If I cast my Mage Armor on say, a Barbarian or a Monk... does that allow them to put all their buffs on top of a 13 base instead of a 10? Can my wizard pump them up into incredible hulking tanks?? Seems that would work. (Getting ready to go into a serious combat and want every single advantage we can get...)
OK, I just thought their Unarmored Defense boosted their bonus, but Mage Armor boosts the base from 10 to 13. I guess I was hopeful.
What about a Cleric spell Shield of Faith? That just says +2 to AC, would that not stack either? How are you determining this? What rule are you reading that's guiding you?
Some spells and class features give you a different way to calculate your AC. If you have multiple features that give you different ways to calculate your AC, you choose which one to use.
Mage Armor:
The target's base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier.
That's not a bonus, it changes how you calculate your AC.
This is also expanded upon in Sage Advice Compendium under "How do you calculate a creature’s Armor Class (AC)?"
If you're coming from older editions, the AC stacking has been cut down pretty drastically. Gone are the glory days of 30+ AC from stacking a whole pile of spells/effects for most of the day.
OK, well instead of buffing our Barbarian, we have a new plan to conquer Cragmaw Castle... Area of Effect spells!! We just have to get some. 5th level's just too far away. I shouldn't have used that Fireball scroll on those stupid zombies.
:c)
Thanks guys! (yes I am on old AD&D and on to 2nd Edition guy, coming back to 5th ed.)
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Hey, DM and combat specialists...
If I cast my Mage Armor on say, a Barbarian or a Monk... does that allow them to put all their buffs on top of a 13 base instead of a 10? Can my wizard pump them up into incredible hulking tanks?? Seems that would work. (Getting ready to go into a serious combat and want every single advantage we can get...)
AC calculations don't stack. The Barbarian or Monk chooses whether to use Mage Armor or Unarmored Defense.
OK, I just thought their Unarmored Defense boosted their bonus, but Mage Armor boosts the base from 10 to 13. I guess I was hopeful.
What about a Cleric spell Shield of Faith? That just says +2 to AC, would that not stack either? How are you determining this? What rule are you reading that's guiding you?
Thanks for your help.
Bonuses are fine. You can stack as many bonuses as you want, assuming they're not from the same spell, magic item, class feature, etc.
The rules for Armor Class:
Mage Armor:
That's not a bonus, it changes how you calculate your AC.
This is also expanded upon in Sage Advice Compendium under "How do you calculate a creature’s Armor Class (AC)?"
If you're coming from older editions, the AC stacking has been cut down pretty drastically. Gone are the glory days of 30+ AC from stacking a whole pile of spells/effects for most of the day.
OK, well instead of buffing our Barbarian, we have a new plan to conquer Cragmaw Castle... Area of Effect spells!! We just have to get some. 5th level's just too far away. I shouldn't have used that Fireball scroll on those stupid zombies.
:c)
Thanks guys! (yes I am on old AD&D and on to 2nd Edition guy, coming back to 5th ed.)