New Wizard looking to multiclass for +AC bonuses

[Boduse]

I'm a lvl5 wizard pretty new to the game. I was looking at the warmage class and saw the ability to pick up 1 level of warmage to be able to wear light armor, and then as my lvl6 feat I'd pick up battle caster allowing me use of medium armor. after that 1 level I'd switch back to wizard. Is this idea smart/ useful at all? I figure I could get up to a 16 AC or so + mage armor putting me around 20 AC total. I don't get hit much, but with this one ability it would put me in a much more comfortable position.

[ArlEammon]

Hm. Warmage. Sorry can't help you there.

Yet.... I think at level 15 a monk has a +6 natural AC bonus?

Is that significant at that stage in the game?

[Azerian Kelimon]

Not really. If you have any WIS at all, I'd suggest picking a Monk's belt up, to get WIS to AC, and having shield and mage armor on you at all times. That should suffice for your AC needs, and anything else can be handled with miss chance.

[Solo]

Mage Armor + Alter Self [Troglodyte]

+4 AC from Mage Armor and +6 AC from Alter Self gives you +10 AC total.

Add your dex mod, plus things like a Ring of Protection, maybe, and you'll have all the AC you'll need.

[Nermy]

Considering that you'd lose a wizard caster level, and Armored Mage doesn't apply to your wizard spells, it's probably not worth it for the 5 zero level and 3 first level warmage spells you can cast in light armor without spell failure.

[Boduse]

oof! I didn't realize the 'armored mage' didn't apply to my wizard spells. well that changes things!

I was under the understanding that shield and mage armor didn't stack? is that way off base? My DM seems to think AC from spells works like +stats on magical items.

[Boduse]

not too mention when i made the character I didn't realize how important trans school was so i dropped it for conj specialization. oops.

[Nermy]

oof! I didn't realize the 'armored mage' didn't apply to my wizard spells. well that changes things!

I was under the understanding that shield and mage armor didn't stack? is that way off base? My DM seems to think AC from spells works like +stats on magical items.

Shield and Mage Armor do stack. Shield gives a shield bonus to AC and Mage Armor gives an armor bonus to AC (which also means they don't stack with mundane shields and armors respectively).

The reason most "+stats" don't stack is that they're all enhancement bonuses.

For the most part, bonuses with the same name don't stack (there are of course exceptions).

[Nohwl]

buy some bracers of armor.

[Boduse]

so monk's belt/bracer's or armor/shield/mage armor for a total of around 24 armor class at the low price of 16kgold! sounds doable

+ a mirror image spell should do me okay, are their any other basics of protection i'm missing?

[Zincorium]

oof! I didn't realize the 'armored mage' didn't apply to my wizard spells. well that changes things!

If you can arrange for the fluff to be altered to something that works for your campaign:

Knight Phantom

Gives the ability to ignore spell failure for light armor. Oddly this applies to any arcane class based on the wording.

Other than the lost caster level, it's a pretty darn good class overall.

[Reel On, Love]

so monk's belt/bracer's or armor/shield/mage armor for a total of around 24 armor class at the low price of 16kgold! sounds doable

+ a mirror image spell should do me okay, are their any other basics of protection i'm missing?

The monk's belt isn't worth your time.

+1 mithral small shield costs 2000 gp and has no spell failure (and you don't need to spend an action casting it, unlike the Shield spell).

Bracers of Armor don't stack with Mage Armor. Both give you Armor bonuses to AC.

Make a bunch of scrolls of Mirror Image and cast it whenever you think you need it. It'll do you a lot better than AC.

You should not be relying on you AC overmuch. Prepare a few Glitterdust spells and blind your enemies; throw a Grease under them. That'll keep you safer than your AC would more likely than not.

Keep a couple of scrolls of Fly for when you really need'em.

[Tyger]

Yes, boosting your AC is a bit of a waste. If you are in a situation where you are going to actually get hit often enough that you are spending a lot of your resources on armor bonus, you need to re-evaluate your tactics.

And of course, there are other options if you really want a high AC. What books are you allowed?

If Spell Compendium is allowed, Greater Mage Armor will give you +6 to AC. Add in a Shield spell, you're at a base 20 AC. Toss in some dexterity modifications, and you could be low-mid 20s without spending a single gold piece. Or losing any caster levels or wasting any feats.

Now, if you want to spend the money, a Twilight Mithril Chain Shirt is a +5 to AC with no proficiency required, and no ACP or spell failure chance. Ditto the aforementioned Mithril Buckler. And of course those can both be enchanted magically to increase their value. Then there are the rings of protection, amulets of natural armor, etc. Its easy to get into the high twenties and even low thirties by level 10ish.

But at the end of the day, spells really are your easy button. Mirror Image saves more lives than any tower shield. Add in flying, displacement and every other easily available low level buff, and you are set. They can't hit what they can't see!