Armour +x or rings of protection +x

pixie359

I am currently playing a vanilla BG2 run, partly for old times sake and partly to give the appropriate frame of reference to BG2:EE. I had half forgotten about the limits on +x protection items. So, here is a question - at what point does it become worth equipping armour with improved AC over a ring that has both AC and saving throw bonuses? How do elemental resistances play into this question?

I'm getting close to convincing myself that I shouldn't equip any magical armour unless it has other big bonuses, as saving throws are more important than AC, and most of my characters have other ways of improving AC anyway.

SionIV

1.) Saving throws aren't that important in BG2 as through divine spells and such you'll be Immune to most effects, and you'll reach such a high level that your saving throws will be very low without any rings.

2.) AC is important in BG2 but resistance is probably even more useful, and immunities. Take Aegis hide for an example, the leather armor you get at waukeen. It might have worse AC but the immunities and resistance makes it one of the best armors in the game.

3.) In my games the ring of protections end up on my mages and such, while the frontline end up using magical armors. When you reach the good armors at the end, the ring of protection +2 just isn't worth it.

Tetraploid

I pretty much never prioritise rings over armor. As SionIV said, the bonus to saving throws doesn't matter that much and you get access to loads of extra benefits from magical armors.

Pibaro

Non magical armor are heavier than magical armor.
You can equip just 2 rings (If you don't wear a +1 ring you save a finger for something else).
So a full plate mail +1 (AC 0) is surely better than a full plate mail (AC 1) with a ring of protection +1 (total AC 0) if you have someone like Jaheira or a weak character.

pixie359

Anyone wearing plate mail will not be weak - that's what gauntlets and girdles are for. But point taken about the extra slot being available.

SionIV

Pibaro said:

Non magical armor are heavier than magical armor.
You can equip just 2 rings (If you don't wear a +1 ring you save a finger for something else).
So a full plate mail +1 (AC 0) is surely better than a full plate mail (AC 1) with a ring of protection +1 (total AC 0) if you have someone like Jaheira or a weak character.

I have to disagree here. In most cases you are correct, but when it comes to BG1 and the early-mid BG2 it's better to have a full plate + ring of protection instead of just a full plate +1 because of the saving throws. But when you start adding the magical armors like shadow/red dragon armor and others, the ring just isn't worth it anymore.

I would just like to mention Keldorns personal armor here, because it's really amazing.

His armor is actually

Full plate mail
Ring of protection +1
Ring of free action

Which makes it VERY good.

Durenas

That is assuming you have something worth putting in the extra slot. And you shouldn't discount the value of saving throws in early-mid SoA.

Corvino

There are a number of ways of getting round these problems to an extent. The Ring of Gaxx (and you can get two, you cheesy sod) stacks with rings of protection or magic armour and given +2AC and +2 to saves.

It does depend a lot on the character involved though. A high Con dwarf will not need save bonuses as much as a human. There's also the matter of there being relatively few rings/cloaks of protection of greater than +1, so when you start getting armors that are +2 or +3 there's often a party member who will benefit.