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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Armour Focus and Specialization
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<blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 3299962" data-attributes="member: 3051"><p>These feats are just way, way too strong. Part of the reason seems to be that you undervalue AC. Sure, D&D is very offense-oriented, but if you've ever played a fighter-type who stacked magical AC items to reach the 40s, you'd see a different problem. While D&D doesn't make it easy, if you CAN get your AC that high, you can become practically invulnerable to weapons.</p><p></p><p><strong>Armor Focus</strong>: You simply won't take the Feat unless you can make use of the MaxDex boost. Therefore, it's effectively a +2AC, even before considering the ACP/ASF reductions. Alternately, a spellcaster could take this Feat in lieu of the Armored Caster-like Feats to cast in light armor, and get the ACP and Max DEX boosts for free.</p><p>Even if you cut it in half, to +1/+1/-5%, I'd worry that too many people would take it.</p><p><strong>Armor Specialization</strong>: Even though it's arguably weaker than your Armor Focus, +2 AC is still an awful lot for a single Feat.</p><p></p><p>2 AC is worth <strong>way</strong> more than 2 damage, especially at high levels. Against a Fighter who deals ~20 per hit, they're roughly equivalent, but what about when you run into a Rogue with a 10d6 Sneak Attack? Or that spellcaster trying to land a <em>harm</em> (or any ray) on you? Even if the 2 AC forces the PowerAttacking fighter to drop 2 fewer points from his attack roll, that'd cancel at least 2 damage (4 if he's using a 2-handed weapon, and then there's dual-wielding...). In our Armor-as-semi-DR system, we basically equate 1 AC to 2 DR, and even there we've had to scale it up as levels increase (to 1:3 or 1:4).</p><p></p><p>Look at what happens to Plate Armor; instead of 8 AC and 1 Max DEX, you'd increase it to 12 AC and 5 MaxDEX, with only a -2 ACP and a 15% ASF. At the cost of 4 Feats, of course, but the point is that you've just turned solid plate into something as agile as Studded Leather, but with 10 higher AC.</p><p></p><p>Also, there's one fundamental difference. Weapon Specialization applies to a single weapon type, but most characters will have several weapons. (A ranged weapon and a melee weapon, at the very least, and dual-wielders either use a medium with a small, or they take two smalls and accept a 1-point drop in mainhand damage.) The end result is that there are many situations where WS won't kick in. And if you spend the round doing something other than attacking (such as casting spells, turning undead, disarming a trap, etc.) then it's wasted; maybe that's why only Fighters had access to it, but even for them it's a problem.</p><p>But how many characters do you know who keep several different armor types on hand? So these bonuses will ALWAYS apply, except in those rare cases when you catch the person naked. And AC's benefit is far more universal; you can't choose not to be attacked, after all, so you never know when it's going to be needed, and the fighter-types can be expected to need the AC in every round.</p><p></p><p>At the very least, you should change these to benefit specific armors (studded leather, chain shirt, etc.) instead of weight categories (light, medium, heavy). But I'd still cut the benefits in half.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spatzimaus, post: 3299962, member: 3051"] These feats are just way, way too strong. Part of the reason seems to be that you undervalue AC. Sure, D&D is very offense-oriented, but if you've ever played a fighter-type who stacked magical AC items to reach the 40s, you'd see a different problem. While D&D doesn't make it easy, if you CAN get your AC that high, you can become practically invulnerable to weapons. [b]Armor Focus[/b]: You simply won't take the Feat unless you can make use of the MaxDex boost. Therefore, it's effectively a +2AC, even before considering the ACP/ASF reductions. Alternately, a spellcaster could take this Feat in lieu of the Armored Caster-like Feats to cast in light armor, and get the ACP and Max DEX boosts for free. Even if you cut it in half, to +1/+1/-5%, I'd worry that too many people would take it. [b]Armor Specialization[/b]: Even though it's arguably weaker than your Armor Focus, +2 AC is still an awful lot for a single Feat. 2 AC is worth [b]way[/b] more than 2 damage, especially at high levels. Against a Fighter who deals ~20 per hit, they're roughly equivalent, but what about when you run into a Rogue with a 10d6 Sneak Attack? Or that spellcaster trying to land a [i]harm[/i] (or any ray) on you? Even if the 2 AC forces the PowerAttacking fighter to drop 2 fewer points from his attack roll, that'd cancel at least 2 damage (4 if he's using a 2-handed weapon, and then there's dual-wielding...). In our Armor-as-semi-DR system, we basically equate 1 AC to 2 DR, and even there we've had to scale it up as levels increase (to 1:3 or 1:4). Look at what happens to Plate Armor; instead of 8 AC and 1 Max DEX, you'd increase it to 12 AC and 5 MaxDEX, with only a -2 ACP and a 15% ASF. At the cost of 4 Feats, of course, but the point is that you've just turned solid plate into something as agile as Studded Leather, but with 10 higher AC. Also, there's one fundamental difference. Weapon Specialization applies to a single weapon type, but most characters will have several weapons. (A ranged weapon and a melee weapon, at the very least, and dual-wielders either use a medium with a small, or they take two smalls and accept a 1-point drop in mainhand damage.) The end result is that there are many situations where WS won't kick in. And if you spend the round doing something other than attacking (such as casting spells, turning undead, disarming a trap, etc.) then it's wasted; maybe that's why only Fighters had access to it, but even for them it's a problem. But how many characters do you know who keep several different armor types on hand? So these bonuses will ALWAYS apply, except in those rare cases when you catch the person naked. And AC's benefit is far more universal; you can't choose not to be attacked, after all, so you never know when it's going to be needed, and the fighter-types can be expected to need the AC in every round. At the very least, you should change these to benefit specific armors (studded leather, chain shirt, etc.) instead of weight categories (light, medium, heavy). But I'd still cut the benefits in half. [/QUOTE]
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