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

[Chaosmancer]

Someone in some rare situation possibly doing a thing is completely different than practically everyone always doing a thing. This is not difficult. Metal armour is simply better than non-metal one and in absence of restriction or an incentive to wear other types of armour it becomes a de facto default.

And if it was so important to have other armor materials, they would have included rules for it. And if this was about mechanics, then the Sage Advice wouldn't have directly stated that this was never a balance issue.

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I also notice that you ignored my question at the end. Do you think druids would hate the undead, because they are unnatural.

See, most people would say that yes, Druids would hate the undead, because they are unnatural beings that defy the cycle of life and death in the world. And yet, we have the spore druid. A druid that creates undead.

A theme of druids, subverted by a more specific druid. Because, while themes are important, there are many different ways to interpret themes. And players should be free to make their own decisions on what their characters believe.

 

[carkl3000]

Give it a week-long duration, let it provide a +6 obstinacy bonus to AC, and call it "thick skull", and it'll magically conjured this thread.

I'd take it.

 

[Yaarel]

So, you are backing away from your previous explanation. That's fine.

I agree that it conflicts with various interesting concepts for druids (see my post where I mention a dwarven star druid who made armor and weapons out of meteoric iron that they gathered) which is why I find the blanket rule so poor as to be harmful to the game.

I've actually been playing a druid who was given metal armor by a party member as a gift. He's been wearing it nearly the entire game. To the point where the other player forgot he'd given it to me as a gift. At no point has my character felt or seemed like less of druid because he is in metal armor. In fact, it has pretty much never come up. So, I find the entire rule pointless and serving no purpose. Worse still, it is a rule meant to enforce a preference that people may not share, and gives DMs excuses to enforce their preferences on players.

Not backing away at all.

I am making separate points.

Mechanics: The way the Druid proficiencies are as-is, is the Druid is nonproficient with metal armor.

Flavor: The prohibition against metal armor makes no sense, thematically.

Design: Should the Druid class be designed to avoid metal armor in the first place? Probably not. If the Druid is to avoid metal shields, at least avoid metal weapons, too, or explain why there is a difference. Meanwhile, there probably is no good reason. At best, the thematic dissonance seems a case of a vestigial continuation of a tradition that no longer makes sense in the current fifth edition. But this prohibition against metal armor didnt make sense in the 1e campaign that I played a Druid in either.

 

[Faolyn]

The concept of the Fighter class is they become proficient with many different kinds of weapons, so as to adapt to any kind of weapon at hand. Similarly armors. Obviously, materials dont matter for the Fighter proficiencies. Whether the Fighter wears armor made out of wood or dense fur or dragon scales, is irrelevant to proficiency.

But, for the Druid, the material does matter. The Druid doesnt use metal armor. Exactly why the Druid wont is unexplained, and actually, is conflictive with the other themes and features of the Druid class that do use metal.

But you keep ignoring that there is no proficiency based on material. Nowhere in any of the books do any materials require special proficiency.

You are making up a bunch of house rules and claiming they are official.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Mechanics: The way the Druid proficiencies are as-is, is the Druid is nonproficient with metal armor.

As written, they are totally proficient with all medium armor; they'll just cross their arms and pout if offered metal armor like a kid with broccoli. And the creator of that character has no say over this attitude or belief and there is no actual reason for it given so not even the druid knows why.

 

[Chaosmancer]

OK, lets work with this. How would this improved barkskin look?

When I made my version, this is what I did.

1 hour, non-concentration
"You touch a willing creature. Until the spell ends or the caster uses an action to dismiss it, the target's skin takes on a rough, bark-like appearance. The target gains natural armor of 14 + dex modifier (max 3) or 16, whichever is higher.

At Higher Levels: When cast with spell slot of 4th level or higher, +1 AC for each two levels above 2nd. "

This wording still allows the use of a shield, meaning that it is at best a 19 AC, if you have a 16 dex. Yes, this could lead to a character using an 8th level slot to have an hour of AC 22, but I feel like that's probably okay.

 

[Yaarel]

But you keep ignoring that there is no proficiency based on material. Nowhere in any of the books do any materials require special proficiency.

You are making up a bunch of house rules and claiming they are official.

Heh, you keep ignoring that the Druid (and the only the Druid) makes a special exception about the material of the armor, with regard to armor proficiency.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The response to "It doesn't make sense that druids will use metal for other things but not armor" is that religious taboos don't have to make logical sense. It is, in fact, more realistic if they don't. (I'd give examples from real religions here, but that would be indelicate.)

The response to "But clerics don't have these sorts of restrictions!" is that the cleric is a generic class for many different fantasy religions, and the druid is a specific class for one specific fantasy religion, the religion of D&D druids.

And yet, I'd say that a Wildfire Druid, A Land Druid of the Tundra, A Star Druid and a Spore Druid probably all have different religions. Seeing as they focus on different elements of nature.

Unless, again, the idea is that every single druid of every single race in every single world from Forgotten Realms where they worship gods to Dark Sun where the gods do not exist, have the same religion.

Which I would say is not true.

 

[Yaarel]

As written, they are totally proficient with all medium armor; they'll just cross their arms and pout if offered metal armor like a kid with broccoli. And the creator of that character has no say over this attitude or belief and there is no actual reason for it given so not even the druid knows why.

As written, the Druid armor proficiency "will not" include armor made out of metal. (Including studded leather.)

 

[carkl3000]

Heh, you keep ignoring that the Druid (and the only the Druid) makes a special exception the material, with regard to armor proficiency.

... but it doesn't... you're misreading the text. It wouldn't bother me if this was the text, but claiming that it is is just wrong...