Stupid question - armor stacking

Emiricol · Mar 20, 2004

If a humanoid has natural armor +5 do they benefit from wearing say, studded leather?

AuraSeer · Mar 20, 2004

Yes. A "natural armor" bonus is a different type than an "armor" bonus, so they stack.

LGodamus · Mar 20, 2004

as a side note they also benefit from any magical item that give natural armor..such as the amulet. Even though its is the same name of bonus.

Hypersmurf · Mar 20, 2004

LGodamus said:
as a side note they also benefit from any magical item that give natural armor..such as the amulet. Even though its is the same name of bonus.

Not necessarily. In 3.5, the Amulet of Natural Armor and the Barkskin spell don't provide a natural armor bonus; they increase the creature's existing armor bonus.

If you had a spell or an item that provided a +2 natural armor bonus, say (rather than increasing an existing natural armor bonus by +2), it wouldn't stack with the +5 he already has.

In a way, Barkskin and the Amulet in 3.5 work like an enhancement bonus on a suit of armor - the enhancement bonus increases the armor bonus of the suit, rather than increasing your AC directly. The Amulet increases your natural armor bonus, rather than increasing your AC directly.

-Hyp.