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Help: Gap between AC and defenses seems too large.
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<blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 5570025" data-attributes="member: 1165"><p>I'm not really sure how often I want to hit them. About half, but to be fair, some PCs will have higher ACs than others.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The inherent bonuses to defenses seem to be about the same (now that they're 4th-level, they're all wearing the equivalent of +1 cloaks of resistance).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And also, monsters that could reliably hit AC can hit other defenses <em>too</em> easily.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This one isn't easy to pull off. I guess I need more psychics.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm a little surprised to hear that last bit, actually. I'm not having trouble hitting those at all.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>He's using Spirit Infusion, the Dark Sun at-will power. It's basically commander's strike; the target ally makes an attack at +2 to hit and + Int to damage. He's getting off +5 to damage that way, generally based on the barbarian's attack (the barbarian being the only PC in the party to have decent Strength; apparently you can pull off a psychic warrior with Strength 10 and the only issue is not qualifying for some of the armor feats).</p><p></p><p>He gets +5 from Int, and I'm not sure where the extra +1 is from; it's not a feat, and he says he refuses to wear armor.</p><p></p><p>His other spirits tend to have a nice rider (eg enemies next to them grant combat advantage, etc) but, not surprisingly, they usually miss when they attack! However, he's never complained about this, and seems willing to play an odd character.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Isn't an NAD of 16 a bit <em>low</em>? A 4th-level monster, that isn't a controller or artillery, is aiming at a +7 vs non-AC defenses. Also, the gap makes targeting weak defenses kind of easy for some characters (a swift-moving small halfling won't get their Ref targeted, for instance).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They don't have access to the expertise feats. No one has improved defenses either. (The rogue took a buckler feat, they didn't have any Essentials feats available.) Only the shaman penalized their attack stat; everyone else boosted their main stat (especially the rogue).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Is that reasonable? Is an average difference of greater than 2 or 3 reasonable, given what monster attack bonuses are like?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Seems like people are arguing the exact opposite from me. People are saying the PCs' NADs are too high and the gaps could be larger.</p><p></p><p>In any event, I'm thinking of handing out implement/weapon expertise and perhaps improved defenses (all for free), but not anything that would boost AC, but if the defenses are actually quite good on this party, I think I'll restrict that to just implement/weapon expertise instead.</p><p></p><p>I'm also going to have to find a flavorful way of giving non-magical/non-psionic opponents ways of targeting things other than AC. In the last battles, one of the fighter-types had Armor-Piercing Strike, letting him hit Ref, but it was an encounter power.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 5570025, member: 1165"] I'm not really sure how often I want to hit them. About half, but to be fair, some PCs will have higher ACs than others. The inherent bonuses to defenses seem to be about the same (now that they're 4th-level, they're all wearing the equivalent of +1 cloaks of resistance). And also, monsters that could reliably hit AC can hit other defenses [i]too[/i] easily. This one isn't easy to pull off. I guess I need more psychics. I'm a little surprised to hear that last bit, actually. I'm not having trouble hitting those at all. He's using Spirit Infusion, the Dark Sun at-will power. It's basically commander's strike; the target ally makes an attack at +2 to hit and + Int to damage. He's getting off +5 to damage that way, generally based on the barbarian's attack (the barbarian being the only PC in the party to have decent Strength; apparently you can pull off a psychic warrior with Strength 10 and the only issue is not qualifying for some of the armor feats). He gets +5 from Int, and I'm not sure where the extra +1 is from; it's not a feat, and he says he refuses to wear armor. His other spirits tend to have a nice rider (eg enemies next to them grant combat advantage, etc) but, not surprisingly, they usually miss when they attack! However, he's never complained about this, and seems willing to play an odd character. Isn't an NAD of 16 a bit [i]low[/i]? A 4th-level monster, that isn't a controller or artillery, is aiming at a +7 vs non-AC defenses. Also, the gap makes targeting weak defenses kind of easy for some characters (a swift-moving small halfling won't get their Ref targeted, for instance). They don't have access to the expertise feats. No one has improved defenses either. (The rogue took a buckler feat, they didn't have any Essentials feats available.) Only the shaman penalized their attack stat; everyone else boosted their main stat (especially the rogue). Is that reasonable? Is an average difference of greater than 2 or 3 reasonable, given what monster attack bonuses are like? Seems like people are arguing the exact opposite from me. People are saying the PCs' NADs are too high and the gaps could be larger. In any event, I'm thinking of handing out implement/weapon expertise and perhaps improved defenses (all for free), but not anything that would boost AC, but if the defenses are actually quite good on this party, I think I'll restrict that to just implement/weapon expertise instead. I'm also going to have to find a flavorful way of giving non-magical/non-psionic opponents ways of targeting things other than AC. In the last battles, one of the fighter-types had Armor-Piercing Strike, letting him hit Ref, but it was an encounter power. [/QUOTE]
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