Stacking AC through the roof

[Pinjata]

So, I have in game this player, who likes optimizing. He just likes to try stuff and he decided, he will take one level of cleric, with an emphasis on AC stacking and the rest will be wizard. As his calculations go, he is aiming for an AC, much much higher then any tank in our party. Now I'm wondering two things:
- how high an AC can you stack in this game?
- what does this mean for gameplay? I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition, but I'd like to know, how will this affect the game

thanks

[huttj509]

Full Plate + Shield = 20 AC. This is pretty much the top end AC without magic items.

Using as many magic items as you can, at very high rarity, this can go up to about 30-32 last I heard (+3 armor, +3 shield, Ring of Protection, +3 Defender sword). Note that things like a +3 shield would be rare enough to pretty much justify "I'm going to research and go on a quest specifically for this shield." Can also use a 1st level spell each round for Shield (+5 ac for a round, used as a reaction).

By the time they're like level 15 and such, it's not that big a deal.

[CTurbo]

1 level of Cleric can get you Heavy Armor + Shields. Forge Cleric can make your armor a +1 magic armor. +1 Plate + shield = 21 AC. Clerics also get the Shield of Faith spell which adds +2 to AC so that goes up to 23AC for up to 10 minutes. The Shield spell is +5 to AC for 1 round so you could have up to a 28AC when needed. 6 levels of Forge Cleric would add +1 AC if wearing heavy armor. 1 level of Fighter or 2 levels of Paladin or Ranger would get you the Defense style which adds +1 AC. Outside of finding +1/+2/+3 magic shields or armor, that's pretty much it outside of other magical items like Ring of Protection, Cloak of Protection, etc..


So best case scenario without misc magic items, a Forge Cleric 6, Fighter 1, then Wizard with +3 Plate and +3 shield could have a full time AC of 29 and add on Shield of Faith and the Shield spell would bump that up to 36AC for one round.

Keep in mind that Plate armor requires a 15 Str minimum unless Dwarf.

[Dork_Forge]

Since the Warforged has been corrected into sanity it won't stack that high, with Shield he might hit the mid 20s but there's a couple of things to keep in mind:

1) a crit will always hit

2)If you can't hit a player's AC then let them take that as a win every now and then and target their saves when you want to challenge them

There's also other scenarios like attacking the players in the middle of a long rest when they aren't armored up, but overall I wouldn't worry about it, it shouldn't negatively impact the game. :)

[Teaguethebean]

Well he will be able to wear full plate a shield and enchant it for a 21 ac. This is very good especially with shield letting him jump to 26 when under attack. He additionally could cast shield of faith and get up to a 23 base 28 with shield. He then may also take some fighter levels for defense and action surge allowing with no magic items or spells 22 ac, with SoF 24, and with shield on top of it all when he is attacked 29 AC.

Now to deal with it limit gold pieces at lower levels stunting his ability to buy plate so he will be sitting with chain mail for 2 less ac. Additionally don't let them fight just brute monsters when you are trying to challenge them. 8 orcs won't be able to even threaten him but, 4 orcs and a shaman who can cast AoE's, buffs and debuffs will make sure to keep them on there toes as the caster will pose a threat. Though as you said you don't want to feel antagonistic so make sure you throw at least a few attacks his way as that will make one of his strengths shine through.

[Galithar]

So, I have in game this player, who likes optimizing. He just likes to try stuff and he decided, he will take one level of cleric, with an emphasis on AC stacking and the rest will be wizard. As his calculations go, he is aiming for an AC, much much higher then any tank in our party. Now I'm wondering two things:
- how high an AC can you stack in this game?
- what does this mean for gameplay? I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition, but I'd like to know, how will this affect the game

thanks

If you use a variety of enemies, include AoE attacks and attacks with saves, then super high AC is irrelevant. Between the limited ways of boosting AC and the increasing attack bonuses on enemies he likely won't get to 'only hit by Crit' territory
I've seen a build that could maintain something like 29 AC spiking to 34 with shield. Even with AC that high they don't have saves that high. By using varied enemies with varied attacks they will be safe from SOME of the attacks.

If they are planning on using War Wizard (the build I referenced earlier used War Wizard) then they are a little safer in that they can use a reaction for +4 to saves. In doing so though they prevent themselves from casting any leveled spells on their next turn. This build also relied on maintaining concentration on a defensive spell. All in all it was terribly difficult to kill (we ran some mock battles with it to see what it could take) but it rarely actually affected the battle. 'smart' enemies will quickly realize that they can't harm him and target others. Smarter enemies keep one guy attacking the Wizard so he keeps pumping resources into defending himself.

