well my statement was an example of what it could be, since the term is not defined now, so I don't know how an example of what COULD be clarified can possible me WRONG?!?PHB, pg 14, in the creating a character section: "Without armor or a shield, your character's AC equals 10 + his or her Dexterity modifier. If your character wears armor, carries a shield, or both, calculate your AC using the rules in chapter 5."
You statement of "dex+armor+magic" isn't correct - it ignores the max dex of some armors, which is why wearing armor it refers you to those specific rules. It would be harmful to have conflicting rules put in.
what I am saying is the bark skin "Ac can't fall below 16" (wait is it 15?) works fine until you start putting situational modifiers on it... if base AC meant something (how tough you are to hit without situational bonuses) the spell would function better with less misunderstandings.
As it is now, if I have 14 AC (+2 dex, +1 ring of prot and +1 from padded or leather armor) and you have 14 AC (all dex) and the druid casts bark skin on me I have a 16 you have a 14. IF we both go behind partial cover I still have a 16 and you have a 16... or do I does that cover give me an 18? what about 3/4 cover +5 you have a 19, do I have a 19, or a 21?
1) I don't NEED to understand any of it to make suggestions, because as I have pointed out before NO ONE PAYS ME TO WRITE RULESWhat is the point of Strength at that point beyond one skill and the ability to wear some heavy armors without a movement penalty?
Dex is usually considered the strongest of ability scores. Making it more applicable makes it more powerful - that's introducing more balance issues then you are fixing. In order to change the rules effectively, you must first understand them and their implications.
2) I would decouple Initiative and AC from dex to compensate. For Initiative I would give the better of Wis or Int and for AC I would just make it your best stat with armor restrictions of +2 medium and +0 heavy but I would make light max +5 (sounds useless until you remember things that up stats)
I agree Dex is too good right now adding to some attacks the biggest save and AC plus some of the most used skills
I would also go back to 3e/4e saves Ref Fort Will with choice of 2 stats to save (so Int or dex for Ref. Str or Con for Fort, and Cha or Wis for Will)
doing so also buffs the most useless stat (int)