Barbarians VS Fighters

[Aelryinth]

Don't forget the no-armor route also opens up the can of worms of Int to AC, Wisdom to AC, and Charisma to AC. A Monk's Belt tacks on +5 AC if you have a Wis+6 device, and Int and Cha on top of this can make the advantage significant.


Lastly, unarmored AC is TOUCH AC...and Touch AC can be really, really nice at higher levels with those no-save touch spells, grab attempts, and incorporeal attacks.

==Aelryinth

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The most dangerous will save spells (Dominate Person) can be simply surpressed by a protection from evil or magic circle against evil spell, and most groups should at least one of them available. (If neccessary, a fighter might want to drink a potion of protection from evil)

Don't forget the no-armor route also opens up the can of worms of Int to AC, Wisdom to AC, and Charisma to AC. A Monk's Belt tacks on +5 AC if you have a Wis+6 device, and Int and Cha on top of this can make the advantage significant.


Lastly, unarmored AC is TOUCH AC...and Touch AC can be really, really nice at higher levels with those no-save touch spells, grab attempts, and incorporeal attacks.

==Aelryinth

That´s not entirely correct. Bracers of Armor does not protect against touch attacks, only against incorporeal touches, so this again limits the benefits of the Bracers of Armor. Shields don´t help either.
A Fighter might at least have Combat Expertise (and can use it during combat) to improve his touch AC.

And a Barbarian will probably never qualify for classes that give him the various ability modifiers to AC. And a Monk´s Belt is, unfortunately, a Belt, and this means either no Belt of Giant Strength or no Gloves of Dexterity or lot more expensive items (as he will have to combine two of these items). And a Periapt of Wisdom means no Amulet of Natural Armor or Amulet of Health, a Cloak of Charisma means no Cloak of Resistance....


(But thanks for the suggestion - the Belt´s Monk might be interesting for my current fighter, if I ever have enough money for it. He doesn´t need - or benefit from - the AC boost, but improved melee damage might be nice... But I guess I will eventually explore other options...

 

[Aelryinth]

Bracers of Armor are thus no worse then Armor...and arguably better, because they do protect against incorps. They also have no armor check penalty and weigh a lot less.

Belts of MOnk Strength fit easily...Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Dex can certainly be stacked.

I'd stack amulet of Wisdom into headband of Int raising myself...they are all mental stats. Or just use Ioun stones, eh? At higher levels, the money is incidental.

Better yet, just stack the monk's belt with Str+6. Monk's belts are cheap!

And a Monk's Belt doesn't require you to be lawful, nor becoming a Duellist require more then a level in Swashbuckler. We were comparing the benefits of armor vs light armor vs no armor...

And when you get into Epic Levels, stats have basically no upside limitation and with Epic Magic can hit incredible levels. Armor Enhancements do not scale anywhere nearly so well.

Of course, this is assuming a Dex-based fighter, not a tank Barbs do much better as tanks and focusing on DR, not AC.
==Aelryinth