Armor Bonus vs bonus to AC

[casb1965]

Can someone explain what the difference is between the an "armor bonus" and a "bonus to AC"

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Anything that improves your AC is a bonus to your AC, but most bonuses have types.

Armor provides an Armor Bonus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm#armorBonus), a shield provides a Shield Bonus, a Ring of Protection provides a Deflection bonus, etc.

As a general rule, multiple bonuses of the same type don't stack. So if you're wearing Breastplate (+5 armor bonus) and someone casts Mage Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mageArmor.htm) on you (+4 armor bonus), they won't stack, you'll only benefit from the higher of the two bonuses.

Some effects provide an enhancement bonus to an existing bonus type. Magic Vestment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicVestment.htm) provides an enhancement bonus to the armor or shield bonus of whatever it's cast on. Thus if you're wearing Breastplate (+5 armor bonus) and it has Magic Vestment cast on it from an 8th level caster (+2 enhancement bonus), the Breastplate will now provide a +7 armor bonus.

[johnbragg]

What BF said.

Another way to look at it is Armor is one of several ways to boost your Armor Class.

Say you have a sword-and-board fighter wearing chain mail, carrying a shield, and with a decent Dexterity (13). His Armor Bonus for the chain mail is 5, his Shield Bonus is 2, and his Dexterity Bonus is 1. That gives him an Armor Class of 10+5+2+1 = 18.

So a spell (it's usually a spell, or an item that duplicates a spell) that would give him an armor bonus of +4 would be wasted. Give that spell to the rogue insteadd, who's wearing leather armor (armor bonus 2).

[Falontani]

Also remember that usually your armor does not apply to incorporeal creatures. Mage armor and other [Force] spells/effects do work against them meaning that
Say you have a sword-and-board fighter wearing chain mail, carrying a shield, and with a decent Dexterity (13). His Armor Bonus for the chain mail is 5, his Shield Bonus is 2, and his Dexterity Bonus is 1. That gives him an Armor Class of 10+5+2+1 = 18.
adding in mage armor would cause him to have an 18 AC vs normal creatures, and an AC of 15 vs incorporeal creatures

[Necroticplague]

Can someone explain what the difference is between the an "armor bonus" and a "bonus to AC"Armor Bonus is just a type of bonus. Normally, an Armor bonus is to AC, but it technically doesn't have to be (you can use the Item Alteration infusion to make items give, say, an Armor bonus to Initiative).

Meanwhile, there are other types of bonuses to AC, including Untyped, Natural Armor, Enhancement, Dodge, Racial, Deflection, Luck......All make your AC higher, but are not armor bonuses (and thus are unaffected by things which ignore armor bonuses).

[ayvango]

adding in mage armor would cause him to have an 18 AC vs normal creatures, and an AC of 15 vs incorporeal creatures
I recommend switch mage armor with the ectoplasmic armor.

[johnbragg]

I recommend switch mage armor with the ectoplasmic armor.

We're doing that thing again where a complete newbie asks a newbie question and we answer with an advance graduate seminar in the topic.

OP asked the difference between armor bonus and armor class.

Is it helping him or her today to bring up ectoplasmic armor?

[Falontani]

We're doing that thing again where a complete newbie asks a newbie question and we answer with an advance graduate seminar in the topic.

OP asked the difference between armor bonus and armor class.

Is it helping him or her today to bring up ectoplasmic armor?

That entirely depends on them. They have received the information they need, and now any further reading will grant additional information that they didn't know they needed.

[casb1965]

It half helps :)

My next question was how to boost "bonus to AC" without magical items.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It half helps :)

My next question was how to boost "bonus to AC" without magical items.

Wear better armor, get a heavy shield, provided you're proficient with those. Compare the max Dex bonus of the armors you're proficient with to your own Dex bonus, try to get the armor that provides the highest armor bonus with a max Dex bonus matching your own Dex bonus. You can also fight defensively (-4 to hit, +2 AC) when needed, but the drawback usually outweighs the benefits of doing that.

If you have a spellcaster in your party, see if they're willing to cast Shield of Faith or Barkskin or even Protection from Evil on you at the start of a fight.

[Necroticplague]

It half helps :)

My next question was how to boost "bonus to AC" without magical items.

Generally, you don’t boost a bonus to AC. You either acquire another one, or replace one with a bigger one in the same category.

Monk, Battledancer, and Fist of the Forest all give a stat to AC as an untyped bonus. Incorporeal creatures get their CHA to AC as a deflection bonus. Shields provide a Shield bonus to AC. Various spells can provide bonuses of differing types. If you want a useful answer, you’re going to have to give more context or restrictions.

