Mage armor, shield and armor

[sempai33]

I want to know 2 things:
- when you cast a mage armor, there is a +4 bonus of armor bonus. If you wear a Scale mail, you've a +5 "armor bonus", and on the character sheet, there is only one case for "armor bonus" so does it stack or not? Because other spells give some deflection bonus or natural armor. So?
- when you cast a shield (spell), you gain a +4 shield bonus on every attack? Like "mage armor"?
Thanks.

[Lazaro]

Armor bonuses do not stack. A character with mage armor and wearing scale would recieve a +5 bonus (the scale being higher).

Shield does stack with mage armor, being that it's a shield bonus and not an armor bonus.

Natural armor, deflection, dodge, luck, sacred bonuses, etc. are different bonuses so they would add on aswell.

[Benchak the Nightstalker]

And to answer your second question, yes, you get the +4 shield bonus to AC for the whole 1 minute/level duration. (And since it's a "shield bonus", it would not stack with any other "shield bonus" you might have, such as from carrying an actual shield).

[sempai33]

Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

And to answer your second question, yes, you get the +4 shield bonus to AC for the whole 1 minute/level duration. (And since it's a "shield bonus", it would not stack with any other "shield bonus" you might have, such as from carrying an actual shield).

Thanks a lot!!!!!

[KaeYoss]

Note that even for armour-wearing gishs (yes, gish. Not magus :P), mage armour can be useful, as it applies to incorporeal touch. So if you know that ghosts are up ahead, double up on your protection!

[sempai33]

KaeYoss wrote:

Note that even for armour-wearing gishs (yes, gish. Not magus :P), mage armour can be useful, as it applies to incorporeal touch. So if you know that ghosts are up ahead, double up on your protection!

That's right. Even if you have a full plate +2, a mage armor protects you from ghost touch, RIGHT (without the benefit of the +4 AC!!

[ZappoHisbane]

sempai33 wrote:

KaeYoss wrote:

Note that even for armour-wearing gishs (yes, gish. Not magus :P), mage armour can be useful, as it applies to incorporeal touch. So if you know that ghosts are up ahead, double up on your protection!

That's right. Even if you have a full plate +2, a mage armor protects you from ghost touch, RIGHT (without the benefit of the +4 AC!!

Actually, you get no benefit from the full plate +2 vs. incorporeal attacks, and full benefit from the Mage Armor +4.

[sempai33]

ZappoHisbane wrote:

Actually, you get no benefit from the full plate +2 vs. incorporeal attacks, and full benefit from the Mage Armor +4.

In fact of course a +2 full plate have no benefit against incorporeal creature, but with a mage armor, you win this protection, doesn't it?

[Varthanna]

sempai33 wrote:

In fact of course a +2 full plate have no benefit against incorporeal creature, but with a mage armor, you win this protection, doesn't it?

It works thusly

Wearing fullplate +2:
AC vs regular: 21
AC versus incorporeal: 10

Wearing fullplate +2 and mage armor:
AC vs regular: 21
AC versus incorporeal: 14

[Fergie]

There is a little confusion related to an incorporeal touch attack (a shadows touch) vs. a touch attack from an incorporeal creature (a ghost who cast shocking grasp). But that is getting into some serious rules minutiae.