Getting better max Dex in armour

[Cogidubnus]

Mithral Armour with the Nimble property. How do I get a higher max Dex bonus?

[Chilingsworth]

If you are comissioning the armor, you cn have it made with the segmented property. It's in Dragon #358. It's a nonmagical masterwork property that increases the max dex of the armor by one. If you're using that dragon and are comissioning the armor, you might as well also add the reinforced property. It increases the (nonmagical) armor bonus by one, and increases the wieght by 10% (minimum wieght gain, 2lbs.) but it has no effect on max dex.

If you're not comissioning the armor, then I don't think there's much you can do that you're not already doing.

[Cogidubnus]

If you are comissioning the armor, you cn have it made with the segmented property. It's in Dragon #358. It's a nonmagical masterwork property that increases the max dex of the armor by one. If you're using that dragon and are comissioning the armor, you might as well also add the reinforced property. It increases the (nonmagical) armor bonus by one, and increases the wieght by 10% (minimum wieght gain, 2lbs.) but it has no effect on max dex.

If you're not comissioning the armor, then I don't think there's much you can do that you're not already doing.

It's being made for a Gargantuan giant - it will have been commissioned xD
Is that in the Dragon Compendium?

[Ryuuk]

Celestial Armor gives +8, while it's epic version gives +10. You may be able to stack Mithral and Nimble onto them depending on the DM.

There's also the Gnome Twistcloth from Races of Stone. It's an exotic Armor with with +1 armor and no max dex or armor check penalty, and having the proficiency lets the armor bonus and its enhancement add to touch AC.

[Chilingsworth]

It's being made for a Gargantuan giant - it will have been commissioned xD
Is that in the Dragon Compendium?

Not in volume one, I don't know about any other volumes.

[Cogidubnus]

Not in volume one, I don't know about any other volumes.

Volumes 2 etc. never happened xD

[Darrin]

Mithral Armour with the Nimble property. How do I get a higher max Dex bonus?

Mithral + Nimbleness is about the best you can hope for (improves Max Dex by +3).

To give you any more specific advice, we'll need to know what your Dex bonus is, and what kind of armor you're trying to maximize.

[Cogidubnus]

Mithral + Nimbleness is about the best you can hope for (improves Max Dex by +3).

To give you any more specific advice, we'll need to know what your Dex bonus is, and what kind of armor you're trying to maximize.

Well, it's currently +5 Mithral Full Plate, with a +4 max Dex bonus. My Dex bonus is +5, and I haven't bought any items to enhance that. If it can't be done, it doesn't matter too much, I just wondered.

[Chilingsworth]

Just thought of something: The Halfwieght armor property. It's in Underdark and is a +3 magical property. It reduces the armor's wieght category by one step. So, you're mithral fullplate would now be light armor. I'm not sure if it affects max dex or not, though.

Also, I think you can get Old Dragon issues in PDF form from pazio. I wouldn't know directly, I only know about the armor qualities I mentioned because my DM shared the info with me and they're a common part of our games now.

Finally, in the Arms and Equipment Guide, there's a specific armor called tessellated armor. It's basically a self-assembling jigsaw puzzle that acts as fullplate, but is medium armor and is far easier to move in. In therory, you could try getting a set made out of mithril to mke it even easier to move in, maybe even get segmented and reinforced on it and the nimble property. Such a set of armor would be light and have a rediculous (for fullplate) max dex and low armor check penalty. Also, you could don it in a very short time (it puts itself on you, minimal effort needed on your part.)

The tessellated armor is on Pg. 95 of the Arms and Equipment Guide.

[Uhtred]

Isn't there a Freedom enchantment in the Magic Item Compendium? I recall that giving you use of the Freedom of Movement spell, although it's like a +3 enchantment.

[Kerghan]

Githcraft out of the Dungeon Master Guide 2 reduces armor check penalty by 1. Combined with mithril, and the nimbleness property could make for fullplate that has an armor check penalty similar to studded leather.

