D&D 3E/3.5 Anyone else do this with AC (PF or 3.5)

[N'raac]

It is - actually, it's a bit too many, but his AC doesn't drop so much if I take some out. It might drop to being hit on a 17!

OK, I'm not sure what was hypothetically removed to drop that down. Let's remove the DEX bonus and drop the ring to +2 (something must drop to +2). So AC 35 for a L10 fighter. Opening a few random (looking for creatures I've actually heard of and bruisers - not much crossover...), I see:

Bebilith with three attacks at +19 (16+ to hit; 25% chance for each; about a 42% chance for no hits from all 3). If both claws hut (1 chance in 16), he can peel the fighter's armor away. A bite will do CON damage failing a DC 23 FORT save. 10 DR hurts if the fighter lacks a Good weapon, especially with so much focus on avoiding, rather than dealing, damage.

Horned Demon (Kalavakus) has the same DR issue. Its attacks are all +16, so 19 or 20 to hit. With 4 of them, Fighter has almost a 2/3 chance to escape a full attack unscathed. Those will save SLA's are nasty. It's good at Bull Rush, Trip and (especially) Disarm, so I think our Fighter will see a more unusual challenge from this one.

Kronosaurus gets +19, so hits on a 16+ (25% chance). Once he hits, he gets a +30 Grapple check and might Swallow the fighter whole so he takes damage every round. Potentially a cakewalk, but one lucky hit (1 chance in 4), and our fighter has a much tougher challenge to deal with.

Young Red Dragon 3 attacks at +17 (5% chance) and 3 at +12 (5% chance) means just under a 50% chance of landing one in a full attack. Of course, it can True Strile 3 times a day, which is a 95% chance for that attack to succeed. The Breath Weapon need not target AC. A smart one might Grapple and carry our fighter aloft.

Giant Flytrap only gets +15 (needs a 20), but grapples. Still, even 4 attacks leaves over 80% likelihood the fighter avoids harm each round. Its best hope is its +17 Stealth in the undergrowth to get an attack with less bonuses, but the advantage clearly lies with the fighter. If it does get him grappled, look out.

Fire Giant either gets 2 attacks at +20 or 3 at +21/+16/+11. Reach helps. So it either has a 15+ (30% chance) with 2 attacks or 35%/10%/5%. Just over 50% of at least one hit, or just under 45% with better damage. Lots of staying power. Poor Giant won't be getting mileage from Power Attack!

2 at +19 for the Clay Golem (3 if Hasted), so 16 to hit is just under a 45% chance (more like 58% if hasted) to land a hit each round. That cursed wound is nasty.

Pyrohydra has +12 (needs a 20), but 9 shots means a 37% or so chance per round. 9 breath weapons will be a lot more painful!

Giant anaconda gets +19 (25% chance again), with a Grab if successful, plus Reach.

To my mind, most/all of these offer some risk to the fighter. CR10 is supposed to deplete some party resources, and that seems reasonably likely for most, if not all of these choices.

Two other opponents - a fighter with the same defensive focus (that will take a while!) and one who is equally focused on offense. He'd have a +10 BAB off the top. Probably 18 STR with no items, so that's +4. At that level, a +3 weapon seems reasonable. Tack on Greater Weapon Focus (+2 w/ weapon focus), Weapon Specialization (+2 damage) and Vital Strike (that second attack's unlikely to hit anyway) and we have +19 to hit (16+) with pretty solid damage. That wealth by level can add some other abilities to his weapon, still leave him a decent AC (or he can sack AC entirely for a big, heavily enchanted 2 handed weapon) and probably have a bit of wealth left over for some other combat options. Maybe he can be a sword & board with a Large (not Tower) shield, and a bunch of 2 weapon feats and Shield Slam, etc. One level away from Shield Master...

The trouble with defending against spells, touch and special manoeuvres is that (in general) there isn't any defense against them save spells that counter their effect. A purple worm has a +36 grapple check - I'm yet to see any sort of PC who can defend against that without (a) being a monk focused on defense or (b) having freedom of movement. Likewise, you might have one or two good saves, but all three? At the levels a properly optimized foe will cast against you? There's a huge disparity between the DCs of spells at higher levels and the low saving throws of characters.

Touch AC and saves certainly level the playing field, though. How many CR 10 opponents have no options that bypass AC?

There's a foe in the final book of Kingmaker who casts mass hold person with a DC of 23. You probably should be 17th level by that stage, which means that a fighter with a +5 cloak and a 10 Wisdom has a Will save of +10. What's the counter for that? Really, it's a ring of freedom of movement. In that campaign, we had every craft feat between the casters in the party. (I don't think they made that ring, though - an oversight!)

+10 save means a 40% chance of success. He's as likely to save as opponents are to hit him. As you note, Freedom of Movement works. (Greater) Dispel Magic can end the effect. But our Fighter spent a lot of resources on AC, so he doesn't have a lot of resources devoted to saves. A 12 WIS and Iron Will brings him to a 55% chance of success, not bad for the bane of the fighter!

AC works against most of the foes you'll likely face. And - for a relatively traditional campaign with more bruisers than special effects foes - it's really very good. Both my Council of Thieves and Kingmaker campaigns have had a PC who has focused on AC, and it hasn't proved to be a poor choice - and they've had good enough weapons to be effective.

Mind you, the purely offence-focused fighter is a scary sight. In Way of the Wicked, the 3rd level great-axe wielding fighter is attacking at +10 vs AC and dealing 1d12+13/x3 damage or thereabouts. (I think his AC is around 20). The disparity between his damage and that of everyone else is notable.

The Fighter only does one thing well. If he focuses on one aspect of that one thing, it seems reasonable he'd be very good at it.

My experience is that there are a lot of items to boost AC, and not that many for attacks.

No question - especially as AC stacks. Armor + Shield + Amulet + Ring means, at 8,000 per item and 9,000 for the armor and shield (34,000 in aggregate) I have +10 AC. 32,000 gold gets me a +4 weapon, and straight to hit caps at +5. Buff spells and effects that boost to hit seem more common than AC boosts, though.