Totemist Question

[GutterFace]

So i am going to try and build a totemist. here are the basics
Level 5, Human. no magic items to start with.

i know sort of how i want this built. but my question is, with a high strength and con, and relatively low Dex, and Hide armor....how can i get a better ac?

right now im looking at a 16 ac. without dumping more into Dex. and sans magic items. how can i improve his ac?

[Flickerdart]

There are a couple of melds (Wormtail Belt, for instance) that increase your AC.

[Urpriest]

See, at level 5 most characters will have a few magic items. If you're starting with no magic items because you'll get them shortly after the session begins, then I wouldn't worry too much: before long you'll have level-appropriate AC. If you're starting with no magic items because this is a campaign without many magic items, then your DM should be aware that magic items are a big part of AC scaling appropriately vs. BAB. A DM in this situation should generally come up with static bonuses like those of Vow of Poverty for all players to keep the numbers up to par. Is your DM doing something like that?

[Psyren]

Wormtail Belt will give you some Natural Armor, and Lammasu Mantle will give you a bit of deflection vs. evil creatures. But yeah, Ur-Priest is right - Incarnum either wants you to have armor, or bonuses very similar to armor (e.g. Vow of Poverty or Warforged plating.) Soulmelds should supplement your protection, not be the primary source of it like spells are for a caster.

Worst case scenario, spend the feats to grab Heavy Armor Proficiency and throw on the heaviest thing your Dex bonus will allow.

[Bloodgruve]

You could dip a class that gives you heavy armor like Fighter. Or you could look at Binder1 and Improved Binding feat for access to Savnok vestige which gives you full plate and heavy armor proficiency. You also have the ability to change vestiges later when you want for more natural attacks or a bunch of other options.

Blood~

[VGLordR2]

This doesn't really answer your question, but have you considered changing your race to Azurin? They are essentially Humans, but they get bonus Essentia instead of skill points.

[candycorn]

Ok, for a melee combatant, I generally consider a "relatively low" Dex to be 12-14.

Assuming Chain Shirt and 14 Dex, you have a 16 AC.

Assuming you're a totemist 5 (not my preferred level spread), then Binding Wormtail belt to your totem chakra, with Expanded Soulmeld Capacity, you will have an Essentia Capacity in Wormtail belt of 3, IIRC. That means, with max essentia in it, you can easily have a 21 AC. Not fantastic, but not horrible.

Now, if you do Totemist 4 / Barbarian 1, you set yourself up for Totem Rager, which has a lot of potential. You can also get pounce, which will assist a lot as you get natural attacks from totemist that work well with it.

In addition, a buckler/shield can increase it further, though that may hinder melee work a bit.

[Person_Man]

My 2cp:

There's no reason to wear Hide armor except for fluff. Scale, chainmail, or a breastplate would each provide you with 1 or 2 more points of AC, and are relatively cheap. If your DM is nice and allows for "down time" in between campaigns, you can also invest a few ranks in Craft and just make Mithral banded mail or full plate or mechanus gear for a fairly reasonable cost.
Instead of human, you might want to use Warforged, which comes with good armor out of the box and a slam attack, which benefits from several soulmelds. Azurin is also a great choice, as is variant Kobold (which comes with free bite, claws, tail, and Sleight Build).
Totemists are proficient with shields. Use one. Using a shield does not necessarily prevent you from using a claw on the same hand, and using a claw and a shield does not prevent you from using Unarmed Strike (which can be any part of your body).
Deepwarden 2 or Fist of the Forest 1 or Forsaker 1 can add Con to AC. Binder 3 (or Binder 1 with a Feat, or Bind Vestige and Improved Bind Vestige feats) can add 1/2 Con and some other jazzy stuff.
If you're willing to go Totemist 2/Incarnate 3/Ironsoul Forgemaster (or some other PrC) X, then you can easily add DR, miss chance, Spell Resistance, bonus hit points, and various other nifty things via Incarnate, which is defensively focused.
Either the Rageclaws or Blood Talons soulmeld will grant you Diehard (unbound!), which is a very useful defense at early levels.