D&D 5E Barbarian 'Unarmored Defense'

Hi,

I'm having difficulty seeing the value of this class feature.

Obviously, it is of some assistance if you're caught nekkid, and have to fight with no armor.

But surely it is meant to be more than that? As I see it the feature should allow you to build a barbarian that walks around unarmoured, just like a monk (who has her own version of the same class feature)

But the problem I am having, which you could help explain or rationalize, is:

What is the value of the Barbarian Unarmored Defense class feature for a class that easily puts on armor? Or, perhaps more to the point: how do you build a Barbarian that gains significant benefit from Unarmored Defense?

You gain AC 16 from having Dex 14 and wearing a Breastplate.

In order to even match that you would need Dex and Con bonuses to add up to +6. While it isn't unreasonable to require two +3 modifiers in itself, neither Dex nor Con is the Barbarian's primary attribute. While a Monk can and will put his best scores in Dex and Wis, a Barbarian is - in 5E - hardwired to a high Strength, because rages only key off Strength, not Dex.

A human barbarian can start with Str 16, Con 16, Dex 16 at the cost of becoming stereotypically dull elsewhere (Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8).

I simply find this cost too high... sure, that Dex gives you good Initiative and such, but AC-wise it simply saves you the 400 gp of a Breastplate, which in turn would have enabled you to to become a smart, wise or dazzling barbarian instead.

What I mean is Dex 16 is a high price to pay when all you're after is the coolness factor of fighting in no armor. Dex 16 is great when you're thieving around, but it's a very steep cost for a Barbarian.

So how do you make Unarmored Defense work for you?

Or is it a "trap feature" in that you really can't expect it to work in more than corner cases (night ambushes, high level play etc).

The Barbarian capstone adds +4 STR +4 CON (which is equal to 2 AC).

Let's assume a Mountain Dwarf (2 STR/2 CON). 15/14/15 STR/DEX/CON, 10 WIS. With +10 stats (if feats are disallowed), you end up with 24 STR/24 CON/18 DEX/10 WIS. This gives +11 AC without wearing an armour (better than Shield+Plate).

You also have items like Bracers of Defense, which add +3 AC (but they do not work with Armour or Shield).

Yes, at the first few levels it might not be great. But you can sneak really well, and you do end up with great AC at the end, even without the capstone ability.

A breastplate costs several hundreds of gold, and you may not find one lying around before level 6 or so. Or you might - it's hard to tell.

You can get better AC through maxxing out Strength and Con than just wearing a breastplate. This is somewhat more reasonable if you're not using feats, and thus have more incentive to increase your Con score.

It's quite good at level one because it saves you the 10 gold you would blow on hide armor (which can be spent on the essential healers kit), and barbarians start out with the second lowest amount of gold.

You aren't going to get a breastplate for handful of levels, and that's if you loot one. You could reasonably get scale mail before that, but that imposes a stealth disadvantage.


So it's good at the start, great a the high end, and an alternative style choice in the middle.

You never know when a fight breaks out at a ball or dance.
You are a barbarian already, no need for further insults by the nobility for wearing armor to dance.

I thought it seemed like a feature for people who wanted to play Conan. And/or a more gladiatorial-style barbarian.

And if your main gripe is that it means your other stats are bad... Well, yeah. You're too dumb to put on armor. Seems like an 8 in Wis is about right.

1) It's an option -- if it were strictly better than armor, every barbarian would do it, and it would be unbalanced.
2) How much AC are you willing to sacrifice for things like Stealth, roleplaying, and not spending enormous amounts of gold? If my barbarian has AC 16 and yours has AC 15, is that horribly broken and un-fun for you, or is it, "eh, it's just one point difference."

I guess I don't consider this a "trap" option because it is so painfully obvious that you need a high Con or high Dex + decent Con to get the maximum benefit.

It also has implications for multiclassing. A barb/rogue or barb/ranger might dump Strength; the only thing you lose is +2-4 damage per attack when raging, and that may not be a big deal if you're dishing out sneak attacks or optimized for TWF. And now you've got me thinking about a barb/monk who goes Dex+Con and dumps Wis...

​It is a useless fluff feature, until you find bracers of defense. So, unless you know the GM sets up magic shops, it seems best to just have 14 Dex for medium armor and 14 Con in general, and forget about it.

You could make a Dex+Con Barb build with a rapier, and use Rage just for damage reduction... I mean, it is just +2 damage per hit. But it takes a good while before you actually get an appreciable AC/init advantage compared to the regular medium armor + 14 Dex.

77IM said:

And now you've got me thinking about a barb/monk who goes Dex+Con and dumps Wis...

Click to expand...

Need Str 13 to multiclass Barb, need 13 Wis to multiclass Monk.

Its intended as an option, not a primary class feature.

If you are going for it, its great to have and allows for a wider breadth of archetypes that you can play. Or...just put on armor, no harm no foul.


Honestly, the barb is in a much better situation than the monk. The monk basically HAS to have a good dex and wis to have any level of combat efficacy (or multiclass into something like a dragon sorc to get more AC). Strength based monks just don't seem viable for example. With the barbs choice of armor or unarmored defense, there are many more viable options.