Newbie here, question about AC Modifiers...

[Equinoxcode]

I was given Bracers of Natural Armor +2 and an Amulet of Armor +2. I already have +1 Leather Armor and a Ring of Protection +2. What would my total AC bonus be? What items cancel each other out AC wise?

Sorry for the newbie question, my DM is out of town and I cant get a hold of him and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks in advance!

[Fouredged Sword]

Ok, you are running into a stacking issue, and those are non-standard items so double check this (normally natural armor bonus comes from an amulet and armor bonus comes from bracers). Bonuses don't stack with the same type of bonus.

The amulet provides a +2 bonus to natural armor.

The amulet and your leather armor both provide an armor bonus (check this), so don't stack, and you get +2 as the higher bonus.

Your ring is a deflection bonus, so you get that.

Total is +6 to armor, so you get 16+your dex modifier as your AC, and you can trade away ether the amulet or leather armor and loose nothing.

[Codyage]

I am going to guess you meant to type Braces of Armor, Amulet of Natural Armor.

Braces of Armor is a +2 Armor bonus.
Amulet of Natural Armor is +2 Enhancement bonus.
Ring of Protection +2 is a Deflection bonus.

As far as I know, all three stack together, since they are different types of bonuses.

The +1 Leather Armor lessens AC Penalty by 1. I don't believe it gives you a bonus to AC.

Right now you get +6 to your ac, due to the items, and a AC penalty of 0.

(Leather Armor automatically has a 0 AC penalty, so the +1 doesn't do much for you, unless you want to get it magically enchanted or something.)

I MAY be wrong on the armor. I keep seeing different people respond to Masterwork Armor, so I am not sure if you do get an AC bonus or not.


Edit:Forgot Leather Armor does indeed have an Armor Bonus of 2, so you can drop the Leather Armor, or the bracers as said above.

[Immabozo]

I was given Bracers of Natural Armor +2 and an Amulet of Armor +2. I already have +1 Leather Armor and a Ring of Protection +2. What would my total AC bonus be? What items cancel each other out AC wise?

Sorry for the newbie question, my DM is out of town and I cant get a hold of him and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks in advance!

It depends on what type of bonuses the are. Most types of bonuses dont stack. Bracers of NA should be an enhancement bonus to NA, which might be 0, so thats +2, I've never heard of an amulet of Armor, but it probably doesn't stack with the +1 from the leather armor, so that should be normal leather AC +2, the ring is probably a deflection bonus, so it works also, but ALSO works on touch and flat-footed AC

So you AC, I think, should look like 10 + 4 (leather +2) + 2 (Natural armor) + 2 (Ring of Protection) + dex so your AC should be 18 + dex

edit: double ninjaed. but my result of 18 vs the 16 of the other two comes from a misunderstanding of a necklace of armor (which we've never heard of) and bracers of NA, which again, is an unusual item.

I am assuming the +2 from your necklace of armor is an enhancement bonus to AC, in which case it stacks with the leather armor +1, if it is an armor bonus, its either or.

So leather armor +1 = AC 3
necklace of armor = AC 2
if they stack = AC 5

[Fouredged Sword]

Magic armor adds it's enhancement bonus to AC.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm

[worldeater47]

For this you will have a total of a +7. This comes from +2(Bracers of armor/Leather both are equal and same type so choose 1)+1(enhancement bonus to armor from the magic on the leather) + 2 (enhancement bonus to Natural armor from Amulet of NA)+2 (deflection bonus from ring of protection)

[Asrrin]

I was given Bracers of Natural Armor +2 and an Amulet of Armor +2. I already have +1 Leather Armor and a Ring of Protection +2. What would my total AC bonus be? What items cancel each other out AC wise?

Sorry for the newbie question, my DM is out of town and I cant get a hold of him and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks in advance!

I think you have the bracers and amulet backwards, as the SRD has an amulet of natural armor and bracers of armor.

Amulet of natural armor is an enhancement to natural armor
Bracers are an untyped bonus
Leather armor is enhancement to armor
Ring of protection is a deflection bonus.

Because they are all different sources, they all stack.

