I have a player thats a warforge, fighter with wiz or sorc dip and casts mage armor and uses shield as a reaction does those 2 spells stack or do you take the higher?? they get an over all 25AC for a round
How are they calculating their AC? As DMThac0 said, both mage armor and shield can stack, but 25 AC is way too much with those bonuses. They would need to have a dexterity modifier of +7 in order to reach 25 AC with mage armor and the shield spell.
It isn't odd. Eldritch Knight does the same thing. And it is only a boost for short period of time. However. How does he get it up to 25AC? What level are you guys?
Mage Armor only works if he isn't wearing armor to begin with. Then it is 13+dex modifier. Shield gives a static +5 increase until the start of his next turn.
That means he needs to have a +7 dex modifier. No way he has 24 Dexterity unless you guys are playing Tier 4 content.
Think I see the problem. He's probably using Integrated Protection. That is his armor. Which prevents him from being able to use Mage Armor. They both function they same, they don't stack. As far as I'm aware. Even if he goes with the Unarmored version. However that last bit someone else has to explain better than I can.
Darkwood Core (unarmored)
None
11 + your Dexterity modifier (add proficiency bonus if proficient with light armor)
Those would let you use the Dex Modifier twice without a limit. Game breaking :O
Alright, looking at the Warforged Race I'm seeing nothing about the Juggernaut that indicates a bump in AC.
The Integrated Protection of the Warforged is important to understand as well. If they're in any of the states other than Darkwood Core they would be considered armored and Mage Armor would not be applicable in that state.
For the character to have a 25 AC on their reaction using shield you're looking at Shield +5 and Mage Armor 13+Dex. The Dex mod would have to be +7. This being the case their base (non Mage Armor) AC would be 18 (Darkwood Core 11+Dex) without Shield, 23 with shield.
If they're using either of the other two Integrated Protection options then, with shield, their max AC would be 22/23 respectively, and they could not use Mage Armor.
**I've never played a Warforged, I'm only going off of the info I could find on DDB, it is possible I have made a mistake.
think we're just not reading a crucial element. Darkwood is BASE AC 11 + dex. Mage Armor is BASE AC 13+ Dex. So Mage Armor could/would overwrite the Darkwood. Where the spell would still provide an additional +2 AC over just using Darkwood without the Mage Armor. They do not stack. But according to magic effects mentioned somewhere in the manual. It says the more powerful of the effects gets applied.
On top of that you then add a shield if he's wearing one. And the Shield spell. However. If he's using lots of spells that require motions/gestures while holding a shield. It might prove difficult as well. However that is mostly DM discretion i think.
I think what is most important to this question (and barely touched on) is that mage armor does not stack with integrated protection. Considering his class, he has proficiency with light armor, so even darkwood core is AC = 11 + DEX + Proficiency bonus (2). Which is already equal to mage armor, so mage armor has no effect.
With 20 DEX and a non-magic shield, he could still have 20AC before shield at level 4.
Warforged have high AC. It is kind of their thing.
He does say that its a fighter with a wiz or a sorc dip. That means that the warforged would be proficient with medium and heavy armor, in addition to light armor. As such, the warforged could be using any one of the following options: mage armor : 13 + dex modifier (likely capping at 13+4=17 without using a physical shield or 19 with it and then adding +5 when shield is cast for 24 AC) OR Darkwood Core: 11 + dex modifier + proficiency bonus (+2 at 4th level, likely capping at 11+4+2=17 meaning that this option is the same as Mage Armor) OR Composite Plating: 13 + dex modifier (max of 2) + prof bonus (capped at 13+2+2=17, same as mage armor) OR Heavy Plating: 16 + proficiency bonus (16+2=18, +2 if a shield = 20, +5 if shield spell= 25 AC). If the warforged took the defensive fighting style, you would have to rule whether the integrated protection counts as armor for the +1 AC to apply (I think that I would rule for Composite Plating or Heavy Plating, but not Darkwood Core since it says unarmored) which could potentially get you to 25 or 26 depending of the ruling as to what constitutes armor (mage armor would not).
Whenever you have something that says your AC is X plus Y mod (including nothing for heavy armor), then that is an AC calculation and they don't stack. You could have a loxodon (natural armor), lizardfolk (natural armor), warforged (integrated armor), Tortle (natural armor), a barbarian (unarmored defense), a monk (unarmored defense), a spell caster with mage armor, a draconic sorcerer (natural armor), any of the normal physical armors, or anything else that I am missing and they will only be able to use one of those calculations for your AC. Things like defensive fighting style, a shield, the shield spell, etc that say +x to AC do stack with each other (with some possible exceptions) and the AC calculation.
Yeah warforged armor seems a little broken, I was playing around with a Warforged Barbarian build and he has an AC of 20 at level 1...
Considering you need 20 DEX and a shield with light armor, a +1 shield with medium armor, or heavy armor proficiency and a shield to get 20AC at level 1, it's not really that over powered.
It's greatest benefit comes from not having to buy armor, which is rather expensive.
