Question about Heavier Armor

[Archpaladin Zousha]

If you're a medium-armor-proficient class, is it worth taking Armor Proficiency to gain access to heavy armor without going into an archetype that scales it like Sentinel or Stalwart Defender?

[Darksol the Painbringer]

Armor Proficiency as a feat is really only worthwhile if you only ever scale to Expert Armor; the issue is that a lot of these classes that are limited to Expert proficiency usually don't possess any of the higher proficiencies to begin with, such as most spellcasters. Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, etc. all don't get any proficiencies past Expert, and also don't even have any proficiences to begin with.

There are some classes that do have proficiencies with armor that don't scale up past Expert, such as Druids, Warpriests, and Bards, but if you are a class that scales to Master (at 19th), by the endgame you will probably want to retrain to acquire Sentinel. Of course, since most games don't make it to 20th level, the odds of such a choice having a serious impact on your game will be highly unlikely.

[Taja the Barbarian]

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

If you're a medium-armor-proficient class, is it worth taking Armor Proficiency to gain access to heavy armor without going into an archetype that scales it like Sentinel or Stalwart Defender?

When it comes to straight AC, Heavy armor is basically a +2 bonus over medium if you have no Dexterity bonus, so

Trained Medium Armor vs Trained Heavy Armor = +2 AC with Heavy Armor
Expert Medium Armor vs Trained Heavy Armor = +0 AC with Heavy Armor
Expert Medium Armor vs Expert Heavy Armor (granted by the remastered Armor Proficiency feat at Level 13+) = +2 AC with Heavy Armor
Master Medium Armor vs Expert Heavy Armor = +0 AC with Heavy Armor

If you have a +1 or better Dex score, reduce these numbers by 1

So, with a +0 or less Dex Score, Heavy Armor proficiency via the Armor Proficiency (Remastered) feat is pretty good until your class gets master proficiency (if it does) at endgame, at which point it becomes a bit of a wash...

If you are using the Armor Proficiency (Classic) feat, Heavy Armor becomes a wash (at best) around level 13...

[Bluemagetim]

heavy armor will also have some speed penalty left over even with high enough str to reduce it.

[The Raven Black]

Using a General feat might be an easier investment than using a class feat to get a dedication.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Thank you all for the clarification! :)

[YuriP]

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

If you're a medium-armor-proficient class, is it worth taking Armor Proficiency to gain access to heavy armor without going into an archetype that scales it like Sentinel or Stalwart Defender?

Depends up to what level and class do you will play.

If you will play up to a level before you get master proficiency the general feat is better. If you will play up to a higher level the Sentinel is better.

The Armor Proficiency usually really shines when you have a light armor martial and want to get a Heavy Armor proficiency once that it allows you to meet Sentinel Dedication requirements.