The column labeled strength is not necessarily a requirement. There are a few things you’ve probably noticed, so let’s talk about the different qualities armor can have. Not having proficiency in the armor you’re wearing also means losing the ability to cast spells. In the table below, the different types of armor you can wear are split into the categories of light, medium, and heavy armor.Īnyone can wear any of these types of armor, but putting these on without proficiency in the armor type will cause you to have disadvantage on any attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws that require strength or dexterity. Your armor class is, unsurprisingly, decided by what armor you are wearing, although there are a few exceptions we’ll get into later.
Don’t worry, we’ll make this nice and simple. When it comes to figuring out our own armor class, however, there can be quite a few things that go into it. Creatures and characters we come up against will have set ACs, decided by the DM or by a preexisting stat block.