Mage Armour + Unarmoured Defense

[Fishmonger]

Shouldn't my barbarian technically have 18 AC?

13 base with mage armour
+2 Dex
+3 from Con

It's only showing I have 15 AC.

[Indure]

Spells or racial abilities that change the base armor level usually can't be stacked with other special bonuses.

In 5e mage armor reads "The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier". So it shouldn't be compatible with the barbarian's feature, specifically to stop exploits like this, that give ridiculous AC values if they could be used.

[Comuse]

5e is specifically designed to stop players from thinking, you don't get bonuses you get different methods of calculating ac.

[Alealexi]

Mage armor and unarmored defense does not stack. You use one or the other.

[Spazz Dragon]

There are other ways of getting bonuses to your AC that do stack. Magic items are the major one. The Shield of faith spell grants +2 to AC so long as the caster maintains concentration on the spell. Shadowheart starts with that spell by default. So you could have her cast it on your character. And dropping down from a two handed weapon to a classic sword and board (Especially if the shield is enchanted) can all combine into a really high AC total.

[Alealexi]

Let me make it clearer. Spell, feature, or item that changes the function on how AC is calculated will not stack. So Mage Armor will not stack with Unarmored Defense or normal armor calculation as those abilities change how your AC is calculated. You choose one or the other but normally it is the highest AC calculation that gets pick.

Items that give you +1 or +2 for example does not change AC calculation as all they do is give you a bonus to your AC after your AC total is calculated.

[IrraStormfury]

This is complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It does stack. Literally one says that Dex is added to AC if you are not wearing armor, while the other says it sets your basic AC to 13+dex if you are not wearing an armor.

How am I supposed to play an expert game, if the game does not give me the opportunity to stack bonuses to exploit it? Might as well they make it a telltale game, without a system and only a story.

[KyleTheNinja]

i mean it would obviously be a better game if it had full pathfinder rules but damn would that be some work and some extra work to try and fail to balance

[Webberjo]

The wording on the abilities is confusing and could be clearer.

Unarmored Defense: Sets base AC to Clothing AC + CON modifier.
Mage Armor: Sets base AC to 13.

When read this way, it makes sense why they don't stack.

[CorwynCorey]

Originally posted by Drew:

Shouldn't my barbarian technically have 18 AC?

13 base with mage armour
+2 Dex
+3 from Con

It's only showing I have 15 AC.

It does not stack. mage Armour OR Unarmoured defence (Barbarian) OR Unarmoured defence (monk)

All mutually exclusive