Broken Armor of Agathys Build in D&D

Broken Armor of Agathys Build for Dungeons and Dragon. In this video I explore this with you to see how to create the most viable use of the armor of agathys spell, using some abjuration magic.
Cover art by JasonTN
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XP to level 3 with Davvychappy, potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering, tabletop community next to tabletop RPG, dungeons and dragons, Fjord, Beau, Jester, Yasha, Caleb, Nott, 5th edition dragons, 3.5e, dungeon dudes, DM GM, dungeon master, game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus, Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein. Matt Mercer.

[@MonkeyDM]

Arcane Ward is NOT Temporary Hit Points, which means that yes, it does stack with Armor of Agathys. Additionally, Armor of Agathys triggers when you are hit, not when you take damage, so yes this combo works, this has been confirmed by Crawford.

[@Rannulfus]

At level 5, doesn't arcane ward only have 14 hp with a +4 int modifier? Or is my math just dumb. I thought arcane ward only has hp equal to twice wizard level + int modifier.

[@Chrjstheshadow]

@@Rannulfus sadly you are correct. Jeremy Crawford also confirmed this by changing around the wording so it’s more clear that int modifier is applied once and level is applied twice.

[@Rannulfus]

@@Chrjstheshadow oh ok, thanks! Its still a pretty decent combo. I think even some martials would struggle to have that much effective hp at level 5, and turning armor of shadows into a makeshift healing spell is kinda funny.

[@peterwowfan]

If you want to rule the ward isn't temp hit points then you have to follow what else the book say that being the ward takes the damge not you meaning the target is forced to change

[@zacharylona]

Now add a Barbarian level to rage, or three and choose Totem Warrior (bear) for resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, or all but psychic damage received, respectively. Armor of Agathys has a duration but isn't concentration, so this works with rage to protect those extra hit points. You can also ritual cast the Alarm spell to replenish your Arcane Ward, though this takes 101x longer than the stated Armor of Shadows route.

[@christophersanders3252]

Honestly, the more powerful players are, the crazier monsters I can throw at them. I see this as an absolute win.

[@ADT1995]

Yep, I paid for the entire monster manual, I'm going to use the entire monster manual

[@brooksfaucette296]

That kind of ruins the reward of making a powerful character, if a player enjoys building something powerful, its because that comes with the expectation success will follow, otherwise they might as well play a wizard with -1 intelligence fighting twig blights the whole campain

[@louiesatterwhite3885]

@@brooksfaucette296 as someone who has been lucky enough to have a dm support the usage of broken builds by throwing stronger monsters, I can say that there is an incredible satisfaction in defeating encounters that should not be possible for the given party level. In the campaign I've been in for 4 years, every encounter since level 5 has been listed as "deadly" when CR is compared to party level and pc count. And yet we have not had a single death. We've had players go down, and one come real close, but no dead.

[@ADT1995]

@@brooksfaucette296 not exactly, you still want to have a mix of medium hard and deadly encounters. But the deadly ones are extra rewarding when they are truly deadly and the players mop the floor with it The party usually knows the difference when they are fighting a monster that is strong but not overly deadly, and when they are fighting something truly horrific. This is at least true for my table. We all enjoy challenging combat though. But I'm absolutely for making sure that my players builds don't go to waste, if someone has sentinel proc those AoOs. Paladin has stupidly high AC don't ignore him with attacks. But letting your players feel powerful doesn't mean that you can't ever challenge them. They should feel strong when they wipe the floor with the mooks, but they'll also feel strong when they kill the big demon.

