Hey folks,

I am new to 5e and I see that quite some things have been changed compared to older versions of D&D. I think it really supports the play and makes things easier for gamemasters and players. Thumbs up.

So, I just started a ranger and I am thinking about equipping him with a studded leather armor while he is currently using an (unstudded) leather armor.

Coming from this, I checked on the free basic rules (thanks for that to the devs :-) ). Unfortunately, I cannot find any features the leather armor has to balance its lower armor class. I remember that each armor in D&D 3.5 had advantages and disadvantages compared to another armor like higher armor class but less DEX modifier. Am I missing something in the rules? It just seems the studded leather armor is better.

In a nutshell:
What argument could be given to choose the leather armor over the studded leather armor?

Thank you for your help.

The advantage is leather armor costs 10 GP while studded leather armor costs 45 GP. 

You save 35gp.

Thanks for your quick replies.

So apart from a higher weight and a more expensive price, the studded leather armor is simply superior to the leather armor?

Yes.  Just most classes that can use light armor start with leather armor by default.

Perfect. That's been clarified quickly. Thanks. 👍

Some of what you were talking about with the older editions is found with medium armor. The dex modifier for Medium Armor is capped at +2. This allows for Studded Leather Armor to be just as effective or superior to medium armor if the character has a higher dex score. Studded Leather gives 12+dex modifier (max of +5 due to score caps) for a max AC of 17.

The max dex modifier of +2 for medium armor means that anything above a 14 dex is wasted for AC purposes (barring Medium Armor Master feat). Most medium armor (and all non-enchanted heavy armor) imposes disadvantage on stealth checks. Breastplate is identical to Scale Mail except that it removes the disadvantage on stealth checks. Both provide 14+dex modifier (max of +2) AC for a max of 16 AC. Half Plate provides 15 + dex modifier (max of +2) with disadvantage on stealth checks, giving a max AC of 17 without as significant of an investment in dex as light armor. The only other toggle that shows up on unenchanted armor besides AC calculation, disadvantage on stealth, and cost shows up on heavy armor, which can have a strength requirement that must be met or a -10 penalty to movement will be applied (to all non dwarves).

Edit: I guess that weight is technically a toggle as well, but it's less likely to factor in unless encumbrance rules are used. 

The tradeoffs in this game are more between armor types - the individual armors within a type mostly follow a progression. So within light armors, "padded armor < leather armor < studded leather armor", with no drawbacks to the higher ones besides the cost.

On the other hand, comparing Light to Medium armor there's a tradeoff - Light armors generally give lower base AC, but still allow you to add DEX, whereas medium armors add DEX only up to 2, and some of the bigger ones give disadvantage to stealth.

Heavy armors are even further on that scale - they just have a base AC and you don't add DEX at all, and they all give disadvantage to stealth, but their base AC is quite high. (But within heavy armors, Ring mail < Chain Mail < Splint < Plate, assuming you have enough money to buy the more expensive ones and enough strength to wear it.)

So usually you'll use the tradeoffs to pick which kind of armor you expect your character to wear, but then within an armor type you'll just keep upgrading to better ones as you get enough gold.

Light armor is pretty easy to get, only 45GP for the best one - but that's still enough that you probably can't get it right off the bat with a level 1 character, you can probably get it after your first dungeon by the time you get to level 2. So your improvements past that will probably be by improving your DEX - which is usually important to the kind of characters that wear light armor anyway. The heavy armor sequence, on the other hand, takes longer to get through - Plate costs 1500 GP and it's going to be quite a few levels before a Fighter can afford that.

Nice ones, Jhfffan and ftl. Very detailled answers. I think I understood all now. I have come to buy the studded leather armor and sell the leather armor. Thanks.

For 10gp (or less) I usually keep the leather armor and have someone dress it up for me so I may wear it as a status symbol for RP reasons when I want to make an impression in town.  I also presume the studded leather is not as comfortable so I wear it only when consciously adventuring.  I guess at some tables that could get me killed.