In D&D/Pathfinder, Armor Class is calculated from several elements. These include (and have single non-inclusive examples):Corea wrote:I'm trying to get some proper armor equipped but I'm having some trouble.
What is the difference between Armor and ArmorMod? Shield and ShieldMod, etc?
Why the inclusion of ability mods? For armors that give you mod bonuses?
It's strange because if I enter 5 for armor or armor mod my AC increases by 10. (edit: I noticed that even after edits, the properties do not change. Bug? That is why my AC does not change even when I edit a field back to 0 or a different number)
Armor Bonus -- Worn armor
Bonuses to Armor Bonus -- Magic pluses to worn armor
Shield Bonus -- Equipped Shield
Bonuses to Shield Bonus -- Magic pluses to equipped shield
Natural Armor Bonus -- Creature's skin
Bonuses to Natural Armor Bonus -- Spells like Barkskin
Dodge Bonus
Deflection Bonus
Size Bonus
Dexterity Bonus
So when you are creating equipment for your character, some of that equipment will be armor. Basic armor grants an Armor Bonus. Magic armor grants an Armor Bonus and usually grants an Enhancement Bonus to the Armor Bonus (so yes this is confusing as it is a bonus to a bonus).
You should NOT use the dialog to directly edit your armor class ( editCharacter > Armor ) as that was the old way of dealing with AC. Now you should always create an item that is your armor (giving it the relevant mods) and the equip that item. This goes for things like Natural armor too (a creature's skin). The reasons for creating a Natural armor item are it helps process stacking of bonuses and it makes applying Polymorph doable.
So back to the discussion of armor. A suit of +1 Leather Armor would give a 2 Armor Bonus, and a 1 Enhancement Bonus to the Armor Bonus (or in terms of the mod-set dialog, a 2 Armor Bonus, and a 1 ArmorMod with a bonus type of Enhancement).
All Bonuses to Armor Bonuses need to be processed using the bonus type stacking rules. Additionally, Armor Bonus itself is subject to the stacking rules.
For example:
If you are wearing +1 Chainmail( 5 Armor, 1 Enhancement to Armor ) and have cast on you Mage Armor ( 4 Armor ) the Armor bonuses do not stack, so only the highest armor bonus will be used (in this case 5 from Chainmail so the 4 from the Mage Armor is superseded).
If you are wearing +1 Leather ( 2 Armor, 1 Enhancement to Armor ) and have cast on you Mage Armor ( 4 Armor ), then you fall into a sticky rules wicket. The Armor bonuses do not stack, so only the highest armor bonus will be used (in this case 4 from Mage Armor so the 2 from the Leather is superseded). But now we get into a grey area. The +1 to the Leather is a +1 Enhancement Bonus to your Armor Bonus. So logically (and what my code does programmatically) your AC would go from 13 (+1 Leather, medium size, no dex) to 15 ( Mage Armor plus +1 Enhancement ). Many folks might balk at this because the +1 enhancement intuitively seems to be just enhancing the Armor Bonus that the Leather is giving.