D&D 5E Tweaking the fighter: bonus to AC when unarmoured or lightly armoured

77IM · Jul 11, 2018

Quartz said:
This gives a maximum AC of 18 for a 17th level fighter in studded leather, which is equivalent to plate. A fighter can still wear plate, of course, which still gives AC when surprised and the benefits of Heavy Armour Mastery if taken.

Does Dex still apply?

If it does, this gets you up to AC 21, which is kind of ridiculous.

If Dex doesn't still apply, I think you should make that more clear. Maybe specify that this bonus replaces your Dex modifier for AC calculations.

Zardnaar · Jul 11, 2018

Blue said:
One of the house rules I played with was:

When you gain Heavy Armor Proficiency, you may swap it out for:

Unarmored Tactician: When unarmored, your AC is 10 + DEX + INT.

Only problem is it was too cherry-pick-able for wizards.

It should be 8 not ten. Similar to the Monk ability but better as spell dcs also key off in.

Quartz · Jul 11, 2018

77IM said:
Does Dex still apply?

No.

If Dex doesn't still apply, I think you should make that more clear.

Which bit of

The bonus may be used instead of but not in addition to bonuses from statistics

did you miss?

It's not only Dex that can boost AC - Barbarians get to add their Con bonus and Monks get to add their Wis bonus for example.

Quartz · Jul 11, 2018

Greg K said:
Khaalis's Light Armor fighter variant from another thread is still, in my opinion, the best take that I have seen on the concept for 5e . The link is in the first post of the thread.

That doesn't really cope with the cinematic style. You see fighters don heavy armour when they need to, but fight well out of it. Think of Charlton Heston in El Cid.

Quartz · Jul 11, 2018

pming said:
Hiya!

I think you're looking at the "problem" backwards. You escalating the power level...not de-escalating it.

How is this escalating the power level? An unarmoured or light-armoured Fighter typically has a worse AC than a Fighter wearing heavy armour.

My point is I wouldn't be giving "bonuses" for using lighter armor so much as I would give "penalties" for using Armor.

That's a change too far. We expect Fighters to fight so penalties for doing just that are in the land of Not Fun.

Quartz · Jul 11, 2018

Saelorn said:
Other than that, it mostly seems fine. It might be hard to describe what a low-Dexterity fighter is doing to maintain their superior Armor Class in light armor.

Using their experience.

5ekyu · Jul 11, 2018

A couple things.

I would make it fears, not class specific. Still allows better access for fighters due to more ASi feat options.

Also, I generally detest things that shift basic mechanics entirely, like somehow a feature for light fighting somehow removing DeX as an AC issue. Just does not pass the smell test.

Finally, to me comparisons to double star AC like monk and barbie and assuming double stat max as your baseline for a system built to promote a single stat seems off, very off, as a basic balance consideration.

Instead why not have the feature represent cunning or trained fighter and allow adding INT bonus if unarmored, or half int bonus in light armor, if its "training"? That keeps the two-stat demand on both sides of the comparisons.

DEFCON 1 · Jul 11, 2018

If it was me, I'd probably just do a class feature swap of the Fighter gaining Unarmored Defense and losing something else in exchange, like their Fighting Style. So that basically for this character, Unarmored Defense is their Fighting Style.

Why bother trying to make a wholesale change to the entirety game when you can just do it for the specific character that is looking for the feature?

Blue · Jul 11, 2018

Zardnaar said:
It should be 8 not ten. Similar to the Monk ability but better as spell dcs also key off in.

I disagree. Monk's Unarmored Defense starts at 10 and it also uses Wisdom - a casting ability for a full caster.

Heck, Barbarian's uses CON -- helping both not get hit and having more HPs and better HD healing if you are hit is definitely multipliers.

With 8 + DEX + INT, you max out at 18 - the same as you can get with full plate but without NEARLY as large an investment and plate gives you 8+ levels sooner. That would be a nigh useless ability to trade away Heavy Armor Proficiency for.

Satyrn · Jul 11, 2018

Quartz said:
No.

Which bit of

did you miss?

It's not only Dex that can boost AC - Barbarians get to add their Con bonus and Monks get to add their Wis bonus for example.

It wasn't as clear as you think it was.

I'd recommend giving the fighter an alternative AC calculation the way WotC did with the barbarian and monk:

"While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Fighter Defense Bonus. While wearing any light armor, your Armor Class equals the armor's AC value + your Fighter Defense Bonus. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit."

And the you include you chart showing the Fighter Defence Bonus is at various fighter levels.