Magic Vestment and magical armor or shield?

[Jeff Wilder]

For a while now I've been seeing posts that imply strongly that the poster believes that magic vestment stacks with magic armor (or shield, as appropriate). I'm puzzled by this.

Per the RAW, "[m]agic armor bonuses are enhancement bonuses." (Likewise for magic shield bonuses.) Per the RAW, magic vestment imparts "a suit of armor or a shield with an enhancement bonus."

Enhancement bonuses (on the same type of gear) don't stack, so what am I missing?

If you're an 8th-level cleric with +2 full plate and a +2 shield, casting magic vestment on yourself is (nearly) useless.

 

[Jhulae]

No, it doesn't stack. It can, however, replace (if the MV bonus is high enough).

Let's say you're a 12th level cleric. You have +1 armor and a +1 shield. You can use MV to have +3 armor and a +3 shield.

Where this really comes into its own is if you have +1 armor with added bonus effects (like fortification.. spell resistance, etc). we'll take +1 Full Plate of Medium Fortification for example. That's equivalent to a suit of +4 Full Plate. (they both cost 16k GP plus the masterwork armor).

With MV, I can now have +3 Full Plate of Medium Fortification for 12 hours for the same money.

That's the benefit. MV allows you to buy a lower enhancement bonus on armor and load up on the special goodies.

 

[Hawklord]

If you're an 8th-level cleric with +2 full plate and a +2 shield, casting magic vestment on yourself is (nearly) useless.

I think that's why it keeps coming up.

The spell appears to have been designed to be useful up to 20th lvl since that's where it maxes out, but it rapidly becomes more and more (seemingly) useless as you level up as most clerics have better magical armour anyway.

 

[Jhulae]

I think that's why it keeps coming up.

The spell appears to have been designed to be useful up to 20th lvl since that's where it maxes out, but it rapidly becomes more and more (seemingly) useless as you level up as most clerics have better magical armour anyway.

Except, I'd be spending my money on adding other abilities to my armor, not enhancement bonuses, which makes MV useful throughout a Cleric's career.

 

[MarkB]

And the spell is Touch, not Personal, and in almost any party there'll be at least someone who hasn't invested heavily in magical armour, so it's going to be useful to at least someone in the party.