3.PF Best Mundane AC Armor (3rd party materials welcome)

[AOKost]

As a quick question, I'm looking for the best AC armor around. For this purpose, I'm going to restrict the conversation to heavy armors, even though I know that some lighter armors can provide more armor class when combined with a higher Dexterity. The highest I can think of off the top of my head is the +9 from Pathinder's Masterwork Full Plate, Masterwork Hellknight Plate, and Dwarven Stoneplate. What other mundane armors are out there that provide as much or more AC, even if you've got to take a feat to learn how to use it?

EDIT: Thus far, the best that's been proposed has been The Definitive Harness, from Arcana Unearthed. It costs 10,000 gp, has a Max Dex bonus of +3, Armor Check Penalty of -4, Arcane Spell Failure chance of 25%, those that can walk 30 feet are reduced to 20, and those that can walk 20 are reduced to 15, all while only weighing 50 pounds...

Much better than either Double Plate or Thaalum Stone Plate! Though it does cost more than tripple either of those, but that's not my concerd at the moment... I'm just looking for the definitive mundane heavy armor before any templates, feats, magic, or class abilities are applied...

[Florian]

Hm... Hellknight Plate, Maiden Plate, Stone Plate, Double-Plated and Nimble armor mods and Armor Adept feat to negate the drawbacks of those two mods. (The combined mods raise AC and MaxDex by +2 each)

[Fizban]

Mechanus Gear is +10/+0 and 1/2 land speed. Mountain Plate is the same except way heavier and requiring an exotic armor feat. Planar Handbook and Races of Stone.

[AOKost]

Isn't there a "Battle Plate" or some such that requires an exotic armor proficiency? I'm trying to find book and page references if possible...

[Zancloufer]

Mithral Full Plate has a AC bonus of 8 (9 in PF), 3 Max Dex and -3 ACP, probably even less penalties with feats and/or enchantments. I wouldn't completely knock Dex out of the equation though, you want some touch AC as going full armour will leave you with a critical gap in your defence.

[TotallyNotEvil]

There are also the Reinforced and Segmented qualities from Dragon Magazine 358.

[Gildedragon]

Of Legend template from War of The Lance drops ACP by 5

[Eldariel]

Celestial Armor is awesome for this even without its magical properties. +5/+8 nonmagically (say, Disjoined).

[Tuvarkz]

Fresh from Adventurer's Armory 2:
(Armor Modifications, add one of the two)
-Double-Plated drops the max dex by 2 and increases armor to AC by 1, although it increases the armor category by 1.
-Nimble drops the armor to AC by 1, but increases max dex by 2 and reduces ACP by 1. Better than Double-Plated for a set of full plate if you have the Dex to benefit from it.

[AOKost]

Celestial Armor is awesome for this even without its magical properties. +5/+8 nonmagically (say, Disjoined).

Celestial Armor is some of my favorite armor because of the high dexterity bonus. The only other armor I like to use and modify is making Mithral Chain shirts. I also love using crafting modifications for crafting characters to add mundane templates to items, so every source I can find is great! But I'd rather limit this discussion to mundane heavy armor or exotic heavy armor without any modifications, except for maybe Masterwork.

[Ellrin]

Celestial Armor is some of my favorite armor because of the high dexterity bonus. The only other armor I like to use and modify is making Mithral Chain shirts. I also love using crafting modifications for crafting characters to add mundane templates to items, so every source I can find is great! But I'd rather limit this discussion to mundane heavy armor or exotic heavy armor without any modifications, except for maybe Masterwork.

Well, without magic enhancement, spells, class features, templates, modifications, or special materials, and completely ignoring Dex, I think the highest out there in any official 3e/PF material is Mechanus Gear and Mountain Plate, as Fizban noted.

[TheFurith]

Arcana Unearthed,(not to be confused with Unearthed Arcana)written by Monte Cook had one called the Definitive Harness. An exotic armor with 12 AC and 3 max DEX and -4 armor check. Ten thousand gold base price. That's the highest I've seen anywhere.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Double-Plated Nimble Mithral Full Plate is pretty nice

[Thurbane]

Mithril Mechanus Gear, or Twistcloth with a very high Dex.

