Warforged Fighter 1 / Artificer 14 will get you to 27 AC!
Here's the progression. Only magic items are created by the Artificer features. You give up a lot of cool Infusions to focus on AC like this (and also deal with a slower Artificer progression), but it's still a very viable build. You need at least 15 STR, but it will work whether INT or STR is your main stat. I suggest leaving STR at 15 and maxing INT especially since Battle Smiths can use INT when using magic weapons and the other subclasses buff your cantrips. Doesn't matter which subclass you pick, though.
Level 1: 22 AC
Plate Armor 18 AC (assuming it's available; if it's not, add it later)
Warforged +1
Defense Fighting Style +1
Shield +2
Level 3: 23 AC
Infusion: Enhanced Defence (on armor) +1
Level 7: 24 AC
Infusion: Repulsion Shield +1
Level 11: 26 AC
Enhanced Defense bonus goes to +2 (so a net +1 bonus)
Infusion: Cloak of Protection +1
Level 15: 27 AC
Infusion: Ring of Protection +1
What's next?
As far as I can tell, there's no RAW way to increase your static AC without non-Infusion magic items or boons after Level 15. If there is, let me know!
However, there are still plenty of ways to continue focusing on AC. If you went Artillerist or Battlesmith, then you already have the Shield spell, but two levels in Wizard would give access to Arcane Defense, which is awesome. It also might be good to dip a level into War Domain Cleric (or two levels into Paladin) for Shield of Faith, which lasts ten minutes and only takes a 1st level spell slot (and concentration). However, that would mean at least 13 WIS or 13 CHA, which might be hard to pull off since this build uses either STR or INT as the main stat.
This is the kind of crap that really makes me dislike 5E. A CR 2 Bandit captain only has a +5 to hit. A lvl 1 character that cant even get hit by that unless the NPC rolls a 17 is just stupid.
This really doesn't bother me because it's a "proof of concept" character. I can't imagine playing this character at all for 15 levels to get to this point.
This is the kind of crap that really makes me dislike 5E. A CR 2 Bandit captain only has a +5 to hit. A lvl 1 character that cant even get hit by that unless the NPC rolls a 17 is just stupid.
What DM would bothering pitting a CR 2 boss against a party knowing that they have an Artificer build like this one? At level 15, that bandit captain had better be a general in the Blood War or Jarlaxle himself with a bunch of battle magic artifacts.
This is the kind of crap that really makes me dislike 5E. A CR 2 Bandit captain only has a +5 to hit. A lvl 1 character that cant even get hit by that unless the NPC rolls a 17 is just stupid.
Level 1 PCs will never start with plate, they will have chain mail, making starting AC 20 until they can afford to upgrade.
Also, remember that this character has as much armor as is possible. It is almost literally a tank. Weapons are supposed to be bouncing off of it. You should be mad that a 15 to hit can do damage to someone wearing armor under their armor, not the other way around.
Warforged Fighter 1 / Artificer 14 will get you to 27 AC!
Level 1: 22 AC
Plate Armor 18 AC (assuming it's available; if it's not, add it later)
Warforged +1
Defense Fighting Style +1
I'm not getting how you get these numbers. Heavy plating gives you AC 18 (16 + proficiency bonus, which is +2 at level 1). A shield gives you +2.
Warforged can't wear armour and get no benefit from wearing armour, which means the defence fighting style may or may not apply, depending on which Sage Advice you read. :-)
Warforged can't wear armour and get no benefit from wearing armour, which means the defence fighting style may or may not apply, depending on which Sage Advice you read. :-)
I have no idea where the "warforged +1" is from.
Because you're using old UA Warforged stats - not the newly released Eberron book Warforged.
Warforged can't wear armour and get no benefit from wearing armour, which means the defence fighting style may or may not apply, depending on which Sage Advice you read. :-)
I have no idea where the "warforged +1" is from.
The new (final, official) version of warforged fuse with armor and get the benefit of wearing that armor +1 AC.
Also, for those who think this is OP, I'd like to point out that this build ties up all but one of the Artificer infusions at any given level, and Artificers basically have to use one of their infusions for Enhanced Arcane Focus or Enhanced Weapon.
So no Periapt of Wound Closure, no Winged Boots, no Amulet of Health, no Ring of Free Action, no Homunculus, etc. It limits you. Some of those charge-based items are very, very nice too.
