D&D 5E Heavy Armour Master, how does a front liner survive without it?

[Scorpio616]

Been playing only for a few levels, but I'm really having trouble grasping how a front line type character is going to get by without this feat. Sure monsters start hitting harder, but with the bounded accuracy making lesser foes far more useful for a far longer time, it's been feeling like the Feat is going to get a lot of mileage.

 

[Grainger]

Surely balance is determined by the DM. If PCs are having a hard time, he/she should nudge the difficulty down? Speaking personally, I don't balance my games by the book, but according to the players' ability and character mix.

 

[Piratecat]

It's a great feat, although its effectiveness tails off once foes have weapons that count as magical. One of the things I like most about it is that it's particularly good against swarms of less powerful monsters, and it always reminds you that it's working. I personally love situational feats that make me realize I'm getting my money's worth out of them.

 

[SilverfireSage]

Not sure what the problem is here. Yes, it does well with survival, but it's hardly necessary, or I would have killed the paladin and fighter I'm DMing for a long time ago.

 

[Mistwell]

Been playing only for a few levels, but I'm really having trouble grasping how a front line type character is going to get by without this feat. Sure monsters start hitting harder, but with the bounded accuracy making lesser foes far more useful for a far longer time, it's been feeling like the Feat is going to get a lot of mileage.

Nobody in our group has it, or has even considered it, and we've done just fine. Our primary front line guy simply focused on a high AC. But honestly, an awful lot of creatures attack with things that simply are not non-magical bludgeoning piercing or slashing, and then of those that do, -3 damage isn't all that much after a while. I mean, it would have helped mildly with the hill giants and trolls the party recently fought, but -3 damage per hit probably wouldn't have made a difference in the battle.

I am glad the feat works for your group though, and I don't think it is a bad feat.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

There are quite a few super-useful feats. I've heard others mention Alert, Observant, Resilient (Wis), and build-specific stuff like Greatweapon Master, Sentinel, and War Caster as "must-have." Which is probably a good sign!

 

[Syntallah]

Nobody in our group has it, or has even considered it, and we've done just fine. Our primary front line guy simply focused on a high AC. But honestly, an awful lot of creatures attack with things that simply are not non-magical bludgeoning piercing or slashing.

A creature's stat block indicates his natural weapons are Melee Weapon Attacks, so they are affected by this feat, are they not?

 

[Boarstorm]

As long as they inflict non-magical piercing/bludgeoning/slashing damage.

 

[Mistwell]

A creature's stat block indicates his natural weapons are Melee Weapon Attacks, so they are affected by this feat, are they not?

Yes if they do bludgeoning piercing or slashing. Not if they do fire, cold, poison, acid, psychic, necromantic, spell, magic, etc...

There are just a lot of creatures that simply don't do non-magic bludgeoning piercing or slashing damage. I am not saying there are not also plenty that do, it's just that as your levels increase, it seems the utility of the feat decreases a lot. You face more challenges that the feat doesn't apply to, and those challenges it does apply to make the -3 damage so minuscule as to not be really all that helpful. The feat is most useful at lower levels, or versus large quantities of lower level (often humanoid weapon-wielding) creatures at higher levels.

If you are facing a horde of kobolds or goblins, it will help a LOT. If you are facing a dragon...it's nearly meaningless. So it's situational. Which is not a bad thing, it's just a thing.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I dunno Mistwell, a lot of even high-level monsters dish out damage via multiattack, so you're ignoring maybe 6-12 damage every round they attack you. That's a lot of hp! (Although of course the ones with magic claws swipe right through your armor.)

Speaking of which, are any DMs house-ruling this so HAM works against magical slashing/bludgeoning/piercing attacks when you have magic armor? I probably would.