Buffing AC

[missmvicious]

A question came up on a previous thread about AC, and it got me thinking about an idea I had a while back and never put to use, and I want to understand why this can't work.

+5 MW Explorer's Outfit with +5 MW Plate Mail.

Here's what's confusing me: PHB pg. 305

armor bonus: A bonus to Armor Class granted by armor or by a
spell or magical effect that mimics armor. Armor bonuses stack with
all other bonuses to Armor Class (even with natural armor bonuses)
except other armor bonuses.

Clothing is counted as Clothing, not Armor, (even though it has an AC of 0) and it's in its own chart in the PHB. But anything that can be made can be made MW, right? And if it's masterwork, it can be enchanted.

So... you can have +5 MW Explorer's Outfit and +5 MW Plate Mail (+7) for a grand total of +17 to AC, right?

Everyone keeps telling me I'm wrong, because armor bonuses don't stack. But clothing isn't armor; is it? Does it become armor once you enchant it with a +5 bonus? But then what about boots, hats, bracelets, necklaces, and etc. They don't become armor once they're enchanted.

I'm so confused. Please, somebody make this make sense to me.

[missmvicious]

Aw crap...

I just realized I posted in the wrong section.

Hurr...durr...

[Ravens_cry]

Bonuses have different types. Like luck, insight, or dodge, and yes, armour. Enchanting clothing (which gives +0 AC) as armour means it gaisn an enhancement bonus to armour, which is an armour bonus.
So no, they don't stack.
At least that's how I think it works

[blueblade]

I think you may be getting confused between an armor bonus (of which you can have only one type, not counting natural armor), and the object known as armor.


Armor is a source of armor bonus
The clothing you mention (or a ring, or a spell effect, or a cloak, etc) is another source of armor bonus. So no, they don't stack.

[Douglas]

What matters here is not whether it's armor, but what bonus type it gives. If your +5 clothing is "+5" in the same way as armor (which is also the same way Magic Vestment cast on clothing works), namely that it gives an armor bonus and costs 25000 gp (plus whatever the nonmagical portion is), then that +5 is an armor bonus and doesn't stack with the +12 armor bonus from your actual armor.

If you want the clothing to stack with your armor, you need to make it have a different type of bonus - but most bonus types already have standard magic items that give them, and the rest don't have generalized rules for how to get them. Deflection? Get a Ring of Protection. Natural Armor? There's an amulet for that. Shield? Sure, I suppose you could, but it won't stack with an actual shield. Dodge? Magic items explicitly can't grant that one. More exotic types, like Insight, Luck, Morale, Sacred/Profane, etc.? Aside from a few very specific things, these are firmly in the realm of custom magic items with guidelines instead of rules and an explicit call for more DM oversight than usual.

Basically, the rules are deliberately set up to give a short fixed list of ways for magic items to increase your AC, everything on the list already has a magic item that does it, and anything not on the list almost certainly gets disqualified by the bonus type and stacking rules.

[Acanous]

your best option here is to pay for the MW Explorer's outfit and go for enchanting it as a Luck bonus. ("It's my lucky shirt!")

Pretty much everything else is taken.