Best AC and how?

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What is the best AC you have gotten for a character without cheating or Modifying stats. Including Mages, thieves, fighters the lot?

 

-11 AC with Jaheira. She wore Gorgon's Plate and Sentinel shield, along with other things that didn't mess with her AC iirc.

 

The blade can have the lowest attainable AC in the game with defensive spin, a decent suit of chain or spirit armor, and blur.

[ January 17, 2006, 01:35: Message edited by: Drew ]

 

Works for nearly any character in the Underdark:
Drow Full Plate: -4 base AC
Sentinal Shield: -5 to AC
Cloak of Displacement: -1 to AC
Helm of Glory or Balduran: -1 to AC
Gauntlets of Dexterity: -4 to AC
Defender of Easthaven: -1 to AC

This comes to -16 AC.

I believe the Ring of Earth Control adds to this (-1 AC). I don't think the Ring of Gaxx does though (it would be -2 to AC).

So that would be an AC of -17. After the Underdark, shift to Armor of the Hart (base AC -2) for an AC of -15 (you could kill Driz'zt and use his scimitar for an AC of -16).

I don't usually use the Defender of Easthaven and I only kill Driz'zt in BG1. So I'll only have a -14 max for Anomen, Mazzy or Korgan at the end of the game.

An elven fighter-type imported from BG1 can have a 20 dex and could be 1 point lower in AC.

A blade with the bladesinger chain (no shield but with the rest of the above items) can also hit -17 AC when in a defensive spin (-18 with a 20 dex).

 

A Shape Shifter Druid in Greater Werewolf Form.

Ring of Gaxx,
Cloak of Protection +2.
Ring of Earth Elemental Control
There are a few helms that give +1 AC. (I used Baldurun's)
And a little trick that let's you wield the weapons in your slots while transformed combined with staff of the woodlands(from Rillifane)

Will give you -19ac and decent boosts to your saving throws.

 

Well you need to start with someone who can use full plate. The best is -12 Armor of the heart, but strength must = 14.

Most people here either use a two handed weapons or dual wield weapons with their fighters so that leaves Clerics who can use that -5 shield (Sentinel) with a full plate.

Now add a helm that adds -1 and the cloak of the sewer -1.

That's -19.

Now Vicky has -4 due to her dex.

That's -23 bonus which = -13.

The skill with shield adds some more AC (+1 or +2 I can't recall off hand) and there are weapons that help AC too. Clerics can't use the defender or any of the others I think.


Then there are spells.

Barkskin, Defensive Harmony both add AC.

 

Clerics can use the defender of East Haven. It's a flail. Something they are not limited from using.

 

The basic ingredients are:

Max dexterity
Ring of Gaxx (+2)
One of Ring of Protection +2 or Cloak of Prot +2
One of Ring of Earth Control or Cloak of Sewers (+1)
Helm (eg: Balduran, or Ioun Stone) +1
Sentinel Shield (+5)
Armour (Red Dragon Scale for plate users, Shadow Dragon Scale, Robe of Vecna + Bracers AC3)
Weapon bonus (eg: Staff of Curing has AC+2)
Modifiers like spells, abilities, etc.

Mix and match 'em up!

 

I'm just not convinced that you can touch a blade. (Even if the blade has no armor.)
Spirit armor AC1
Dex 18 AC-3
Blur AC-6
Defensive Spin AC-16
Ring of Prot +2 AC-18
Ring of Gaxx AC-20
Ioun stone +1AC AC-21
Cloak of the Sewers AC-22
Defender of Easthaven AC-23

 

Viconia may cast some 2nd level spell that rises her strenght, constitution and dexterity by 7 on 21th level. That gives next -2 (3?) to AC.

 

Doesn't the Swashbuckler yet a bonus to AC every so many levels? That still won't touch a blade in defensive spin, but that may be cheating a bit, because the defensive spin ability is not limitless. If you're talking about the best AC without spells (all of which are finite unless you want to rest repeatedly) the Swashbuckler just might be your man.

 

Every five levels, with a bonus one on creation. So a 40th level Swash would have a 9 point AC bonus.

 

Well, now that I can mention ToB, Jaheira with Shruppaka's plate (-2 AC +1 to dex) and Darksteel shield (AC 5) with the Ring of Earth (AC 1) = -13 iirc.

 

SoA:

I'm surprised that no one has mentionned T'rahcie's Plate +5 yet. It's *the* lowest AC armor in unmodded SoA (without taking the Drow armor in account, of course).

While it has many disadvantages, we're talking about pure AC, and therefore...

Using suggestions from previous posters, the lowest AC for non-drows would be:

Main Hand Slot: Defender of Easthaven (+1 AC)

Off-hand Slot: Sentinel (+5 AC)

Head Slot: Helm of Balduran / Helm of Glory / Vhailor's Helm / Lavender Ioun Stone / Dusty Rose Ioun Stone (+1 AC)

Amulet Slot: Amulet of Protection +1 (+1 AC)

Chest Slot: T'rahcie's Plate +5 (-2 base AC)

Ring Slot #1: Ring of Gaxx (+2 AC)

Ring Slot #2: Ring of Earth Control (+1 AC)
OR
Ring of Protection +2 (+2 AC)

Cloak Slot: Cloak of the Sewers (+1 AC)
OR
Cloak of Protection +2 (+2 AC)

Boot Slot: Boots of Phasing (Are they even in the game?) (+2 AC)

Miscellaneous: 18-19 Dex (+4 AC)
OR
20 Dex (If you started out as an elf and took the tome from BG1, without sacrificing the point in Hell) (+5 AC)


All of this accounts for an AC varying between -20 and -23, and this is only unmodded SoA. ToB's potential is devastating, taking UAI in mind.

