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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashrym" data-source="post: 9602201" data-attributes="member: 6750235">The premise of the thread is to make a defensive build.  The typical alternative to the bonus AC is bonus damage is dueling, which would give the fighter +2 damage all the time instead of only when raging while still having the better AC from blade ward.As was mentioned, barbarians starting gold would typically limit them 1 more point if they want a more reasonable equipment list.  This would be 17 AC instead of 18 AC while the fighter still has 19 AC.It is silly because if you were following posts I addressed this earlier.  Why would a barbarian take a feat they can't use?  A barbarian cannot cast spells or maintain concentration while rage is active.  That means the barbarians taking the same feat would have either closer AC and no damage reduction, or lose that AC for the damage reduction.The fighter can actually use the feat all the time.  The barbarian has a conflict going on.  In either case the fighter has a much better method of hit point recovery.Yes, it is a weird spin because I did give the barbarian the same benefit of racial choice so I'm not clear why you would say this.  That's how the barbarian starts with 17hp instead of 15hp.I actually gave several examples of 1st level monsters to encounter.  This one that you're using isn't the same goblin minions to which you referred, however, and the method of damage you're using is different.I think it's a bit misleading to say "*Someone mentioned Goblins earlier as a common level 1 foe. That's fine, let's take a look..." and then use different goblins and a different damage method.  I use the basic number outside of the parentheses because it's faster, consistent, and the average slightly favors the players that way.  It also looks like the default method which is why it's presented first with the damage rolling method presented second in parentheses.Your analysis is flawed because you are ignoring hit chance and seem to be allowing both rage and spell concentration at the same time for the barbarian.You also included damage when the goblin warrior has advantage but there's a lack of options granting that advantage.  There is, however, the disadvantage being applied by both the fighter and barbarian because I was allowing for weapon mastery with a sapping weapon and you missed that.Your table doesn't allow for blade ward whether the barbarian took it or not because the barbarian is raging and cannot concentrate or cast spells.  That's why the fighter gets hit 17.5% of the time and the barbarian gets hit 35% of the time.  The fighter and barbarian are both hitting 15 AC 55% of the time to inflict the sap effect about 1 out 2 attacks to further favor the higher AC on the fighter.If we ignore that AC difference then the fighter would drop after about 7 hits and using both second winds and the barbarian would still have a couple of hit points.  The problem is we can't ignore that AC difference.  By the time the fighter has taken 7 hits the barbarian has taken over a dozen and already dropped.On top of that, there are many monsters that do damage to which barbarians are not resistant.  Second wind can still heal that damage.  Priest acolytes, for example, are also +4 to hit with radiant flame.  The fighter's higher AC can still help protect him and he can still second wind to heal the damage, but the barbarian takes the full 7 points.</blockquote>

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