So in our home game, our GM ruled (thankfully in my favor) that we can create Bracers of Armor and have our ABP Enhancement Bonus to Armor stack with it.
However, I'm more concerned about whether this is plausible by the book. Can you normally create or purchase Bracers of Armor in a system utilizing the Automatic Bonus Progression rules?
I don't think so, no. Note that you can Attune a set of clothing and have it scale as an armor starting with a +0 bonus though.
With an Automatic Bonus Progression system, you could have bracers of armor, but the main goal for using them would be to incorporate magical armor properties, not the armor bonuses themselves.
I agree with both Sundakan and Bill Dunn. Treat them like magic armor, so they would have properties only that either use attunement (book system) or have capacity in the bracers (blog version with more math but more faithful to the older costs).
I don't think they are legal with automatic bonus progression...
1) But as mentioned you can attune a set of clothing
2) If you trying to get special properties applied (as you would with normal Bracers of Armor) I would simply rule that you actually enchant your clothing.
Basically clothing just becomes armor that provides +0 AC, doesn't have spell failure chance, or max dex, and doesn't turn off abilities that require not having armor.
It becomes important to let it be a separate item because armor special abilities will reduce the armor enhancement bonus that a piece of attuned armor will have. But if you allow Bracers of Armor then someone could have +2 worth of special abilities, paying only 4000gp and have a +2 armor bonus from attuned clothing. And that simply shouldn't be possible in my opinion, because everyone else would end up with armor with +0 armor enhancement and special abilities worth +2.
Especially now that ABP progression allows unarmored characters to specifically not need to choose between amulet of mighty fists or amulet of natural armor and both are supplied freely to the character I think it's a very fair system.
I don't think they are legal with automatic bonus progression...
1) But as mentioned you can attune a set of clothing
2) If you trying to get special properties applied (as you would with normal Bracers of Armor) I would simply rule that you actually enchant your clothing.Basically clothing just becomes armor that provides +0 AC, doesn't have spell failure chance, or max dex, and doesn't turn off abilities that require not having armor.
It becomes important to let it be a separate item because armor special abilities will reduce the armor enhancement bonus that a piece of attuned armor will have. But if you allow Bracers of Armor then someone could have +2 worth of special abilities, paying only 4000gp and have a +2 armor bonus from attuned clothing. And that simply shouldn't be possible in my opinion, because everyone else would end up with armor with +0 armor enhancement and special abilities worth +2.
Especially now that ABP progression allows unarmored characters to specifically not need to choose between amulet of mighty fists or amulet of natural armor and both are supplied freely to the character I think it's a very fair system.
Bracers of armor for special abilities actually have a specific clause where they turn off if you're getting armor bonuses from elsewhere, so they're probably the #1 poster children in the pre-Unchained game for the idea of a sort of feedback with attunement and capacity in ABP. I agree that putting the powers in the clothing itself would be tidier. Either way, use attunement and capacity just like for weapons and armor.
Fair enough. I always forget that bracers have that line.
Don't get around to playing monks very often. Even then, in general mage armor is a better source of AC until you could get high enough level to afford +5 bracers, but at 25,000 gp it wasn't something you could afford to decently high levels.
Fair enough. I always forget that bracers have that line.
Don't get around to playing monks very often. Even then, in general mage armor is a better source of AC until you could get high enough level to afford +5 bracers, but at 25,000 gp it wasn't something you could afford to decently high levels.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the <=4 bracers.
Bracers win over clothing for working vs incorporeal creatures (being a force effect).