Why is there more than one type of defence? When you think about it, really, it's doubling up. You already get a benefit from Dexterity in your Armour Class. Constitution gives you hit points. Charisma makes you pretty (ok, Wisdom and Charisma are pretty useless for this example but in the system I'm proposing, this would be irrelevant).
So, why have Fortitude, Reflex or Will?
Instead, why not just nuke the entire system from orbit and simply say every attack that targets the physical body of the person, is against Armour Class? This would eliminate the problem of balancing spell attacks against a separate system and it would eliminate the disparity between defences at higher levels.
In such a system, you would need to use some sort of 'Mental Resistance' mechanic for attacks that targeted the mind. Just say they automatically 'hit', but the target can fully or partially resist the effect if they roll successfully (or if the attacker rolls high enough, whatever mechanic you prefer). The creation of this system might be best left for another thread though. My intention here is to simply argue the merits of eliminating the Fort/Ref/Will defences.
So, why have Fortitude, Reflex or Will?
Instead, why not just nuke the entire system from orbit and simply say every attack that targets the physical body of the person, is against Armour Class? This would eliminate the problem of balancing spell attacks against a separate system and it would eliminate the disparity between defences at higher levels.
In such a system, you would need to use some sort of 'Mental Resistance' mechanic for attacks that targeted the mind. Just say they automatically 'hit', but the target can fully or partially resist the effect if they roll successfully (or if the attacker rolls high enough, whatever mechanic you prefer). The creation of this system might be best left for another thread though. My intention here is to simply argue the merits of eliminating the Fort/Ref/Will defences.