AC Increase As You Level

[Kel]

I've never liked the fact that AC does not improve as you level. It is a particular problem in 3e, where monsters' attack bonuses increase much faster than a character's AC. To address this problem, I've adopted the following house rule:

AC is tied to BAB. AC increases by 1 at every level at which a character's BAB is divisible by 4. This can be styled as simply an increase in base AC, or as a +1 "Experience Bonus." (One clarification: if a character has multiple levels at which its BAB is the same number that is divisible by 4, like a wizard whose BAB is +4 at levels 8 and 9, the character only gets the AC bonus for one of the levels.)

What do you think? Too good for warrior-types? Doesn't go far enough?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I believe Unearthed Arcana has the Base Defense Bonus rules.

 

[BarkingDeathSquirrel]

Personally, I prefer giving the AC bonus at a rate similar to saves... Good for Fighter/Barbarian/Rouge/Ranger etc, Poor for the rest.... or average for some, if you want to use average save rates (as per d20 Modern classes) for say... Monks or Bards. You may want to count the bonus as a Dexterity bonus to AC, thus Armor would limit it.

This certainly gives a reduction in dependancy on AC giving items, but you would have to be careful not to give them out as much. Doubling or tripling their cost might work.

 

[Bront]

I've never liked the fact that AC does not improve as you level. It is a particular problem in 3e, where monsters' attack bonuses increase much faster than a character's AC. To address this problem, I've adopted the following house rule:

AC is tied to BAB. AC increases by 1 at every level at which a character's BAB is divisible by 4. This can be styled as simply an increase in base AC, or as a +1 "Experience Bonus." (One clarification: if a character has multiple levels at which its BAB is the same number that is divisible by 4, like a wizard whose BAB is +4 at levels 8 and 9, the character only gets the AC bonus for one of the levels.)

What do you think? Too good for warrior-types? Doesn't go far enough?

Word it +1 experience AC bonus for every +4 in BAB, which means that mutli-class characters don't get screwed out of it, and that still covers the mage situation that you mentioned earlier.

 

[Thondor]

Or as BAB divided by 4 round down. So a 20th level fighter will receive a +5 to AC (strong BAB) and a 20th level wizard would have +2 (weak) , 20th monk +3 (medium)
maybe everyone should get the same progression. It certainly wouldn't affect the balance that way, it would just be based on total character level.
maybe you should look at my parrying thread
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133359

 

[Felnar]

this sounds like the Dwarven Defenders defense bonus

would these bonuses unbalance the monster population?

 

[Thondor]

I think the intent is that monsters wouldn't get this bonus only those with character level BAB(from PC or NPC classes) Which I think is a great idea. Though this system should reduce the ridiculous amount of AC adjusting items available but only slightly after all there must ba a net gain

 

[Kel]

Thanks for all the suggestions/comments. Sounds like the best way to word it would be "+1 Experience Bonus for every +4 in BAB."

This would only apply to classed characters (both PC and NPC), not to monsters. Monster AC bonuses are far too individualized to need this kind of adjustment (i.e., monsters that are supposed to be hard to hit generally ARE hard to hit based on the individual set of AC bonuses/special defenses that the monster has).

The basic idea behind the rule is that, as you go up in level, you should get better at avoiding blows. I mean, doesn't a fighter learn how to parry/dodge just as much as he learns to how to hit better? It has always bothered me that this truism is not reflected in the rules.

Thondor: your parry system is a good one. It basically addresses the exact same issue my HR is trying to address, but with more precision. My only fears would be that it slows down combat and frustrates players by making everything harder to hit (i.e., you finally roll that 18 you've been needing all combat only to find that it fails because your opponent rolled a 19 or 20). Do you find those issues to be a problem?

-Kel

 

[Odysseus]

There are feats that give bonuses for wearing various types of armour.
Plus there is improve combat expertise. Which is pretty good at high levels , you have a +15 bab, you can take upto +15 to ac.

 

[Storyteller01]

Arsenal (See Perpetrated Press) has a decent 'AC by level chart. Part of it seemed a bit wacky (those who see combat most often get the worst AC improvement?? Thoser that don't fight get the best??? ), so I reversed it. WOrks well so far...