Quote Originally Posted by Arkhios View Post
Q418

When you use Wild Shape, do you retain your own AC that you have from your equipment (e.g. a hide armor, shield), and the assumed beast form's dexterity, or do you use the AC of the assumed beast form as seen in its stat block, or some other combination (what, exactly)? How much does the (quote) "Worn equipment functions as normal" (/quote)?
A418: Before you get to "worn equipment functions as normal," you first have to clear this clause: "The DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn’t change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it."

Most wild shape forms don't have the same shape as a humanoid, and a fair number that you would be interested in for combat (e.g. most bears) don't have the same size either. Your DM is the final arbiter, but the most common approach is usually to say that humanoid armor needs to merge or drop.

If your DM rules that your armor is able to stay on your wildshape form - say, you're wearing Hide and turn into a gorilla? - then you get to choose how your AC is calculated, per Sage Advice.. You would want to look at the natural armor AC of the creature, vs its AC if you combined its Dex modifier with your worn armor (again, only if the DM allows worn armor in wild shape), vs any other calculation method you might have like Barkskin, and generally speaking pick the highest available since there's no real advantage to going lower.