Monk's Unarmored Defense and AC bumps...

[Kerilstrasz]

Assume A lvl 2 monk with Unarmored Defense.
Unarmored Defense
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.

Does that mean that (assuming i never wear armor or shields) i can NEVER benefit from spells, class traits or other that modify AC?

Examples...
1) Mage Armor
The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier
2) Bladesinger Bladesong
You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1)
3) Any magic item that...
You gain a +1 bonus to AC

Why i am asking...
Unarmored Defense states : your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
So... that is a set number (assuming Dex & Wis always stay the same).
So if i slap Bracers of Defense on me, i shouldn't get the AC bonus because "my AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

What I do (or do not) do wrong???

[Amnestic]

You can use Mage Armor *instead* of Unarmored Defense, so if your WisMod is lower than +3, this would be a net boon for your AC.

You would gain the full benefit of bladesong, which would stack with unarmoured defense.
Assuming the magic item isn't armour (such as a Ring of Protection) you would gain the full benefit, which would stack with unarmoured defense. This also works with Bracers of Defense.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Mage Armor wouldn’t add anything because it works directly over your base AC.

The other two options, however, I understand it would bump your AC because it’s a straight flat bonus that doesn’t go against Monk requirements to set their AC when unarmored. For instance, Defense fighting style gives you a bonus, but demands you to wear an armor, which goes against unarmored defense.

[Unoriginal]

Assume A lvl 2 monk with Unarmored Defense.
Unarmored Defense
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.

Does that mean that (assuming i never wear armor or shields) i can NEVER benefit from spells, class traits or other that modify AC?

Examples...
1) Mage Armor
The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier
2) Bladesinger Bladesong
You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1)
3) Any magic item that...
You gain a +1 bonus to AC

Features that say "your AC is equal to X+Y" or similar wording don't stack with Unarmored Defense.

Features that state "+Z to AC" do affect Unarmored Defense (unless stated otherwise, like shields).



Why i am asking...
Unarmored Defense states : your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
So... that is a set number (assuming Dex & Wis always stay the same).
So if i slap Bracers of Defense on me, i shouldn't get the AC bonus because "my AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

What I do (or do not) do wrong???

AC = 10 + DEX mod + WIS mod. Features, items and the like that state "+Z to AC" always add to the AC equation.

So it'll be AC = 10 + DEX mod + WIS mod + Bracers of Defense mod.

[Kerilstrasz]

So, in short, if it says "add X to your AC" it works.
If it says "your AC becomes" (like mage armor) it doesn't.

Nice :)
Thnx all

[diplomancer]

The Dragon Queen masks also allow you to add your Cha to AC if you're not wearing armor. This also would stack.

If there were a similar item that allowed to add Wis to AC, I don't think it would stack though.

[Unoriginal]

If there were a similar item that allowed to add Wis to AC, I don't think it would stack though.

As long as they're different sources/differently-named abilities, it should stack.

Same way that you can make +CHA mod to damage effects stack.

[Psyren]

Bracers of Defense work with Unarmored Defense. So does Bladesong (though the multiclassing/MAD there is rough) and so does the Shield spell. All of these give a bonus that applies to your AC calculation.

Mage Armor however does not, because it gives you an alternate way to calculate your AC, so you have to choose which one you're using and ignore the other.

[strangebloke]

So, in short, if it says "add X to your AC" it works.
If it says "your AC becomes" (like mage armor) it doesn't.

Nice :)
Thnx all

Not exactly. You can still use mage armor, it just replaces your unarmored AC. Which enables builds that dump wisdom. The tortle natural armor let's you dump dexterity and/or wisdom

[CapnWildefyr]

For completeness, though kinda obvious... any magic items that raise your Dex or Wis directly also help, like ioun stones, some boots (iirc). etc.

I think Con should also stack for a Giff monk... if you can get a giff to want to punch things instead of blow them up, that is. (Wow, that's a thought... giff monk... a bit MAD though to try for three high stats... maybe if you roll lucky enough and do not use point buy?) Anyway any race that has a natural "toughness" or natural "hide armor" should also stack that into the calculation.

[Unoriginal]

For completeness, though kinda obvious... any magic items that raise your Dex or Wis directly also help, like ioun stones, some boots (iirc). etc.

I think Con should also stack for a Giff monk... if you can get a giff to want to punch things instead of blow them up, that is. (Wow, that's a thought... giff monk... a bit MAD though to try for three high stats... maybe if you roll lucky enough and do not use point buy?) Anyway any race that has a natural "toughness" or natural "hide armor" should also stack that into the calculation.

Most "natural armor" features do not stack with Unarmored Defense, as they are separate armor calculations.

[strangebloke]

Barbarian monks can dump wisdom for constitution, though stunning strike becomes bad.

Mage armor let's you dump wisdom and do whatever, though your AC gets capped. Good for a ranged monk that never uses stunning strike though.

Tortle monks can dump dexterity and/or wisdom, though they still use the letter for stunning strike.

Loxodont astral monks can dump dexterity for constitution. It's not great but it does work and it's kind of cool.

[Psyren]

Barbarian monks can dump wisdom for constitution, though stunning strike becomes bad.

Just to add for this one - you'd also need 13 Str, Dex and Wis (and presumably 14+ Con to survive melee) on a multiclass that gets no bonus ASIs and delays the ones they do get.

(I know you know that, just highlighting)

[CapnWildefyr]

Most "natural armor" features do not stack with Unarmored Defense, as they are separate armor calculations.

What I recall of the giff may not be "official," so may not apply. Don't think it's an official playable race yet? However, as an example, it was a case where the base AC starts off as 12 due to natural hide, then + Con (+ Dex). I wouldn't see why it would be inappropriate to start the monk calculation off with another number besides 10, provided the feature is written such that it's your species's AC is X + Y + Z, where X is > 10, or where your bonuses apply to base AC without in any way involving armor or anything otherwise restricted by the monk class (like a shield). The class shouldn't remove racial features, especially for races that came along long after the PHB was published.

[Unoriginal]

What I recall of the giff may not be "official," so may not apply. Don't think it's an official playable race yet? However, as an example, it was a case where the base AC starts off as 12 due to natural hide, then + Con (+ Dex). I wouldn't see why it would be inappropriate to start the monk calculation off with another number besides 10, provided the feature is written such that it's your species's AC is X + Y + Z, where X is > 10, or where your bonuses apply to base AC without in any way involving armor or anything otherwise restricted by the monk class (like a shield). The class shouldn't remove racial features, especially for races that came along long after the PHB was published.

Most races that give a natural armor has "your AC is X + DEX mod" as the text, and X is generally 12 or 13.

It does not stack with the Monk's Unarmored Defense, but you can choose which one you use (generally, choosing the one who is higher).

[JackPhoenix]

Just to add for this one - you'd also need 13 Str, Dex and Wis (and presumably 14+ Con to survive melee) on a multiclass that gets no bonus ASIs and delays the ones they do get.

(I know you know that, just highlighting)

You also don't get to choose which version of Unarmored Defense you'll get in such case, you'll only get the one from the first class you've picked: "If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature, you can't gain it again from another class."