LogFAQs > #896678666

shadowsword87 posted...

That depends on the edition.
In 3.5 you had spell chance failure, which sucked dealing with it. Plus they piled on negative modifiers if you didn't know what you were doing until you cried yourself to sleep.
In 4e it just wasn't an option, plus magic users got their INT bonus to AC, so it was fine.
In 5e there's a "just don't" part. "If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or Attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you cant cast Spells."

Yeah, I was aware of earlier editions having built-in restrictions to spellcasting in heavy armor (or any armor). I played Baldur's Gate, which was running off AD&D 2e rules.

But I was mostly interested in 5e (which is where most of my interest lies these days in terms of D&D edition preference - it just seems like the best system they've ever really had in terms of simplicity, functionality, and accessibility, which is a large part of why I think the hobby has taken off so strongly online recently, even with people who'd never really RPed before). And from what I'd read, it seemed like the only restriction in 5e was that you suffer penalties from wearing armor you're not proficient in, but you can essentially become proficient in pretty much anything with only a single level multiclassed into a class that has the proficiency you want, with pretty much zero drawback to doing so (other than potentially sacrificing your 20th level of your main class, but for most classes the 20th level isn't that great anyway, and realistically you probably won't be PLAYING much after that point, assuming you even get there at all). So I was wondering if there was a rule against that somewhere that I missed, or if it was a loophole that they just expected DMs to disallow if they thought their players were being Munchkins.

Though speaking of multiclassing shenanigans and suboptimal builds, while I was thinking about my Dex Paladin concept, I was also thinking about having it start as a Sorcerer at first level, more or less solely for the cantrips (and more specifically, for Prestidigitation and Mending, just so they could keep themselves and their clothes magically clean in their travels... because no one says a Paladin can't suffer from vanity - and hell, Paladins of a god like Sune might actually require it). Though that could also open the door to cloth armor/Mage Armor shenanigans, which could make said Paladin even more of a Dex-tank.



shadowsword87 posted...

As with all of the editions, you could get feats to get more armor proficiency, but feats are precious and few and far between to get AC bonuses in 6 levels.

Speaking of buying feats, that was another question I sort of had.

When they say you essentially give up a stat boost to take a feat instead, do they mean you're giving up both possible points you get from your "Ability Score Improvement" feature that level, or does it only cost one of the two possible points?

Because I'm assuming it's the former, but the way it's written I could see it being taken to mean the latter as well, and I'm not entirely sure which is correct.


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