AC or DR

[Kanegrundar]

I use the Armor as DR option. To allow lower damage dealers the chance to hit High DR creatures and foes I allow Criticals to bypass all armor but deal no more damage, feats that allow characters to bypass armor under specific circumstances, rogues bypass 1 point of DR every 3 levels with critical strike, and things like that. Magic armor bonuses drop the damage of offensive spells as well as providing magical protection.

Kane

 

[Slobber Monster]

{ Shrug }

Either way it's still an abstraction. Both DR and AC are just different mechanics which express average damage taken per round. Note that as is AC represents how tough it is to hit someone and do damage. For determining simply how hard it is to make contact with someone we have touch AC, which rightfully excludes armor bonus.

 

[Merlion]

{ Shrug }

Either way it's still an abstraction. Both DR and AC are just different mechanics which express average damage taken per round. Note that as is AC represents how tough it is to hit someone and do damage. For determining simply how hard it is to make contact with someone we have touch AC, which rightfully excludes armor bonus.

Of course its going to be an abstraction. What I want is two seperate abstractions...one representing how hard a character is to actually strike, and another one representing what if any protection from actual physical damage they may or may not have.

Having Dexterity, and Full Plate, both add to the same abstract statistic and work in the same way for purposes of defense just doesnt work as well for me as having Dex help defend you in one fashion, and Full Plate in another.

 

[Bastoche]

{ Shrug }

Either way it's still an abstraction. Both DR and AC are just different mechanics which express average damage taken per round. Note that as is AC represents how tough it is to hit someone and do damage. For determining simply how hard it is to make contact with someone we have touch AC, which rightfully excludes armor bonus.

I personnally think there should never (or very rarely) be "damage taken per round". IMO, once you're hit, you're disabled. More often than not "disabled" is synonymus with "dead".

 

[Psion]

Um, "all"

I mean I like DR, and I like making damage type matter, but often it adds complexity, and I feel that the model of rolling to hit AC is a fair abstraction.

Actually, some of the best systems stradle your category, providing both a deflection type total or bonus and direct damage reduction.

 

[interwyrm]

I personnally think there should never (or very rarely) be "damage taken per round". IMO, once you're hit, you're disabled. More often than not "disabled" is synonymus with "dead".

Bah. WRONG!

My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.

If you stab me in the foot with a knife, am I disabled? No. I am in pain, yeah, but not disabled. If you hit me on the head with a hammer, am I disabled? Maybe. If you hit me 10 times on the head with a hammer, am I dead or diabled? Probably.

Realisitically, damage is somewhere in between, I have 300 hp and can survive falling off the empire state, and if you hit me with a broomstick, I am now disabled.

This is the other thing about armor... lets take the hammer. If I am wearing a hard hat, and you hit me on the head with a hammer 10 times, I might be a little dizzy and annoyed, but I definitely won't be dead or disabled. Does wearing a hardhat make it easier for me to avoid getting hit with the hammer? No, not really.

 

[Merlion]

I personnally think there should never (or very rarely) be "damage taken per round". IMO, once you're hit, you're disabled

See thats just a little to "realistic" for a fantasy game. Or a movie...or a book...or really any form of storytelling.

This is the other thing about armor... lets take the hammer. If I am wearing a hard hat, and you hit me on the head with a hammer 10 times, I might be a little dizzy and annoyed, but I definitely won't be dead or disabled. Does wearing a hardhat make it easier for me to avoid getting hit with the hammer? No, not really.

Exactly.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I really like the idea of random armor protection-- like most things Alternity-- but I'm just not sure how to implement it without slowing down combat. Splitting up armor value between DR and conversion is bad enough.

There also really needs to be a system by which certain weapons are more capable of penetrating armor-- because a lot of weapons which play hell on an unarmored target aren't very good against armor, and vice versa. I'm not yet ready to assign an AP value to every single weapon in the game.

edit: I already have a distinction between armor-piercing and non-armor-piercing weapons; it's going a step beyond that I'm worried about.

Beyond ballistic weapons gaining an advantage over archaic armors, I also refuse to differentiate damage types. That's just too much bookkeeping for too little gain in realism. Compared to the value in changing over to DR, it's just nitpicky...

 

[Arnwyn]

Poll is missing options.

My vote was the first choice, but my actual response is: I don't care, as long as combat goes at least as fast as it does now, and it is well-integrated into the game.

 

[interwyrm]

Just make all piercing weapons ap. Also make it so that for a sneak attack, there must be actual weapon damage dealt as well. Rogues won't often be sneak attacking with greatswords anymore. Fighters will just PA through the armor... which actually makes more sense than missing because your PA reduced your to hit so that you couldn't bypass the armor.