Any way to mitigate/benefit from having no armor as a barbarian?

[Googley Eye'd Bastard]

I'm going into the game for the first time with a character in the style of a Warhammer fantasy Dwarf Slayer, no armor two hander or dual wield axe or hammer possibly with throwing axes too. Dwarf slayers are often gruff and rude to almost everyone else because their one and only long term goal in life is finding their doom essentially dying in combat with powerful enemies.

Now while I enjoy this character I do actually want to play the game so dying easy isn't what I want after all they are expected to actively try to fight and survive no easy deaths bring them to grimnir's hall. So any advice on making my character actually have some suitability with no real armor is appriciated.

[Rabbit]

Well as a barbarian you get your dex AND con modifiers added to your AC if you don't wear armor, which probably still won't be a whole lot but helps. If you want to stay that way but are willing to spec for durability, a wildheart bear barbarian gets some extra durability.

[[Countess]Vol†z]

Pretty sure there is something called "unarmored defense" for barbarian. And Bear wildheart is the tankest of the paths.

[Mork]

Wild Heart Barbarian with a bear heart

Bear Heart
While raging, you can use Unrelenting Ferocity, and have Resistance to all damage except psychic damage.

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Wildheart
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Bear+Heart

[Googley Eye'd Bastard]

Originally posted by Boon: Safeword:

Well as a barbarian you get your dex AND con modifiers added to your AC if you don't wear armor, which probably still won't be a whole lot but helps. If you want to stay that way but are willing to spec for durability, a wildheart bear barbarian gets some extra durability.

Originally posted by MissVol†z ᴘɪᴘɪꜱ:

Pretty sure therw is something called "unarmored defense" for barbarian. And Bear wildheart is the tankest of the paths.

What is a path? is that like a class upgrade later on? and its good to know for the dex and con slayers are not the speediest in a sprint due to their short legs but in combat face to face their no slowpokes.

Unarmored defense is that gained like a perk or something?

[Blood Flowers]

There's a weapon with the Force Conduit perk that gives a stacking +1 flat damage reduction per attack with that weapon. Scales well with rage that already gives you resistance to physical damage.

Barbarian AC scales with CON so having high CON will help both in terms of sheer health pool (again really good when you have resistance to all physical damage). Alternatively, if you're willing to use a finesse weapon, you can go Dex for AC and worry less about CON but use Mage Armor instead.

There's a ring in Act 1 that you can get pretty early on that gives +1 AC and +1 Saving Throws. (Mol's quest in Grove)

There's also a pair of gloves early in Act 1 that gives +2 AC when wearing no armor/shield (perfect for a barbarian). (Blighted Village alchemy cellar)

Shield of Faith + Warding Bond if you really need it (can be cast by a character at your camp then remove them from your party, just be careful they don't die while you're fighting).

In mountain pass you can pick up a robe that gives +2 DEX (effectively +1 AC).

Early in Act 2 you can pick up a cape that gives another +1 AC.

[Rabbit]

Originally posted by Googley Eye'd Bastard:

Originally posted by Boon: Safeword:

Well as a barbarian you get your dex AND con modifiers added to your AC if you don't wear armor, which probably still won't be a whole lot but helps. If you want to stay that way but are willing to spec for durability, a wildheart bear barbarian gets some extra durability.

Originally posted by MissVol†z ᴘɪᴘɪꜱ:

Pretty sure therw is something called "unarmored defense" for barbarian. And Bear wildheart is the tankest of the paths.

What is a path? is that like a class upgrade later on? and its good to know for the dex and con slayers are not the speediest in a sprint due to their short legs but in combat face to face their no slowpokes.

Unarmored defense is that gained like a perk or something?

unarmored defense comes with level 1 barbarian so you'd be built that way from the start

[wendigo211]

You can try to lean into it. With rage you get resistance to physical damage and Barbs have a lot of HP. Since enemies tend to target the character with the lowest AC (assuming there are no concentrating targets around), you can take the heat off of some of your other party members. It's probably a bit more viable a strategy in act 3 when you have the Sword of Chaos which heals you for 1d6 whenever you hit an opponent.

One option which might work is a Barbarian/Warlock with Armor of Agathys and later Fireshield, so that it hurts an opponent when they hit you.

[[Countess]Vol†z]

Originally posted by Googley Eye'd Bastard:

...

All that I know in game is that barbs get unarmored defense at lvl 1 by default. It just means that your AC will be calculated by your base Dex + Con score + armor score. And the subclass paths come at lvl 3 I believe. Bear is under wildheart subclass and it will mitigate some damage while your enraged.

I have not played much barb yet in game, my experience, funny enough, is playing a barb dwarf on tabletop.

[parent child bowl]

You will eventually want to wear medium armor. Items are so strong in BG3 that the benefits of being unarmored won't be able to compete with wearing armor really fast.

[Moffin Bovin]

just rage and use reckless swings with great weapon master every turn.

Don't worry too much about AC. The enemies all have advantage to hit you anyway. You got tons of hp and damage reduction.

[Agony_Aunt]

Note, you don't have to be unarmoured, you can wear medium armour with no problem. It will disable unarmoured defence, but you can get a bit better AC with it, depending on your CON, at least, until you get some DEX/CON boosting items. You could take a feat to wear heavy armour, but that will disable rage, so you don't want to do that.

You want the Amulet of Greater Health, but you can't get that until you're well into Act 3.

There are items you can get that increase DEX by 2 in Act 1 or 1.5.

[アンジェル]

Armour is overrated anyroads. Abjuration Wizards show the way ~

[HandyVac]

Have someone cast Mage Armour or Barkskin on them to get a few more points of AC until the next Long Rest.

[Moonbane]

Fighters all the day, barbs takes too much damage or needs intense babysitting to survive.

[deadsanta]

It's easy to have a high AC early on as a naked monk or barb, and you only miss out on significant damage mitigation later on once magical plate makes an appearance. Before that, it's the standard trade off between damage and armor: Great Weapon Master/offence picks vs Heavy Armor Mastery/+1 defense pick. You can be AC 22 in Act, naked, at level 4 before a single spell is cast on you (+3 Dex, +5 Con, ring, gloves, boots of evasion). Shortly after you'll be 23 from a dex robe, 24 from a cloak, and 25 from a Dex stat boost at level 8, if you care to spend that way. That's if you go all-in as evasion defense, most people will skip a stat for tavern brawler or GWM, and then you can get a +2 from spells easy.

Try it naked, I bet you like it, don't forget to rage!