[AOKost]

I found in Arms and Armour 2 armors. One called Double Plate requiring a 16 strength to move, provides +12 to your AC, +0 Max Dex, -8 ACP and 50% ASF, weighting 100 lbs.

I also found Thaalud Stone Armor, providing the same +12 AC, +0 Max Dex, - 8 ACP, 40% ASF, and weighing 180 lbs.

[AOKost]

Also, I've noticed that to craft any armor, you need a craft DC of 10 + the AC bonus. So generally I would take this to mean that if I wanted to craft a suite of Full Plate that wasn't Masterwork, I'd only need a roll of 19 on my craft (Armor) check. But it doesn't say that you're limited to only printed armors. Are there any rules for crafting stronger armors?

The armors above would have a Craft (Armor) DC of 22 without being Masterwork. They cost 3,500 and 3,000 gp respectively. Dividing the cost by silver as standard takes a long time to craft such armors, but seems to show it's possible at least... Obviously these would be custom pieces, and therefore unique in the world or maybe even multiverse.

[TheFurith]

A hundred and eighty pounds for a suit of armor? Must have been designed by the same guy that thought a tower shield should weigh fifty.

Definitive Harness is still better, and lighter. Much lighter. I mean seriously, a hundred and eighty is almost a heavy load for an eighteen strength character alone.

As far as I know there aren't rules for making base armor stronger than it is by crafting. I mean, there's only so much metal you can attach to yourself before you can't move anymore.

[Florian]

As far as I know there aren't rules for making base armor stronger than it is by crafting. I mean, there's only so much metal you can attach to yourself before you can't move anymore.

There is. Tuvarkz and me already pointed out that there´re rules for modding the base armor (PF: Adventurer´s Armoury 2). @Tuvarkz: You forgot about the armor adept feat. Pick two mods and ignore their drawbacks.

[AOKost]

There is. Tuvarkz and me already pointed out that there´re rules for modding the base armor (PF: Adventurer´s Armoury 2). @Tuvarkz: You forgot about the armor adept feat. Pick two mods and ignore their drawbacks.

I'm looking for the highest AC mundane heavy armor without any templates or any mods added to it. That's the first part of this post. The second question arose later after I found Dwarven Stoneplate and Double Plate. I know that Celestial Mail is probably the best overall, including without magic having a high base AC and huge Max Dex Bonus. But I'm looking for the highest AC Heavy armor.

The question about the Craft (Armorer) was questioning the ability to produce a new or forgotten kind of armor. As the Craft skill states that the DC for crafting a any given armor is 10 + AC bonus... But doesn't say that the only armors you can produce are those in print, so what's to prevent a character to 'research' it like a spell, and make a custom suite of armor with a higher AC bonus than even Double Plate as a base AC bonus, before any modifications are added? For doing so, the character should have to spend an exorbitant amount of time, money, and effort. Researching old legends, traveling the planes, seeking the help of the best smiths, or even crafting gods.

[AOKost]

Definitive Harness is still better, and lighter. Much lighter. I mean seriously, a hundred and eighty is almost a heavy load for an eighteen strength character alone.

As far as I know there aren't rules for making base armor stronger than it is by crafting. I mean, there's only so much metal you can attach to yourself before you can't move anymore.

The definitive harness, 10,000 gp, +12 AC, +3 Max Dex Bonus, –4 Armor Check Penalty, 25% Arcane Spell Failure Chance, Speed of 20 feet for a character that usually can move 30, and Speed of 15 feet for smaller characters that can only move 20, and only weighing 50 lbs... That sounds like the best choice thus far...

My idea about using the Craft (Armorsmithing) wasn't to improve existing armor, but to make a new type of armor.

[Florian]

I'm looking for the highest AC mundane heavy armor without any templates or any mods added to it. That's the first part of this post. The second question arose later after I found Dwarven Stoneplate and Double Plate. I know that Celestial Mail is probably the best overall, including without magic having a high base AC and huge Max Dex Bonus. But I'm looking for the highest AC Heavy armor.

The question about the Craft (Armorer) was questioning the ability to produce a new or forgotten kind of armor. As the Craft skill states that the DC for crafting a any given armor is 10 + AC bonus... But doesn't say that the only armors you can produce are those in print, so what's to prevent a character to 'research' it like a spell, and make a custom suite of armor with a higher AC bonus than even Double Plate as a base AC bonus, before any modifications are added? For doing so, the character should have to spend an exorbitant amount of time, money, and effort. Researching old legends, traveling the planes, seeking the help of the best smiths, or even crafting gods.

