Some classes in D&D aren’t able to utilize the best features in their class if they are wearing armor, so in these cases it’s best to forego armor or a shield. However, the lower your AC the more you will struggle to stay up in combat – especially as your campaign progresses and the difficulty of encounters increases – so a higher AC is always attractive. The Bracers of Defense can be the answer to increasing your defenses by bumping up your AC without sacrifice.
Bracers of Defense – The Basics
- Item type: wristwear, wondrous item
- Rarity: rare
- Estimated cost: up to 5,000gp
- Material: metal (usually)
- Requirements: attunement
- Effect: grants +2 bonus to AC if you are wearing no armor and using no shield
What Are the Bracers of Defense?
The Bracers of Defense are an alternative to armor – they are a wonderous item that grant a +2 to the AC of characters who are not wearing armor or using a shield. This effectively makes them equal to wearing studded armor, but for characters who aren’t otherwise able to wear armor without suffering penalties. It may seem strange that a character would not be wearing armor in a game that involves fighting. However, though most classes have some proficiency with armor, there are a handful who don’t.
Technically, anyone can put on armor or pick up a shield to try to protect themselves. However, if you are not proficient with armor or shields you are unable use them effectively and it would nearly always prove to be more of a hinderance than the AC boost is worth. If you lack proficiency with the armor or shield you are wearing, you have disadvantage on Strength- and Dexterity-based ability checks or saving throws, and you are unable to cast spells – this is obviously extremely significant.
Your Armor Class (AC) is the score assigned to measure your defenses – basically it determines how hard you are to hit. Your AC is takes into account your physical agility, your natural defenses, any defensive gear you have, and any class specific bonuses. A normal AC sits somewhere between 10 and 20, with lower levels most likely gearing towards the lower end of the scale.
Your base AC is determined just from your ability to move out of the way of incoming attacks deftly. Therefore, generally your base AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier. This means that as a general rule, the more dexterous the character, the higher their natural AC will be and the less likely they are to need heavier armor.
Some races (such as a tortle or loxodon) and even some sub-classes (such as the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer) have natural armor due to having a tough or magical hide, so their base AC would use a different calculation. For example, a lizardfolk’s base AC is 13 + Dexterity, a loxodon’s base AC is 12 + Constitution, and a tortle’s base AC is a flat 17.
Once your base AC has been determined, you then take into account any gear that affects your ability to avoid being wounded. This is where armor and shields come in. Your class will tell you if you have proficiency with light, medium, or heavy armor, and shields. If you have no proficiency with these and you have been lucky enough to find a set of Bracers of Defense, this is where you would add a +2 to your AC.
Bumping your AC up by even just +1 can feel like it makes a big difference in combat, so having an item that gives you an immediate +2 to your AC dramatically increases the difficulty of hitting you.
Who Can Use the Bracers of Defense?
Any unarmored character can attune to the Bracers of Defense, but there are some classes that clearly benefit much more than others from this item – the classes without any in-built armor proficiencies. Monks and barbarians would be the obvious first choices for these bracers, but wizards and sorcerers could also benefit from their effect.
Monks – Bracers of Defense
Bracers of Defense and monks go together like owls and bears. Monks are the archetypal class to use this item, as where the Bracers can take a caster’s AC from abysmal to acceptable, they can take a monk’s AC from good to the best in a party.
Monks have the unarmored defense feature. This means their base AC is equal to 10 + Dexterity mod + Wisdom mod. As monks’ highest stats would normally be Dexterity and Wisdom, and these are the ones you would improve first at level ups, it’s likely that a monk’s AC will also be in the mid- to high-range of respectable. Importantly though, this AC calculation only applies if they are unarmored – no shield, no armor. If monks are not unarmored they lose the ability to add their Wisdom modifier to their AC.
