Honestly, I just made the pants, and use them with my padded chest and helmet. The +3% speed increase instead of a -5% decrease for teh padded legs brings your running speed almost back up to unarmored, and that's a noticable improvement. I find it to be much more beneficial than that extra 16 armor I'm losing. Even into the mistlands, it's a close choice. I rather wish I had made the chest piece instead, to get that frost resist and speed boost for corpse runs.