"Unarmored Defense: Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."
Dex equals 20 (+5), Wisdom equals 17 (+3), so the total should be 18. It is 17.
Looks like the Character App is incorrectly applying the Tortle’s “Natural Armor” calculation instead of the Monk’s “Unarmored Defense” calculation. It’s supposed to apply whichever available calculation results in the highest total AC, and usually it does this correctly—but in this case it seems to be doing it incorrectly.
On the one hand, I find this fascinating, because it offers a rare window into what precisely the Character App may be doing—or rather, not doing—behind the scenes. (That is, clearly it’s not calculating every possibility and then using a MAX function to identify the greatest value and apply that value—which would’ve been my guess five minutes ago.)
On the other hand, unfortunately there’s probably not anything you can do about this on your end. This certainly appears to be an issue with how the backend is handling multiple possible AC formulae.
It’s because they had to tell the system to not include Dex in the Tortle’s Unarmored AC to accommodate RAW, and it has this funky interaction with Unarmored Defense features.
That's a shame, because Tortle Monk is an extremely common character. I don't have data but I would not be surprised if Monk was the most common class for a Tortle, potentially by a decent margin. Not only is it a good combination, particularly at tiers one an two, but it's also got TMNT flavor and how is that not awesome?
Then again, I suppose this issue is likely to affect Tortle Barbarians too. Not precisely an edge case, sadly. :/
Most people who build Tortle Monks are doing it so they can not worry about Unarmored Defense at all and only have two worry about 2 main stats instead of 3.
Which two stats are you referring to? DEX and CON, I'm assuming?
If I were going to build a monk (and I cared about optimization - which, full disclosure, I don't always), I'd prioritize DEX, then WIS, then CON - and I'd do this regardless of race. DEX is your main damage stat; it's what your Martial Arts and your Monk Weapons all ki off of. (ba dum tss) WIS is your save DC for Stunning Strike and whatever else you may be throwing out that's not just a hit roll. CON is HP - undeniably useful, yes, but not as important as the former two, especially at tiers where just getting hit at all is going to smart no matter how much HP you realistically have.
Yes, not having to worry about Unarmored Defense is certainly a plus, at least at lower levels. (By the time you get to 8th or 12th level, it's not a big concern anyway since you'll likely have close to +7 between DEX and WIS anyway.) But in reality I wouldn't really run a monk with "only" two main stats anyway unless those stats were DEX and WIS. Even with Natural Armor I'd expect to still be swapping my AC to Unarmored Defense in tier 3, even if I weren't "building for that" at all.
ETA: We might want to take this discussion to another topic, before the mods get upset (justifiably, in this case).
"Unarmored Defense: Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."
Dex equals 20 (+5), Wisdom equals 17 (+3), so the total should be 18. It is 17.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/96274746/TrdoS0
Looks like the Character App is incorrectly applying the Tortle’s “Natural Armor” calculation instead of the Monk’s “Unarmored Defense” calculation. It’s supposed to apply whichever available calculation results in the highest total AC, and usually it does this correctly—but in this case it seems to be doing it incorrectly.
On the one hand, I find this fascinating, because it offers a rare window into what precisely the Character App may be doing—or rather, not doing—behind the scenes. (That is, clearly it’s not calculating every possibility and then using a MAX function to identify the greatest value and apply that value—which would’ve been my guess five minutes ago.)
On the other hand, unfortunately there’s probably not anything you can do about this on your end. This certainly appears to be an issue with how the backend is handling multiple possible AC formulae.
It’s because they had to tell the system to not include Dex in the Tortle’s Unarmored AC to accommodate RAW, and it has this funky interaction with Unarmored Defense features.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
That's a shame, because Tortle Monk is an extremely common character. I don't have data but I would not be surprised if Monk was the most common class for a Tortle, potentially by a decent margin. Not only is it a good combination, particularly at tiers one an two, but it's also got TMNT flavor and how is that not awesome?
Then again, I suppose this issue is likely to affect Tortle Barbarians too. Not precisely an edge case, sadly. :/
Most people who build Tortle Monks are doing it so they can not worry about Unarmored Defense at all and only have two worry about 2 main stats instead of 3.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Which two stats are you referring to? DEX and CON, I'm assuming?
If I were going to build a monk (and I cared about optimization - which, full disclosure, I don't always), I'd prioritize DEX, then WIS, then CON - and I'd do this regardless of race. DEX is your main damage stat; it's what your Martial Arts and your Monk Weapons all ki off of. (ba dum tss) WIS is your save DC for Stunning Strike and whatever else you may be throwing out that's not just a hit roll. CON is HP - undeniably useful, yes, but not as important as the former two, especially at tiers where just getting hit at all is going to smart no matter how much HP you realistically have.
Yes, not having to worry about Unarmored Defense is certainly a plus, at least at lower levels. (By the time you get to 8th or 12th level, it's not a big concern anyway since you'll likely have close to +7 between DEX and WIS anyway.) But in reality I wouldn't really run a monk with "only" two main stats anyway unless those stats were DEX and WIS. Even with Natural Armor I'd expect to still be swapping my AC to Unarmored Defense in tier 3, even if I weren't "building for that" at all.
ETA: We might want to take this discussion to another topic, before the mods get upset (justifiably, in this case).