Bracers of Armor

[GorTeX]

Do Bracers of Armor work vs. incorporeal touch attacks? (IE. are they a force effect, or just armor?)

 

[James McMurray]

Bracers of Armor: These items appear to be wrist or arm guards. They surround the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him an armor bonus of +1 to +8, just as though he were wearing armor. Both bracers must be worn for the magic to be effective.

Moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, mage armor, creator’s caster level must be at least two times that of the bonus placed in the bracers

Since they're a force effect, they work against incorporeal and ethereal foes.

 

[frankthedm]

They do work against incorporeal touch attacks. Though not normal touch attacks.

 

[Legildur]

Which is why my armored warrior types eagerly grab the wizard's hand-me-down bracers to wear for the occasional time he his attacked by incorporeal creatures. This is assuming that the slot isn't otherwise filled with something more useful.

 

[carborundum]

They do work against incorporeal touch attacks. Though not normal touch attacks.

Does anyone know where I find this specifically stated? I have a player who insists that as a force effect the bracers add to touch AC - all Touch AC.

 

[irdeggman]

Does anyone know where I find this specifically stated? I have a player who insists that as a force effect the bracers add to touch AC - all Touch AC.

The PHB text.

Touch Attacks: Some attacks disregard armor, including shields and natural armor. For example, a wizard’s touch with a shocking grasp spell hurts you regardless of what armor you’re wearing or how thick your skin happens to be. In these cases, the attacker makes a
touch attack roll (either ranged or melee). When you are the target of a touch attack, your AC doesn’t include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) apply normally.

Armor bonuses, shield bonuses and natural armor bonuses do not apply, but everything else does.

That is - what type of bonus does the force effect provide?

Deflection bonus? - it applies

Armor bonus - it doesn't apply.

The bracers provide an armor bonus and as such never apply to the defense against a touch attack, unless the touch attack itself specifies otherwise.

 

[Jhaelen]

Does anyone know where I find this specifically stated? I have a player who insists that as a force effect the bracers add to touch AC - all Touch AC.

IIRC, the AC granted by the bracers is not a force effect and thus doesn't help against incorporeal attacks.

The confusion probably stems from the spell required to create them. However, unless the item's description states it, the spells required to create the item have no effect on the item's powers whatsoever.

 

[Klaus]

No. They works against incorporeal attacks, but not incorporeal touch attacks. The key term here is "touch". Just like Mage Armor won't help you against corporeal touch attacks. For that you need the deflection bonus provided by Rings of Protection.

 

[the Jester]

Bear in mind that "touch attacks" and "incorporeal touch attacks" are very different. In fact, I think that they should make them "touch" and "incorporeal" attacks to save on confusion (we don't want anyone to run out, after all!)

 

[frankthedm]

IIRC, the AC granted by the bracers is not a force effect and thus doesn't help against incorporeal attacks.

Uhm...
Bracers of Armor
These items appear to be wrist or arm guards. They surround the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him an armor bonus of +1 to +8, just as though he were wearing armor. Both bracers must be worn for the magic to be effective.

Moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, mage armor, creator’s caster level must be at least two times that of the bonus placed in the bracers; Price 1,000 gp (+1), 4,000 gp (+2), 9,000 gp (+3), 16,000 gp (+4), 25,000 gp (+5), 36,000 gp (+6), 49,000 gp (+7), 64,000 gp (+8); Weight 1 lb.