Raising my BBEG's touch AC

[heavyfuel]

So, I have this Cleric BBEG in a full plate, which means his touch AC is crap. Any way I can raise it through feats, gear (other than ring of deflection), or cleric spells of up to 7th level (though the spells must have a long-ish duration)?

[HouseRules]

Ioun stone, dusty rose prism

Gives Insight Bonus to AC.

Touch AC requires dodge (not flat-footed), luck, insight, sacred, or profane bonus.

[Elricaltovilla]

What books do you have available to use?

[heavyfuel]

What books do you have available to use?

Anything in the PFSRD is game.


Ioun stone, dusty rose prism

Gives Insight Bonus to AC.

Touch AC requires dodge (not flat-footed), luck, insight, sacred, or profane bonus.

That's a +1, which is good, but I need more.

Dodge feat is another +1, but I need much much more.

[Elricaltovilla]

Anything in the PFSRD is game.


Defensive Expertise (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/path-of-war/feats/defensive-expertise-combat/) from Path of War adds your shield bonus to AC to your Touch AC

[Zancloufer]

On the spells front:

Entropic Shield grants a 20% miss chance to ANY ranged attack including rays and lasts min/level.

Prayer (while short lived) grants a luck based PENALTY to all enemies on their to hit.

Could've sworn there was more but maybe Pathfinder cut a lot of the later 3.5 cleric buffs.

[Geddy2112]

There is also combat expertise and/or fighting defensively. Three ranks in acrobatics becomes a poor man's combat expertise if you need it.

Crane style is feat intensive but would further boost it.

[thelastorphan]

There is an armor and shield augment crystal in MiC that offers a scaling bonus to touch ac. And a separate one for ranged attacks. I am unsure if they stack however.

[heavyfuel]

Defensive Expertise (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/path-of-war/feats/defensive-expertise-combat/) from Path of War adds your shield bonus to AC to your Touch AC

This is really good. It will help by 5 points, which is really nice.


On the spells front:

Entropic Shield grants a 20% miss chance to ANY ranged attack including rays and lasts min/level.

Prayer (while short lived) grants a luck based PENALTY to all enemies on their to hit.

Unfortunately the PC I'm worried about took Blind Fight, so a 4% chance of deflecting isn't really worth the Standard Action.

Prayer is nice, but it's low level enough that a minion might cast


There is also combat expertise and/or fighting defensively. Three ranks in acrobatics becomes a poor man's combat expertise if you need it.

Crane style is feat intensive but would further boost it.

These unfortunately don't work for spellcasters


There is an armor and shield augment crystal in MiC that offers a scaling bonus to touch ac. And a separate one for ranged attacks. I am unsure if they stack however.

I'm trying to stick to PF material only.

[Bucky]

You can substitute a minion's Shield of Faith spell for the ring.

You can wield a staff of the hierophant or of power for a +2 luck bonus.
Taking part in an augmented ceremony of sanctuary grants a +2 sacred bonus.
Shrinking to a smaller size category grants a variable bonus depending on how small you become.

[Durandu Ran]

Making the full plate out of mithral adds +2 to the character's max Dex bonus, so if the character's Dex modifier is +2 or higher, he can add a bit more of his Dex bonus to his touch AC.

[Firebug]

Several things.
1)Entropic Shield is not concealment. Blind-Fight is only useful vs Concealment.
2) Fighting defensively/crane style/etc absolutely increases your touch AC vs spells.
3)Shield of Faith is likely better than a ring, assuming you've got a couple rounds to prep.

Things to consider: Spellcasting Contract (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Spellcasting%20Contract ,%20Lesser), and lesser on minions to help buff/debuff. As well as give you a profane bonus to AC (and touch), saves, and other checks.
Archon's Aura (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Archon%27s%20Aura) is a penalty to attack rolls,like after a failed save, but the alignment descriptors are likely a problem.
Stone Shield (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Stone%20Shield) because cover effectively increases touch AC too.
A defending weapon could also help, though I think there was errata that said you had to make an attack to get the bonus.

[heavyfuel]

Several things.
1)Entropic Shield is not concealment. Blind-Fight is only useful vs Concealment.
2) Fighting defensively/crane style/etc absolutely increases your touch AC vs spells.
3)Shield of Faith is likely better than a ring, assuming you've got a couple rounds to prep.

Things to consider: Spellcasting Contract (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Spellcasting%20Contract ,%20Lesser), and lesser on minions to help buff/debuff. As well as give you a profane bonus to AC (and touch), saves, and other checks.
Archon's Aura (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Archon%27s%20Aura) is a penalty to attack rolls,like after a failed save, but the alignment descriptors are likely a problem.
Stone Shield (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Stone%20Shield) because cover effectively increases touch AC too.
A defending weapon could also help, though I think there was errata that said you had to make an attack to get the bonus.

1) Good point about blind fight.
2) I meant that the BBEG is a spellcaster. He can't benefit from these. I suppose Fighting Defensively works for Touch Attack spells, but these aren't his focus
3) It's not better. I already gave him a +4 Ring, which is the highest it can go given his CL.

Spellcasting Contract seems like a great way to help break the action economy. Will definitely use it. Thanks!
Archon's Aura is [Good], unfortunately
I'll keep some Stone Shields prepared as well
Yeah, even if the Errata didn't say it, that's how I've always ruled defending weapons to work