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Message: <blockquote data-quote="genshou" data-source="post: 2336048" data-attributes="member: 13164">That is true... but shouldn't full plate be DR 8?  Anyway, numerical specifics aside, the average soldier is a 1st-level Warrior, meaning their Power stat could be +1 at best.  That makes a longbowman deal 1d8+1 damage, which means a hailstorm of arrows would be pretty much useless against a knight with full plate (DR 8).  So, one character could be the target of hundreds of arrows and suffer almost no damage.  The nice thing about standard D&D and it's AC bonus from armor is that it can be overcome by a good attack roll instead of damage.  That way, you can get a good shot in and hit the weak spots in the armor, such as around joints and where the helmet meets the shoulder plates.  Now granted, having an AC of 19 (full plate 8 +1 Dex) does make you impervious to most 1st-level Warriors' attacks, but you're still screwed if you're the target of 200 longbowmen.  I'm not saying your system is entirely unrealistic, but it only takes one lucky arrow hitting between armor plates to do a significant damage (critical hit or not).Also, what about monsters, who won't get the benefit of armor DR?  Doing massive damage against a purple worm is something every melee combatant would like to do, and they have no counter for it.I don't know which is the "right" answer–you'll have to playtest both and see which works best.  I do think having Power grant a random benefit per attack keeps with the fluid damage system D&D has.Generally, having a +n better chance to hit gives higher average damage outputs per round than a +n bonus to damage, but against lower-AC foes, the opposite is far truer.Sorry, I missed that rule on my first read.  Limiting it to the classes' BaB is good.With only one hand using a weapon, you can use the other hand for balance, which increases your agility and ability to recover.  A small (no greater than shields) AC bonus is highly acceptable and entirely realistic.  As you pointed out, it's generally better to have a shield, since it's better against ranged attacks and doesn't require a feat that you won't get for free anyway if you're intended to fight with a shield (without Shield Proficiency, you may suffer penalties, but you still get the AC/DR benefit).</blockquote>

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