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<blockquote data-quote="Dave Turner" data-source="post: 2794414" data-attributes="member: 12329">Actually, Wil, there's some stuff in your first paragraph that I can respond to.There are rules in Unearthed Arcana which suggest getting rid of armor as a way of boosting AC and instead giving every character a Defense Bonus based on their class.&nbsp; What you see are two different design decisions regarding how a character can raise their AC.&nbsp; In the core D&amp;D books, armor increases AC so that's what players (whose characters can wear armor) do.Does the real world experience of armor's value influence the design decision to make armor increase AC?&nbsp; I'm sure it does.&nbsp; But it wasn't the only method designers of D&amp;D could have put in the core rules, is it?&nbsp; They could have used the Defense Bonus and then no characters would wear armor.&nbsp; I agree with you that a DM can force characters to wear armor.&nbsp; But this is done by making a rules decision about whether the DM wants to use the &quot;armor=AC&quot; rule or the &quot;defense bonus=AC&quot; rule.&nbsp; The combat system itself forces characters to wear armor.&nbsp; If you suggested to a D&amp;D player that his fighter shouldn't wear armor, what would he say?&nbsp; He'd refuse because he wants his character to live.&nbsp; Without armor, the rules of the game (the to-hit rolls and damage rolls) will kill his character.&nbsp; That is a mathematical certainty.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I'm suggesting the mechanics of D&amp;D do reward high AC - they reward you by keeping your character alive, which is of fundamental importance in D&amp;D and it's complex combat system!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dave Turner, post: 2794414, member: 12329"] Actually, Wil, there's some stuff in your first paragraph that I can respond to. There are rules in [i]Unearthed Arcana[/i] which suggest getting rid of armor as a way of boosting AC and instead giving every character a Defense Bonus based on their class. What you see are two different [b]design decisions[/b] regarding how a character can raise their AC. In the core D&D books, armor increases AC so that's what players (whose characters can wear armor) do. Does the real world experience of armor's value influence the design decision to make armor increase AC? I'm sure it does. But it wasn't the only method designers of D&D could have put in the core rules, is it? They could have used the Defense Bonus and then no characters would wear armor. I agree with you that a DM can force characters to wear armor. But this is done by making a rules decision about whether the DM wants to use the "armor=AC" rule or the "defense bonus=AC" rule. The combat system itself forces characters to wear armor. If you suggested to a D&D player that his fighter shouldn't wear armor, what would he say? He'd refuse because he wants his character to live. Without armor, the rules of the game (the to-hit rolls and damage rolls) will kill his character. [i]That[/i] is a mathematical certainty. :) I'm suggesting the mechanics of D&D do reward high AC - they reward you by keeping your character alive, which is of fundamental importance in D&D and it's complex combat system! [/QUOTE]

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