EDIT: never mind, the bracers are typed as an armor bonus, and so do not stack with your leather armor. In that case, choose the higher of the two and apply it.

[Telonius]

Without knowing what kind of bonus the "Amulet of Armor" gives, we can't tell if it stacks or not. As it stands, here's what you'd get:

AC = 10 + Dex bonus (max +6, per Leather) +2 (armor bonus, from Leather) + 1 (Enhancement bonus, from +1 Leather) + 2 (Natural armor bonus, from Bracers) + 2 (Deflection bonus, from ring) = 17 + Dex bonus.

If the Amulet of Armor is an Enhancement bonus, it would overlap and give you an AC of 18+Dex. If it's an Armor bonus, a Natural Armor bonus, or a Deflection bonus, it would have no effect on your AC, giving you 17+Dex. If it's any other kind of bonus, it would give you 19+Dex.

[Equinoxcode]

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't know there were different types of bonuses; armor, deflection etc.

So as long as the items have different bonus types, they should stack, correct?
I will ask my DM when he gets back, but I just wanted to get a better idea for what I'm doing.

[redzarna]

Except dodge and circumstance.

There are also untyped bonuses, but you can't stack them if they come from the source. For example, if you have a feat that gives you a +2 untyped bonus to AC for 5 rounds and you can use it 3 times a day, you can't use it three times and get a +6.


Stacking

In most cases, modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they come from different sources and have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type or come from the same source (such as the same spell cast twice in succession). If the modifiers to a particular roll do not stack, only the best bonus and worst penalty applies. Dodge bonuses and circumstance bonuses however, do stack with one another unless otherwise specified.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm

[Equinoxcode]

Thanks guys and gals. Its going to take me a bit to get all of the rules down, but it will be worth it.

[Immabozo]

Thanks guys and gals. Its going to take me a bit to get all of the rules down, but it will be worth it.

I agree, D&D is a fun game. It is very worth it. It is also very fun to come up with a concept and then build a character around your concept. You can have easily hours of laughter and good times with your friends.

Happy gaming and welcome to the boards

[shaikujin]

I find listing out the bonus type very helpful when calculating bonus, so that I can quickly identify if I a new looted item will help me. Assuming you are talking about "Bracers of Armor" and "Amulet of Natural Armor":

Source |Value | Type
Bracers of Armor +2 | 2 | Armor bonus to AC
Base Leather Armour | 2 | Armor bonus to AC
+1 from Leather Armour | 1 | Enhancement bonus to AC
Amulet of Natural Armor +2 | 2 | Enhancement bonus to Natural AC
Ring of Protection +2 | 2 | Deflection bonus to AC


Since Bracers of Armor and Base Leather Armor both gives Armor bonus to AC, they don't stack. Only the highest value apply. Which is 2.


So your total bonus to AC in this case is 2 (Bracers or Leather Armor) + 1 (Enhancement) + 2 (Amulet) + 2 (Ring) = 7.
AC = 10 + 7 (bonus to AC) + Dex modifier.


Note: Bracers of Armor +2 costs 4,000 gp.
That's the same cost as getting +2 enhancement bonus to armor.

If your DM is ok with it, you can instead use that 4,000 gp to pay for a non-magical bracelet, and enchant it with a +2 Enhancement to AC.

Doing this will give you 1 AC more.
(the +2 enhancement bonus to AC replaces the +1 from the Leather Armor)

[Khedrac]

Nice can of worms you have opened, because as far as I am aware most of the above posters are wrong! (They still gave the right answer mind you)

Borrowing Shaikujin's nice table which summarises nicely what most people have posted:
Source |Value | Type
Bracers of Armor +2 | 2 | Armor bonus to AC
Base Leather Armour | 2 | Armor bonus to AC
+1 from Leather Armour | 1 | Enhancement bonus to AC
Amulet of Natural Armor +2 | 2 | Enhancement bonus to Natural AC
Ring of Protection +2 | 2 | Deflection bonus to AC


The bolded line is incorrect - it is a +1 enhancement bonus to the armor bonus of the leather armor, it is not independent of it.

