Power Suits

Power Suits, or Power Armor, are a broad category of wearable equipment that enhance the wearer's physical abilities; including strength, agility and reflexes. Historicallyy operated by a series of synchronized, user activated hydraulics, more modern power suits use a body glove made of artificial muscle fiber, contact points on the inside to synchronize with the user's muscular and nervous systems, and hard points on the outside to attach armor and accessories.

Power Suits are used in a wide variety of applications. There's the obvious military application of power armor, but power suits are also used in industrial applications where heavy objects need to be moved and forklifts don't fit in the workspace. There's also a strong subculture of power suit enthusiasts who build, maintain and use their suits for recreational purposes. There are even entire sports built around the use of power suits, such as a class of Parkour performed while wearing a superlight class power suit.

Classes of Power Armor

Specifically in the power armor category, a weight class system exists. It can also be roughly applied to power suits in the non combat categories, but it's primarily used in the context of power armor. In any case, types of power armor are classified by how big the armor is in proportion to the wearer. The core suit, by necessity, remains skintight on the wearer.

Superlight Class

Superlight power suits are the body glove worn with few or no attachments at all. This class is usually used by those who wish to either conceal a power suit beneath regular clothing, or are hoping to use just its enhancements to physical capabilities. This class provides the least physical protection but the greatest enhancement to your physical abilities. Some models offer a reactive flexing feature, which flexes (and thus hardens) the artificial muscle fiber in response to sudden blows. This applies to falls, punches, and to some extent bullets and cuts.

Light Class

Light class power armor is the core body glove with a layer of light armor plating on top. This armor is typically made from kevlar, light metal plating, or metal plating with a layer of kevlar overtop. This plating usually doesn't cover the entire wearer and leaves some parts of the underlying body glove visible. Light class armor offers most of the benefits of a superlight class power suit with some added protection. This, alongside its affordability compared to heavier classes of armor, makes Light Class power armor a popular entry level choice for power suit enthusiasts.

Medium Class

Medium class power armor is the core body glove, with a complete encasement in a heavier grade of armor. At this class, the body glove is almost always completely encased within metal armor. The physical enhancements provided by the body glove serve mostly to allow the wearer to move normally while wearing it.

Heavy Class

Heavy class power armor is essentially a wearable bunker, and all but impervious to small arms fire. This class will often be supported by a system of more traditional hydraulics. Not just because of the weight but because the armor is becoming bigger than the wearer themselves. An unhelmeted head, for instance, will look disproportionately small to the body.

Heavy class power armor is often paired with weapons that are just as heavy, such as an arm mounted rotary cannons, explosive launchers, colossal siege hammers, metal-limbed greatbows with draw weights that would otherwise be completely unusable, or rifles and shotguns that an unarmored wielder would have no hope to use effectively.
The heavy armor, (and heavier weapons) creates a middle ground between the infantryman and armored cavalry.

Superheavy class

A rarely seen class of power armor. At this class, the armor part of the suit is now larger than the wearer itself; requiring some interpolation between the user's movements and the armor's. Larger examples may be better described as a small mech than a suit of armor.