Remember that even with his high AC he'll have a wizards health pool. I recently built a new character that is a level 8 wizard with 19 con and I still only have 68 health. It doesn't take much to put a hurting on that amount of health especially at that level. 1 fireball with lucky damage rolls and I'm half dead.

Basically have your enemies use a variety of tactics and someone that focuses so hard on a single aspect that they can maximize it will fall hard to something else.

Heavy Armor + Shield + War Wizard's Durable Magic + Shield will give 27 AC.
Add in something like Shield of Faith or Haste to make it 29. Boosting higher then that will require magic items, which you have some control over or more multi classing. The multiclass will slow his power as a Wizard further making him a really hard to kill but low threat.

With a level 11 character minimum to achieve that I don't think it's much of a problem.

My biggest piece of advice is to make sure that they are all legal methods of AC increasing. I have had players in the past that want to stack things like Tortle Natural Armor and a Monk's unarmored defense. As long as he's following the rules and you don't force yourself into a 'I must take him down' mindset but instead just use a variety of enemies. Don't specially target him, just make sure that attacks are available to the enemies that aren't attack roll based.

[tKUUNK]

I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition

Exactly.

And yeah, this strikes me as an awesome opportunity to ask yourself, "What makes combat interesting?". As others have said here and all over the forum, take the focus away from just reducing HP to zero. Here's a maybe useful thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497869-Encounter-Design-Philosophy)

Have fun.

[moonfly7]

So, I have in game this player, who likes optimizing. He just likes to try stuff and he decided, he will take one level of cleric, with an emphasis on AC stacking and the rest will be wizard. As his calculations go, he is aiming for an AC, much much higher then any tank in our party. Now I'm wondering two things:
- how high an AC can you stack in this game?
- what does this mean for gameplay? I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition, but I'd like to know, how will this affect the game

thanks

I have a shifter monk who did this on accident. Subtracting the homebrew artifact he found, and a mystical +1 to AC, his base AC is 31. That's after finding a book that made his dex permanently a plus 6 modifier, using bracers of defense, a cloak of protection, an animated shield, and the shield spell(which he learned through strange means but is possible with a level dip)
But that's not the highest you can go:
Be a warforged for +1 to AC, go either monk or barbarian for unarmored AC, most likely monk since we won't need to use a shield. Make sure your wisdom is +5 and your dex is +5 so you have an AC of 21. Get bracers of defense, an animated shield, and a ring of protection. Your AC is now 26. one above the maximum for monsters, including the terrasque and tiamat. Now aquire shield of faith, doesn't matter how, take a level in divine sorcerer Or cleric or use a feat. Now take 2 levels wizard and go blade singer, make sure you have +5 int and have the shield spell on your spell list. When your bladesinging, and all spells are active, you have an AC of 38. Now some people will point out that animated shield goes against monks AC and blade singer. I've always played that since it hovers it avoids those rules, but if you don't and somehow managed this nearly impossible build(and your DM lifted the blade dancer restriction) then replace animated shield with cloak of protection for an AC of 37.
This build assumes you can actually pull all that off and is purely theoretical.

[ThatoneGuy84]

Blade singer Lvl 18
Robe of arch magi + Dex modifier (20 AC)
+5 Int blade singing (25 AC)
Staff of Power +2 AC (27 AC)
Bracers of Def +2 AC (29)
Shield spell + 5 AC (34 when needed)

[Snowbluff]

I have a shifter monk who did this on accident. Subtracting the homebrew artifact he found, and a mystical +1 to AC, his base AC is 31. That's after finding a book that made his dex permanently a plus 6 modifier, using bracers of defense, a cloak of protection, an animated shield, and the shield spell(which he learned through strange means but is possible with a level dip)
But that's not the highest you can go:
Be a warforged for +1 to AC, go either monk or barbarian for unarmored AC, most likely monk since we won't need to use a shield. Make sure your wisdom is +5 and your dex is +5 so you have an AC of 21. Get bracers of defense, an animated shield, and a ring of protection. Your AC is now 26. one above the maximum for monsters, including the terrasque and tiamat. Now aquire shield of faith, doesn't matter how, take a level in divine sorcerer Or cleric or use a feat. Now take 2 levels wizard and go blade singer, make sure you have +5 int and have the shield spell on your spell list. When your bladesinging, and all spells are active, you have an AC of 38. Now some people will point out that animated shield goes against monks AC and blade singer. I've always played that since it hovers it avoids those rules, but if you don't and somehow managed this nearly impossible build(and your DM lifted the blade dancer restriction) then replace animated shield with cloak of protection for an AC of 37.
This build assumes you can actually pull all that off and is purely theoretical.

