Armor as DR, has it worked for you?

[DungeonmasterCal]

Well, I'd decided to use Armor as DR and class-based defense bonuses a few months ago, then before we got a chance to try them out, I stopped DM'ing. Not owning AU (I love Monte Cook's work, just can't afford to buy everything that comes out) I just used a basic Armor Bonus=non-magical Damage Reduction and came up with my own tables for class-based defense. Eventually I'll get a chance to try it out.

 

[Desdichado]

Don't get AU mixed up with UA; these variants are in UA, not AU. I do not use armor as DR, but I do used class based AC progressions, and I do also use damage conversion. Since I don't have any clerics or healing potions in my setting, it's been a real character saver.

 

[Voadam]

Since I am going to be using TA for critical hits, it creates a slight problem with the DR as armor option. I think the severity of criticals will be worse because the armor classes with be lower, but the targets will take less damage. Not sure if I am going to use the DR option or not.

Well there will be a few more crits because a crit will confirm in two cases where they would not before:

1) where the character would have missed due to AC on a roll that would have been a threat if it hit.

2) threats that do not confirm because of missing the AC on the second shot.

I forget though, does a crit have to pierce DR to do its extra criticalness in Torn Asunder?

 

[Campbell]

One important consideration to keep in mind when implementing Armor as DR is that for the purposes of using Power Attack an additional point of AC is worth more than a single point of DR. Armor as DR systems tend to make PA an even more neccesarry feat, espicially as levels escalate and players start dealing with high Natural Armor monsters such as Dragons.

 

[dagger]

From what I read, DR has no effect on the criticals at all, just on damage dealt.

Well there will be a few more crits because a crit will confirm in two cases where they would not before:

1) where the character would have missed due to AC on a roll that would have been a threat if it hit.

2) threats that do not confirm because of missing the AC on the second shot.

I forget though, does a crit have to pierce DR to do its extra criticalness in Torn Asunder?

 

[Karl Green]

Conan OGL d20 also uses DR and Defense for classes. I personally really like this version. The DR is fairly high, but there are ways around it... the first is Penatration - if it is higher then the DR, you halve the DR. the second version is Finesse weapons which if you hit high enough you can ignore the damage (finesse weapons are daggers, rapiers, etc).

It is a pretty cool system

 

[Hammerhead]

I hate it. It makes armor too useful by blocking all that damage, and really screws over someone with many, small damage attacks. Power Attacks becomes the new must have feat for any melee character.

 

[dagger]

After a year or so when 3.0 came out we came up with a simple house rule to use until something else came along. We basically just said that medium armors had 1/- and heavy armors had 2/-. It was pretty simple and one of the DM's still uses it. It helps out in low to low mid level but at high level it makes no difference what so ever. The monsters and fighter type npcs at 14th level and above do vast ammounts of damage anyway.

 

[Christopher Lambert]

IMO a couple of feats that deal with DR would be useful for low damage characters.

You could have a feat that lets you ignore the DR of a flat-footed or surprised character (but not a flanked character) with a melee attack or a ranged attack within 30 feet. If your opponent isn't dodging, you can easily cram a dagger into a chink in their armor, such as the armpit.

For a Modern (or D20 Past) campaign, you could have a feat that lets you ignore DR when using Dead Aim. (Ok, too powerful... needs some restrictions. But I think you get the idea.)

The game feels different (eg agile characters feel very different from tanks) but, IMO, there's little point of using it in a campaign without a modern-style class bonus to Defense.