NewAgeOfPower wrote:

Bioweave, Smart skin, and Second skin are all stackable without penalties. Armor Clothing cannot stack with anything except for Armor Vest (6/6) without penalties. Thus, with the prevailing interpretation of rules, Heavy Combat Armor + Bioweave + Smart Skin + Second Skin is the heaviest armor stacking that is widely available.

Don't forget a full helmet. That adds another +3/+3.

NewAgeOfPower wrote:

Remember, even with 100 armor stacked up, they are still not immune to nukes! Or antimatter! As a EP GM, don't put yourself into a D&D DM's trap, for there are so many delicious ways to challenge your players.

Many ways. Some are target-morph dependent, but there are ways to not care about their armor. While armor mods exist to combat many of these, nothing is 100% effective-- 1) Shard Pistols/Shredders/AP ammo (+rail guns for more AP) At the lower armor end (in the game I'm playing in, I'm seeing 8/8 as an average) the above listed weapons will pretty much slice through the armor without a care anyway. Even in moderate to high levels of armor, it still takes off enough value to make more of the damage get through. 2) Shock attacks Unless in a synth morph, Shock is brutally effective at making a target lose actions. Remember, it's not always that you need them dead, sometimes they need to just not be able to interfere. 3) Agonizers Again, unless in a Synth most anyone will have a bad day with these guns. And they are legal pretty much anywhere. I see them as the new Pepper Spray, except in a pinch they can actually burn your would be attacker. 4) Nanoswarms Nanoswarms care not about your armor. Some will even tear it apart, so you can then shoot them easier via the big holes in the armor. 5) Hacking Mesh Inserts If they take their time to be sneaky before attacking, a good enemy hacker could hack your inserts, then use AR Illusions to make you unaware of the enemy, or attacking the wrong targets. Or make you think you are putting on your armor when you are really strapping on a bedsheet (at least, if you live in a messy bachelor pad like my character). 6) The Law Not every habitat likes people walking around in full combat armor that are not part of a legally recognized police force or militia.

As a GM, it didn't make sense that a helmet would protect you from body shots. I ruled the helmet's rating applied against headshots only, and body armor doesn't protect the head.

ottomancer wrote:

I hope someone on these excellent forums can clarify a rules point for me about armour stacking - i.e. what can stack together? Could a character conceivably stack bioweave armour, smart skin, second skin, armour clothing and then a suit of armour? It's something my players are going to ask - they'll want to be protected as possible, but I don't want them turning into tanks.

Pretty much anything can be stacked up to the current morphs DUR. However, not all things stack without penalties. The armored clothing and the body armor would be considered layered armor (Core Book, page 194), and impose a -20 penalty on characters actions since they are wearing two layers. The rest of the listed items, I believe, would not count against them.

Geonis wrote:

The armored clothing and the body armor would be considered layered armor (Core Book, page 194), and impose a -20 penalty on characters actions since they are wearing two layers. The rest of the listed items, I believe, would not count against them.

The 6/6 Armor Vest specifically states that it can stack with Armored Clothing. It is still inferior to Heavy Combat Armor, though.