So I made a level 3 barbarian Thri-kreen. My question is what is my total AC? Is it 10+dex mod+con mod, or is it the 13+dex from the racial feature? Or is there a strange mixture between the two?
You can only use one AC calculation, so if you have multiple options (like a Thri-kreen Barbarian) you would go with whichever one is better. So if your Con is < +3, you'd go with the Thri-kreen AC calculation, but once you get your Constitution to +4 or higher, you'd use the Barbarian calculation.
Off topic... are you using the Path of the Beast? If you go that route, you can have 4 attacks at L5. Extra Attack gives you two attacks, and you can make one with your claw and one with a light weapon (Handaxe) in one of your secondary hands, then you can use the Beast Barbarian feature to make an additional attack with your claw again (3rd attack), then you can use your other secondary hand to make an off-hand attack as a Bonus Action with a light weapon (Handaxe) (4th attack)... and that leaves your 2nd primary arm free to manipulate objects or hold a shield, further increasing your AC.
At L5, with Standard Array and L4 ASI in Strength, that's 4-attacks at a +7 to hit, three dealing 1d6+6, and the last one dealing 1d6+2 (rage bonus included). That's 4d6+20 damage every turn (avg 34 damage with no resources expended apart from the rage that will last the whole combat). It's like a single-target melee Fireball (Fireball's 8d6 = avg 28 per target before the save).
This is something that isn't really directly addressed in the PHB but WotC have addressed it in their Sage Advise.
This is absolutely directly addressed in the PHB, in chapter one: “Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.“
This is something that isn't really directly addressed in the PHB but WotC have addressed it in their Sage Advise.
This is absolutely directly addressed in the PHB, in chapter one: “Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.“
Ah, thanks! I missed this when I skimmed that section.
So I made a level 3 barbarian Thri-kreen. My question is what is my total AC? Is it 10+dex mod+con mod, or is it the 13+dex from the racial feature? Or is there a strange mixture between the two?
This is something that isn't really directly addressed in the PHB but WotC have addressed it in their Sage Advise.
The short answer is when you have multiple valid ways of calculating AC you pick one and just use that. For a more in depth answer here is a link to the Sage Advise in question: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/sac/sage-advice-compendium#SA002
You can only use one AC calculation, so if you have multiple options (like a Thri-kreen Barbarian) you would go with whichever one is better. So if your Con is < +3, you'd go with the Thri-kreen AC calculation, but once you get your Constitution to +4 or higher, you'd use the Barbarian calculation.
Off topic... are you using the Path of the Beast? If you go that route, you can have 4 attacks at L5. Extra Attack gives you two attacks, and you can make one with your claw and one with a light weapon (Handaxe) in one of your secondary hands, then you can use the Beast Barbarian feature to make an additional attack with your claw again (3rd attack), then you can use your other secondary hand to make an off-hand attack as a Bonus Action with a light weapon (Handaxe) (4th attack)... and that leaves your 2nd primary arm free to manipulate objects or hold a shield, further increasing your AC.
At L5, with Standard Array and L4 ASI in Strength, that's 4-attacks at a +7 to hit, three dealing 1d6+6, and the last one dealing 1d6+2 (rage bonus included). That's 4d6+20 damage every turn (avg 34 damage with no resources expended apart from the rage that will last the whole combat). It's like a single-target melee Fireball (Fireball's 8d6 = avg 28 per target before the save).
This is absolutely directly addressed in the PHB, in chapter one: “Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.“
Ah, thanks! I missed this when I skimmed that section.