Where do mega ACs come from

[Ollamnh]

I've played four different parties now and something is bugging me. The best AC I've ever managed t build on a fighter (Minsc) was about a -9. Most of the magic AC modifiers won't work together. But in other posts, I see guys bragging about -20s and worse. Short of some sort of cheat, how in the heck are they doing it????

[Chips_40285]

high dex + dex boosting items + armor with a -1 or -2 ac + other things (ring of gaxx, weapons with ac bonus, magic rings/amulets and such)= really low ac

[DaJir]

Its all about gear.
It all starts with base AC, and that is 10 for everbody. Armor and certain bracers will take that number and set it to a certain number like -2 (Armor of the Heart +3 from Underdark). Potions will do the same thing too, but we'll lump them into the magic section.
After that you get modifiers that Add to your base ac, which is whatever the bracers or armor set it to. The main one is pretty obvious, and thats dex. With it maxed at 18/19 you get a modifier of 4 reduced to your ac. Thats how you get chars that have 6 ac or so w/o wearing anything. So a char with Armor of the Heart+3 and 18 dex would have an AC of -6. After that you have certain class "perks" that give you extra ac modifiers, like a Swashbucker.
Going back to gear again, you can get things that give you more ac modifiers, like shields. For example you get the Sentinal +4 shield (Underdark vendor). It gives a 5 bonus to AC, bringing our example fighter type char's AC to -11. Certain magic helms will do the same thing, tho i've yet to see one that offers more than 1 bonus (like the Helm of Balduran). Now our example fighter has -12 ac.
When it comes to jewelry (rings/necklaces) and cloaks it gets a little wierd. The game limits you to only one piece of magic armor, but most of those slips through the cracks. You can wear something like the ring of gaxx (2 ac bonus) and ring of earth control(1 ac bonus) but not something like ring of protection +2 (2ac bonus) when you're wearing magic armor. Same deal with cloaks, you can wear Cloak of Sewers(1 ac bonus) with anything, but you can't wear a Cloak of protection +1 or +2 (1 and 2 ac bounus respectively) with other magical stuff.

So now our example warrior with Armor of the Hart+3, Helm of balduran, Sentinal +4 shield, Ring of Gaxx, Ring of earth control and cloak of sewers is down to just -16ac... pretty nice but could easily get better. But at that point only critical hits will reach you on most enemies and on special enemies which have insane thac0 and always seem to hit ya anyway.

After that you can still get ac modifiers from various weapons(damn near all of em are on vendors so... look for em). If thats still not enough you can get belts and boots that give you even more ac modifiers, but towards specific types of weapon dmg. Golden girdle helps with slashing, Girdle of piercing helps with missle and piercing dmg, Girdle of bluntness helps with crushing dmg and boots of avoidance help with missle. Armor types also gives specific weapon ac modifiers.
You can make full (ab)use of all of the above by mix and matching classes to get the best of both worlds with dual/multi classing.
Just think of a fighter/mage/cleric with all that gear, but with spells like blur, improved invis, and defensive harmony.. it'll quickly get outa hand.

[MegaToerist]

To get a really tanking party, try this (but you'll need to have ToB ):

ENALOINDIR
18th level Cleric (13th level Fighter), Neutral Good
Str 15, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 17, Cha 12

Helmet : Wong Fei Ioun Stone
Armor : Enkidu's Full Plate
Shield : Sentinel
Bracers : Gauntlets of Dexterity
Ring (left) : Holy Symbol of Lathander
Ring (right): Ring of Holiness
Necklace : Sensate Amulet
Boots : Boots of Speed
Cloak : Nymph Cloak
Belt : Girdle of Fire Giant Strength
Weapon : Runehammer (Erinne Sling)
AC : -20
Attacks : 5/2
Thac0 : -12

DORGAN
26th level Swashbuckler, Chaotic Good
Str 11, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 11

