Ok, there are a number of armors that can benefit you. However, it depends on class, so here me out:
Mithral kikko armor: no ACP, max of +6 on dex, a good +5 armor
Silken ceremonial armor/haramaki: +1 armor, no ACP, max dex or arcane spellcasting problems.
Celestial armor: best ofr 75% of builds. Max of +8 on dex, only -2 acp (so you still have to be proficient). Great for rangers, magus, etc.
Celestial fullplate: arguably better than celestial armor, it has a max of +6 on dex, -3 ACP. If you have armor training (as the fighter class feature) you can easily get up to +10 max dex, and no ACP.
There are other notable combos (armor expert trait + mithral breastplate) but they arent much better than what has been presented here.
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To simplify: the best Armor for you will be the one that affords the greatest protection while allowing the highest max DEX.
Mithral armours increase the max DEX of the base suit by +2, and treat the armour as a category lighter (except light armour remains light), and doesn't grant proficiency.
Find the armour that you are proficient with that grants the best AC and whose Max DEX is 2 lower than your current DEX mod. Get that Armor in Mithral. That is the best suit for you right now.
Celestial Armor has other qualities that make it awesome.
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Catskin Leather is specially enchanted Leather that has no max Dex, so it can surpass even Celestial if you get super Dex.
Unfortunately it sacrifices itself to save you from death, halving the damage of a would-be mortal blow. And in this game, losing gear is a fate worse than death.
Celestial Armor, nothing else is even close.
Before that, yeah mithril chain until you can afford one.
This.
If your DM allows 3.5 stuff (pathfinder is supposed to be backwards compatible and all) add the nimbleness enhancement from Magic Item Compendium for another +1 max dex/-2 ACP. And Twilight enhancement if you're a caster (-10% arcane spell failure).
my current favorite (and cheaper)...
Tabard of Mage Armor
Continous spell effect (spell lvl 1 x caster lvl 1 x 2000gp = 2000gp)
Always on mage armor. +4ac that also works vs incorporeal. And it can be argued that since it has an always on Armor class bonus, you can apply armor enchants to the effect. especially the skill enchants that no longer count towards the +10 limit. targeted dispell will suppress the effect but not dispel it since its a permanent effect.
Celestial Armor, nothing else is even close.
Before that, yeah mithril chain until you can afford one.
This.
If your DM allows 3.5 stuff (pathfinder is supposed to be backwards compatible and all) add the nimbleness enhancement from Magic Item Compendium for another +1 max dex/-2 ACP. And Twilight enhancement if you're a caster (-10% arcane spell failure).
if youre going full 3.5 on it, you can also tack on feycraft (which is a weapon mod, not an enchant) as well as twilight for ever better ASF reduction.
Haramaki/Silken Ceremonial (3 gp/30 gp) - +1 armor, no max. Dex,
Darkleaf Cloth Leather (760 gp) - +2 armor, +8 max. Dex
Darkleaf Cloth or Mithral Parade (775 gp or 1025 gp) - +3 armor, +7 max. Dex
Darkleaf Cloth Studded Leather (775 gp) - +3 armor, +7 max. Dex
Mithral Chain Shirt (1100 gp) - +4 armor, +6 max. Dex
Mithral Do-maru or Breastplate (4200 gp or 4030 gp) - +5 armor, +6 max. Dex
Mithral Agile Breastplate, Breastplate, Lamellar, or Mountain Pattern (4400 gp, 4200 gp, 4150 gp, or 4250 gp) - +6 armor, +5 max. Dex
celestial armor (22,400 gp) - +6 armor (plus an extra +3 enhancement for +9), +8 max. Dex
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my current favorite (and cheaper)...
Tabard of Mage Armor
Continous spell effect (spell lvl 1 x caster lvl 1 x 2000gp = 2000gp)
Always on mage armor. +4ac that also works vs incorporeal. And it can be argued that since it has an always on Armor class bonus, you can apply armor enchants to the effect. especially the skill enchants that no longer count towards the +10 limit. targeted dispell will suppress the effect but not dispel it since its a permanent effect.
