98
Since he's suggesting you play a Paladin and removed Heavy Armor and claim combat will be deadly, just start a conversation with him and how he imagines your character surviving without the Heavy Armor. Consider building a Paladin and then looking at the difference in his AC between what you'd normally pick and what the best available Medium Armor will do ...
73
Yes, the natural 20 is still an automatic hit
We know that a critical hit is, by definition, an automatic hit regardless of AC thanks to the basic rules for making an attack:
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this section.
If ...
61
Short answer:
No, there are currently no rules about what happens if you sleep in armour.
The are rules about how fast you can don and doff armour [pg. 146 PHB] that's quite kind and fast (you do not don full plate in only ten minutes in real life) so characters shouldn't really have any issues with switching in and out of armour.
The are however rules ...
60
Yes. Any character who is proficient with a particular type of armor can cast spells while wearing that type of armor with no penalty.
There are two primary reasons for this.
There are better ways for mages to get a decent Armor Class. For example, Draconic Sorcerers get permanent Mage Armor for free at 1st level, which provides 13 + Dexterity Modifier AC. ...
59
PHB p.144:
Heavy Armor. Heavier armor interferes with the
wearer’s ability to move quickly, stealthily, and freely.
If the Armor table shows “Str 13” or “Str 15” in the
Strength column for an armor type, the armor reduces
the wearer’s speed by 10 feet unless the wearer has a
Strength score equal to or higher than the listed score.
Or, ...
53
Right now, they're the same. But at some point, you're probably going to want to raise your Dexterity up to 20, and at that point, the studded leather will be worth 17 AC (12 + 5), whereas the breastplate will still be worth 16 (14 + 2).
More generally, as you say, there's no reason for a piece of medium armor and Light armor to be statistically identical. ...
52
There are two differences off the top of my head that may be relevant:
Donning medium armor takes 5 minutes; light armor is just 1 minute.
\$\begin{array}{|l|c|c|}
\hline
\textbf{Category} & \textbf{Don} & \textbf{Doff} \\
\hline
\text{Light Armor} & 1\,\text{minute} & 1\,\text{minute} \\
\text{Medium Armor} & 5\,\text{minutes} & ...
49
No. This rule isn't official at all. It is a homebrew variant.
Neither the PHB nor the DMG contain any mention of partial armor.
XGtE (which itself is official but optional) does not cover it either. This does not seem to be an optional rule, but rather a 3rd party/homebrew rule.
The partial armor homebrew rule on dandwiki (note the large "Homebrew Page"...
47
He's in a booby trapped iron safe. He's safe. He's also trapped.
His situation has a number of upsides: He's in an iron safe. The same walls of iron that kept him out, keep everyone else out. If people can attack him through the safe, it's not particularly safe, is it?
His situation has a number of downsides: He's in an iron safe, The enemies don't need to ...
answered Feb 24 '14 at 8:26
Brian Ballsun-Stanton
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47
No, you don't. However:
If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have
disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that
involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can’t cast spells.
(Player's Handbook, page 144)
The rules are designed so that it's not a good idea to regularly wear armour you're not proficient with, but ...
46
While a shield can be indeed made of metal, you are wielding it, not wearing it.
In the equipment chapter (p. 144) the PHB refers to a wearer of armor, but says you wield a shield.
"Rules Answers: March 2016" from Wizards of the Coast points out that "various various game features distinguish between the armor you wear and a shield you wield." It provides ...
45
No negative effects
Including the details on the Elven Trance feature here:
Trance: Elves do not need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. ...
41
You may equip as many magic items as you can properly wear, only three of which can be requiring attunement.
Many magic items require attunement, which is a process that lets a specific character make use of the item's magic abilities; non-attuned items only provide their non-magical benefits. Your character may only be attuned to three items at any given ...
41
This would refer to armor that was primarily metal. As in, you would look at it and say "that armor is made of metal." As opposed to "That is cloth armor" or "that is leather armor." This is supported by a quotation from the Sage Advice column, where it is talking directly about the Druidic Taboo against wearing metal armor.
The idea is that druids prefer ...
40
Sort of, but no.
Unarmored Defense does not provide a bonus to AC. It provides an alternate means of calculating it.
So, your druid has two AC calculations available to him:
AC provided by beast form.
10 + Dexterity Modifier + Wisdom Modifier
You don't get to add the two together, because they both set AC to an absolute value. A brown bear has an AC of ...
40
Talk to him about the burden he's putting on you.
