Mage Armor, VoP, and VoP stacking questions.

[magicalmagicman]

Vow of PEACE states that "It" doesn't stack with armor ac. Does it mean all +6 ac? (+2 natural armor, +2 deflection, +2 exalted bonus) or just the exalted bonus?

Vow of Povery doesn't say anything about not stacking with armor. Does that mean the exalted AC bonus from VoP stack with mage armor?

[untrippable]

Considering the previous two lines are solely about the Exalted bonus, I'd say "It" definitely refers to the Exalted bonus.

The Poverty Exalted bonus to AC also states it doesn't stack with armor bonuses.

[Divide by Zero]

The three sentences starting with "This exalted bonus" all refer specifically to the exalted bonus. Natural and Deflection bonuses stack like they normally do, but as far as I know Exalted isn't a "real" bonus type, just a special variant of the Armor bonus type.

[magicalmagicman]

Ok thanks! So much for thinking level 1 characters can get +8 ac right off the bat...

[Mr Adventurer]

Ok thanks! So much for thinking level 1 characters can get +8 ac right off the bat...

Mage armour and Shield.

Dex 18 and a chain shirt.

[magicalmagicman]

Mage armour and Shield.

Dex 18 and a chain shirt.

Right, shield. I'll grab that at level 1 instead of mage armor.

The point of this AC optimization for me is to dump DEX on my characters.

[Mr Adventurer]

If you can finagle the gold pieces, banded mail plus a shield gives +8 AC as well, as does just wearing plate mail.