@drgnclw The helmet reference is very interesting. I love the detail and elegance of the design. While I’m not an expert in medieval soldiers or armor, my impression is that this particular helmet feels a bit flashy next to the humble earth tones of the rest of the outfit. My first thought is to make the helmet a similar texture and material to the breast-plate.
BUT if you’re set on this helmet, my advice is to not leave out any detail. I know you’ve said it’s a WIP and you’ll be adding the leaves. It feels WIP next to the reference which has tons of variation in the gold color and surface quality (like your breast-plate has already). So make sure you nail the detail and I think you’ll arrive at a quality worthy of the reference.
I think you’re close to the metallic quality. Honestly it looks like your HDRI (or lack of HDRI?) may be the problem. It doesn’t seem like there’s enough for the gold to reflect realistically. An HDRI will provide that world of reflection where the default grey scene + lamps do not provide enough for realistic reflection.
As for the pants, I think both the tope and dark green are good choices. I prefer the tope personally. But either way should be fine imo.
