So I was homebrewing a monster and consulted the Monster Manual to use the Weasel stat block as a base. While looking at it, I noticed that the weasel and the winter wolf both have an AC of 13, but the Winter Wolf has the natural armour tag while the weasel doesn't.
What is the mechanical difference between two identical Armour Classes if one of them has the natural armour tag?
Mechanical difference? None, functionally. They both behave identically. The conceptual difference is that the weasel's AC is based solely on its dexterity, while the winter wolf's is based on its dexterity plus its... thick hide, or fur, or whatever.
Yup. Natural armor is supposed to be a way of representing a creature's hide or shell or whatever a creature might have. Basically, since a weasel has 16 (+3) Dexterity, and the normal calculation for AC is 10 + Dex mod, they have 13 AC total. The wolf, on the other hand, only has a +2 Dexterity, so without natural armor it would have 12 AC total, but because of its natural armor its AC is instead calculated like somebody wearing leather armor, so 11 + Dex mod, which means 13 total. An extreme example of natural armor is the gorgon, whose pitiful Dexterity would normally net it an AC of 10, but who instead has an AC of 19 due to its metallic exoskeleton.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
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It used to matter in 3e when you had multiple AC scores. For example, there was just regular AC and touch AC (maybe even a couple more). If I’m remembering right touch AC included your dex score, but not any armor you were wearing, the idea being armor didn’t make you harder to touch. So casting touch spells it was easier to hit a low dex opponent than a high dex opponent, but their armor wasn’t part of the equation.
In 5e, it would matter if the creature’s AC was based on armor, in case they are not wearing it for some reason. But AC due to natural armor vs dex probably wouldn’t have any implications. I’d guess they either left it in because it was there and no one really thought about it, or because it was future-proofing in case they decided to implement something that accounted for where AC comes from.
So I was homebrewing a monster and consulted the Monster Manual to use the Weasel stat block as a base. While looking at it, I noticed that the weasel and the winter wolf both have an AC of 13, but the Winter Wolf has the natural armour tag while the weasel doesn't.
What is the mechanical difference between two identical Armour Classes if one of them has the natural armour tag?
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Mechanical difference? None, functionally. They both behave identically. The conceptual difference is that the weasel's AC is based solely on its dexterity, while the winter wolf's is based on its dexterity plus its... thick hide, or fur, or whatever.
Yup. Natural armor is supposed to be a way of representing a creature's hide or shell or whatever a creature might have. Basically, since a weasel has 16 (+3) Dexterity, and the normal calculation for AC is 10 + Dex mod, they have 13 AC total. The wolf, on the other hand, only has a +2 Dexterity, so without natural armor it would have 12 AC total, but because of its natural armor its AC is instead calculated like somebody wearing leather armor, so 11 + Dex mod, which means 13 total. An extreme example of natural armor is the gorgon, whose pitiful Dexterity would normally net it an AC of 10, but who instead has an AC of 19 due to its metallic exoskeleton.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
It used to matter in 3e when you had multiple AC scores. For example, there was just regular AC and touch AC (maybe even a couple more). If I’m remembering right touch AC included your dex score, but not any armor you were wearing, the idea being armor didn’t make you harder to touch. So casting touch spells it was easier to hit a low dex opponent than a high dex opponent, but their armor wasn’t part of the equation.
In 5e, it would matter if the creature’s AC was based on armor, in case they are not wearing it for some reason. But AC due to natural armor vs dex probably wouldn’t have any implications.
I’d guess they either left it in because it was there and no one really thought about it, or because it was future-proofing in case they decided to implement something that accounted for where AC comes from.
I have also assumed it was just to highlight that the AC was more than 10+dex