No. And definitely no.
Magic Item Gold Piece Values
Many factors must be considered when determining the price of new magic items. The easiest way to come up with a price is to compare the new item to an item that is already priced, using that price as a guide.
(emphasis mine)
Continuous armor protection based on mage armor (force effect) is exactly the same as bracers of armor. Therefore pricing is exactly the same as bracers of armor, including the addition of armor abilities.
I had an Alchemist who took a Dex boosting mutagen and wore padded armor +5. I'm sure some of the more exotic armors might have better numbers, but padded armor has the virtue of being available in nearly any game. People are also usually kind of surprised to see it in use.
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I went through looking at the Eastern Heavy armours: the Tatami-do (1000gp) is a +7 armour with +3 maximum dex and -6 ACP, so if you have exactly +3 dex (so, maybe the occasional fighter before armour training kicks in, or a paladin who rolled well) then it's slightly cheaper than Full Plate to get a full +10 to AC from Dex and Armour. This will only last until you can fork out the 9,000 to mithralise your full plate, but that may be quite some time.
Naturally, if you have enough dex that you're looking at making the Tatami-do mithral, Celestial is an extra 6,000 for two more points of armour, super high max dex and the ability to fly 1/day. Super bargain.
Also, for those wishing some cheap light armour, Darkleaf should be able to be applied to Lamellar leather, making it a few hundred gold cheaper than a mithral shirt, for the same benefit to anyone with less than a +6 to dex. The entry calls out leather, studded leather and hide specifically, but then says "(although other types of armor made of leather or hide might be possible)". I find darkleaf cloth lamellar leather to be perfectly reasonable, but your mileage may vary. Check with your GM, but don't cry too hard - the chain shirt is not much more, and a mithral breastplate will not be far off.
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That's... not necessarily better. Potions will quickly add up to more than a cheap armour, and it's ridiculously easy to get armour that will give you more than +4 AC while still allowing quite a lot of dex.
A potion of MA costs 50gp and lasts 1 hour (and takes a standard action to drink). Which means you have to either drink it preemptively every time you think there *might* be a combat in the next hour (wasting 50gp every time you're wrong), waste your first action in combat drinking a potion rather than killing something, or go through the combat without any armour bonus.
A +1 darkleaf cloth lamellar armour gives you +5 armour for 1810gp. The cost of 36 potions of MA. Pathfinder I believe expects something like 19 level appropriate encounters *per level*. Which means your MA budget will not only be giving you less bonus (and risking not giving you any bonus at all!) but will rapidly become *more* expensive (in as little as two levels). Not to mention giving up the possibility of special enchantments.
If you have highly fluctuating dexterity (alchemist/investigator/urban rager barbarian using bows for some reason) which will often go above the maximum allowed by your armour, then the only penalty is that you don't get that bonus dex to your AC. Most of the time the extra armour will more than make up for that. +2 Mithril Kikko costs a tick over 8k, but will give you up to +13 to your AC (7 armour, 6 max dex, no ACP, counts as light for movement). MA would save you a significant amount of money (depending on how much of it you blow on Dex belts or spamming cat's grace at 300gp per encounter) but you need 28 dex to reach the same AC (4 Armour, +9 dex). Similar equations exist for other, cheaper armours. How high are you really getting your dexterity at low levels? A dex mutagen could get you there I suppose (20 base, 4 belt, 4 alchemical, 2 from leveling = 30 at level 8) but that's an extreme example, and would still eventually do better with a +4 haramaki, if you still care about tweaking an extra 1-2 AC out of your dex.
Once you can afford Celestial Armour then the argument is over. You would need a dex score in the mid 30's to break even. Scaling costs (and cheap armour enhancements) mean that armour will always win out in the long term over upping your AC in other ways.
If your dex is actually high enough, early enough (level 2 alchemist/urban rager I guess?), that expensive armours and special materials aren't an option yet, then sure MA is a suitable short term plan - especially if you can get a wand of it. But for the most part? It won't beat out relatively cheap armour enhancement.