[@brooksfaucette296]

@ADT1995 i do agree that there should be a variety of challenge in combat, but it should be established to the players beforehand "there will be very dangerous encounters in this game, if you dont have good tactics or your characters arent strong enough you could definitely die" or whatever might match the campain you have planned. That way, players can make effective characters and use those to overcome more encounters or choose more deadly paths in the campaign than they would have otherwise, but they will still encounter tough challenges,if that makes sense. Really the point im tryi g to make is if encounters are just directly adjusted to however the players decide to make their characters, then there is really no reward to making strong characters

[@matthewcriner1740]

I wanna play dnd with you, you seem like the perfect evil DM

[@leatcanned]

He is good, but his players are likely top tier asholes.

[@usernamesnull]

And the perfect evil player

[@namegeneric9344]

He has the look as well (no offense)

[@leatcanned]

@@namegeneric9344 cleaver, kind and most likely knows a great recipe for linguini.( the last part isn't a joke, he just looks like he can cook, Managed a kitchen and he reminds me of a pasta cook).

[@thesilvanalyst6880]

Sounds all fine and cool until you realise that you just made a wizard that wants to be hit.

[@thilypad557]

Tank wizard!

[@myakuza4366]

kinky Wizard

[@bmeisteryaboi6322]

Look, all of this is just a contingency, do you really wanna be that guy that could have survived the encounter? Or the little bitch that exploded when a enemy assasin rogue crit exploded your health cus you turned a little to the left. Yes, im salty cus my dm hates my guts.

[@captianbacon]

The sub wizard if you will

[@phasepanther4423]

@@bmeisteryaboi6322 Just when things were going right, you went left. Tsk tsk.

[@jasontodd433]

Let's not forget dipping into Barbarian to half the damage while raging

[@knightdrachne]

I’m the kinda dm that would throw an army of goblins with daggers just to see my players joyed face when they all just mulch themselves on his thorny dwarf

[@skullsquad900]

"Doty, note this down..." Tarion vs Grog, taught me how handy this spell is 👍

[@KylenKiomaka]

I've played this build, a few years ago now! It was a warlock/wizard multiclass, but still insanely fun. My character was the only one lived long enough to beat the displacer beasts that were throwing us all 30 feet into the air every single turn...

[@RJ-1580]

U were fighting golems from minecraft :0

[@jusquanorthwind1016]

@@RJ-1580 this for some reason made me think of skyrim giants sending things into the stratosphere

[@RJ-1580]

@@jusquanorthwind1016 XD

[@Sir_Master]

I made a level 20 build built around armor of Agathys two or so years ago and to this day this has been one of my favorite combos. Opponents attack me, take 40 damage, and I take 2, reducing it off the Abjuration wizard shield. Taking Scourge Aasimar as my race, I can hurt everyone around me, along with Cloak Of Flies Warlock invocation. Taking Barbarian to rage after having cast my spells, I can now rage to take half damage without having to cast new spells. I can also reckless attack, adding my level to the damage because of scourge Aasimar, and get to give my opponents advantage on hitting me-which means they take 40 and I take 2.

[@dragonarchive7443]

Also: you can be a levistus tiefling instead of warding dwarf, if that more suits your fancy.

[@captianbacon]

Thats definitely better as fire resistance is actually the best thing in the world. Assuming ur dm lets u tasha it up, as that how all new races are doing. Because teiflings can't recast there daddy spells with spell slots.

[@omniipotence]

Levistus tiefling can only cast it at its lowest level once per long rest. Mark of warding dwarf just gets that spell added to their list automatically.

[@BobbyGentile]

I've been dying to try this build, its been one I've been looking at for a few months now

[@Adurnis]

I played a version of this build after Treantmonk came out with it a couple years ago. It was fun, but I discovered some downsides. 1. After a while, enemies just don’t target you. 2. Ranged attacks don’t trigger the armor. Still just fine as a build, though.

[@charleybrett1663]

It's not a bad trick but a far cry from broken. You left out that you're spending a 3rd level spell slot and an action to get AoA up in the first place. Arcane ward is approximately doubling the value you get out of that spell slot, which is a useful interaction but again, definitely not OP.

