Shadow Dragon Scale Armor compared to Shadow Armor - curious thing

PixelRunner

im a solo assassin on LoB and just got the Shadow Dragon Scale Armor. this has 1 armor, -1 vs slashing, 0 vs piercing and missile. before this i was using the Shadow Armor, which has 4 armor, 3 vs piercing and missile, 2 vs slashing. the odd thing is that the armor vs missile as shown in the character window is the same with both armor, whereas it should be better with the Shadow Dragon Scale, right? what is the explanation?

jmerry

The way AC works in this game is that you have a base AC number and then modifiers against each of the four types; the final number is the sum of the base AC and all relevant modifiers.

Body armor normally reports its AC against each type as the sum of its base AC and the type modifiers. For example, studded leather +3 (Shadow Armor) is 4 base with modifiers of -1 vs piercing, -1 vs missile, and -2 vs slashing. That gets reported as 4 (3 vs piercing and missile, 2 vs slashing).

But the character screen? That's reporting your base AC and the modifiers you have against each type; you have to do the math yourself.

Both the Shadow Armor and the Shadow Dragon Scale armor are based on studded leather; they're basically studded leather +3 and studded leather +6, before you get into the other abilities. So they have the same modifiers against each type, and that's what you're seeing on the character screen.

PixelRunner

the thing is that i can see a difference in the character screen, but only for the base armor. when i look in the char screen below where it says armor, missile and piercing, for example, is the same with both armors. maybe i will follow with a picture later today, i feel i havent been very eloquent about this so far.

PixelRunner

please consider again this message:

to put it more clearly, lets say my only source of armor is the chest armor. so:

Shadow Dragon Scale: armor class 1( -1 vs slashing, 0 vs piercing and missile)
Shadow Armor: armor class 4 (2 vs slashing, 3 vs piercing and missile)

now, in the character screen (the window u open with "i" key), i can see the difference between the 2 armors only for the value i wrote in italics (before the parenthesis). as i understand it, this value is the value that applies against crushing damage, cos for slashing/piercing and missile, the values in the parenthesis will take effect. correct?

PixelRunner

this is just a random image from the internet. the value that i highlighted in red changes, depending on what armor i wear. but to the right of the red rectangle, if i scroll down a bit to see the values against piercing and missile or vs slashing - these value stay the same, weather im wearing an armor or the other.

jmerry

Those values you see when you scroll down are not the overall AC against those types. They are the relative modifiers only. For the overall AC, you have to do the math yourself.

PixelRunner

ok, i think i got it, thanks!

now i would ask something else: if i have a weapon with damage/attack +2. +4 vs evil creatures, does that mean that against evil i have 2+4, or just 4?

jmerry

Daystar is +4 to attack vs evil. And +4 enchantment vs evil, in the EE. It does 1d8+2 slashing damage to anything it hits, another 2 slashing damage vs evil, another 1d8+2 magic damage vs undead, and a final 2 magic damage vs evil undead. Any bonuses you have from strength, proficiencies, and the like apply to the initial 1d8+2 slashing damage; the rest are all separate damage packets.

PixelRunner

i see, thank you!