Herrick: With a full set of cured you will do just fine at level 12 or even
level 20. Some cheap stuff you could buy now or save up for:

Onyx earrings (2agi ones) 5pp from Blackburrow
Spiked collar (3ac 3str) 5pp from Blackburrow

then start saving up:

Bracer of Erolisi (ac5 5str) 30pp from OOT
Jagged bands (ac5 3str) 30-50pp from Unrest

Raykwon: Get rid of the serpentine bracer and buy a vox bracer (ac7).
Spiked collar (ac3 3str) is hard to beat even though it is newbieish.
Collar of undead protection (ac5) is good as well. Get a mask with
some AC on it- leering mask (from Najena) is cheap or the lizard
tribal mask from CT is really nice. Finally get a real cloak-
lizardscale cloak from CT (ac8 5dex) has great AC even if the dex is
next to useless.

Also try to switch into cured silk for a lot of your extra equipment. For
shoes I think the cured silk is better than fur lined and elsewhere it is
lighter than mesh.

With all those changes, which shouldn't cost a lot if you can get a
good price on the serp bracers, you should go up about 20AC. You
will notice a big difference in the melee damage you take- that's
more AC than you gain for going up a level.

Clarity Harvestmoon,
Karana