I'm in agreement with pretty much everyone else that RAW as written it doesn't stack.

I also find players who argue that it should stack are frequently prone to ignoring how unfeasible it would be in practice in most cases. We're not playing WH40K here:

Of course that's a little over the top (that's what WH40K is all about), but still, I think the sheer discomfort is too easily ignored. It's not as if players ask the villains to stop when they appear, so that they can put on their armour - they're walking around in it a lot! I'll typically allow moderate armour stacking if the player in question is willing to spend the entire session wearing two sets of motorcycle gear. The book describes "Heavy Clothing" as leather jackets, thick woollen cloak (I know the sort they mean, btw - we're not talking a cashmere sweater here). Basically anything that deals with the little scrapes and pings of life. Padded armour is full on real designed-as armour. It has a picture of it in the book! It's a significant step up from even properly plated motorcycle gear, more like riot police stuff. Can we seriously imagine that someone is wearing two layers of this stuff? Heavy Clothing + Padded Armour would be technically possible. But I cannot imagine people tolerating such a combination even if they were expecting combat to be likely. You might be able to get shot in it, but I doubt you could fight for more than a moment.

Anyone here ever boxed? I mean actual full contact three minute rounds? Can you imagine doing that in motorcycle gear?

Anyone here ever boxed? I mean actual full contact three minute rounds? Can you imagine doing that in motorcycle gear?

Anyone here actually worn heavy combat armor, either in real life on the battlefield, or in something like the Society for Creative Anachronism?

I was in the SCA. I did some heavy weapons combat. I went to displays at the Smithsonian of full plate armor from the Salzberg Armory.

I know guys in the SCA who were themselves armorers and were not allowed into the Smithsonian wearing the armor they built themselves, because the guards and the majority of the staff couldn’t tell the difference between the stuff that these guys made within the last year and the stuff that was made hundreds of years ago in Germany.

Thing is, good proper heavy armor is not that bad to wear. I’ve done somersaults in the armor that I’ve worn, but then I wasn’t wearing plate armor. However, I know guys who have worn their full plate armor and have done somersaults in it (they were doing demos on the Mall in DC in front of the Smithsonian, in honor of the display from the Salzberg Armory), and if it is properly fitted then I am told that the only real difference — in terms of wearing it — is that it’s a little heavier.

But either way, it’s well distributed across your body and is not uncomfortable to wear, unless you’re wearing it in the middle of summer and you don’t have good ventilation and cooling.

If you’re interested in this sort of thing, do some research on the Pennsic Wars, and get some idea of what it’s like to be modern people dressing up in period-style armor and fielding an army of 8000+ people. The year I went, Pennsic was a city of tens of thousands of people, and the fighters were just the largest majority.

Now, there’s no way in hell that you would ever get me to wear two layers of padded armor, or two layers of chain mail, or two layers of plate armor. When those things are made, they are made as a complete suit that is intended to be worn with all the other pieces in the complete suit and most definitely *NOT* with any other pieces of armor.

But that’s real world armor. If you’re fighting with historical weapons from hundreds of years ago, then full plate armor really will protect you a hell of a lot better than chain mail, and chain mail will protect you better than padded.

Contrariwise, if we’re going to compress down the scale over which armor can be effective for game purposes, it also makes sense — for game purposes — to allow things like different types of armor stacking.

[ Edit: Clarification ]

Anyone here ever boxed? I mean actual full contact three minute rounds? Can you imagine doing that in motorcycle gear?

Anyone here actually worn heavy combat armor, either in real life on the battlefield, or in something like the Society for Creative Anachronism?

I was in the SCA. I did some heavy weapons combat. I went to displays at the Smithsonian of full plate armor from the Salzberg Armory.

But we're not talking about historical armour. Look at the illustrations and descriptions in the book. We talking heavy motorcycle clothing up to thick riot gear. The illustration of Padded Armour in the book looks significantly worse than "full plate". I think you're taking the similarity of names to equate padded armour with historical padded armour. Modern armour isn't thin layers of metal, it's layered protection against bullets, typically. There is no plate armour in the Star Wars rules that I'm aware of. I would expect it to rank pretty low if it existed.

For game purposes I would allow different armors to be worn together if feasible (a.i. not 2 sets of laminate) while combining their encumbrance before the -3, but I would not allow stacking of the bonus per the RAW. There's a reason its there.

