[RPG] Is the product of the Heavens Mystery revelation “Coat of Many Stars” a valid target for Magic Vestment

pathfinder-1espells

From Magic Vestment:

Target: armor or shield touched

You imbue a suit of armor or a shield with an enhancement bonus of +1 per four caster levels (maximum +5 at 20th level).

An outfit of regular clothing counts as armor that grants no AC bonus for the purpose of this spell.

It would appear that Magic Vestment can target three things:

  1. Something that qualifies as "armor."
  2. Something that qualifies as "a shield."
  3. Something that qualifies as "an outfit of regular clothing" via an exception.

Coat of Many Stars reads as follows:

Coat of Many Stars (Su): You conjure a coat of starry radiance that
grants you a +4 armor bonus. At 7th level, and every four levels
thereafter, this bonus increases by +2. At 13th level, this armor
grants you DR 5/slashing. You can use this coat for 1 hour per day per
oracle level. The duration does not need to be consecutive; it can
instead be spent in 1-hour increments.

The question is threefold:

  1. Based on the first line about conjuring a coat, does the revelation create an actual "coat" or is this just fluff text using the word "coat" to describe the field of radiance?
  2. If a coat is created, does it qualify as "an outfit of regular clothing" for the purposes of Magic Vestment despite being a supernatural conjuration with several special properties?
  3. If not, does the use of the term "armor" in the 13th level clause qualify the coat as "armor" or "a suit of armor" for Magic Vestment?

Best Answer

1) It is a coat. The line "You can use this coat" covers that for me. 2) and 3) Its possible that it falls in between, but see below.

  • Common terms states:

    Bonus (Armor)

    An armor bonus applies to Armor Class and is granted by armor or by a spell or magical effect that mimics armor. {snip}

  • Heavens Coat of Many Stars states:

    Coat of Many Stars (Su): You conjure a coat of starry radiance that grants you a +4 armor bonus.

  • Conjuration Creation (which is just for completenes, since the effect isn't called out as any specific school) states:

    Creation: a creation spell manipulates matter to create an object or creature in the place the spellcaster designates.

From this we can determine that you are in fact wearing an item of clothing, its not just shiny lights, it is in fact an object (though don't ask me how you sunder it), and furthermore, it is specifically called out as clothing (coat).

Magic Vestment states:

An outfit of regular clothing counts as armor that grants no AC bonus for the purpose of this spell.

I would argue that "regular" in this case means "not armor", rather than "commonplace". I'm pretty sure it was not intended to a silken shirt could not have magic vestment cast upon it.

Now, either the coat is armor (because it provides an armor bonus) or it is not (and is therefore clothing). Either way the spell works.

Note: A really stingy DM could argue that clothing doesn't have an AC bonus and therefore the second part of this doesn't apply, in which case your stuck with your DMs interpretation. However, since the spell goes out of its way to basically say "armor or just whatever your wearing" I think the fact that is intended that it should include special cases that fall in between. Point out that Oracles can normally wear armor anyway, and that Mage Armor, Magic Vestment and normal clothing would work.

( All emphasis mine )