good base for other magic items

hell yeah

Why is this an uncommon item? Based on other magic items and their rarity, it seems like it should be rare:

• The Ring of Protection is mechanically identical, and is rare. The only potential advantage of the ring over the cloak is that a character can wear multiple rings but not multiple cloaks.
• Armor, +1 does less than the Cloak of Protection, giving only the +1 to AC. It is also rare.

Notably, Shield, +1, which also gives +1 to AC, is uncommon.

A +1 bonus to AC seems more powerful than a +1 bonus to attack (all +1 weapons are uncommon), and also having a +1 to saving throws makes an item like the Cloak of Protection even more powerful. I would house-rule this to be a rare item, and I might consider also making +1 shields rare.

Plus, you need proficiency to wear armour, not for this cloak. 

Presumably it's uncommon because while it gives the same bonus as the ring, it's harder to hide (and, depending on your DM or story, a player might have to hand over their obvious magical items before a meeting, and a ring might be sneak-in-able) and easier to make (a well-made cloak is probably easier, I assume, to enchant then a tiny ring). It also doesn't give you any other bonuses (where as armor is going to give you its armor bonus and then the +1).  Shields are also uncommon because they use up a hand, unlike armor which you just wear.

While I wouldn't move either up to rare, if your campaign doesn't care about stuff like "obvious magical weapons/items" and "balancing function over style", and/or are the kind of GM that changed the Scimitar/Shortsword to the same price because of their stats, then there's nothing stopping you from giving it out as a rare item, or restricting it to rare for players starting with magical items or shopping for them. At the end of the day, it's up to the GM's discretion. 

There's also the fact that wearing a Cloak of Protection is going to take up your cloak "slot." Unless your DM is okay with your character wearing multiple capes, this will likely preclude you from wearing a Cloak of Invisibility at the same time. 

I hate magic that requires attunement. Why does something like a Cloak of Protection require attunement?

I view attunement as the magic item needing an I/O interface with your body such as an input by increasing an attribute or if a magic item does something based on an output like the body going unconscious to trigger an effect.

So if the cloak raised your dexterity by 2 to increase your DEX Bonus, I’d be fine with it, but it doesn’t. It just limits you by using one of the 3 attunement slots. So I call BS.

In this edition they want AC to be harder to get stupidly high so Armor is more rare and most AC boosting items will require attunement, and dex is capped at 20, or 22 with the manual.

Best you'll do in 5e: that I can think of off the top of my head..

Baseline NOT armored max AC: AC 16 (AC 10 +6 Dex modifier), add +2 Bracers of Defense, Cloak of Protection, 2x Staff's of Defense with dual wielder feat, Ring of Protection. Together is AC 23

Baseline armored max AC: AC 21 (Studded Leather +3 & +6 Dex modifier OR Half Plate +3 & +3 Dex modifier OR Full Plate +3. For AC 21), add Shield +3, Cloak of Protection, Staff of Defense, Ring of Protection. Together is AC 29

Unarmored Sorcerer, Draconic type: Natural AC 13 + Dex modifier, ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), for AC 19, add a +2 bracers of defense, cloak of protection, 2x staff's of power with dual wielder feat & ring of protection for AC 28 

Unarmored, NOT proficient with shield: Lizardfolk for Natural AC 13 + Dex modifier, ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), for AC 19, add a +2 bracers of defense, cloak of protection, 2x staff's of defense with dual wielder feat & ring of protection for AC 26

Unarmored, proficient with shield: Lizardfolk for Natural AC 13 + Dex modifier, ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), for AC 19, add a +3 shield, cloak of protection, staff of defense & ring of protection for AC 27

Unarmored Sorcerer, Wizard, or Warlock: ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), wear "Robe of the Archmagi" for AC 21, add a +2 bracers of defense, cloak of protection, 2x staff's of power with dual wielder feat & ring of protection for AC 30. Replace +2 Bracers of Defense & 1x Staff of power (& feat) with +3 shield, if proficient, for AC 30 (*Cloak & Robe are not mutually exclusive) 

Unarmored defense Monk: AC 10 + Dex & Wis modifiers, ASI Dex & Wis both to 20, use a tome & a manual to take Dex & Wis to 22 (both +6), for AC 22, add a +2 bracers of defense, cloak of protection, 2x staff's of defense  with dual wielder feat & ring of protection for AC 29

