Cloak of Protection 5e: +1 AC, +1 Saves and What It Stacks With

The Cloak of Protection 5e is an uncommon wondrous item that gives you a +1 bonus to Armor Class and to all saving throws while you wear it. It requires attunement, and the text is the same in the 2014 and 2024 rules apart from capitalization. It works with any armor, shield or class feature, it stacks with a Ring of Protection, and the only thing it competes with is your one cloak and your three attunement slots. Verdict: a solid pick for almost any character until rarer items crowd it out of your attunement slots.

Table of Contents

• •Cloak of Protection Rules Text
• •How the Cloak of Protection Works
• •Cloak of Protection: 2014 vs 2024
• •Is the Cloak of Protection Worth It?
• •Cloak of Protection for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Cloak of Protection Rules Text

Both SRD versions are below, 2014 (SRD 5.1) first and 2024 (SRD 5.2.1) second.

One sentence each, and the 2024 card changes "AC" to "Armor Class." Every question about the cloak comes down to what that sentence touches and what it stacks with.

How the Cloak of Protection Works

Attunement and wearing it

You get nothing from the cloak until you attune to it, which takes a short rest spent focused on the item while touching it. That can't be the same short rest you used to learn what it does. After that, the bonus applies only while you wear it, and both SRDs say a character normally wears one cloak at a time. A Cloak of Protection, a Cloak of Displacement and a Cloak of Elvenkind all fight for the same spot on your shoulders. The 2014 rules mention that a DM can allow two layered cloaks; the 2024 rules say only that the GM might make exceptions.

What +1 AC does

A +1 bonus sounds small because it is, and it still matters every round. Against a monster with +5 to hit, AC 15 is hit on a roll of 10 or higher (55%). At AC 16 the monster needs 11 or higher (50%). That's one hit in eleven turned into a miss. The cloak doesn't care what armor you wear: plate, mage armor, a monk's Unarmored Defense or a barbarian's all add the +1 on top. Compare the Bracers of Defense, which give +2 but only while you wear no armor and carry no shield.

What +1 to saving throws covers

"Saving throws" has no qualifier in either edition, so the bonus applies to all six abilities. A few saves people forget:

• •Concentration. A spellcaster who takes damage makes a Constitution save to keep a spell, DC 10 or half the damage taken, whichever is higher. The +1 applies. See the concentration rules for the full DC table.
• •Death saving throws. Both SRDs call a death saving throw a saving throw (the 2014 text adds that you're aided by features that improve saving throws), and the cloak's wording has no exception. A 10 or higher succeeds normally; with the cloak, a 9 does too. That moves each roll from 55% to 60% success. A natural 1 still counts as two failures, and only a natural 20 brings you back with 1 hit point. The death saving throw rules explain the rest of the clock.
• •Spell saves. Against a Hold Person cast with DC 15, a character with +2 Wisdom needs a 13 (40%). With the cloak they need a 12 (45%).

Stacking with other bonuses

Bonuses from different items add together. Neither SRD has a general rule that blocks a +1 from one item stacking with a +1 from another; the only stacking limits in the attunement rules are three attuned items and no two copies of the same item. So:

The paladin pairing adds up fast: a level 6 paladin with 18 Charisma adds +4 to every save for allies within 10 feet, and the cloak adds a fifth point on top.

Cloak of Protection: 2014 vs 2024

Nothing about how the cloak plays changed. What changed is around it. The 2024 SRD gives magic items an official value, so a 2024 table can sell or buy one at a known price, and it gives most magic items other than potions and scrolls Resistance to all damage, so the cloak is hard to wreck with a fireball. The attunement and one-cloak rules read the same in both books.

Is the Cloak of Protection Worth It?

For most characters, yes, until something better takes the cloak spot or the attunement slot. Here is how it stacks up against the SRD's other defensive attunement items:

Who gets the most out of it:

• •Wizards and sorcerers. Low AC, weak Strength and Dexterity or Constitution saves, and spells that need concentration. Every point counts.
• •Monks. Unarmored Defense only works without armor, so a monk can wear the cloak and the Bracers of Defense together for +3 AC on top of Unarmored Defense.
• •Anyone with a bad Wisdom save. Fighters and barbarians fail the saves that take them out of the fight: Hold Person, charm, fear.

When to pass it on. A paladin sitting in their own aura already has huge saves; the cloak does more on the wizard. A character who has found a Cloak of Displacement usually prefers it, because Disadvantage on incoming attacks is worth far more than +1 AC until the first hit lands. And by the time three rare or very rare items want your attunement slots, a +1 cloak is the first thing to drop.

Cloak of Protection for DMs

Placement. An uncommon item with no drawback, it fits a low-level treasure hoard or a quest reward from someone who wants the party to survive. Give it to the party, not a player; the table decides who wears it, and that conversation tells you a lot about who feels fragile.

What it does to encounters. Very little. Monster attack bonuses and save DCs in both SRDs grow slowly with challenge rating, and one point doesn't break that curve. Two of these effects together (cloak and ring) push AC and saves up enough that low-level monsters miss more, but that's a rare item and two attunement slots spent on it.

Pricing. The 2024 SRD sets uncommon items at 400 GP, and crafting one takes 10 days and 200 GP for a character with Arcana proficiency and the right tool. The 2014 SRD gives no prices. If you run a shop, the shop price calculator and the magic item rarity calculator help you set a market price, and the magic item generator can give a plain cloak a history.

Edge cases. If the wearer drops unconscious, the cloak still works (it only asks that you wear it). If someone steals it, attunement doesn't end until it's been more than 100 feet away for 24 hours or the thief attunes to it. Players will ask whether it can be layered under a Cloak of Elvenkind. Both SRDs leave that to you (the 2014 text names layering two cloaks as a possible exception), so decide before it comes up.

Hooks.

• •A town guard captain was buried in one, and her family wants it back from whoever robbed the grave.
• •Two Cloaks of Protection turn up in the same hoard. Only one character can benefit from each, and the party has to decide who.
• •A hireling's cloak keeps saving him from traps he shouldn't survive. He doesn't know it's magic, and he won't sell it.

Who wore the cloak, and who handed it over, is the kind of detail that fades between sessions. Loreify records your game and writes up the recap, loot and all.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Cloak of Protection require attunement?

Yes. In both the 2014 and 2024 rules the Cloak of Protection requires attunement, so it uses one of your three attunement slots and does nothing until you attune.

Does Cloak of Protection stack with Ring of Protection?

Yes. They're different items, so a character attuned to both gets +2 AC and +2 to all saving throws. You can't attune to two copies of the same item, so two cloaks or two rings won't stack.

Does Cloak of Protection add to death saving throws?

Yes, as written. Both SRDs call the death save a saving throw, and the cloak adds +1 to saving throws with no exception, so a roll of 9 succeeds. A natural 1 still counts as two failures.

Can you wear a Cloak of Protection with armor?

Yes. Unlike the Bracers of Defense, the cloak has no armor or shield restriction. Its +1 adds to whatever Armor Class you already have.

How much is a Cloak of Protection worth?

400 GP under the 2024 SRD, which values every uncommon magic item at 400 GP. The 2014 SRD doesn't list prices for magic items.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.