Can barkskin stack?

[Sir cryosin]

Does barkskin stack with things like a shield' bracers of defense, clock of protection, etc....

[smcmike]

Does barks kind stack with things like a shield' bracers of defense, clock of protection, etc....

Assuming you are talking about Barkskin, no.

[Easy_Lee]

No, barks kind doesn't stack with any other form of bonus AC. It's a pretty bad spell this edition. You could argue that it's useful for wildshaping, but 16 AC is not worth concentration and a 2-slot.

[smcmike]

Yeah. It would be a lot closer to the right balance without concentration.

[Puh Laden]

It doesn't give bonus AC. It just sets your AC to 16 if your AC would otherwise be lower. It does effectively nothing if your AC without barkskin would be 16 or higher. However getting your AC above 16 doesn't end the spell, so if you ever somehow got your AC lowered to below 16 by, for example, losing a shield, barkskin could still apply. So it "stacks" but in an almost meaningless way.

[guachi]

Official Answer:


"Barkskin specifies that your AC can’t be lower than 16 while you are affected by the spell. This means you effectively ignore any modifiers to your AC—including your Dexterity modifier, your armor, a shield, and cover—unless your AC is higher than 16. For example, if your AC is normally 14, it’s 16 while barkskin is on you. If your AC is 15 and you have half cover, your AC is 17; barkskin isn’t relevant in this case, because your AC is now higher than 16."

[smcmike]

Official Answer:


"Barkskin specifies that your AC can’t be lower than 16 while you are affected by the spell. This means you effectively ignore any modifiers to your AC—including your Dexterity modifier, your armor, a shield, and cover—unless your AC is higher than 16. For example, if your AC is normally 14, it’s 16 while barkskin is on you. If your AC is 15 and you have half cover, your AC is 17; barkskin isn’t relevant in this case, because your AC is now higher than 16."

I'm surprised that they thought this question was necessary to answer. The wording on this one is perfectly clear.

[MeeposFire]

I'm surprised that they thought this question was necessary to answer. The wording on this one is perfectly clear.

Yes but this is one of those things where some people thought it cannot possibly work that way despite what the rules say and so thought it was a mistake.

[georgie_leech]

Yes but this is one of those things where some people thought it cannot possibly work that way despite what the rules say and so thought it was a mistake.

It certainly is odd in how cover applies (or rather how it doesn't) to Barkskin. I guess the bark turns off when an AC 14 person walks behind a box :smalltongue: