Talk:Wild Shape

Recommend splitting AC values into Base, From Dex, and anything else

For the purposes of planning Druid builds around Unarmored Defense (Wis or Con), Draconic skin, Mage armor, Barkskin or other AC enhancing effects, I recommend recording the AC breakdown of each shapeshift so the user could better plan where an increase could happen.

For example, Spider form is 11 Base AC, +3 from Dex for 14 total in the shapeshift. This helps you understand that:

Monk's Unarmored Defense could give you Wisdom -1 AC.

Barbarian's Unarmored Defense would give you no benefit (+1 AC from Con, -1 AC from 11 Base armor being adjusted)

Mage Armor and Draconic Armor would give you +2 AC (11 -> 13)

Barkskin would give you +5 AC (11 -> 16)

As a result, you would need a Monk splash with 22 Wisdom to equal the defensive value of Barkskin, providing you can apply it and not lose concentration while having it. Said spider would also only have 19 AC, unless you were able to otherwise increase its Dex.

This also lets you see that with something like Barkskin active, your Spider form will have 1 more AC then Wolf can achieve, even though they both have 14 AC listed in the current table. This difference should also matter when you consider Fire Myrmidon (+4 Dex bonus) vs Earth Myrmidon (+0 Dex bonus), though both are listed at 18 AC in the current block (so 14 and 18 Base AC respectively?).

Spider: 11 Base AC, +3 from Dex (14 total) to 16 Base AC, +3 from Dex (19 total).

Wolf: 12 Base AC, +2 from Dex (14 total) to 16 Base AC + 2 from Dex (18 total).

I would contribute more of these stats, but I'm still progressing slowly through act 1 so I don't have much unlocked yet.

What I do know so far:

Badger: 10 Base AC

Cat: 10 Base AC, +2 from Dex

Spider: 11 Base AC, + 3 from Dex (14 Total)

Wolf: 12 Base AC, +2 from Dex (14 total)

My first attempt at adding that in didn't format well in the preview, noting that information here for now, I'll see if I can add it correctly later on.