Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Damage on a Miss: Because otherwise Armour Class makes no sense
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6268791" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>As everyone knows, AC refers to Armour Class and makes you harder to hit. This does not mean that wearing plate armour makes you leap around like a ninja (it doesn't slow you the way urban myths claim - but it certainly doesn't speed you up). Plate armour is utterly mundane and doesn't have a magical forcefield - but still adds 8 to your AC, making you much <em>much</em> harder to hit.</p><p></p><p>So what does this mean?</p><p>A significant proportion of blows that "miss" must be hitting your armour - otherwise armour class makes no sense at all because it does mean that plate armour turns you into a rapidly moving ninja.</p><p></p><p>Armour will absorb the force of <em>most</em> blows. Damage on a miss with brass knuckles would be ... bizarre. But when a giant swings a greatclub at you, armour will not help you get out of the way. It also isn't some magical inertia-neutralising thing - that greatclub still has momentum, and the only thing preventing it breaking your ribs is your armour so you must take blows on your armour. And with that much momentum you're going to end up with a full-torso bruise at the very least. Of course if you hadn't been wearing armour you'd be much worse off. You'd have taken the full force of the blow to your unprotected body. Ouch.</p><p></p><p>That's damage on a miss. And without it, large high impact weapons that will rattle the enemy by sheer force and momentum and AD&D's armour paradigm make no sense at all. (DR doesn't work any better because of the vast difference in what it stops between bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 6268791, member: 87792"] As everyone knows, AC refers to Armour Class and makes you harder to hit. This does not mean that wearing plate armour makes you leap around like a ninja (it doesn't slow you the way urban myths claim - but it certainly doesn't speed you up). Plate armour is utterly mundane and doesn't have a magical forcefield - but still adds 8 to your AC, making you much [I]much[/I] harder to hit. So what does this mean? A significant proportion of blows that "miss" must be hitting your armour - otherwise armour class makes no sense at all because it does mean that plate armour turns you into a rapidly moving ninja. Armour will absorb the force of [I]most[/I] blows. Damage on a miss with brass knuckles would be ... bizarre. But when a giant swings a greatclub at you, armour will not help you get out of the way. It also isn't some magical inertia-neutralising thing - that greatclub still has momentum, and the only thing preventing it breaking your ribs is your armour so you must take blows on your armour. And with that much momentum you're going to end up with a full-torso bruise at the very least. Of course if you hadn't been wearing armour you'd be much worse off. You'd have taken the full force of the blow to your unprotected body. Ouch. That's damage on a miss. And without it, large high impact weapons that will rattle the enemy by sheer force and momentum and AD&D's armour paradigm make no sense at all. (DR doesn't work any better because of the vast difference in what it stops between bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Damage on a Miss: Because otherwise Armour Class makes no sense
Top