Will I be able to hit anything at higher levels?

Strill · Jan 16, 2016

With defense scaling, the dearth of attack bonus-granting feats, no magic weapon bonuses, and +8 or +9 defense from armor, can I expect hit chances to drop as characters level up?

Should a character with low BAB progression even try to bother with combat, or will they just be left in the dust?

kronos182 · Jan 23, 2016

Getting armour with +8 or +9 defense is expensive, so there shouldn't be too many opponents with defense in the mid to high 20s at most. So even with a low BAB, if you roll 15 or above, you should still hit, just not as often.

ALTERNATIVELY.. instead of shooting AT such a well armoured target, use area attacks. Autofire spamming, grenades, use other attacks that incapacitate the target, and spam them like crazy. flash bangs, trip wires, nets, tear gas, and with higher tech you got gravity snares, sonic weapons that cause nausea and the like.
Even if the target has higher saves, having to save repeatedly will eventually fail some, and then get hit with penalties, and just piling on different types of penalties. Causing bleeding/wounding is a good way, get a couple of applications of bleeding, or anything that causes damage over multiple turns helps. Forces the target to either suffer continuing damage, or stop and heal, and if they stop to heal, distracted, easier to hit.

JediMasterGunner · Jan 26, 2016

"Should a character with low BAB progression even try to bother with combat, or will they just be left in the dust?"

The game is designed for the moderate BAB (+7 over 10 levels) as the baseline, with only three of the 24 classes getting the Fighter BAB. And looking at the 10-level classes and sample NPCs, multiclassing is encouraged early on and required above lvl 10. I usually take classes in runs of 4 levels to minimize the impact of the 7/10 BAB.

The most common Defense bonus is +5 over 10 levels, with a handful (Fast, Martial Artist, Infiltrator, Daredevil, and Battle Mind) as outliers. So there should be some evening out of Def vs Attack if characters stick with one or two classes. But in my experience, almost everyone tries to fit in the front-loaded first level of Fast for the +3 Def. so YMMV.

There are a lot of situational modifiers to add up bonuses to hit with teamwork. Flank. Catch an enemy in a Grapple (lose Dex to AC) or Prone (-4 Def vs melee) to help the low-attack score party members.

If you are interested in being combat-effective without dealing direct damage, the Charismatic Hero's talents are Taunt and Dazzle (if taken multiple times) are strong. Negotiator from core and Field Officer from d20 Future also have the ability to talk down and debuff enemies.

If you are a Smart hero, get an ability to let you make Mastercraft gear or get the cash to buy it. Mastercraft +3 to hit weapons (+9 Purchase DC) help, and Smart classes have the skill ranks to invest in Profession that others might not. That is bonus Wealth every level up on top of Wealth awards from the adventure.

Last, it depends on the campaign, but in a contemporary setting most of the time enemies will be wearing Light Armor rather than Heavy because it is concealable. Of course, you can Mastercraft the Defense bonus from armor, but most unnamed NPCs are not going to have that expensive gear.

Will I be able to hit anything at higher levels?

Strill

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kronos182

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JediMasterGunner

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