DM Q&A: AC Dodge Bonus

[unas]

Hello,

Once I read that for all types of AC bonus the max you can get is +5 (e. +3 armor mod from full plate and +2 armor mod from Magic Vestment).

My question is, does it counts for Dodge bonus? For ex.: If i have Boots of Quick Feet +3 AC Dodge and get some ranks on Tumble to get another +3 dodge (15 ranks) will I get a +6 AC dodge in the end or it will cap at +5?

Thx

[Munroe]

I think you may have been looking at some bad information. (That sounds more like something potentially related to D&D5, which uses much lower numbers.)

I recommend checking out this page: nwn.fandom.com/wiki/Armor_class

There are hard caps on different stats in NWN, but they're much bigger than those numbers you listed.

Note that the same type of AC does not generally stack with itself, with the exceptions of Dodge Armor Bonus and Untyped Armor bonus.

If you have +3 Armor (for instance, +3 Fullplate) and you cast Magic Vestment that grants +2 enhancement, you will still only have +3. Magic Vestment grants Armor Enhancement Bonus, which doesn't stack with the +3 Armor Enhancement Bonus on +3 Armor. So to get +5 bonus from Magic Vestment, you need to cast a high level Magic Vestment that grants +5 Armor Enhancement Bonus, in which case your +3 on your armor is ignored and the +5 from Magic Vestment is used instead. (Note that Magic Vestment can also be cast on your shield, in which case it gives +x Shield Enhancement Bonus instead of +x Armor Enhancement Bonus, and works the same way with the shield's +x Enhancement Bonus.) This is why you're only getting to a potential +5 maximum with Magic Vestment. The two numbers are not added, it just uses whichever is bigger. Bracers of Armor also grant +x Armor Enhancement Bonus, so their bonus won't stack with the bonus on magic armors.

In the case of Dodge AC, it stacks with itself (to a maximum of +20, according to the Wiki), so your +3 Dodge boots will stack with +3 Dodge AC from Tumble and the +1 Dodge AC from Mage Armor. (But the other types of AC granted by Mage Armor don't stack, so at high levels that spell generally only grants +1 Dodge AC because people already have gear with the other AC bonuses on them.)

Note that the epic feat Armor Skin says in its description that it grants +2 Natural Armor AC, but the AC it grants is actually Untyped and does stack with things like barkskin and amulets of natural armor. Barkskin and Amulets of Natural Armor don't stack with each other though, because they are both granting Natural Armor AC, which doesn't stack with itself--between those two, just the bigger number is used.

[unas]

Thankyou very much for clarifying DM Monroe!

Question answered

[Munroe]

It was pointed out to me that Tumble is in-fact listed on that page I linked as Untyped AC, not actually Dodge AC, so it also wouldn't be limited by the +20 cap on Dodge AC. Though it is capped at +8 AC from Tumble, since only actual ranks in the skill take up the AC from Tumble.

Also, FRC's Ride skill is customized as part of our horse implementation so the AC it grants while on horseback doesn't stack with Tumble.
(I'm not sure if it's Dodge AC or Untyped AC, but it doesn't stack with AC from Tumble regardless.)