Paladin with low AC

[Aurosman]

So right now my Paladin (oath of the ancients) has an AC of 16. I started out with Sorcerer at level 1 for the backstory of the character so I do not have access to heavy armor right now, planning on rest in Paladin, at level 5 right now.

Now I have 2 options that have been thought up.
1. At level 9 grab Heavily Armored so I can hopefully buy some Plate, getting my AC to 21.
2. At level 9 grab Resilient Dex, bringing my Dex up to +1 (currently at 11) and AC to 19 with Half-Plate.

My stats currently are 16, 11, 16, 13, 11, 18. My first ASI went to CHA. The party is actually composed of mainly front liners. 2 (Kibbles fleshsmith) Artificers, Moon Druid, Hexblade (half melee), Inquisitive rogue (that throws daggers mainly)

Anyone have any advice?

[nickl_2000]

You have a level of Sorcerer, so I am assuming that you have the shield spell to get that added boost of AC when you need to get it. So, go with res dex since it is pretty darn good anyways, so that is what I would choose personally.

[CTurbo]

I agree with Res(Dex) and stick with Half-Plate

[MaxWilson]

So right now my Paladin (oath of the ancients) has an AC of 16. I started out with Sorcerer at level 1 for the backstory of the character so I do not have access to heavy armor right now, planning on rest in Paladin, at level 5 right now.

Now I have 2 options that have been thought up.
1. At level 9 grab Heavily Armored so I can hopefully buy some Plate, getting my AC to 21.
2. At level 9 grab Resilient Dex, bringing my Dex up to +1 (currently at 11) and AC to 19 with Half-Plate.

My stats currently are 16, 11, 16, 13, 11, 18. My first ASI went to CHA. The party is actually composed of mainly front liners. 2 (Kibbles fleshsmith) Artificers, Moon Druid, Hexblade (half melee), Inquisitive rogue (that throws daggers mainly)

Anyone have any advice?

What's your weapon? One other option you could consider is grabbing Defensive Duelist for +3 to AC (once per round). Sounds like you're using a one-handed weapon anyway (since your AC assumes a shield), so using a rapier might be feasible for you, depending on how much you rely on luck for finding magic items.

The once-per-round limitation of Defensive Duelist isn't as much of a big deal as it sounds like, since Defensive Duelist only triggers on an actual hit instead of an attack. You might be attacked by 7 Bugbears in a turn, but only hit twice, and Defensive Duelist might negate one of those hits.

Half-plate + shield + Defensive Duelist + Defense style + Dex 11 = effective AC 21, compared to AC 19 for Resilient (Dex). By 20th level you'd get another +3 for effective AC 24.

Anyway, Resilient (Dex) is a decent option, just wanted to make you aware of another possibility.

[Aurosman]

Note: AFAICT, option #2 gives you AC 18, not 19.

What's your weapon? One other option you could consider is grabbing Defensive Duelist for +3 to AC (once per round). Sounds like you're using a one-handed weapon anyway (since your AC assumes a shield), so using a rapier might be feasible for you, depending on how much you rely on luck for finding magic items.

The once-per-round limitation of Defensive Duelist isn't as much of a big deal as it sounds like, since Defensive Duelist only triggers on an actual hit instead of an attack. You might be attacked by 7 Bugbears in a turn, but only hit twice, and Defensive Duelist might negate one of those hits.

Half-plate + shield + Defensive Duelist + Dex 11 = effective AC 20, compared to AC 18 for Resilient (Dex). By 20th level you'd get another +3.

Anyway, Resilient (Dex) is a decent option, just wanted to make you aware of another possibility.

My weapon is actually Dawnbringer..... I thank the RNGESUS for a lucky investigation roll in a tomb (Out of the Abyss). Yes, using a shield and got the +1 AC from Defense fighting style.

And Defensive Duelist requires a 13 in DEX, so that would not be an option.

[MaxWilson]

And Defensive Duelist requires a 13 in DEX, so that would not be an option.

Ah, right. Forgot about that prereq.

Yeah, in that case Resilient (Dex) looks pretty good.

Pet peeve: why is it easier to get heavy armor proficiency if you're picking up a level in Life Cleric, of all things, than if you're picking up a level in Paladin or Fighter? In fictional terms, how does that make any sense?

[Barny]

It's your choice.

Heavy armor gives you extra 3 AC (plate 18 vs half-plate 15 without dex bonus)

Dex resilience gives you 1 dex for 1 AC, and dex save prof.
However, you have Aura of protection for possible +5 on all saves, so relatively the dex save prof is not that significant for you.

BTW how do you get 16 AC? I think you may just need better medium armor, like even scale mail will give you 14 AC +2 shield +1 def style + 5 shield spell + 2 shield of faith = 24 AC at low levels.
If I were you, I won't have a concern on my AC and use a limited feat option for AC.
But it's your choice anyway.

