If you assume 20s in each stat, you can get 27 from tortle mon/barbarian
Doesn't stack. You only get the Tortle, Barbarian or Monk armor.
This, but still wondering how they got 27. If they were thinking 17 plus both unarmored defenses, it would be 17+dex+con+wis at minimum and 17+2*dex+con+wis. That's either 32 or 37. It's irrelevant since they don't stack, but still has me curious.
I think they were thinking 10+Dex+Con+Wis+Shield=10+5+5+5+2=27
More likely 17+con+wis = 27. Tortle lets you have a base AC of 17, a quick but inaccurate reading of the other two could let you think they just let you add con/wis to your unarmored AC.
I think they were thinking 10+Dex+Con+Wis+Shield=10+5+5+5+2=27
More likely 17+con+wis = 27. Tortle lets you have a base AC of 17, a quick but inaccurate reading of the other two could let you think they just let you add con/wis to your unarmored AC.
That's possible. I also wondered if they were just saying one of barbarian or monk with Tortle.
I think they were thinking 10+Dex+Con+Wis+Shield=10+5+5+5+2=27
More likely 17+con+wis = 27. Tortle lets you have a base AC of 17, a quick but inaccurate reading of the other two could let you think they just let you add con/wis to your unarmored AC.
That's possible. I also wondered if they were just saying one of barbarian or monk with Tortle.
Yeah, I think they were thinking Tortle with 20 Dex and 20 Con Barbarian or Tortle with 20 Dex and 20 Wis Monk, which would be 27 if they stacked.
Committing some spooky necromancy here, but with the new Eberron book "I think the best route would be:
Warforged Forge Domain Cleric has 20 AC at level 1 with Chain Mail + Blessing of the Forge + Shield + Warforged +1 AC bonus. You can get another +2 from Shield of Faith. As others have said, you can take some fighter for the defense fighting style to get another +1.
Next take Artificer for the Enhanced Armor infusion, and if you go to third level take Alchemist for the AC elixir, and then take at least one level in Wizard for the Shield spell.
So far this requires: 1 level cleric, 2 levels fighter, 3 levels artificer, and 1 level in wizard, and would net you 22 AC regularly, and up to 30 with Shield + Shield of Faith + Alchemist elixir activated for a 7th level character.
If you go to 6th level Forge Domain cleric you get +1 AC from heavy armor. In full plate with this you would be up to 24 AC with 32 when you use all the temporary effects above. This would put you at 12th level, and if you took another 7 levels in Artificer your Enhanced Defense infusion would get upgraded and you could take the Replicate Magical Item infusion to make a Cloak of Protection which would net you another +1 AC. At this point you're 19th level with a consistent AC of 26 and with all the temporary effects above you go up to 34 AC at most; This is pretty much just you taking and buffing nonmagical gear though.
There are some other magical items that could help you out here. Finding +3 Plate would obsolete your Blessing of the Forge feature, but would get you another +2 to AC, and finding a +3 shield would obsolete your Enhanced Defense infusion and get you another +1 AC. If you got ahold of a Defender then you could get +3 AC from that when you attack. All of this would put you up to 32 AC relatively consistently with 40 AC using temporary effects. If you get an ally to cast Warding Bond on you then you'd be up to 41 AC.
I could probably find more stuff if I really started digging, but that's probably high enough. This method also only requires a 15 in strength and one other stat at 13 for the multiclass. If you start Cleric you could dump Wis if you wanted, then you'd only need a 13 strength for fighter multiclass, but then you'd want 15 strength for plate mail, and for Artificer/Wizard you need at least 13 int. This build could be done with garbage stats and still achieve good AC.
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
At level 2 a Fighter/Forge Cleric can take the Defense fighting style as well as use Blessing of the Forge to give the armor or Shield +1. This means a lvl two character with starting equipment could have Scalemail for 16 AC +2 Shield +1 Defense +1 Blessing of the Forge for a 20 AC.
In my opinion Full Plate IS magical gear in 5e. It costs more then most Uncommon Magic Items!
You can't stack any AC calculation. Flat out.
Unarmored Defense Monk, Unarmored Defense Barbarian, Dragonic Resilience, Mage Armor, or normal armor are all AC Calculations. You pick your best and can't stack them.
A Barbarian can hold a shield so IF a Barbarian had Con 20 and Dex 20 and a Shield they'd have an AC of 22, but that is highly unlikely situation. That character could then multiclass Fighter for Defense fighting style and Forge Cleric for blessing the shield and have an AC of 24 Blade Singers can get really high ACs also. They can only wear Light armor but at Dex 20 that means 12+5=17 AC, while singing they add their Int Mod (assume +5) for 22. They can always cast Shield if they have a lvl 1 spell slot for +5 AC for a turn. ... but it gets silly. And both are assuming maximum stats on a high level character.
