D&D 5E Amulet of Natural Armor

[CleverNickName]

I'd prefer something of more general use to beast companions and druids in wildshape.

That's an interesting idea. For the druid, I'd probably have the amulet automatically cast barkskin on the druid whenever they shift into beast shape (once per long rest), and have the item require attunement. Animal companions would be a little more tricky and harder to balance, I probably wouldn't even try unless there are already rules in the campaign for animals wearing armor.

Again, sounds right but doesn't work well within the 5E framework.

Again (very roughly) only Wizards benefit from this, and the only benefit is they can skip Mage Armor.

Hardly what you'd expect.

Point remains: AC works in really specific ways in 5E. For more, I refer to my earlier post.

No, it's *exactly* what I would expect.

With my house-rule, any class that could already wear light armor could still use it, but it would hardly be worth it...it would be a highly-situational thing, like needing to appear unarmored when undercover or something. But if you can already wear armor, you definitely should! However, classes that can't wear armor would benefit the most from this item. They would sacrifice a valuable magic item attunement slot for the ability to wear a type of "light armor" that they wouldn't normally have access to.

This is exactly how I would want the item to work at my table. Some players really want to be able to stack numbers into their armor class, but I'm not one of them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Animal companions would be a little more tricky and harder to balance, I probably wouldn't even try unless there are already rules in the campaign for animals wearing armor.

A horse can be an animal companion, and there are rules for horses wearing armour.

 

[CapnZapp]

However, classes that can't wear armor would benefit the most from this item.

Again, the point is that there are a lot less such classes than you think.

5E does not work like some "basic D&D". It uses highly specific rules for calculating AC.

 

[CleverNickName]

Again, the point is that there are a lot less such classes than you think.
5E does not work like some "basic D&D". It uses highly specific rules for calculating AC.

I think you and I are going about this from different directions. You seem to be trying to make an amulet of natural armor that is compatible with the highly-specific rules for calculating armor class in 5E. I'm just rigging something together that will work for my table. The good news is, we are both right.

A horse can be an animal companion, and there are rules for horses wearing armour.

Cool. In that case, I would probably just make the amulet of natural armor function the way that armor does for horses and call it good.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think you and I are going about this from different directions. You seem to be trying to make an amulet of natural armor that is compatible with the highly-specific rules for calculating armor class in 5E.

Bang on! [emoji106]

 

[S'mon]

Was reading my 5e DMG today re making up new items... it says start by making them equivalent to an existing item. So +1 AC & requires attunement FTW

 

[Pauln6]

Was reading my 5e DMG today re making up new items... it says start by making them equivalent to an existing item. So +1 AC & requires attunement FTW

Magic armour typically does not require attunement (and would not stack with the amulet). Rings of protection also improve saves. So attunement is certainly possible but I would say if you are effectively just going for a +1 AC then don't require attunement. If you are going for a set AC e.g. AC13 then require attunement.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It all boils down top what you are trying to achieve with the item. Do you want a reskinned ring of protection? Then go for it. Do you want the equivalent of horse barding (MM p340) that your panther can wear? Go for that.

The thing to remember is the original purpose of the Amulet of Natural Armor no longer exists, since "natural armor" is no longer a thing in 5e. Ergo you are free to do whatever you want with it.

 

[CapnZapp]

It all boils down top what you are trying to achieve with the item. Do you want a reskinned ring of protection? Then go for it. Do you want the equivalent of horse barding (MM p340) that your panther can wear? Go for that.

The thing to remember is the original purpose of the Amulet of Natural Armor no longer exists, since "natural armor" is no longer a thing in 5e. Ergo you are free to do whatever you want with it.

Or, of course, "your Dexterity bonus counts as one higher for purposes of calculating Armor Class" [emoji4]

 

[S'mon]

You could make a really weak item like "Your base AC is 11 when unarmoured" which seems plausible for something that just makes your skin leathery. It still seems like something which should require attunement, and useful for barbarians, plus the few animals that don't have natural armour boosting their AC.

How about:
AC 11 - Common
AC 12 - Uncommon
AC 13 - Rare
AC 14 - Very Rare
AC 15 - Legendary
All needing Attunement.

(If doing this I especially recommend my house rule that AC caps at 30, equivalent to the -10 AC cap in AD&D).