Cheapest way for casters to improve their AC

[RangerWickett]

I played a 12th level sorcerer with a 13 Dex who held to the belief that he was so easy to hit compared to the warriors in their plate armor that it wasn't cost-effective for him to try to improve his AC. Instead he found ways to just avoid attacks.

Thus was developed the flying deflect arrows tactic. For some reason the DM would always have his enemy archers be the sharing sort, so they'd each target a different PC, instead of focusing fire. So every round I could just do a Daniel-san move, and wax-off to deflect any oncoming harm.

Eventually the party forced me to wear a +3 mithril buckler we found. Until then, though, my AC was always 11. With some combination of mirror image, displacement, greater invisibility, silence, and silent spells.

 

[Plot-Device]

Greater Mage Armor gives +6 insted of +4.

A consumable version of of a Force Screen by a 17th level psion, augemented to cost 17PP, granting 8 AC. Dude, trust me they're lying around everywhere.

Leafwrap Armor takes I think a week to grow on to you and costs 1,000 but it grants 1 AC for no ASF. Then you enchant it.

Take a level in warmage, then take Armored Spellcasting. Now you can muster up spells in medium armor, but you wasted a level and to get some bonus 1st level nukes, so your already bad spell progression is going to suffer. *Note I'm not completely sure this works, but I'm pretty sure it would work if you took levels in the spellsword pretige class*

 

[szilard]

A one-level dip into Monk and the Ascetic Mage feat will enable them to add their Cha (instead of Wis) bonus to AC.

The problem with Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, etc. for Sorcerers is the fact that sorcerers get very few spells. Few of them really ought to be spent on defense. Mage Armor is a great spell, but a sorcerer would likely only cast it once a day - this is a waste. Get a wand or something instead. Eventually, you'll probably get Bracers of Armor anyway, and then you'd want to get rid of the spell...

A Force Shield Ring is good, too.

-Stuart

 

[TheNovaLord]

we just finished part 1 of a campaign where every character was a wizard specialist. they got to 9th level with only 1 character death and had maybe 4 or 5 +1 items, maybe 1 +2, each at the end.
There armmour classes where consistently very good

mage armour on at all times obviously
shield as needed
protect from .... as needed
alter self to lizardfolk, great AC, plus bonus to many physical skills for having a tail is great.
reduce person is just superb as well for +2 more to AC cos of size and dex
haste helps too
levitate and fly, if enemy are weaker at missiles, spellcasters arent
mirror image as someone mentioned is fantastic
false life is very good too

easily getting AC 25 for much of their adventure. Plus the first monster of the day usually got massively laid waste to by a barrage of 5 spells per round.

Tonight they start second part of the campiagn where they are all 'knights' as it were (in fact a cleric, a paladin, a scout, a ranger and a knight). interested to see how well they do. they are all mounted so be nice to see how that works out

 

[kenobi65]

You beat me to it.

There was an old Dragon article about Illusionists that had a line (paraphrased):

"The best suit of armor you can have is a well made and polished suit of +5 full plate - on your friend the fighter in front of you."

Beat me to it, too.

The Equipment section of the PHB lists "Hireling, trained" at 3 sp / day...and the description of "trained hireling" includes "mercenary warriors." Just hire a bunch of meat shields. Probably won't be able to get away with hiring in any particular city more than once, as working for you doesn't grant a high life expectancy, and word will get around. (Somehow, this sounds like a Brian Van Hoose solution...)

 

[Quidam]

Shieldbearer, from SC. Sor/Wiz1, 1r/lvl, enchants a shield to float near ally. Not the ideal duration, but it's the shield other spell you were asking for and can provide a larger shield bonus than shield.

 

[Dross]

There was an old Dragon article about Illusionists that had a line (paraphrased):

"The best suit of armor you can have is a well made and polished suit of +5 full plate - on your friend the fighter in front of you."

True, and this is partially what I was getting at.

Having someone in front of you also helps against ranged attacks, such as that pesky archer trying to disrupt your castings (especially if that archer is the target of your spells )

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Shieldbearer, from SC. Sor/Wiz1, 1r/lvl, enchants a shield to float near ally. Not the ideal duration, but it's the shield other spell you were asking for and can provide a larger shield bonus than shield.

That seems like a good spell too. Is the duration 1 minute/level or 1 round/level?

I have the Spell Compendium at home so either way I'll check it out when I get home.

Olaf the Stout

 

[RigaMortus2]

I currently have 2 Sorcerers in my campaign that normally have an AC of 11. With mage armour cast this jumps up to AC 15. What other cheap ways are there to increase their AC since they always seem to get smacked down when they enter combat? I thought that amulets of natural armour would be one option. What are some others?

Olaf the Stout

There is the Vow of Poverty feats from Book of Exhalted Deeds.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

What do people think of the Blur spell? Second level, and it's a "creature touched" effect, so wands and potions are possibilities. See Invisible doesn't work against it, and you don't get a miss chance yourself. Sure, Mirror Image works better in general, but Blur is something you can carry around for that extra 20% miss chance.