Stacking Bonuses

[Cyri'kazzen the Drow]

Ok I have a general question and then specific questions regarding spells.

First, how do stacking bonuses for armor work in 3.5? I can't seem to find solid rules on this.

And more specifically, the spells mage armor and Shield. Can they be stacked together? Can one of them be stacked with normal armor or do they require no armor to be used?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kreynolds]

First, how do stacking bonuses for armor work in 3.5? I can't seem to find solid rules on this.

See page 21 of the rDMG. It covers most bonus types.

And more specifically, the spells mage armor and Shield. Can they be stacked together?

Yes. They provide different types of bonuses, so they stack.

Can one of them be stacked with normal armor...

Shield, yes (see previous answer), but it won't stack with an actual shield. Mage armor, no, as they provide the same bonus type.

 

[Camarath]

Bonuses of the same type do not stack. A Shield Bonus to AC and an Armor Bonus to AC stack but two Shield Bonuses to AC or two Armor Bonus to AC would not stack. Mage Armor and Shield do stack since one is an Armor Bonus and one is a Shield Bonus. Mage Armor will not stack with normal armor and Shield will not stack with normal shields but Shield will stack with normal armor.

 

[Eldragon]

Bonuses of the same name do not stack. With the only exception being DODGE bonus.

So mage armor, is an ARMOR bonus, so it stacks with the shield spell, which is a SHIELD bonus (In 3.0 its a cover bonus).

Here is a list of the basic armor bonuses.

Shield, Armor, Natural Armor, Dodge, Cover, Circumstance, Enhancement. There are more bonus types than this, but IMHO any more and the players' AC gets too high, and I limit my players to this list.

Since normal armor like chainmail is an ARMOR bonus, it does not stack with the Mage Armor spell. However it does stack with the Shield spell, which is a SHIELD bonus.

If I were to carry a Medium shield (+2 SHIELD bonus), and then cast the shield spell, my SHIELD bonus increases from +2 to +4. The SHIELD bonus on the Shield spell supercedes the bonus from the normal, mundane shield. If I happened to be wearing full plate (+8 ARMOR bonus) and then cast the Mage Armor spell, my AC would not change because the +8 ARMOR bonus from full plate supercedes the +4 ARMOR bonus from the Mage armor spell.

I hope that helps.

 

[MichaelH]

Ok I have a general question and then specific questions regarding spells.

First, how do stacking bonuses for armor work in 3.5? I can't seem to find solid rules on this.

DMG, page 21.
PH, pages 171-172.
Basically, named bonuses with the same name do not stack. Thus, items with armor bonuses do not stack with one another.

And more specifically, the spells mage armor and Shield. Can they be stacked together? Can one of them be stacked with normal armor or do they require no armor to be used?

Mage Armor provides a +4 armor bonus to AC. Shield provides a +4 shield bonus to AC. They stack with each other because the provide differant named bonuses. Mage Armor does not stack with other armor bonuses, but Shield stacks with armor bonuses. Neither require no armor to be used. For example, someone with leather armor (+2 armor bonus) can use Mage Armor and Shield, but the Mage Armor does not stack with the leather armor. He would go from AC 12 to AC 18.

Also note that both Mage Armor and Shield spells are force effect spells. This means that they count against incorporeal touch attacks whereas normal armor and shield bonuses do not. This means that a fighter wearing full plate armor (+8 armor bonus) will not benefit from a Mage Armor spell with a higher AC since they do not stack. But if he was attacked by a wraith, the Mage Armor would provide him its +4 armor bonus against the incorporeal touch attack.