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What do you consider more when choosing your characters' equipment? Aesthetic appeal or actual effectiveness?

For me it's always the former, i just can't run around looking like a clown in full glass when i can rock my stylish Penitus Occatilus and Shrouded outfit. It also makes the game harder and therefore more enjoyable.

Unless some of you actually like the look of some of Skyrim's High-End armours, but surely i'm speaking hypothetically here right?

PS: <Edit> Added a poll

I chose good armour.
Aarah is currently wearing an Elven Guilded one and it makes her look stupid and bulky because of its big collar section.
Helmet of the Old gods for head protection, which I also dislike as its really just a new hairdo than a helmet.
They have good armour ratings and enchantments. If I can find a snazzy outfit with the same qualities, I will change for sure.

Definitely aesthetic for my armor. I usually play adept anyway so you don't need uber armor. I often wear clothes or robes or some good looking low leveled armor, it helps to keep me immersed if my character looks like I want them to rather than trading in their gear for horrible bulky dwarvern armor cos it has a higher armor rating.

I have to go with armor (or clothing) that looks good on my character as well. If my character is wearing something that has a good armor rating it's because it fits the character.

good looking all the way! fur armor ftw

Wear good looking armo(u)r. If you enjoy wearing cool looking outfits over bulky chestplates then do so, if dying or taking too much damage is spoiling your fun then improve the armour, enchant it, or simply lower the difficulty to maximise role-playing et c.

Why just one choice on the poll?. Oh, you have to choose one. Dang it. I strive for both. I like some of the very protective armors and how they look.
@Aarah, I feel dressed up in guilded armor, wear it to town, although it does make the butt look BIG. Dragonscale for real work.
When it's "eyecandy" day, everyone in fur kilts! Yeehaw.

On my mage I choose what looks best, since he uses the "flesh" spells as protection.

On my archer I choose what has the best defense stats but still fits the character (no bulky armor for an archer).

For my battlemage I choose the armor with best stats, regardless of how it looks.

So I guess I choose depending on what the character would actually wear if real.

Aarah wrote:I chose good armour.
Aarah is currently wearing an Elven Guilded one and it makes her look stupid and bulky because of its big collar section.
Helmet of the Old gods for head protection, which I also dislike as its really just a new hairdo than a helmet.
They have good armour ratings and enchantments. If I can find a snazzy outfit with the same qualities, I will change for sure.

Why not make some armor that you like with similar or better armor ratings and enchantments?

I voted for "Good-Looking" for the reasons posted by Raynil, perylous, and others. To me, the low-end stuff looks better, so that's what my characters wear. I do wish that factors besides armor rating were relevant to how "good" the armor is for a character. For example, it should be harder to sneak while wearing armor that's bright, shiny, and/or made of a hard material.

I voted for looks over function. Its not unusual for me to wear one of the low end armors on a character up into the high levels. If you do any smithing at all you can improve all the armors to within shouting distance of the armor ratings on the high level stuff.

I won't touch Dragon Scale or Dragon Bone armor simply because its ugly, to me any way. Same goes for Dwarven, Daedric, and Ebony. I pretty much stick to Fur, Studded, Imperial(all three versions), Thieves, Nightingale, Glass, Blades, and Steel. If I want some bling i will go with a custom armor like Silverlight or Seraphine and toss in a Circlet from KDCirclets. I also replace all the vanilla helmets with a Circlet from Johnskyrims HD Armored Circlets.

Besides, I kill stuff pretty quick and I rarely get hit more than twice in each battle. My armor skill is probably one of the slowest to level. Yeah, I know I am probably playing on too easy of a difficulty level but hey, I don't want to spend five minutes killing each of my opponents.

Good looking armour for me, but fortunately I like the look of Daedric plate so it's the best of both worlds.

Good armour. As it does the job and keeps my character alive. Unless they are a mage. Then they don't use armour and wear robes. Good-looking armour is useless and often results in a lot of death. The uglier it is, the more likely it will stop a bandit chief kill caming me. That said, I avoid some armours purely because of their looks.

