why?"

GM: "In the scale of the system it's just not a big enough change to effect those values, however you do get the other benefits of the Force field"

I'm sorry, but no. That's still just not RAW or RAI. You are dipping in the realm of house rules if we are to go by the following (please focus on the second half of the bolded part as presented by NicoJMont:

Well I hate to be a debbie downer but to end this conversation once and for all....

I leave near Fantasy Flight so I went in and talked directly to one of the game developers about this very questions. He told me specifically No you can not stack armor. You can wear only one armor type. But you are right you can increase a soak of an armor through modifications, cybernetic implants, or talents.

But if you want to stack armor. Go ahead and house rule away.

It's not about stacking/not stacking armor benefits . Its about the creators of the game supposedly insisting you cannot wear multiple armor types. And thus, how it impacts the outliers such as a trivial vest, or a force field generator.

I'm hesitant to make judgement based on third hand information. It's quite possible that this developer meant gaining the benefits of wearing more than one set of armor (which is the desired end result after all) and just simply said a general response that you can't wear more than one set of armor. I wasn't part of the conversation so I couldn't ask for a clarification, however based on the RAW it seems that it's about Benefits more than actually wearing in some cases (wearing a Vest or PSG and Heavy Clothing) and actually wearing in others (Heavy Clothing and Battle Armor).

So you are correct that in my example I allowed the "other benefits" of the Vest in, so going by the RAW that would not be the case. Regardless the end result is the same, you cannot gain the Benefits of more than one kind of armor at one time so layering them is of limited use.

Regardless the end result is the same, you cannot gain the Benefits of more than one kind of armor at one time so layering them is of limited use.

Which then invariably leads to issues of what to do when you have a couple things that may logically be wearable simultaneously, with perhaps disparate benefits, and which to apply or not apply.

Sure, when someone in Heavy Clothing (+1 Soak) tosses a Nomad Greatcoat on over it (also +1 Soak), no stacking. Net +1 Soak still. That's easy.

But say someone with a PDS (Def 2) decides to don Padded Armor (+2 Soak). What happens? And is it the same result as someone wearing Padded Armor who later decides to strap on a PDS?

And what constitutes "benefits"? Just Soak and Defense? What about Hard Points? Those too? If so, lets say I'm wearing Superior Heavy Clothing and decide to put on a Tracking Vest (with the Enhanced Optics Suite upgrade - don't ask, just go with it... ). Does the sensor suite suddenly shut off "because stacking"? Do I lose the superior upgrade to my clothing "because sensor suite"? Both? Neither?

Well by the RAW it seems you would get no extra benefits and no changes to this seem to be in AoR, however it is a good question. I suggest you copy your comment and ask Sam (He answers game questions through Customer Service).

The biggest problem is that people are trying to apply logic and defined rules to an abstract system. It's never going to make sense. You have two options. Embrace the abstract or define a set of rules that work for your table. Attempting to define the abstract will just lead to frustration and arguments.

But say someone with a PDS (Def 2) decides to don Padded Armor (+2 Soak). What happens? And is it the same result as someone wearing Padded Armor who later decides to strap on a PDS?

It doesn't negate your argument - it's just a related point - but I thought only droids could use Personal Deflector Shields because of the radiation.

If the setup above is for a droid, what happens if they install the gear rather than wear it? They were two seperate armours (so saying the rule still applies is valid), but now they're two components of one droid (so you could also rule they don't violate any rules by stacking - the droid's body has +2 Soak and 2 Defence).

It doesn't negate your argument - it's just a related point - I thought only droids could use Personal Deflector Shields because of the radiation.

Personal Deflector Shields for humans are available. The PDS listed in the book is for humans. It only states that the tech is rare and that a majority of human-usable PDS are custom built.

BTW there is another thread discussing this in the Gamemaster's section that has some good info as well:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/99163-letting-pcs-wear-multiple-sets-of-armor/

Wait... I don't have Suns of Fortune. Isn't there some type of Corellian jacket in there for armor? Does that stack with armor? If so, it may change how I look at stacked armor.

Wait... I don't have Suns of Fortune. Isn't there some type of Corellian jacket in there for armor? Does that stack with armor? If so, it may change how I look at stacked armor.

I replied in the other thread. Yes, there is a Great Coat, no, it does not stack.

