To Heavy armour or not to Heavy armour?

[Dman]

So I rolled stats for my sorlock today on the off chance I lose my current character (DM decided to continue so El Diablo is on standby), ended up with.

12
15
13
9
17
14

I decided on a half elf just for thoes stat increases so will end up with a 19 Cha. Now my question is should i keep myself vulnerableish with a 12 for dex and leather armour (starting as a warlock) while the 14 and 15 go to strengh and wis so i can multiclass into a war cleric and get the heavy armour or just forgo the heavy armour and keep thoes higher numbers in Dex and Con.

[Sigreid]

I would not multi class just for armor proficiency.

[Dman]

I would not multi class just for armor proficiency.

it wont necessarily be just for armor though, having green flame blade with a few extra attacks unnder my belt too is pretty enticing. I just wonder how important it is early especially given how expensive it is too.

[Corran]

How do you want this character to behave in combat? Is he/she a blastlock (EB), or a gish? (main question)
Sorcerer origin? How many warlock levels (if you have decided)? (secondary questions).

I am inclined to say that you shouldnt pump str (heavy armor or not - you dont mind being slow that much if you are a gish, since you have EB for when you cant close the distance; if you are not a gish, heavy armor is not really required, go for medium armor and for better dex -ie low str- for better dex ssaves and initiative), but I would like to have a better idea of your build's combat role before I can suggest the low-str route.

[Specter]

Not quite what you asked, but it seems to me these stats would enjoy Standard Human.

ST 13
CON 16
DEX 14
INT 10
CHA 18
WIS 15

In which case you should be fine with Mage Armor.

[Sigreid]

it wont necessarily be just for armor though, having green flame blade with a few extra attacks unnder my belt too is pretty enticing. I just wonder how important it is early especially given how expensive it is too.

Depending on what kind of extra attacks, GFB is likely incompatible with it.

Unless you want access to a handful of cleric abilities I don't think it's worth it.

[Dman]

How do you want this character to behave in combat? Is he/she a blastlock (EB), or a gish? (main question)
Sorcerer origin? How many warlock levels (if you have decided)? (secondary questions).

I am inclined to say that you shouldnt pump str (heavy armor or not - you dont mind being slow that much if you are a gish, since you have EB for when you cant close the distance; if you are not a gish, heavy armor is not really required, go for medium armor and for better dex -ie low str- for better dex ssaves and initiative), but I would like to have a better idea of your build's combat role before I can suggest the low-str route.

Ideally its a blastlock but using fire instead of eb get that+5 +10 fire damage (undying warlock/phoenix sorc)also thinking using a weapon too + magic weapon n doing it that way although thatd be my melee option.


Not quite what you asked, but it seems to me these stats would enjoy Standard Human.

ST 13
CON 16
DEX 14
INT 10
CHA 18
WIS 15

In which case you should be fine with Mage Armor.

Was more looking on opinions about heavy armor as an option vs dex and initiative

[Vaz]

Hexblades get Medium armour and Shield Prof, with Shield Spell, and get the most out of sorlock EB spam. That gives you AC21 with ease, and can BB or GFB for damage.

[DivisibleByZero]

The question isn't what kind of armor you want. The question is whether you want to toss a couple of points into Dex or Str.
Str15 is needed if you want heavy armor and don't want to suffer movement penalties. Dex14 is needed if you want to go with Medium armor.
The actual AC between characters is a difference of 1 point, no matter what armor you're wearing, as long as you have the Dex to supplement/support that armor.

So do you want slightly more Str or slightly more Dex?

The only time heavy armor actually matters if is you want to take the Heavy Armor Mastery feat.

[Citan]

So I rolled stats for my sorlock today on the off chance I lose my current character (DM decided to continue so El Diablo is on standby), ended up with.

12
15
13
9
17
14

I decided on a half elf just for thoes stat increases so will end up with a 19 Cha. Now my question is should i keep myself vulnerableish with a 12 for dex and leather armour (starting as a warlock) while the 14 and 15 go to strengh and wis so i can multiclass into a war cleric and get the heavy armour or just forgo the heavy armour and keep thoes higher numbers in Dex and Con.
Get the best of both worlds:

STR 12 / DEX 14 / CON 15 / INT 9 / 13 WIS / 17 CHA.
Put 1 in CON and WIS, and 2 in CHA as you wished.
You start with 16 CON which is great, 14 WIS which is always nice to multiclass into War Cleric (so you get Divine Favor or Bless to up your damage), and since you will be in heavy armor and shield, losing some movement and disadvantage on stealth is not so bad. ;)

[Corran]

Ideally its a blastlock but using fire instead of eb get that+5 +10 fire damage (undying warlock/phoenix sorc)also thinking using a weapon too + magic weapon n doing it that way although thatd be my melee option.

