Wild Armor Property


Rules Questions


The text reads: Armor with this special ability usually appears to be made from magically hardened animal pelt. The wearer of a suit of armor or a shield with this ability preserves his armor bonus (and any enhancement bonus) while in a wild shape. Armor and shields with this ability usually appear to be covered in leaf patterns. While the wearer is in a wild shape, the armor cannot be seen.

So a hide armor (+4) enchanted +1 with the wild property adds +5 to the AC when wild shaped?

That one seems clear.

A large wooden shield (+2) enchanted +1 with the wild property adds ... nothing to the AC when wild shaped, because it's a shield bonus and enhancement bonus to the shield and not, as the wild property suggests, an armor bonus?

That one comes from the specific wording "the wearer of a suit of armor or a shield with this ability preserves his ARMOR BONUS (and any enhancement bonus) while in a wild shape".

But, you could get a +1 large wooden shield with the wild property, and +3 hide armor, and gain +7 to the AC when wild shaped? Because the wild property gives you your armor bonus to your AC, along with any enhancement bonus to the armor, regardless of which armor item the wild property is on?


You get the full bonus of your armor and shields. It just was not written as well as it should have been. It would not be worth putting on a shield otherwise.


So you have to put it on the shield to get the shield and on the armor to get the armor? I can understand the wording if it gives you the armor bonus regardless of which armor item it's one. But it seems otherwise written very poorly.


Yes you have to put it on each item to get each bonus.


I didn't even know you could enchant a shield with the wild property. Yeah, as written it's really weird. A druid wearing studded leather and carrying a +1 wild wooden light shield would retain the studded leather's armor bonus and the magic shield's enhancement bonus but not the magic shield's shield bonus. That probably wasn't intended at all.


Wraithstrike has it right.

The other things which comes up often is people wanting to know if it works with polymorph abilities other than wild shaping. The RAW answer is "no". The sensible answer for non-PFS games is "no, but allowing it by house rule would be totally reasonable."


Thanks. I do think that they should totally change the wording, based on the way I read it, and blahpers' example. It does seem REALLY poorly worded. Not just generally unclear, but totally unclear about what they intended.

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