[@undeadboi8441]

This☝️

[@OjamaIndigo]

3rd level slot? What do you mean it’s a level 1 spell

[@charleybrett1663]

@@OjamaIndigo Watch the video again. He says it gives 15 temporary hit points and deals 15 damage.

[@Esodum]

Tbf you can set up armor of agathys before an encounter, provided you see it coming. But yeah, not broken. You also made a wizard, you have a d6 for hit points and for this yo work you want to be at Frontline. Def not broken.

[@nebei3740]

Clockwork soul + new mom earth genasi is bonkers though with a dip into tempest cleric and heavy armor master and a shield you can shrug off the entirety of early game with aoa bladeward and shield alone while being great support with pass without trace and the massive amount of transmutation and abjuration spells you have access to. Midgame you get warcaster and barkskin together with bastion of law and finish the tempest dip for lightning balls and you can take a walk through a dungeon on your own from lvl 7-10. You can easily solo cr appropriate encounters as long as they arent immune to cold/lightning and have magical attacks they will get absolutely stomped with no second thought you just take too little dmg and have so much effective hp while reflecting so much melee dmg that everything is gonna roll over and die without mayor effort while anything backline gets to know the power of thor and counterspell. Its the evolved form of spirit guardians and run through the goblin cave spamming the dodge action only that in this case you want to get hit. The biggest advatage on this compared to the abjurer wizard is that bastion of law works with resistances and aoa raw and can be refreshed in combat by throwing resources into it action/sp and sp can be transformed by using spell slots so you turn yourself into a spellslot fueled massive health bar that reflects dmg you can do something similar with bladesinger wizards but they struggle more to make it work because they are just less versatile with it and come online pretty late where reflecting dmg is not that bonkers anymore while this build hits power spike after power spike but slowly falling off past lvl 10-11

[@MrKaiyooo]

When the wizard is really done with dying from a stick hit.

[@crazy36069]

Even better if you take 3 levels into barbarian, choose Bear Totem, and have resistance piled on top of the Ward, Temporary Hp, and normal Hp. The AoA and Mage Armor can still be active during rage.

[@Stinghoir]

Dip into forge cleric and then take heavy armor master to take even less damage while wearing heavy armor. Blade ward every 6 second for best results

[@bwaresunlight]

If you take the heavy armor master feat, you can straight reduce the amount of damage you take per hit by 3. It's flat before applying the damage. Which makes this even better.

[@zioqqr4262]

love how eberron is just at fault for all the broken shit

[@utes5532]

I mean you could accomplish this build without Eberron.

[@EvanFarshadow]

Ravnica and Tasha's are both more broken than Eberron

[@zioqqr4262]

@@EvanFarshadow Imagine actually readin Ravnica lol. But fr, the only broken things in tashas are custom lineage but even then they say "ask ya fukn dm before you do this", so

[@EvanFarshadow]

@@zioqqr4262 Rune Knight is absolutely hell to deal with as a DM, Clockwork Sorcerer is... Irritating at best. And Tasha's Bladesinger was almost entirely a buff to an already overpowered subclass. And don't get me started on Twilight Cleric, Peace Cleric, and Scribes Wizard.

[@zioqqr4262]

@@EvanFarshadow okay yeah youre right i completely shoved those subclasses out of my mind into the depths of my dnd-blacklist lol

[@robertdirenzo1827]

You can also take the sorcerer subclass Clockwork Soul and at level 6 learn Bastion of Law which you can expend up to 5 d8's using sorcery points to give yourself damage negation up to a max of 40, also clockwork Soul sorcerers can choose armor of Agathys to replace their subclass spell at 1st lvl.

[@KylenKiomaka]

I've run this build a few years ago! Although that was before Eldritch Adept, so it was a warlock multiclass. Poor Karthus was the only survivor of a displacer beast pack attack...

[@KylenKiomaka]

Wait a minute... I've seen this video before.

