Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-27506967-20160823151753/@comment-26172435-20160823225033

Hardiness is a qualification of warrior traits, just like vigour, resilience, endurance and stamina. It says nothing about armour.

Note that Gondor and it's TA fiefdoms were inhabited by edain in the SA before the Numenoreans came to rule it. I reckon many of the proud fiefdom specialist military were drafted from the ranks of the offspring of these original inhabitants. There is much reason to assume that these regiments of fiefdom militia would not have been equipped with the best armour. A trait system would come in handy to distinguish between the characteristics of the peoples of sub-factions/fiefdoms within a faction. ;)