Can "Brawling" be added to bracers of armor?


Rules Questions


So Bracers of armor can be enchanted like any other armor, except they don't count as armor so its good for those non-armor classes like monks and certain archetypes of other classes. But Brawling from UE says it can only be added to light armor. Does that mean Bracers of Armor can't have the enchantment?


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Lord Phrofet wrote:
... Brawling from UE says it can only be added to light armor. Does that mean Bracers of Armor can't have the enchantment?

That's correct - Brawling Bracers of Armor aren't possible without house-rules. (Brawling spawned several "Why can't monks have nice things?" threads when UE came out for that very reason.)


What Bearded Ben said.


Yeah I remember the threads....I had totally forgotten about the Bracer's of Armor ability to have special ability enhancements so I was trying to figure out if it provided an exception.


Then here's a question, with the item crafting feat (pathfinder accessory) You can make magic item tattoo's for the same slots as regular magic items (effectively doubling you magic items worn)

The question is; does the players body (base ac 10) count as armor? and if so what type? Cause if it could count as light armor magical brawling tattoos for all the monks.


No, the characters body doesn't count as 'armor.'


DeusTerran wrote:


The question is; does the players body (base ac 10) count as armor? and if so what type? Cause if it could count as light armor magical brawling tattoos for all the monks.

No, the body does not count as armor.

Otherwise it would really suck to be a monk... Loosing most of their powers automatically because their bodies count as armor...

Even for creatures, for example the terrasque, with major natural armor bonusses, they don't count as being armor.
The system seperates between natural armor, and (manufactured) worn armor. On the latter is seperated in the armor types (light, medium, heavy).


Anything can be counted per RAW as long as you pay double to make it "slotless".

You can technically wear bracers of armor +1 with 7 points of other armor enchants for 128k along with armor +5 with +5 other enchants, altho your total magical armor enhancement would be only 5 since + wouldn't stack, but by paying double, in the rules, the bracer -abilities- would.

Note: as a GM i'd never allow this, both because of brokeness and because you wouldn't have anywhere near the money to pull it off outside of christmas game or a focused crafter.

2nd Note: in 3.0/3.5 there was Monk's Tattoos which covered the same effect as a monks robe does now (+4 level instead) and did not take up your bracer slot. (FR setting, Magic of Faerun IIRC)


TGMaxMaxer wrote:

Anything can be counted per RAW as long as you pay double to make it "slotless".

You can technically wear bracers of armor +1 with 7 points of other armor enchants for 128k along with armor +5 with +5 other enchants, altho your total magical armor enhancement would be only 5 since + wouldn't stack, but by paying double, in the rules, the bracer -abilities- would.

Note: as a GM i'd never allow this, both because of brokeness and because you wouldn't have anywhere near the money to pull it off outside of christmas game or a focused crafter.

In fact, you explicitly can't do this. Bracers of Armor say right in their description that if you get a larger armor bonus from any other source, the bracers stop working, special abilities and all. It has nothing to do with the slot they occupy.


I stand corrected. Hadn't looked at a lot of the magic items in PFS. You should still be able to buy a "sash" or other slotless item for double gold to get the effect tho.


If your GM allows that, and if it isn't PFS.


Sorry to dig up an old thread I am having a hard time seeing where in the rules it says that Brawling can't be added to bracers of armor. I can see why it is a big bonus to monks for not a huge investment. But the description of the Bracers says you can add special abilities. Brawling says it can be applied to light armor but the Bracers do not classify what type of armor they are, light medium or heavy.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Gnomerule,

Bracers can take armor enhancements, and magically provide an "armor bonus" to the wearer's AC, but they are not armor. They're wondrous items. If they were armor, they would appear in a different section of the magic items.

Not being armor, they are not light armor.


Makes sense though it does not exactly leap out of the text. Did they clarify that somewhere? It seems remarkably like something that came up after Monks wanted a cheap perk.


The Paizo developers have said countless times that they are NOT going to fix the monk via items, though the seemed to take a slight step that way with the reduction in the price of the amulet of mighty fists. (The word on the streets is that they are planning a bit of a monk re-write, but I'm not sure on the details of that...) In addition, the original author (not sure who this actually was) of the Brawling armor property has weighed in that they were not intended to work with Bracers of armor. As Chris said, they're in the wrong section of the book for armors.

That said, this isn't the farthest fetched house rule as it does have a cost of +1 AC, but it's definitely a positive trade. (Especially with the RPG superstar guideline that an equal numerical benefit of offense is more powerful than a defensive one.) If your intent is to increase the power of the monk, then feel free to house rule this one, but it is a houserule, as neither the rules as written nor the rules as intended support it.


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Just do your own thing in you games. I don't get this, never did. Do people need their hands held. Who cares what the developers say, honestly, I never did. My game is my game. If your playing tournament... well, sucks to be you, but in your home game... do it, do it, do it.

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