[@TK-yh5zz]

Heavy armor master goes well with this too, as it reduces damage by 3 from bludgeoning piercing or slashing (nonmagical) this might not seem like a lot but you'll get a lot of use out of it. Also I'm pretty sure that blade ward would be helpful on this build as well. Gives you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Most of your damage is coming from armor of agathys anyway.

[@kaip310]

In a niche way, if you start with a level in paladin for heavy armor proficiency and take the Heavily Armored feat then you can extend the life of the ward a bit by making all (non-magical) bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage do 3 less to you - while still dealing back that 15. This was really fun for a CoS game I did. I played a Levistus Tiefling for the Armor of Agathys though.

[@Boundless-Boredom]

Throw on fire sheild as well at 7th level for more retributive damage. This build also works with Clockwork soul sorcs warding ability without having to be the mark of warding dwarf. Or combine both abjurer wizard and clockwork soul. For even more damage reduction.

[@juni6926]

I will never feel pain again

[@queenelisa1094]

The build I'm doing right now is Goliath Giant Soul Sorcerer with Armor of Agathys, at level 6 you can add your con mod to the armor for a lot of temp hit points at second or third level slot, and goliath stone's endurance allows you to keep getting hit and triggering Agathys several times, very fun! Though maybe not as powerful as the ward.

[@ChimeraWithin]

I actually like this. It's a very clever way of comboing spells that isn't too ridiculously over powered.

[@ricardopadulajr]

I love this combo. So simple and powerful.

[@skapunker96]

I've run this build before and it's a blast. Also go with Fire shield so they take a couple D8 on each attack as well. I personally love the build bc it is the most unique battle mage option I've found. You get to frontline as a mage without needing to wear armor or wield a weapon. I recommend taking spells like Burning Hands as well bc they work best at close range (has a big AoE originating from you and most importantly, the spell forces a save rather than has you attack; this is good bc it means you can cast damaging spells not at disadvantage even if you're in melee range).

[@5areth]

You can take this combo even further with a single level of Barbarian. Set up your ward and armor then rage when you get into combat to take only half damage from 3 of the most common damage types in the game, stretching those 2 pools of hit points even further and dealing the same amount of damage with each hit. If you have a decent con mod for maintaining your concentration or being a bit less squishy, unarmored defense is a pretty nice cherry on top for a caster.

[@Tirreg88]

As a DM. If some fishy synergies are too op or if I am not able to describe the situation when building the world. Example. You have this Ice armour in your body. As you are hit your arcane ward weakens. Your body isn't touched, so your ice Armor doesn't explode.

[@godkiller1235]

Something similar works with clockwork soul sorcerer. They get access to armor of agathys through spell swapping as well as their own sort of ward. Bonus points if you play a melee sorcerer build with twinned/quickened booming blade + shadow blade

[@Plamkton]

Good ol sorcadin

[@lordzaboem]

For a less Eberron-focused version, try swapping out Dwarf for standard Tiefling. By third level, you'll get Hellish Rebuke as a free spell. You still cast Armor of Agathys with your first action. As soon as you get hit, you cast HR as a Reaction. Fire & Ice damage!

[@TheWeirdsound]

If you are willing to give up a bit of power on your ward and some high level spellslots down the road, 3-5 levers of armorer artificer work well with this build. Getting in a foe's face and smacking them with Thunder Gauntlets forces them to either attack into your AoA and take more damage, or suffer disadvantage if they want to attack your teammates instead.

