Armor
Just speaking as a traveler, I wouldn't travel without at least a cloak and leather overcoat. As an adventurer, I'd take weapons but those aren't useful if you're not trained. Protection against rain and cold is a much easier task. Oh, and don't share one from another person. Even a friend. You'll wind up knowing a lot more about their habits of cleanliness than is good for friendships.Since the dawn of civilization, armor and weapons have been something under near-constant development. Scholars often debate about which came first, and these debates can get heated enough for actual examples to be brought out. Sometimes these are even used, and the idea of "debate" is left behind. Armor is usually defined as 'something worn which offers significant protection', with an unstated qualification about it being used to defend against weapons. Given the dangerous fauna in the world and how traveling between cities can still be dangerous without ever seeing another person, the definition of armor has been often loosened to 'protective clothing'.
Most cities will have some form of armorer, either working in steel or leather, offering affordable protection to those who are in need of it. While initially expensive, good armor with consistent maintenance can last long enough to be passed to the next generation. There are some families which have passed down the same chain mail armor for multiple generations, without getting into materials more expensive than steel or enchantments to enhance the nature of the armor. One of the more common enchantments is one to keep the armor from picking up odors from being worn, and this is quite popular for many adventurers who intend to wear it for extended periods.
Traveling Cloak
By far the most common article of armor is a traveling cloak, which has retained a similar basic design for an uncertain amount of time. Variations include inside pockets, altered linings to be 'armored', or simply having the fit changed to permit arms to be available easier. The most consistent part is the function, which is to protect from most weather issues. The material is often oiled or waxed to allow water to run off the wearer, and layered to trap body heat to protect from the cold. Common cloaks often offer precious little protection from high winds or heat, however, and some travelers will possess more than one cloak in order to have something more useful in the heat.Common Enchantments
Cloaks are common enough and easily fashioned, so there is less call for enchantments in order to alter their function. Most tend to fall into the style of making a cloak warming in cold weather or cooling in warm weather. Another common enchantment is to make it possible for the wearer to blend into shadows or foliage, though attentive eyes can easily render this enchantment useless. Lastly, there is a class of enchantments which are laid over containers to vastly expand their capacity - some of these are used on cloaks with interior pockets so any minor tool can be quickly at hand. Seasoned adventurers and travelers often are derisive of such enchantments (as they are not cheap), but veterans who have over a decade of experience tend to think them more useful than many belt pouches.Light Armor
What can be called "light armor" is characterized by having flexibility and an ease of use balanced against the strength of protection. Not all armor is the heavy plate made popular by knights of the Empire, or tales of dragon-slayers. Armor made from leather is relatively common, cheap, and accessible to ordinary citizens. It can be treated in a number of ways so it retains flexibility, or so it becomes a hardened shell which takes significant force to pierce. Furthermore, it takes far less time to produce replacement parts and mend damaged armor than metal armor.Chain mail is quite a common evolution of this, and some consider it to be the superior armor than anything heavier. It is constructed from small rings of metal interlocked in a weave, a task known to be tedious and time-consuming by those who assembled such armor during their apprenticeship. Slashing cuts usually fail to penetrate, and blunt strikes have their power distributed outwards well. The elves use mithril to make their chain links, reducing the weight overall while being more resistant to breaking. Dwarves tend to add metal plates over joints for more protection at the expense of greater weight, though the weight isn't really felt when properly constructed.
Common Enchantments
Much of the common enchantments laid upon light armor are meant to enhance its protective potential, or to instill it with resistance to the elements. Of those, the most common is some form of protection against heat or cold. Other common enchantments lean into the benefits of light armor and reduce the weight or enhance the qualities already present. Beyond humanity, elves favor particular enchantments to make the armor silent or blend into natural backgrounds, dwarves prefer enchantments to make the armor more difficult to damage, while tieflings tend to invest arcane energies into the armor so it can be unleashed at a later time.Heavy Armor
Heavy armor is made from metal plate, and while it is significantly more weighty than chain mail the design of such armor distributes the load to make it easy to wear. It is, however, not easy to put on; most heavy armor requires an extra person helping situate pieces and ensure they're properly secured. Improperly secured pieces tend to be removed by force when in combat, which understandably impacts the protection. It is considered possible to put on heavy armor alone, but it does take a familiarity and knowledge which is not common. Most of this armor type is made with steel in the current era, as mithril is an expensive material to use in such amounts. In the past, dwarves have chosen adamantine to work with, though there is a lack of accessibility to the material now. Adamantine is remarkably tough, durable, and dense - even with tricks to distribute the weight it can be oppressive to those who are not used to wearing heavy armor.The oldest form of heavy armor, at least in the minds of scholars, is a type where metal plates were affixed to leather and having another layer of leather placed over the top. This prevented blades from cutting or piercing through the leather while benefiting from greater flexibility. However, repairing such armor without destroying it or employing magic was difficult. The next iteration skipped the outer layer of leather, and started overlapping the plates to help move blows away from vital areas. Successive centuries have seen many variations on the appearance of metal plate armor without really changing the function, save for one particular type.
The heaviest type of armor can be called "parade mail" or "knight's armor", and it encompasses the wearer from head to toe in metal. It removes the leather backing entirely to use other fasteners to connect each plate to the next, and requires a padded garment underneath to give some fashion of comfort. It is incredibly difficult to get through this style of armor, and when well-made there is only a token loss of flexibility and agility for the wearer. Due to the expense and difficulty in making the armor, these suits are often reserved honor guards or elite warriors. Adventurers who can afford such armor often just will invest in enchantments on lighter equipment, as the savings in weight are more important.
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