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blade020877
Seeker
Ireland
66 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Oct 2013 : 01:11:16
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quick question
would armour and bracers work together? i dont mean they work stack.
if it was a touch attack and would the bracers work then? can you take one work then the other one is negated?
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rjfras
Learned Scribe
261 Posts |
Posted - 06 Oct 2013 : 01:41:39
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against regular attacks, the better ac would be in effect. against touch attacks the bracers would be in effect
it's actually an example in the 3.5 FAQ:
quote:
Q: I have a bard in my game who has a bit of money to
spend. She buys a set of bracers of armor +3 and a suit of +3
leather armor. If the bard wears both at the same time, the
armor bonus from the bracers (+3) overrides the armor
bonus from the leather armor (+1). Our question is, does
the +3 enhancement bonus from the armor still get applied
for a total of +6, is it subsumed by the magic of the bracers,
or is it just ignored completely? Since the enhancement
bonus and armor bonus are different types of bonuses, the
bard thinks her total Armor Class bonus should be +6.
A: The magic leather armor’s +3 enhancement bonus applies
to make the armor’s armor bonus bigger (+4 in this case). The
example character uses only the larger armor bonus (+4) when
wearing both the armor and the bracers.
The overlapping +3 bonus from the bracers is still there,
however. (It is just irrelevant most of the time.) If something
bypasses the +4 bonus from the magic armor, the bracers might
still prove effective. For example, an incorporeal touch attack
bypasses the whole armor bonus from the magic armor. Since
the bracers provide a force effect, they protect the bard against
the incorporeal touch attack. The example character still has a
+3 armor bonus against the incorporeal touch attack.
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Edited by - rjfras on 06 Oct 2013 01:46:16 |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7970 Posts |
Posted - 06 Oct 2013 : 18:16:45
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Bracers - that is, vambraces - are a component of any complete plate armor, as are gauntlets and helm. They are basically just armor plates which cover the forearm from wrist to elbow, analogous to how greaves cover the shins.
I suppose bracers+armor can be physically layered, although I wouldn‘t grant any AC bonus except vs called shots to the wrists and such stuff. The game simplifies and abstracts combat - it is designed for (popular) entertainment and playability, not for accurate simulation.
Magical bonuses from bracers and armor can only be (not) stacked as explained in the rules.
So-called “kote“ (wrist shields from older Oriental Adventures books) are functionally identical to bracers, although given different emphasis (and rules) in combat - this can grant the wearer minor advantage, but also assumes armor technology and general combat philosophy which much differ from classic Europe-inspired pseudomedieval fantasy. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 06 Oct 2013 18:59:10 |
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 12 Oct 2013 : 06:07:25
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| in the old rules, bracers of defense worn with magical armor provide protection equal to whichever has the best AC. In later games, I noticed that bracers of defense became more like rings of protection, in that they provided not a base AC like armor, but an AC bonus. I'd treat them like rings in that case. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 12 Oct 2013 : 15:53:36
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quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
in the old rules, bracers of defense worn with magical armor provide protection equal to whichever has the best AC. In later games, I noticed that bracers of defense became more like rings of protection, in that they provided not a base AC like armor, but an AC bonus. I'd treat them like rings in that case.
That was one of the many things I didn't like with how magical items were changed in 3E. I quite preferred the absolute protection of bracers of defense AC3, as opposed to the bonus of bracers of defense +3. I could see using both, though -- perhaps bracers of protection, or bracers of armor, providing an absolute defense, and bracers of increased defense, adding a bonus.
Obviously these are separate, incompatible items, but I think that the absolute defense type would be better at lower levels, and the bonus to defense better at higher levels, when the characters would already have better armor than what the absolute defense bracers would provide. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7970 Posts |
Posted - 12 Oct 2013 : 19:59:51
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The 2E approach actually treats bracers more like a complete (and unencumbering) suit of armor, giving “base AC“ vs front/rear/etc regardless of the attack form. Technically, the 2E rules for layered armor (or armor worn in addition to a natural AC) basically just becomes the better of the two plus one AC bonus. Technically, any rings/armor/etc which provide a “protection“ plus also adds this bonus to any Save vs many attacks (such as dragonfire). 2E lumps dodging/evading and deflecting/blocking defenses together most of the time, and not always in a logically consistent manner.
The 3E approach seems more logical to me, but opinions differ. |
[/Ayrik] |
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 17 Oct 2013 : 22:43:44
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| The benefit of 2nd E was that it was simpler. Less logical, perhaps, but in my mind 3rd E got bogged down with endless rule "if than" variations. |
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do they work together?