This gives a revised table:
Source |Value | Type
Bracers of Armor +2 | 2 | Armor bonus to AC
+1 Leather Armour | 3 | Armor bonus to AC
Amulet of Natural Armor +2 | 2 | Enhancement bonus to Natural AC
Ring of Protection +2 | 2 | Deflection bonus to AC

The bracers and the leather armor's enhancement bonus don't stack.

If this was not true one could not cast magic vestment on both armor and a shield and have them stack. Enhancement bonuses are never direct to your AC, they are to part of your AC, though that part might be 0 (yes it is confusing) For example the spell Barkskin provides an enhancement bonus to the creature's existing Natural Armour bonus which is usually 0, but if cast on something with natural armor then it does stack.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20040120a is part 1 of a useful article on how bonuses stack.

Edit: Why is this important? If you increase the bracers to +3 allowing them to stack will add one to the AC, it doesn't.

Good luck.

[Yora]

I agree with Khedrac. I am pretty certain the +1 enhancement bonus to the leather armor improves the leather armor to provide a +3 armor bonus and is not counted separately. It does not matter in this particular case, but if you had +1 leather armor and +4 bracers of armor, you still would get only a +4 armor bonus from the bracers, and no bonus at all from the leather armor.

[TuggyNE]

I agree with Khedrac. I am pretty certain the +1 enhancement bonus to the leather armor improves the leather armor to provide a +3 armor bonus and is not counted separately. It does not matter in this particular case, but if you had +1 leather armor and +4 bracers of armor, you still would get only a +4 armor bonus from the bracers, and no bonus at all from the leather armor.

Yes; armor, natural armor, and shield are the three AC bonus types that can and usually do have enhancement bonuses applied to them; the stacking for these is such that you find the highest enhancement bonus to a given source of a bonus and sum the result to find the total bonus for that source, then determine the highest total bonus that applies. So a +1 tower shield and +3 light shield do not stack to give a +7 shield bonus; the tower shield gives +5 and the light shield gives +4. Or, here, the leather gives +3 armor and the bracers (or amulet, if that's really what it is) give +2.

[shaikujin]

Whoops, I see I got it wrong :p

So there's no direct enhancement bonus to AC, but rather it's an "enhancement bonus" to an individual item's "armor bonus" to AC.

[Malak'ai]

Whoops, I see I got it wrong :p

So there's no direct enhancement bonus to AC, but rather it's an "enhancement bonus" to an individual item's "armor bonus" to AC.

The is correct. +1 Full plate would give a +9 Armour Bonus to your AC (8 (base for full plate) + 1 (enhancement bonus)).

[Chronos]

In other words, the magic on a suit of magic armor is a bonus to a bonus.

[Douglas]

In other words, the magic on a suit of magic armor is a bonus to a bonus.
Exactly, and this is why enhancement bonuses on armor, a shield, and an amulet of natural armor* all stack with each other despite being the same type.

* If you check the details on the AoNA, it is actually an enhancement bonus to your natural armor bonus, not simply a natural armor bonus. This means, among other things, that it stacks with the natural armor bonuses many monsters and non-standard races have from their racial features.

[Sylthia]

I am going to guess you meant to type Braces of Armor, Amulet of Natural Armor.

Braces of Armor is a +2 Armor bonus.
Amulet of Natural Armor is +2 Enhancement bonus.
Ring of Protection +2 is a Deflection bonus.

As far as I know, all three stack together, since they are different types of bonuses.

The +1 Leather Armor lessens AC Penalty by 1. I don't believe it gives you a bonus to AC.

Right now you get +6 to your ac, due to the items, and a AC penalty of 0.

(Leather Armor automatically has a 0 AC penalty, so the +1 doesn't do much for you, unless you want to get it magically enchanted or something.)

I MAY be wrong on the armor. I keep seeing different people respond to Masterwork Armor, so I am not sure if you do get an AC bonus or not.


Edit:Forgot Leather Armor does indeed have an Armor Bonus of 2, so you can drop the Leather Armor, or the bracers as said above.

For the Leather Armor decreasing the armor check penalty, I think you're thinking of masterwork armor. All magic armor is also masterwork, but it also gets the +1 bonus to its AC.