[3.5] How to increase Max Dex bonus?

**Wonton** · 2010-08-16, 02:48 PM (ISO 8601)

A Mithral Chain Shirt has a +6 Max Dex bonus, while most Dex-based characters will hit 24 Dex by level 9-10. I know of the Nimbleness property, but paying +1 to increase the Max Dex bonus by 1 is stupid, you might as well have gotten a normal +1 instead. Are there any other ways?

**Yorrin** · 2010-08-16, 02:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Bracers of Armor? That's what I do on characters that exceed their Dex bonus by enough.

**Eldariel** · 2010-08-16, 03:22 PM (ISO 8601)

After Mithril Shirt, there's only Thistledown Leather/Padded Armor and Celestial Armor, which you should ultimately go for, especially with Nimbleness (once you exceed 30 Dex, you should consider Bracers of Armor instead, but again, Armors can have properties which tend to be very worthwhile, particularly if you have a Cleric casting Magic Vestment on your items).

**Yorrin** · 2010-08-16, 03:27 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Eldariel

but again, Armors can have properties which tend to be very worthwhile, particularly if you have a Cleric casting Magic Vestment on your items).

According to A&E you can enchant Bracers of Armor with any armor properties you want. Just to open that option to you...

**Lev** · 2010-08-16, 03:27 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by DrWonton

A Mithral Chain Shirt has a +6 Max Dex bonus, while most Dex-based characters will hit 24 Dex by level 9-10. I know of the Nimbleness property, but paying +1 to increase the Max Dex bonus by 1 is stupid, you might as well have gotten a normal +1 instead. Are there any other ways?

Stupid if you don't include touch AC.

**Yorrin** · 2010-08-16, 03:29 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Lev

Stupid if you don't include touch AC.

MIC Ghost Ward Property >_>

**Eldariel** · 2010-08-16, 03:45 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Yorrin

According to A&E you can enchant Bracers of Armor with any armor properties you want. Just to open that option to you...

Yeah, but:
1) That's an A&EG specific rule. In games not incorporating A&EG, that's not game.
2) You'll miss out on actual AC since you can't cast Magic Vestment on Bracers of Armor. The limit on Bracers is +10 virtual, +8 actual enhancement I recall. That means getting any of the v. good abilities (Soulfire, Greater Fortifications, etc.) is going to put you over the limit and start to cut into your AC.

**Draz74** · 2010-08-16, 04:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by DrWonton

I know of the Nimbleness property, but paying +1 to increase the Max Dex bonus by 1 is stupid, you might as well have gotten a normal +1 instead.

Not if you already have a normal +5 enhancement on the armor. Nor if you're planning to get a Magic Vestment spell on the armor.

Originally Posted by Yorrin

MIC Ghost Ward Property >_>

Yeah, but that costs another +1 ...

EDIT: Another option to boost Max Dex, if you're already using lighter-than-chain-shirt armor, is the Shadow Silk special material from Tome of Magic.

**Marnath** · 2010-08-16, 04:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Eldariel

Yeah, but:
1) That's an A&EG specific rule. In games not incorporating A&EG, that's not game.
2) You'll miss out on actual AC since you can't cast Magic Vestment on Bracers of Armor. The limit on Bracers is +10 virtual, +8 actual enhancement I recall. That means getting any of the v. good abilities (Soulfire, Greater Fortifications, etc.) is going to put you over the limit and start to cut into your AC.

Virtual +13 for bracers, actually. And there's a whole thread about whether A&E guide is 3.5 compatible, so no need to bring it up here again.(fyi, it was never errataed to 3.5 so it should work fine.) Of course, at those levels AC is meaningless, miss chances are what you want anyway.

**Andion Isurand** · 2010-08-16, 05:01 PM (ISO 8601)

You could try going for nightscale armor from Underdark.

1k gp // +2 AC // +10 max dex // 0 check penalty // 5% AF // 3 lbs

Then make it Githcraft (DMG2) or give it the caster armor modification(Dragon 358 pg 39) to remove the 5% AF using non magical means.... plus there are more armor mods in that article.

**Lord Vukodlak** · 2010-08-16, 05:06 PM (ISO 8601)

Keep in mind "max dex bonus" is only to your armor class it doesn't apply to skills or attack rolls.

**Glimbur** · 2010-08-16, 05:14 PM (ISO 8601)

Or just wear Gnome Twistcloth from Races of Stone. Max Dex -.

**Curmudgeon** · 2010-08-16, 06:53 PM (ISO 8601)

Check out the Segmented armor template (Dragon # 358, pages 42-43) for +1 to MDB.

**The Rabbler** · 2010-08-16, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)

then, of course, there's the commoner's armor. get some clothes, enhance them to +8 armor, cast magic vestments, enhance with whatever abilities you like. 0 Max dex, 0 ASF, weighs 1lb, and it looks much less conspicuous than armor.

EDIT:
IIRC, you can't simply make this armor +5 because of the straight armor enchantment on them already, but I could be wrong.

**Andion Isurand** · 2010-08-16, 10:01 PM (ISO 8601)

I may be wrong, but I think the drow-lich Dyrr wears robes of armor +9 that grant some other abilities. Not sure if they are strait up armor abilities though.

**ericgrau** · 2010-08-17, 12:51 AM (ISO 8601)

Celestial Armor has an armor bonus of +5 before magical enhancements and a max dex bonus to AC of 8. Also lets you fly 1/day.

Besides being trivial to break, as mentioned, nimbleness also applies to your touch AC.

Thread: [3.5] How to increase Max Dex bonus?

Thread Tools

Spoilers