| Archelleron |
alright guys forgive me if im wrong, i did most of my playing in 3/3.5e
but shield and mage armour are force effects, and as such, always used to stack with mundane armours.
because of this i used to like to go the route of
mithril buckler +1 shield bonus
+1 Armoured Kilt = +2 armour bonus
+1 Harramaki (spelling?) for an additional +2 armour bonus to AC
we had to do some hardcore world travels to get all said items, but the 3rd one is basically a super wide armoured belt, as such it does not impede the natural movements of your arms for somatic components, and therefore no arcane spell failure chance.
yes, i know its kindof a mismatch of stylings, but our GM always liked when we found things we liked from different cultures and melted them together.
and even if they don't all stack with MA/Shield spell, the armour is comparable. and the shield you can supercede with your shield spell, if you need it. and you don't have to burn it if its just a random encounter.
I also always liked to carve backup spells into my Staff.
we always ran it that 2 inches of staff can be used as 1 page of spellbook. as such if you have a 5 ft staff thats up to 30 levels of spells.
also, if you do up a wizard hat as a crummy bag of holding, you have somwhere to store your Spellbook, that is safer than almost anywhere. people don't tend to take your hat away when you're being "Disarmed"
a Way-Finder is also a great tool, especially when combined with a ioun stone that absorbs spells, since it will let you do it as an immediate action, instead of a readied one....
i saw someone mention the spring-loaded wand sheaths... those are brilliant.