The Devs put a lot of intentionality to keep To Hit and AC from spiraling out of control like in 3rd ed.
Barbarians at level 20 can increase their CON to 24, totaling 24
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
This is extremely hard to read...can you break these down at all?
As in..can you break down how you are getting the numbers for each.
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
50 AC is impossible without Magic Items (see thread title).
Likely taking something similiar to one of these builds, probably one that can wear plate. Add a +3 Plate Armor, a +3 Shield, ring of whatever, bracers of whatever, and Defender, maybe a few other things. Sarella did imply that it was with magical items by saying that the limit to no magical items was making it more fun. But due to the thread title having the limitation on magic items (which has been often ignored on several posts), your limit is likely going to be somewhere in the high 20s low 30s for constant AC and boosting into the low to high 30s with buffs that are of limited duration.
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
There are a lot of folks just skimming over this and assuming it's impossible or using magic items. It's totally possible, and I thought I'd take the time to explain it.
First, he sets up 3 possibilities for really high AC.
Option 1 - A fully stacked warforged Barbarian reaches 25 --> (unarmored defense w/ 7 Con and 5 Dex) + (Shield) + (Warforged integrated defence) Explanation Below
(this is the description line to the SimicHybrid race "The Simic Combine uses magic to fuse different life forms together. In recent years, they have extended this research to humanoid subjects, magically transferring the traits of various animals into humans, elves, and vedalken."Using this race allows a +1 AC Racial Bonus, And technically satisfies the Bladesingger elves only requirement) + (Agile perry is a Kensei Monk feature. if you make an unarmed attack as part of the action, and you have a Kensei weapon, your AC is +2) + (Bladesong is a Bladesingger wizard 2nd level feature. When in use, your AC rises by your intel modifier. in this case, it's +5) + (Dual Wielder is a Feat gives a +1 to AC as long as you have a weapon in both hands)
(Plate + Shield give 20AC) + (The Artificer Enhanced Defence Infusion gives +2 AC at Level 10, and The Repulsion Shield Infusion gives your Shield +1 AC) + (Forge Domain cleric Gets +1 AC at 1st level from Blessing of the Forge, and another +1 AC at 6th from Soul of the forge) + (1st level Fighter defensive fighting style is +1AC) + (Warforged Integrated defense is +1AC) Note ---> you'll have to forget the Blessing of the forge, AC because both it and Enhanced defense need a non-magic armor to enhance, and they both make the item Magical
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Now, He takes magic and Defensive Dualist into account. He Drops the barbarian option because they're trash and can't use magic. Defensive Dualist lets you add your proficiency bonus onto your AC as a reaction for one melee attack that hits you. It scales as you lvl up, and get's to a whopping +6 AC (for one attack per round)
Option 2 - (29) With Sheild of faith / Haste reaches 31. +6 Defensive dualist is 37
Option 3 - (26) With Sheild of Faith / Haste reaches 28. +6 Defensive Dualist is 34
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Keep in mind, this assumes that you've got a 20 in all stats. For option 2, you need SimicHybrid and Bladesingger, and for option 3, you've got to get ahold of Plate. But, In a worst-case scenario, (Point Buy / DM is strictly PHB and Xanthars / No Plate) Option 3, at 17th level still gets you (( 24 / 26 with spells / 32 once per round )) This is totally legit.
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
There are a lot of folks just skimming over this and assuming it's impossible or using magic items. It's totally possible, and I thought I'd take the time to explain it.
First, he sets up 3 possibilities for really high AC.
