Staying alive in Dungeons and Dragons often comes down to which type of DnD 5e Armor you use, as these items give crucial bonuses to your Armor Class, which lets you evade damage. But massive plated coats of heavy armor aren’t always the right choice for your character – so we’ve compiled this guide to explain the armor 5e rules and help you pick the right suit for you, whether it’s Light, Medium, Heavy, or magic armor.
Before choosing your armor items, read our complete guides to DnD classes and which of the DnD races you want to play – because your class will hugely impact which armor type will work best, and some species benefit from natural armor, which also affects your optimal choices. You can also use our DnD character creator, which will guide you through all your ideal armor, weapons, and equipment.
For now, though, let’s suit up – read on for all the key rules and types of Light, Medium, and Heavy DnD 5e armor sets, as well as magical armor types to be aware of.
Light armor 5e
Wearing light armor gives you only a small amount of extra protection, but you still add your Dexterity modifier to your AC, just as you would if you were unarmored. It’s therefore ideal for more agile characters who have high dexterity.
Every D&D class except the DnD Warlock, DnD Wizard, and DnD Monk starts with light armor proficiency, making these the three best classes to play if you want your character to specialize in light armor, maintaining your mobility and stealth.
Note that many armor types gives you a disadvantage to stealth rolls, but this isn’t the case for most light armors. The notable exception is padded armor. Don’t buy this kind if you do want to do any sneaking around. In fact, you probably just shouldn’t buy it anyway. It’s cheap, but pretty terrible.
Here are the key types of light armor:
| Armor type | Cost | AC | Stealth | Weight |
| Padded | 5 gp | 11 | Disadvantage | 8 lb |
| Leather | 10 gp | 11 | – | 10 lb |
| Studded leather | 45 gp | 12 | – | 13 lb |
Medium armor 5e
There are a ton of classes that can wear light armor and medium armor 5e, but don’t have proficiency in heavy armor. They are: a DnD Barbarian, a Cleric 5e, a DnD Paladin, a Fighter 5e, a DnD Ranger, an Artificer 5e, and a DnD Blood Hunter.
Medium armor provides more protection than light armor, but at a slight cost. You still get some of the benefit of a high dexterity score, but not the full amount. You only add your dex modifier to your AC up to a maximum of +2 if you’re wearing medium armor.
Here are the main types of medium armor:
| Armor type | Cost | AC | Stealth | Weight |
| Hide | 10 gp | 12 | – | 12 lb |
| Chain shirt | 50 gp | 13 | – | 20 lb |
| Scale mail | 50 gp | 14 | Disadvantage | 45 lb |
| Breastplate | 400 gp | 14 | – | 20 lb |
| Half plate | 750 gp | 15 | Disadvantage | 40 lb |
Heavy armor 5e
In D&D, only Paladins and Fighters have automatic proficiency in heavy armor 5e, but a Life Cleric 5e or a Tempest Cleric can also wear heavy armor.
As you might have guessed, heavy armor provides the best AC, if you ignore dexterity as a factor. However, you don’t add your dex modifier to your AC, so gain no survivability benefit from a high dex stat. That said, when clad head to toe in heavy armor, you also don’t lose AC if your dex modifier is negative. Therefore, heavy armor is great for slow, sluggish characters that just want to soak up hits.
Note that all heavy armor makes it very difficult to sneak around, giving disadvantage on stealth rolls. The better types of Heavy Armor also have a strength requirement. If you don’t meet that requirement your movement speed is reduced.
Here are the key types of heavy armor:
| Armor type | Cost | AC | Strength requirement | Stealth | Weight |
| Ring mail | 30 gp | 14 | – | Disadvantage | 40 lb |
| Chain mail | 75 gp | 16 | 13 | Disadvantage | 55 lb |
| Splint | 200 gp | 17 | 15 | Disadvantage | 60 lb |
| Plate | 1500 gp | 18 | 15 | Disadvantage | 65 lb |
DnD magic armor 5e
Bracers of Defense 5e
The Bracers of Defense 5e are a magic item that gives +2 to AC to a character not wearing armor, and not carrying a shield. Pretty handy for that nudist Warlock character you were dreaming up.
Mithral Armor 5e
Mithral Armor 5e is made of a magical material that makes for great armor. It’s light and springy, which means an armor made from mithral doesn’t have a strength requirement, and also won’t apply disadvantage to stealth rolls. You can also hide it under normal clothes (normally not possible for platemail) and dramatically reveal it to your allies after getting stabbed by an orc, er, for example.
Armor of Resistance 5e
Armor of Resistance 5e is a type of magic armor that grants resistance to a single damage type. For example an Armor of Psychic resistance means you take half damage from psychic effects. If you knew exactly what you’d be fighting, you could have a whole shelf full of different sets of Armor of Resistance. I don’t suppose the approaching Black DnD dragon will wait around for a wardrobe change, however.
Mage Armor 5e
Technically not a magic item at all, but a 5e spell, Mage Armor 5e is great if your party is all dressed in their everyday clothes. It’s a first level spell from the abjuration DnD school of magic, which buffs the target’s AC for eight hours. You can use it on a creature not wearing armor, and their AC automatically becomes 13, plus their dexterity modifier. It’s like they’re wearing light armor, but better.
If you’ve got this far and chosen your armor plans, read our guide to DnD feats next, as your chosen feats can help increase your armor effectiveness further, or mitigate some of your armor’s limitations.
Source: Wargamer
