Armor in 5e

I have gotten the feeling, that Heavy armor isn't particularly useful in 5e. Or at least it seems to be overshadowed by the benefits of everything else. Light armors don't have the downsides of no dex bonus and disadvantage on stealth checks. Light armors get these nice dex bonuses, making them an absolute bargain compared to the cost of say, full plate. Spell armors seem better and more useful as well.

AC18 doesn't seem like much, and fighters in heavy armor seem to end up using the HP pool as their tank ability, rather then trusting in their armor.

Does anyone have any fixes, or alternative rules for armor in 5e that can make wearing the heavier varieties more useful, without having to rely on burning levels on feats?

Medium armor gets damage reduction equal to half the AC value of the armor. Heavy armor gets damage reduction equal to the AC value of the armor. Solves most problems.

>AC18 doesn't seem like much
Light and medium armor cap at 17 (15+2 and 12+5), except I guess mage armor, but that takes a slot.

You are literally always better off with heavy armor than without, as long as you can wear it.

>Light and medium armor cap at 17
That seems ridiculous that light armor can be almost as effective as full plate.

>Light and medium armor cap at 17 (15+2 and 12+5), except I guess mage armor, but that takes a slot.
>You are literally always better off with heavy armor than without, as long as you can wear it.

The only AC 18 armor is Full plate. 1500 gold vs 45 gold for studded leather and investing in Dex.

Doesn't seem like a great trade off really. Fighter spends all this money for AC 18, and some git in leather spandex with some metal rivets can essentially match the custom fitted plate.

>The only AC 18 armor is Full plate. 1500 gold vs 45 gold for studded leather and investing in Dex.

There's nothing to spend gold on in 5e. Or you could just loot one, whatever.

>That seems ridiculous that light armor can be almost as effective as full plate.

You need 20 DEX for that.

The light armor still only adds +2.

I kinda disagree here.
18 AC doesn't seem like much due to reduced number bloat aka bounded accuracy. But let's see: without extra feat investment fighters end up with 18 after the first major treasure drop, which usually occurs around level 4-5 when you're going by what modules suggest.
18 AC and all the points you want into STR and CON to give you a decent HP pool and dpr. Defense fighting style makes it a 19.
Rouges and other dex classes can't even reach 17 by that point if you go with non-rolled characters.
Dragon sorcs and mage armor casters get 18 only if they max DEX.
Barbarians and monks sure can get to 20, but only with major stat investment.
Most other characters are also stuck around 16-18 with high, usually off class stat costs.

The reason why AC seems irrelevant late in the game is due to everything having very high to hits, yet while fighters avoid a hit and their huge HP pool only gets hurt most other characters get utterly wrecked in such situations due to lower AC AND lower HP pools.
Things like +x armors and shields, defenders and buffing spells (shield of faith, haste etc) bring even more AC options (if the party likes to share the fun of spellcasting or paladins or whatever.)
Also don't forget cover while at range.

Tldr: heavy armor gets you 18 ac at 15 STR for only some money. Rouges fart around at 13 with their primary stat at 15.
The game has enough options to raise AC to respectable levels that still negate hits on low monster rolls while other characters can get hit just as often or all the fucking time at lower max. Hp.
Also the GM can provide even more if he likes a high power level.

Well OP, here is the big problem. DnD has always been about the magic users. Thieves love their sneak attacks, etc. It's damn hard to be a tank in the game, armor is almost always useless unless you have some magic enchantments on it. LFQW really screws players who enjy martial combat.

But you know what, a good dm could mod it to make it enjoyable for you. But the quick answer is that combat is pretty messed up in DnD. A dagger would hurt, but if you actually took a hit form a longsword, you'd just die, or lose a limb.

The thing is: unless your GM is mega stingy about money 1500 Gold is something that's easily paid around level 5-7. Later on money becomes even more meaningless without the GM putting some serious thought behind his economy. Vanilla 5e bathes you in gold at that point.

>A dagger would hurt, but if you actually took a hit form a longsword, you'd just die, or lose a limb.

This. Ever take a hit from a mace? That's game over for the most people. Even a 'glancing' blow from a mace is going to fuck over a limb.

Ditto an axe, or sword.

But as you said, it's a game, and it wouldn't be fun to flat out die from one hit.

Also light and medium armor require decent to High DEX. Not every character wants to go that route, especially since a lot of the high damage options are locked behind STR based elements of the game. 18 AC without further stat investment yet having strong DPR is a damn good combination. If you just want to be Tankman you surely can be a DEX finesse fighter and get up to 20 AC yet still be dangerous at all ranges. But you won't be as scary up close as the Greatswordman that rerolls bad 2d6 damage rolls, power attacks at +10 damage and still has 18 AC without caring one bit about DEX.

