So after looking at bard enough to want to make and play one I've run into the question of what spells to get. After a trip of culture shock (hi magic missile, you're sure on my list!) I've wondered something, how good is mage armor for a bard?
Like sure, it's free armor with faster(?) improvements but it's also less AC in general. Like when the chain shirt hits its first +1 it's giving the cap of protection that Mage Armor would give.
For reference my bard is operating with a lute and will be abusing the amount of damage telekinetic projectile deals to not use a proper weapon so I'm not gonna be paying for my offense.
There are magical instruments costing 60, 900, and 19,000 gp for a +1, +2, and +3 item bonus to perform respectively, and since I'm going Maestro Muse my perform bonus is gonna be important.
That said my dex isn't high on my priority list so maybe the physical armor might be better. I'm starting with 12 at the moment. I could get it as high as 16 but int, wis, and especially con and cha are hungry too.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
It doesn't really scale any faster than physical magic armor.
The biggest downside is that it needs to be heightened. Giving up one of your highest spell slots per day just to get the the bonus of a very basic item doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
I could maybe see a Wizard or Witch do this since they can just assign one spell slot for Mage Armor. But as a Bard (or Sorcerer) you need to waste one of your precious spells known for a once-per-day spell. Not a great deal, in my opinion.
Getting a Wand doesn't work too well either since wands are behind in level and getting a new one for each Mage Armor upgrade every few levels is probably too expensive. For comparison: A 8th level Wand of Mage Armor for +2 AC and saves costs more than three times the amount of a +2 Greater Resilient Armor - and is available 3 levels earlier.
Add the fact a Bard with Mage Armor can't reach the Dex to AC cap before level 15 and I'd definitely go with physical armor. Or maybe Bracers of Armor once you get that Dex to 20.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That said my dex isn't high on my priority list so maybe the physical armor might be better. I'm starting with 12 at the moment. I could get it as high as 16 but int, wis, and especially con and cha are hungry too.
Dex 12 is very very low. I'd absolutely avoid going without physical armor with such a low Dex. I'd also definitely sacrifice some other ability score to get it at least to 14 at level 1 - and still use physical armor.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Even if you don't meet the STR requirement, Medium armor could be viable especially at low levels,
Chain exists to ignore ACP except to Stealth, and Speed penalty could be tolerable (it's same as Heavy meeting STR req),
especially so if you are an Elf or a Half Elf taking Nimble (Elf Feat) even aside from Fleet.
The biggest downside is that it needs to be heightened. Giving up one of your highest spell slots per day just to get the the bonus of a very basic item doesn't seem worthwhile to me.
One benefit of using mage armor rather than physical armor is that your party can use the treasure that would otherwise go towards your magical armor for something else... like maybe some cool magical instrument that I am just now realizing I'm not sure if are a thing in PF2.
Personally, I agree that it's the biggest downside, but as @thenobledrake pointed out, while you *are* trading one of your highest level slots, you have the potential to obtain and use a magic item in its place. And to the extent that you might need e.g. a reach weapon for a reach build, there may be a magic item that would work very nicely toward a particular build.
Ultimately... to the OP I would say it is as helpful as having something other than e.g. chain +1 tying up your WBL would be.