It's most definite monks can't use animated shield without losing their monk AC bonus.

The Shield leaps into the air and hovers in your space to protect you as if you were wielding it, leaving your hands free.

Beginning at 1st Level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a Shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
Same goes for the bracers of armor and animated shield not combining.

You're also missing Staff of Power (which is +2 Saves and AC and simply one of the best items in the game) and Dragon Masks (cha to AC while wearing no armor) as an option for increasing AC.

So a hypothetical Monk/Bladesinger with +6 in Int, Wis, Dex, and Con (assuming tomes and good rolls) would have a 34 while bladesinging, up to a 38 with the Bracers and the animated shield.

Then summoner your familiar or find a greater steed/etc (honestly, probably go bard for this part, maybe use a simulacrum via a wish), and have them cast Shield of Faith and Warding Bond on you from a ring of spell storing. That's +3 AC. Then Cast Haste on yourself for another +2. Warforged is another +1.

So that's 44 off of the top of my head before Shield. Assuming you take bard to 17, you can cast foresight and give your enemy disadvantage on attacking you. Swords bard can add up to a d12 with defensive flourish, or about 6.5 putting you to 50ish. 55 with shield but that at that point I would give up and try to fit counterspell with Jack of All Trades into your magical secrets instead.

Bonus points, consider casting Aid on yourself and your Steed/simulacrum. It shares your damage so this will make both of you healthier.

Now, having 22 in 4 stats is nuts. If you're using a point buy, a barb with a +3 shield probably beats out trying to go for the bladesinger dip.


So, I have in game this player, who likes optimizing. He just likes to try stuff and he decided, he will take one level of cleric, with an emphasis on AC stacking and the rest will be wizard. As his calculations go, he is aiming for an AC, much much higher then any tank in our party. Now I'm wondering two things:
- how high an AC can you stack in this game?
- what does this mean for gameplay? I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition, but I'd like to know, how will this affect the game

thanks I think his probably would be enemies might just ignore him and go for the squishies. Booming Blade and Spirit Guardians go a lot way to controlling how enemies move, and with that in mind I'd suggest he'd take the 5th cleric level.

[ThatoneGuy84]

It's most definite monks can't use animated shield without losing their monk AC bonus.


Same goes for the bracers of armor and animated shield not combining.

You're also missing Staff of Power (which is +2 Saves and AC and simply one of the best items in the game) and Dragon Masks (cha to AC while wearing no armor) as an option for increasing AC.

So a hypothetical Monk/Bladesinger with +6 in Int, Wis, Dex, and Con (assuming tomes and good rolls) would have a 34 while bladesinging, up to a 38 with the Bracers and the animated shield.

Then summoner your familiar or find a greater steed/etc (honestly, probably go bard for this part), and have them cast Shield of Faith and Warding Bond on you from a ring of spell storing. That's +3 AC. Then Cast Haste on yourself for another +2. Warforged is another +1.

So that's 44 off of the top of my head before Shield. Assuming you take bard to 17, you can cast foresight and give your enemy disadvantage on attacking you. Swords bard can add up to a d12 with defensive flourish, or about 6.5 putting you to 50ish.

Now, having 22 in 4 stats is nuts. If you're using a point buy, a barb with a +3 shield probably beats out trying to go for the bladesinger dip.

The shield doesnt work with monk or bracers, or bladesinger at all.
You have to throw that out the window in your calculations.

[Snowbluff]

The shield doesnt work with monk or bracers, or bladesinger at all.
You have to throw that out the window in your calculations.

Who are you speaking to/quoting here? Counting the attunements in my post, the mask, the bracers, and the staff make three; there is no animated shield.

