New Barbarian Feature Idea: Armored Hulk

[rudy]

The current barbarian, as far as I can tell, really encourages the path of going without armor, via Unarmored Defense, especially at later levels.

While that's fine, I was thinking if there was a way to present an equally viable path for one who doesn't dodge blows so much as just take them. A thematic equivalent of damage reduction without actually introducing that as a mechanic.

My current thought is something like this:


Armored Hulk: When wearing armor, you may choose to use your constitution modifier instead of your dexterity modifier to determine your AC. Your armor limits the maximum bonus from constitution in the same way that it limits Dexterity.

The immediate concern, of course, is that this will lead to barbarians dumping dexterity a LOT. Of course, this will hurt their reflex saves, which is arguably unwise given Danger Sense (advantage on saves drops off in effectiveness as your bonus on those saves becomes low).

I welcome any thoughts on the balance of this, or certainly any other ideas that might encourage an armored barbarian as a valid (but not OP) alternative to the Unarmored Defense Barbarian.

EDIT: Yes I do know that barbarians have resistant to weapon damage during rages, so my choice of words in the "thematic" part above may be unclear.

[GlenSmash!]

I think your Armored Hulk feature is fine but unnecessary. Unarmored Barb is not better than Medium armored barb except in a very few cases.

A Barb with 14 Dex and Half-Plate has an AC of 17 to equal that an unarmored barb would have to have a dex 14 and a con of 20, They also want a Str score of 20 (at least most Barbs do). If we're talking Point Buy, they're most likely putting their first 2 ASIs in STR before they can put 2 ASIs in Con. If they want a feat or two (GWM and PM come to mind) then they might not have the chance to max con until their very last ASI if at all. At that point they might not put any ASIs into Con at all since. I mean, lucky and Sentinel are great too.

If you're playing Standard Array it's even worse to try and get a decent unarmored AC since you can only stat with a 17,15, 13, or 16, 15, 14 as your top 3 ability scores a half-orc, Goliath, or earth genasi, for an unarmored ac of 13 or 14 to start. Or 17 Str or Con, 16 Str or Con, 13 Dex as a Mountain dwarf for unarmored AC 14. 16,14, 14 is easy as a V human, or half elf so a 14 unarmored AC is really the best you can start out with in a Standard Array game.

Magic armor tips the scales even further for the medium armor barb. At the Max end a +3 half-plate will bring up the armored barbs AC to 20, while an unarmored barb will have to have 20 dex and 20 con to match it, be level 20 and have 16 Dex and 24 Con, or have something like Bracers of defense, 16 dex and 20 con to match it.

That's a pretty tall order. Plus there's also Mithril Half-Plate if you want to sneak, Adamantine half Plate will make you immune to crits, Dragon Scale Armor for dragon related goodies and the list potentially goes on.

Looking at your armored hulk, you're really only incentivized to bring con to 14 for a medium armored barb and 20 for a light armored barb. So what it really does is enable you to play a low dex, medium to high con barb if they care more about hitpoints, Con checks, and Con saving throws then initiative, Dex checks, and Dex saving throws. I guess that's a viable play style, but I don't see it as any better than the current 16 Str, 14 dex, 14 con barb wearing medium armor. I guess the plus is it enables a high Con-Light armored barb far more than the current rules, and that's not a bad thing.

So while I don't see anything wrong with your Armored Hulk idea, I don't think that there is a need for it. Unless you are playing featless, or roll stats with high Str and Con and at least medium to high Dex, or you are are playing at level 20 where a 24 Con score is possible (if you've invested in it) I don't think the unarmored barb is actually better than medium armored barb.

[rudy]

Upon absorbing your analysis, you may be correct in that it's not needed.

I kind of wanted to make it possible for a Barbarian to be effective in Light Armor, which is thematically neat. The idea would be having studded leather and high con would be a viable option. BUT perhaps that's not enough justification for adding the ability.

[R.Shackleford]

If I'm wearing Armor on my barbarian and want it to mean something... I'm going to take the spiked armor path.

Though I would do it as a wood elf.

[Zman]

Unarmored Barbarian is workable, but far from a must option. Medium armor will be superior for most Barbs for most of the game. Both Dex and Con are secondary attributes and tough to maximize in Pointbuy without sacrificing Str.