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I have a player thats a warforge, fighter with wiz or sorc dip and casts mage armor and uses shield as a reaction does those 2 spells stack or do you take the higher?? they get an over all 25AC for a round
Mage armor and Shield are not the same bonus so, yes, they stack.
How are they calculating their AC? As DMThac0 said, both mage armor and shield can stack, but 25 AC is way too much with those bonuses. They would need to have a dexterity modifier of +7 in order to reach 25 AC with mage armor and the shield spell.
It isn't odd. Eldritch Knight does the same thing. And it is only a boost for short period of time.
However. How does he get it up to 25AC? What level are you guys?
Mage Armor only works if he isn't wearing armor to begin with. Then it is 13+dex modifier.
Shield gives a static +5 increase until the start of his next turn.
That means he needs to have a +7 dex modifier. No way he has 24 Dexterity unless you guys are playing Tier 4 content.
its the warforge aspect juggs i think that whats doing it and he is only lvl 4
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/warforged
Think I see the problem. He's probably using Integrated Protection. That is his armor. Which prevents him from being able to use Mage Armor.
They both function they same, they don't stack. As far as I'm aware. Even if he goes with the Unarmored version. However that last bit someone else has to explain better than I can.
Those would let you use the Dex Modifier twice without a limit. Game breaking :O
Alright, looking at the Warforged Race I'm seeing nothing about the Juggernaut that indicates a bump in AC.
The Integrated Protection of the Warforged is important to understand as well. If they're in any of the states other than Darkwood Core they would be considered armored and Mage Armor would not be applicable in that state.
For the character to have a 25 AC on their reaction using shield you're looking at Shield +5 and Mage Armor 13+Dex. The Dex mod would have to be +7. This being the case their base (non Mage Armor) AC would be 18 (Darkwood Core 11+Dex) without Shield, 23 with shield.
If they're using either of the other two Integrated Protection options then, with shield, their max AC would be 22/23 respectively, and they could not use Mage Armor.
**I've never played a Warforged, I'm only going off of the info I could find on DDB, it is possible I have made a mistake.
think we're just not reading a crucial element. Darkwood is BASE AC 11 + dex. Mage Armor is BASE AC 13+ Dex. So Mage Armor could/would overwrite the Darkwood. Where the spell would still provide an additional +2 AC over just using Darkwood without the Mage Armor. They do not stack. But according to magic effects mentioned somewhere in the manual. It says the more powerful of the effects gets applied.
On top of that you then add a shield if he's wearing one. And the Shield spell.
However. If he's using lots of spells that require motions/gestures while holding a shield. It might prove difficult as well. However that is mostly DM discretion i think.
I think what is most important to this question (and barely touched on) is that mage armor does not stack with integrated protection. Considering his class, he has proficiency with light armor, so even darkwood core is AC = 11 + DEX + Proficiency bonus (2). Which is already equal to mage armor, so mage armor has no effect.
With 20 DEX and a non-magic shield, he could still have 20AC before shield at level 4.
Warforged have high AC. It is kind of their thing.
He does say that its a fighter with a wiz or a sorc dip. That means that the warforged would be proficient with medium and heavy armor, in addition to light armor. As such, the warforged could be using any one of the following options: mage armor : 13 + dex modifier (likely capping at 13+4=17 without using a physical shield or 19 with it and then adding +5 when shield is cast for 24 AC) OR Darkwood Core: 11 + dex modifier + proficiency bonus (+2 at 4th level, likely capping at 11+4+2=17 meaning that this option is the same as Mage Armor) OR Composite Plating: 13 + dex modifier (max of 2) + prof bonus (capped at 13+2+2=17, same as mage armor) OR Heavy Plating: 16 + proficiency bonus (16+2=18, +2 if a shield = 20, +5 if shield spell= 25 AC). If the warforged took the defensive fighting style, you would have to rule whether the integrated protection counts as armor for the +1 AC to apply (I think that I would rule for Composite Plating or Heavy Plating, but not Darkwood Core since it says unarmored) which could potentially get you to 25 or 26 depending of the ruling as to what constitutes armor (mage armor would not).
Whenever you have something that says your AC is X plus Y mod (including nothing for heavy armor), then that is an AC calculation and they don't stack. You could have a loxodon (natural armor), lizardfolk (natural armor), warforged (integrated armor), Tortle (natural armor), a barbarian (unarmored defense), a monk (unarmored defense), a spell caster with mage armor, a draconic sorcerer (natural armor), any of the normal physical armors, or anything else that I am missing and they will only be able to use one of those calculations for your AC. Things like defensive fighting style, a shield, the shield spell, etc that say +x to AC do stack with each other (with some possible exceptions) and the AC calculation.
Yeah warforged armor seems a little broken, I was playing around with a Warforged Barbarian build and he has an AC of 20 at level 1...
No, it’s easy to get AC20 at level 1. Forge Cleric gets Blessing of the Forge, Chain male and shields. That’s 19, +Shield of Faith for 21 at level 1.
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
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Considering you need 20 DEX and a shield with light armor, a +1 shield with medium armor, or heavy armor proficiency and a shield to get 20AC at level 1, it's not really that over powered.
It's greatest benefit comes from not having to buy armor, which is rather expensive.