Heavy Armor for the Non-AC Defenses?

[FireLance]

This is more of a fix for stat disparity leading to significantly lower non-AC defenses at higher levels than the broader problem of monster attack bonuses increasing faster than bonuses to the non-AC defenses in general. Because the standard game rules only allow for two ability scores to increase at 4th, 8th, 14th, 18th, 24th and 28th level, at most two (and for some characters, only one) of the non-AC defenses will benefit from the increases to ability scores. At higher levels, this sometimes means that equal-level monsters will hit the characters' lower non-AC defenses on any d20 roll except for a natural 1.

When it comes to AC, the standard rules have got around the problem by introducing heavy armor for characters who would otherwise not have a reason to increase Dexterity or Intelligence. Instead of granting a small bonus to AC on top of the bonus to AC granted by Dexterity or Intelligence, heavy armor grants a larger bonus to AC, but characters in heavy armor generally cannot add their Dexterity or Intelligence bonus to AC. Effectively, the bonus from a high ability score is factored into the overall bonus to AC granted by heavy armor.

So, I was wondering if the same approach could be applied to the non-AC defenses. The following are three special materials which can be added to a magic item to allow it to grant a flat bonus to a non-AC defense in place of the normal ability score bonus. My initial inclination is to add the bonus for free (after all, it fixes what I consider to be a flaw in the base rules), but DMs who are not comfortable with that approach may either add a premium for magic items that have one of the following properties (e.g. increasing the cost of the magic to that of an item 1 or 2 levels higher) or by making it a 2nd+ or 3rd+ level magic item (effectively, adding it as a property to a +X magic armor or amulet of protection).

Guardsteel replaces the bonus to your Fortitude defense normally granted by Strength or Constitution with a bonus equal to the enhancement bonus of the item, or a +1 bonus for every 5 levels of the item, i.e. +1 for a 1st to 5th level item, +2 for a 6th to 10th level item, etc. If you do not wear or use an item made with swiftmetal or wardiron, the bonus to your Fortitude defense increases by 1. Guardsteel can be used in any item, but it is normally placed into a suit of armor, a neck slot item, or a waist slot item.

Swiftmetal replaces the bonus to your Reflex defense normally granted by Dexterity or Intelligence with a bonus equal to the enhancement bonus of the item, or a +1 bonus for every 5 levels of the item, i.e. +1 for a 1st to 5th level item, +2 for a 6th to 10th level item, etc. If you do not wear or use an item made with guardsteel or wardiron, the bonus to your Reflex defense increases by 1. Swiftmetal can be used in any item, but it is normally placed into a suit of armor, a neck slot item, an arms slot item, or a foot slot item.

Wardiron replaces the bonus to your Will defense normally granted by Wisdom or Charisma with a bonus equal to the enhancement bonus of the item, or a +1 bonus for every 5 levels of the item, i.e. +1 for a 1st to 5th level item, +2 for a 6th to 10th level item, etc. If you do not wear or use an item made with guardsteel or swiftmetal, the bonus to your Will defense increases by 1. Wardiron can be used in any item, but it is normally placed into a suit of armor, a neck slot item, or a head slot item.​

The additional one-point bonus if you do not wear or use an item made with one of the other materials is to give a small advantage to those who only need to boost one defense. If you need to boost two, you will be slightly worse off.

What do you think?

 

[FireLance]

Oh, and in case anyone asks, I didn't use "quicksilver" because there already is a quicksilver weapon in AV2.

 

[keterys]

Bonus seems large - is it intentional to allow the lowest save to catch up some of the distance with level? Ie, over 30 levels a mid-defense that starts at 14 and gets every extra ability point bump would be +6. Whereas this item is +7 potentially, equal even to a starting 16.

Also runs into slight oddness with classes that are building in coping mechanisms for FRWs - like barbarians and monks who get +1 per tier.

Very interesting idea otherwise. At a minimum it's a solid idea for actual magic items, for those who don't want the fix to be free.

 

[cmbarona]

Hmmm... interesting idea. I'll have to mull it over for a while, but I think it could work quite well. I'll agree that the bonus seems a little large, especially with an exclusive use pumping it to +7 territory. What sort of interaction did you have in mind with FRW increasing feats and common house rules addressing the issue (e.g., +1 at 5/10/15, 3 stat bumps, ban FRW feats)?

 

[FireLance]

First of all, thanks for the feedback!

The +1 to +6 by 26 to 30 level is primarily for neatness, and also to more or less allow the user to catch up to a starting ability score of 14 increasing by 8 points over approximately the same range of levels (starting ability score of 16 if you only shore up one non-AC defense). Given that many characters could have a starting score of 18 in a primary ability score, and may be able to increase it by 10 points total by selecting an appropriate epic destiny, a bonus of +6 or +7 would still be behind the "best" ability score progression.

In addition, the "worst" heavy armor starts at a 3-point premium over the "best" light armor, and increases the difference by about 4 points over the same range of levels, effectively compensating for an ability score bonus of +7.

As for the interaction with other fixes, it probably makes adding a third ability score boost unnecessary since it replaces the ability score modifier completely. Some characters might still find a third ability score boost to be useful, but not for the increase it grants to a non-AC defense.

As mentioned, it also does not address the issue that non-AC defenses generally increase slower than monster attack bonuses. A 30th-level character using just one of these items and a +6 neck slot item would have a non-AC defense of 38 before other modifiers. A 30th-level monster with an attack bonus of +33 (level+3) against a non-AC defense would still hit him 80% of the time, on a 5 or better. Depending on whether you think this hit chance is too high or not, there may be scope to shore this up further with automatic bonuses (+1 at 5/15/25 or +1 at 11/21), feats, and/or magic items that grant item bonuses to the relevant defense.

Good point about the class coping mechanisms, though. Together with these items, the eventual effect would be like starting with an ability score of 20 and boosting it by 10 points - still within the parameters of the game, but at a much lower opportunity cost. Allowing it to stack probably isn't going to break the game, but to avoid the potential cheese, I should probably add the clause that a barbarian's bonus to Reflex from Barbarian Agility does not apply when he is using swiftmetal, etc.