# Bracers of Armor Question



## Zephalon (Jan 29, 2003)

Does a Bracers of Armor armor bonus stack with regular armor? Or are they only useful for unarmored characters?

I am not sure, armor bonusses seem to stack sometimes (at least "shield"armor bonus and "armor" armor bonus)...


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## Demon Knight (Jan 29, 2003)

This is how I interpret the rules, and it's how I handle it in my games.

Bracers of Armor provides an armor bonus similar to normal armor, like chain mail and studded leather.  This stacks with shield armor bonuses.  So you could, per se, put on Bracers of Armor +1 and still use a large steel shield, benefiting from +3 a armor bonus.

What other DMs use, I have no idea.


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## AuraSeer (Jan 29, 2003)

No, magical armor bonuses (from bracers, or the _Mage Armor_ spell) do not stack with any other armor bonuses. They don't even stack with a shield.

The only time an armor bonus ever stacks is when the bonus of one shield stacks with that of physical armor.

Note that a "natural armor bonus" (as from an _amulet of natural armor_) is a distinct bonus type, and does stack with an "armor bonus".


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## Zephalon (Jan 29, 2003)

Thanks...

(my players will be kinda upset... they found two bracers of armor last session)


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## AuraSeer (Jan 29, 2003)

If the party mage already has good bracers, and they don't want to sell them for cash, then give them to the armored characters with the lowest Dex bonus. They'll be useful if the party is ever attacked by incorporeal undead.

Incorporeal touch attacks pass through all physical armor, but not the force armor created by the bracers. So even though the bracers' bonus overlaps the normal armor bonus most of the time, the normal armor bonus goes away for purposes of incorporeal touch, so the bracer bonus remains.

Example:
A fighter wearing full plate has AC 18. If he's attacked by a wraith, it can pass right through his armor, so his effective touch AC is 10.

Give the same fighter a set of _bracers of armor +2_. He still has AC 18 for purposes of normal combat. But when the wraith attacks, it can't pass through the bracers' force field, so the fighter's touch AC is 12.

This isn't much bonus, and the situation doesn't come up all that often, but it's better than just leaving the stuff to rust in a backpack.


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## dcollins (Jan 29, 2003)

By the rules, bracers of armor do not stack with normal armor. They don't stack with shields, either. The stacking of normal armor with a shield is a specific rules exception for that one combination.

Consider example #9 here: www.superdan.net/dndfaq1.html


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## Sir Whiskers (Jan 31, 2003)

AuraSeer, great idea! It never occurred to me to have both bracers and plate on the same character. As you say, it's rare, but then I thought losing my +1 plate to a rust monster would never happen...


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## Hypersmurf (Jan 31, 2003)

Of course, the rumour is that in 3.5E, there will be an actual, honest-to-god, not-just-in-the-glossary Shield Bonus, and shields _will_ stack with Mage Armor.

-Hyp.


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## Wolf72 (Jan 31, 2003)

Sir Whiskers said:
			
		

> *AuraSeer, great idea! It never occurred to me to have both bracers and plate on the same character. As you say, it's rare, but then I thought losing my +1 plate to a rust monster would never happen... *




LOL ... um, I'm not laughing at you ..... noooo ... I'm laughing with you!


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