AC of your 10th lvl character?

[Kristivas]

A few of my friends choose AC to focus on at the lower levels, with a +1 weapon being "ok" for awhile. I've seen some pretty high ACs. One guy, a paladin, at level 5..

10 base
9 - +1 full plate
3 - +1 heavy steel shield
2 - +2 ring of prot. (lucky find)
1 - dex

So, that was an easy AC of 26. By 10th, he'd had 2 more pluses to the armor, another plus to the shield, still had the same ring, and had bought a +2 amulet of natural armor, so 31 unbuffed.

 

[Corsair]

At level 10, my werepaladin (Afflicted Black Werebear Paladin 2/ Warshaper 3) had 31.

10
+1 Dex (12)
+11 Full plate (+2, +1 from the DM's homebrew rare material)
+3 shield (+1 heavy)
+1 Ring of Protection
+1 Amulet of Natural
+4 Natural (Werebear, hybrid form)

 

[cattoy]

currently playing: Elven cleric 7

mithril plate 8
dex 16 3
dodge 1
+2 large shield 4

ac 26

add expertise 5

31

occasionally uses something like magic vestment on the plate +2 more

very difficult to hit, no offense to speak of.

 

[shilsen]

I think by L10 AC is starting falling behind common attack bonuses, which I find depressing. Basically, unless you choose your character classes for the AC bonuses (bad luck if you wanted to be "well rounded") they give you, you are going to get hit regularly. Often for big chunks of your max hps.

I think it makes perfect sense that you should usually be hit regularly by this point. The main use of AC by 10th lvl is to make iterative attacks miss. If the primary attacks weren't very likely to hit, iterative attacks would effectively be redundant. Since you have substantially more hit points, you can take a few more hits. Usually, a 4th lvl PC can last the same amount of time vs. equivalent CR enemies as a 10th lvl PC. And that would not be the case if primary attacks weren't hitting most of the time by that point.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

That is why every fighter should go out of his way to get expertise if he expects to live

Fixed it for you.

Seriously most fighters (ime) have a hard time of it without Expertise (and imc Riposte from the Scarred Lands book Player's Guide to Fighters & Barbarians. It allows an AoO if someone misses you while you are using Expertise). Power Attack is great but not being hit every round (because you have a 2 handed sword and no shield) is even better.

My (11th level) party has an AC range of 19 (wizard with Mage Armour up and the Fighter/Monk/Half-Orc Paragon) to 28 (Rogue with 20 Dex, mithril chain shirt+2, amulet of nat armour +2 (sometimes swapped out for his amulet that allows sneak attack & criticals on undead) and max Expertise bonus). The frontline fighters' AC (the aforementioned 1/2 orc, a war domained cleric and a fighter/cleric) ranges from 19 to 25.

 

[Endur]

I had a very defensive build (dwarven defender) to the point that I often went a whole game without needing clerical healing... but I never liked the idea of combat expertise.

The problem with combat expertise is that it reduces your offensive output. And I found that offensive output was necessary for several reasons. 1) You need high offense to attract the biggest, meanest enemy to attack you. 2) You need high offensve to actually hurt that big mean enemy. Furthermore, 3) Why spend a precious feat on something that doesn't dramatically improve you? 4) Why spend precious character points on intelligence?

A Tank without a Threat can be bypassed by the Foe. A Tank that Threatens Destruction has to be attacked. Especially helpful when you are a mostly stationary heavy armored dwarf.

Power Attack 2 handed Weapon vs. shield was another very difficult question. I finally came down upon the side of using the shield in the early rounds of combat; then once who was going to win was a foregone conclusion, I dropped the shield and started power attacking with two hands.

Tower Shields are another interesting issue; +2 more AC for -2 to attack. I finally came down on the side that Tower Shields are just too bulky to be of use on some adventures.

 

[Sejs]

On my current character (Vladislak Chergoba, Barb1/Fighter9):

Mithral Fullplate +1 (+9 Armor)
Variable Shield +1, usually in Tower Shield form. (+5 Shield)
Ring of Protection +1 (+1 Deflection)
12 Dexterity (+1 Dexterity)
Combat Expertise feat (+1-5, depending on situation)

So on average, my Ac is 26, possibly going up to 31 through the use of Combat Expertise. Up to 33 if the party's Favored Soul tosses Shield of Faith (+3) on me.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

10th level fighter with default PC gold can afford +2 Full Plate, +2 Shield, +2 Ring of Protection, +2 Amulet of Natural Armor which grant AC 29 with Dex of 12. If you factor in Combat Expertise, maybe a Defender weapon you can bump it up to the 30's, but thats spending just over half your gold on defense, sacrificing a great deal of mobility and a lot of your damage output (the more you use combat expertise the less you'll hit things). Hard to match if you can't wear full armor too.

I agree with Sammael and Thannee, mid-twenties (if that) is the best most classes can hope to achieve at L10.

I think by L10 AC is starting falling behind common attack bonuses, which I find depressing. Basically, unless you choose your character classes for the AC bonuses (bad luck if you wanted to be "well rounded") they give you, you are going to get hit regularly. Often for big chunks of your max hps.

I agree. It does suck. DnD characters aren't allowed to learn how to dodge or parry, and this is one reason why light fighters suck so much. This is why I run D20 Modern - Defense takes care of itself.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

My Eberron 10th-level Dwarven Fighter has a standard "walking around" AC of 34. So, I must be a munchkin.

Comes from:

Full Plate +2* (Armor-10)
Heavy Armor Optimization (Armor+1)
Heavy Steel Shield +2 (Shield-4)
Dexterity 16** (Dex-3)
Ring of Protection +2 (Deflection-2)
Amulet of Natural Armor +4 (Natural Armor-4)

Granted, the real culprit here is the Amulet, which is far more expensive than I should technically have at this level, but I'm not complaining that the DM put it in there, nosiree. But it's quite nice to not be hit very often.

Future expansion plans include Improved Heavy Armor Optimization, switching to a buckler and getting Improved Buckler Defense so I can use my Waraxe two-handed, and, in recognition of how much Touch attacks suck, Deflective Shield and a level or two of psychic warrior for Deflective Armor.

Brad

* - This is the backup set. The primary set is in the shop to get Heavy Fortification.

** - This character started out as an attempt to get 1.5x Str on both weapons while two-weapon fighting. I decided that was just two painful to suffer through, and so instead retreated into tank. OTOH, with Improved Initiative, she goes pretty fast.

 

[Drowbane]

You forgot a tower shield, which is why I said low 30s. Also Mithral Full Plate and Dex 16 can help too, but I didn't include that.QUOTE]

Tower Shield has an effective Max Dex of +2. Thus you want Mythril Heavy Plate (or some such) out of Arms and Equipment... +9 / 2... Tower Shield: 4 / 2.

So you're pushing the low-mid 30s with no problems.

Of course, any Giant of a CR with 5 of you will likely hit anyways. >.<

AC 35 is pretty much my cut off point as a player (talking lvls 11-20)... much more than that is gravy.