Noob Question

[ltrambo85]

Now I was wondering with the DM i played with in Pnp D&D he said with armor that had a Dex cap of 6 that all you equipment was affected by that. So if you had +7 dex modifier and your cap was +6 on your armor that you weapons would not get that +7 and only get a +7 assuming you had weapon finesse. Is this true? By the way I am drunk typing this so please don't flame me for this being a dumb question to you because I would really like to know the truth behind this.

[JFeenstra]

not true

armor/tower sheilds only cap your dex bonus to ac, not your dex bonus to skills, to hit and other dex related things

[Solmage]

From the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/armor.htm#armorQualities) :

Maximum Dex Bonus
This number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to AC that this type of armor allows. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer’s ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn’t affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.
[...]
Your character’s encumbrance (the amount of gear he or she carries) may also restrict the maximum Dexterity bonus that can be applied to his or her Armor Class.

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Having said this, it actually makes sense that if your armor is so cumbersome that you can't benefit from a high dexterity, that it also gets in the way of shooting a bow accurately and other dexterous tasks.

At the end of the day, your DM was right simply because he's the DM. If his rule makes sense in his world, that's that. PS: The temple of elemental evil, which is perhaps the most faithful adaptation of D&D 3.5 in a game that I've seen, does cap your dex based on armor for all intents and purposes, so this is not an unusual ruling.

[Gorbadoc]

Your dungeon master is correct; that's what the rule says.

DDO ignores this rule; max dexterity bonus applies ONLY to armor class. You could be wearing eight tons of cement and still fire a bow with your full dexterity bonus.