Dastana

[Runeclaw]

Dastana from Arms and Equipment Guide are weird. I realize they're 3.0 and never been updated, so there may be no official answers, but what are your best guesses?

1) Do Dastana take up a body slot (arms, presumably)?

2) Dastana are listed as Shields but provide an Armor bonus. For enchanting them with special qualities, would you give them Shield or Armor qualities?

3) Either way, can you benefit from them and the special qualities of a standard armor/shield at the same time?

4) If (1) is "No", (2) is "Armor" and (3) is "Yes", can you benefit from the special qualities of a Dastana and the special qualities of Bracers of Armor at the same time? This question becomes presumptively "No" if any of its prereqs are not met. I'd tend to assume that it's "yes" if they are.

[Stompy]

1) Do Dastana take up a body slot (arms, presumably)?

I would imagine so.

2) Dastana are listed as Shields but provide an Armor bonus. For enchanting them with special qualities, would you give them Shield or Armor qualities?

Armor, simply because it is an armor bonus.

3) Either way, can you benefit from them and the special qualities of a standard armor/shield at the same time?

I think as per the 3.0 rules on the item, it says that it stacks with light armor. Shields would facotr in too. (honestly, Dastanas are a bad idea, because it makes heavy armor absolutely worthless later.)

4) If (1) is "No", (2) is "Armor" and (3) is "Yes", can you benefit from the special qualities of a Dastana and the special qualities of Bracers of Armor at the same time? This question becomes presumptively "No" if any of its prereqs are not met. I'd tend to assume that it's "yes" if they are.

I'd think so too.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Dastana from Arms and Equipment Guide are weird. I realize they're 3.0 and never been updated, so there may be no official answers, but what are your best guesses?

1) Do Dastana take up a body slot (arms, presumably)?

No, you just slap them on top of whatever slot the armor uses.

2) Dastana are listed as Shields but provide an Armor bonus. For enchanting them with special qualities, would you give them Shield or Armor qualities?

In 3.0, shields provided an armor bonus to AC. I believe an update exists in some Dragon magazine that corrects this issue. If not, then it remains an armor bonus.

3) Either way, can you benefit from them and the special qualities of a standard armor/shield at the same time?

As Stompy said, in the event no update exists, add the armor bonus listed for the Dastana onto your normal armor's AC bonus.

4) If (1) is "No", (2) is "Armor" and (3) is "Yes", can you benefit from the special qualities of a Dastana and the special qualities of Bracers of Armor at the same time? This question becomes presumptively "No" if any of its prereqs are not met. I'd tend to assume that it's "yes" if they are.

Yes, actually. For example, you could have a +1 (+X worth of special properties) Dastana on a +5 (+X worth of different special properties) armor with a +1 (+X worth of another set of special properties) bracers of armor and benefit from all the +Xs. However, the AC bonus would only be from the largest source. Assuming no update for the dastana exists, said bonus would probably the AC bonus from the armor plus the nonmagical AC bonus from the dastana.