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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7918449" data-attributes="member: 6779196">I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that this was not intentional, but you are misrepresenting my argument here a little bit. I do not claim that there is an in-fiction explanation for "why cover and shields don't work with barkskin until they suddenly do work with barkskin and override it." My claim is that there is an in-fiction explanation for the mechanics of barkskin, which as [USER=6857506]@Harzel[/USER] eloquently put it, is that barkskin offers a separate "layer" of defense to normal AC, and that cover and shields apply to the latter layer, not the former.That math is accurate. I only disagree with your view of what fiction that math reflects.I don't follow?D&D 5e does not distinguish between "hard" and "accurate" attacks. Every attack that is accurate is hard. Every attack that is hard as accurate. Both force and precision are represented by to-hit bonus. However, AC does not always represent both evasiveness and toughness. In particular, an inanimate object's AC only represents toughness, as an inanimate objects has no ability to evade. My argument is that the AC granted by Barkskin is akin to the AC of an inanimate object.In order to hit hard enough to penetrate barkskin, an attack roll must be forceful enough to exceed AC 16. We can imagine this is the same AC an oak tree might have. If between any armor the druid might have, whatever the druid's Dexterity bonus may be, whatever cover the druid may be behind, and any shield the druid may be using, if that number is still below 16? It still takes an attack roll of 16 to harm them, because their skin is like the bark of an oak, and an oak has 16 AC representing the force required to pierce that bark. However, if between the druid's armor, Dex mod, cover, and shield, their AC is greater than 16? Well, it's possible that an attack roll that would be high enough to damage an oak tree might still not harm the druid. Because unlike the oak tree the druid can dodge.Put another way, hand an oak tree a shield, and its AC doesn't increase. Strap a breastplate to it, its AC doesn't increase. Stand in front of it, its AC doesn't increase. Build a wall around it with a slit wide enough for a sword to fit through, its AC doesn't increase. Barkskin makes a druid's skin work like that. But to get to the druid's skin, you have to get past the druid's armor, shield, and cover, and since a druid can move, that offers a separate layer of defense that must be overcome before you can compare your attack roll to the AC of their oaklike skin. It just so happens, because D&D combines accuracy and force into one number, if the armor/dex/cover/shield layer adds up to more than 16, any attack that can beat that can also beat the AC of the bark layer. If it adds up to less than 16, any attack that can beat the bark layer's AC can also beat it.This is not the kind of debate where one position can be "proven" or "disproven." We are each presenting our cases for interested parties to consider and draw their own conclusions.</blockquote>

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