Suits Or Pieces Of Armor?

[I'm A Banana]

Less to keep track of trumps realism in this case for me usually. Fiddling with bits of armor is not entertaining to me. Imagining my character in armor can be. If someone wants to take "chain mail" and re-fluff it into "I am actually wearing chunks of plate armor with massive gaps in them," I am content with that.

Same attitude for post-apocalyptic games in general - it's much cooler to have to slowly assemble your armour than to just find a full suit, throw it on, and write down on your character sheet that you get an additional +1 on defence or something.

I could say you could accomplish this feel without the complexity of piecemeal armor.

"You manage to salvage a piece of scale mail," and if you manage to salvage the whole thing (say, 5 pieces), then you get "scale mail," and until then, it doesn't do much for you.

 

[Dausuul]

I would love a piecemeal armor/hit location system if somebody came up with one that wasn't a massive pain to use. Since I have yet to see such a thing, put me in the "whole suit" camp.

And you also run the risk of characters always calling for an aimed shot to the head for an insta-kill.

There's a reason why the helmet is generally considered the single most important part of any suit of armor.