When a Warforged Druid uses Wild Shape, how is its Armor Class determined?
Will the AC be based on the Warforged's Integrated Protection trait (E:RftLW, p. 36; WGtE, p. 70), or the animal's natural armor? (Or both?)
armor-classdnd-5edruidwarforgedwild-shape
When a Warforged Druid uses Wild Shape, how is its Armor Class determined?
Will the AC be based on the Warforged's Integrated Protection trait (E:RftLW, p. 36; WGtE, p. 70), or the animal's natural armor? (Or both?)
Best Answer
The AC is the Beast's AC
What you retain does not say "you retain your armor class" or but rather: alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma scores. (See also the Q&A about darkvision and other physical traits)
That isn't AC either.
That doesn't call out retaining the druid's non-beast AC.
The standard beast - wolf, bear, giant snake, giant shark - isn't built like a warforged. It is built like a beast.
Source: Players Handbook, Druid, Wild Shape
Source: Eberron, Rising from the Last War
What is true for your warforged body (race) is as true for any other race that would have their (your, to the character) elven, dwarven, halfling, or tiefling body as a druid. When you wild shape, your body is replaced by the beast's body, and the the beast's statistics replace your (the character's) usual body statistics, per the PHB description of Wild Shape, except where otherwise noted.
The description of the Warforged race includes:
Beasts are not made from metal and wood.
Developer Commentary, if it interests you
Rules as Fun:
If your DM thinks, as you seem to, that it would be cool for the warforged +1 AC bonus to transfer over to your wild shape, then go for it! That's a discussion you need to have with your DM as it would be a table-specific ruling.
As an aside, a beast that has been magically transformed - as a warforged was created, magically - would most likely be a creature type "monstrosity" if you look at the text in the Monster Manual regarding Monstrosities, such as the Owl Bear.