Can I carry a +5 masterwork Buckler and a +5 Mithril Chain Shirt for a total AC bonus of 6 + 9 = 15 from these two items alone? I'm not sure what the rules are for enchanting a buckler and how it stacks with regular armor.
The way I understand it, shields and armors can both be enchanted separately and apply their bonuses separately as well. Additionally, with bows you don't suffer the penalties from the Buckler and the Buckler doesn't have a maximum Dex boost, so this defensive core would be perfect (a little too good to be true, perhaps?) for high Dex archers builds. They'll only be limited by the +6 Dex boost from the Mithril Chain Shirt basically, but even then you still get a total bonus of 6 + 6 + 9 = 21 AC if your Dex is high enough.
They stack because one provides an armor bonus to AC and another a shield bonus to AC. (I'll let you figure out which does what)
They stack because one provides an armor bonus to AC and another a shield bonus to AC. (I'll let you figure out which does what)
Haha, thanks. I should manage that ;-)
To help clarify matters a little more, while both the magic armor and magic buckler say they grant "an enhancement bonus" to AC, it's not your AC that they're enhancing. Rather, the enhancement bonus is to the armor's (or shield's) AC, so it works something like this:
Regular Chain Shirt has a +4 base AC bonus, so it grants you a +4 armor bonus to your AC.
Chain Shirt +5 has a +4 base AC bonus and a +5 enhancement bonus to that base AC bonus, so the entire armor grants you a +9 armor bonus to your AC; not +4 armor and +5 enhancement.
Since a Chain Shirt +5 gives you a +9 Armor bonus, and a Buckler +5 gives you a +6 Shield bonus, there is no conflict.
Enhancement bonuses to natural armor function similarly, increasing the value your innate natural armor provides rather than giving you the enhancement bonus.
Just be aware you will still lose the buckler's AC while attacking with the bow.
Though you might want to check with your DM on that, there is something of a disagreement on the issue.
nope, if you attack with the hand the buckler is on you lose the AC.
"In any case, if you use a weapon in your off hand, you lose the buckler’s Armor Class bonus until your next turn. "