Throughout the Palladium Fantasy main book, there are constant references to classes not being proficient with most types of armor and that some classes find wearing heavy armor to be uncomfortable. However, when you look at the mechanics behind armor you quickly discover that there is very little difference, aside from casting spells, between a Priest wearing plate armor a Thief wearing armor and a Soldier wearing plate armor. The book also refers to some classes being proficient with heavy armor and other classes not proficient, but the only difference that can be found is a speed penalty difference in the equipment section. Unfortunately, it is not entirely clear which classes are proficient without reading the sometimes long section on armor in each class description. Compare this to weapon proficiencies, which are clearly laid out in the O.C.C. Skill section.
This article aims to address the issue of which classes in the Palladium Fantasy main book are proficient in which types of armor and what exactly does that mean of a character.
For the most part, only Men-at-Arms are initially trained in how to properly wear armor in combat, so only those classes are proficient with armor. However, even within the Men-at-Arms category, not all classes have the same proficiency with armor. The follwoing list shows the proficiencies that each class begins with:
Please note, that when wearing heavy armor, reduce a Longbowman's rate of fire by two and the bonus to strike by half.
If a character does not have proficiency in a given type of armor (light, medium, or heavy), then that character receives a series of penalties whenever that type of armor is worn. The list of penalties for each type of armor is as follows:
The encumbrance penalty applies to the following skills: Maintain Balance, Climb, Scale Walls, Swim, and Prowl. Also note, that due to its light weight and special design, Cloth armor does not provide penalties while worn, even if the wearer does not have proficiency with light armor.
Wearing metal armor impairs a character's ability to channel PPE to cast magical spells. This occurs when a character wears metal armor that covers more than 50% of the character's body, such as a suit of Scale, or Double Mail, or Plate armor, but it does not apply to Studded Leather or half-suits of metal amor. If a character is wearing a suit of armor that incurs the penalty, the character must spend 20% more P.P.E. to cast a spell and then player rolls once on the following table to see what other interference occurs on the spell:
| Percentile | Result |
| 01-20 | Reduce spell damage or effects by 1D4x10%. |
| 21 - 40 | Reduce spell duration by 1D4x10%. |
| 41 - 60 | Reduce the spell's range by 1D4x10%. |
| 61 - 80 | Reduce both range and duration of the spell by 20%. |
| 81 - 00 | Lucked out, no additional problems. |