SOURCE: Player’s Handbook

Rating the Benefits of Medium Armor Master

Benefit #1 – 

Wearing medium armor doesn’t impose disadvantage on Stealth checks

Two of the better Medium armors impose disadvantage on Stealth checks, which is an issue for characters who might have good Dex and want to be sneaky as well as protected. 

Benefit #2 – 

Medium armor allows a character to add a maximum of +3 to their AC from their Dex mod, instead of +2

A permanent +1 AC is a rare boost, generally only offered by magical items and a scattered handful of class and racial traits. This is a big defensive boost that’s generally very hard to get

Mechanics and Requirements

Ignoring disadvantage on Stealth checks

Of the 5 medium armors, 2 of them confer disadvantage on Stealth when a character is wearing them; Scale Mail, and Half-Plate

The issue here is that these are two of the best types of medium armor with the highest AC values, which most characters will want to wear as they get into the game and gear up. Certain character backgrounds even start with scale mail.  

The Medium Armor Master feat already encourages a character to have a good Dexterity score, considering one of the benefits is using more Dex bonus to AC. So it’s a fair assumption that a character with this feat might also want to take the Stealth skill, which builds from Dex. 

The main purpose of this is to allow a character to specialize in Stealth while also having tank level AC. Nothing stops a Rogue, for example, from taking Expertise in Stealth, then finding a way to also gain advantage in it. 

This does lead to the hilarious image of a character in 40 lbs of metal tiptoeing through hallways, unnoticed by the dozing guards, and who knows how that works, but who cares! It’s a cool bonus, and one that a lot of characters who might consider this feat can use. 

Increasing AC past standard limits

The second, and larger, benefit of Medium Armor Master is the ability for a character wearing medium armor to add a maximum of +3 Dex bonus to their AC, breaking the normal limit of +2. 

This is good, especially once you hit the top tier of armor, as it makes half-plate into a direct equivalent to the best heavy armor: full-plate. 

Even without sinking 750gp into armor costs, a character in scale mail, available for the paltry cost of 50gp, (or at character creation for free!) has an AC of 17, 19 with a shield, which is incredibly solid. 

Many characters only have armor proficiency up to medium, including; half of the Artificer subclasses, Barbarians, most Clerics, Druids, and Rangers. 

Many of these characters can comfortably build Dex, and if they are, Medium Armor Master might be a solid increase to overall toughness. AC boosts are hard to get in 5e. Even though it seems small, the single point of bonus offered here is equivalent to a ton of other feats and class abilities and will make a noticeable difference to a character’s ability to take hits.   

Key Stats

The Medium Armor Master feat doesn’t boost a character’s stats at all. The feat does however require a minimum Dexterity score of at least 16 to be worthwhile, considering what the feat does. 

Ideal Characters for Medium Armor Master

Top Classes

Ranger – Probably the class with the most to gain from the Medium Armor Master feat. Most Rangers are going to want to push their Dex as high as possible, relying on combat styles that also use the stat; (two-weapon fighting, archery, or one-handed + shield.)

On top of this, Rangers are more likely than most to play sneaky, pushing ahead of the party to scout and find enemy encounters, so benefit from the stealth bonus. 

The feat doesn’t directly synergize with specific subclasses but tends to favor melee over ranged as melee characters are normally gonna be attacked more often. 

Fighter – We’re looking at a Dexterity build, either archery or one-handed with a shield and the Dueling fighting style to get as tanky as possible. 

Eldritch Knight makes great use of this feat, turning themselves into more of an unstoppable tank. For archery, Battle Master is best, able to stack conditions on enemies from hundreds of feet away while staying safe from reprisal. 

Artificer – Again, we’re probably looking at a ranged build, because melee Artificers are more likely to wear Heavy Armor and go in swinging. 

Artificers tend not to be dependent on feats but do want to get Int high as quickly as possible, so might only pick this feat up in the mid-levels. A Battle Smith loosing crossbow bolts and spells from safety behind their mechanical companion is scarier when their AC is the same value as the party tank. 