[Drache64]

1 level of Cleric can get you Heavy Armor + Shields. Forge Cleric can make your armor a +1 magic armor. +1 Plate + shield = 21 AC. Clerics also get the Shield of Faith spell which adds +2 to AC so that goes up to 23AC for up to 10 minutes. The Shield spell is +5 to AC for 1 round so you could have up to a 28AC when needed. 6 levels of Forge Cleric would add +1 AC if wearing heavy armor. 1 level of Fighter or 2 levels of Paladin or Ranger would get you the Defense style which adds +1 AC. Outside of finding +1/+2/+3 magic shields or armor, that's pretty much it outside of other magical items like Ring of Protection, Cloak of Protection, etc..


So best case scenario without misc magic items, a Forge Cleric 6, Fighter 1, then Wizard with +3 Plate and +3 shield could have a full time AC of 29 and add on Shield of Faith and the Shield spell would bump that up to 36AC for one round.

Keep in mind that Plate armor requires a 15 Str minimum unless Dwarf.

THIS 100% BUT!!! I will add that you have to keep in mind as a DM what the player is giving up. I see many DMs punish a player who tries to do such a thing, but the player has already punished himself but giving up end level spell slots etc. So you make house rules against this player and you'll find that yes he did max out his AC but he also lost a lot of spells and nerfed himself in the early and late game.

[Damon_Tor]

It's most definite monks can't use animated shield without losing their monk AC bonus.



"The Shield leaps into the air and hovers in your space to protect you as if you were wielding it, leaving your hands free."

"Beginning at 1st Level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a Shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

Same goes for the bracers of armor and animated shield not combining.

You are incorrect.

It protects you as if you were wielding it. That does not mean you are considered wielding it for any other purpose. If a law says "Cyclists can use all lanes of traffic as if they were operating a motor vehicle" while another law said "operators of a motor vehicle must wear seat-belts at all times" it would not logically follow that cyclists must wear seat belts: they are not operators of a motor vehicle, they are simply treated as such for the specific purposes of using lanes of traffic.

[Pinjata]

Great stuff, all. Besides his cleric/wiz combo, he also has potential acess to Staff of defense.

I intend to toss at them encounters per module (and DMG), but I just want to work on my poker face, as they roll through encounters.

[redwizard007]

So, I have in game this player, who likes optimizing. He just likes to try stuff and he decided, he will take one level of cleric, with an emphasis on AC stacking and the rest will be wizard. As his calculations go, he is aiming for an AC, much much higher then any tank in our party. Now I'm wondering two things:
- how high an AC can you stack in this game?
- what does this mean for gameplay? I do not want to go into vs-player mindset under any condition, but I'd like to know, how will this affect the game

thanks

The other guys covered the build. I'll deal with encounter building.

First, this player is investing a ton of resources into his AC. That means he's gimping himself in other areas. Expect him to have average damage output, control, mobility, etc. That's average at best. More likely he will drag behind in most of those areas. We want to throw his build a bone, but maintain a challenge. We do not want to completely invalidate his build, but neither will we pander to it. At least not regularly.

To challenge this type of character we have a few options. The most obvious is spell attacks that force a saving throw. They completely nerf high AC builds all on their own. High mobility enemies that can bypass Mr. high AC and pummel his friends is another option. Ranged attackers can also ignore the supertank and shoot his buddies, especially if they have good defensive terrain. Traps that dont require attack rolls, and puzzles are still good options. We also have some freedom with encounter design. Changing encounters from kill-all-enemies to something goal oriented is always a good idea. His AC counts for nothing if the goal is to protect a VIP or race to a Mcguffin. All that being said, sometimes you should let this guy just be freaking untouchable.

Final thought. If his damage output is as weak as I expect, combats may run longer than normal. Expect the bad guys to deal more damage overall (even if not to him,) and other PCs to burn through more resources each encounter.

[Fable Wright]

The highest I can get, without relying on extremely high stats or DM-gated magic items, is this Fighter 1-2/Artificer X:

Full Plate (18)
Shield (+2)
Defensive Fighting Style (+1)
Warforged (+1)
Artificer (+2, from a +1 armor and a +1 shield; doubles to +4 at level 10)
Shield spell from Battlesmith (+5)
Warding Bond (+1)
Haste (+2)
Cloak of Protection (Artificer 10 infusion) (+1)
Ring of Protection (Artificer 14 infusion) (+1)

This is a base AC of 24 at level 2, with Shield up to AC 29.
At level 12-13, after we have SSI for Warding Bond and the Infusion boost, this increases to a base AC of 28, 30 with self-Haste, and 35 with Shield.

At level 15-16, we have access to self-made Ring of Protection, bringing our AC to 29/31/36.