>without extra feat investment fighters end up with 18 after the first major treasure drop, which usually occurs around level 4-5 when you're going by what modules suggest.
the career of PCs is loosely charted???? what kinds of faggotry is this???

eh, crossbow/sharpshooter fighters are pretty scary damage-wise. but that's not heavy armor's fault.

I think the point is that AC18 doesn't feel like anything special.

That's always been a problem in DnD.

That's a shitton of DR.

Fuck yes it is.

But fuck, I would love to wear that armor. I'd probably have it ruled as DR in a turn, so it wouldn't be against every hit, but being able to shrug off 18 damage a turn is nothing to bitch about.

I'd add to your rule, that it is ONLY the DR of the armor. No bonuses, etc. So no +2 dex mod on the medium armors.

I think I would get zero complaints from my players about these changes.

Would make non-monstrous mooks a bit tougher too, which is a nice side benefit.

Easily rectified with some moderate DR, increased AC or reduction in penalties from wearing heavy armor. Just house rule it, baby!

Though watch out, I've seen low to mid-level players in heavy armor and shield sporting a 24 AC without much effort, and they're hard to hit for most mooks.

As a shameless Dexfag, I assert that it comes down to how versatile your main ability is, which usually ends up being Dex, Str for melee dudes, or casting abilities for casters, and almost always Con as second or third for the extra HP pool should things belly-up. The mighty Dex/Reflex save + the AC boost + finesse/ranged damage is what draws people like myself to the stat, not even mentioning Stealth and Acrobatics for if you want to be a sneaky/flippy motherfucker and saving cash on armor and high-damage weapons.

Str to me is a damage stat and not much else, and the game tries to make up for that by having melee weapons do more damage than Dex weapons by default. Now to the actual point. Because it focuses so much on damage, you have to make up for your shortcomings. Spend for big weapons to maximize your Str damage and big armor to maximize what you've "lost" by not investing in Dex, pooling Con so you don't have to worry about saves.

As for fixing armor, making it damage reduction gets weird due to HP not being pure meatpoints, but rather an abstraction of physical health and stamina. Though since damage reduction IS what armor does, perhaps something along "damage reduction while over a certain percentage of health" due to being more easily worn down while wearing chunks of metal on you?

>I've seen low to mid-level players in heavy armor and shield sporting a 24 AC without much effort, and they're hard to hit for most mooks.

How do you get 24 AC in 5e?

You put into words what every STR based player has ever felt.

The Dex player seems to have little to no limitations, and the Dex Save almost always saves you from taking huge hits. Meanwhile, the lumbering tank takes full damage, regardless of his AC. It really makes you question your choice.

Meanwhile, you all see the images of a knight holding a shield up to the fire from a dragon, and say FUCK YEAH, screw dex, I AM GOING TO WADE INTO THIS SEA OF PAIN TO GO FUCK THAT GUY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM UP!

That would make armor cool to us armorfags.

I'm also curious about this.

Using a shield doesn't even apply a bonus to your Dexterity save, unless you feat it.

Let's say I'm in a monstrous japanese game show and I'm told I'll have an enormous roaring inferno explode in a sphere around me soon, and I get to choose whether I wanted a shield but in return I would have to wear lead boots so I couldn't dodge out of the way of it, I'd still take the shield 100% of the time.

All heavy armor offers 1 DR against non-magical damage (doesn't stack with the Heavy Armor Mastery feat).

A single point might sound like a pittance but it'll still be a neat passive ability that comes with wearing armor, free of charge.

Welcome to D&D since 3e.

You can literally drop like maybe one magic +1 shortsword and one magic +1 shortbow, and zero other gold and equipment all the way to level 20, and your party is gonna be FINE.

Hell, even if you don't drop any magic weapons, all that's gonna happen is the party is gonna have to run away from certain specific monsters and play it smart.

They seriously mean it when they say that you can drop as many or as few magic items as you like.

If anything, the game will be less overly easy if you're stingy as fuck. At least, if your party is 4+ player characters.
Party size is a huge deal for 5e's difficulty (if the challenge guidelines should make sense for a moderately optimized and experienced party with good class balance and no cheese, you honestly want a party size of around 3 player characters. Otherwise "medium encounter" means "teeth-grindingly trivial waste of time encounter")

Could simply give out Heavy Armor Mastery for free. Strength is significantly weaker than Dexterity as a main stat as it is, so a solid bump won't fuck anything up.