Animal Skin

[The Total Package]

I am level 11 I have the feat Animal Skin. How does it work am I "Unarmored" or am I wearing Explorers clothing? If I am unarmored how do I put runes on me?

[HammerJack]

Explorer's Clothing (or Library Robes or a Gi) or Bands of Force are not armor. You are Unarmored while wearing them.

[TheFinish]

If you're wearing Explorer's Clothing, you are Unarmored. If you look at the Armor table, you will see there's a Category called Unarmored. Wearing anything from that Category = Unarmored, and will use your Unarmored Proficiency.

Explorer's Clothing gives you a +0 item bonus to AC, with a Dexterity Cap of +5.

If, while wearing Explorer's Clothing, you use Animal Skin, you will instead have an Item Bonus of +2 and a Dexterity Cap of +3. At 13th Level, it is instead +3 Item Bonus and Dexterity Cap of +3.

If you're Unarmored, you can put runes on yourself with either Explorer's Clothing, the mystic armor spell or bands of force. That's why the Animal Skin feat says:

"This item bonus to AC is cumulative with armor potency runes on your explorer's clothing, mystic armor, and bands of force."

[NorrKnekten]

Explorers clothing is considered as being in the Unarmored Armor Category

So you put runes on your clothing and can benefit from them while Animal Skin is active. Animal Skin even says that the bonus from it is cumulative with the bonus from your runes while wearing clothing with runes.

[The Total Package]

So at level 11 with a +4 to Dex what would my AC be?

[NorrKnekten]

The Total Package wrote:

So at level 11 with a +4 to Dex what would my AC be?

I believe it would be;

10
+Level
+ 4 Expert proficiency
+ 3 Dex mod(Dex cap from Animal skin)
+ 2 Item Bonus(Animal Skin)
+ 2 Item bonus(Armor potency runes)

32 total?

[YuriP]

Yes it will be a normal light/medium armor AC bonus where when default base item bonus (without potency runes) + capped dex bonus is equal to 5.

Only after level 13 when the barbarian get the greater juggernaut is when it will improve the base item bonus to +3 giving a +6 when sum with capped dex reaching the same AC of a heavy armor.

IMO this feat is a good candidate to a rebalance errata because many other classes got "heavy armor" AC way earlier specially after remaster:

Alchemist may get this AC via Drakeheart Mutagen at cost of 1 or 2 actions (depending if it is tarting with the elixir in hand or is draw/making it with quick alchemy first).

Other Barbarian instincts can use heavy armor with Invulnerable Rager at level 8.

Warpriests can use Heavy Armor AC with Warpriest’s Armor at level 2.

Inventors now can use and get this AC with a Power Suit at level 1.

Earth Kineticists get Heavy Armor with Armor in Earth at level 3.

Monks can get this AC in Mountain Stance after take Mountain Stronghold (lvl 6) and Mountain Quake at level 14 but monks have a higher AC by default due its higher unarmored proficiency by default so it only behinds champions in practice and only between levels 7-14.

So IMO this +3 AC could come earlier at level 7 when barbarian gets juggernaut instead of get it with greater juggernaut.

[Kelseus]

It's actually much better than that. It gives you expert prof in unarmored at level 6 instead of level 13. That's actually a level earlier than the Champion, 5 levels ahead of Fighter.

So at level 6 you get AC of 25 instead of 23. The +1 at 13 is to throw you a bone once the benefit of the ability goes away.

[TheFinish]

Yeah, Animal Skin doesn't really need a buff.

If we compare it with Invulnerable Rager at level 8, the Animal Skin Barbarian has an AC of 28 while the Invulnerable Rager has an AC of 27. They equalise at 13th. So for 7 levels (assuming the Animal Barbarian takes Animal Skin at the earliest possible level) the Animal is better than the Invulnerable Rager, and at all other times they're equal.

Also, the Animal Barbarian has 0 downsides compared to other options. No Bulk, no speed reduction, no have-to-be-on-ground restrictions, no action tax, etc. Most of these are minor, but still worth pointing out.

[Kelseus]

The only real downside is that you lose +2 AC while not raging, but that still puts you at the same AC of an armored Bard without Animal Skin or Invulnerable Rager.