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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tessarael" data-source="post: 9786174" data-attributes="member: 12909">Thanks Lichmaster. Yes, my A5E level 5 Druid with the Skinchanger archetype now spends much of the time wild shaped. With better magical equipment found and purchased at level 5, her original form has higher AC and does more damage. At level 6, with CR 2 wild shapes + Nature's Wrath for +d6 acid damage per attack when wild shaped, the wild shape damage output will be higher, though AC will be lower without the shield. I have utilized Vegepygmy wild shape form to be able to use gear while wild shaped, at the cost of not being able to cast ranged spells. Seems a decent trade-off and not unbalanced mechanically. Bravo to the A5E designers for hitting a mechanically balanced sweet spot when permitting wild-shaped Druids to cast range self and touch spells, improving the utility of wild shape as some spells can still be cast while in it.There's actually little to no need to wear armor when wild-shaped as a Skinchanger, due to the Wisdom modifier bonus to the wild shape AC. Note: I assume Wisdom modifier bonus to AC doesn't stack with Dexterity + armor while in wild-shape, for game mech balance reasons. So house-ruled as the following for a Skinchanger Druid wearing armor in wild shape, "AC modifier if using a shield + Armor/barding AC + Dexterity or Wisdom modifier - capped by the maximum Dexterity modifier of the armor."Mechanically, this results in the following trade-offs for my character:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Use of barding, armor, or shield, requires that the Druid is proficiency in the armor (or barding equivalent type) and shield. And as a Druid, it must be non-metallic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Without shield, this limits her barding armored wild shape AC to what she could have in her original humanoid form, AC 18 = 16 (Hide Armor +3) + 2 Dexterity modifier.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Without armor at level 4, she has a minimum wild shape Druid AC 17 = 12 base + 1 (from level/4 round down) + 4 Wisdom modifier.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">For wild shape forms with higher base AC than 13, she still gets the +4 Wisdom modifier to AC.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">So there’s at most only +1 AC benefit from armor when wild-shaped.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">She does still benefit from using a shield. As she has a +1 shield, that's +3 AC in a form like Vegepygmy to use it, with AC 20 in total. It is very good for defense, but reduces her offensive capability due to the choice of form.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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