Barbarian unarmored defense + Mage armor?

[samcifer]

So I'm going to play a feral tiefling evocation wizard and was wondering if the resistances and unarmored defense of the barbarian class would be good for increasing the AC of a wizard as well as if it would stack with the effects of the Mage Armor spell or not. I'm leaning towards Barbarian over monk because I plan on having wisdom as one of my lower stats.

[Ventruenox]

They don't stack. Pick Mage Armor or Unarmored Defense to calculate your AC.

[nickl_2000]

So I'm going to play a feral tiefling evocation wizard and was wondering if the resistances and unarmored defense of the barbarian class would be good for increasing the AC of a wizard as well as if it would stack with the effects of the Mage Armor spell or not. I'm leaning towards Barbarian over monk because I plan on having wisdom as one of my lower stats.

No they don't stack. You get to choose your armor calculations. Lets say you are a VHuman Monk 1, barb 1 with MI and Mage Armor. You could choose
13+Dex
10+Dex+Wis
Or
10+Dex+Con

You choose them, they do not stack at all.

[Asmotherion]

RAW They don't.

RAF They just might, if your DM judges so. Ask your DM about it, if you have a unique character concept in mind. I'd say yeah, but some may say nay.

[strangebloke]

What they said.

Fun thing with Barbarian Tieflings: If you take the Infernal Constitution feat you have resistance to fire, cold, poison, -and- while raging you gain resistance to bludgeoning slashing and piercing, and you don't even have to go bear totem!

But this multiclass is the sort usually advised against, because the Barbarian can't rage and cast spells at the same time. Like, not even cantrips. It's very sad.

[GlenSmash!]

No they don't stack. You get to choose your armor calculations. Lets say you are a VHuman Monk 1, barb 1 with MI and Mage Armor. You could choose
13+Dex
10+Dex+Wis
Or
10+Dex+Con

You choose them, they do not stack at all.

By RAW a Barb/Monk multiclass will only have the version of Unarmored Defense that it got first. Per the multiclass rules.


Unarmored Defense
If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature,
you can’t gain it again from another class.

[nickl_2000]

By RAW a Barb/Monk multiclass will only have the version of Unarmored Defense that it got first. Per the multiclass rules.

You are right, I completely forgot about that. I wonder what the point of this really is, why in the world does it matter?

[samcifer]

*groans* Just re-read the rage feature and it says you can't cast spells or concentrate on the while raging, so that's useless to me. :(

Guess I'll just go a level in something else like maybe be a dragonic sorcerer to start off with for the built-in Mage Armor effect, Con saves and so I don't lose spell-levels.

[samcifer]

*groans* Just re-read the rage feature and it says you can't cast spells or concentrate on the while raging, so that's useless to me. :(

Guess I'll just go a level in something else like maybe be a dragonic sorcerer to start off with for the built-in Mage Armor effect, Con saves and so I don't lose spell-levels.

That way I can take Magic Missile and Shield as my leveled spells as neither one requires rolls and take utility spells such as Mage Hand, Message, Mending and Prestidigitation for the cantrips.

[nickl_2000]

That way I can take Magic Missile and Shield as my leveled spells as neither one requires rolls and take utility spells such as Mage Hand, Message, Mending and Prestidigitation for the cantrips.

That would certainly do the trick very effectively. You could also choose a cleric subclass, it would give you medium/heavy armor and shields plus all kinds of utility cantrips. Either nature or Arcana would give you lots of armor choices and lots of cantrips that you can use for utility (leaving your wizard cantrips available for damage dealers).

[samcifer]

That would certainly do the trick very effectively. You could also choose a cleric subclass, it would give you medium/heavy armor and shields plus all kinds of utility cantrips. Either nature or Arcana would give you lots of armor choices and lots of cantrips that you can use for utility (leaving your wizard cantrips available for damage dealers).

True, but I want the CON save, so sorc is a better choice.

[GlenSmash!]

You are right, I completely forgot about that. I wonder what the point of this really is, why in the world does it matter?

I don't think it matters since all it would give is another way to calculate AC. I think it can safely be ignored.

[No brains]

Well TECHNICALLY one could MC Barbarian and Wizard because Con to AC could be useful with good ability rolls. One could also invest in non-concentration spells (as rare as they are) that can synergize with rage or else just treat rage as a concentration spell that can't be up at the same time as others. It may be sub-optimal, but it isn't the worst idea. One could rage to escape a grapple, restrain an enemy for an ally, pick stuff up and put it down, or even rage-flee under a hail of arrows. Offensively rage won't be perfect because of reduced bonus damage and maybe no extra attack, but it can still work just like a defensive spell.