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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6590323" data-attributes="member: 42582">Suppose that your AC is 19. Kobolds have +4 to hit, and so hit you 6 times in 20. The AC bonus makes that 5 times in 20, meaning a 5/6 reduction in expected damage per round.For most PCs, 2 hp per level will be a better than 1/6 increase in hit points (eg for a fighter with a 12 CON it takes hp/level from 8 to 10, which is a 1/4 increase. Only at 1st level is the AC boost better than the hit points (12 goes to 14, which is 7/6 compared to 6/5 for the AC boost).There are other benefits to reducing incoming damage rather than increasing the ability to soak it (less healing required) though there are downsides too (there are ways to take damage that bypass AC, such as falling, spells etc).So I don't think a +1 AC bonus is overpowerd compared to +2 hp/level.I'm not a 5e expert, but this doesn't look that complicated to me.If a character is using his/her hand, shield etc as an improvised weapon (thereby getting the bonus off-hand attack if applicable, the AC bonus from the feat, etc) s/he is not eligible to get the damage bonus from the Duelling fighting style.Conversely, if a character is getting the bonus from the fighting style, s/he has declared her hand, shield etc a non-weapon, and hence gets no AC bonus from the feat, no bonus action attack etc.If a high level Champion takes the full suite of feat and styles and so, when fighting with a shield is able to toggle between +2 to damage, and +1 AC plus bonus improvised weapon attack, I don't think that is going to break the game!</blockquote>

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