In the Anime Naruto , one of the main characters is revealed to use weighted clothing as a form of training. These aren't 5-pound bracelets or anything - they weigh as much as semi trucks full of bricks (cab included), and his speed and power basically doubles after he takes them off. Someone started a thread some time ago, either here or on the other forums, about possibly including them in Anima. I think I have a solution.

While the character uses the weights, apply a 50% penalty to all the following: the Athletics field and Initiative. Also, for Movement values, calculate as if Agility was half its actual value, rounding down. For every week he keeps them on, including sleep, he may increase the above by 1 point. Until the character reaches a Mastery in all of the above, no other benefit is given; taking the weights off will merely allow the character to move and attack at full speed. After reaching Mastery, a bonus of 25 points is also given to Primary Combat Abilities, which wears of at 5 points per round. This bonus increases by 25 for every 100 points gained in the other skills as a result of the weights. The cost? The character may only spend half the usual DP allotment at every level, and they do not get their Initiative Bonus when they level up.

Thoughts?

Setting aside my first response, where if armor doesn't impart these kinds of bonuses, why would heavy clothes:

I disagree. I feel the best way to model Anime-esque weighted clothing is that it applies a penalty to all physical actions and characteristic checks based on the severity of the clothing. This in turn drives down your combat characteristics, increasing the difficulty of fairly routine combat and training leading you to gain exp faster.

For example, a solo combat where you are unencumbered is routine and awards almost no exp. A solo combat where you are wearing the weighted items is instead a moderate or higher challenge and awards more exp as a result. This means that you start off every battle wearing the clothes if you can, because you want the most exp out of it, but if it becomes obvious that the clothes have made it too difficult to win you take them off to win even if it means less actual exp. Of course, this should only count for solo fights and stuff, as your penalties don't mean as much when you have 4 other guys trying to cover your weaknesses. And as you gain levels faster, you increase your agility to reflect the rp of the clothes.