A mere question, however - does the Ring of Gaxx's AC bonus stack with other AC-giving items in the same way the Cloak of Sewers and whatnot do? I use Ease of Use's AC-stacking component so I cannot verify for certain.

[ January 19, 2006, 20:49: Message edited by: Ziggyveld ]

 

Pantaloons = Big Metal Unit = -25 AC.

 

@Ziggy - I think that the Ring of Gaxx does stack, but you won't be able to wear any magic armor along with a RoP or CoP, unless you have Ease of Use installed.

Still, let's look at the Swashie again. He can use the White Dragon Armor (-1 base AC I believe?). Yes, he can use Shruppaka's Plate, but then he can't use his thief skills, and we have to keep this at least somewhat realistic. Thieves get UAI, but if they wear plate, no thief skills. Along with his instant AC upgrades, at level 40 he would be at -10. We'll assume a minimum of 18 in dexterity, that's -14. Now a Swashie with UAI could use a shield without any penalty to his thief skills, so Sentinel +4 is an option. (Aren't there other +4 or +5 shields in ToB that also give other bonuses? Darksteel maybe?) Anyway, even with Sentinel, we're down to -19. Add in a Ring of Earth Control, Ring of Gaxx, Helm that gives +1 AC (take your pick), Cloak of the Sewers and presto - we're at -24. It could possibly go lower, but this is the best I can come up with. The only slot I'm not utilizing is the amulet slot, but to my knowledge the only amulet that lowers your AC is AoP +1, which is out if you're wearing magic armor unless using the aforementioned EoU Mod.

 

ToB:

Again, the lowest AC possible for a vanilla ToB install would be:

Class: Bard with Blade kit (including the Use Any Item HLA)

Main Hand Slot: Defender of Easthaven / Yamato (+1 AC)

Off-hand Slot: Darksteel Shield (+5 AC)

Head Slot: Helm of Balduran / Helm of Glory / Vhailor's Helm / Lavender Ioun Stone / Dusty Rose Ioun Stone / Wong Fei’s Ioun Stone (+1 AC)

Amulet Slot: Amulet of Protection +1 (+1 AC)

Chest Slot: Shuruppak’s Plate (-2 base AC, +1 Dex )

Ring Slot #1: Ring of Gaxx (+2 AC)

Hand Slot: Wondrous Gloves / Tzu-Zan’s Bracers (+1 AC)

Ring Slot #2: Ring of Earth Control (+1 AC)
OR
Ring of Protection +2 (+2 AC)

Cloak Slot: Cloak of the Sewers (+1 AC)
OR
Improved Cloak of Protection +2 (+2 AC)

Boot Slot: Boots of Phasing (Are they even in the game?) (+2 AC)

Miscellaneous: 21 Dex (If you had 18 base Dex, took the tome from BG1, without sacrificing the point in Hell, to finally add the last points using Lum the Mad’s machine and wearing Shurupakk’s Plate as Kuemper pointed out) (+5 AC)

Abilities: Defensive Spin (+10 AC)


Again, the sheer madness of the combination between Defensive Spin and Use Any Item is without peer for a grand AC total varying between…

-33 and -36! That’s just purely insane.

EDIT: @Aldeth - the White Dragon armor has a -2 base AC, actually.

I keep forgetting that the amulet doesn't stack due to its direct AC bonus. Silly me for constantly playing with EoU...

DOUBLE EDIT (and double ): My overexcited brain just realized elves cannot be Bards, therefore ruling out the 22 Dex option -- unless there's another dex-boosting item out there?

TRIPLE EDIT (and thrice a ): I checked Shadowkeeper and it just so happens Darksteel is actually a +4 shield. Thanks to Aldeth for making me proofcheck.

[ January 20, 2006, 02:27: Message edited by: Ziggyveld ]

 

Oh, if White Dragon armor is -2 base AC, and I forgot about Yamoto, which a swashie could certainly use. Also thank you for confirming that Darksteel is +5. That brings the AC down to -27, which is competitive with the Bard, even using Defensive Spin. Besides, I think that saying you're using Shruppak's Plate with a bard is BS, because you'd never actually do that, as you wouldn't be able to cast spells. To be fair the best armor you could use would be the Bladesinger. I forget what that AC is, but it's worse than -2. Also, unless you're resting constantly, it's not like you can maintain that -10 bonus to AC constantly. Besides, you can't MOVE when you use defensive spin, which seriously hurts your ability to fight.

EDIT: The better question here is: What is the best enemy THAC0 in the game? I doubt it's -27 or anything like that. Instead of trying to see what is the best, we should find out what the best practical AC is based on opponent THAC0, so that you would only be hit on critical hits.

 

@Aldeth - I was merely trying to prove how low your AC can go. I doubt anyone would willingly give platemail to a thief/bard.

The Bladesinger Chain as the best bardic armor for ToB? I think you're forgetting a little impish friend in a pocket dimension...