As a beginning player, you'll want good defense to fall back on while you're getting used to dodging. The first merchant you can find sells Chain Armor. Get it. It's got decent defense, and it's light. A character fresh off the assembly line will be able to midroll in a full set of it. And trust me, midrolling is more useful than most people think. 

Oh, and on the topic of armor weight: If you end up fatrolling(slowest roll), change your gear. Fatrolling will get you killed 100% of the time, even with the Vitality to back it up. ALL bossest hit hard and fast, the only way to beat them is to match their speed.