Monks are at their best in melee combat. As a monk it would be ideal to jump in, deal damage, then disengage and dart away. However due to having to sacrifice half of your attacks in order to disengage, and the scarcity of ki points at lower levels, monks are often in actuality left engaged and within melee range of the enemy. This means that they are likely to get hit – a lot.
This likelihood for monks to draw fire coupled with Constitution not being their highest stat and their hit points therefore not being ‘tank level’, means that in order for a monk to be able to withstand a full combat encounter, a buff to AC for monks is really effective.
Barbarians – Bracers of Defense
Barbarians are the beefy older sibling of monks and, similarly to monks, they have the unarmored defense feature. However, their base AC swaps out the bonus from Wisdom to a bonus for Constitution.
As barbarians are normally the tanks of a party, having a higher AC as a barbarian is ideal, as it allows you to take the hits without fear of being downed in every fight. They are another example of the Bracers of Defense not just acting as an item that can level out a character and enable them to purely survive combat, but allowing a character to become a specialized and powerful member of a group.
Barbarians are more likely to have a higher Constitution than monks, and their hit die is a d12 rather than a d8 like monks. Therefore your average barbarian will likely have far more hit points than a monk. Because of this, if a party with a monk and a barbarian were to come across a set of Bracers of Defense, they would likely be more useful for the party if given to the monk – but this does depend on your party’s dynamic, stats, and play style.
Sorcerers – Bracers of Defense
Sorcerer is an exciting and versatile class to play, and their innate spellcasting can make for some creative backstory and roleplaying options. Their Metamagic and sorcery points means they are arguably a more interesting caster to play than a wizard.
However sorcerers are one of the two caster classes that have no proficiency with any armor or shields, unless you take a feat or multiclass. Because of this, Sorcerers typically have a very low base AC of 10 + Dexterity mod. One of the sorcerer subclasses – Draconic Bloodline – actually gives you an enhanced AC to begin with, equalling 13 + Dexterity mod. However even with this enhanced base AC, sorcerers are still on the squishier side, and as your first few ASIs at least would most likely spent on bumping up your Charisma and your Constitution, your AC won’t improve without the use of magical items.
The Bracers of Defense can allow a sorcerer to be slightly less concerned about needing to keep their distance, and allow them to be more versatile on the battlefield.
Wizards – Bracers of Defense
If monks and barbarians are the peak of raw physical prowess in battle, wizards are the opposite. Wizards are characterized by using their minds as weapons rather than their physicality, and their spell lists and features demonstrate this. Their lethality lies in their mental stats. However to achieve the highest mental stats possible they AC. A wizard’s hit die is also only a d6, so they are generally not saturated with hit points either. This means that wizards are the epitome of ‘squishy’.
As beneficial as it is for a wizard to have brilliant Intelligence, powerful spells are only useful if you’re alive to cast them. And an increased AC makes you harder to kill. Because of this, Bracers of Defense allow wizards a little more leeway on the battlefield, not having to panic quite so much after taking just one hit.
A staple for wizards is Mage Armor to bolster their defenses in combat. The use of the word ‘armor’ in the title of the spell suggests at first glance that Mage Armor would cancel out any effect from the Bracers of Defense. However, this is not the case. Mage Armor is not actually armor, it is a magical effect, and it affects the target’s base AC, therefore the bonus from the Bracers of Defense stacks with Mage Armor. Used in tandem they give a wizard a +5 to their AC, which is nothing to be sniffed at.
Similarly, a wizard may have Shield in their repertoire. Though the Shield spell’s title seems to suggest that this would nullify the Bracers of Defense, this is not the case. Shield is a magical effect and another AC bonus and is therefore able to stack with the Bracers of Defense.
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Aside from monks, barbarians, sorcerers, and wizards, characters who do actually have armor proficiencies could still use the Bracers of Defense if they didn’t have any other armor or a shield equipped. However if your character can use armor more significant than studded leather it will likely give them a better AC than the Bracers of Defense. If your character can’t wear heavier armor, the benefit of using studded leather over the Bracers is that standard armor doesn’t use an attunement slot, whereas the Bracers of Defense do.
