For armor and weapon choice to really matter... you would need to expand out the rules and bonuses/penalties for all of them... creating a whole mini-game of rock-paper-scissors type of things for how the weapons and armors and combat maneuvers/defense interact with each other. That's how things used to be in many ways-- in AD&D there was the whole "Weapons Vs Armor Types" chart... wherein certain types of weapons had bonuses/penalties against certain types of armors. One armor might give you a point less in AC versus slashing weapons, but 2 points of AC bonus versus bludgeoning. And thus (for those that used those rules)... it was all about figuring out what types of attacks or armors you would be facing off against and finding the right "counter" to them to be most effective. It was a mini-game within the game that some players could focus on if they wanted-- just like Weapon Speed Factors could be used to up the complexity of combat.
But let's be honest... those rules were of a different time-- when D&D was still a direct offset of the "miniatures wargame" of old. But few players nowadays care about getting that far into the weeds involving combat rules as folks did back then. And for those that would still like to lean in that direction... that's exactly what games like Level Up is for. But baseline D&D has made the combat board game less labor-intensive and any attempts to go backwards just really aren't going to cut it I don't suspect.
Could you turn the Armor table into just three armors, light, medium, and heavy (since the best of each category is what players ultimately strive for)? Sure. But does having other armors on the chart really affect anything? No, not at all. The only thing it does is make the narrative of armor different, wherein we don't ever see different "names" of armors, because those names are assigned to lower types. You won't see many players saying they are sporting "Scale Mail" armor, because players move past it on the chart pretty quickly. Which means your only option then is to "refluff" your armor (or weapons too for that matter) to let you wear the "type" of armor you want, even though the mechanics are of a different type. Same way to avoid all the Rapiers in the game is to allow players to re-fluff the 1d8 Martial Finesse weapon from "Rapier" to something else. They get the best mechanics they are allowed to have... while the "type" of weapon can be something different just for interest sake.
But let's be honest... those rules were of a different time-- when D&D was still a direct offset of the "miniatures wargame" of old. But few players nowadays care about getting that far into the weeds involving combat rules as folks did back then. And for those that would still like to lean in that direction... that's exactly what games like Level Up is for. But baseline D&D has made the combat board game less labor-intensive and any attempts to go backwards just really aren't going to cut it I don't suspect.
Could you turn the Armor table into just three armors, light, medium, and heavy (since the best of each category is what players ultimately strive for)? Sure. But does having other armors on the chart really affect anything? No, not at all. The only thing it does is make the narrative of armor different, wherein we don't ever see different "names" of armors, because those names are assigned to lower types. You won't see many players saying they are sporting "Scale Mail" armor, because players move past it on the chart pretty quickly. Which means your only option then is to "refluff" your armor (or weapons too for that matter) to let you wear the "type" of armor you want, even though the mechanics are of a different type. Same way to avoid all the Rapiers in the game is to allow players to re-fluff the 1d8 Martial Finesse weapon from "Rapier" to something else. They get the best mechanics they are allowed to have... while the "type" of weapon can be something different just for interest sake.
