[Top 5] D&D Best Light Armor and How To Get Them.

Updated:

11 Apr 2022

An elven scout darts through the foliage like a blur of green and white, covering larges distances with her gentle stride.

Daring and swaggering, a swashbuckler crosses blades with a pirate captain atop the crow’s nest of a burning ship.

Silent, deadly, efficient. A thief clad in black leather finishes unlocking the vault of the lord’s manor only to find a demon worshiping cult mid summoning ritual…

Adventurers come in all shapes and sizes, the armor they wear is as much a part of their personality as their skills and mindset.

Light armor is one of the three armor types in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, geared toward characters with a high Dexterity modifier who rely on nimble movements and well-timed dodges to avoid harm.

From padded to studded leather, the magical realm of Dungeons and Dragons brings in a plethora of wondrous items to elevate your protective wear without sacrificing an ounce of style.

With all the possible choices, it can be difficult to choose which armor to make puppy eyes to your Dungeon Master for, but after conversing with Eyllen Silvershade, an official member of the thieves’ guild, we’ve made a list to help you decide!

1. Studded Leather Armor.

Made from tough but flexible leather, this armor is reinforced with close-set rivets or spikes.

Nimble, efficient, and classic, Studded leather armor is the best non-magical light armor a character can wear. With a base Armor Class (AC) of 12 and the possibility of adding your whole Dexterity modifier to it, any agile character should get one of these as soon as they can.

With a modicum price of 45 gold pieces, it's fairly safe to assume it won’t take long before all of you cunning rogues and traipsing rangers become capable of procuring one.

Why the Studded Leather Armor is great:

It has the highest Armor Class (AC) of all the mundane light armor, meaning that you can’t go higher than this easily affordable armor set.
Since it’s a fairly flexible set of light armor, it imposes no disadvantage whatsoever to stealth.

Studded Leather Armor details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Studded%20Leather%20Armor#h-Studded%20Leather%20Armor

2. Heward's Hireling Armor.

Recovered from the Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, this magical leather armor is a very rare wondrous item.

Besides being a +1 Leather armor, it comes with animated straps to assist with the drawing and sheathing of weapons and has several interdimensional pockets for extra storage…just make sure to keep it away from your bag of holding.

Why Heward's Hireling Armor is great:

As a magical item, this armor becomes next to impervious, meaning that it will hold out even longer than your character might.
Extra storage is always great, especially when you can use it to smuggle items of significance in and out of sight.

Heward's Hireling Armor details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:hewards-hireling-armor

3. Hunter's Coat.

A great choice found in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, this +1 leather armor is excellent for those who want their quarry dead.

How it works is simple, it has some charges that can be spent when you hit a creature below maximum Hit Points to deal an extra 1d10 necrotic damage.

If you consider all of the features most Dexterity-based characters have to bring in the hurt, you could reduce a foe to smithereens quickly with this extra boost.

Why Hunter’s Coat is great:

Since you decide whether or not to use a charge after you hit your target, you could save it up for when you score a critical hit to make your damage skyrocket.

Hunter’s Coat details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:hunters-coat

4. Glamoured Studded Leather.

This +1 Studded leather armor is the latest sensation in fashion thanks to its ability to imitate a full wardrobe on demand.

By speaking its command word as a bonus action, this armor can assume the appearance of a set of clothing or another kind of armor, accessories included, without changing its weight.

Why the Glamoured Studded Leather is great:

Intimidation, deception, or simple etiquette, as long as you keep a bar of soap at hand you won’t need another set of clothing throughout your adventures to be the best-dressed person in the room at all times.
Subterfuge is another way characters can tackle obstacles, the ability to pose as a foreign dignitary, a castle guard, or even the king himself is fun power limited only by imagination.

Glamoured Studded Leather details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:glamoured-studded-leather

5. Hide of the Feral Guardian.

A powerful artifact from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, this legendary studded leather armor is greatly sought by those who wish to stop the world-ending evils, slay cosmic powers, and still be allowed into the fancy restaurants in town.

This beautifully detailed leather armor carries the power of nature, making the winds sing and flowers bloom. As an artifact of legends, it only shows its true powers to those who deserve it.

The Hide of the Feral Guardian levels up as you rake in accomplishments, going from a +1 armor that can polymorph you to a +3 hide that makes your bestial transformations the stuff that makes liches afraid to sleep.

Why the Hide of the Feral Guardian is great:

An armor that evolves when accomplishing certain tasks is a sure-fire way to get your players to follow the sweet plot hooks you dangle before them.
Very few items in Dungeons and Dragons modify or upgrade abilities that transform you into another creature. This makes this armor a must-have for anyone relying on such powers to thrive in battle.

Hide of the Feral Guardian details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:hide-of-the-feral-guardian