D&D 4E AC and 4e

[daddystabz]

How does AC work in 4e? I saw that in 4e you have AC and Reflex Defense both. I know how Reflex Defense works because of being an avid Star Wars Saga Edition junkie. When you are attacked, your Reflex Defense is the TN that the attacked must meet or exceed in order to hit you. So if Reflex Defense works this same way in D&D 4e then why do we have AC as well? What does AC do specifically?

Thanks!

 

[Cirex]

Fortitude, reflexes and will are passive defenses that work like AC did in 3.5.

AC is used for physical attacks (mostly), while fortitude, reflexes and will are for spells and special maneouvers. So, in order to avoid a fireball, the attack will roll his attack and compare it to your reflexes defense. The succubus trying to charm you will be using her attack roll against your will defense and in order to resist that knockdown by the giant (I think), he'll be rolling against your fortitude defense.

You can add your dexterity or intelligence to AC (if not wearing heavy armor) and reflexes defense, wisdom and charisma to will and constitution or strength to fortitude.

I hope that helps [a bit].

 

[Steely Dan]

Ref is the new Touch AC.

 

[small pumpkin man]

As for how D&D is different from Saga, in D&D because most everyone wears armour, as opposed to Star Wars where it's relatively rare for powerful characters to wear armour, also, Fireball and a sword swing work differently enough that you want different defenses for them, whereas blasters and a frag grenades are pretty similar.

Or to make it simple, Arrow attacks AC, Eldritch Blast attacks Ref.

 

[Cadfan]

How does AC work in 4e? I saw that in 4e you have AC and Reflex Defense both. I know how Reflex Defense works because of being an avid Star Wars Saga Edition junkie. When you are attacked, your Reflex Defense is the TN that the attacked must meet or exceed in order to hit you. So if Reflex Defense works this same way in D&D 4e then why do we have AC as well? What does AC do specifically?

Thanks!

In 4e, you have 4 defenses. I'm going to explain them out of order, from least to most complex.

Fortitude is what it is in 3e. It works like 3e, except now its a target number for the attacker to roll against. The "Stat" it works from is either Strength or Constitution. It is equal to 10+Stat+Level Bonus. Some races and classes get a Fortitude bonus.

Will is the same. It works from either Wisdom or Charisma. It is 10+Stat+Level Bonus, and some classes and races get a Will bonus.

Reflex is almost the same as in 3e. It works from either Dexterity or Intelligence. It is 10+Stat+Shield+Level Bonus, and some races and classes get a Reflex bonus. There are two changes here. First, remember your Touch AC in 3e? Now the game just uses Reflex for that. It works pretty well, they both represent the same thing. Second, you probably noticed that your shield benefits your Reflex. That's a big change, and represents you ducking behind your shield to get out of the way of things.

AC works slightly different. Your AC uses Dexterity or Intelligence, and is 10+Stat+Armor+Shield+Level Bonus. It is very likely that your AC will be your Reflex plus your Armor and Shield, but it is not guaranteed that it will be. If you wear heavy armor, you don't get to add your Dexterity or Intelligence bonus to your AC. Also, if you have a race or class bonus to Reflex, that's only a bonus to Reflex. It doesn't add to your AC.

So a Rogue with a Dexterity of 18 and wearing leather armor at level 1 would have an AC of 10 +4 for dexterity +2 for armor = 16. He'd also have a Reflex of 10 +4 for dexterity +2 for being a rogue = 16.

A Fighter with an Intelligence of 12 wearing plate armor would have an AC of 10 +nothing for Dexterity because he's wearing heavy armor +8 for plate armor = 18. His Reflex would be 10 +1 Dexterity = 11.

If we gave the Fighter a Heavy Shield, he'd have an AC of 10 +nothing for Dexterity +8 for plate armor +2 for his shield = 20. His Reflex would be 10 +1 Dexterity +2 Shield = 13.