Additionally, the level of Fighter is literally just for the +2 AC bump (vs Half Plate without a fighting style). A bump one pays for by slowing down Artificer advancement when 10th level for an Artificer is a huge jump because of the AC/attack boosts and Winged Boots.
Additionally, when I built this out, I had to dump DEX, WIS, and CHA. So the saves are not good at all.
So it's a viable build, but one for a specific kind of purpose that's quite weak against certain types of enemies.
Even then. You can have all the AC you want. Just use something else at this kind of character. His mental defenses for one will be very weak. Mind Control, Hypnotic Pattern... Or create a very good illusion and simply make this high AC char walk over a fake bridge above a ravine. I really don't see the problem if a PC wants to delve purely into AC enhancements. There are plenty of other weaknesses for a good DM to utilize. Even at low levels this can be done.
As has been stated here before, any ultra-focused character (like this one, the max damage builds, the incredible fast ones, etc) have serious flaws when it comes to actually varied combat and enemies. They also often require multi classes that make very little sense story-wise
This one is actually pretty good in terms of that. It's not even that ultra-focused, the person just started in Fighter which makes perfect sense roleplay-wise especially combined with the more martial Artificer subclasses.
Although I do admit builds that are actually ultra-focused do tend to suffer from this.
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if I edit a message, most of the time it's because of grammar. The rest of the time I'll put "Edit:" at the bottom.
This one is actually pretty good in terms of that. It's not even that ultra-focused, the person just started in Fighter which makes perfect sense roleplay-wise especially combined with the more martial Artificer subclasses.
Although I do admit builds that are actually ultra-focused do tend to suffer from this.
Yep. And with the new Armorer subclass, one gets two extra infusions so long as they are spent on elements of the armor. That significantly helps with the infusion shortage, making it much more viable. Sure, not all the saves will rock, but the Ring of Protection and Cloak of Protection will help with that at higher levels. And every PC has a weakness or two in the save department.
In fact, since Armorers get heavy armor proficiency at level 3, an alternate route would be to take the level in Fighter last to get the fighting style. However, that does mean delaying the point of AC and getting heavy armor for a while. It also speeds up all the fun stuff, so it's a toss up. Unless I really wanted to have the highest possible AC for the fun of it, I'd probably skip Fighter entirely if I was going Armorer. But AC is an addiction, man...
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Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
Warforged Fighter 1 / Artificer 14 will get you to 27 AC!
Here's the progression. Only magic items are created by the Artificer features. You give up a lot of cool Infusions to focus on AC like this (and also deal with a slower Artificer progression), but it's still a very viable build. You need at least 15 STR, but it will work whether INT or STR is your main stat. I suggest leaving STR at 15 and maxing INT especially since Battle Smiths can use INT when using magic weapons and the other subclasses buff your cantrips. Doesn't matter which subclass you pick, though.
Level 1: 22 AC
Plate Armor 18 AC (assuming it's available; if it's not, add it later)
Warforged +1
Defense Fighting Style +1
Shield +2
Level 3: 23 AC
Infusion: Enhanced Defence (on armor) +1
Level 7: 24 AC
Infusion: Repulsion Shield +1
Level 11: 26 AC
Enhanced Defense bonus goes to +2 (so a net +1 bonus)
Infusion: Cloak of Protection +1
Level 15: 27 AC
Infusion: Ring of Protection +1
What's next?
As far as I can tell, there's no RAW way to increase your static AC without non-Infusion magic items or boons after Level 15. If there is, let me know!
However, there are still plenty of ways to continue focusing on AC. If you went Artillerist or Battlesmith, then you already have the Shield spell, but two levels in Wizard would give access to Arcane Defense, which is awesome. It also might be good to dip a level into War Domain Cleric (or two levels into Paladin) for Shield of Faith, which lasts ten minutes and only takes a 1st level spell slot (and concentration). However, that would mean at least 13 WIS or 13 CHA, which might be hard to pull off since this build uses either STR or INT as the main stat.
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
This is way more balanced than the old warforged which could get 28AC with only a shield (and at least 17 levels...).
