Land Druid and it's AC problems

[Naanomi]

Slightly off-topic, but I'm surprised that there are no rules for a Warlock losing class features. Given that your powers are based on a pact with a powerful being, I'd have thought there would mechanical consequences if you refuse to serve that being or actively work against it.

Clerics as well, though in both cases it probably depends a bit on the specifics of the character and the setting. I can imagine a warlock's pact being power that 'can't be taken back', so that a jilted patron has to actively work against their Warlock rather than just 'cut off the juice'. Overall, with the very slight exception of Paladin, the idea of a 'fallen' class has seemed to been phased out

Yeah, I think saying something like 'most druids will not wear metal armour' or 'druid orders do not permit their members to wear metal armour' would have solved a lot of issues. You still have the vast majority of druids eschewing metal armour, but you also have the possibility of exceptions.

The struggle that creates, to me, is that *every* PC would be 'the exception' because of gamist concerns (I mean, do you ever see a fighter in Chain Mail for 'rp reasons'?). I would have liked some minor, but annoying, mechanical effects myself (takes an extra use of wildshape? Difficulty with concentration checks?). I could envision a subclass, or even background (heretic: background benefit: can ignore strictures of religions etc) that removes the restriction but still keeps it 'rare' in some way

What I got in response could be summed up as 'Previous editions did it.'

Well... the more relevant point for me is: 'campaign settings were built with the assumptions and aesthetics of previous editions, so to keep consistency in those settings I maintain it' much more than 'old edition fluff applies universally to new editions'