pathfinder ac question

[darthpower]

hey quick question a player in my party has an ac of 29 in an 8th level pathfinder game after looking threw her sheet I found that she was ether cheating or mistaken in how the rules work.

this had me wondering with 8 levels standard starting gold all pathfinder books aloud what is the highest AC you can reach?

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

let see...

without magic for starters...

mithril breastplate + 16 Dex... = 21.

+ heavy shield = 23.

+Dodge+Combat Expertise (assuming +8 BAB) = 26.

wealth by level for level 8 is 33,000 gold pieces. it would be TOO easy to have 29 AC. make the armor and shield +2 each, amulet of natural armor +2, and you've spent 16k.. still got 17 k left with an AC of 32.

I wouldnt personally make a character like this, but its possible... without any class abilities, just assuming +8 base attack. even a fighter could have more, via armor training class ability.

[Psyren]

What makes you think she was cheating/mistaken? Did something on the sheet look odd or throw up a red flag?

As the above post shows, 29 AC at lvl 8 is pretty doable unless your game is really low-wealth.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Seems about right for a tank. Monsters of CR 8 have either around +16 on attacks, some form of special movement, special attacks/abilities/qualities, or high HP/AC. Dragons have all of that.

[Drachasor]

I did some calculations in another thread. At 9th level I believe I had 26 AC as a bare minimum. That assumes no feats or class abilities helping AC. Getting higher than that is trivial, even at level 8. Monsters of equal CR with good attacks can hit this easily either with a single attack or multiple.

I'd be more concerned if this person had the highest AC in the party by a significant margin.

What was the rough class/build of this character?

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

yeah, at least an idea of your players class would be helpful to know how high she could actually get the AC, if you do indeed want to know that...

[Bhaakon]

Play changeling or other class with an intrinsic natural armor, then take the "improved natural armor" feat 4 times. Take fighter 3/gunslinger 6 for bonus feat, armor/shield proficiencies, and nimble +2 (2 dodge bonus). Take dodge feat. Get a +6 Dex modifier (18 starting +2 racial +2 level up = 22, +6 modifier). A Mithril breastplate +3 (9450), a tower shield +3 (9180), and a ring of protection +3 (9000) will almost clean out your level 8 WBL.

10 base + 6 dex + 9 armor + 7 shield + 5 natural + 3 deflection + 3 dodge =

43 AC without resorting to spells. I'm sure others could do better.

[Starbuck_II]

hey quick question a player in my party has an ac of 29 in an 8th level pathfinder game after looking threw her sheet I found that she was ether cheating or mistaken in how the rules work.

this had me wondering with 8 levels standard starting gold all pathfinder books aloud what is the highest AC you can reach?

Are we talking caster, light armored dude, meduim armored, or heavy?
We get 33K?
Heavy: Assuming Fighter
1) Full plate (armor training lets him ignore speed penalty, and have +3 Dex Max from Full plate),
So +2 full plate (+10), + 3 Dex (assuming 16 dex) + 2 Ring +1 NA +1 Ioun Stone Dusky Rose (=1 insight)+10 Base =27.
We spent about 5,650 gp for full plate, 8 for ring, 2 for NA, 5K for Ioun = only 20 K. We still have around 12 K for a weapon. Maybe less since you want Cloak of Resistance for saves (say +3, so 4K). So we still have 8K for the weapon.
If we add a Heavy Shield (lowers damage output, but adds AC) then we get:
+1 Heavy Shield (+3 Shield) brings us to 30 AC.
We spent around 1K more, leaving us with 7 K for a +1 sword and some other things (maybe 4 K on Str booster).

2) Tower Shield specialist archetype + Full plate:
Further boosts to Dex allowed.
We can lower Ring to +1. and nix NA item.
So we spend: 5,650 gp for full plate, 2 for ring, 5K for Ioun, 1K for (+1) Tower, 4K for +2 Dex booster (since we are allowed higher Dex Max due to archetype) assuming 16 Dex again. We still have 16 K for weapon and Str booster minus Cloak of Resistance.
AC: 10+10 Full plate + 4 Dex + 1 Deflection + 1 Insight + 5 Tower Shield =31.

3) 1/2 Elf Synthegist Summoner:
Has 10 pool points: 8 +2
Quadreped at 8th level has stats: Physical: 17, 18, 14 (already added ability score increase to Con and Dex)
AC: 10 + 4 Armor (Mage Armor last 8 hr) + 8 NA (Base 2 +6 from level)+ 4 more NA from pool + 1 Ring + 1 Ioun Stone +1 NA amulet=27.

And we can add a Glove of Dex +2 for 28.
We spent 2 points out of our 10 pool.

4) Zen Archer Monk
20 Wis (they get to use wisdom for hit) is possible for point buy (you'll just dump Int or Cha)
Say Str 10 Dex 13 Con 13 Int 7 Wis 20 (18 +2 Human or Dwarf) Cha 7.
Add 1 Dex, 1 Con from level.
+2 Dex Gloves (4K), +4 Wis helm (16K), +1 Ring (2K), +1 Bow (arrows) about 2K, + 1 NA necklace (2K) + +3 Cloak of Resist (4K), but that leaves 3 K money. Granted monks don't need it much.

AC: 10 + 8 Wis +3 Dex + 1 deflect + 1 NA +2 level +1 Dodge feat= 28.
We could have gotten same AC with less Wisdom, but it is your attack stat.

[Paul H]

Hi

Synthesist (summoner archetype) is bit broken, both for HP & AC

Thanks
Paul H