If you spend 15 levels to get yourself crazy high AC, you should be able to get crazy high AC.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
This is the kind of crap that really makes me dislike 5E. A CR 2 Bandit captain only has a +5 to hit. A lvl 1 character that cant even get hit by that unless the NPC rolls a 17 is just stupid.
This really doesn't bother me because it's a "proof of concept" character. I can't imagine playing this character
at allfor 15 levels to get to this point."Not all those who wander are lost"
What DM would bothering pitting a CR 2 boss against a party knowing that they have an Artificer build like this one? At level 15, that bandit captain had better be a general in the Blood War or Jarlaxle himself with a bunch of battle magic artifacts.
Level 1 PCs will never start with plate, they will have chain mail, making starting AC 20 until they can afford to upgrade.
Also, remember that this character has as much armor as is possible. It is almost literally a tank. Weapons are supposed to be bouncing off of it. You should be mad that a 15 to hit can do damage to someone wearing armor under their armor, not the other way around.
I'm not getting how you get these numbers. Heavy plating gives you AC 18 (16 + proficiency bonus, which is +2 at level 1). A shield gives you +2.
Warforged can't wear armour and get no benefit from wearing armour, which means the defence fighting style may or may not apply, depending on which Sage Advice you read. :-)
I have no idea where the "warforged +1" is from.
Because you're using old UA Warforged stats - not the newly released Eberron book Warforged.
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The new (final, official) version of warforged fuse with armor and get the benefit of wearing that armor +1 AC.
Aha, that explains it thanks. I don't own the Eberron book. I'll shut up now. :-)
Also, for those who think this is OP, I'd like to point out that this build ties up all but one of the Artificer infusions at any given level, and Artificers basically have to use one of their infusions for Enhanced Arcane Focus or Enhanced Weapon.
So no Periapt of Wound Closure, no Winged Boots, no Amulet of Health, no Ring of Free Action, no Homunculus, etc. It limits you. Some of those charge-based items are very, very nice too.
Additionally, the level of Fighter is literally just for the +2 AC bump (vs Half Plate without a fighting style). A bump one pays for by slowing down Artificer advancement when 10th level for an Artificer is a huge jump because of the AC/attack boosts and Winged Boots.
Additionally, when I built this out, I had to dump DEX, WIS, and CHA. So the saves are not good at all.
So it's a viable build, but one for a specific kind of purpose that's quite weak against certain types of enemies.
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
Even then. You can have all the AC you want. Just use something else at this kind of character. His mental defenses for one will be very weak. Mind Control, Hypnotic Pattern... Or create a very good illusion and simply make this high AC char walk over a fake bridge above a ravine. I really don't see the problem if a PC wants to delve purely into AC enhancements. There are plenty of other weaknesses for a good DM to utilize. Even at low levels this can be done.
heck, just throw any caster that has save spells and the AC is worthless
Or just play a BladeSinger because they are totally balanced. Tashas made them my favorite balanced class right next to zeal clerics!
As has been stated here before, any ultra-focused character (like this one, the max damage builds, the incredible fast ones, etc) have serious flaws when it comes to actually varied combat and enemies. They also often require multi classes that make very little sense story-wise
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
This one is actually pretty good in terms of that. It's not even that ultra-focused, the person just started in Fighter which makes perfect sense roleplay-wise especially combined with the more martial Artificer subclasses.
Although I do admit builds that are actually ultra-focused do tend to suffer from this.
if I edit a message, most of the time it's because of grammar. The rest of the time I'll put "Edit:" at the bottom.
Yep. And with the new Armorer subclass, one gets two extra infusions so long as they are spent on elements of the armor. That significantly helps with the infusion shortage, making it much more viable. Sure, not all the saves will rock, but the Ring of Protection and Cloak of Protection will help with that at higher levels. And every PC has a weakness or two in the save department.
In fact, since Armorers get heavy armor proficiency at level 3, an alternate route would be to take the level in Fighter last to get the fighting style. However, that does mean delaying the point of AC and getting heavy armor for a while. It also speeds up all the fun stuff, so it's a toss up. Unless I really wanted to have the highest possible AC for the fun of it, I'd probably skip Fighter entirely if I was going Armorer. But AC is an addiction, man...
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
Actually, you could skip the level of fighter and just take the Fighting Initiate feat.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I love min max builds lile this because it makes you rely on your teammates to cover your weakneses, in ya know, a team building roleplaying game