shield and armor share enhance?


Rules Questions


Does a characters shield and armor share the same +10 enhancement restriction? As in, do they add to each others count towards cap of+10?


No, they do not. Each one can have up to +10 on its own of bonuses.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

No.

Sczarni

They are each enhanced separately.


So didnt think so either but i wanted to know why my GM thought this. Today he pointed to the core rulebook under the enhancement section.

In general, magic armor protects the wearer to a greater extent than non-magical armor. Magic Armor bonuses are enhancement bonuses, never rise above +5, and stack with regular armor bonuses (and with shield and magic shield enhancement bonuses). All magic armor is also masterwork armor, reducing armor check penalties by 1.

Shields: Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a shield bash. The bashing special ability, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the special ability description).

and i will agree this is confusing. our gm takes this as the armor and shield bonuses/special abilities/enhancement levels COLLECTIVELY cannot be above 10. Personally i think that bull...theyre separate slots, items, everything about them is separate so why would they share emhancement bonus cap of ten and count towards eachothers' cap.

Is this wrong or is our gm interrpretting this wrong? Plz cite if you can

Dark Archive

Your GM might be running under a house rule someone implemented in his early play, and simply not be aware it's not how things are handled. This has happened to a number of my friends (and myself, even!) and is simply a misunderstanding.

The +10 limit is specifically PER ITEM and does not spread across separate items.


we r actually a new party so were figuring out stuff together and sometimes this game can have some misleading text xD but ya thank you for the reply. So just to confirm i can have a +10 shield and +10 armor. And in fact when it says that the enhancement bonuses 'stack' it actually refers to the fact that the both contribute equally to your ac instead of working like DR and taking the higher of the 2.


Correct. Keep in mind, however, that the maximum bonus to AC each can give is +5 from the enhancement. They can have a maximum of +10 worth of enchantments on each one, plus any that just cost money, but each +1 to the armor bonus is counted against the +10 total.


Armor and shields provide separate kinds of bonuses, and their enhancements boost the bonus that item provides.

A buckler gives a +1 shield bonus. A +5 buckler gives a +6 shield bonus.

A chainshirt gives a +4 armor bonus. A +5 chainshirt gives a +9 armor bonus.

The enhancements are to separate things, and they just so happen to both add to AC in the end. Like a +5 longsword and a belt that gives a +6 enhancment bonus to strength. Seperate things, but they both add to the same end product (you attack bonus). It is just that they target different sources, and as such stack.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / shield and armor share enhance? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.