Magus / Kensai Armor Prof question

[Zero Crossing]

Hey All!

I have a question! I wanted to know how armor prof and arcane spell failure worked together.

I am going Magus/Kensai so I dont get Light Armor Prof from Magus. I want to wear light armor but it looks like I need to take 2 feats to get the same benefits as the Magus.

Arcane Armor Mastery and Armor Proficiency, Light.

If I were to wear a chain shirt can I get away with just the AP light with the Magus spell strike, spell combat and pool strike or is arcane spell failure going to be an issue?

Is there a better way to get my AC up? I play Society, and am level one with around 300 gp to spend. And have one open feat.

Thanks!

[Abyssian]

Haramaki (Ultimate Combat) have a +1 armor bonus and 0% ASF. Zolthux guide to the gish, while not 100% pertinent, has some advice you may like.

[kinevon]

Dodge, if you really want to improve your AC, is much the better way to go for a Kensai.

Remember that the way the Canny Defense ability works is it adds your Int mod (max = Magus level) to your Dex for determining your Dex bonus to AC.

A Chain shirt is going to limit your total AC bonus from Dex & Int to 4.

You could boost that with mithril, eventually, to 6, bu that is still likely to provide a hard cap that limits your AC.

And, yes, you will suffer normal ASF penalties for trying to cast while wearing any armor at all.

Overall, for a Kensai Magus, the best ways to get your AC up are Dodge feat, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, Bracers of Armor, and the other ways to raise your AC.

Right now, overall, I would recommend taking Dodge, unless there s a better feat, like Weapon Focus or Combat Reflexes, and spending your money on a couple of Potions of Mage Armor. That gives the same AC 4 as a chain shirt, without giving all the negatives, including the extra weight.

[loaba]

Wouldn't happen to be a Half-elf, would you? If so, take the alternate ability Arcane Training and make your Favored Class Wizard. Now you have access to wizard wands and perhaps spells like Mage Armor.

[Malachi Silverclaw]

kinevon wrote:

Dodge, if you really want to improve your AC, is much the better way to go for a Kensai.

Remember that the way the Canny Defense ability works is it adds your Int mod (max = Magus level) to your Dex for determining your Dex bonus to AC.

A Chain shirt is going to limit your total AC bonus from Dex & Int to 4.

You could boost that with mithril, eventually, to 6, bu that is still likely to provide a hard cap that limits your AC.

And, yes, you will suffer normal ASF penalties for trying to cast while wearing any armor at all.

Overall, for a Kensai Magus, the best ways to get your AC up are Dodge feat, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, Bracers of Armor, and the other ways to raise your AC.

Right now, overall, I would recommend taking Dodge, unless there s a better feat, like Weapon Focus or Combat Reflexes, and spending your money on a couple of Potions of Mage Armor. That gives the same AC 4 as a chain shirt, without giving all the negatives, including the extra weight.

Good news, everyone! SKR himself has restored sanity to Canny Defence!

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

The Canny Defense ability is worded very poorly.

As written, it's easily interpreted that you use her Int bonus to boost her Dex bonus to AC, which would mean it runs into the max Dex limit from armor.

How it's supposed to work is the duelist* adds her Int bonus to her AC (not to her Dex bonus to AC), and she loses that Int-based AC bonus under any situation where she's denied her Dex bonus to AC. Therefore, her Int-based bonus to AC ignores the max Dex limitation of armor because the Int-based bonus to AC is not a Dex bonus.

* when wearing light or no armor, not using a shield, and wielding a melee weapon

Expect a FAQ blog about this next week.

Any questions?

[Shoga]

Where did he write this response? There's more to the Canny Defense than what he has specified.

Shoga

[Avoron]

This has since been made into an FAQ here.

[Shoga]

Avoron wrote:

This has since been made into an FAQ here.

Thanks

Shogahin