Mage Armour

Mage Armour is a level 1 abjuration spell. It allows spellcasters to surround an unarmoured creature (including themselves, if unarmoured) with magical protection.

Description

Surround an unarmoured creature in a protective magical force. Its

Armour Class increases to 13 + its Dexterity modifier.

This effect does not stack with Unarmoured Defence.

The target can't be wearing Armour.

Properties

Cost:  Action +  Level 1 Spell Slot
Details: Melee: 1.5 m / 5 ft

At higher levels

Casting this spell at a higher level grants no additional benefit.

Technical details

UID

Target_MageArmor

Spell flags

HasSomaticComponent, HasVerbalComponent, IsMelee, IsSpell

Mage Armour

Duration: Until Long rest

Base Armour Class is 13.

Classes:

Class level 1: Sorcerer, and Wizard
Class level 3: Arcane Trickster, and Eldritch Knight

Granted by features:

Granted by items:

Moon Devotion Robe

Other ways to learn:

Wizards can scribe a Scroll of Mage Armour to their spellbooks.

Also granted to Warlocks who choose the Eldritch Invocation Armour of Shadows at level 2+. This version of the spell only targets the caster, and does not expend a Spell Slot.
This buff persists if the caster is removed from the active party, even if rejoining later.
- If cast by a Wizard, this spell must remain Prepared by the party member who cast it; removing Mage Armour from the caster's Prepared Spells list immediately removes the buff from all party members whom the caster applied it to. If applied by using (not scribing) a scroll, the caster need not keep this spell Prepared to maintain the buff.
If a party member who has Mage Armour equips a piece of Armour, the buff is removed. Mage Armour is not be reapplied when unequipping that Armour; it must to be cast on them once more.
The normal base Armour Class is 10 + Dexterity modifier; this spell changes it to 13 + Dexterity modifier.
- The recipient still get bonuses from other sources that do not change their base armour class, such as +1 AC robes, Bracers of Defence, Shield of Faith, etc.
Gloves and Helmets marked as Light, Medium or Heavy Armour count as armour, and prevent Mage Armour from working.
Mage Armour works while a Shield is equipped.
Mage Armour, Draconic Resilience, Unarmoured Defence (Barbarian), Unarmoured Defence (Monk) and Barkskin all change base armour class and therefore do not stack.
- If the recipient has multiples of these they only get the benefit that which provides the best Armour Class.
Mage Armour works in Wild Shape as long as the user has no armour equipped before transforming.
- This effect only works on forms with a base Armour Class of less than 13.
Mage Armour does not count as wearing armour for things like Unarmoured Movement, Become the Bulwark and Defence.
The incantation for Mage Armour is Mactē Virtutē, Latin for "With great virtue".