Expertise in combat expertise?

[Kmart Kommando]

But why cap it at 5 instead of 10?

Most of the time +5 AC still isn't going to matter much when the creatures attacking are already auto-hitting, saying "don't roll a 1"

 

[CrimsonWineGlass]

Thanks guys, the character is really good. The party hates him, but I like him. Level 8, 37 AC when using everything. He has hit about 2 times so far, but he has barely been touched.

 

[Saeviomagy]

But why cap it at 5 instead of 10?

Most of the time +5 AC still isn't going to matter much when the creatures attacking are already auto-hitting, saying "don't roll a 1"

Really it's a fault with the design of monster attacks. If they used iterative attacks instead of "some number we made up for all attacks, no matter what", then 5 points of combat expertise would work the same as it does against an NPC - it stops his LAST couple of attacks hitting. Bizarrely, expertise is something you use when (mostly) staying still, not leaping around the battlefield.

 

[Legildur]

Bizarrely, expertise is something you use when (mostly) staying still, not leaping around the battlefield.

Except that when combined with Spring Attack, you can gain the benefits of Combat Expertise to your touch AC, which can be very useful when targeted by an arcane caster using rays...... (and no, that's not a Steve Irwin joke)

 

[MarkB]

There's also Shield Specialisation (PHBII) and some subsequent feats that allow you to add shield bonus to touch AC and other combat related opposed checks).

Also from the PHB II, there's Combat Cloak Expert, one of whose manouevers lets you add a Shield bonus to AC when fighting defensively. It doesn't stack with other Shield bonuses, though, so it's probably not useful to a defense-specialised character.