PDA

View Full Version : (Pathfinder) Optimizing Armor



Curious
2011-01-01, 07:38 PM
Okay, so looking through the armor section of the Pathfinder SRD, I glanced over the armor spikes and noted that they could be used as an off-hand weapon. So, theoretically, I could use armor spikes and a longsword to gain two attacks while also using the sword. Excited at the prospect of combining a tank with two-weapon fighting, I tried to formulate a way to optimize my character using armor. So, I decided to use fighter as the base class, with human as my race, so as to gain more feats. I promptly spent one of those feats on two-weapon fighting. I wanted to gain as much out of my armor as possible, so I took the 'Rich Parents' trait, increasing my starting wealth to 900 GP. So, with this money, I could afford to buy half-plate armor with spikes, a longsword, and a heavy steel shield.

So there you go; a level 1 character with two attacks and 20 AC. Does anybody else have any ideas about ways to optimize armor use, or what other feats or equipment could be used to upgrade this character further?

Edit: Actually, buying a tower shield would be even more effective than a regular shield, increasing AC to 20!

TalonDemonKing
2011-01-01, 10:41 PM
Dodge feat? :\

I dunno if your DM allows 3.5 stuffs, but I'm pretty sure some guy with a cheese head did a listing of ways to optimize AC. With just pathfinder though...

The basics would be +1 armor bonuses from armor, amulets. Spells would be easy AC too.

Ability wise, Barbarians get a Guarded stance rage power selectable at 2,

Paladins get a deflection bonus while their smite evil is active, but only vs the target.

Acrobatics gives a bonus to fighting defensively if your skill is high enough.

Combat expertise trades attack for AC
Dodge gives +1 AC
Shield focus and greater shield focus give +1 ac respectively

Personally, I'd run with a human fighter for 3 feats. Rich parents trait for 900g, so I'd be looking at

Halfplate (+8)
Tower Shield (+4)
Shield Focus (+1 with shield)
Dodge (+1 Dodge AC)
Combat Expertise (+1 AC at first level)
Fighting Defensively OR Total Defense (+2 or +4 respectively)

Total of 25 armor before manuvers, or 27/29 depending on combat options.

Edit: Bad info.
Edit2: More bad info
Edit3: Scrolls of Mage Armor only costs 25g; stack that on for extra goodness.

Curious
2011-01-01, 11:05 PM
Thanks for the info! A character girded up like that should be near impossible to harm when fighting low-level monsters; invincible. :smallbiggrin:
I think I might choose two-weapon fighting over shield focus, to reduce the penalties to hit I would take without the feat. :smallconfused: Not certain though.

Popertop
2011-01-02, 12:13 AM
does using a tower shield give massive penalties to attack?
you might have those to account for

TalonDemonKing
2011-01-02, 05:26 AM
-2 to hit.

If you go two weapon fighting, I believe theres a two-weapon fighting defense that gives another +1 to AC.

doctor_wu
2011-01-02, 04:55 PM
Be careful with two weapon defense as it does not stack with rings of protection in pathfinder. Dodge feat is better in pathfinder as it is just a dodge bonus.
Also Mage armor does not stack with regular armor.