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Haggar
November 29th, 2018, 21:48
When using Mage armor it says you gain a +1 item bonus to AC. While wearing Mage armor, you use your unarmored proficiency to calculate your AC. Is a Wizard automatically proficient in unarmored? is there more than just a +1 Item bonus here? Ohh i see, Trained gives me +4 i got it. So total would be +5 at level 4 with Mage Armor.

Trenloe
November 29th, 2018, 22:20
In Pathfinder 2 you will always have some level of proficiency for your AC (from untrained up to legendary) and will always add their level to the AC/TAC total. When you add the first level of a class to a PC the default proficiencies for that class will be added to the Abilities tab (informational only), and it is up to the player to set the proficiency level for the armor (and/or shield if appropriate) that they are using in the AC section of the Combat tab.

And remember, there are different levels of proficiency. Saying "automatically proficient" doesn’t actually mean anything - there needs to be a level of proficiency stated. In this case, all classes are at least trained in unarmored defense. See the Critical updates section on page 25 of the v1.6 update.

Haggar
November 29th, 2018, 23:03
always most helpful Trenloe, thanks!

ShadeRaven
November 30th, 2018, 20:34
Hey Haggar,

First level Mage Armor gives only +1 AC to armor class. So a Wizard set-up will look something like this:

Under spells: Mage Armor (in this case, the player hasn't memorized the spell, thus the empty circles, but does have it in her spellbook)
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25450

You can see the key part is a selectable Effect button that will apply a personally, all-rolls AC:1 bonus to the character that lasts for 1 day. It's best to have this as an affect because if the character doesn't cast or use the spell on a given day, it shouldn't be active.

Now under the Combat Tab, we find the Armor Class section:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25451

In here, we see her base line for Armor Class. She has no armor or shield, but a 16 DEX. Her Proficiency in Unarmored (which everyone gets) is T (for trained), so we see that +1. That gives her a base AC of 14. That is correct for a level 1 Wizard with a 16 DEX. That will stay the same even after she applies the Mage Armor effect. However, in the combat log, when someone attacks, you'll see the effect of the Mage Armor (if active) down there. For example:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25452

You can see the [DEF EFFECTS +1] used in the attack action, meaning that the Plague Zombie was dealing with +1 to AC, effectively making Bridit's AC rise from 14 to 15. Unfortunately for poor Bri, she still took a rotting fist to the face.

Hopefully, all that helps! As always, plenty of people around to answer questions if you run into anything confusing.
SR

PS: Trenloe - By the way, if someone were to set up that AC:1 effect line as AC:1 item to indicate that it is an Item Bonus being added to AC, it won't work. I left it as an untype bonus currently, but might need the item tag added to the effects type so that item bonuses can be tracked separately. :)

Haggar
November 30th, 2018, 21:01
Thanks a lot ShadeRaven!

Trenloe
December 4th, 2018, 12:02
PS: Trenloe - By the way, if someone were to set up that AC:1 effect line as AC:1 item to indicate that it is an Item Bonus being added to AC, it won't work. I left it as an untype bonus currently, but might need the item tag added to the effects type so that item bonuses can be tracked separately. :)
Sorry for taking so long to get to this.

Does the defender already have an item bonus to AC? Wearing normal armor gives an item bonus to AC. Assuming the bonus is at least +1, then the AC: 1 item effect won't be used as it's not higher than the current item bonus to AC.

ShadeRaven
December 4th, 2018, 20:28
Sorry for taking so long to get to this.

Does the defender already have an item bonus to AC? Wearing normal armor gives an item bonus to AC. Assuming the bonus is at least +1, then the AC: 1 item effect won't be used as it's not higher than the current item bonus to AC.Hrm.. I thought we tested it on an armorless mage, but in following up with a fresh character, the AC: 1 item seems to be working. Ooops! Guess this is a false alarm ;)