I decided early on that I would go Nord for my first playthrough in Skyrim. Typically my Oblivion characters(I've only had two) have been Imperial warrior knights, who mostly focus on sword and shield with heavy armor. I have most of my character planned out, but I'm having a hard time choosing between light or heavy armor.

One side of me prefers heavy armor for looks(although Daedric and Dwemer armor in Oblivion look atrocious) and the added defense, but the other side of me can't imagine a Nord in heavy armor. Whenever I think of northern warriors I think of vikings, Conan the barbarian, and Logen Nine-fingers(awesome books imo), all of them are clad in light leather armor. I can't really say I care for Elven or Glass armor. The pros for light armors are the fact that they weight less, allowing you to carry more(although the right perks make it so armor doesn't count towards your encumbrance), the fact that Nords have +5 in light armor, and the fact that they generally cost less.

I'm assuming that Dragon armor will come in both Heavy and Light varieties, so that doesn't help me decide on one or the other. Anyone have input on the matter to help me decide? Can anyone think of prominent Nordic characters who wear heavy armor?

Many people are very disappointed in light armor perks

I have seen a half dozen posts here and on other forums

Most people like the perks for Heavy Armor.


Sometimes the practicality has to trump RP

From what i've seen the armors are classified by material. I may be wrong but the light armors are things like hide, leather, elven and glass. So if you want to use any other material then you'd have to use heavy armor. That's just what i've seen but who knows. They're could be heavy and light leather armors. Although, i doubt it If it helps at all to say that I'll be playing as a Nord and I'm almost certain that I'll use heavy armor. Hope this helps.

From everything I am given to understand, most of the raiders you would typically think of as Vikings would not have been walking about in plate armor. Scale, chain, leather...etc were more the norm. So you really would be more authentic going the light armor route. That being said, Glass and Elven are going to break that authenticity.... oh well its a small trade off for better armor, and you can keep the older stuff for walking around town in.

I think I will start the game today too ,it just arrived . My only problem is , of course , my console which broke . I bought a new one and I hope it will arrive later today . I had that old premium with the old core and of course ,it showed the rrod yesterday for the 3rd time in a year , i've been fixing it again and again and now I decided to go for the slim to avoid these problems in the future . My brother waits for the PC version , if I won't get my console till then , I'm stealing his =))) .I think I will play a nord for my first character , I think i will name it " Ataro " .

From what I've seen the Light armor perks are exactly the same as the heavy armor perks, only short two perks, and the final perk is slightly different. I would say heavy armor is more practical, but light armor does free up two perk points. I guess I'll have to fiddle around with my build and see if I really need those two points(although it isn't like I couldn't still get those two points by grinding)



I guess the fact that I don't want to use Glass or Elven armor may sway my hand towards heavy armor. It's great knowing that I'm not the only one using a Nord with heavy armor.

As for your comment on heavy armors also being made out of leather, according to the UESP wiki, they're only light.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Armor




I guess I will go for Heavy armor on this playthrough, thank you both for the help, time to finish plotting out my character!