[@doggyshotgun4675]

I had a player use a similar strategy but his character was all about not kill and if possible, not even hurting the enemies. So he cast these spells and simply told the enemies to not hit him, he would attempt to use his body to block attacks on his party. He said "I don't want anyone to get hurt, but if they want to hurt themselves it is their problem"

[@joshuatran1556]

A more efficient but less powerful way is to take clockwork soul sorcerer, which can gain armor of agathys as a domain spell and can reduce damage with it's 6th level feature. Unlike Abjuration, it can recharge it in combat with spell slots

[@Martick05545]

Don’t forget the 1 lvl dip into fighter and feat heavy armor master as a human variant

[@saulcuthbertson7248]

I just made a harengon sorcerer, who's signature move is to cast armour of agathys, jump, use the harengon ability to jump higher and further, use the storm sorcery origin ability where you fly ten feet in the air, and jump into an enemy, then jump back out so they do an attack of opportunity and take the cold damage. Doesn't do a lot of damage but it's hilarious and stupid.

[@xcalifornian]

Your DM can also choose not to swing at you. It is fun though.

[@mrcheese2238]

I made this exact character by accident after seeing Matthew Mercer’s dwarf sorcerer in EXU using medium armour. I thought it might be cool, especially as I hadn’t played a wizard before but I didn’t want to copy it exactly. So I went mark of warding, and then made a backstory that my character (not eberron setting but GM allowed coz I made the backstory work well in the homebrew setting) made the first Mark of Warding for use by dwarves in the mines of his home city. He couldn’t get a permit to sell it but couldn’t find willing volunteers (5 charisma, very funny to RP) so did the sensible self testing. Now I just need the eldritch adept feat, and at level 4 he’s already reached 20 int! He’s grown so far from his level 1 squishy wizardness!!

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

You can then also stack it on top of a druidic shift into a natural thorns or damage aura bearing creature, increasing the damage done back and also getting more health pool buff

[@geoffreyperrin4347]

Recharging your arcane ward with unlimited mage armor is something that works rules as written but is probably not very smart to do, as it makes you so much more tanky utilizing a loop hole exploit that likely wasn't intended when the PHB came out

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

It was available when the PHB came out, it just required a multiclass before. Two levels of Warlock for the Invocation and access to Armor of Agythys, and finish off with Wizard. Now it's available to people who prefer not to multiclass their characters. As for whether or not it was intended, you can look at the Crossbow Expert feat as an example of much worse offenders that Wizards has given their stamp of approval (turning a feat that was intended to allow a player to wield a melee weapon in one hand and a ranged weapon in the other into a mess of repeating tiny little needles murdering an ancient dragon).

[@yum-yumbaconinmytum-tumdel8786]

Add spirit shroud, and elemental adept (cold) Any creature you deal damage to(per turn, so it'll proc on your turn and theirs) Within 10 feet of you takes an additional 1d8 radiant/necrotic/cold (chosen at spellcast choose cold) and can slow any 1 creature within 20 feet by 10 feet (each round, free action) It's 1 minute duration, no concentration And doubles the use of elemental adept

[@wrathshot1589]

I like how no one makes a warlock sniper even though eldreg spear gives you 300 foot range of eldreg blast

[@JasonGraceification]

For this build, rather than dealing with a feat and a marked class, I usually look at the warlock multiclass. Doesn't have to be a big one, since spells cross classes, so even a small, say 2-3 level dip gives armor of agathis, plus the invocation, and a few other benefits, while being able to upcast AoA with wiz slots

[@Tezemya]

The DM: cool idea, you just have to find someone to teach you the skill

[@briang3598]

A probably more potent way to achieve this is to take clockwork soul sorcerer, swap one of your spells for Armor of Agathys, and use the Bastion of Law feature to load up on wards. To take it further, either make use of Blade Ward to take half damage on any incoming attacks, popping Bastion of Law wards as necessary, to extend the use of Armor of Agathys damage without losing spell slot progression, and thus more AoA temp HP and damage *or* invest a level or 3 into Barbarian, at which point you could prolong your use of AoA by having passively-applied resistance during which you can still attack every turn.

[@coconuttydragoon3445]

Scary late game idea - 18th level; Spell mastery. You gain a 1st and 2nd level spell that you can cast at will. Since the Mark spells are added to your spell casting list, though counted against your total, Armor of Agathys could be used. Even though you cannot benefit from overlapping armor spells, you can literally keep your shield up no matter what.