DM-based magic items, other characters, or similar tricks required: 0

Practical upshot:
1. An Ancient Red Dragon will hit this guy on a 19.
2. This guy has Absorb Elements and will be able to do fairly decently against that fire breath.
3. This guy will be rather terrified of high-DC saves. I remember a Warforged Eldritch Knight I played back before they were nerfed, and the only time he was really afraid for his life was when we ran across a CR 7 who had Finger of Death for some reason. Thank you for that, Volo. I'd have died on a failed save and couldn't Absorb Elements it.

[Damon_Tor]

The highest I can get, without relying on extremely high stats or DM-gated magic items, is this Fighter 1-2/Artificer X:

Full Plate (18)
Shield (+2)
Defensive Fighting Style (+1)
Warforged (+1)
Artificer (+2, from a +1 armor and a +1 shield; doubles to +4 at level 10)
Shield spell from Battlesmith (+5)
Warding Bond (+1)
Haste (+2)
Cloak of Protection (Artificer 10 infusion) (+1)
Ring of Protection (Artificer 14 infusion) (+1)

This is a base AC of 24 at level 2, with Shield up to AC 29.
At level 12-13, after we have SSI for Warding Bond and the Infusion boost, this increases to a base AC of 28, 30 with self-Haste, and 35 with Shield.

At level 15-16, we have access to self-made Ring of Protection, bringing our AC to 29/31/36.

DM-based magic items, other characters, or similar tricks required: 0

Practical upshot:
1. An Ancient Red Dragon will hit this guy on a 19.
2. This guy has Absorb Elements and will be able to do fairly decently against that fire breath.
3. This guy will be rather terrified of high-DC saves. I remember a Warforged Eldritch Knight I played back before they were nerfed, and the only time he was really afraid for his life was when we ran across a CR 7 who had Finger of Death for some reason. Thank you for that, Volo. I'd have died on a failed save and couldn't Absorb Elements it.

Just drop fighter. You lose +1 AC from the fighting style but I gain the artificer's bomb-ass capstone which can give you a massive boost to your saves. And also remember Ring of Protection, Cloak of Protection and Warding Bond also each give you +1 to all your saves. Artificer is the tankiest class in the game simply because of how absurdly hard it is to land anything on them directly.

If all you want is AC, you could go for an Artillarist instead of Battlesmith. They also have shield, but their cannons also generate an aura that gives everything around them a reliable source of half cover, which is another +2 to AC, slightly better than the Warding Bond SSI you get from Battlesmith (though not as tanky in general).

[Pixel_Kitsune]

Not optimized for beat possible but my tank in my wife's game is at 23 at level 6. Half-plate, 16 Dex (med armor master), +1 shield, cloak of protection+1, and Defensive combat style from Paladin.

He also keeps shield of Faith memorized if he's able to be a full wall which brings him to 25

Due to some insane luck he has a ring of spellstoring the team wizard fills with Shield when we have time. So 5x per day he can jump to 30 for a round.

But take away the magic which is definitely campaign specific and he'd be at 21.

[JackPhoenix]

Here you go. (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/67197/what-is-the-highest-possible-ac)

[Fable Wright]

Just drop fighter. You lose +1 AC from the fighting style but I gain the artificer's bomb-ass capstone which can give you a massive boost to your saves. And also remember Ring of Protection, Cloak of Protection and Warding Bond also each give you +1 to all your saves. Artificer is the tankiest class in the game simply because of how absurdly hard it is to land anything on them directly.

If all you want is AC, you could go for an Artillarist instead of Battlesmith. They also have shield, but their cannons also generate an aura that gives everything around them a reliable source of half cover, which is another +2 to AC, slightly better than the Warding Bond SSI you get from Battlesmith (though not as tanky in general).

If you drop Fighter, it's actually -2 AC, since you also have to go down to half-plate, and level 20 doesn't matter: You won't spend any time there.

[Amechra]

I think the cheesiest possibility is a Bladesinger 17/Monk (Kensei) 3.

You see, you pick up a Tome of Clear Thought, a Tome of Understanding, and a Manual of Quickness of Action. Then you use Imprisonment to wait out the cooldown on the books, letting you get those ability scores up to 30.

Your AC is 42 if Bladesong is active and you use Agile Parry. Hit yourself with Haste, and you're up to 44. Attune to a Defender, an Ioun Stone of Protection, and some Bracers of Armor, and you're up to AC 50. Don't forget to pick up Defensive Duelist so you can hit AC 56!

