Armor and Shield Choices: A Guide to Parry and Armor Check Penalties

Most armors contribute a maximum of 9 points to your total Armor Class (AC), combining the base armor class and the maximum dexterity bonus. However, some armors, like clothing/outfits and padded armor, are an exception. Keep in mind that it's challenging to achieve a dexterity bonus greater than 9 with padded armor or clothing, as sources for boosting ability scores to that extent are limited.

In light of this, it's advisable to select armor that aligns with your character's dexterity bonus, matching the armor's maximum dexterity bonus. If your dexterity bonus exceeds this maximum, you should consider a different armor. Many individuals use boosts to their dexterity prior to going into combat such as Cat's Grace potions or spells to enhance their dexterity to the required level.

Here's a list of various armors and their respective statistics:

Additionally, shields play a significant role in your character's defense:

 Large Shield
 Small Shield

It's crucial to consider Parry AC when calculating your armor's effectiveness. You gain 1 Parry AC for every 5 points in the Parry skill, up to a maximum of 6 AC with 30 points in Parry, provided you have a weapon equipped. **The cap of 30 is applied first, and then your AC is calculated by factoring in the ACP penalties.**

Some notes on Parry:

* If you have a shield, the Parry AC is halved unless you possess the Shield Parry feat (which requires 15 dexterity).

* The heavy weapons that halve the AC bonus, unless one has the Improved Parry feat, are the following ones: great sword, great axe, heavy flial, scythe, falchion, maul.

* Parry AC is only applicable to unarmed combat if you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.

* Parry AC is granted to ranged weapons only when you have a shield in your offhand, although this is only viable with certain ranged weapons.

It's essential to note that Armor Check Penalty (ACP) affects several skills, including Hide, Move Silently, Parry, Set Trap, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble. Therefore, ACP can decrease your Parry AC and other skill bonuses, making it a crucial factor to consider when choosing the optimal armor and shield combination for your character. Keep in mind that ACP does not affect Tumble AC, which is determined by hard ranks, and your tumble AC remains unchanged even with ACP.

An example is full plate and tower shield has a combined ACP of -21, so you would be looking at a maximum possible bonus of 9 parry, which only results in 1 AC, and needs 15 dexterity, shield parry and full investment into Parry. Considering full plate has a maximum dexterity bonus of +1 (12), it would not make sense to invest into parry with those options.

Some popular and common options are:

1. Full Plate (8 armor, 1 dex) + Tower Shield (4 armor) + Parry (0 armor) for a total of 13 AC. This option requires only 12 dexterity and no parry investment.
2. Chain Shirt (4 armor, 5 dex) + Tower Shield (4 armor) + Parry (3 armor) for a total of 16 AC. This option requires 20 dexterity, full parry investment and shield parry.
3. Chain Shirt (4 armor, 5 dex) + Small Shield (1 armor) + Parry (5 armor) for a total of 15 AC. This option requires 20 dexterity, full parry investment and shield parry, and is better suited for those with lesser carrying capacity.