Keep in mind that Soak and Defense are two different values that armor can change. Armor does not stack, so it is not added together, but I don't see an issue with someone putting on a tracker vest over padded armor to gain the non-armour benefits of the tracker vest. Even if the tracker vest was "superior" the soak would still be 2, rather than 3.

The way I see it is one takes the maximum value for either defense or soak. So someone wearing padded armour and a personal defense shield could have Soak 2, and Defense 2. While slightly better than heavy battle armour, its more that twice as much, harder to find, and has no hardpoints available to it, so one might better better off with heavy battle armour anyway.

At the end of the day, you just have to be cautious and go in with your eyes open. Sure, saying "what's the harm in saying you can wear a vest or jacket over some other form of soft armor?" sounds innocuous on the surface. Not to mention reasonable.

But in reality, let's say you allow someone to wear a greatcoat (1 soak) and stack it with armored clothing (1 soak, 1 def). Why not, right? But you now have someone who is running around with the same degree of protection as another guy wearing heavy battle armor (2 soak, 1 def).

At the end of the day, you just have to be cautious and go in with your eyes open. Sure, saying "what's the harm in saying you can wear a vest or jacket over some other form of soft armor?" sounds innocuous on the surface. Not to mention reasonable.

But in reality, let's say you allow someone to wear a greatcoat (1 soak) and stack it with armored clothing (1 soak, 1 def). Why not, right? But you now have someone who is running around with the same degree of protection as another guy wearing heavy battle armor (2 soak, 1 def).

Exactly... which is why the values shouldn't stack, but rather the maximum value is available. So in your example, someone wearing a greatcoat and armored clothing would still only be 1 soak, 1 defense, and would have the additional encumbrance to boot.

The way I see this issue has more to do with something like a tracker vest that confers no armour benefit, but provides some additional game-fluff.

The way I see this issue has more to do with something like a tracker vest that confers no armour benefit, but provides some additional game-fluff.

Agreed. Which in turn was the reason I voiced concerns with the (supposedly) official mantra: "You can only wear one armor."

The way I see this issue has more to do with something like a tracker vest that confers no armour benefit, but provides some additional game-fluff.

Agreed. Which in turn was the reason I voiced concerns with the (supposedly) official mantra: "You can only wear one armor."

I think this comes from the silly example it provides of wearing three full suits of armour. It doesn't specifically prevent someone from wearing multiple sets... but the benefit only applies once, making wearing multiple suits of the same type of armour moot. As I said, certain armour types do offer some benefits in a different way, tracker vest, flak vest, maybe even the Corellian vest.

The real rub is this... say someone wears heavy battle armour and a flak vest... which on the surface indicates that it gets +1 to soak against blasts. Careful reading says that "THIS armor gets +1 soak against weapons with the blast quality." So the flak vest goes up to 2 soak, which is the same as the heavy battle armour. Rather than the wearer getting 3 soak against blasts.

In this case, a flak vest might be good over armoured clothing, because in that case, it would provide 2 soak against blasts.

The only reason I could see a GM declaring you can't wear multiple armours if you're only getting the best Soak is if they're worried about their players trying to cheat the Encumbrance rule.

(Worn armour has it's Enc reduced by 3.)

"How are you carrying all that laminate armour, Timmy?"

"Wearin' it. Don't worry, still only +2 Soak."

"Yeah. You die of heat exhaustion."

The only reason I could see a GM declaring you can't wear multiple armours if you're only getting the best Soak is if they're worried about their players trying to cheat the Encumbrance rule.

(Worn armour has it's Enc reduced by 3.)

"How are you carrying all that laminate armour, Timmy?"

"Wearin' it. Don't worry, still only +2 Soak."

"Yeah. You die of heat exhaustion."

This one is interesting, and I've been thinking about it. The way I'd treat this is add up all the encumbrance values for armor worn, and subtract 3 off the total. I don't have Enter the Unknown at my fingertips at the moment, but the tracker vest gives a boost to one's encumbrance value, so I'd need to see how that could work. Truthfully the most common combination of armour we may see is a flak or tracker vest over heavy or armoured clothing... Or a personal shield combined with laminate armour. Either way, encumbrance is going to be a problem when one starts to wear lots of armour.