In the below table, the penalties for wearing armor are listed.
Movement Penalty
The Movement penalty applies only when calculating the total movement of the character. It is subtracted from a character's movement score and thus potentially lessens how far a character can move in a combat round.
Penalty to Active Skills
The penalty to Active Skills is applied to any active skills meaning all that require some sort of movement or are used in combat.
Penalty to Ranged Attacks and Spell Attacks
Penalty to Ranged Attacks and Spell Attacks apply to all attacks and spells that require hitting a target.
Penalty to Ranged Attacks and Spell Attacks do not apply to spells that does not require hitting the target (Spells that use Resilience as opposed to Base Defense)
In the below table, the penalties for wearing armor are listed.
Using a shield in combat can be a formidable defense. However, it is a large thing that must be worn and as such, it is a hindrance to free movement. Modern shields are not very heavy, but still have quite an impact, because it is a relatively large thing to carry around on your forearm and they still weigh from 2-12 kilos or even more.
Penalties to movement count as a percentage wise decrease in combat movement and is accumulative with armor penalty to movement. Active skills penalty is also accumulative with armor penalty and decreases any skills that require some sort of movement and combat maneuvers.
The penalty for Ranged spells and attacks are for 1-handed ranged spells and attacks only and those can only be used if you have 1 hand free (no weapon in your other hand for example). The penalty is for both melee and ranged attacks.
The full body shield is designed to protect aginst ranged attacks and is too heavy to use in melee.