Talk to him about what he's asking you to do. Point out how hard it's going to be to tank without proper armor, how much more likely you are to die, and point out that he's asking you to do this. Don't make him out to be the bad guy here though, just try to make him see how ineffective/likely to die your ...
39
It was in the very first incarnation of D&D. Witness ye, the words of OD&D (Men & Magic) from 1974:
Magic-Users: Top level magic-users are perhaps the most powerful characters in
the game, but it is a long, hard road to the top, and to begin with they are weak,
so survival is often the question, unless fighters protect the low-level ...
answered Jun 2 '15 at 4:11
mxyzplk says reinstate Monica
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38
Glyph of Warding
This assumes the Wizard is the big bad, or at least is on home turf.
Cast glyph of warding at 7th level, storing Tenser's transformation, with some trigger that the wizard alone can do, on your castle floor.
Wear plate armor and sit on your throne like the king you are.
When the invaders come in, stomp on the glyph and say "you're toast, ...
38
The Gauntlets aren't armor
Every magic item has a category they belong to:
Each magic item belongs to a category: armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands, weapons, or wondrous items.
Armor
Unless an armor’s description says otherwise, armor must be worn for its magic to function.
[...]
Wondrous Items
Wondrous items ...
37
In the PHB pg 164 it gives you the multiclass table for what proficiencies you gain once you place 1 level into Druid (or any other class). Note on this table it also reminds you that Druids will NOT wear any armor or use any shields made of metal, just like it does in the Druid section earlier in the book. Thus your answer becomes: No, you may not wear ...
37
No, the creature still loses its head
The effect of the vorpal sword is explicit:
...and roll a 20 on the attack roll, you cut off one of the creature's heads.
This wording in the item description implies that the beheading effect is completely distinct from the effect of a critical hit. Reducing the result of the attack from a critical hit to a regular ...
37
There is such a thing, but it's not because of cushioning. It's called Mithral armor.
Mithral is a light, flexible metal. A mithral chain shirt or breastplate can be worn under normal clothes. If the armor normally imposes disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks or has a Strength requirement, the mithral version of the armor doesn't.
It can be found ...
36
That depends heavily on what you count as "fluff".
There is no defined mechanical benefit for wearing gauntlets. However, that doesn't mean that wearing gauntlets is not a thing that can be important sometimes.
For example, I was playing in a game recently where there was a sticky goop covering a floor. I touched it, but that made the goop rise from the ...
36
Does Armor Stack?
In general, there are two notations for AC:
The most common variety sets your AC to a fixed value, and looks something like this:
AC = 11 + Dex Modifier (Padded armor)
Your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier (Monk Unarmored Defense class feature)
Alternately, some items increase your existing AC, and look ...
35
I believe the intention of the creators was that helmets are to be considered to be part of a set of armor.
But more to the point, 5e, unlike 3.5e, has a very bounded set of attack bonuses and AC. +1 AC is actually rather useful in 5e. In addition, by doing this you discourage your players from using utility helms in favor of combat power.
35
RAW this should be fine
Given that, as you say, the illusion of armour, then the armour being made real, do not 'harm' the enemy, then there's no reason why this would contradict the emboldened part of your quote: "The object can't deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone".
The fact that the enemy wizard is now unable to cast spells is simply a side ...
33
The Rules Don't Say
As nvoigt pointed out, the PHB describes chain mail and plate mail as complete items. They are either on, or they're off. There are rules for how long it takes to put them on and take them off, but there is no description for your AC while wearing just the padding.
Furthermore, the padding under plate and chainmail isn't padded armor. ...
33
Talk to your DM
There are no specific rules about armor types being converted from one to another and whether or not this is possible.
The Equipment lists seem to indicate that each one is it's own thing and thus suggests that they aren't additive or reductive in any RAW way.
Whether or not a DM will allow conversions like this, or how they'll make it ...
32
Various points you seem to missing:
Traits are valuable
You only get two, and some of the options you can get for a trait are fantastically powerful. Reducing ACP by 1 is really minor.
Mithral is expensive
For a medium armor, it costs 4,000 gp; that’s quite a bit. Affordable by mid-low levels, sure, and quite cheap at mid-high levels, but for a ...
32
Dungeon Master Guide, page 165
Dragon Scale Mail
Armor (scale mail), very rare (requires attunement)
While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, you have advantage on saving throws against the
Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons,
and you have resistance to one damage type that is
determined by the kind of dragon that ...
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