Tricky topic. Armor/AC is a bit more closely tied to the rules framework than weapons are, that´s why I suspect that we don´t have rules for designing armor, while we have rules for designing weapons.
The "ideal" armor for each bracket starts with a combined AC of +9/+9/+10 with a reduced cap for special non-magical properties, like the gun-blocking ability of an Alkenstar Fortress Plate, and so on.

[Thurbane]

I missed that 3rd party was allowed, and that Dex wasn't taken into account.

I have quite a few 3rd party books - when I'm at home, I'll see what else I can dig up.

[AOKost]

Tricky topic. Armor/AC is a bit more closely tied to the rules framework than weapons are, that´s why I suspect that we don´t have rules for designing armor, while we have rules for designing weapons.
The "ideal" armor for each bracket starts with a combined AC of +9/+9/+10 with a reduced cap for special non-magical properties, like the gun-blocking ability of an Alkenstar Fortress Plate, and so on.

Could you please inform me as to where I can find this Alkenstar Fortress Plate? My google-fu has failed me I'm amazed to say... I keep finding pages for Pathfinder, but maybe I'm not searching for the right thing...

[AOKost]

I missed that 3rd party was allowed, and that Dex wasn't taken into account.

I have quite a few 3rd party books - when I'm at home, I'll see what else I can dig up.

To be fair... I just changed that part yesterday when I realized that I should make it known that any party was a viable option.

[Thurbane]

I found in Arms and Armour 2 armors. One called Double Plate requiring a 16 strength to move, provides +12 to your AC, +0 Max Dex, -8 ACP and 50% ASF, weighting 100 lbs.

I also found Thaalud Stone Armor, providing the same +12 AC, +0 Max Dex, - 8 ACP, 40% ASF, and weighing 180 lbs.

Worth mentioning (at least in the 3.5 version of Arms and Armor anyhow), Double plate has a move speed of 15 feet for 30 feet base, or 10 feet for a 20 feet base. 3,500gp.

A quick flick through some other d20 books hasn't turned up anything with a better base AC bonus than this that I can find.

[Florian]

Could you please inform me as to where I can find this Alkenstar Fortress Plate? My google-fu has failed me I'm amazed to say... I keep finding pages for Pathfinder, but maybe I'm not searching for the right thing...

As with most things in this discussion: Armory 2.

[Goaty14]

Double Plate Armor (Arms & Armor) provides a +12 to AC, and a Breakaway Carapace provides a +4 as an attachment (Sadly, it also provides a -9 to atk rolls and skill check)

[Thurbane]

Double Plate Armor (Arms & Armor) provides a +12 to AC, and a Breakaway Carapace provides a +4 as an attachment (Sadly, it also provides a -9 to atk rolls and skill check)

Sounds like fun for a Dragonfire Adept. :smalltongue:

[Melcar]

As a quick question, I'm looking for the best AC armor around. For this purpose, I'm going to restrict the conversation to heavy armors, even though I know that some lighter armors can provide more armor class when combined with a higher Dexterity. The highest I can think of off the top of my head is the +9 from Pathinder's Masterwork Full Plate, Masterwork Hellknight Plate, and Dwarven Stoneplate. What other mundane armors are out there that provide as much or more AC, even if you've got to take a feat to learn how to use it?

EDIT: Thus far, the best that's been proposed has been The Definitive Harness, from Arcana Unearthed. It costs 10,000 gp, has a Max Dex bonus of +3, Armor Check Penalty of -4, Arcane Spell Failure chance of 25%, those that can walk 30 feet are reduced to 20, and those that can walk 20 are reduced to 15, all while only weighing 50 pounds...

Much better than either Double Plate or Thaalum Stone Plate! Though it does cost more than tripple either of those, but that's not my concerd at the moment... I'm just looking for the definitive mundane heavy armor before any templates, feats, magic, or class abilities are applied...

Battle Plate from RoS. Make it Reinforced and segmented (borg from DRagon Mag) and its a mundane armor that gives 10 AC, max 2 dex!