D&D 5E If you had natural armor, would you wear manufactured armor?

[Tonguez]

Has anyone ever wondered if Tortles keep the shells of deceased tortles amd use them as armor (or even shelters)?

maybe Lizardmen cure the hides of their ancestors and wear them as cloaks?

 

[GrimCo]

If i'm playing front liner, yes. Natural armor is just convenient when you don't have time to put on proper armor. If i'm playing archer or someone in the back, then probably not.

 

[cbwjm]

Depends on how much I lean into the race, a tough loxodon I might not use armour other than using a shield instead trusting my natural toughness.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

My wife says I am hard headed… but I still wear a helmet.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Has anyone ever wondered if Tortles keep the shells of deceased tortles amd use them as armor (or even shelters)?

Given that the shell is directly connected to the spinal column, I imagine this would be a lot more trouble than it's worth.

But tortle crypts and mausoleums must be a sight.

maybe Lizardmen cure the hides of their ancestors and wear them as cloaks?

On the other claw, yeah this makes sense. Though by 5e rules this wouldn't help your ac unless it was magical (or homebrew).

 

[jgsugden]

Two reasons the answer might be yes:

1.) You get a higher AC. Who doesn't want a higher AC?

2.) It looks cool. I had a player design, but did not run, an updated version of the old Dwarven Battlerager with a Tortle, rather than a Dwarf, as the base. Essentially, he drilled and attached spikes and plates to his shell and attacked by crashing into things and gyrating. Mechanically, I told him it would be like he was wielding a greataxe (as his character could wield it), but allowed him to have his hands free (with an offsetting disadvantage). In the end he went with a different design, but there are now Shellshock Troopers in my setting based upon his ideas.

 

[CleverNickName]

The numbers have to go up. If they go up high enough, I win!
(So, yes.)

 

[Stormonu]

I do wish there was some nod to combining natural armor and manufactured armor - something as simple as "use the AC of the best and add 1 to the total." A more complex wording might be "use the best AC of the two. If the other is light armor/hide, add +1, or +2 if the other is medium or +3 if the other is heavy." So, a lizardfolk wearing scale mail would be around 16 (scale grants AC 14, lizard natural armor is AC 13 - about the equivalent of medium armor so +2).

 

[GMMichael]

Only when I go commando.

 

[Corinnguard]

more armour is good become the living tank we always were meant to be

Or to become a Living Construct like the Warforged.