Can you layer armor in the realworld and get a benefit from it? Sure (see below only if interested). But I wouldn't allow it in this game unless you want invulnerable munchkins to appear.

Anyone here actually worn heavy combat armor, either in real life on the battlefield, or in something like the Society for Creative Anachronism?

Sorry, you asked, and I tend to ramble about things I'm interested in and know something about. My family knows not to bring up Star Wars over dinner.

I wear light modern armor 20 days a month and heavy modern armor 1 day a month or more.

You can and do layer armor. My "light" under clothing patrol vest includes the primary IIIA layer of flexible armor against my skin, then a metal plate in the front chest pocket, then a soft IIIA piece atop of the metal plate in the same front pocket. Technically that's 3 layers over my chest. But for game purposes I would consider that more of a mod then an extra set of armor. There is the obvious benefit from layering - more penetration protection. There's also stuff you might not think of. That extra soft armor layer atop the metal plate is to keep non-penetrating rounds hitting the metal chest plate and bouncing up under my chin. The soft layer I hope will catch that richochet. I've never tested it.

Heavy modern armor is a *****, but also typically includes multiple layers. Unless you include the bomb defuser stuff, I think I wear the heaviest armor available to police or military 1 day a month or more depending on what is going on. It also includes several very heavy steel or ceramic plates (or mix thereof) that can be placed in the chest, back, sides, and over the biceps (actually for protection of your arm pit, not your bicep). Again I would call that a mod if used in-game - Reinforced Armor Plating +1 Soak, +4 Encumbrance or something similar.

As for the heaviest armor, if you truly wish to get realistic (I don't), I would impose 2 setback to any physical actions such as climbing, jumping, etc when donning the heavy crap I wear. I would then lessen that to 1 setback once you broke it in and had some experience wearing it. Simple Encumbrance rules aren't enough for its hindrance. Just being big and strong isn't going to alleviate its issues. I would even consider it down grading certain actions instead of just setback. I weigh almost 200 pounds and am in decent shape. Whenever I put it on it feels like I can barely breath for the first few seconds as that metal chest plate pushes down on my chest. The throat protector is a pain in the arse, nothing to do with weight. You can't reach behind your back to get anything out of a pouch. You can barely see and grab something worn low on your front. Just drawing a low slung handgun from a holster takes getting used it.

I don't want to truly interpret that unfun stuff into my game. Only certain armors can be worn together. Their Encumbrance stacks, their soak doesn't. KISS.

Anyone here ever boxed? I mean actual full contact three minute rounds? Can you imagine doing that in motorcycle gear?

Anyone here actually worn heavy combat armor, either in real life on the battlefield, or in something like the Society for Creative Anachronism?

I was in the SCA. I did some heavy weapons combat. I went to displays at the Smithsonian of full plate armor from the Salzberg Armory.

But we're not talking about historical armour. Look at the illustrations and descriptions in the book. We talking heavy motorcycle clothing up to thick riot gear. The illustration of Padded Armour in the book looks significantly worse than "full plate". I think you're taking the similarity of names to equate padded armour with historical padded armour. Modern armour isn't thin layers of metal, it's layered protection against bullets, typically. There is no plate armour in the Star Wars rules that I'm aware of. I would expect it to rank pretty low if it existed.

I always envision Laminate (stormtrooper armor) to be like historical full plate armor. To me, the comparison fits and worth talking about. It's heavy, but distributed about the body. It's designed for freedom of movement and can allow for summersaults and the like. It can allow some stuff, like a coat, to be worn over it. I wouldn't allow anything under it. I always envision the black fabric as a body glove, like a wetsuit. Something that is air tight and can allow for some protection from space but must be worn against the skin.

Sorry, you asked, and I tend to ramble about things I'm interested in and know something about. My family knows not to bring up Star Wars over dinner.

IMO, this response ranks as the best I’ve seen on this forum. This is the kind of nugget I would hope to find when searching for an answer on this kind of topic.

I wish there was a better way that I could up vote this, or give karma out, or something.

Instead, you’ll just have to accept my thanks! ;-)

Sorry, you asked, and I tend to ramble about things I'm interested in and know something about. My family knows not to bring up Star Wars over dinner.

IMO, this response ranks as the best I’ve seen on this forum. This is the kind of nugget I would hope to find when searching for an answer on this kind of topic.

I wish there was a better way that I could up vote this, or give karma out, or something.

Instead, you’ll just have to accept my thanks! ;-)

Thanks! I of course liked your post too!