Hrm. I'd hardly say that the first sentence needs to hook the reader. Great if it does, sure, but that's a lot of pressure to put on, as you say, the...
If there is a pretty significant chunk of interim time, I do use a full blank line to help the reader clue to that. Narrative space matching physical...
Concerning the weight and flexibility of the armor: ecdavis' mention that "Chain mail was typically bulky and coats of it put a lot of weight on the...
The internal design of your character is paramount, and should always take precedent over the aesthetics. Characters don't need to be pretty or good...