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Armour is an interesting thing. Tougher armour is just straight up better in a fight. A lot of people ask what are the incentives for wearing less effective armour?
For a concrete example, why would anyone wear leather armour or chainmail armour in a game like Dungeons & Dragons, when plate armour provides better protection in a fight? The answer is only ever that the worse armour is cheaper and you can't afford the better stuff, or that for some reason related to "game balance" your character class isn't allowed to use the better armour.
This is talking about in a fight, though. The main reason not to wear heavy armour most of the time is the same reason we don't all go around our daily lives wearing armour. It's ridiculously inconvenient and annoying.
If you want to give your party a reason not to wear the best armour all the time, have them do a lot more non-combat situations. Attend a fancy ball with the prince. Be on a ship with constant danger of falling overboard. Walk around a town trying not to attract unwanted attention. If they're only considering putting on armour when they reach an unexplored abandoned temple dungeon that might be full of ghouls, then your world is perhaps a tad more realistic.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Well, that was nice while it lasted. BB-8 can't help but mess up a cool moment, huh? Though maybe this is just to show that it's him driving the walker. It does let me see that he's controlling it by grabbing something or other with a couple of manipulators. That's definitely not the normal human controls.
And hey! The energy mace finally has a proper Star Wars-y name. Does this mean Finn is going to get into another energy stick fight? Let's hope he wins this time and doesn't need a rescue. Rose and BB are probably going to be busy enough with fighting of their own.
Transcript
BB-8: I advance and blast the troopers, so Rose and Finn can get clear.
[SFX]: Pow!
[SFX]: Kaboom!
GM: <roll> You neglected to unhook the umbilicals.
GM: <roll> They rip the superstructure off as you stride forward.
[SFX]: crunch!
[SFX]: rip! {the upper shell of the walker is torn off and BB-8 is exposed, at the controls}
BB-8: Eh, who needs armour anyway?
Rose: I grab a blaster from a downed trooper.
Poe: Grab all the blasters!
Finn: I look for a weapon too.
GM: All you see is a <roll>... Z6 riot control baton.
Finn: I take it!
BB-8: Do they have many riots on board the First Order flagship?
GM: You should see the mess hall on spaghetti night.