D&D 5E Less armour but same protection

[Don Durito]

Don't overcomplicate it. Adding proficiency bonus doesn't really work due to scaling and bounded accuracy.

Just allow Strength to be added to AC in place of Dex with all of the same restrictions (eg medium armour only adds 2). Remove Barbarians unarmoured fighting ability as they no longer need it. Everything should be fine.

Heavy Armour is still slightly better when you can get it - so it wouldn't become completely obscolescent.

 

[Quartz]

Would you award an AC bonus, per X level, that varies with class?

Yes. Allow Fighters to use their Proficiency Bonus - to a maximum of their levels in the Fighter class - instead of their Dex Mod when calculating AC. Similarly allow Paladins to use their Cha mod - to a maximum of their levels in the Paladin class - instead of their Dex Mod when calculating AC. The limits are there to prevent multiclassing cheese. These classes then both drop Heavy Armour proficiency, probably Medium too.

 

[Redwizard007]

Don't overcomplicate it. Adding proficiency bonus doesn't really work due to scaling and bounded accuracy.

Just allow Strength to be added to AC in place of Dex with all of the same restrictions (eg medium armour only adds 2). Remove Barbarians unarmoured fighting ability as they no longer need it. Everything should be fine.

Heavy Armour is still slightly better when you can get it - so it wouldn't become completely obscolescent.

You just reduced MAD and nerfed the coolest part of the barbarian. Alternative materials for armor would be faster, easier, and less disruptive.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I'm doing a deep jungle campaign in which only leather, heavy leather and shields are available. How would you handle the lack of better protection? Magic items are the obvious work around but that would only makes sense to me at higher levels. Would you award an AC bonus, per X level, that varies with class?

Adventures in Middle Earth got around the lack of plate armor by making shields better.

The armor was basically this subset:

Light: Leather, studded leather
Medium: hide, chain shirt, scale
Heavy: ring, chain mail

Then for shields, there's a regular shield (+2 AC) and a heavy shield (+4 AC, Str 13, Stealth disadvantage).

I think it works pretty well for games where plate isn't available.

 

[Don Durito]

You just reduced MAD

That’s bad thing?

and nerfed the coolest part of the barbarian.

Then give them +2 AC without armour and they’d have an unarmoured feature that actually works for a change. (Plus the freedom to put some ability scored in a non physical stat if they wish.)

Alternative materials for armor would be faster, easier, and less disruptive.

We tried this for 4E Dark Sun. It wasn't very satisfying. At the end of the day it doesn't feel any different. The fudge is there in your face the whole time.

And in any case I don't see anything disruptive about the suggestion.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

That’s bad thing?

Then give them +2 AC without armour and they’d have an unarmoured feature that actually works for a change. (Plus the freedom to put some ability scored in a non physical stat if they wish.)


We tried this for 4E Dark Sun. It wasn't very satisfying. At the end of the day it doesn't feel any different. The fudge is there in your face the whole time.

And in any case I don't see anything disruptive about the suggestion.

different Idea: Dark sun used piecemeal armor. I found a neat table:

Armor Type	Cost	Wgt (lb.)	Full Suit	Breast Plate	Two Arms	One Arm	Two Legs	One Leg
Banded mail	200 gp	35	6	3	2	1	1	0
Brigandine	120 cp	35	4	2	1	0	1	0
Bronze plate	400 gp	45	6	3	2	1	1	0
Chain mail	75 gp	40	5	2	2	1	1	0
Field plate	2,000 gp	60	8	4	2	1	2	1
Full plate	4,000-10,000 gp	70	9	4	3	1	2	1
Hide armor	15 cp	30	4	2	1	0	1	0
Leather armor	5 cp	15	2	1	1	0	0	0
Padded armor	4 cp	10	2	1	1	0	0	0
Plate mail	600 gp	50	7	3	2	1	2	1
Ring mail	100 cp	30	3	1	1	0	1	0
Scale mail	120 cp	40	4	2	1	0	1	0
Splint mail	80 gp	40	6	3	2	1	1	0
Studded leather	20 cp	25	3	1	1	0	1	0

you can modify it a bit for 5e. Make it so, that any armor you wear that does not bring you above 2 AC be light armor. Armor that does not bring you above 15 AC be medium armor and everything beyond Heavy Armor.
Medium Armor gives penalty to stealth if you wear leg or Arm protection.
Heavy armor always has steakth penalty (because you always have to wear arm or leg protection.)

 

[Not a Hobbit]

Tasha's has the Barrier Tattoo.
Or Bracers of Defense, or home-made tokens, amulets, etc.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm looking at a similar thing for my Theros campaign I'm prepping, where to maintain a more Greek-style theme I'm only using padded armor, leather armor, or breastplate.

My determination was that the players will just have to accept lower than normal ACs from a typical D&D campaign. A hoplite with breastplate and a shield will give an AC of 16 (plus one or two DEX points if applicable). And I think that will just work better. Because truth be told... most monsters in the MM as-written are actually better suited as enemies when PC's DON'T all have armor classes higher than 16.

Take a look at them all... until you start reaching the double-digit CRs, their attack bonuses are usually all in the +3 to +6 range. Which means if you keep ACs at 16 or lower, you can maintain around a 40%-50% chance to hit PCs which I think is beneficial for creating worthwhile encounters. The PCs will be hitting around 60% of the time, the monsters around or less than 50%. That's a good balance for me (especially for parties that have 6 or more PCs in them). Because when you have parties consisting of almost all the PCs with ACs around 17, 18, 20... your normal monsters you'd want to use will rarely ever hit (unless you give them all Pack Tactics or many Multiattack attacks, which become unwieldy as hell each and every combat).

So I say keep the armors as you have them and don't add anything else to bump ACs. Let the players bump up their Dexterities if they feel they need additional protection... but in truth these lower ACs will just allow you to use more normal monsters as-is without having to bump their stats up the wazoo to create challenges.

 

[TwoSix]

So I say keep the armors as you have them and don't add anything else to bump ACs. Let the players bump up their Dexterities if they feel they need additional protection... but in truth these lower ACs will just allow you to use more normal monsters as-is without having to bump their stats up the wazoo to create challenges.

Yea, I agree with this. The only change I would make is that I would allow any character with heavy armor proficiency to use their Strength instead of Dexterity for purposes of AC calculation. That way martial characters based on Strength aren't at a disadvantage, but you still keep the overall aesthetic and feel. (Just assume a high Str character is better at blocking and parrying attacks, rather than dodging, as an explanation.)

 

[Marc_C]

Yea, I agree with this. The only change I would make is that I would allow any character with heavy armor proficiency to use their Strength instead of Dexterity for purposes of AC calculation. That way martial characters based on Strength aren't at a disadvantage, but you still keep the overall aesthetic and feel. (Just assume a high Str character is better at blocking and parrying attacks, rather than dodging, as an explanation.)

How about using Constitution instead of Strength? Constitution represents toughness. A player could use either DEX or CON to boost his character's AC.