Hello. I've got a character that's currently in a game, and after a near death experience in the first run I've realized if he wants to live though a second one he'll need some more armor.

My character can't use Cyber or bioware, so i'm limited to clothing/body armor specifically.

To make things worse, the character i'm playing is... a bit full of himself. He's very vain so currently he's just in some sleeping Tiger line suits (not nearly enough armor)

So any suggestions on what to put this guy in to keep him from looking like swiss cheese after every gun battle, and still look stylin' enough for a night on the town?

You really need to tailor the armor to the situation.

What you use for running is not what you take wear out to dinner.

My personal favorites are (Need Cannon Companion for these)

Running: Long Coat and Rapid Transit Heavy Jumpsuit

Night out on the Town - Vashon Island Actioneer

-----> Form Fitting Body Armor <-----

Definately. Form-Fitting Body Armour is practically mandatory when being a Shadowrunner. You can get an armour rating of 3/1 from FFBA-2 for free as it were since it doesn't count against stacking armour or quickness penalties. And if the player is a bit of a snob the Armante, Vashon Island or Mortimer of London lines would probably interest them.

Virtually any armor and a Fashion spell will do the trick...

BOO! BOO!

Fan boys are never going to be accepted.

Ever!

Stupid Ewoks.

For those at the highest end of society who feel that they have need to show some macho military zest, we proudly present you the Vader!

SomeGuy, just to sumarize the above suggestions, here are a couple standard configurations for people who optimize the numbers.

For a Character with Quickness 6, wear all 3 of the following:
Secure Long Coat (4/2), helps conceal weapons. SR3.284.
Victory Rapid Transit Heavy Jumpsuit (2/4), cool options. CC.50.
Full suit Form Fitting Body Armor (4/1). Cannon Companion p. 51.

Using the armor layering rules (SR3.285) you get full value of highest-rated layer of armor and half value of the next-highest rated layer. So for Ballistic you count Long Coat (4) and half of FFBA (4) for a total of 6. For Impact you count Heavy Jumpsuit (4) and half of Long Coat (2) for a total of 5. Thus you achieve 6/5 armor with this combination.

The sum of the full values of the Ballistic Layers (don't count the FFBA because it has special rules) is 6. The sum of the full values of the Impact Layers (don't count FFBA) is 6. Since neither exceeds the character's Quickness of 6 there is no penalty to Combat Pool, Quickness tests, or Quickness-linked skill tests. (See Layering rules on page 285.)

Adding helmets, shields, or forearm guards contribute at full value to armor, but also to the numbers used for determining penalties. There actually won't be any penalty if the sum of the full Impact Armors only exceeds your Quickness by 1, so talk your GM into letting you buy a cheap Skateboarding or Bicycling Helmet (0/1) at around a cost of 35 nuyen (even though its not in the books), or add forearm guards. Adding this gets you to 6/6 armor. Pretty good for a Quickness 6 character.

If the character is Quickness 7, you can use a Secure Jacket instead of a Secure Long Coat to get the Ballistic up to 7, but it doesn't raise the Impact protection.

The limits for Quickness 5 characters are lower. I haven't worked out an optimum combination. I hope this helps you evaluate what you're going to do.

I understand why you might want to wear FFBA to avoid penalties to quickness and combat pool, but...

Why do I seem to remember that only 2 layers actually count for the armor? Isn't it full armor for the biggest layer, plus 1/2 armor for the second, and nill for any others? I'll have to look at my book tonight...

And I've never had a character with the full suit of FFBA - the hood, gloves, and booties are a bit conspicuous. It's hard to blend in when you are dressed like the Phantom. (Hooded FBA, trenchcoat, sunglasses)

EDIT: Oh, I see where you are going - you are only using 2 layers, but you are using a _different_ two layers for Ballistic vs Impact.

As far as I'm aware, there are no rules for having a third layer of armor. Some people halve it again, some people ignore it.

Don't forget, the full body camouflage suit is 5/3, I generally grab that rather than the jacket, and I put on thermal dampening.

The other thing to keep in mind, I generally get a bunch of the CC stuff for the FFBA; fire protection, gas seal, so on and so forth. I'm of the opinion that you can take off the gloves and the hood, so as long as you're not in short sleeves, it's not too too inconspicuous. FFBA... never leave home without it!

Given that Someguy specifically mentioned that he wanted something that his character could look good in (ie. Camo Fatigues ain't going to cut it) I'd suggest the Actioneer Suit with a full suit of FFBA underneath. Beyond that your armour is going to start becoming more visible and less fashion friendly.

If you're entering situations where fashion is less important than sheer protective value then certainly, the suggestions offered above are entirely sound.

TBO

Or, if your GM isn't paying attention, multiple layers of FFBA! Just keep on layering on that +2 ballistic...

Strictly by Canon however, the full suit should be allowable. The hood can be passed off as some assessory and gloves are gloves. Micheal Jackson wears a glove.

Dangling babies off balconies is also a bit of a social faux pas.

I'll echo my suggestion from the "how to keep your mage alive" thread: Armor Vest w/ plates and a Secure Longcoat. Good armor, extra concealability for your weapons, and it looks casual on the street.

Kesh, that's got to be an Ares ad slogan:

"Ares PLATECH armor vest and Securicoat. Great aromor, extra concealability, and it looks casual on the street. Ares-- the armor makah!"

Just so i've got it straight. (no longer have my copy of Street Sam)
FFBA
lvl 1, Chest and back
lvl 2, Add Groin, Thighs and Arms
lvl 3, Add Lower legs, Feet, Gloves and Hood.

If the above is true then i wouldn't penalise someone without the hood as long as didn't constantly wlak around without it.

Personal choice assuming Quicknes 6 ( is he an adept?)
FFBA lvl3 4/1
Tres Chic clothing 0/0
Mortimer of London Greatcoat 4/2
You could hide forearm guards under that.
Shame on the no cyber dermal sheath 1 or bonelacing would help alot on the impact problem. Mystic armour if they are an adept. Otherwise perhaps you should say out of combat a bit more. *shrugs*

To really give you decent advice, I would need to know:

1) What is your character's Quickness? This determines how much armor that you can layer without penalty, so my advice for a character with a Quickness of 4 would be a lot different than my advice to a character with a Quickness of 6.

2) How does your GM interpret the layering penalties? Some GMs take it to mean that you add 1/2 of the next-highest value for each piece of armor after the first, while other GMs take it to mean that you only get the bonus for the first two highest ratings.

So far I'd probably go with FFBA-3, a suit from Armante and top it off with a Mortimer of London Greatcoat. If you don't wear the hood/gloves then we ruled that you treated it as FFBA-2 for armour ratings, and you just stashed them in your suit pockets until needed. Also, greatcoats offered the same concealability bonus longcoats do for carried items.

That gives you an armour rating of 6/4 with them all on and 4/2 without the greatcoat. Or if you're not being subtle and using the hood/gloves then 7/4 or 5/3 without greatcoat. Plus you look pretty good whilst using them as well.

You can wear an Auctioneer long coat with form fitting body armor for 6 ballistic and 3 impact, and as long as your quickness is higher than 2 you have fine armor.
This combination counts as only one layer of armor so you could add another piece of armor like a vest or something...