Minimum Enhancement Bonus

[Jhyarelle]

Under Armor Section of the PHB there is a Minimum Enhancement Bonus coloumn.

[quote/]

Minimum Enhancement Bonus:​

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Masterwork armor requires a minimum enhancement bonus, as shown in this entry.[/quote]

What does this really mean?

Let's take Starleather Armor for example It has AC+4 and MEB +6.

Does it mean that in order to ehchant it to give a bonus to AC or give it a power or ability, it has to be enchanted as a Starleather +6 or when you enchant it you do so as a LV6 (tier 6) magiacal item/armor? Or does it mean it has to be enchanted with at least 6 types of misc ecnahntments or abilities?

Please help.​

 

[Ferghis]

It means that that particular armor only comes in enchantments that have an enhancement bonus equal to or greater than the Minimum Enhancement Bonus. In the preceding sentence, pay attention to where I say enhancement, and where I say enchantment.

To work off your example, you will never find a starleather armor of dark majesty +4 or +5. You will only find (or create) one that has a dark majesty +6 enchantment on it. And you will certainly never find (or create) a non-magic starleather armor, unless you're running some optional or homebrew rules.

As an aside, items in 4th edition never have more than one enchantment. So you'll never find an item with 6 types of enchantments, if that was what you meant in your second to last sentence.

 

[Jhyarelle]

It means that that particular armor only comes in enchantments that have an enhancement bonus equal to or greater than the Minimum Enhancement Bonus. In the preceding sentence, pay attention to where I say enhancement, and where I say enchantment.

To work off your example, you will never find a starleather armor of dark majesty +4 or +5. You will only find (or create) one that has a dark majesty +6 enchantment on it. And you will certainly never find (or create) a non-magic starleather armor, unless you're running some optional or homebrew rules.

As an aside, items in 4th edition never have more than one enchantment. So you'll never find an item with 6 types of enchantments, if that was what you meant in your second to last sentence.

So basicaly Starleather Armor as it is, is a magical Leather armor AC 4 and can found or bought with a minimum enhancement of +6 bonus to AC or more. So in total it is a magical armor with an AC 10 or more, before any other enhantments on it..right? I thought that the maximum enhancement bonus that can be given to a weapon or armor in D&D 4e is a +5 bonus. So basicaly this item would be a Level 26 or higher magical item around 1,000,000 + gold? Damn that's pretty expensive and by the time I could afford that, I'd more than likely have gotten better gear just adventuring with the party i'm with.

 

[Spatula]

The maximum "plus" in 4e is +6. But yes, starleather is at least a level 26 magic item with an AC bonus of +10 (+4 for armor, +6 for magic).

 

[S'mon]

To work off your example, you will never find a starleather armor of dark majesty +4 or +5. You will only find (or create) one that has a dark majesty +6 enchantment on it. And you will certainly never find (or create) a non-magic starleather armor, unless you're running some optional or homebrew rules.

If you're using the DMG2 Inherent Bonuses system then masterwork armour without its own 'plus' is an official option. This is necessary in a no-magic-items campaign so that the heavy armour PCs can maintain a decent AC at high level. It doesn't have any price though, and AFAICT it should be priced identically to magic armour with the required minimum enhancement bonus.

 

[Ferghis]

So basicaly Starleather Armor as it is, is a magical Leather armor AC 4 and can found or bought with a minimum enhancement of +6 bonus to AC or more. So in total it is a magical armor with an AC 10 or more, before any other enhantments on it..right?

I think you have the general idea, and the posts above have answered your questions, so feel free to ignore this post. What I'm doing here is cleaning up some potential misconceptions in the quoted sentence.

1. An enhancement bonus is given by an enchantment on an item.
2. There can only ever be ONE enchantment on an item.

When you say "before any other en(c)hantments on it...", you imply that there might be more than one enchantment on the item. There can't. Under the core rules, you can only buy starleather armor with one +6 enchantment on it, of any kind. Also, without an enchantment, there is no enhancement bonus. So, if an item has an enhancement bonus, it has an enchantment. Even if that enchantment is just a "Magic Armor" enchantment (the simplest form of enchantment there is).

 

[Jhyarelle]

I think you have the general idea, and the posts above have answered your questions, so feel free to ignore this post. What I'm doing here is cleaning up some potential misconceptions in the quoted sentence.

1. An enhancement bonus is given by an enchantment on an item.
2. There can only ever be ONE enchantment on an item.

When you say "before any other en(c)hantments on it...", you imply that there might be more than one enchantment on the item. There can't. Under the core rules, you can only buy starleather armor with one +6 enchantment on it, of any kind. Also, without an enchantment, there is no enhancement bonus. So, if an item has an enhancement bonus, it has an enchantment. Even if that enchantment is just a "Magic Armor" enchantment (the simplest form of enchantment there is).

Gotcha! This surely means that I won't won't be running into a Starleather armor of Sneaking +6 in game unless the GM is is severly bribed.

 

[SensoryThought]

Like everyone says.

Note if you use inherent bonuses this does not matter and the character builder just uses the base AC of the enhanced armor and adds inherent bonuses based on your level.

 

[Sebastianelgar]

Gotcha! This surely means that I won't won't be running into a Starleather armor of Sneaking +6 in game unless the GM is is severly bribed.

Not until higher levels, the various masterwork armors are not enchantments, they are simply a way of making the "base" armor that higher level enchanted items are made of better. +1 bonus armor is made from standard leather armor, but +6 bonus armor is made out of Starleather or some other masterwork leather (the math expects you to use one with a +6 minimum enchantment bonus, though you could use lesser ones if you really wanted)
In other words any magic armor enchantment of level 26-30 (+6 bonus) that can be applied to leather armor can be made out of Starleather.