armor enchant question

[magwaaf]

quick question because i keep forgetting

I know armor can be enchanted with up to a +5 enhancement and then you can add up to +5 more worth of enchantments, can you have +1 armor with +9 worth of enchantments?

thanks you

[Ashtagon]

No. Having more than +5 worth of base bonus or +5 worth of special enchantments requires the epic rules for item crafting.

[magwaaf]

looks like im planning for epic!

thank you

[Morcleon]

Actually, you are allowed to have a +1 Armor with +9 worth of special enhancements, provided that no single enhancement is greater than +5.

[Khedrac]

Err, I am not aware of any rule stating that the miscellaneous abilities cannot add up to more than +5 pre-epic.

In general, magic armor protects the wearer to a greater extent than nonmagical armor. Magic armor bonuses are enhancement bonuses, never rise above +5, and stack with regular armor bonuses (and with shield and magic shield enhancement bonuses). All magic armor is also masterwork armor, reducing armor check penalties by 1.

In addition to an enhancement bonus, armor may have special abilities. Special abilities usually count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of an item, but do not improve AC. A suit of armor cannot have an effective bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +10. A suit of armor with a special ability must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
There is nothing in the above saying one cannot have a +10 equivalent item that is +1 enhancement. I don't have my DMG to hand so please provide a reference for the +5 equivalence limit on abilities.

Edit: beaten to it by Morcleon :)

[Ashtagon]

Okay, re-reading the rules...

Caster level must be at least 3x the enhancement bonus. The minimum caster level for armour special abilities is set by the special ability. The "virtual enhancement bonus" cost of the special ability is not counted when determining the minimum caster level; only the higher of the actual enhancement bonus or the special ability description is considered.

Armour must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus before applying any special abilities. Non-epic armour can have a maximum +5 enhancement bonus.

Armour enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus cannot exceed +10 (so I was mistaken in my original post).

The ELH allows armour to have enhancement bonuses and special abilities with no upper limit in theory (although costs can get severe).

So, putting it together...

Yes, your +1 sword with +9 worth of special abilities is not epic.