Well, then no heavy armor would be my reply.
If you intend on gishing it up more often, I would suggest hexblade instead of UL.
(magic weapon is meh, unless you need it to ignore resistance; stoneskin and armor of agathys are good spells to use -precast- once you get some higher level spell slots -sorcerer7-8 plus, assuming you boosted your concentration; hellish rebuke is a good use of your reaction when gishing it up, once you get access to nourishing fire)
ps: Not entirelly relevant, but a hexablade1/phoenix14 holds very well its ground as a gish, for at least 1 encounter per day.

[Specter]

Was more looking on opinions about heavy armor as an option vs dex and initiative

I wouldn't do it. It requires an investment is STR that is not optimal to a Sorcerer, no initiative and a poorness in Stealth, all of that for 2 more AC points than Mage Armor would give with 16DEX. You could also use heavy armor with no STR at all, but that hampers movement and in my opinion goes against reality (if you spend thousands of days carrying an armor around, eventually you'll be strong enough to carry it).

[Citan]

Ideally its a blastlock but using fire instead of eb get that+5 +10 fire damage (undying warlock/phoenix sorc)also thinking using a weapon too + magic weapon n doing it that way although thatd be my melee option.

Aaah, so you would be using GreenFlame Blade. In that case I would still take Half-Elf but instead put the 14 in CHA so you start with 16 in both CHA and attack stat.
As for whichever stat... In theory, both are good so it's more of a matter of why and when you dip in Cleric. IF you intend to dip late, then heavy armor is useless because you have time to bump DEX together with Mage Armor in the meantime.

With your rolls there is no question to ask though: you can start with 18 DEX, learn your Mage Armor and not look back onto heavy armor:
STR 12 / DEX 17 / CON 15 / INT 9 / 13 WIS / 14 CHA. >>> Start with 18 DEX, 16 CON, 16 CHA.
What you seem to lose in damage is largely compensated by immediate gains: great Initiative, attack chance and AC, to whichever you can immediately after add Bless or Shield of Faith and potential shield thanks to Cleric dip. And you can also accurately use longbows when enemies are too far for a rush&hit or plain Firebolt to be a thing. All of that for what? 2 less damage (4 with a Quickened fire cantrip)? You REALLY don't care about that.

If will also make any dip in Rogue (Cunning Action), Fighter (Action Surge) or even more unusual dips (Monk, Ranger) available if you wish so, as well as any interesting equipment feat (Rogue 1 + Shield Master for SHoving as bonus action, Defensive Duelist to avoid wasting Shield for a single attack, Monk 2 to use your quarterstaff focus with DEX and gain some extra mobility, Mobile or Alert, etc).

And by the time both bonus are online, you will have had ample time to boost CHA at least once, maybe two.

[Dman]

The question isn't what kind of armor you want. The question is whether you want to toss a couple of points into Dex or Str.
Str15 is needed if you want heavy armor and don't want to suffer movement penalties. Dex14 is needed if you want to go with Medium armor.
The actual AC between characters is a difference of 1 point, no matter what armor you're wearing, as long as you have the Dex to supplement/support that armor.

So do you want slightly more Str or slightly more Dex?

The only time heavy armor actually matters if is you want to take the Heavy Armor Mastery feat.


Well, then no heavy armor would be my reply.
If you intend on gishing it up more often, I would suggest hexblade instead of UL.
(magic weapon is meh, unless you need it to ignore resistance; stoneskin and armor of agathys are good spells to use -precast- once you get some higher level spell slots -sorcerer7-8 plus, assuming you boosted your concentration; hellish rebuke is a good use of your reaction when gishing it up, once you get access to nourishing fire)
ps: Not entirelly relevant, but a hexablade1/phoenix14 holds very well its ground as a gish, for at least 1 encounter per day.

its not necessarly an intention to gish just a backup plan incase people get too close but i guess thats not really important in the long run.


I wouldn't do it. It requires an investment is STR that is not optimal to a Sorcerer, no initiative and a poorness in Stealth, all of that for 2 more AC points than Mage Armor would give with 16DEX. You could also use heavy armor with no STR at all, but that hampers movement and in my opinion goes against reality (if you spend thousands of days carrying an armor around, eventually you'll be strong enough to carry it).

Yeah im starting to think just stick with Dex.


Aaah, so you would be using GreenFlame Blade. In that case I would still take Half-Elf but instead put the 14 in CHA so you start with 16 in both CHA and attack stat.
As for whichever stat... In theory, both are good so it's more of a matter of why and when you dip in Cleric. IF you intend to dip late, then heavy armor is useless because you have time to bump DEX together with Mage Armor in the meantime.

Yeah misread the fine print. originally i was going to dip cleric to also get the extra attacks but now i dont think its necessarily worth it.

[Khrysaes]

Ideally its a blastlock but using fire instead of eb get that+5 +10 fire damage (undying warlock/phoenix sorc)also thinking using a weapon too + magic weapon n doing it that way although thatd be my melee option.

With the updated Undying Light/Celestial warlock, you need 6 levels to get the +5 to fire damage, unless your DM is allowing you to use the old one. My DM made me switch.. now I lost my extra oomph and radiant resistance for a very small amount of healing.

Oh, and the extra damage got nerfed worse than sorcerer did in the errata.