[@finalfantasy50]

5 temp hp at level 18 is nothing, you can use it to restore arcane ward but you should pick up eldritch adept and spam mage armor between combat instead

[@grey8288]

A 2 level dip into warlock can also benifit this for unlimited Mage armor, or just 1 level to have a free slot for Mage armor that'll replenish on a short rest. Go hexblade for a bit of extra damage and to get a shield.

[@Cosmic_K13]

I would argue this works better as a Clockwork Sorcerer. Armor of agathis is kept up by subtracting damage taken. The major downside to arcane ward is that nothing can reduce the damage to it. I might try a Goliath Clockwork sorc/ Barb, as I can effectively take no damage until around 20 for a few turns, only requiring 1 spell.

[@bardthestoryteller]

Put three levels into Artificer and go Armourer. That way you can use heavy armour without a strength investment and have a semi effective melee or ranged weapon (I prefer melee to combine woth BB and GFB) and you can bring your Wizard to the front line. This is my absolute favourite build because ot fits my second favourite power fantasy/fantasy trope. Also. Another option for race is to go Deep Gnome so you can get the feat "Svirfneblin magic" (hope I spelt that right), which gives you the ability to cast Nondetection at will. A 3rd level spell that charges Arcane Ward for 6hp instead of Armour of Shadows healing for 2hp. And if you do go down the Deep Gnome path there are 2 ways to get Armor of Agathys, either taking a Warlock level or taking a level in Clockwork Sorcerer since the spells you get via the subclass can be swapped out for any Transmutation or more importantly any Abjuration spell on the Wizard, Sorcerer or Warlock spell list, meaning Armor of Agathys. And it doesn't give up spell slot progression like how Warlock would so it works out. Now to pray I can keep using the setup in games I play.

[@bardthestoryteller]

The biggest issue with either (and definitely using both) of these options is how late the build properly comes online. Granted if your dm let's you just have Armor of Agathys on your Wizard at base it saves you a level of another class but you would need a particularly nice dm.

[@BreakYourMark]

I’m literally playing this class right now

[@g80gzt]

Yes this does work. Arcane Ward has hit points. It takes damage instead of you. You're still hit, triggering AOA, but it absorbs the damage before you, such as concentration rules mattering. AOA doesn't care if you're hurt, it cares that you're hit. Like even with the attack of a plane shift, if I recall my rules right.

[@ouroboros_1355]

I´ll play a Wizardin (Abjuration/Conquest) for this exact build, then take Heavy Armor Master to make those magic shields last, and if I play a tiefling I will also take flames of plegethos, which will add a d4 fire damage on top of the ice damage xD

[@SgtDahaka]

Also have a twilight cleric to replenish your temp hp each turn with its channel divinity

[@Envy_the_Darksider]

Don't forget, if you are against enemies that have bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing melee weapon attacks, you can use blade ward to run through lots of enemies, intentionally triggering their opportunity attacks, and halve their damage while they take the full damage when they hit you.

[@robinwang6399]

The unfortunate part is the arcane ward doesn’t charge over the original amount, other wise one can break this build even further.

[@finalfantasy50]

it doesnt charge over, but you can replenish the health of the armor

[@boobajew3812]

The shadow temple music from Zelda is still creepy to this day

[@araonthedrake4049]

And if the race is not avalible, you can acomplish the same with just a 2lv dip into warlock, which isn't terrible even if it does technically means you're 1 spell level behind the caster curve.

[@jakobsthillert15]

I have made this character. There is an alternative build: Be a svirfneblin, take the feat svirfneblin magic and one level of warlock for the Armor of Agathys spell. Then you can regain 6 hp on the arcane ward each turn with the free nondetection spell.

[@Knuffeldraak]

Arcane ward at level 5 and 18 int can only hold 14 hitpoints at a time, not 19. It's 2x your wizard level + your INT Bonus, so (2x5)+4.

