[Snake]

Heavy Armors need a more solid drawback of some sort, they're way too reliable and Body Guard has been by far the most surefire to save your life in pickle situations. 'Not being able to dodge' is not a drawback but a condition for their defensive options to work. Reducing the amount of Magic Armor they can get also does not work to fix the balance. The problem is how much Physical Damage they can chip, and how very little ways we have, as physical damage users, to get through them.

Salamander Sword with Rampaging is not as freely accessible in Korvara as it is in mainland, after all.

I share the same sentiments as Kam, given for dodging, you can't even choose to 'not use Unarmored Torso' as Base Evade is paramound to your overall effectiveness, which in the end excludes the use of most torsos but a selected few who can hit at the very least 25 Base Evade when fully polished, so 60 Scaled CEL translates to 150 Base Evade.

This (and tanking in general)? Slap a Boulder, Leviathan or Boneheart, and go BK for that extra weight reduction, parry and damage reductions, then enjoy godmodding against physical damage.

But since the OP is about Body Guard. Change the effect to let you endure death until your next round after you have been brought to or below 1 HP.

Quickest fix.