Are Bracers of Defense Good?
The Bracers of Defense are a great item. They’re perfect for an unarmored character to at the very least make them a little tougher, or at the other end make them a truly tenacious opponent.
As with the best magical items there is a small element of sacrifice. The Bracers of Defense do require attunement. This means that 1/3 of your attunement slots will be taken by a +2 AC bonus. This, in most instances, will be worth it. But depending on your campaign and what other magical items appear, you may decide that you would rather attune to something else. However, unlike some other magical items requiring attunement, the Bracers of Defense are likely to be useful through the entirety of a campaign.
What Do the Bracers of Defense Look Like?
The Bracers of Defense are shown in the DM Guide to be made of scrolling, metal filigree, that would sit as a light-weight cage around the forearms. As these bracers only work if you are unarmored, it makes sense that they would need to be light and somewhat physically unsubstantial, as they do not class as armor. However the depiction in the DM Guide doesn’t need to limit you on how they appear in your own campaign.
You might decide that instead of the metal cage-work, the bracers in your campaign should be a fine set of bracelets and rings, linked together with thin chains, or a light length of leather strapping or wrist bandages worn by a historic monk. Your Bracers of Defense could be powered by a slain creature; they could look like glass, hollow bangles containing the last gust of an air elemental, or could even be a simple pair of silk gloves that are stitched with quickling hair.
As with everything in D&D, putting your own spin on the presentation of this popular item is a great way to make it feel unique to your campaign.
Detect Magic – What School of Magic are the Bracers of Defense From?
The Bracers of Defense would give off an Abjuration aura, if subjected to the Detect Magic spell.
FAQs
Do Bracers of Defense count as armor?
No, Bracers of Defense do not count as armor. The bracers are a ‘wonderous item’ rather than falling under the category of ‘armor’, and the description specifically states that they only work while you are not wearing armor.
Can you use Bracers of Defense with a shield?
No, Bracers of Defense only work if you are not wearing armor or using a shield.
Do Bracers of Defense stack with Ring of Protection?
Yes, you are able to stack the effects of both the Ring of Protection and the Bracers of Defense, as long as you have attunement slots for both of them. In D&D 5e bonuses can stack as long as they are not identical (you would not be able to stack two Rings of Protection for example). Stacking items that give you a bonus to AC is comparable to a character wearing both armor and a shield. Both these items effectively provide a bonus to AC and do not cancel each other out.
However, AC bonuses are different to your base AC, and it’s important to remember that you are not able to stack base AC calculations. Your base AC is you AC void of any bonuses. For example, if you were to cast Mage Armor on a monk, this would replace the monk’s base AC (10 + Dex + Wis) with the spell’s AC calculation (13 + Dex).
Do Bracers of Defense stack with unarmored defense?
Yes, Bracers of Defense do stack with unarmored defense. The unarmored defense feature affects your base AC calculation. The Bracers of Defense do not affect your base AC calculation; they are instead an AC bonus. Base AC calculations cannot stack, but AC bonuses can be applied to any base AC calculation, unless the spell or item states otherwise.
Do Bracers of Defense stack with Mage Armor?
Yes, Bracers of Defense do stack with Mage Armor. Mage Armor increases the target’s base AC to 13 + Dexterity mod. The Bracers of Defense do not affect your base AC calculation; they are instead an AC bonus. AC bonuses can be applied on top of a higher-than-standard base AC calculation, unless the spell or item states otherwise.
Bracers of Defense do not count as armor (they are a wonderous item), so do not break the spell, and Mage Armor does not count as armor (it is a magical effect), so does not affect the bonus from the Bracers.
Then my partner bought me a starter set for 5e and my friend ran us a mini-dungeon to give us a feel for the game play and I was immediately hooked. Since then, I have lost countless hours to playing, DMing, and creating homebrew.
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