Armor for Overly High Dex Mods? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Armor for Overly High Dex Mods? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Veyska
01-26-05, 07:09 PM In the process of building an EL20 ranger/rogue cross with waaay too much dex, and am discovering (much to my dismay) that there is no armor that works very well for this character. Starting armor was ghost touch mithril shirt +5 (for an AC of 10+6dex+9armor). The character in question has a dex mod of +10. Unfortunately, the highest dex allowance for an armor that I know of is padded armor with a max dex bonus of +8. My touch AC goes up by switching, but my overall AC goes down by one. A friend suggested a few inventory changes and for 255gp more I ended up with a padded armor +1 and bracers of armor +7 to keep my AC steady and keep the (psuedo-)ghost touch ability. The armor several other enchantments that affect the cost but not the enhancement bonus price that force me to keep the armor because they cannot be moved elsewhere (mostly anti-impact and greater silent moves).

My main question is, is this the best compromise between keeping the armor based enchantments and getting the max benefit from a high dex? I keep hoping that somewhere out there there's some armor that basically is just a storage space for armor enchantments that has no AC bonus but has no dex limit, but I've been through a good many of the D&D books (DMG, C. Warrior, C. Adventurer, C. Divine, C. Arcane, Savage Species, Draconimicon, and a few others I'm forgetting at the moment) and seen none. Does such an armor (or something similar) exist somewhere out there in some obscure expansion book? Or is it legitimate by D&D rules to dump armor enchantment stuff on a high-quality shirt? Magic vestment allows clothing to be counted as armor with +0AC - is this extendable to armor enchantments?
Pinky's brain
01-26-05, 07:24 PM Well the arms and equipment guide says you can put armor special abilities on bracers of armor. This would also let you use a monk's belt.
Dartanel
01-26-05, 07:28 PM a: Bracers of armor are ghost touch already.

b: There aren't any in the book, but you can most assuredly make them yourself. You could easily have a vest of anti-impact and maybe pants of move silent +x. The rules are in the DMG.
primemover003
01-26-05, 07:30 PM Indeed Bracers of AC can be enhanced up to +12 pre-Epic IIRC. So +1 BoC's with a ton of abilities is the ticket for you!