Helmet : Thieves' Hood
Armor : White Dragon Scale
Shield : None
Bracers : Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise
Ring (left) : Ring of Regeneration
Ring (right): Ring of Air Control
Necklace : Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance
Boots : Boots of Speed
Cloak : Cloak of Non-Detection
Belt : Girdle of Bluntness
Weapon : Angurvadal / Dagger of the Star
AC : -20
Attacks : 2
Thac0 : -14 / -12

AERIE
26th level Swashbuckler, Neutral Good
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 12

Helmet : Lavender Ioun Stone
Armor : Grandmaster Armor
Shield : None
Bracers : Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization
Ring (left) : Ring of Air Control
Ring (right): Ring of Earth Control
Necklace : Amulet of Seldarine
Boots : Gargoyle Boots
Cloak : Montolio's Cloak
Belt : Girdle of Stone Giant Strength
Weapon : The Answerer / Short Sword of Backstabbing
AC : -20
Attacks : 5/2
Thac0 : -13 / -11

CIRRION
26th level Blade, Neutral Good
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15

Helmet : Dusty Rose Ioun Stone
Armor : Aslyferund Elven Chain Mail
Shield : None
Bracers : Wondrous Gloves
Ring (left) : Ring of Human Influence
Ring (right): Ring of the Ram
Necklace : Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance
Boots : Boots of Speed
Cloak : Cloak of the Sewers
Belt : Girdle of Hill Giant Strength
Weapon : Axe of the Unyielding / Frostreaver
AC : -22
Attacks : N/A [2]
Thac0 : N/A [-7 / -3]

ZEALANA
26th level Blade, Neutral Good
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 16

Helmet : Vhailor's Helm
Armor : Melodic Chain
Shield : None
Bracers : Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Ring (left) : Ring of Spell Turning
Ring (right): Ring of Fire Control
Necklace : Amulet of the Master Harper
Boots : Boots of Speed
Cloak : Cloak of Displacement
Belt : Girdle of Piercing
Weapon : Yamato +4/Scarlet Ninja-To
AC : -21
Attacks : N/A [3]
Thac0 : [-5 / -2]

IMOEN
19th level Sorceror, Chaotic Good
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 12

Helmet : Circlet of Netheril
Armor : Robe of the Good Archmagi
Shield : None
Bracers : Bracers of Defense AC 3
Ring (left) : Ring of Wizardry
Ring (right): Ring of Acuity
Necklace : Amulet of Power
Boots : Boots of Speed
Cloak : Improved Cloak of Protection +2
Belt : Belt of Inertial Barrier
Weapon : Sling of Everard (Staff of the Magi)
AC : -13
Attacks : 1
Thac0 : -1

You've got three nice tanks, a (cheesy) Sorc, a healer, thievings skills, and a lot of spellcasting support.
This party is really hard to stop (even while role-playing and not using obviously "evil" items such as the Ring of Gaxx and Robe of Vecna)

TC, Geert

[Aegnor]

@MegaToerist: nice party, but I'm not sure where you get those super low AC's. E.G. Imoen has AC -1 with those bracers and dex, which becomes -3 with the cloak or prot. +2, and finally -5 when she's wielding the Staff of the Magi. So I see her having -13 only with spell buffs on top, which is great, but only of limited duration.

Of course, with four bards in the party I'm sure there's always at least one singing about how great they all are and how no one can hit them....

[MegaToerist]

The two blades are singing (improved song), so that adds another 8 points to AC (along with the other bonuses) . Throw in the buff spells (which I did not yet take into account, and you have a *very* elusive sorceror .

TC, Geert

[sigurd]

Bah, you cant get better than -26 anyway, and that doesnt help a lot against the big guys.. so AC isnt that great anyway.. -15 is enuff

[EMINEM]

For all intents and purposes, casting Protection from Magical Weapons (arguably the best Fighter/Mage spell in the book) is like equipping yourself with Leather Armor +1000, granting invincibility to all physical attacks from the more powerful creatures (dragons, mind flayers, golems, elementals) you have to face. I was able to stand toe to toe against Demogorgon and his host of tanar'ri with this spell alone, and none (NONE!) of their attacks got through.