D&D 5E (2014) Unarmored Defense as a Feat?

[Vael]

So, say this feat existed, is it too good?

Unarmored Defense
Choose an ability other than Dexterity. When not wearing armor and not using a shield, your AC is equal to 10 + Dexterity modifier + the chosen ability modifier.

 

[Dragongrief]

It should be fine.

Mostly I see it being used as an option for characters that would otherwise have light armor, and would give them one or two AC higher than their non-magical options.

If you roll for attributes, its power could vary...

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

I feel like it is stepping on the toes of 2 classes and a subclass a bit too much ( Monk, Barbarian, and Bladesinger ). Straight up power-wise it is pretty powerful but shouldn't be game breaking in most cases.

 

[i_dont_meta]

I like it. Feels in line with the last batch of UA Feats. Also, my group is reskinning D&D as superheroes as an experiment so this is absolutely gunna be used at my table.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I'm going to make my usual argument that if it works at your table, go for it. Maybe you have a table without traditional unarmored classes - no barbarians, no monks, etc. Lets say a mage takes it - it doesn't stack with Mage Armor. As they've said before, all the various armor situations are kind of binary, yes-no ways to calculate. The cost of a feat slot means they won't be able to use that slot for a feat or an ASI, and since you only have a certain amount of them ever for your character, it's an interesting trade.

I do think an issue might be if this is something you were going to write up for a setting or additional material to be put into other's games. Personally, making someone take a feat to get part of another class' level 1 abilities seems alright. Even second edition had ways to build your class where you got to piecemeal a class together; I think even Greyhawk had it in their Adventures book when they talked about levelling up from zero- to first-level and keeping some learned abilities at an XP cost.

YMMV

 

[TwoSix]

For a whole feat, certainly. I might even argue for it being a half-feat.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

As written, monks could use that to apply three stats to AC. Monks are MAD, so it's unlikely to be a large bonus, but it could be. I heard barbarians can apply Con to AC, but I've not seen one in play, so I'm not sure.

4e had this same feat, but forgot to make it a bonus feat for monks and avengers (who essentially had this as a class ability), so you could double dip that way.

In general I don't like the idea, because the numerical bonus is too "soft". Max +5, minimum ??? I think monks should drop the Wisdom bonus to AC and just start with a higher bonus instead.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wouldn't be concerned about it being too powerful, even on a wizard.

I think it lacks "flavour" for my game though.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I would take it for every Hexblade I played, but even for that I doubt it'll be seen as a a must-have option.

So yeah, that's a well-balanced feat.

EDIT: upon further thought, I'm not sure I'd allow Dex + Str. That's both very good for barbarians and makes belts of giant strength way more powerful than they already are.

 

[jmartkdr2]

As written, monks could use that to apply three stats to AC. Monks are MAD, so it's unlikely to be a large bonus, but it could be. I heard barbarians can apply Con to AC, but I've not seen one in play, so I'm not sure.

4e had this same feat, but forgot to make it a bonus feat for monks and avengers (who essentially had this as a class ability), so you could double dip that way.

In general I don't like the idea, because the numerical bonus is too "soft". Max +5, minimum ??? I think monks should drop the Wisdom bonus to AC and just start with a higher bonus instead.

This feat, phrased as is, wouldn't stack with either a monk's or a barbarian's Unarmored Defense. It would give you the option of using this formula instead of the class feature's formula.

It would be interesting for a Strength-based monk since it would let them swap out str of wis to AC. It would be a very strong choice for a barbarian, although I'm not sure it's better than GWM overall.