I know realistically you can layer armor, a vest with an armored coat for example, but how does that work in sr4?

When you layer armor in 4th edition, you use whichever armor value is higher.

So a character in an armored jacket and armored clothes has ballistic/impact of 8/6, just like someone who only has an armored jacket.

-JKL

So layering is pointless?

Unless you house rule something else...

No, it just seems illogical.

I like the idea of being able to take off an armored jacket but still have the security of armored clothing underneath. Otherwise, layering is not terribly useful.

However, if you like buying armor modifications, layering armor can help you save some money.

For instance:

Joe Samuari has a chameleon suit, a camo suit and an armored vest. He goes and spends a lot of money to upgrade all three of them to level 6 thermal dampening.

Jane Samuari has the same three armor outfits as Joe. Rather than upgrade all three with thermal dampening, Jane buys a single set of armor clothing underwear. She upgrades that one set with level 6 thermal dampening and then layers it with whatever outer armor she feels like using.


JKL

hmm, thats a interesting take on layering...

Also remember that things like helmets and shields add directly to your armor rating, although they also count when figuring out encumbrance penalties.

hmm. hard to tell if thats intended, or just a bad case of wording.
still, it makes somewhat sense...

Armour layering was only ever in 3rd IRC 2nd didn't allow it...
I just hope the do form fitting as a "helmet" typr set up, adding to you ratings rather than as an armour of its own (+2,+2 maybe for top level)

The 'armor higher than body' rule unfortunately does not stop players from building TANK-TROLL monstrosities. On a convention a month ago I played a game with a player whose character was a Troll maxed on body, wearing full body armor, a helmet and a ballistic shield. Altogether he had a ballistic armor rating of I think 15-17 and rolled 30+ damage resistance dice. However he had only a reaction of 1 and no dodge skill. I don't think it is necessary to give further details...well possibly this one is interesting: Of course IT used a composite bow, and the player insisted he could use the bow in combination with the shield.

On the plus side? It looks like the kind of armor that Shadowrunners would wear in a running situation have higher armor ratings across the board.

Even though I think that layering armor should have some sort of beneficial effects, I don't have a problem with the RAW.

Also, I don't allow thermal dampening unless it is on all layers.

After it's introduction I never saw a runner without FFBA. Why not just increase the prices and armor ratings across the board and save some room on the character sheets?

I didn't use FFBA. But then, i still use regular ammo, so I might be crazy .

Yeah, you're definitely crazy.

Layering comes into effect when you play with degrading armor rules (ie bullets make armor less effective over time). Having multiple layers of armor will mean you can sustain more damage to your armor over time.

ffba would still be usefull. as long as you dont get a penalty, its a VERY good idea to have decent armor on beneath your regular clothes. If they want it to work like it did in old editions, they could make it a +2/+1 or something, but i suspect the new rules are moving us away from such sillyness.

books will tell...

probably, but if layering become gold some players will think this way:

Gm: now my players can layer armors!!

Pc: so my 10 body troll will use 2 full body armors!!!

i like to see better rules for layering then the ones alredy existing

Layering has traditionally worked in such a way that something that would feasibly fit over or under some other thing (a vest under a long coat, FFBA under an armored jacket, armored clothing under a leather jacket, that kind of thing) were layerable, but random-ass combinations (i'm gonna wear three suits of FFBA, since they don't count towards penalties for layering in SR3!) didn't layer solely because of the simple virtue of being two (or three) items of armor. Sanity wins out in these cases.

Sanity is a very good quality in rpg sometimes

Slightly off topic, but remember that in 3rd edition FFBA doesn't count when working out penalties due to layering. However the losses to COmbat Pool have absolutely nothing to do with layering (i.e. they apply if even one piece of armour has sufficiently high ratings), therefore by the RAW FFBA woudl still count for determining Combat pool penalties.

I think the above is correct, its been a while.