Of course a combination of many low powered items ends up pretty cheap. I'm quite taken by the Vest/Shirt of Natural armor. Better slot than the amulet (as few magic Vest/Shirts exist).
the_narrator
01-26-05, 10:34 PM do away with armor alltogether. enchant clothing with your desired effect. i have an EL 18 monk/fighter/wizard/bladesinger. he wears no armor, yet his AC is almost 50. use rings and ammulets of armor, bracers of armor. your dex is high enough that it's lbetter than wearing any armor anyway. also, you get no skill check penalties or anything of the sort. in short, armor's for pansies.
evangelion1010
01-26-05, 11:09 PM Bracers of ac +8, monk's belt.
wonlee76
01-26-05, 11:17 PM I think there's an armor enhancement in one of the Forgotten Realms book that increases the Max Dex on Armor by +2 (So a mithril chain shirt will have a Max dex of 8 instead of 6) for the cost of a +1 enhancement bonus on the armor. I think its called graceful or swiftness or something like that...
Kirin_Folken
01-27-05, 12:27 AM Celestial Chain mail is what you want. Its in the 3.0 DMG, AC 5 +8 Dex if I recall.. plus you can make it mitheral and nimble (thats the forgotten realm one) that adds +2 dex to the armor. for a grand total of +12 Dex. Even has fly 1/day on it if I recall right.
Zathyr
01-27-05, 12:50 AM There was something in the FR Underdark book as I recall that was an exotic armor with no max dex. And there's gnome twist cloth in Races of Stone as well. You need the exotic armor proficiency to use it properly so it's probably not worth it, but it's still an option.
Veyska
01-27-05, 01:09 AM Thanks for all the suggestions, but a friend and I came up with an amusing and satisfactory solution (at least for the moment). Character is draconic in nature, so she now has a Gemstone of Heavy Fortification with a few enchantments thrown on top of it, and Bracers of Armor +8. For about 10k gp more, she gets a +1 to overall AC, and her touch AC goes up by a lot. (Amusingly enough, her touch AC is higher than her flat-footed...)
TheDragonmaster
01-27-05, 07:58 AM The bondleaf wrap from AaEG has +1 Armor, no max Dex, no armor check penalty and no arcane spell faliure chance (I think).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Veyska 01-26-05, 07:09 PM	In the process of building an EL20 ranger/rogue cross with waaay too much dex, and am discovering (much to my dismay) that there is no armor that works very well for this character. Starting armor was ghost touch mithril shirt +5 (for an AC of 10+6dex+9armor). The character in question has a dex mod of +10. Unfortunately, the highest dex allowance for an armor that I know of is padded armor with a max dex bonus of +8. My touch AC goes up by switching, but my overall AC goes down by one. A friend suggested a few inventory changes and for 255gp more I ended up with a padded armor +1 and bracers of armor +7 to keep my AC steady and keep the (psuedo-)ghost touch ability. The armor several other enchantments that affect the cost but not the enhancement bonus price that force me to keep the armor because they cannot be moved elsewhere (mostly anti-impact and greater silent moves). My main question is, is this the best compromise between keeping the armor based enchantments and getting the max benefit from a high dex? I keep hoping that somewhere out there there's some armor that basically is just a storage space for armor enchantments that has no AC bonus but has no dex limit, but I've been through a good many of the D&D books (DMG, C. Warrior, C. Adventurer, C. Divine, C. Arcane, Savage Species, Draconimicon, and a few others I'm forgetting at the moment) and seen none. Does such an armor (or something similar) exist somewhere out there in some obscure expansion book? Or is it legitimate by D&D rules to dump armor enchantment stuff on a high-quality shirt? Magic vestment allows clothing to be counted as armor with +0AC - is this extendable to armor enchantments?
Pinky's brain 01-26-05, 07:24 PM	Well the arms and equipment guide says you can put armor special abilities on bracers of armor. This would also let you use a monk's belt.
Dartanel 01-26-05, 07:28 PM	a: Bracers of armor are ghost touch already. b: There aren't any in the book, but you can most assuredly make them yourself. You could easily have a vest of anti-impact and maybe pants of move silent +x. The rules are in the DMG.
primemover003 01-26-05, 07:30 PM	Indeed Bracers of AC can be enhanced up to +12 pre-Epic IIRC. So +1 BoC's with a ton of abilities is the ticket for you! Of course a combination of many low powered items ends up pretty cheap. I'm quite taken by the Vest/Shirt of Natural armor. Better slot than the amulet (as few magic Vest/Shirts exist).
the_narrator 01-26-05, 10:34 PM	do away with armor alltogether. enchant clothing with your desired effect. i have an EL 18 monk/fighter/wizard/bladesinger. he wears no armor, yet his AC is almost 50. use rings and ammulets of armor, bracers of armor. your dex is high enough that it's lbetter than wearing any armor anyway. also, you get no skill check penalties or anything of the sort. in short, armor's for pansies.
evangelion1010 01-26-05, 11:09 PM	Bracers of ac +8, monk's belt.
wonlee76 01-26-05, 11:17 PM	I think there's an armor enhancement in one of the Forgotten Realms book that increases the Max Dex on Armor by +2 (So a mithril chain shirt will have a Max dex of 8 instead of 6) for the cost of a +1 enhancement bonus on the armor. I think its called graceful or swiftness or something like that...
Kirin_Folken 01-27-05, 12:27 AM	Celestial Chain mail is what you want. Its in the 3.0 DMG, AC 5 +8 Dex if I recall.. plus you can make it mitheral and nimble (thats the forgotten realm one) that adds +2 dex to the armor. for a grand total of +12 Dex. Even has fly 1/day on it if I recall right.
Zathyr 01-27-05, 12:50 AM	There was something in the FR Underdark book as I recall that was an exotic armor with no max dex. And there's gnome twist cloth in Races of Stone as well. You need the exotic armor proficiency to use it properly so it's probably not worth it, but it's still an option.
Veyska 01-27-05, 01:09 AM	Thanks for all the suggestions, but a friend and I came up with an amusing and satisfactory solution (at least for the moment). Character is draconic in nature, so she now has a Gemstone of Heavy Fortification with a few enchantments thrown on top of it, and Bracers of Armor +8. For about 10k gp more, she gets a +1 to overall AC, and her touch AC goes up by a lot. (Amusingly enough, her touch AC is higher than her flat-footed...)
TheDragonmaster 01-27-05, 07:58 AM	The bondleaf wrap from AaEG has +1 Armor, no max Dex, no armor check penalty and no arcane spell faliure chance (I think).