Armor and a defense bonus together??

[Sundragon2012]

I am thinking of using the level based defense adjustment presented in the Unearthed Arcana for my game. I like the idea of someone not having to be a walking tank to defend themselves. My setting is relatively moderate in magic and no one can expect to be donning +3 plate mail too early on.

If I combine the bonuses it would look like this:

10 + Dexterity modifier (if any) + class defense bonus (in unearthed arcana) + equipment bonus (any armor or shield worn)+ size modifier= AC

Any thoughts?


Chris

 

[Bront]

Check out Ferrix's optional rules here.

He has Dex Bonus and Defense Bonus stacking but being limited by the armor max dex bonus, which you can take a feat to increase. Of course, he also uses the armor as DR optional rule.

I haven't actualy played with it yet, but it seems reasonable.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I use class-based Defense, but I use variant armor rules that prevent armor from adding to Defense.

I also reduce the class-based Defense bonuses from the variant in Unearthed Arcana and do not base the category on the armor proficiencies granted by the class. (Classes which rely on heavier armor, with the exception of the Fighter, get lower Defense bonuses, not higher ones.)

 

[Ferret]

Ferrix's looks good! I might use that....

 

[Ferrix]

Awesome, I get my optional rules plugged for me.

I do something similar to Korimyr with classes gaining a defense bonus not dependent upon their armor proficiencies. Thus most classes that wear heavy armor get worse defense bonuses since they're expected to often wear heavy armor.

 

[Merlion]

I would say combine the Class Based Defense Bonus rule with the Armor As Damage Reduction rule in Unearthed Arcana. I ran a brief game with that combination once and was very happy with it.


Although actually now I'd probably just remove the AC bonus from armor entirely, and up the DR they give slightly.