Unarmored defense Barbarian: AC 10 + Dex & Con modifiers, ASI Dex & Con both to 20, use 2 manuals to take Dex & Con to 22 (both +6), for AC 22, add a +3 shield, cloak of protection, staff of defense & ring of protection for AC 30

Armored non-Martial class: Warforged for +1 to AC in armor, ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), add Studded leather +3, a +3 shield, cloak of protection, staff of defense & ring of protection for AC 30 (Also works with Half Plate with a +3 Dex bonus and Medium armor master feat OR with Full Plate +3 for AC 30)

Armored Martial class: Warforged for +1 to AC in armor, Martial class with defence focus, for +1 to AC, ASI DEX to 20, Use manual for Dex 22 (for +6 dex), add Studded leather +3, a +3 shield, cloak of protection, staff of defense & ring of protection for AC 31 (ONLY hit on a natural 20, even with a +11 bonus to hit modifier). * Also works with Half Plate with a +3 Dex bonus and Medium armor master feat OR with Full Plate +3 for AC 31

Made a note of "In this edition they want AC to be harder to get stupidly high", common methods of "stupidly high"

Plus the Shield spell, and that means you aren’t using those attunement slots for other non AC items. 

Inside AL legal rules, getting to or exceeding AC 30 is possible for most builds in late T3 or T4 (level 16+), assuming you can pull off, at least, 3 non-attuned items: +3 armor, +3 shield, & ring of protection items Plus  2 attuned items: the cloak of protection & staff of defense (or Wand of Orcus, see below). You could add an Ioun stone of protection, to round out attuned items to 3 for an extra +1 to AC

OR bracers of defense, Robe of the arch magi, & staff of power (plus 2nd weapon with dual wielder feat) if a sorcerer, warlock or wizard, inside 3 attuned item limit, plus a ring of protection for AC 27 (with +6 Dex modifier).. or AC 28 if you use the Wand of Orcus, see below

The "Wand of Orcus" gives a +3 to AC, out doing both the staff of power & staff of defense and is usable by ANY CLASS, but is inherently "dangerous" to attune (see its description). with this a Warforged martial class, from the example above, could hit AC 33! (AC 34 with an Ioun stone of protection, to round out attuned items to 3)

As a note: You can have 1, 2, or even 10, of a "legendary" item (its just super unlikely), BUT there is ONLY 1 item in existence for an "artifact" they are UNIQUE so the Wand of Orcus is limited to one (BUT you could dual wield it with a staff of defense/power & the dual wielder feat if you cant use a shield)

Quote from Tal >>

Why is this an uncommon item? Based on other magic items and their rarity, it seems like it should be rare:

• The Ring of Protection is mechanically identical, and is rare. The only potential advantage of the ring over the cloak is that a character can wear multiple rings but not multiple cloaks.
• Armor, +1 does less than the Cloak of Protection, giving only the +1 to AC. It is also rare.

Notably, Shield, +1, which also gives +1 to AC, is uncommon.

A +1 bonus to AC seems more powerful than a +1 bonus to attack (all +1 weapons are uncommon), and also having a +1 to saving throws makes an item like the Cloak of Protection even more powerful. I would house-rule this to be a rare item, and I might consider also making +1 shields rare.

You can only use one Ring of Protection, because you can't attune to multiple copies of the same magic item.

Additionally, the cloak and the ring both require attunement, and neither Armor, +1 nor Shield, +1 does. It can make a difference at higher levels, as you can only be attuned to three items at the same time.

Quote from riivia >> It can make a difference at higher levels, as you can only be attuned to three items at the same time.

 Laughs in Artificer.

(For anyone unaware, they max out at 6 attunement slots, gaining an extra at 10th, 14th, and 18th level. As well as gaining the ability to bypass all racial, class and level requirements for attunement at 14)

Where do I get this cloak? 

Sorry I‘m a beginner.

It depends on the campaign you are playing. If you're in a city that has magic items shops, you should be able to find one. It's uncommon, not rare.

Otherwise, find an enemy that has one and take it from them.

Thank you

awesome

I know this is a stupid comment, but i genuinely can't find the +2 version of this nor a way to change it in my character sheet. Do I need to create a custom item to do this? And no, I really don't know where else to ask.

So, how much would it cost?