Race or Subrace Choices

Warforged – The Warforged gains another +1 to AC, and is utterly class agnostic, so slots neatly into almost every build. If you’re allowed to play one, do. Magitek robots are great. 

Mountain Dwarf – Proficiency in medium armor from a race is an incredibly solid bonus for spellcasting characters that don’t already have armor proficiencies. 

Variant Human – A character can easily start with 16 Dex at character generation, and taking this feat as an essentially free bonus is the best time to grab it. 

Combos, Tactics, and Synergies

Complementary Feats

Fighting Initiate – Pick up a Fighting Style to go with your mastery of armor. Defense is a great choice, giving another flat +1 to AC whenever you’re wearing armor. 

Alert – Add another +5 initiative to your high Dex score, plus a host of subsidiary benefits. 

Dual Wielder – Two-weapon fighting is a great style to use with high Dex. This feat both scales up the weapons a character can use and adds another +1 to AC when using two weapons. 

Spells that Synergize

Shield – Will an attack still hit you despite your boosted AC? Then slam this emergency +5 AC button of incredible toughness. 

Shield of Faith – +2 AC for up to 10 minutes is an impressive boost, especially handed out by the party Cleric to someone fighting on the front lines. 

Absorb Elements – Characters need ways to deal with elemental damage. Absorb Elements offers reactionary resistance, cutting damage in half. Many blast effects require a Dex save, which the character is also going to be good at, further reducing damage. 

Strategies for Maximizing Medium Armor Master Effectiveness

Always max Dexterity first

So you’ve just hit level 4, and you’re eyeing up this feat, considering whether to take it or just push stats as high as possible. 

It’s a shame, but the honest answer is always to take the stats until your Dex hits 20. 

Here’s the breakdown: We’ll consider two identical Fighters, making them as boring as possible. Each uses a rapier and a shield, and we’re not going to include racial bonuses, fighting styles, or any independent variables. 

Mr Medium Armor Master takes the feat at level 4. 

His AC is 20. 5 from half plate, 3 from Dex, and 2 from a shield. 

Mr Stat Boost instead chooses to push his Dex from 16 to 18. 

His AC is 19. 5 from half plate, 2 from Dex, and 2 from a shield. So his AC is 1 point lower. That’s obviously worse.

But to counteract this, he has +1 to hit and +1 damage on all of his attacks over Mr MAM. He also has +1 to all of the Dexterity skills, like, uh, Stealth, and +1 to Dexterity saves. 

The biggest thing here is the damage boost. +1 to hit and to damage rolls adds up fast, especially when a character makes multiple attack rolls per round. A dead enemy can’t make attacks at all, which is better than a boost to AC. If they are too busy bleeding to swing, they can’t hit you at all. 

Add the supplementary benefits to skills, including Initiative rolls, and the Dex save, and it’s always better to boost Dexterity to 20 before ever considering this feat. 

Consider Heavy Armor?

The Medium Armor Master feat directly competes with just wearing heavy armor. The problem is, in a lot of cases, heavy armor is just better. 

Consider. For the same cost as this feat, a character could grab Heavily Armored to gain proficiency in all heavy armor. Picking up a suit of plate, as long as you can afford the prodigious cost, is outright better than this feat, especially once magical armor starts coming into play. 

This counts double if you’re a character who uses Strength, instead of Dex. Most melee characters are going to want to max Dex, and certain classes even require it, especially the Barbarian. 

Final Thoughts on Medium Armor Master

The problem with Medium Armor Master isn’t that the feat provides a bad list of benefits, because it doesn’t. +1 to AC, plus supplementary stealth boosts, is a significant buff over a character’s adventuring career. 

The problem is that the feat is so specific, and so few characters are ever going to want to take it over the other available options. 

So if you’re playing one of the vanishingly small builds that can benefit from this feat, you should take it. If not, boost your stats or take something else, instead.