D&D 5E Integrating Armor into the Proficiency System

[Li Shenron]

Light Armor: Dex Bonus + Proficiency Bonus

Medium Armor: Con Bonus + Proficiency Bonus

Heavy Armor: Str Bonus + Proficiency Bonus

Mage Armor: Caster Stat Bonus + Proficiency Bonus

Just throwing the idea out there, to be ravaged by the forum wolves.

Well the obvious downside to this idea, is that you're pretty much guaranteeing that almost all fighters/paladins/barbarians will have to wear Heavy Armor, almost all rangers/rogues/bards will have to wear Light Armor, and almost no one will wear Medium Armor, because there is no reason to choose an armor different from the one corresponding to your higher stat.

This might not be a problem for the rangers/rogues/bards who choose Light Armor anyway to avoid movement penalties and to get their full Dex bonus. But it would be particularly disappointing for fighters and barbarians, who often follow the light-armored concept for a variety of reasons.

I am also personally interested in differentiating armors more, I want to have trade-offs between banded mail and breastplate and chain mail etc., in a way similar to weapons, and I want more than just 10-12 armors. But that's outside the point here, since clearly you are focusing on the low-complexity approach to armors, i.e. having just 3 categories with easy rules. That's ok, adding differentiation can be a modular choice. But still I don't think this specific way of handling the 3 categories is a good solution.

 

[@CriticalFumble]

Bounded accuracy includes having smaller defenses. Most monsters target armor class. Adding proficiency on top of that stat... completely negates all the work put into the game to make bounded accuracy work. It would make the DM work harder, creating orcs at various levels that are a threat instead of simply being able to use orcs as is as a threat. You'll just be right back to 3.5/4e where you'd have a level 2 orc, a level 9 orc, and a level 16 orc instead of just a level 3 orc that is a threat even to a level 20 character in big enough numbers.