I had a strange thought while reading this line in particular:
"Should something like hide armor be supplanted/made obsolete by leather as an "improved version" or does that effectively kill the visual concept of the rough-hewn rawhide-wearing ranger or barbarian?"
Perhaps armor shouldn't be a one-way street. Right now it seems to be defining the protection/abilities of the wearer. What if this were a two-way street and the wearer also affected the features of the armor?
For instance, in the example above, what if the barbarian, by virtue of being a barbarian and coming from a location/background in which "rough-hewn rawhide" is the norm, is can wear the armor more effectively than other classes? Perhaps the comfort/practice that the barbarian has experienced with this kind of armor makes the armor more effective for him than it would for a fighter or mage from the city?
In this way, various armors from earlier in the game or from lower "tiers" could stay or even become more viable for certain builds in a logical way that also allows a player to decide to stick his preferred type of armor or move to something new as he discovers it.
I had a strange thought while reading this line in particular: "Should something like hide armor be supplanted/made obsolete by leather as an "improved version" or does that effectively kill the visual concept of the rough-hewn rawhide-wearing ranger or barbarian?" Perhaps armor shouldn't be a one-way street. Right now it seems to be defining the protection/abilities of the wearer. What if this were a two-way street and the wearer also affected the features of the armor? For instance, in the example above, what if the barbarian, by virtue of being a barbarian and coming from a location/background in which "rough-hewn rawhide" is the norm, is can wear the armor more effectively than other classes? Perhaps the comfort/practice that the barbarian has experienced with this kind of armor makes the armor more effective for him than it would for a fighter or mage from the city? In this way, various armors from earlier in the game or from lower "tiers" could stay or even become more viable for certain builds in a logical way that also allows a player to decide to stick his preferred type of armor or move to something new as he discovers it.
