Help me increase my armour class

[Particle_Man]

I am trying to get my AC as high as possible. At first level this means a tower shield, combat expertise, and chainmail for my fighter. I will try to upgrade to full plate when economically feasible.

Our dm is letting us "pay" from a fund equal to xp to "magic up" our items. I am going to go for increasing the enhancement of tower shield, full plate (when I get it), and then get a ring of protection and amulet of natural armour.

Using the 3 core and 4 class books of 3.5, how else can I increase my AC? I will take the feat Improved Combat Expertise when I can.

 

[Jack Simth]

If you go Mithral full plate, you can get 3 points of AC out of Dex.

There's the Dodge feat for a situational + 1

There's the Defending Weapon enchantment (+1 equivalent) to move your weapon's regular enhancement bonus over to AC:

Defending: A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword’s enhancement bonus to his AC as a bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn.

Moderate abjuration; CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, shield or shield of faith; Price +1 bonus.

 

[Yig]

You can also wear an Amulet of Natural Armor and a Ring of Protection.

Also, when available, get Improved Combat Expertise

 

[shilsen]

Haste spell for a +1 dodge bonus

Polymorph Self to turn into a creature with a high natural armor bonus

 

[atom crash]

The best defense is not to be seen.

In other words, look for sources of concealment to improve your AC as well. Getting a 20% miss chance can be more effective than increasing your AC by 1 or 2 points. So blur and displacement are great, not to mention invisibility.

 

[blargney the second]

Blindness results in the same effect as Invisibility.

 

[Pinotage]

Haste spell for a +1 dodge bonus

Polymorph Self to turn into a creature with a high natural armor bonus

Or Alter Self if you're only after natural AC. You can get +6 Natural Armor which stacks with Amulets of Natural Armor or Barkskin, but for a 2nd level spell it's cheaper than Polymorph and has a longer duration.

Pinotage

 

[shilsen]

Or Alter Self if you're only after natural AC. You can get +6 Natural Armor which stacks with Amulets of Natural Armor or Barkskin, but for a 2nd level spell it's cheaper than Polymorph and has a longer duration.

Pinotage

I actually started out with suggesting Alter Self or Polymorph and then only mentioned the latter. The big kicker with the former is that you get the Str, Dex and Con of the chosen form, which for many PCs will be much worse than their own. Polymorph, on the other hand, will allow access to much more powerful creatures, usually with better stats than your own. That being said, Alter Self is a very good option till you can get access to Polymorph.

 

[Thanee]

Uhm...

You retain your own ability scores.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Liquidsabre]

Though Alter Self do be a personal range spell, so no casting that on the party's fighter of course. Polymorph OTOH has a more useful range.