Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyneras
I'm not entirely sure I buy the thickness argument. Layered t-shirts feel far more restrictive around the shoulders than a thicker single sweater (as an ad-hoc experiment I just did). Interactions between the layers strikes me as too important to ignore.
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On any tactical armour loadout professionally designed to be worn together, the outer layer ought to be securely fastened to the inner layer where it will provide the desired protection at the cost of as limited restrictiveness as possible, not just riding outside it willy-nilly.
There certainly exists and has existed throughout multiple tech levels, what amounts to munition armour for issue to soldiers of all sizes and shapes, which will often give a -1 DX penalty or worse, with or without having multiple layers.
Good-quality gear, however, should generally not give a DX penalty unless it is deliberately sacrificing comfort and flexibility to ensure necessary protection, i.e. it has DR near the limits of what the materials can be expected to provide without unreasonable thickness.