[Greywander]

I tallied this up at one point, and the absolute highest (at the time) AC you could reach was 61. This required using a number of situational bonuses and rolling the highest value on a d10. (This also assumed ability scores capped at 20. With tomes/epic boons, you can get even crazier, see below.)

More realistically, you can reliably hit AC 39 by 20th level with the following build: fighter 1 / cleric 1 / War wizard 18
This involves using plate +3, a shield +3, the Defense fighting style, the Shield of Faith spell, at-will Shield from Spell Mastery, a Staff of Power and Ring of Protection, and the War wizard's Durable Magic (while concentrating on Shield of Faith). This also allows you to grab a Cloak of Displacement/Invisibility in order to give attacks against you disadvantage. Anything up to and including the tarrasque has a 1 in 400 chance to hit you, which is why you also grab Lucky to turn those rare hits into misses.

For something a bit more tame, take fighter 1 / cleric 1 / War wizard 2. This puts you at 4th level, leaving you a lot of room to adjust your build. You still have access to heavy armor and shields, Shield of Faith, Arcane Deflection, and the Staff of Power. With the same magic items as above, you can reach AC 34, the main difference being the loss of Durable Magic and at-will Shield (Arcane Deflection can be used instead of Shield).

Now, if you want something truly insane, raise all your ability scores to 30 (either via tomes, or via epic boons if at 20). Dip one level into barbarian or monk, and your naked AC is 30. Barbarian can add a shield +3 for AC 35. You can still stack on most of the things listed above, though obviously plate +3 and the Defense style is out. The UA Mariner style could be used instead, if allowed. Warforged can also get you an additional +1.

Of course, AC isn't the whole story. Saving throws are also important. Which is why, for a defensively minded character, I'd probably go paladin 6 / War wizard 2. A hexblade dip isn't a bad idea, either, so you can focus on CHA.

[col_impact]

No matter how high you stack AC the opponent will always have a 5% chance to hit you and will always be able to attack you through alternate means, ie save or suck attacks. In order to truly tank up you need to layer your defenses, e.g. high ac plus vision superiority plus high movement plus disguise.

If you are building a character to go beyond ac 30 and you aspire to be a tank then you are doing it wrong.

[Amechra]

No matter how high you stack AC the opponent will always have a 5% chance to hit you and will always be able to attack you through alternate means, ie save or suck attacks. In order to truly tank up you need to layer your defenses, e.g. high ac plus vision superiority plus high movement plus disguise.

If you are building a character to go beyond ac 30 and you aspire to be a tank then you are doing it wrong.

Sometimes we just like making big numbers. Is that so wrong?

[BloodSnake'sCha]

No matter how high you stack AC the opponent will always have a 5% chance to hit you and will always be able to attack you through alternate means, ie save or suck attacks. In order to truly tank up you need to layer your defenses, e.g. high ac plus vision superiority plus high movement plus disguise.

If you are building a character to go beyond ac 30 and you aspire to be a tank then you are doing it wrong.

You are right, 35AC should be where you stop.
And you will want around 6/7 levels of paladin (probably ancient) for your saves.
Or a pet paladin to go with(it will be the best if you got an ancient 7/moon Druid 13 to use as a mount with mounted combat feat in order to redirect attacks to yourself and your high AC)
And don't forget to use armour from admentite.

[Greywander]

No matter how high you stack AC the opponent will always have a 5% chance to hit you
This is why the Cloak of Displacement is such a strong defensive item. Stronger than armor +3.


And don't forget to use armour from admentite.
According to the math, +1 to AC is better than crit negation. Ergo, even armor +1 is better than adamantine armor, let alone armor +3.

Since you have a 5% chance to roll a given number, let's say that +1 AC represents a 5% damage reduction (as it turns that specific result from a hit to a miss). A crit will double the dice, but not flat damage bonuses like your ability score modifier. This means that a crit does double damage, at best, and less than double generally. So we can say that a roll of 20 means anywhere from 5% to 10% damage, but let's be charitable and say it's 9%. Turning a crit into a regular hit, in this scenario, only represents a 4% reduction in damage, compared to the 5% reduction from +1 AC.

Really, your best bet is to combine a Cloak of Displacement or other source of disadvantage with the Lucky feat; whenever someone does roll double 20s (which is a 1 in 400 chance), you can use Lucky to force a reroll. With AC that astronomical, you're unlikely to use up all your luck points before taking a long rest.

