Heavy Armor Master OR Toughness

[The Crimson Binome]

Generally speaking, I would prefer DR over HP, since most forms of healing don't scale with your increased maximum. Heavy armor allows you to get more mileage out of limited potions and spell slots, although that may not be a factor if you get most of your healing from rest.

 

[psychophipps]

HAM all the way. It is always better to not take damage at all than to be able to soak up more damage.

 

[BookBarbarian]

If HAM applied to damage from magical weapons I would prefer it.

As it is I prefer Toughness.

 

[CTurbo]

I love HAM, but only if/when I can get it at level 1 with Variant Human. I could MAYBE see taking it at level 4 if you're wearing heavy armor and sitting at an odd Str, but I just cannot see taking it later than that at all.

Tough is the opposite. I'd never take it at lower levels except in extreme circumstances like a super low Con character that absolutely NEEDS it.

 

[Zethnos]

It's level dependant, since HAM doesn't change. You should compare the number of HP you get from Toughness against the assumed number of times you'll get hit per day that HAM activates

Lv 1 +2 HP <1 HAM Hit
Lv 2 +4 HP <2 HAM Hits
Lv 3 +6 HP =2 HAM Hits
Lv 4 +8 HP <3 HAM Hits
Lv 5 +10 HP <4 HAM Hits
Lv 6 +12 HP =4 HAM Hits
Lv 7 +14 HP <5 HAM Hits
Lv 8 +16 HP <6 HAM Hits
Lv 9 +18 HP =6 HAM Hits
Lv 10 +20 HP <7 HAM Hit
Lv 11 +22 HP <8 HAM Hits
Lv 12 +24 HP =8 HAM Hits
Lv 13 +26 HP <9 HAM Hits
Lv 14 +28 HP <10 HAM Hits
Lv 15 +30 HP =10 HAM Hits
Lv 16 +32 HP <11 HAM Hits
Lv 17 +34 HP <12 HAM Hits
Lv 18 +36 HP =12 HAM Hits
Lv 19 +38 HP <13 HAM Hits
Lv 20 +40 HP < 14 HAM Hits

As we can see, HAM is best at lower levels, and then tapers off in the mid to higher levels. Generally speaking, I'd recommend HAM up to level 8. After level 8, you're cost:benefit ratio becomes lower, and Toughness becomes more viable. If the +1 ASI from HAM would increase your Con to an even modifier (and your DM allows retroactive HP), then I would say that up to level 10 would be an acceptable gain for HAM, but that's the furthest I'd recommend.

Honestly, if HP is your goal, then I'd start with HAM, increase Con to max, then take toughness at level 12+. You'll be an undying machine

I really like this breakdown of it. But we can't forget that this is if your campaign doesn't do any magic damage or things of that nature. Level 8 + you really start getting involved with more magical enemies (generally speaking) and it would make HAM even less effective than Toughness. Toughness lets you be tanky in more situations than just taking non-magical physical damage. If you guys are planning on playing into the higher levels I would really suggest toughness. Especially if you are playing as a class/race that doesn't offer much health in the first place.

 

[Warpiglet]

Really good food for thought in these analyses...

I think that their relative value is dependent on uneven abilities and what tier of play is being discussed...

In my case I have to think hard...

 

[smbakeresq]

There are plenty of things you face at all levels that HAM is effective against. It also saves party healing resources as you never take the damage in the first place. Remember it’s effective against things considered weapon attacks also, say against a spear trap that attacks you as weapon attack.

Durable should be in the debate also, if you have an odd CON score you get +1 HP per level and an additional benefit.

 

[smbakeresq]

Also HAM in one adventuring day will save you more HP then toughness will give you at level 20, 40 HP, if you are the party tank or frontline combatant

 

[Shiroiken]

Also HAM in one adventuring day will save you more HP then toughness will give you at level 20, 40 HP, if you are the party tank or frontline combatant

Not necessarily. At that high level, many sources of damage are not weapon attacks, or are from supplementary sources (like poison or necrotic). Any magical damage is unaffected, as are most other damage sources (like from traps that deal non-B,S, or P damage). In addition, at this point in many games the players will take a lot of damage from fewer hits (such as Giants or Dragons, which tend to hit harder per attack), reducing it's overall effectiveness.

If you take HAM at earlier levels, it's not suddenly "bad" at high levels, it just isn't providing a comparable benefit that it was at lower levels. This means that taking it at higher levels is generally ill-advised, since other feats (such as Toughness) will provide overall greater benefit at this point.

Interestingly, this is why I've adjust HAM to reduce by Proficiency, rather than a flat number. It makes it slightly less awesome at lower levels, but keeps it slightly more relevant at higher levels.