D&D General (2024) Is it just me or has Unarmored Defense become really common, now?

[ProfessorDetective]

Now, I am a major fan of Unarmored Defense builds, from the common Karlack and Beauregard clones to many homebrews like my old Eldritch Defense Invocation (requires Pact of the Blade, grants you UD using Charisma).

Part of this is my laziness in wanting to avoid inventory management (to the point many of my casters skip spells with Material components. (Psychic/Thunder Bards work very well for this... if you cool with Constructs being a potential weakness).

Part of it is my being a home nudist and the novelty of trying to make THAT lifestyle work in dungeon crawling/wilderness exploring situations (PSA: having fire/cold resistance also lets you auto-succeed on CON checks to take levels of Exhaustion from extreme heat/cold. Infernal Tieflings can get both with the old Infernal Constitution feat at 1st Level. Dragonborn Draconic Sorcerers can have both by 6th Level with the right color choices. I like Silver/Gold for that).

But now, I'm noticing that there are a LOT of classes that can get UD in 5.5E.

Examples (that I know of) include:

Barbarians (base class, uses Constitution).

Monks (base class, uses Wisdom).

Bards (subclass, College of Dance, uses Charisma).

Paladin (subclass, Oath of Noble Genies, uses Charisma).

Sorcerer (subclass, Draconic Sorcery, uses Charisma).

Wizard (Subclass, Bladesinger, uses Intelligence, only while Bladesong is active).

Druids (honorable mention, no UD, but many Wildshape candidates have high enough ACs to compensate).

Seven classes with no need for armor, four without a major need for weapons.

It should be noted, I am NOT complaining here. I really feel like I'm specifically being catered to with all of these.

But for a game that makes a point of emphasizing the joy of raiding dungeons and vaults and tombs for the legendary Breastplate of Arrow Deflection +3 or whatever, it's funny to me that you can build a five-to-seven person party that'll probably just see that Breastplate as nothing more than vendor trash to be sold or left behind.

Anyway, what does everyone else think about this uptick in scaling Armor Classes and Unarmed Strikes? Love it? Hate it? Why do you think Wizards is expanding this niche so widely?

 

[sevenbastard]

Why do you think Wizards is expanding this niche so widely?

Once you go down the path of "Any Stat Can Be Used to Attack" why not go down the next path over about defense.

Also I don't love it.

But at some point we need a unarmed defense based of a strength. "Pecks of Steel" or "Rock Hard Abs"

 

[Clint_L]

One class with no need for armour (monks), another that has UAD but is generally better off using armour (barbarians), and a handful of subclasses where it is situational, and only because it suits subclass flavour. No, it doesn’t seem out of control.

A more accurate way to count it would be by counting total subclasses that have it AND actually depend on it, versus those that don’t.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

One class with no need for armour (monks), another that has UAD but is generally better off using armour (barbarians), and a handful of subclasses where it is situational, and only because it suits subclass flavour. No, it doesn’t seem out of control.

A more accurate way to count it would be by counting total subclasses that have it AND actually depend on it, versus those that don’t.

Draconic Sorcerer has no armor proficiencies out of the box, so the Charisma bonus is a major boon to durability.

Dance Bard has light armor proficiency. But having at least a 16 in Charisma will see your UD beating Studded Leather in AC. And, since Charisma is their casting mod, they'll very likely have it that high by Level Three.

Nobel Genie Paladin... Has medium armor, heavy armor, and shield proficiencies. Having UD here actually DOES feel like pure flavor. You'd need a 20 in Charisma to beat the medium armors and a 20 in both Charisma AND Dexterity to beat all the heavy armors. Though, three of the heavy armors have Strength requirements. So, depending on where that score is sitting, the lower AC might be a fair trade off.

Bladesinger Wizard has UD backed into their primary, Super Mode, feature and has no armor proficiencies. The Melee-based Wizard definitely wants that Intelligence bonus.

So, two of four make great use of UD, one probably prefers using UD, and one could take it or leave it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nobel Genie Paladin... Has medium armor, heavy armor, and shield proficiencies. Having UD here actually DOES feel like pure flavor. You'd need a 20 in Charisma to beat the medium armors and a 20 in both Charisma AND Dexterity to beat all the heavy armors. Though, three of the heavy armors have Strength requirements. So, depending on where that score is sitting, the lower AC might be a fair trade off.

Full plate has a 15 STR requirement. A dex build can dump stat strength, with all the initiative, stealth and ranged benefits that come with it. Also, I use dual scimitars now. Dual scimitars are cool.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

Full plate has a 15 STR requirement. A dex build can dump stat strength, with all the initiative, stealth and ranged benefits that come with it. Also, I use dual scimitars now. Dual scimitars are cool.

Unarmed is always my fave... But twin scimitars are a VERY close second! Dex Paladin! Why did I not think of that!?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Why did I not think of that!?

You didn't? I thought the whole subclass was based on this:

 

[Li Shenron]

Once you go down the path of "Any Stat Can Be Used to Attack" why not go down the next path over about defense.

In general UD doesn't bother me much because I think it doesn't usually make a difference so huge as to feel unfair. IMXP characters who have both UA and armor proficiency that can't be benefit from simultaneously are definitely fine. If it stacks though, then it would become a problem. Probably the most important thing is that the achievable AC doesn't surpass the normal achieved by other means.

However the above quoted point is also very important for me, for two reasons.

- linking UA to the ability score which is already a class' primary stat is potentially a low blow to all other classes, if it results in a serious boost to the AC for no cost (like Int to AC for Wizard)

- bonus from Cha to AC is hard to justify by narrative, feels like a game design gimmick which is the kind of thing that makes D&D look dumb

 

[Li Shenron]

(Still no option to delete duplicates?)

 

[Remathilis]

I think it's a reaction to two different elements. Fantasy itself has shied away from armor, especially in the realms of television (where real looking armor is heavy, hot and expensive) and in video games/anime (where lightly armored or unarmored agile combatants are more cinematic). D&D armor class is built around the wearing the heaviest armor your class can use an trying to get a shield if possible, and that method doesn't always fit the theme or even appearance people have for their character. So increasingly D&D has opted to find hacks that let light or unarmored characters still have a serviceable AC without relying on magic items.