You want to use non-armour ways of not getting hit? Great. But don't expect them to negate your AC. Cover is great, but if the wizard summons something on top of you then it's useless. 10ft reach just means the enemy takes a 5ft step before full attacking. Longer reach will give you a single attack of opportunity as they move in and smack you. Firing from range will not stop them from firing right back at you. It's a very rare encounter when you get to shoot at your enemies from so far away (or with such favourable terrain conditions) that they can't cover the distance in a single turn - charge, double move, or run if absolutely necessary. As long as they can end their turn adjacent to you, you have one turn to take them down before your AC suddenly becomes... painfully relevant. And spring attack takes 3 feats, limits you to one attack per round, risks provoking AoO's, and only works if you have someone with a high AC to hide behind. Effects like mirror image or blur can be great, but are temporary, cost money, and can be dispelled or bypassed. Armour is there for you from the moment you put it on in the morning to when you take it off to sleep at night. If you don't sleep in it. Use as many other methods of not getting hit as you can find, but don't forget to wear decent armour while doing so.
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Don't overthink it. Just use a mithral chain shirt and upgrade it as you level.
Mithral chain shirt is fine for your whole career. It gets up to a +9 armor bonus (+1 over bracers of armor) and has a max dex of +6 (only 1-2 lower than your estimated final dex). This means, at worst, you end up 1 point of AC behind bracers of armor but get +5 of bonus equivalents in exchange (e.g. fortification). While reaching that final goal you are easily ahead on AC for almost no extra cost (1100gp for the base item granting +4 AC, which costs 16000gp via bracers).
*IF* the DM is feeling generous you can *eventually* find celestial armor and perhaps upgrade it for a final AC of +3 higher than what mithral chain gets you, but this is entirely up to DM fiat. According to the rules it would max out at +8 AC (1 less than mithral chain) with no bonus equivalents (though it does get fly 1/day). This armor is a fine stretch goal, but not so much better that you need to claw after it. Your AC should be fine without it.
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*IF* the DM is feeling generous you can *eventually* find celestial armor and perhaps upgrade it for a final AC of +3 higher than what mithral chain gets you, but this is entirely up to DM fiat. According to the rules it would max out at +8 AC (1 less than mithral chain) with no bonus equivalents (though it does get fly 1/day). This armor is a fine stretch goal, but not so much better that you need to claw after it. Your AC should be fine without it.
Wait, what? Celestial Armor is +9 AC base (same as a maxed out Mithral Chain Shirt) and +8 max Dex. It's flatly better. Much better if you can further enchant it, which you likely can.
And this assumes the GM isn't willing to let you buy it, which seems perfectly reasonable for high level people to do to me.
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Personally, I just forget they exist, but this is helped by the fact that they're not actually very good. Celestial Armour gives you +9 armour, plus up to another +8 for dex. The bracers only go up to +5 before you need to change to special abilities, which means you break even at 34 dex (minus the ability to fly, but without a -2ACP).
Now, say you are a goblin alchemist with 38 dex at level 12 (extreme, expensive, but not impossible). You are missing 2 points of AC from the maxed out dex-to-AC of the armour, but no other penalties. At level 12 AC is becoming less useful, but say you still care enough to do something about it. Or you are sick of the ACP. Whatever. You can still do better than the bracers of armour.
The harakami gives you +1 AC, with no arcane spell failure, and no ACP. Unless you are a monk, there is literally no penalty for wearing this 3gp armour. Enhancing it will cost exactly the same as the bracers of armour (plus 153gp) and there are fewer limitations of what can be placed on them (brawling, for example). Plus they both weigh only 1 pound. They do literally everything that the bracers of armour do, but for 153gp give you 1 extra point of armour. Oh, and the bracers can only go up to +8 equivalent, rather than +10.
As far as I can see, if you have access to eastern armours the only reason to wear the bracers of armour instead is if you are a monk.