Option 1 - A fully stacked warforged Barbarian reaches 25 --> (unarmored defense w/ 7 Con and 5 Dex) + (Shield) + (Warforged integrated defence) Explanation Below
(this is the description line to the SimicHybrid race "The Simic Combine uses magic to fuse different life forms together. In recent years, they have extended this research to humanoid subjects, magically transferring the traits of various animals into humans, elves, and vedalken."Using this race allows a +1 AC Racial Bonus, And technically satisfies the Bladesingger elves only requirement) + (Agile perry is a Kensei Monk feature. if you make an unarmed attack as part of the action, and you have a Kensei weapon, your AC is +2) + (Bladesong is a Bladesingger wizard 2nd level feature. When in use, your AC rises by your intel modifier. in this case, it's +5) + (Dual Wielder is a Feat gives a +1 to AC as long as you have a weapon in both hands)
(Plate + Shield give 20AC) + (The Artificer Enhanced Defence Infusion gives +2 AC at Level 10, and The Repulsion Shield Infusion gives your Shield +1 AC) + (Forge Domain cleric Gets +1 AC at 1st level from Blessing of the Forge, and another +1 AC at 6th from Soul of the forge) + (1st level Fighter defensive fighting style is +1AC) + (Warforged Integrated defense is +1AC) Note ---> you'll have to forget the Blessing of the forge, AC because both it and Enhanced defense need a non-magic armor to enhance, and they both make the item Magical
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Now, He takes magic and Defensive Dualist into account. He Drops the barbarian option because they're trash and can't use magic. Defensive Dualist lets you add your proficiency bonus onto your AC as a reaction for one melee attack that hits you. It scales as you lvl up, and get's to a whopping +6 AC (for one attack per round)
Option 2 - (29) With Sheild of faith / Haste reaches 31. +6 Defensive dualist is 37
Option 3 - (26) With Sheild of Faith / Haste reaches 28. +6 Defensive Dualist is 34
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Keep in mind, this assumes that you've got a 20 in all stats. For option 2, you need SimicHybrid and Bladesingger, and for option 3, you've got to get ahold of Plate. But, In a worst-case scenario, (Point Buy / DM is strictly PHB and Xanthars / No Plate) Option 3, at 17th level still gets you (( 24 / 26 with spells / 32 once per round )) This is totally legit.
Just out of curiosity, who was saying that it's impossible to do what Sarella said without magic items or completely impossible? I've seen one asking how 50 was possible, someone saying that wasn't possible without magic items, followed by me saying what the likely path was for 50 followed by a statement that most non magical item builds would be right in the ball park of Sarella's builds. I saw one person say Sarella's post was a hard read and asking for the backing and you've answered that with this post.
(Jhffan) My bad, I suppose I'm guilty of misreading the posts above.
On another note, you can get an effective AC of (22)Base / (24)SpellAssisted / (26)InCombat / (31)Round(3PerDay) at 8th level. All with Level 1 Gear, Point buy, and only Xanthers/PHB. Your damage will be total trash, but it's possible.
You Get 2 uses of SheildOfFaith from your Cleric, and 3 uses of Sheild from Eldritch Knight, which ought to be more than enough for 2-3 combat encounters. You're Holding a shield and a dagger (the weapon doesn't matter because you're not attacking with it) and you're kicking/headbutting every turn in combat. You can't be disarmed, and you can summon ur dagger from anywhere. Using Ki, you can Bonus action dodge 3 times a day, and make it even harder for the baddies to getcha.
This, but still wondering how they got 27. If they were thinking 17 plus both unarmored defenses, it would be 17+dex+con+wis at minimum and 17+2*dex+con+wis. That's either 32 or 37. It's irrelevant since they don't stack, but still has me curious.
I think they were thinking 10+Dex+Con+Wis+Shield=10+5+5+5+2=27
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
More likely 17+con+wis = 27. Tortle lets you have a base AC of 17, a quick but inaccurate reading of the other two could let you think they just let you add con/wis to your unarmored AC.
That's possible. I also wondered if they were just saying one of barbarian or monk with Tortle.
Yeah, I think they were thinking Tortle with 20 Dex and 20 Con Barbarian or Tortle with 20 Dex and 20 Wis Monk, which would be 27 if they stacked.
Committing some spooky necromancy here, but with the new Eberron book "I think the best route would be:
Warforged Forge Domain Cleric has 20 AC at level 1 with Chain Mail + Blessing of the Forge + Shield + Warforged +1 AC bonus. You can get another +2 from Shield of Faith. As others have said, you can take some fighter for the defense fighting style to get another +1.
Next take Artificer for the Enhanced Armor infusion, and if you go to third level take Alchemist for the AC elixir, and then take at least one level in Wizard for the Shield spell.
So far this requires: 1 level cleric, 2 levels fighter, 3 levels artificer, and 1 level in wizard, and would net you 22 AC regularly, and up to 30 with Shield + Shield of Faith + Alchemist elixir activated for a 7th level character.
If you go to 6th level Forge Domain cleric you get +1 AC from heavy armor. In full plate with this you would be up to 24 AC with 32 when you use all the temporary effects above. This would put you at 12th level, and if you took another 7 levels in Artificer your Enhanced Defense infusion would get upgraded and you could take the Replicate Magical Item infusion to make a Cloak of Protection which would net you another +1 AC. At this point you're 19th level with a consistent AC of 26 and with all the temporary effects above you go up to 34 AC at most; This is pretty much just you taking and buffing nonmagical gear though.