[casb1965]

Generally, you don’t boost a bonus to AC. You either acquire another one, or replace one with a bigger one in the same category.

Monk, Battledancer, and Fist of the Forest all give a stat to AC as an untyped bonus. Incorporeal creatures get their CHA to AC as a deflection bonus. Shields provide a Shield bonus to AC. Various spells can provide bonuses of differing types. If you want a useful answer, you’re going to have to give more context or restrictions.

Restrictions are no armour & no magical items, hence the need to gain bonuses elsewhere.

[ayvango]

Restrictions are no armour & no magical items, hence the need to gain bonuses elsewhere.
Just use Dex or Wis (if you are a monk or a variant druid)

If you are a fighter then dragonscale husk alternative class feature would give you a few AC.

[Remuko]

Restrictions are no armour & no magical items, hence the need to gain bonuses elsewhere.

Most AC bonuses come from magical items in this game. The exception is mundane armor which is also out according to your restrictions. Theres almost no other ways to get AC at that point. Dex mod is one, AC bonuses from classes (like monk etc) is another, being incorporeal like a ghost and getting Cha to AC is another. But yeah theres basically nothing else. Oh theres also natural armor but if you dont have it already the only real ways to get it are with, you guessed it, magic.

[casb1965]

Most AC bonuses come from magical items in this game. The exception is mundane armor which is also out according to your restrictions. Theres almost no other ways to get AC at that point. Dex mod is one, AC bonuses from classes (like monk etc) is another, being incorporeal like a ghost and getting Cha to AC is another. But yeah theres basically nothing else. Oh theres also natural armor but if you dont have it already the only real ways to get it are with, you guessed it, magic.

Magic would work, magical items wouldn't.

[Yuki Akuma]

What class are you? Knowing that would allow people to actually answer your question more specifically.

[casb1965]

Ranger2/Fighter1/Cleric1 just taken VoP hence the need to enhance AC without armour or magic items.

Will be progressing along the cleric line for the next couple of levels.

[Necroticplague]

Ranger2/Fighter1/Cleric1 just taken VoP hence the need to enhance AC without armour or magic items.

Will be progressing along the cleric line for the next couple of levels.

Ah, I thought the prohibition of armor was because of Monk or similar.

Since that’s not the case, the feat Shape Soulmeld for Ankheg Breastplate can be used to give you some armor bonus to AC (not material possession, even though it’s considered armor).

Additionally, you should look into the Sculpt Self feat. Lets you basically craft improvements to yourself, which could include emulating the items you can’t have.

[Jay R]

Also, the Combat Expertise feat allows you to swap up to 5 points of your attack roll for a dodge bonus on your AC.

[CharonsHelper]

I'd suggest giving VoP back. It's REALLY weak relative to halfway decent magical gear.

[zergling.exe]

I'd suggest giving VoP back. It's REALLY weak relative to halfway decent magical gear.

Not entirely sure, but magic items appear to be Sir Not Appearing in This Campaign. At least that's the impression OP has given with looking for everything BUT magic items. So VoP would actually be very good in this case.

[Mordaedil]

Ranger2/Fighter1/Cleric1 just taken VoP hence the need to enhance AC without armour or magic items.

Will be progressing along the cleric line for the next couple of levels.

Shield of Faith will give you deflection bonus to armor class and it starts at +2 and will improve to +5. It's a good replacement for a magic ring or cloak.

Magic Vestment can be cast on anything and gives you armor bonus to AC, by enchanting what you cast it on. Casting it on a fullplate for instance would make that fullplate count as a +1 fullplate, so it will not stack with magic armor. So you can use that on whatever you are wearing, even robes or clothes. You can also cast it on any shield you have, if any.

Protection from Evil will give you +2 Deflection bonus to AC against evil monsters, as well as immunity from mind-affecting effects. If you raise ranger a bit, you could get Barkskin, which allows you to get Natural Armor bonus to AC.

[casb1965]

So far it's been more RP based and less hack'n'slash and magic items have been limited both in quantity and power. Wer're all only level 4 so not going to afford the big stuff anyway.

What I need is something that will stack with the +5 bonus I get from VoP which is wy I'm looking for "bonus to AC" rather than an "armour bonus".

[Mordaedil]

The +5 from vow of poverty is exalted, that says it does not stack with armor bonus.

It is incredibly unclear whether casting mage armor, luminous armor or vestments of faith stack with it.

Ask your DM if he rules it as wearing armor. Alternatively, vestments of faith stacks with mage armor and luminous armor, but mage armor does not stack with luminous armor.