D&D 5E Can your Druids wear metal armor?

[Zardnaar]

At my table, the player (and only the player) gets to decide what their own character does or doesn’t want to do. While druid NPCs might not wear metal armor, a player is free to decide their druid PC does want to. Druid NPCs they run into probably won’t approve.

Yeah personally I think I'll create non metal alternatives so they can wear the better armor types.

I would have just made them proficient in leather and hide. They're in that range between Wizards and clerics for armor use.

 

[Kobold Stew]

"Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids will not wear armor or use hields made of metal)"

WILL NOT.

Nothing about that says they CAN NOT, only WILL NOT. There is no delinated penalty for going against this tradition. This is all bark and no bite. I think calling this a rule is vastly exagerated.

The problem is where the restriction was placed. If it had been part fo the fluff text, it is easily ignored. By choosing to list it among the proficiencies, they are presenting it as a rule (and a rule which tells playerd what their character thinks...). It was a bad rule poorly implemented, regardless of how one chooses to resolve it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah personally I think I'll create non metal alternatives so they can wear the better armor types.

Yeah, I do that too.

I would have just made them proficient in leather and hide. They're in that range between Wizards and clerics for armor use.

I think WotC would have just done that if they didn’t want druids to be able to use better armor. Since it’s an RP restriction and not a mechanical one, I think it’s clear that they wanted druids to have the option to get equivalent to half-plate AC.

 

[el-remmen]

No. . . but the PC druid in my group is about to get gifted magic crocodile hide armor from a tribe of lizardfolk he and the party befriended.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, I do that too.

I think WotC would have just done that if they didn’t want druids to be able to use better armor. Since it’s an RP restriction and not a mechanical one, I think it’s clear that they wanted druids to have the option to get equivalent to half-plate AC.

My take is they meant make your own mind up.

Generally I expect druids to have less ac than clerics but better spellcasters.

 

[ECMO3]

Them not being able to wear metal armour is an actual rule, and it effectively prevents them from wearing medium armour. So if this is intended to be balanced, just allowing them to ignore this restriction would be basically the same than giving any other class a free tier of amour proficiency. My current game has altered armour rules anyway, but I scaled the druids with the assumption that they're effectively meant to be light armour wearers.

Except they are specifically proficient in medium armor already. Why do they even have that proficiency?

Further nothing says medium armor is metal and there is no definition for how much metal is needed to be "metal armor". The DM needs to make this up. Studded leather, scale mail .... are these "metal armor". The DM needs to make a judgement call on these. Even leather armor has metal in the buckles and straps, so the only things that absolutely has no metal in it would be hide.

 

[Charlaquin]

Except they are specifically proficient in medium armor already. Why do they even have that proficiency?

Further nothing says medium armor is metal and there is no definition for how much metal is needed to be "metal armor". The DM needs to make this up. Studded leather, scale mail .... are these "metal armor". The DM needs to make a judgement call on these. Even leather armor has metal in the buckles and straps, so the only things that Druids absolutely can wear would be hide.

And padded

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

And padded

Let's be honest, no one has ever used Padded armor in the history of D&D 5e. No one.

It might as well be a blank space in the PHB. Thinking back on it, it might actually be. Maybe it's just a strange mixture of the Mandela Effect and Aurora Borealis.

 

[abirdcall]

Of course not. Not that houserules are a bad thing, I just don't see a need here.

Personally I would rather rule that Studded Leather is metal but I don't put up a fuss if a Druid wants to wear it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Let's be honest, no one has ever used Padded armor in the history of D&D 5e. No one.

It might as well be a blank space in the PHB. Thinking back on it, it might actually be. Maybe it's just a strange mixture of the Mandela Effect and Aurora Borealis.

I did actually make a character who used it once. Partly because I think gambesons are actually really cool and under-appreciated armor. But mostly because no one ever uses it and I wanted to be contrarian.