any way to get ok/good AC with low dex and light / no armor

[somethingrandom]

I am considering playing an Aarakocra and giving it a high strength score but as I would be using point buy that means I can't also give it high dex and con and as I can't use my racial fly speed if I am wearing medium or heavy armour I am wondering if there is any way of giving such a character an ok/good AC. I have not decided on a class but I don't think I want to play a Barbarian1

[Khrysaes]

I am considering playing an Aarakocra and giving it a high strength score but as I would be using point buy that means I can't also give it high dex and con and as I can't use my racial fly speed if I am wearing medium or heavy armour I am wondering if there is any way of giving such a character an ok/good AC. I have not decided on a class but I don't think I want to play a Barbarian1

There are magic items. The. Barrier tattoo? Can give you the ac of heavy armor without wearing heavy armor.

The medium armor equivalent tattoo is rare. Heavy armor equivalent barrier tattoo is very rare. There is also the bracers of defense, cloak of protection, ring of protection, and probably some spells. Haste and shield of faith give +2 each.

[MrCharlie]

I am considering playing an Aarakocra and giving it a high strength score but as I would be using point buy that means I can't also give it high dex and con and as I can't use my racial fly speed if I am wearing medium or heavy armour I am wondering if there is any way of giving such a character an ok/good AC. I have not decided on a class but I don't think I want to play a Barbarian1
For one, wear a shield.

Nothing says you can't have both a high STR and DEX. You can buy three 15's with point-buy, or two 15's a 14 and a 10. If you're not using a spellcasting attribute then you could go with a 15-17-14-8-11-8. At level 4, instead of taking +2 STR, you take +1 STR +1 DEX. The end result is that you have 1 less AC than a maxed DEX gives from light armor and the same STR as if you maxed STR.

Once you had maxed your attack stat (I assume STR?) at 12, you take resilient WIS or another +1 WIS feat to use the odd score there.

This works perfectly well for-among other classes-Barbarian, Fighter and Ranger (WIS actually does little for most worthwhile ranger spells or abilities). You can make it work with some Paladins.

[Greywander]

For racial options, there's tortle and loxodon, but those obviously aren't an option for you since the whole point is to be an aarakocra (or other flying race). However, these are both examples of the types of things you're looking for: either something that just sets your AC to a value, independent of your stats, or something that uses an AC calculation that doesn't figure in DEX at all. Otherwise, any other type of "unarmored" AC is going to require at least a decent DEX to be viable.

The next thing that comes to mind after racial options is something like Barkskin. Barkskin is a 2nd level spell available to druids and rangers that sets your AC to 16. Not great, but better than nothing, and you can dump DEX entirely if you want to. It requires concentration, though, and you'd either need to dip at least 3 levels into druid or get a friend to cast it on you.

You also have things like Mage Armor (accessible via a 1 level dip or by a feat), or the Draconic sorcerer's AC bonus. Both of these set your AC to 13 + DEX mod. You'll still need a decent DEX to make this viable, and it's not really much better than light armor (especially once you start getting magical armor).

There's also magic items, but I think most of those have already been mentioned. Most of the magic items I can think of only increase your AC, which is great when you already have a good AC, but is less helpful if your AC is terrible. What you really want is something that overrides your AC calculation entirely. For example, the Robes of the Archmage, except those still rely on DEX. But something like that.

Otherwise, another option is homebrew, but YMMV. Is this character going to see actual play (i.e. do you have a DM you can check with about homebrew?)? Or is this just a theoretical build?

[diplomancer]

For one, wear a shield.

Nothing says you can't have both a high STR and DEX. You can buy three 15's with point-buy, or two 15's a 14 and a 10. If you're not using a spellcasting attribute then you could go with a 15-17-14-8-11-8. At level 4, instead of taking +2 STR, you take +1 STR +1 DEX. The end result is that you have 1 less AC than a maxed DEX gives from light armor and the same STR as if you maxed STR.

