All characters have an
Let's walk through a few simple steps used to calculate your AC:
AC 10 is the base AC for all characters who do not have any other armor bonuses.
Armor is generally divided into three main classes: light, medium, and heavy. The stronger the armor, the higher the AC bonus you get from it. For instance, breastplates alone grant a +5 armor bonus, while full plate grants a +10. Heavier armors are often quite expensive, too, and so you might not be able to afford the heaviest armor when you start out. Whichever type of armor you choose, you will need to be able to pay for it out of your starting wealth.
| Armor Category | Cost (gp) | AC Bonus | Max Dex Bonus | Weapon Resistance | Weight (lbs) | Hardness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light armor | ||||||
| Cloth | 10 | 2 | None | None | 5 | 10 |
| Leather | 50 | 3 | 4 | None | 10 | 10 |
| Medium armor | ||||||
| Soft Breastplate | 75 | 4 | 4 | None | 20 | 15 |
| Breastplate | 100 | 5 | 3 | None | 20 | 15 |
| 150 | 6 | 2 | None | 30 | 15 | |
| Augmented Mail | 250 | 7 | 1 | None | 40 | 15 |
| Heavy armor | ||||||
| Partial Plate | 750 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 20 |
| Full Plate | 1,200 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 50 | 20 |
| Shields | ||||||
| Shield, light | 5 | 2 | - | None | 2 | 8 |
| Shield, medium | 12 | 2 | - | None | 3 | 8 |
| Shield, heavy | 30 | 2 | - | None | 5 | 10 |
| Armor Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Cloth | Gambeson, quilted wappenrock, reinforced tunic, padded armor |
| Leather | Leather, hide shirt, leather lamellar, studded leather |
| Soft Breastplate | Scale hussar armor, lorica squamata, mail shirt, lamellar |
| Breastplate | Steel breastplate, lorica segmentata, cuir bouilli, coat of plates |
| Mail hauberk, kusari | |
| Augmented Mail | Lamellar and mail, mail and plate, splint armor |
| Partial Plate | Transitional era plate armor, o-yoroi |
| Full Plate | Medieval plate armor, dwarven stone plate |
See Armor for detailed rules on using armor.
The type of armor you can use also depends on your class. See the chart below for a list of the armor available to you.
| Class | Armor Proficiencies | Shields? |
|---|---|---|
| Alchemist | Light armor | |
| Spellwright | Light armor, medium armor | |
| Barbarian | Light armor, medium armor | Yes |
| Bard | Light armor | Yes |
| Cleric | Light armor, medium armor | Yes |
| Druid | Light armor and medium armor (non-metal) | Yes |
| Elementalist | Light, medium armor | |
| Fighter | All armor | Yes |
| Inquisitor | Light armor, medium armor | Yes |
| Magus | Light armor | |
| Monk | None | |
| Oracle | Light armor, medium armor | Yes |
| Paladin | All armor | Yes |
| Ranger | Light armor, medium armor | Yes |
| Rogue | Light armor | |
| Sorcerer | None | |
| Spellwright | Light, Medium Armor | Yes |
| Warlock | Light Armor | |
| Witch | None | |
| Wizard | None |
All shields offer a +2 bonus to AC, though like armor, only certain classes are trained in shield use. Barbarians, Bards, Clerics, Fighters, Inquisitors, Oracles, Paladins, and Ranger may use shields. Druids may only use wooden shields. Some Fighters can also use heavy shields (see Fighter class).
If you are a dwarf, human, elf, half-elf, or half-orc then you are a medium-sized creature and your AC doesn't change. However, if you are a halfling or gnome, you are smaller and harder to hit. Small creatures get a +1 size bonus to their AC.
The higher your dexterity, the harder you are to hit. Typically, you get your dexterity modifier as a dodge bonus to your AC. So, if you have a Dexterity of 16, you get a +3 bonus to AC. However, this bonus is capped by the armor that you wear. All armor has a score called Max Dex Bonus. This represents the highest dexterity bonus you can apply to your AC.
So, with your Dexterity of 16, you can easily wear leather armor without any impact because leather armor has a max dex of +4. However, if you wear chainmail, your dexterity bonus will only be +2, since mail has a max dex of +2.
Simply put, your
Note that you can still get dodge bonus from other sources besides Dexterity, such as from spells or abilities. Unlike other AC bonuses, dodge bonuses all stack.
Flat-footed AC is your AC when you aren't unable to defend yourself. Touch AC is how hard you are to touch. Each of these has slightly different calculations than your standard AC. When you start out: