Defensive Bonus variations?

[Errant]

Just wondering what house rules people are using or would consider using for improving characters' AC as they increase in level.

I find the standard rules where AC is pretty much unaffected by how experienced you are pretty unsatisfactory but I wasn't really happy with the Unearthed Arcana rule. Determining a character's effective Defensive Bonus (DB) based on how many levels they had of classes with varying armor proficiencies seems a little complicated and counter intuitive.

I was thinking about a simplified version: a character's Dodge Bonus increases by +1 for every +2 Base Attack Bonus they gain for their character class level(s).

Effect? Veteran characters are harder to hit than novices with minimum book keeping for DMs (most monsters, lacking character levels, would be unaffected) except for a judgement shift in relative challenge ratings/encounter levels due to characters being harder to hit.

Preferably this rule would be used in conjunction with an Armor Damage Reduction rule where armor provides an AC bonus equal to half the default bonuses (rounded up) with DR equal to half the standard bonus (rounded down). Damage caused by attacks that bypass armor (touch attacks or spells that don't require attack rolls to hit) would be unaffected by this DR.

So, anyone care to share their thoughts?

 

[Jdvn1]

WoT has a pretty good system for this.

 

[Errant]

WoT has a pretty good system for this.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Jdvn1]

Y--uh--well, I don't have the book with me at the moment. Basically, different classes get defense bonuses at different progressions. I think it ranges from 0-4 to 0-9, but I don't recall for sure.

If I had the book with me, I'd go into more detail, sorry. Maybe someone has the book around? Or you could pick it up? It has some pretty interesting mechanics.

Sorry, I'm only useful to a point.

 

[Errant]

Sounds like a variation of the Unearthed Arcana idea, only you have to look up the specific table under each class instead of what armor proficiencies they grant.

Do you recall if the WoT defensive bonuses stack with armor?

 

[Psion]

There is also a variant in Advanced GMs Guide that provides different bonuses for different classes. They are treated as dodge bonuses, but the dex bonus limit for armor is replaced with a dodge bonus limit, which includes dex bonus.

The bonuses they gave were pretty modest, but I didn't like the way that it worked out for multiclass characters. I decided that I'd use the same basic technique, but replace the table with a bonus figured from the character's BAB and reflex save - something like (BAB+reflex save)/ 4 or 5.

 

[Jdvn1]

Pretty sure the defense bonuses do stack with armor. I'll post tomorrow with more details, hopefully.

WoT is a weaker system, though. The balance isn't quite the same.

 

[italianranma]

I'm working on a class based Defense bonus by level, sort of like what D20 Modern looks like. It works in my game (or I should say I HOPE it will work) because armor provides DR, and also lowers your defense. I worked it out so most melee characters would have a pretty smooth progression of their Defense so that by level 20 they'd have the same AC (except I call it 'Defense' not 'AC') as they would with +5 Best armor they can wear. So Fighters ended up with a 14 Defense bonus, Paladins, Rangers, Barbarians ended up with 12, Rogues, Bards, and Druids with 10, Clerics, Sorcercers with 8, and wizards with 6.

I also have two other rules for Defense. Shields (assuming you're proficient with them) give a defense bonus based on character level. The basic formula is +1 Defense every 4 levels. Also I made the feat Combat Expertise work sorta like Power Attack: if you are using a shield, then you get +2 Defense for every point by which you lower your BAB.

If anyone is interested in what the rest of the rules look like, just send me an email and I'll forward you the .docs when they're finished.

 

[Errant]

Oooh, shields. I forgot about them. They seem much more likely to help avoid damage rather than reduce damage but I don't know whether it'd be better to keep all their bonus to AC or split it to DR like armor DR. Hmmm.

I'm kinda keen to avoid having to tally up character classes when working out DB, hence the +1 DB/+2 BAB. Most characters work out their BAB in the course of character creation & working out DB is then a simple calculation on the finished statblock without having to refer to a table for each class or juggle fractions from different sources.

 

[MadBlue]

IMC characters (and classed NPCs) get a Dodge Bonus equal to 1/3 their level (rounded down). I didn't want to muck about with class balance by giving different classes different Dodge Bonuses, but I wanted them to rely more on their own abilities to avoid damage, rather than magical items. The main thing is that there are fewer rings of protection floating around and magic armor tends to have a lower enhancement bonus and funky powers instead of a higher enhancement bonus.

MadBlue