Armor Encumbrance, Seems silly a Bod 3 Char can't wear an Armor Jacket Options

[Kerenshara]

3 is for a human in good physical condition. If you include dimorphism you will suddenly find 2s are not unusual along with bad lifestyles, age, etc. For opposition 3 would be standard or average.

I don't mean to natter, but the system is pretty clear. The average for a human in average physical shape is a 3. If we go by standard definitions of "average" that would mean that someplace around two thirds of all humans fall into that group. Something like 15% the total are either 2 (poor) or 4 (above average). Less than 10% of the total comprise both 1 (weak) and 5 (superior). Achieving a 6 is in the "1 percenters" and a 7 is literally "off the chart".

If you have a character who is in a job where general fitness is an important requirement, and regular exercise is the norm, it is not unreasonable to find the majority of those individuals as a 4. Also remember those numbers are for Homo Sapiens Sapiens globally, and that in the shadows, it's not uncommon to regularly find things one standard deviation out of the norm.

Security Guard: Normal People = 3
Front Line Military: Above Average = 4
Crack Units: Superior = 5

You will probably never find a group that as a whole is 6's across the board (without artificial enhancement), but the "Best of the Best" (think U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.s) will have possibly one stat in the one precent bracket.

Now, your average sprawl squatter gets no regular aerobic exercise, has a terrible diet and no meaningful modern health care. It would not be unusual for such an individual to have stats in the 2's. Poor basic education means the mind is not trained to process, retain or creatively manipulate concepts facts and ideas, which means often the mental stats will be low to match.

A stat of 1 essentially represents someody who is in fact in some way crippled by modern standards. Weak bones, compromised immune system, muscular deformity, mental retardation, brain damage, r the results of severe forms of abuse that damage the psyche.

And that idea applies to any given race: their minimums and maximums are diferent, but their SPREADS are (mostly) identical, just shifted numerically to one side. Compared to Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Homo Sapien Robustus is tougher, larger, and stronger, but their "mental" attributes seem to cap out lower, not suggesting that their race is less inteligent, but simply less capable of achieving the same extreme heights as would otherwise be the case. But compared to one another, an average Robustus is still average, despite putting a Sapiens to shame for physical prowes.

That's my take based on the RAW, fluff and a healthy dose of common sense.

[Shinobi Killfist]

That's one of the changes i actually like about SR4 compared to SR3.
It let's Dwarves, Orks and especially Trolls wear/carry more Armor than the whimpy Humans and Elves.

Hey, I prefer how the earlier editions did it. i like the weight to encumbrance method. Sure then the puny human could wear good armor, but the puny human wasn't carrying much gear overall. Its not bad in 4e, just prefer 2e. Now concealability in 4e just sucks in comparison to 1-3e.