[The Cat Goddess]

I see nothing under the "Nimble" enchantment that says you can't apply it more than once.

So, you could have +3 Nimble, Nimble, Gith-craft, Segmented, Reinforced, Lightened, Half-weight Mithril Full Plate. :D

[Cogidubnus]

I see nothing under the "Nimble" enchantment that says you can't apply it more than once.

So, you could have +3 Nimble, Nimble, Gith-craft, Segmented, Reinforced, Lightened, Half-weight Mithril Full Plate. :D

Can I also have a +1 Corrosive Corrosive Corrosive Corrosive greatsword? Pretty sure you can only apply each enchantment once.

[Darrin]

Well, it's currently +5 Mithral Full Plate, with a +4 max Dex bonus. My Dex bonus is +5, and I haven't bought any items to enhance that. If it can't be done, it doesn't matter too much, I just wondered.

Ok, if we just look at your Max Dex (MD) + Armor Bonus (AB), Mithral Nimbleness Full Plate +1 has a total AC bonus of +13 (MD +4, AB +8, +1 enhancement). To get better than that, try:

Mithral Nimbleness Battleplate +1: Total AC bonus = +14 (MD +4, AB +9, +1 enhancement)

Mithral Nimbleness Mountain Plate +1: Total AC bonus = +14 (MD +3, AB +10, +1 enhancement)

Both of these are exotic, so they require taking Exotic Armor Proficiency or Dwarven Armor Proficiency. Mountain Plate also reduces your speed to 15', and explicitly says you can't avoid this by being a dwarf. You can also get a similar AC bonus from Mechanus Gear (Planar Handbook):

Mithral Nimbleness Mechanus Gear +1: Total AC bonus = +14 (MD +3, AB +10, +1 enhancement)

Mechanus Gear isn't exotic, so you don't need a feat to wear it, and although it also reduces your speed to 15', Dwarven Step still works (dwarves move 20').

You're still "wasting" +2 of your Dex bonus, but there really isn't a better combo of Max Dex/Armor bonus that can come close. For a Dex bonus of +5, you need an Armor Bonus of +8 to get a comparable AC, and the only thing that comes close is a Mithral Breastplate with AB +5. Throw Nimbleness/+1 enhancement on that, and the total AC bonus is still only +12.

Githcraft out of the Dungeon Master Guide 2 reduces armor check penalty by 1. Combined with mithril, and the nimbleness property could make for fullplate that has an armor check penalty similar to studded leather.

Githcraft armor/shields don't have any affect on ACP, they reduce ASF by 5% (and provide a +1 untyped bonus to Concentration checks, so heads-up to Swordsages/Warblades).

Just thought of something: The Halfwieght armor property. It's in Underdark and is a +3 magical property. It reduces the armor's wieght category by one step. So, you're mithral fullplate would now be light armor. I'm not sure if it affects max dex or not, though.

It doesn't affect Max Dex, and it reduces the weight category to "light" rather than by "one step". If you're restricted to light armor, Mithral + Half-Weight is a bit redundant, although mithral has other benefits that make it attractive to put on even Half-Weight armor (mostly the Max Dex +2 and reducing ACP by 3).

[Curmudgeon]

I see nothing under the "Nimble" enchantment that says you can't apply it more than once.

It says this elsewhere:

Stacking

In most cases, modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they come from different sources and have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type or come from the same source (such as the same spell cast twice in succession).

The DEX bonus is a modifier in the basic combat check (attack vs. AC) and so the stacking rule applies. You can't apply a bonus from nimble more than once.

[Cogidubnus]

It says this elsewhere: The DEX bonus is a modifier in the basic combat check (attack vs. AC) and so the stacking rule applies. You can't apply a bonus from nimble more than once.

I think you've misunderstood Nimble. It's an armour enhancement affecting the armour's statistics, not your actual AC. It just raises the armour's maximum Dex bonus.