[@kchorton9007]

Mark of warding dwarf is unneeded, go 2 levels warlock to get it and the amor of shadows invocation for unlimited mage armour to spam between combats for quick refill on abjuration wizard.

[@Noveler00]

Now can be done with any race as long as you get the Rune Carver background from Bigby's: Glory of the Giants, or meet prereq for Rune Shaper feat also from Bigby's.

[@SoloStudiosOfficial]

Also if you get another party member to cast Warding Bond on you, Armor of Agathys is twice as effective since all damage you take is split in half

[@Indian0Lore]

Imagine the clockwork soul Sorcerer helps out too

[@ezreal1407]

Also heavy armor master is nice cuz it can reduce nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing by 3 making your effective hp higher.

[@svenabel2987]

+ get the Skill Expert feat for Expertise in Athletics to grapple someone and drag them away from your friends so they HAVE to either hit you and take damage or do nothing

[@slywolfe]

if you really want to have fun with this add on a fourth level fire shield spell 👌

[@LeakysTV]

If you wanna go Int take 3 level of artificer and be an Armorer so you can take Heavy Armor Master (remeber the Arcane Ward dont get your Resistance or Damage Reduction). My prefer way to abuse this is Goliath Ancestral Barbarian (3 or 5 level) then Sorcerer (i prefer Runechild for theme but is not official material so take Clockwork) you will have so many way for reduce the damage and protect your Agathys and if the enemy dont hit you will do less damage to your team and if hit you it will get punish

[@mandos6145]

*some archer at 600 range with 20 arrows and a dream* :"man, sucks to be at range huh?"

[@fortunatus1]

Temporary HP from different sources do not stack. You can only use either your Arcane Ward or Armor of Agathys one at a time.

[@MonkeyDM]

Arcane Ward is not Temp HP. It’s been confirmed to work by Crawford.

[@dodhethompson4841]

Another good combo it's still going dwarf, but going mountain dwarf, and then dipping two levels into warlock, this means that you can get armor of Aggies, armor proficiency, and mage armor to recharge your ward

[@oOPPHOo]

_"If your DM really hates you, you take the feat [...]"_ Well, if your DM truly hates you, they argue that Armor of Agathis doesn't deal damage until the armor itself takes damage. While this argument isn't supported by RAW, it's also not an argument I would hate a DM for making. It certainly seems to fit the spell description that you are taking damage because you're hitting the armor and the arcane ward is protecting your armor. Personally, I'd stick to RAW to keep things simple.

[@zimzimph]

It's actually confirmed it works as mentioned. Ofc a DM can still say they feel it's unbalanced and therefore not allow it. Unsolicited advise moment: As always, a party should be balanced within and not necessarily vs the DM. If everyone feels they're contributing roughly equally, then it's fine if your DM adjusts according to their power vs their expected power. They might be strong, they might be weak. The enemies might be strong, they might be weak. If everyone at the table has fun, nothing should change.

[@martinsikes1400]

No one is talking about the new Lunar Sorcerer. You have 1 free Spell Per Long Rest, per day. When you reach 6th level you have the ability to spend 1 Sorcery Point to switch Lunar Cycles as a Bonus action and cast the First level spell on the list per day, so three times + the original 1 for 4 1st Spell per day. Shield, Ray of Sickness, and Color Spray + one of the above mentioned spells for a 2nd time. You can use this to Smite or cast the situatioal spell

[@RioDrake]

I can't remember if AoAg costs Concentration, but add Bear Totem on top of that for even MORE HP

[@pjenner79]

AoA is not concentration.. so yes you can rage and use AoA ….