There are some other magical items that could help you out here. Finding +3 Plate would obsolete your Blessing of the Forge feature, but would get you another +2 to AC, and finding a +3 shield would obsolete your Enhanced Defense infusion and get you another +1 AC. If you got ahold of a Defender then you could get +3 AC from that when you attack. All of this would put you up to 32 AC relatively consistently with 40 AC using temporary effects. If you get an ally to cast Warding Bond on you then you'd be up to 41 AC.
I could probably find more stuff if I really started digging, but that's probably high enough. This method also only requires a 15 in strength and one other stat at 13 for the multiclass. If you start Cleric you could dump Wis if you wanted, then you'd only need a 13 strength for fighter multiclass, but then you'd want 15 strength for plate mail, and for Artificer/Wizard you need at least 13 int. This build could be done with garbage stats and still achieve good AC.
I gotta say I love trying to come up with the highest AC (currently I can plan an AC 45, 50 with Shield) but without Magic Items adds another layer to the fun.
To start off let's go for simple calculations: (All calculations assume stats of 20, unless possible through non-magical means)
Simic Hybrid/Warforged Barbarian 20 with a Shield is a basic starting point -
Base Armor of 22 (Dex 20 and Con 24 through Barb capstone).
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Shield +2.
Total AC 25 - a good basic starting point
Simic Hybrid Bladesinger 2 Kensei 3 wielding 2 short swords
Base Armor of 20 (Dex 20 Wis 20)
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Agile Parry +2, Bladesong +5, Dual Wielder Feat +1
Total AC 29
Warforged Artificer 10 Forge Cleric 6 Fighter 1 in Plate Armor
Base Armor 18 (Plate)
Bonuses: Racial Armor +1, Enhanced Defense +2, Repulsion Shield +1, Fighting Style - Defense +1, Blessing of the Forge +1, Soul of the Forge +1, A Shield +2
Total AC 27
We can safely remove the barbarian from the equation because they cannot cast spells, putting them below the others in terms of actual AC.
Both the Artificer and Bladesinger can cast Shield of Faith or Haste for +2 AC, and both can ALSO take Defensive Duelist feat which adds your proficiency in a reaction to an attack, putting it ahead of Shield in strict terms of highest AC.
So this means:
Kensei/Bladesinger is sitting on an AC of 31 under haste, with 37 through a reaction (36 if they prefer Shield, which covers a whole turn and not a single attack)
Artificer is sitting on AC 29 under haste or shield of faith, going up to AC 35 with a reaction (33 under shield).
The major difference is the Artificer/Forge Cleric/Fighter build uses no resources to achieve the AC 27, it can keep it up all day, every day.
The Kensei/Bladesinger gets 2 minutes per short rest of this and must Agile Parry each round to accomplish this, otherwise falls waaaay down to AC 22.
The Barbarian has this AC just by picking up her shield... otherwise the AC is 23.
So there you have it:
Barbarian - Sleeping AC 23, Walking AC 25, Buffed AC 31 (defensive duelist reaction)
Arti Forge Ftr - Sleeping AC worthless (unless wf integration then we can assume 23), Walking AC 27, Buffed AC 35 (haste/sof plus defensive duelist)
Kensei/Bladesinger - Sleeping AC 21, Walking AC 21, Buffed AC 37 (Agile Parry, Bladesong, Haste, Defensive Duelist)
Barbarians at level 20 can increase their CON to 24, totaling 24
Homebrew is fun.
A Barbarian who multiclassed into Wizard. 10+5(20 Dex)+5(20 Con)+2(Shield)+5(Shield spell)= 27
Homebrew is fun.
Wow. Never mind, Sarella's got it covered
Homebrew is fun.
This is extremely hard to read...can you break these down at all?
As in..can you break down how you are getting the numbers for each.
Oh my gosh! 50AC! How would you get that!!!
50 AC is impossible without Magic Items (see thread title).
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
Likely taking something similiar to one of these builds, probably one that can wear plate. Add a +3 Plate Armor, a +3 Shield, ring of whatever, bracers of whatever, and Defender, maybe a few other things. Sarella did imply that it was with magical items by saying that the limit to no magical items was making it more fun. But due to the thread title having the limitation on magic items (which has been often ignored on several posts), your limit is likely going to be somewhere in the high 20s low 30s for constant AC and boosting into the low to high 30s with buffs that are of limited duration.
Battlemaster's evasive footwork can make it even higher.
There are a lot of folks just skimming over this and assuming it's impossible or using magic items. It's totally possible, and I thought I'd take the time to explain it.