Once you had maxed your attack stat (I assume STR?) at 12, you take resilient WIS or another +1 WIS feat to use the odd score there.

This works perfectly well for-among other classes-Barbarian, Fighter and Ranger (WIS actually does little for most worthwhile ranger spells or abilities). You can make it work with some Paladins.

Or a Rogue, which, being a High-Str Aarakocra means a very good and dangerous grappler.

[Segev]

There is a third-party fighter subclass called the Brawler that has an unarmed progression that is e die type ahead of the Monk's, and has a feature at level three that lets you use strength instead of dex for AC calculations if you're not wearing medium or heavy armor.

It's by Mage Hand Press in their Valda's Spire of Secrets book, for reference.

[Sillybird99]

If you play a moon druid your AC wont matter most of the time.

[Khrysaes]

Didn't think about this earlier, but bladesinger can add their INT modifier to AC.
Monks use their wisdom.

So 1 monk/2 bladesinger would give you 10+wis+int to AC.

Nothing STOPS you from using strength to attack

[da newt]

Build any range based PC and use your superior mobility to be (mostly) untargetable. But you said you wanted to play high ST, so that would make me assume you want to be in melee ...

Can you give us more of an idea of what you want to play so we can provide more useful advice?

[SLOTHRPG95]

Given you're building for Str but don't want to go Barb, I'll assume Fighter or Paladin (or maybe Ranger) is the goal. In any case, high Str doesn't preclude decent Dex, and putting a 16 there plus Defense fighting style gives you a perfectly serviceable AC 18 (studded leather + shield).

[Greywander]

Given you're building for Str but don't want to go Barb, I'll assume Fighter or Paladin (or maybe Ranger) is the goal.
Not necessarily. Anyone using weapon attacks could be STR-based. This includes things like rogues, monks, Bladesinger wizards, Hexblades/bladelocks, melee clerics, and so on. My guess is that they want to go STR so they can be a competent grappler, with the idea of grappling enemies, flying into the air, and dropping them. So even on builds where another stat is generally preferred over STR (e.g. rogues/monks and DEX, Hexblades and CHA), they still want STR to grapple with.

[Naanomi]

Probably tangential to your goal, but winged tieflings can fly with medium armor if that helps

[Foxydono]

Go Dex and get a belt of Giant Strength, problem solved! If you go barbarian you can take 14 Dex, 16 Con and 17 Str, which gives you 15 AC and 17 with shield. Decent enough at first level. Also, you won't need a very high AC since you take half damage.

The problem is not essily solved as 5e is trying its best to stay within bounded accuracy. Same problem for a monk if you dont roll for stats.

[Witty Username]

How low dex are we talking, if you have a 14 dex a shield and studded leather will get you a usable AC.
Bracers of defense? I think is the name of the item. Can also mitigate this issue, you may need to quest for one.

[heavyfuel]

I am considering playing an Aarakocra and giving it a high strength score

Why?

Str basically only affects carrying capacity and some melee attack/damage rolls (you can still use Dex for thrown weapons) and melee attacks don't make much use of your flying ability anyway

[Gurgeh]

You cannot use dexterity for thrown weapon unless they are also ranged (darts) or finesse (daggers). So no dice for handaxes, javelins, etc.

[heavyfuel]

You cannot use dexterity for thrown weapon unless they are also ranged (darts) or finesse (daggers). So no dice for handaxes, javelins, etc.

That still doesn't answer my question.

[diplomancer]

That still doesn't answer my question.

Grapple and drop, I suppose

[somethingrandom]

Firstly thank you for all the replies.
I had missed Barrier tattoos which were exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
To answer your questions.
I am not sure why I wanted to do this I just remember liking the idea, and I wanted to be able to carry my allies while flying. That being said grapple and drop does sound like fun.
I had not settled on a class (and still haven't) but at the time did not want to play a barbarian because I was playing one in another campaign and did not want to be playing the same class in 2 different campaigns at the same time.