Why bother with Heavy Armor?

[ioci]

So far, I see no reason to wear a Heavy Armor as long as a character has 10 or more Dex. Shouldn't other armor types have lower AC by default? Seeing Robe having 10 AC while a basic heavy armor was only 4 points AC better confuses me a lot.

[PapaGiorgio]

Light armor is AC + full dex modifier
Medium armor is AC + a maximum of 2 from dex modifier
Heavy Armor has no dex modifier

Remember this is your modifier, not your dexterity score. Someone with 10 dex has a dex modifier of 0. 12 is a modifier of +1, 14 is +2, and so on. (8 is -1)

The best heavy armor tends to have more AC than light or medium armor for any reasonably attainable amount of dex, but has a minimum strength requirement to wear properly (not sure how this is represented in BG3, if at all) and heavy armor proficiency is not super common.

To elaborate

Best Light armor (studded leather) with the (normal) maximum of 20 dex is 12+5 = 17 AC
Best Medium Armor (half plate) is 15+ 2 = 17 AC
Best Heavy Armor (plate) is straight 18 AC

While light armor theoretically can almost match plate, you will be able to get plate long before you get to 20 dex, so for someone with the strength and proficiency to wear heavy armor, that is probably the route you would go.

A similar argument holds between light armor and medium armor. If you can wear both, you'll probably be wearing medium armor until a higher level where your dex modifier catches up to medium armor's higher base AC.

[Mordaedil]

Because medium armor caps dexterity bonus to 14 and maximum dexterity is still 20. This means the largest bonuses from Dexterity gained is 5 to AC from light armors and 2 from medium armors. The best light armor is studded leather armor which is 12 + Dex and the best medium armor is 15 + Dex(2).

[Ka-mai19]

To add on what's been said, heavy armor also makes it harder for enemies to shove and throw you. I think it also makes it less likely that you'll be pushed away by magic or arrowheads.

[[Redacted]]

You have 10 AC by default ... like naked with 10-11 in dexterity. Robes and clothes give no armor while a heavy armor gives you "high" AC but no bonus from dex and disadvantage in stealth rolls.

[Lynne]

Historically because you could lose your dex AC bonus if you weren't able to dodge due to being unconscious, paralyzed etc.

5E kinda unbalanced this when they made the game more casual but it's difficult to say with Larian's homebrew.

[ioci]

Thanks guys, didn't know that naked was a 10 and medium had a cap on dex bonus. The AC value on that basic Heavy Armor makes sense for me now.
Another quick question, usually in DnD, how many AC could a good Heavy Armor be?

[Malus]

Originally posted by DareDevar:

You have 10 AC by default ... like naked with 10-11 in dexterity. Robes and clothes give no armor while a heavy armor gives you "high" AC but no bonus from dex and disadvantage in stealth rolls.

Some Medium armor also gives disadvantage on stealth so people have to watch out for that if they use stealth a lot.

[Mordaedil]

Originally posted by ioci:

Thanks guys, didn't know that naked was a 10 and medium had a cap on dex bonus. The AC value on that basic Heavy Armor makes sense for me now.
Another quick question, usually in DnD, how many AC could a good Heavy Armor be?

The highest AC you can get is a +3 Plate armor which puts your AC at a total of 21. You can then use a shield which gives you another +2 to AC for 23. You can get shields in +3 variant too, for a total of 26. Furthermore if you play as an eldritch knight you gain access to the Shield spell which grants you +5 AC as a reaction, putting you at 31 and if you cast haste (or a cleric casts shield of faith on you) you can get a maximum total AC of 33.

That is the absolute peak AC and it requires the rarest magical items in the game.

[Graygan]

All of which makes level 1 Mage Armor one of the most overpowered and "required" spells in 5e.

Same goes for Shield of Faith with divine casters.

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Mordaedil:

Originally posted by ioci:

Thanks guys, didn't know that naked was a 10 and medium had a cap on dex bonus. The AC value on that basic Heavy Armor makes sense for me now.
Another quick question, usually in DnD, how many AC could a good Heavy Armor be?

The highest AC you can get is a +3 Plate armor which puts your AC at a total of 21. You can then use a shield which gives you another +2 to AC for 23. You can get shields in +3 variant too, for a total of 26. Furthermore if you play as an eldritch knight you gain access to the Shield spell which grants you +5 AC as a reaction, putting you at 31 and if you cast haste (or a cleric casts shield of faith on you) you can get a maximum total AC of 33.

That is the absolute peak AC and it requires the rarest magical items in the game.

actually if you cast haste on yourself, and the cleric castes shield of faith on you as well - the AC is 35

[Malus]

Originally posted by Graygan:

All of which makes level 1 Mage Armor one of the most overpowered and "required" spells in 5e.

Same goes for Shield of Faith with divine casters.

Well for mage armor you cant already be wearing armor. AND shield of faith only last 10 minutes.

RAW below.

You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action.

[ioci]

Originally posted by Mordaedil:

Originally posted by ioci:

Thanks guys, didn't know that naked was a 10 and medium had a cap on dex bonus. The AC value on that basic Heavy Armor makes sense for me now.
Another quick question, usually in DnD, how many AC could a good Heavy Armor be?

The highest AC you can get is a +3 Plate armor which puts your AC at a total of 21. You can then use a shield which gives you another +2 to AC for 23. You can get shields in +3 variant too, for a total of 26. Furthermore if you play as an eldritch knight you gain access to the Shield spell which grants you +5 AC as a reaction, putting you at 31 and if you cast haste (or a cleric casts shield of faith on you) you can get a maximum total AC of 33.

That is the absolute peak AC and it requires the rarest magical items in the game.

Thanks for the details. 23 AC sounds good enough without spells. Guess its worthy to prepare for a Heavy Armor build after all.

[Hobocop]

Yeah, it's not so much a problem with heavy armor specifically, but the current availability of it. Platemail is real nice...once you can get your hands on it.

[SpicyCrab]

Originally posted by caev37:

To add on what's been said, heavy armor also makes it harder for enemies to shove and throw you. I think it also makes it less likely that you'll be pushed away by magic or arrowheads.

Wow that's a very cool touch from Larian! Very creative!

[ioci]

Originally posted by Hobocop:

Yeah, it's not so much a problem with heavy armor specifically, but the current availability of it. Platemail is real nice...once you can get your hands on it.

Sounds promising.

Originally posted by caev37:

To add on what's been said, heavy armor also makes it harder for enemies to shove and throw you. I think it also makes it less likely that you'll be pushed away by magic or arrowheads.

Wait, it wasn't because the guy wearing heavy armor had a high constitution? And so far only Ethel ever pushed my char, nobody else.