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*IF* the DM is feeling generous you can *eventually* find celestial armor and perhaps upgrade it for a final AC of +3 higher than what mithral chain gets you, but this is entirely up to DM fiat. According to the rules it would max out at +8 AC (1 less than mithral chain) with no bonus equivalents (though it does get fly 1/day). This armor is a fine stretch goal, but not so much better that you need to claw after it. Your AC should be fine without it.Wait, what? Celestial Armor is +9 AC base (same as a maxed out Mithral Chain Shirt) and +8 max Dex. It's flatly better. Much better if you can further enchant it, which you likely can.
And this assumes the GM isn't willing to let you buy it, which seems perfectly reasonable for high level people to do to me.
Ah, my bad. My eyes moved up a row when scanning the armors table, I guess.
That said, it's still a specific armor with a cost high enough that it's unreasonable to attain it before around 11th or so level, and also above the base value of almost all cities (even Absalom is only slightly higher) making it difficult to find one for sale. Being a specific armor, any modifications to it whatsoever are custom magic items that are therefor subject to DM approval. Granted, it's probably not hard to get approval in this case.
Still, best to stick with the mithral chain shirt to start. If you get lucky then upgrade to celestial and push it to +5, but it's not something to sweat over. Bracers of armor are a non-option in this case since they're more expensive and worse in all ways except weight and incorporeal foes until very high level, and even then they only come to about break even. They're mostly for those that can't use armor at all (e.g. monks).
Haramaki/Silken Ceremonial (3 gp/30 gp) - +1 armor, no max. Dex,
Darkleaf Cloth Leather (760 gp) - +2 armor, +8 max. Dex
Darkleaf Cloth or Mithral Parade (775 gp or 1025 gp) - +3 armor, +7 max. Dex
Darkleaf Cloth Studded Leather (775 gp) - +3 armor, +7 max. Dex
Mithral Chain Shirt (1100 gp) - +4 armor, +6 max. Dex
Mithral Do-maru or Breastplate (4200 gp or 4030 gp) - +5 armor, +6 max. Dex
Mithral Agile Breastplate, Breastplate, Lamellar, or Mountain Pattern (4400 gp, 4200 gp, 4150 gp, or 4250 gp) - +6 armor, +5 max. Dexcelestial armor (22,400 gp) - +6 armor (plus an extra +3 enhancement for +9), +8 max. Dex
So the mithral medium armor is probably good until you start getting the really magical stuff.
Of course, you can get mithral/darkleaf light armor is good too, since it start with a lower price (meaning you can just buy it and upgrade it for a long time, not having to worry about switching armors a lot), and adds more to touch ac in return for slightly lower AC overall.
Haramaki is more for high level play wehn you have really well enhanced dex. As in +11 mod (so 32 dex).
Obviously you buy celestial when you can. Because duh.
The bracers only go up to +5 before you need to change to special abilities, which means you break even at 34 dex (minus the ability to fly, but without a -2ACP).
Actually Bracers of Armor can be enchanted up to a +8 AC. There is no +5 limit.
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Actually Bracers of Armor can be enchanted up to a +8 AC. There is no +5 limit.
Huh. Just double checked and you are correct. In that case the +7 bracers of armor will give you slightly more AC than the +5 harakami. If you are pumping your AC as high as humanly possible, the bracers will get you slightly higher. Although at 24k gp for +1 AC, or 39k gp for +2 AC, it's still a very tough sell. I'd get just about any other form of AC first (short of Wishing for higher Dex). Or, I'd stop worrying about AC and get light fortification or deathless or something.
And of course this is only for those planning to hit ridiculously high Dexterity. A mithral chain shirt will cover 90% of high dex characters adequately, and Celestial Armour (or Celestial Full Plate for those who can wear medium and are not planning to pass 22 dex) will probably do even better.
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The bracers only go up to +5 before you need to change to special abilities, which means you break even at 34 dex (minus the ability to fly, but without a -2ACP).Actually Bracers of Armor can be enchanted up to a +8 AC. There is no +5 limit.
But it does have the +8 enhancement bonus max limit, and the no other enhancement rule, so no slippery or shadowy or ....