I've asked this before, but now my DMG is confusing me.

[big teej]

hey everybody,

a while back I got on here and asked if the +x in magic armor applied to AC
for example
a +3 breastplate of etherealness.

and I was given the answer "no, it does not, its merely a price guide"

but as I was reading my DMG II today (I don't recall which page and my book is not on me)

there was a line that basically amounted to
the ehancement bonus (that +3 on the breastplate) DOES apply to AC

so now I"m confused

does magic armor provide more protection than normal or not?

HELP!!!!

[GhoulPolitician]

Yes magic armor does provide additional protection equal to the numerical bonus. So given your example of the +3 breastplate of etherealness the "+3" portion is added to your AC, and the equivalent bonus for the etherealness enhancement is added to an "effective AC" for the purpose of determining the price.

[olelia]

Er...not entirely sure what the question orients around ...but lets see it in its most basic form, assuming no Dexterity bonus just for simplicity sake...

+3 Breastplate of Etherealness.

Base AC: 10
Breast Plate : +5
Magic : +3

Final AC : 18


Does this answer you question?

If its a question on touch attacks the magic provides an enhancement to the AC bonus which, in general, physical armor does not help against.

[Siosilvar]

I think I answered your question, and didn't mean to mislead you.

A magic plus does add to your AC, but the pluses listed in the special ability descriptions are used to check the price table.

For example, a +2 reflecting heavy shield gives +4 AC (+2 for being a heavy shield, +2 for the enchantment) but costs the same as a +7 shield would (since reflecting adds 5 to the effective plus used to determine price).

[Stegyre]

You are probably confusing two different things.

First, all magical armor has some enhancement bonus. Armor must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus in order to have any other enchantment at all. (The highest an enhancement bonus may go, if the armor is not epic, is +5.)

Enhancement bonuses add to the armor's AC. For example, chainmail has an armor bonus of 5; a suit of chainmail +3 will have an armor bonus of 5+3=8.

Second, certain types of armor enchantments are given in terms of a "bonus value," which is used to calculate the price of the enchanted armor. For example, the light fortification enchantment is equal to a +1 bonus. If that same suit of chainmail +3 were instead a suit of light fortification chainmail +3, we would calculate its price using the sum of all the bonuses -- the +3 enhancement bonus +1 for light fortification.

On the other hand, some enchantments do not have a bonus value; they have a straight gp value, instead. Etherealness is one such enchantment: it will increase the cost of armor by +49,000 gp.

If you have found a +3 breastplate of etherealness, it has a +3 enhancement bonus, for a total AC 8 (5 from a regular breastplate +3 enhancement), and also allows the wearer to become ethereal once per day, for as long as desired.

[big teej]

Er...not entirely sure what the question orients around ...but lets see it in its most basic form, assuming no Dexterity bonus just for simplicity sake...

+3 Breastplate of Etherealness.

Base AC: 10
Breast Plate : +5
Magic : +3

Final AC : 18


Does this answer you question?

yes, yes it does

I think I answered your question, and didn't mean to mislead you.

A magic plus does add to your AC, but the pluses listed in the special ability descriptions are used to check the price table.

For example, a +2 reflecting heavy shield gives +4 AC (+2 for being a heavy shield, +2 for the enchantment) but costs the same as a +7 shield would (since reflecting adds 5 to the effective plus used to determine price).

ah, in that case I must have just misunderstood your answer


thanks everybody!