First, he sets up 3 possibilities for really high AC.
Option 1 - A fully stacked warforged Barbarian reaches 25 --> (unarmored defense w/ 7 Con and 5 Dex) + (Shield) + (Warforged integrated defence) Explanation Below
(This one really ought to be self-explanatory.)
Option 2 - A SimicHybrid Monk(Kensei)/Wizard(Bladesingger) reaches 29 -->(racial feature) + (Agile Perry) + (Bladesong) + (Dual Wielder) Explanation Below
(this is the description line to the SimicHybrid race "The Simic Combine uses magic to fuse different life forms together. In recent years, they have extended this research to humanoid subjects, magically transferring the traits of various animals into humans, elves, and vedalken." Using this race allows a +1 AC Racial Bonus, And technically satisfies the Bladesingger elves only requirement) + (Agile perry is a Kensei Monk feature. if you make an unarmed attack as part of the action, and you have a Kensei weapon, your AC is +2) + (Bladesong is a Bladesingger wizard 2nd level feature. When in use, your AC rises by your intel modifier. in this case, it's +5) + (Dual Wielder is a Feat gives a +1 to AC as long as you have a weapon in both hands)
Option 3 - A Warforged Artificer(Artillerist)/Cleric(Forge Domain)/Fighter Reaches 26 --> (Plate) + (Shield) + (Artificer stuff) + (Cleric Stuff) + (Fighting Style) Explanation Below
(Plate + Shield give 20AC) + (The Artificer Enhanced Defence Infusion gives +2 AC at Level 10, and The Repulsion Shield Infusion gives your Shield +1 AC) + (Forge Domain cleric Gets
+1 AC at 1st level fromBlessing of the Forge, and another +1 AC at 6th from Soul of the forge) + (1st level Fighter defensive fighting style is +1AC) + (Warforged Integrated defense is +1AC) Note ---> you'll have to forget the Blessing of the forge, AC because both it and Enhanced defense need a non-magic armor to enhance, and they both make the item Magical/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Now, He takes magic and Defensive Dualist into account. He Drops the barbarian option because they're trash and can't use magic. Defensive Dualist lets you add your proficiency bonus onto your AC as a reaction for one melee attack that hits you. It scales as you lvl up, and get's to a whopping +6 AC (for one attack per round)
Option 2 - (29) With Sheild of faith / Haste reaches 31. +6 Defensive dualist is 37
Option 3 - (26) With Sheild of Faith / Haste reaches 28. +6 Defensive Dualist is 34
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Keep in mind, this assumes that you've got a 20 in all stats. For option 2, you need SimicHybrid and Bladesingger, and for option 3, you've got to get ahold of Plate. But, In a worst-case scenario, (Point Buy / DM is strictly PHB and Xanthars / No Plate) Option 3, at 17th level still gets you (( 24 / 26 with spells / 32 once per round )) This is totally legit.
Just out of curiosity, who was saying that it's impossible to do what Sarella said without magic items or completely impossible? I've seen one asking how 50 was possible, someone saying that wasn't possible without magic items, followed by me saying what the likely path was for 50 followed by a statement that most non magical item builds would be right in the ball park of Sarella's builds. I saw one person say Sarella's post was a hard read and asking for the backing and you've answered that with this post.
(Jhffan) My bad, I suppose I'm guilty of misreading the posts above.
On another note, you can get an effective AC of (22)Base / (24)SpellAssisted / (26)InCombat / (31)Round(3PerDay) at 8th level. All with Level 1 Gear, Point buy, and only Xanthers/PHB. Your damage will be total trash, but it's possible.
Warforged, 4Fighter(Eldritch Knight), 3Monk(Kensei), 1Cleric(Forge)
ScaleMail(16), Warforged(+1), MediumArmorMaster (+1), Sheild(+2), FightingStyle(+1), BlessingOfTheForge(+1), SheildOfFaith(+2), AgilePerry(+2), SheildSpell(+5)
You Get 2 uses of SheildOfFaith from your Cleric, and 3 uses of Sheild from Eldritch Knight, which ought to be more than enough for 2-3 combat encounters. You're Holding a shield and a dagger (the weapon doesn't matter because you're not attacking with it) and you're kicking/headbutting every turn in combat. You can't be disarmed, and you can summon ur dagger from anywhere. Using Ki, you can Bonus action dodge 3 times a day, and make it even harder for the baddies to getcha.
the max is over 30...
Forest of Wonders DMless campaign
>Recruitment Thread< >Game Thread<
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<
Without magic items? I do not think that is possible. What is the build you have in mind?