Jackinthegreen
Explorer
This is mainly just a fun compilation to show how high one could get AC if multiple separate Defending weapons stacked the buff.
To start, here's a full list of weapons a typical humanoid can have on at once:
2x standard weapons, one in each hand.
Shield Spikes (animated shield)
Armor Spikes
2x gauntlets
Already we're at 6 weapons, including the shield because it still counts as being wielded. Assuming one wanted to fully enchant each of these to get a +5 AC bonus, that's 6 * 72,000, plus another 9,000 to get the shield animated. That's at least a lovely 441,000 gp cost to get a +30 armor bonus. I'm only calculating the cost of enchanting the items, not the cost of the items or masterwork quality.
But wait! Complete Scoundrel added in hidden weapons that can be used in addition to the ones mentioned above. We now add:
2x boot blade, one for each boot
2x elbow blade, one for each elbow
2x knee blade, one for each knee
2x sleeve blade, one for each sleeve
That's 8 more weapons, costing an extra 576,000 gp to fully enchant each with +5 Defending. We're now looking at 1,017,000 gp for 70 armor.
While we're at it, let's add in a Braid Blade and tack on another 72,000 gp enhancement cost for +5 armor. 1,089,000 gp for 75 AC.
This comes out to about 14520 gp per point of armor. If one wanted to use Greater Magic Weapon on each weapon though, the cost comes down to 8,000 per weapon, plus the 9,000 for the enchanted shield. We're now looking at 129,000 gp for the weapons plus 15 castings of GMW to get +75 armor. Note that the CL required for GMW to grant a +5 weapon is at least 20.
Given the high price for attaining such an AC, one would have to have at least poor judgment on cost versus benefit to consider this route, if indeed it was ruled to stack at all. For the same 1mil gp, a character could get or create enough other magic items to pretty much take over the world since we're looking at an Epic amount of gold now.
What about projectiles though? Twisting the rules even more would net you +250 AC for enchanting 50 arrows! At 72,000 gp, that's only 288 gp per AC! Repeat it a few times for each quiver of 50 arrows carried and you're easily over 1000 AC!
Yeah, even with the prices possibly being restrictive, letting the Defending enhancement stack would break the game in many ways.
To start, here's a full list of weapons a typical humanoid can have on at once:
2x standard weapons, one in each hand.
Shield Spikes (animated shield)
Armor Spikes
2x gauntlets
Already we're at 6 weapons, including the shield because it still counts as being wielded. Assuming one wanted to fully enchant each of these to get a +5 AC bonus, that's 6 * 72,000, plus another 9,000 to get the shield animated. That's at least a lovely 441,000 gp cost to get a +30 armor bonus. I'm only calculating the cost of enchanting the items, not the cost of the items or masterwork quality.
But wait! Complete Scoundrel added in hidden weapons that can be used in addition to the ones mentioned above. We now add:
2x boot blade, one for each boot
2x elbow blade, one for each elbow
2x knee blade, one for each knee
2x sleeve blade, one for each sleeve
That's 8 more weapons, costing an extra 576,000 gp to fully enchant each with +5 Defending. We're now looking at 1,017,000 gp for 70 armor.
While we're at it, let's add in a Braid Blade and tack on another 72,000 gp enhancement cost for +5 armor. 1,089,000 gp for 75 AC.
This comes out to about 14520 gp per point of armor. If one wanted to use Greater Magic Weapon on each weapon though, the cost comes down to 8,000 per weapon, plus the 9,000 for the enchanted shield. We're now looking at 129,000 gp for the weapons plus 15 castings of GMW to get +75 armor. Note that the CL required for GMW to grant a +5 weapon is at least 20.
Given the high price for attaining such an AC, one would have to have at least poor judgment on cost versus benefit to consider this route, if indeed it was ruled to stack at all. For the same 1mil gp, a character could get or create enough other magic items to pretty much take over the world since we're looking at an Epic amount of gold now.
What about projectiles though? Twisting the rules even more would net you +250 AC for enchanting 50 arrows! At 72,000 gp, that's only 288 gp per AC! Repeat it a few times for each quiver of 50 arrows carried and you're easily over 1000 AC!
Yeah, even with the prices possibly being restrictive, letting the Defending enhancement stack would break the game in many ways.
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