Are mages wearing armor, now that it is not verboten

[I'm A Banana]

Eh....for most casters I know, +2 AC over mage armor just ain't worth it usually, when you're standing in the back and being protected by the tank anyway. I've never had anyone do an arcane/martial multiclass, though, so that could be why....my group seems to have some problems with multiclassing.

 

[Fimmtiu]

Once, after an untimely PC death mid-campaign, I came back with a human Bbn 2/Wiz 4 character who wreaked holy hell with a sword & shield combo. Before the 3.5e update nerfed all his best spells (Polymorph Self, Bull's Strength, etc.), he ended up being arguably the best fighter in the party! The barbarian levels were good for weapon and armour proficiencies and TONS of hit points, and his Wizard spell list focused primarily on powerful buffs, so the end result was a magically-enhanced troll with a Large keen scimitar, flinging fireballs and getting melee criticals left and right. The minor spell failure chance from a shield was totally worth the extra couple points of AC in a brawl.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I've seen one ranger/wizard take the 15% ASF risk with a suit of mw studded leather. But that's it. Granted, that was the only mage I saw ever get into melee combat.
I'm kind of surprised that more mages aren't trying this rule.

Why bother? Mage Armor protects better than Studded Leather and as good as a Chain Shirt. It also works against ethereal creatures too since it protects against touch attacks. Also, most people don't think about it but Mage Armor stacks with the Shield spell in 3.5E since they both provide different Armor bonuses. SO... a 1st level Wizard/Sorcerer can be running around in combat with AC +8 that protects against Ethereal Creatures, no Maximum Dex, No ASF, No ACP, and be totally immune to Magic Missiles (thanks to Shield). No first level Fighter is going to have an AC that good. The only Armor that does that is Full Plate and even then he is still vulnerable to Touch Attacks and Magic Missile. You can also easily sleep in Mage Armor... try that in medium or heavy armors. Mage Armor still lasts Hours/Level. Once a Mage gets around 8th level there really isn't any reason for him to not have it up and running and to keep a Shield spell on hand in case they get into combat. At High Levels I'd agree that a Magical Mithril Chain Shirt would be nice but I'd still keep the Shield spell handy (sorry guys, Magic Missile is and always will be the most common offensive spell in the game).

 

[Bagpuss]

I play a dwarven fighter/wizard who wears mithral breastplate most of the spells he memorizes are with the Still Spell Metamagic feat or don't have only verbal and material components to start with. If they arn't combat orientated then I sometimes take the risk of miscasting, but for combat spells you want to know they are going to work.

 

[Buttercup]

And if you play a bard or battle sorcerer (UA), you can even wear light armour without spell failure!

My house ruled sorcerer can wear padded, leather or studded leather without a chance of spell failure, and yet my player who loves sorcerers has yet do do so. It's because she always builds low-strength sorcerers, and would rather carry useful odds & ends than tromp around in armor.

 

[Klaus]

In my group there's a Wiz5/Rog3/Battledancer 3. Before being Battledancer 2, she suffered the 10% spell failure for a mithril chain shirt.

Although Mage Armor gives a +4 to AC vs. incorporeal, that's more of a reason to carry a wand of mage armor (caster level 1, maybe 2).

Mithril chain shirt + mithril buckler by themselves don't confer that much of an AC, but couple that with Craft Magic Arms & Armor and you can be wearing (by 9th level) +3 Ghost Touch Mithril Chain Shirt and +3 Light Fortification Mithril Buckler, for an overall +11 to AC that's effective vs. incorporeal and also negates criticals 25% of the time...

 

[Quasqueton]

It has kind of bugged me that a mage has ASF with a sheild on one arm. He can carry a torch in that hand, or a sack of loot, or even have that armed lopped off at the shoulder, all without ASF. But get the +1/+2 AC bonus and suddenly it is a detriment to spellcasting.

I thought of removing the ASF for a shield, but then I worried that every mage would then start using a shield.

Quasqueton

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

My Rog4/Wiz5/Arcane Trickster 8 has always worn his mithril chain shirt (10% arcane spell failure), and now it's even better: Twilight (BoED) reduces arcane spell failure by -10% for a simple +1 bonus.
So now it's a +9 armor bonus with max dex +6 and no arcane spell failure

 

[Cor Azer]

In my face-to-face game, the bard's cohort is a dwarven wizard who tromps around in a magical breastplate and uses a dwarven waraxe. He doesn't tend to worry about arcane spell failure because he uses spells without somatic components (either naturally or because of still spell). When he not actually expectign battle, he doesn't wear his armor, so he doesn't worry about pell failure outside of combat.

 

[Darklone]

It has kind of bugged me that a mage has ASF with a sheild on one arm. He can carry a torch in that hand, or a sack of loot, or even have that armed lopped off at the shoulder, all without ASF. But get the +1/+2 AC bonus and suddenly it is a detriment to spellcasting.

I thought of removing the ASF for a shield, but then I worried that every mage would then start using a shield.

Quasqueton

He gets the ASF for using the shield. If he just carries it, no ASF, no armor(shield) bonus.