[Aurosman]

It's your choice.

Heavy armor gives you extra 3 AC (plate 18 vs half-plate 15 without dex bonus)

Dex resilience gives you 1 dex for 1 AC, and dex save prof.
However, you have Aura of protection for possible +5 on all saves, so relatively the dex save prof is not that significant for you.

BTW how do you get 16 AC? I think you may just need better medium armor, like even scale mail will give you 14 AC +2 shield +1 def style + 5 shield spell + 2 shield of faith = 24 AC at low levels.
If I were you, I won't have a concern on my AC and use a limited feat option for AC.
But it's your choice anyway.

Yeah, you got it exactly. I only have a chain shirt right now. Like I said, we are doing Out of the Abyss and our DM is running it pretty much by the book. So that is all I have been able to get so far. Hopefully we find a city or somehow find an enemy with a set of Half-Plate.

I will aslo admit I was a little dumb and didn't have shield and had a spell I was planning on just using for rituals, then today I realized Sorcerers and Paladins are unable to use rituals.... But talked to my DM and she let me switch it out, so now I have shield at least!

[Barny]

Yeah, you got it exactly. I only have a chain shirt right now. Like I said, we are doing Out of the Abyss and our DM is running it pretty much by the book. So that is all I have been able to get so far. Hopefully we find a city or somehow find an enemy with a set of Half-Plate.

I will aslo admit I was a little dumb and didn't have shield and had a spell I was planning on just using for rituals, then today I realized Sorcerers and Paladins are unable to use rituals.... But talked to my DM and she let me switch it out, so now I have shield at least!

Lol, if you like rituals, you may consider ritual caster feat.
But you need to plan your build first (like going 1hr/shield, 2h weapon, tanking or dmg dealer or focusing party efficiency), then pick your feat priority tailoring to your build.

[RSP]

Personally, I wouldn’t bother with Resilient (Dex). It’s an okay save but there’s a lot better ways to use your ASI/Feat. If you had a Dex-based character I’d like it more, as +3 mod+3 prof+4 Aura=+10 to save and a pretty good bet you’d pass a lot of saves as you Dex increases.

As is, you’ll have +1+3+4=+8, which will only increase with Prof; not bad, but raising your Cha instead adds +1 to all your saves and your Spell Save DCs.

I’d even prefer Res (Wis) in your case as Wis is a much better save to have them Dex.

[sithlordnergal]

Personally, with those stats, I'd go with heavy armor. Sure, with Res: Dex you'd get a +1 to dex, but that's not gonna help your AC situation. Meanwhile, Heavy Armor lets you break the game, AC wise at least, especially with the right tools and magical gear. To put it into perspective, I have an AL character that is currently level 20, has reached 36 AC, and could have reached 38 AC if I had cast Shield of Faith through magical items. Sadly I can't reach my desired AC of 40 yet...I need +3 armor and a Cloak of Protection for that and there are no AL games that give you +3 armor.

Now, obviously you won't get that high unless your DM lets you, but consider this. If you have Half Plate, you're looking at a bast 16 AC with Resilient: Dexterity, 18 if you have a shield, and 19 if you have the Defense Fighting Style and a shield. Assuming non-magical armor, defense fighting style, and a shield, enemies will need roughly a +9 to hit you about half the time, since the average roll of a d20 is 10.5. When you cast Shield, they roughly need +14 to hit about half the time.

With Full Plate, you can start with a 21 AC with it, Defense Fighting Style, and a shield. Meaning they now need a +11 to hit you with an average d20 roll. Mix shield with that, and suddenly they need a +16 to hit.

[djreynolds]

So right now my Paladin (oath of the ancients) has an AC of 16. I started out with Sorcerer at level 1 for the backstory of the character so I do not have access to heavy armor right now, planning on rest in Paladin, at level 5 right now.

Now I have 2 options that have been thought up.
1. At level 9 grab Heavily Armored so I can hopefully buy some Plate, getting my AC to 21.
2. At level 9 grab Resilient Dex, bringing my Dex up to +1 (currently at 11) and AC to 19 with Half-Plate.

My stats currently are 16, 11, 16, 13, 11, 18. My first ASI went to CHA. The party is actually composed of mainly front liners. 2 (Kibbles fleshsmith) Artificers, Moon Druid, Hexblade (half melee), Inquisitive rogue (that throws daggers mainly)

Anyone have any advice?

Well these are really good stats. You are bound to find some better armor.

Resilient dex is strong, but you're still +1 for your dex modifier

Heavily armored is nice also.

I think your charisma is good enough for now at 18.

Gosh choices are tough, just take strength to 18. And then at 13th level if you've found some awesome magical half plate grab resilient dex, but if magic plate armor is around take heavily armored.

good luck