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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6383485" data-attributes="member: 7006">Last night I was thinking about it, and I came up with exactly why MerricB's interpretation of Barkskin just doesn't sit right with me-- that shields and cover do not grant additional AC points over the 16 from Barkskin.&nbsp; Here's why:We have a guy standing around completely naked and has no DEX modifier.&nbsp; Right now he has an AC of 10.He puts on a shield (+2 AC).&nbsp; Now, he has an AC of 12.He goes behind 3/4ers cover, say behind an arrow slit (+5 AC).&nbsp; Now, he has an AC of 17.A druid now walks up behind him and casts Barkskin on this guy... and his AC now drops a point because of it to AC 16?How do we explain that?&nbsp; The shield hasn't changed-- he's still wearing it and thus it's still granting a +2 to his AC.&nbsp; The cover hasn't changed-- he's still behind that arrow slit and it's still granting a +5 to his AC.&nbsp; Thus the only thing we can say is that by making his skin tough like bark, it's actually now making him more able to be hurt than when he was just standing there naked.&nbsp; His &quot;natural armor&quot; AC has dropped from AC 10 to AC 9... because that's the only way you get back to AC 16 when you add in the unchanging shield and 3/4ers cover.&nbsp; Basically, the Barkskin spell is making things worse for the guy than if he had been left alone.That just sounds crazy to me.&nbsp; And I cannot fathom the idea that this is actually how Barkskin is supposed to work or why you'd interpret it that way-- a spell that in fact can make things worse for you by getting it applied... regardless of how differently they wrote Mage Armor or Unarmored Defense in comparison to it.So I'm going to go with my instincts on this one.&nbsp; Barkskin turns your skin into what is functionally chainmail armor (AC 16).&nbsp; I'm not going to include any DEX bonus, because you don't get a DEX bonus when wearing chainmail so that makes sense to me.&nbsp; But any other things that increase your AC when wearing chainmail will also work when under the Barkskin spell.&nbsp; That includes shields and cover.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 6383485, member: 7006"] Last night I was thinking about it, and I came up with exactly why MerricB's interpretation of [I]Barkskin[/I] just doesn't sit right with me-- that shields and cover do not grant additional AC points over the 16 from [I]Barkskin[/I]. Here's why: We have a guy standing around completely naked and has no DEX modifier. Right now he has an AC of 10. He puts on a shield (+2 AC). Now, he has an AC of 12. He goes behind 3/4ers cover, say behind an arrow slit (+5 AC). Now, he has an AC of 17. A druid now walks up behind him and casts [I]Barkskin[/I] on this guy... and his AC [I]now drops a point because of it[/I] to AC 16? How do we explain that? The shield hasn't changed-- he's still wearing it and thus it's still granting a +2 to his AC. The cover hasn't changed-- he's still behind that arrow slit and it's still granting a +5 to his AC. Thus the only thing we can say is that by making his skin tough like bark, it's actually now making him [I]more able to be hurt[/I] than when he was just standing there naked. His "natural armor" AC has dropped from AC 10 to AC 9... because that's the only way you get back to AC 16 when you add in the unchanging shield and 3/4ers cover. Basically, the [I]Barkskin[/I] spell is making things worse for the guy than if he had been left alone. That just sounds crazy to me. And I cannot fathom the idea that this is actually how [I]Barkskin[/I] is supposed to work or why you'd interpret it that way-- a spell that in fact can make things worse for you by getting it applied... regardless of how differently they wrote [I]Mage Armor[/I] or [I]Unarmored Defense[/I] in comparison to it. So I'm going to go with my instincts on this one. [I]Barkskin[/I] turns your skin into what is functionally chainmail armor (AC 16). I'm not going to include any DEX bonus, because you don't get a DEX bonus when wearing chainmail so that makes sense to me. But any other things that increase your AC when wearing chainmail will also work when under the Barkskin spell. That includes shields and cover. [/QUOTE]

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