[@deru72]

You can also go clockwork sorcerer ehit every race you like who has access to armor of agathys and a 5d8 rechargable extra hit points before touching armor of agathys hp (also protect concentration)

[@thatonenobushi7788]

Full conquest paladin, res to all damage from invincible conquerer, 25 cold damage+5 psychic each time your hit and if aura of conquest is active they take 10 extea psychic per turn

[@shaggytodopoderoso9526]

arcane ward is twice level + int modifier if you have 18 int, it's a +4 modifier that's 14 thp, not 19

[@ninnusridhar]

Arcane ward is twice level + int, so that's 14 at level 5. Personally Ill go for a 2 level dip in warlock. Gets me both agathys and Armor of shadows + any other invocation (eldritch mind anyone?). This also is perfect for a great story. A wizard who either seeks power from a dangerous entity for more knowledge(aka the warlock flavour text), or becoming a champion of a dangerous entity (think vax from critical role). Pluuus, this is basically Dresden from the Dresden files, so win win

[@oicmorez4129]

If you sacrifice 2 levels for a warlock, you can take at will Mage Armor and spam it between combat to regenerate your ward to full for free

[@sirmeatshield]

If your DM doesnt allow Ebberon content, you could go Levistus tiefling instead for less powerful(due to limited usage) but still good version of this strategy

[@JBtheCrazy1]

This just gives me ideas to fuck with my players in upcoming campaign

[@benry007]

Don't forget to cast fire shield. Blade ward also become more viable.

[@philippegauvin-vallee9371]

Remember that every time you cast Armor of Agathys you restore part of your Arcane Ward because it is an abjuration spell!

[@RezPBTG]

also as a reaction per round you can cast astral barrier to take less dmg

[@lastar7824]

I did something similar with clockwork souls bastion of law feature, it works well with a quickened blade ward

[@mr.shameless1886]

so you basically get access to two different types of Thorns III Enchantments and two Extra Layers of Health to boot. awesome

[@gregoriogarcia3085]

You can also just cast blade ward every turn to basicaly double those HPs so that your enemy has to go through 68 HPs.

[@alextrollip7707]

Assuming they do non magical physical damage of course

[@burgernthemomrailer]

“broken” armor of agathys build when monsters with ranged attacks:

[@CaseyDplays]

Just remember anything the party can do the DM can have the enemy do as well.

[@Englishsessions]

I didn't know either of these abjuration spells 🤨 it's been too many years I haven't played DnD 😭 I'd love to find some players again here in France 🇨🇵😉

[@hamsti4791]

Thats literally the build I though of, great minds think alike

[@tylerzwickl2811]

Get high enough in level and you can throw fire shield on top of it too. Granted, that's still a wizard that wants to be hit, but extra damage is extra damage

[@eclairdawnlight8470]

A nasty combo that only gets more gross at high level

[@scg7442]

You could also be a Levistus Tiefling if your DM doesn't allow Eberron stuff.

[@realLagMaster]

I have a paladin with the interception fighting style and in the party we had a warlock. We where fighting goblins that attacked the warlock and I was reducing the damage to 0 and the goblins where falling.

[@elir626]

I kind of have this as a warlock with armor of agathys and false life, but false life is also a cantrip with my invocation so I can spam it

[@patricklyons794]

I wouldn't allow the Armour of Agathis damage to kick in until your Arcane Ward drops. I also wouldn't allow Armour of Shadows to recharge your Arcane Ward, as you don't spend any spell slots to do so.

[@ditchfx411]

You can technically also multi class barbarian with it as well

[@gabemagicmaster2179]

One thing that isn't mentioned, this only applies to melee attacks. So unless you're playing around melee, this combo isn't as broken as you want.

[@brockmacd]

I did the abjuration adept duo. Free healing to party too

[@josefzalusky7307]

"Fuck it, dragon time"

[@MartinGasparini86]

just do a paladin hexblade warlock take shield and armor of agathys... you have 18 base AC with a shield plus the shield spell you get to 23 ...24 with defense fighting style plus you can put the armor of agathys to get temporary HP plus damage them