Armor Class (Reverse Engineering)

[hong]

The whole "int to AC" thing seems really dumb to me. It's basically a free bonus to wizard (and maybe warlord) armor for no discernable reason.

Actually, it's an incredibly elegant way to explain why high-Int wizards never wear plate armour.

Now, if you want high-Int _warlords_ to wear plate armour, then it might be a problem....

 

[AZRogue]

Forgive me if it was said already, but could the fighter's higher AC than expected have to do with class abilities? I'm pretty sure R&C said that fighters would get dex bonuses to AC in heavy armor.

I don't know if that was said before, but the actual book itself says that they do not. I imagine some feats in there somewhere to help them get bonuses in other ways, though.

Or, hell, it may be a Fighter Path or something that grants another bonus. All we know for sure is that, according to the Armor section of the PHB, Heavy armor grants NO ability bonuses at all. None.

 

[ArmoredSaint]

So far, I like what I see.

The only thing I'm fretting about is the possibility that lightly-armoured characters will be able to equal or beat the Armour Class of characters in heavy armour, once again making heavy armour useless just like in 3rd edition. The stat is called "Armour Class;" armour should rule this stat.

 

[Mentat55]

Forgive me if it was said already, but could the fighter's higher AC than expected have to do with class abilities? I'm pretty sure R&C said that fighters would get dex bonuses to AC in heavy armor.

Yes, Races & Classes does say something along these lines, in the Fighter section. Unfortunately I do not have the book right in front of me, otherwise I'd quote the appropriate line.

How does this scale to higher levels, I wonder. Assuming "stat modifier" means the level-adjusted formula, (stat - 10)/2 + level/2:

Light armor:
AC = 10 + (Dex/Int - 10)/2 + level/2 + (armor bonus)

Heavy armor:
AC = 10 + (armor bonus)

That doesn't seem right, unless you want all high-level types to be wearing leather armour. So "stat modifier" must be the raw, non-level-adjusted modifier.

Since attack bonus scales with 1/2 level, to avoid the same problem that occurred in 3.x, you have to add 1/2 level as a bonus to AC, for both the light and heavy armor situations. Any other method would be madness. So the formula would be:

Light: AC = 10 + Dex/Int modifier + level/2 + armor bonus
Heavy: AC = 10 + level/2 + armor bonus