It actually depends on the character that I'm playing. If the character cares about looks, then pretty armor; if the character cares about defense, then good armor. And if the character wants simple, nothing ornate? Then the aesthetic choice enhanced through smithing My main doesn't like the fancy armors - just give her leathers and she'll make it into good armor.

That being said, with the characters that care, if I go into a dungeon or other place where I know there'll be combat, I'll switch to good armor temporarily. Not suicidal, y'know!

I start out wearing what is most practical. Then as my smithing and enchanting improve I start wearing what I think looks coolest with at least some pieces I have an improved talent for.
These are some of the styles I think look cool and that can (eventually) be armor capped with the "light" branch of the Smithing tree.


The Dawnguard and the Vampire leather take advantage of the "Advanced Armors" perk and its easy to mix it in with other gear while still looking good

I voted for looks. I HATE finding my own character ugly, and since I play mostly in 3rd person, I see my character ALL the time.

My favourite I've ever had so far was a mix of Nightingale and DB armour. [&@%!] looked wicked on my assassin.

I think I had DB Hood and Gloves, with Nightingale Boots and Chest-piece...

But yeah, back on topic, I always go for looks. Even with weapons... I use Imperial Swords for a remarkably long time in-game sometimes.

Ebony mail armor and the black dragonprest mask on heavy armor, if dragonplate was black i would wear it but Ebony mail tops it all because poison damage and my tendency to play dual wield or dual hander, freeky short combat. Whiterun armor with Volsung in light armor.
The look is more important..
Also i agre with the beliver, i use gladius(imperial) swords all the way, daedric weapons are but ugly except for the hamer and the bow.

Efectivnes stage is non important when you play dual wield, with top perked dual fury, dual sawagery, and bladesman, plus the elemental fury, that is why i newer enchant swords. Nothing combatwise lasts more then two or thre seconds even on master.

I usually suit up according to the mission I play (Thieves armour for thieves guild mission, shrouded for DB, etc.) but when I' out free-styling I prefer looks over effectiveness.

At level 62 my Dunmer is past caring about his armour rating.

My mage goes for the coolest looking robes, and enchants them later

Ideally, good armour that looks good, but since something's got to give and we can improve almost anything to Aetherius anyway I go with an armour that I think looks good on my characters and suits their personality.

Hm, tough choice for me.

I usually go with what would fit my character. It might be the "uniform" of a certain faction if the character is loyal to said faction. I had a character once who wore Dawnguard armor all the time because she was a staunch vampire hunter. If I played a die-hard Stormcloak, I might go for Stormcloak armor all the way. My current character is a Dunmer, and she prefers Elven armor even though better gear is available.

On the other hand, I once had a melee fighter who wore whatever heavy armor was best.

Overall I'd still say I rather go for looks than for quality. There are some armors I try to avoid because I don't like the looks. Scaled armor, for example, looks great, and if it had been available in Oblivion, my character would certainly have worn it. But in Skyrim I stay away from it. Climbing the 7,000 steps through the falling snow with my character's arms all bare looks just silly IMO.

I choose armour that suits my character in terms od roleplaying, and than begin to make that armour as effective as possible through crafting skills. But it has to suit my character, I'm not going to deck out my paladin in daedric armour just so he can survive better.

I voted for good-looking armor. As others have said, it's a matter of what fits a given character. But I also go for texture and distinction, which the higher-tier armors seem to lack. In other words, I prefer armor that has a sense of character in itself.

Well on lower levels it was about surviving. Now though that my smithing and perks are high enough, I wear what I like.

I only wear armor that fits the character I'm playing. My cleric will never touch anything Daedric, and my thief will only wear Thieves Guild related armor. My mage only wears robes... occasionally light armor like Forsworn armor, but again, because it fits the character.

Also, armor is a valid spelling.

Witchery, why of corse it is. Wait a minute, did i mean course? that's right, U's after O's are important.
Also, it's good to see that many people agree with me, because it really annoys me that the better armours are generally worse-looking.