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Help: Gap between AC and defenses seems too large.
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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5569771" data-attributes="member: 90804"><p>This ended up being a little hard to follow, but I think you're saying:</p><p></p><p>- Even-level monsters are having a hard time hitting the AC of some of your party</p><p>- If you use monsters that can reliably hit the high ACs in the party, those monsters themselves have ACs that are too high for a lot of the party to hit</p><p></p><p>For monsters, AC should be 2 points higher than the other defenses (on average). For PCs, it's expected to be roughly similar on average since monsters have level+5 to hit versus AC and level+3 to hit versus other defenses.</p><p></p><p>In looking at the numbers for your group, I think I'm failing to understand the problem. Average 5th-level monsters that attack AC are going to hit your Shaman and Barbarian on a 10 or better (typical) hit your Psychic Warrior Rogue on a 12 or better (so they have "soldier" AC - seems fine), and hit your Telepath and Bard on a 7-9 or better (they're a little squishy, which feels about right). Going against the other defenses, it will vary more (hitting your Rogue's Reflex is still really hard) even within a particular PC, but nothing looks too far out of line to me.</p><p></p><p>Your characters' defenses average out to be similar to expected monster defenses: AC about 2-3 points better than the average non-armor class defenses. If you're talking about the maximum spread within a PC (the Rogue's AC is 7 higher than his Fortitude), well, yes, that's a large number, but it averages out across the three NADs (because his Reflex is so high). Yes, the Rogue is a bit of an outlier because his AC is 22 and his average NAD is 17.7 (a gap of 4.3), but you said that he took feats specifically to boost AC. <shrug> Your Telepath, on the other hand, has average NADs equal to his AC.</p><p></p><p>The solution is to mix up your monsters. Make sure you don't have the vast majority going after AC. Attacks versus AC should be common, but attacks versus the other defenses shouldn't be rare.</p><p></p><p>It's okay for a character to have some strong and some weak defenses. It's only a problem if you solely go after their strong defenses. If you mix it up, things will average out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5569771, member: 90804"] This ended up being a little hard to follow, but I think you're saying: - Even-level monsters are having a hard time hitting the AC of some of your party - If you use monsters that can reliably hit the high ACs in the party, those monsters themselves have ACs that are too high for a lot of the party to hit For monsters, AC should be 2 points higher than the other defenses (on average). For PCs, it's expected to be roughly similar on average since monsters have level+5 to hit versus AC and level+3 to hit versus other defenses. In looking at the numbers for your group, I think I'm failing to understand the problem. Average 5th-level monsters that attack AC are going to hit your Shaman and Barbarian on a 10 or better (typical) hit your Psychic Warrior Rogue on a 12 or better (so they have "soldier" AC - seems fine), and hit your Telepath and Bard on a 7-9 or better (they're a little squishy, which feels about right). Going against the other defenses, it will vary more (hitting your Rogue's Reflex is still really hard) even within a particular PC, but nothing looks too far out of line to me. Your characters' defenses average out to be similar to expected monster defenses: AC about 2-3 points better than the average non-armor class defenses. If you're talking about the maximum spread within a PC (the Rogue's AC is 7 higher than his Fortitude), well, yes, that's a large number, but it averages out across the three NADs (because his Reflex is so high). Yes, the Rogue is a bit of an outlier because his AC is 22 and his average NAD is 17.7 (a gap of 4.3), but you said that he took feats specifically to boost AC. <shrug> Your Telepath, on the other hand, has average NADs equal to his AC. The solution is to mix up your monsters. Make sure you don't have the vast majority going after AC. Attacks versus AC should be common, but attacks versus the other defenses shouldn't be rare. It's okay for a character to have some strong and some weak defenses. It's only a problem if you solely go after their strong defenses. If you mix it up, things will average out. [/QUOTE]
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Help: Gap between AC and defenses seems too large.
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