Throughout the main quest and others, sometimes armor is determined by which is higher, your Light or Heavy Armor skill. But I really don't know which I should pick. Heavy armor offers more defense, but more weight, and light armor the opposite. Awesome armors such as Imperial Dragon and Crusader (KotN) are determined by this, so I deem it really important between the choice of Light and Heavy. Based on your experience, which yields more benefits, the Light or Heavy Armor mastery?

Sorry for the babbling. :confused:

It depends on your character and how you are going to play him / her. Are they stealth, magic or warrior? Warrior wants most protection so heavy armor. Stealth wants to move undetected and be able to jump out of danger so wants light armor. All armor restricts spell casting so pure magic users just want enchanted robes / clothes with perhaps summoned armor.

Definitely go with heavy armor. It is by far superior to light armor. If you're worried about the weight of it though, it is cut in half by the rank of expert (75) and weighs nothing when you reach the rank of master (100). Heavy armor is definitely the right choice.

I would go for the looks and image you want and not worry about it.

That said, at master level, I would say the nod goes to heavy. Both heavy and light, at master level, can provide the following:
No restrictions to movement, sneak or speed.
The same reduction to spell effectiveness.
The same degree of protection.

The only difference is that the heavy armor has better durability.

Now, even after all that, properly enchanted clothing/apparel (as little as four items) can provide all of those benefits with unlimited durability and no reduction to spell effectiveness. So, the logical power gamer would choose no armor at all but, again, I refer to the opening sentence of my post.

I think I will use this topic to ask another question, if you don't mind How bad does the spellcasting restriction feels? I plan on making a new character soon, one which is a mix of a Bard/Agent with a Mage (Nightblade ? :S), and I still have to decide wether to make him wear Light Armor or no armor....

Btw, regarding the Heavy/Light discussion, is there any unique looking Light Armor on the vanilla game other than the Dark Brotherhood Armor? :ermm:

And yes, it definitely depends on your character. If you are going for a Warrior type, go Heavy all the way (imo, and if you are not RPing or using him as a Light Armored fighter), because along the way you will get almost no encumbrance from it, higher protection and, if you have a lot of Strenght, you can afford the weight it occupies in inventory.

My current warrior is lvl 25, has a Strenght and Endurance of 100 and in total can carry 550 (some enchantments on the gear though, that make him have more Strenght, therefore carry more), most of the time having 340/550 filled (I carry the KotN full set, lots of potions and around 5 heavy enchanted weapons.... and he moves as fast as if he is naked, because he is a Master of Heavy Armor :down:

Spell Effectiveness and armor. Any armor at all will cap spell efficiency at or below 95%. For fire and ice blasters, this is not a big concern. 'Mind control' type spells however, require maximum magnitude and 100% spell effectiveness to work on enemies approaching or above level 25. There are several ways to ensure those effects will still work at higher levels:

1. PC users can simply employ a mod that eliminates the armor penalty. I use such a mod called 'Spells be Effective'.

2. Given the power of sigil stones, other enchantments and even potions at higher levels, transitioning to no armor well before level 25 and maintaining a nice armor rating is very doable. Heck, at higher levels you can simply pop a couple homemade shield potions and instantly boost your armor rating to 85 for longer than any fight will last.

3. All the mind control effects except calm can be enchanted on weapons. {I don't consider paralyze a mind control effect, but it cannot be enchanted on weapons either}
A maximum magnitude frenzy or demoralize bow for example does not care a bit what your spell effectiveness is - it will work at maximum magnitude regardless of what you wear.

4. Another option is to cap your character at level 20 or so by simply picking a few major skills to never touch (speechcraft and hand-to-hand I'm lookin' at you). That way you never encounter high level characters, and mind control spells will work fine with 95% spell effectiveness.

Unique light vanilla armor? Well, Buffy loves her pretty blue Arena raiment - http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/Acadian6/Buffy%20I/ScreenShot84.jpg :twirl:

Thank you for the advice Acadian!

Personally I prefer light. Lothran surprised Owyn when competing in the Arena, choosing Light Raiment. But as said it really depends on your character, who he is and what he does. Consider that and the choice should be an easy one

Probably mantioned, but here I go:
Light armor is inferior to haevy armor before you reach skill lvl 100. When you reach skill lvl 100 they are more or less the same, but the heavy armor offers a little more item hp.
What skill you chose is more important in lower lvls. Protection vs mobilety.

For me, it's not a choice of which is "better", but which is better for the character in question. Heavy armor is just not appropriate for some characters, while it's fine for others.

After that consideration is made, it's all about aesthetics. My current character only wishes to wear clothing or armors made of leather, and hoods. The lack of protection is a non-issue once you start enchanting.