[ED4] Stacking Armor

[ChrisDDickey]

I see in Shards Collection Vol 1 that NPC Thygold Dorkinsin [page 26] is wearing both an Espagra-Scale Cloak plus Padded Leather Armor. This gives him armor that is better than Chainmail (has a point of mystic armor), but has much less initiative penalty, for just 40 sp more than the price of chain mail.
I know this was published for an earlier edition, and I would have sworn I read somewhere that armor can't be stacked in ED4, but for the life of me I can't find it now.

Does it say anywhere that armor can't be stacked?

What armors (if any) would you allow to stack?

I have nightmares of players stacking blood pebble with chain mail and a Espagra-Scale Cloak for 15 / 4 with 4 IP and a cost of only 680 sp. That would beat simple plate mail all to heck!

[Mataxes]

I thought we had put something in the Player's Guide about stacking armor, but I just looked in the places it is most likely to have been and don't see anything. I think it ended up that we just took out the old rules that referenced armor stacking.

In ED4, worn armor does not stack. The only armor stacking is natural armor stacks with worn armor (so, the +3 Physical Armor for obsidimen, and everybody's Mystic Armor).

[Utsukushi]

Oops.. that seems significant.

I know off the top of my head, though, that in earlier editions, armor didn't stack... except the Espagra Scale Cloak, which was stated as an exception, with the special rule that it has no Initiative penalty alone and a -1 Penalty when worn over other armor. I just flipped through the Player's Guide PDF with a search for "armor", and, no, didn't find anything about it. Interestingly, even the bit that makes an exception for the Cloak is gone -- in many ways, that, more than the actually stated rule, seems kind of weird and more deliberate.