DM HELP: Do Individual Magical Pieces of Armor Confer Bonuses to AC? Ex: Bracers?

[Nikushimi]

Now, before the obvious "Bracers of Defense give you bonuses", this I know.

But what I want to know is do individual pieces of armor grant bonuses to AC at all?

For example in previous editions wizards and the like could wear "bracers" or so I've been told, and that would increase their armor class (or in the case of 2nd edition, lower it lol).
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I don't want to bore you with the details, but the party I DM for recently got an enchanter to create magical bracers for the parties sorcerer.

They would become Bracers of Fire Resistance. Once attuned, you'd have Resistance to Fire Damage.

Since they are but aren't "armor" as "Bracers" are not listed as Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor (that I could find), they could wear and attune to it (imo), but my question lies in....would it do anything for their AC? I have currently ruled "no" as they would work just like a bracelet, amulet, ring, etc. Or would Bracers count as armor, and if so would they grant anything to AC?

I know there are bracers of defense, but are those the only bracers that give a boost to AC?

What about just plain old Greaves? Pauldrons? Or any other kind of half armor/piece of armor? If you have a character that wants to have one arm decked out like Gladiators in pictures with the army in question leather bound....would you consider it Leather Armor?

Are there rules for this or is it just "Wing It"?

Thank you.
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EDIT: I know the title says "magical pieces of armor" but this question is also for non magical variants as well. Do pieces of armor grant any kind of bonus to AC?

[PhantomSoul]

It doesn't do anything for the AC unless you decide it does! (It's fully homebrew at that point anyway.)

[Kuulvheysoon]

Now, before the obvious "Bracers of Defense give you bonuses", this I know.

But what I want to know is do individual pieces of armor grant bonuses to AC at all?

For example in previous editions wizards and the like could wear "bracers" or so I've been told, and that would increase their armor class (or in the case of 2nd edition, lower it lol).There were bracers that replaced armor in 3.5E; the Bracers of Armor granted the same type of bonus to AC as wearing armor did, but didn't require the proficiency, so they were great for classes that couldn't wear armor.


I don't want to bore you with the details, but the party I DM for recently got an enchanter to create magical bracers for the parties sorcerer.

They would become Bracers of Fire Resistance. Once attuned, you'd have Resistance to Fire Damage.

Since they are but aren't "armor" as "Bracers" are not listed as Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor (that I could find), they could wear and attune to it (imo), but my question lies in....would it do anything for their AC? I have currently ruled "no" as they would work just like a bracelet, amulet, ring, etc. Or would Bracers count as armor, and if so would they grant anything to AC?

I know there are bracers of defense, but are those the only bracers that give a boost to AC?

What about just plain old Greaves? Pauldrons? Or any other kind of half armor/piece of armor? If you have a character that wants to have one arm decked out like Gladiators in pictures with the army in question leather bound....would you consider it Leather Armor?

Are there rules for this or is it just "Wing It"?

Thank you.
-----

EDIT: I know the title says "magical pieces of armor" but this question is also for non magical variants as well. Do pieces of armor grant any kind of bonus to AC?RAW, in 5E the Bracers of Defense are the only "armor parts" that grant a bonus to AC, and they only do that because they're specifically enchanted to do so.

If you wanted to, you could fluff a shield as the gladiatorial gauntlet (that you could take off/put on really, really fast).

[Anonymouswizard]

From a verisimilitude perspective, I'd argue that you should only get a bonus from partial armour in situations where it would cover a significant portion of the region your opponent could attack. So in my mind the bracers wouldn't give a benefit in most situations.

The majority of attacks are likely aimed towards the torso, so just wearing a breastplate should give a decent bonus. Having a significant portion of your arms and legs covered but not your torso could also potentially give some bonus (maybe as much as a shield). On the flip side, if a character is otherwise wearing a full suit of armour penalising them for leaving their arm or head uncovered possibly loses too much cool to be worth the realism.

Of course that's just my opinion, but that's how I'd run it.

[Unoriginal]

But what I want to know is do individual pieces of armor grant bonuses to AC at all?

The by-the-book rule is that you need to wear the full armor to get the bonus to AC, magical or not.

Although you can replace parts of a magic armor with another magical armor piece (ex: full plate +1 with Gauntlets of Ogre Power).

[togapika]

But what I want to know is do individual pieces of armor grant bonuses to AC at all?


No. They do not.

[PhantomSoul]

No. They do not.

For PHB support, page 144:


Don. This is the time it takes to put on the item. You
benefit from its AC only if you take the full time to don it.
(And they refer the reader to the categories directly, so as written there's no general "time to don X piece".)

[Arkhios]

Yeah, that sums it up really. A thought came up though, after reading the thread: You could, perhaps, allow a player wearing magical bracers (while they don't have a shield) to increase their AC by +1 by taking a reaction. This would go to homebrew/house rule territory, of course.

[Joe the Rat]

Yeah, bracers, on their own, really aren't going to be enough to confer AC. Their prevalence and presence (or absence) is more on the aesthetic side than the mechanical. You would probably want something a bit more substantial and covering (even just up to a vambrace or sleeve) - but at point you are getting into literal pieces of armor suits - and proficiency concerns.

As a DM, if you are making an item for a payer to use, you can always just add the feature to the item - a +1 to AC, or give them an AC of 11+Dex if you don't want it to stack with mage armor.

[Chad.e.clark]

My two cents:

What I see is this: your "Bracers of Fire Resistance" is basically just a re-skinned "Ring of Fire Resistance."

Describe the fluff however you want to (ring vs bracer vs bracelet vs nose ring vs whatever), but so long as the crunch remains the same (requires attunement, gives resistance to fire damage, no AC bonus), it is a typical "Ring of Fire Resistance." I know Critical Role isn't the end-all-be-all of 5e, but as an example of re-skinning a magic item in that campaign, just look at Season 2's "Glove of Blasting" which is just a Circlet of Blasting, so far as I can tell.

If you want to homebrew up something that goes beyond just fire resistance (like increasing AC as well), just adjust the cost and rarity accordingly. Its your game, you dont have to explain yourself or your world.