I mean, unless adamantine armor +3 is allowed by the DM. Personally, I always felt like the +1/+2/+3 represented the quality, so you could absolutely apply it to just about any item, including magical items like the Flame Tongue or adamantine armor.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I mean, unless adamantine armor +3 is allowed by the DM. Personally, I always felt like the +1/+2/+3 represented the quality, so you could absolutely apply it to just about any item, including magical items like the Flame Tongue or adamantine armor.

This part is what I meant.
But I see it differently. I see adamantine as a material, not an enchantment.
It is hard for me to understand the unavailability of a +1/2/3 adamantine/mitrial armours.


+1 for the cloak.
My party was amazed when my paladin that had one fall in combat (he was stuck in a boss fight alone and failed a 1/80 save for concentration on bless and was in the middle of incect plague and cloudkill for a 5 rounds as he was running after a drow priest and wizard in the temple with all the mooks missing (AC 26 with shield and cloak of displacement).

[vexedart]

2 level Blade singer with (the magic item rolls of the gods)

Base 10
Dex 10
Int 10 bladesinging
Shield spell 5
Robes of the archmagi 5
Bracers of defense 2
Ring of protection 1
Shield of faith 2
Haste 2
3/4 cover 5

52? I’m sure you could get more if you try harder.

Drop ring of protection for a defender/moonblade or something.

[Greywander]

This part is what I meant.
But I see it differently. I see adamantine as a material, not an enchantment.
It is hard for me to understand the unavailability of a +1/2/3 adamantine/mitrial armours.
I think it's because armor +1/+2/+3 and adamantine armor are listed as separate magic items. Some people feels like this implies they can't be combined. However, under armor +1/+2/+3, it does say any armor. This could mean any non-magical armor, or it could mean any armor, including magical armors.

Now, there are some magic weapons that already add a bonus to attack and damage rolls, making them essentially +1/+2/+3 weapons without them being listed as such. I do think it's a bit silly to try and make them a weapon +3 on top of that, potentially adding a total of 6 to attack and damage rolls. So that could be used as an argument against applying the +X bonus to magical weapons and armor. However, I'd more likely just treat that weapon as if it already had the matching +X bonus. For example, a Staff of Power is actually a Staff of Power +2. You might be able to get a +3 variant, giving a +1 over the standard staff, but you'd never be able to stack a +3 bonus on top of the existing one for a total of +5.

All that said, mizzium armor (GGtR) is an improvement over adamantine armor, so if mizzium armor +3 exists, it's the best no-attunement armor.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I think it's because armor +1/+2/+3 and adamantine armor are listed as separate magic items. Some people feels like this implies they can't be combined. However, under armor +1/+2/+3, it does say any armor. This could mean any non-magical armor, or it could mean any armor, including magical armors.

Now, there are some magic weapons that already add a bonus to attack and damage rolls, making them essentially +1/+2/+3 weapons without them being listed as such. I do think it's a bit silly to try and make them a weapon +3 on top of that, potentially adding a total of 6 to attack and damage rolls. So that could be used as an argument against applying the +X bonus to magical weapons and armor. However, I'd more likely just treat that weapon as if it already had the matching +X bonus. For example, a Staff of Power is actually a Staff of Power +2. You might be able to get a +3 variant, giving a +1 over the standard staff, but you'd never be able to stack a +3 bonus on top of the existing one for a total of +5.

All that said, mizzium armor (GGtR) is an improvement over adamantine armor, so if mizzium armor +3 exists, it's the best no-attunement armor.

With this I fully agree.


Anyway, to the OP.
Just let him have his fun, he can even become the group meme.
Just make sure to target his saves her and there when it is appropriate (like when fighting an evoker that blast the party with evocation).

If a player invest so much in something it is good to make sure they can get the fruit of their investment.

[Snowbluff]

No matter how high you stack AC the opponent will always have a 5% chance to hit you and will always be able to attack you through alternate means, ie save or suck attacks. In order to truly tank up you need to layer your defenses, e.g. high ac plus vision superiority plus high movement plus disguise.

If you are building a character to go beyond ac 30 and you aspire to be a tank then you are doing it wrong.


This is why the Cloak of Displacement is such a strong defensive item. Stronger than armor +3.


This is why my build went with Foresight. It's like a Cloak of Displacement except it works on every attack and vision, as well as helping protect your saves.