Low AC Fighter, please help.

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

meltond

Sep 17, 2015 17:48:06

~~So I asked my daughter what character I should play next and she said Elf Fighter wielding two swords. So I went with a Battle Master with Dex as her primary stat, trouble is as a fighter my AC seems to suck.

 

My question is there any way to fix this?

 

Any advice would be warmly received.
.

#2

jaappleton

Sep 17, 2015 18:05:20 		Well, at lv1, you should have around 16 or 17 Dex. With Medium Armor that's 16 AC. That doesn't suck. If you meet the Strength requirement you can use Heavy Armor.
#3

Tempest_Stormwind

Sep 17, 2015 18:21:26

Seconding. It shouldn't suck, and it definitely won't if you get better armor. If you're really worried about it, you can use a feat for Defensive Duelist or pick up the Parry maneuver.

#4

bid

Sep 17, 2015 21:38:19

With starting equipment:

Heavy armor - chain mail is AC 16

Medium armor - scale mail is AC 16 with Dex14

Light armor - leather armor is AC 14 with Dex16

 

Medium armor has the same AC as heavy armor. Perhaps the real problem is you cannot use a shield with 2 weapons?

 

#5

Rya.Reisender

Sep 18, 2015 9:51:47

Not every fighter should tank all the damage, so it shouldn't actually be much of a problem? You are still able to tank more damage than the others simply because of Second Wind. There are some ways to increase AC even further... you could for example get the Dual Wielder feat which gives you AC+1 when you're dual wielding. That's half a shield.

#6

Mazzy

Sep 18, 2015 2:17:10

Yeah, without seeing your build I can only take a guess, but your first problem is probably wearing light armor instead of medium. Its counterintuitive, but even dex as your highest stat, scale mail will probably give you a better AC than the best light armor. The only drawback to scale is disadvantage to stealth, which might be a problem, but everything comes at a price.

 

You can go variant human and take Dual Wield for an extra +1, but TBH between fighter HP and second wind, I really would not worry about a 16 AC.

#7

Kithas48

Sep 18, 2015 5:14:01

also a quick level in draconic sorceror would give you 13+dex for your armor

and 2 casts of the shield spell

#8

Vulf

Sep 18, 2015 6:56:47

1 level of Barbarian will turn your fighter into a hero. You'll be way more durable than anyone else in the group.

 

Unarmored Defense, instead of wearing armor, your AC is 10 + Dexterity modifier + Constitution modifier.

 

Rage - 2 uses per day. Bonus action to use and you have to make 1 attack per round or it ends. You'll have resist all weapon attacks, which is everything from spears and clubs to a dragon's claw.

 

 

My Elf fighter took a level of Barbarian. In more than 1 big fight where I used Rage, my character sustained massive amounts of damage that would have killed the other 3 party members combined. Second Wind is actually useful when you are raging, since every hit point you heal means the enemy has to hit you for twice as much to deplete.

 

Barbarian requires 13 strength to multiclass in to, hopefully you didn't use strength as a dump stat, athletics is still important for dex based fighters afterall. If you don't meet the prerequisites, mayhaps your DM will allow you to multiclass if you ask nicely.

#9

pdegan2814

Sep 20, 2015 16:35:30

meltond wrote:
#10

meltond

Sep 21, 2015 2:28:00

Thanks for all the replies people.

 

pdegan2814:

 

Wood Elf level 4 Battlemaster.

 

Str 10

Dex 18

Con 14

Int 10

Wis 14

Cha 10

 

She is wearing Studded Leather and attacks with 2 Scimitars (i'm not sure I can attack twice?).  38 HP.

#11

jaappleton

Sep 21, 2015 3:30:08 		You can attack once and use your bonus action to perform an attack with the offhand weapon.
#12

Yunru

Sep 21, 2015 4:58:54 		That's a bare minimum AC of 14. Up to 18 AC with Dual Wielder and Mage Armor/Draconic Resilience.
(Reply to #10)

LordTwig

meltond wrote:
#14

Tempest_Stormwind

Sep 21, 2015 9:42:50

meltond wrote:
#15

pdegan2814

Sep 21, 2015 10:46:40

meltond wrote:
#16

meltond

Sep 22, 2015 3:37:43

pdegan2814 wrote:
#17

jaappleton

Sep 22, 2015 11:18:18 		No. You only ever get one bonus action for your whole turn. So you'd get three attacks.
#18

Tempest_Stormwind

Sep 22, 2015 13:25:33

meltond wrote:
#19

BRJN

Sep 22, 2015 18:13:56

I must be a natural "battleship admiral" because I think of a Fighter as a guy who is hard to hit (AC) and can take a lot of punishment (HP).  Your character concept (Legolas' knives?) sounds like a Ranger.

 

+1 to m/c Barbarian1.  (The Barbarian in the Tiamat group I DM for acts like she is immune to weapons; I'm going to try Witch Bolting her from atop a cliff and see if it accomplishes anything.) 

 

Plus if the idea IS to re-create Legolas, an Eagle Barbarian eventually gets to do this scene:

Aragorn: "Legolas, what do your Elven eyes see?"

Legolas (in The Who's musical voice): "I can see for miles and miles; I can see for miles and miles; I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles..."

 

#20

pdegan2814

Sep 23, 2015 9:42:48

BRJN wrote:
#21

Tempest_Stormwind

Sep 23, 2015 12:37:41

pdegan2814 wrote: