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How Important/Feasible is 3 good NADs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4624446" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>Its worth remembering that an ability score on which you spend absolutely no resources only falls behind by 3 over 28 levels.</p><p> </p><p>So if you start with an ok defense in your least favored category and then pick up the feat to grant that defense +2, you're only going to be behind by 2 or 3, not counting class based bonuses.</p><p> </p><p>For example, a fighter who uses a fullblade and focuses on strength and dex might have 18 strength, 14 dexterity, and 14 wisdom at level 1. His base defenses (ie, not counting gear or 1/2 level) will be fort 16, reflex 12, and will 12. At level 28 he will have 26 strength, 22 dexterity, and 16 wisdom. His base defenses will then be fort 20, reflex 16, and will 13. Will has fallen behind by 3 points. If he takes Iron Will, this reduces to only 1 point.</p><p> </p><p>Is that clear? If we set the lowest defense to zero, it means that, from that baseline, the fighter started with +4/+0/+0. At level 28, he had changed to +7/+3/+0. With the addition of Iron Will, his baseline moves, and his disparities become +5/+1/+0, very close to the original +4/+0/+0 spread.</p><p> </p><p>So what does this mean for this discussion? Basically, defenses don't have that high of a disparity with a relatively balanced build. A character's "achilles heel" isn't that severe. That doesn't mean that there aren't advantages to ability score distributions other than straight pumping of two stats, and it doesn't mean that you won't see bigger effects if you spend feats pumping your favored defenses, but in general worry about your non primary defenses isn't that big of a concern.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4624446, member: 40961"] Its worth remembering that an ability score on which you spend absolutely no resources only falls behind by 3 over 28 levels. So if you start with an ok defense in your least favored category and then pick up the feat to grant that defense +2, you're only going to be behind by 2 or 3, not counting class based bonuses. For example, a fighter who uses a fullblade and focuses on strength and dex might have 18 strength, 14 dexterity, and 14 wisdom at level 1. His base defenses (ie, not counting gear or 1/2 level) will be fort 16, reflex 12, and will 12. At level 28 he will have 26 strength, 22 dexterity, and 16 wisdom. His base defenses will then be fort 20, reflex 16, and will 13. Will has fallen behind by 3 points. If he takes Iron Will, this reduces to only 1 point. Is that clear? If we set the lowest defense to zero, it means that, from that baseline, the fighter started with +4/+0/+0. At level 28, he had changed to +7/+3/+0. With the addition of Iron Will, his baseline moves, and his disparities become +5/+1/+0, very close to the original +4/+0/+0 spread. So what does this mean for this discussion? Basically, defenses don't have that high of a disparity with a relatively balanced build. A character's "achilles heel" isn't that severe. That doesn't mean that there aren't advantages to ability score distributions other than straight pumping of two stats, and it doesn't mean that you won't see bigger effects if you spend feats pumping your favored defenses, but in general worry about your non primary defenses isn't that big of a concern. [/QUOTE]
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How Important/Feasible is 3 good NADs?
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