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Help: Gap between AC and defenses seems too large.
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<blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 5570071" data-attributes="member: 51942"><p>If the player's fine with it, that's cool - I just want to point out that if you're building encounters around his build, well, that's not a normal build ;-).</p><p></p><p>Yes, sorry 'bout that, I forgot to account for the occasional shield and racial bonuses. Those raise the average non-AC defense to 17.</p><p></p><p>Wow, then they've <em>really</em> spread their stats around. Take the barbarian:</p><p></p><p>19/17/16 FRW. If you remove the class bonus, the level and inherent bonus that's +4/+4/+3 apparently based on stats and other feats. If it were only stats, that's an 18/18/16 stat spread, which at 1st level pre-racial might have been 15/15/16 - that makes for weak attacks, and it's still higher than point buy. So he's probably got something like Iron Will - leaving +4/+4/+1 to ability scores; possibly pre-racial 16/16/13. That's still fairly well spread; you've got to realize that such a PC spent one of just three feats improving a NAD by two <em>and</em> raised a tertiary stat (costing him attack bonus+damage, and for little other gain) to get those NADs. That's a steep price to pay.</p><p></p><p></p><p>On the topic of the difference between NADs and AC being greater that 2 on average:</p><p>Well, it's just the way the math works out.</p><p></p><p>Have you read Stalker0's guide to anti-grind? In particular, beware of over-leveled monsters. It sounds like you're not using many of those at all, but the DMG recommendation of up to 7 levels over the party is very harsh and makes for poor play.</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure this is such a good idea. Their AC's are around 20 (ignoring the defender for a moment), and a level 4 monster might have an attack of +9 - you'll hit them 45% of the time. That should be enough to challenge them; and realize that at level 4 their defenses are unusually high because it's an even level and they just got an inherent boost. At level 7, their defenses will be just 1 higher, and you'll hit 55% of the time - this is enough to remain challenging.</p><p></p><p>And of course, you can and should use the occasional slightly higher level moster, who will hit more frequently; so the average hit rate will probably be above 50%.</p><p></p><p>Most attacks are against AC - that makes it important. If you shift towards using NADs (and note that's not that easy since that's not typical heroic tier monster design), you'll be encouraging them to focus even more on NADs, and diminish the ability of the defender to do his job, and diminish the impact of the psion's choice to eshew armor.</p><p></p><p>Basically, it sounds like they've got attack-bonus issues; which, if they spread around stat points, isn't unexpected. Handing out expertise for free sounds very reasonable. They could probably optimize their attack bonus a lot better; but it's perfectly OK that they don't as long as you're aware of the fact that they might have more difficulty with overlevel monsters than usual.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="eamon, post: 5570071, member: 51942"] If the player's fine with it, that's cool - I just want to point out that if you're building encounters around his build, well, that's not a normal build ;-). Yes, sorry 'bout that, I forgot to account for the occasional shield and racial bonuses. Those raise the average non-AC defense to 17. Wow, then they've [I]really[/I] spread their stats around. Take the barbarian: 19/17/16 FRW. If you remove the class bonus, the level and inherent bonus that's +4/+4/+3 apparently based on stats and other feats. If it were only stats, that's an 18/18/16 stat spread, which at 1st level pre-racial might have been 15/15/16 - that makes for weak attacks, and it's still higher than point buy. So he's probably got something like Iron Will - leaving +4/+4/+1 to ability scores; possibly pre-racial 16/16/13. That's still fairly well spread; you've got to realize that such a PC spent one of just three feats improving a NAD by two [I]and[/I] raised a tertiary stat (costing him attack bonus+damage, and for little other gain) to get those NADs. That's a steep price to pay. On the topic of the difference between NADs and AC being greater that 2 on average: Well, it's just the way the math works out. Have you read Stalker0's guide to anti-grind? In particular, beware of over-leveled monsters. It sounds like you're not using many of those at all, but the DMG recommendation of up to 7 levels over the party is very harsh and makes for poor play. I'm not sure this is such a good idea. Their AC's are around 20 (ignoring the defender for a moment), and a level 4 monster might have an attack of +9 - you'll hit them 45% of the time. That should be enough to challenge them; and realize that at level 4 their defenses are unusually high because it's an even level and they just got an inherent boost. At level 7, their defenses will be just 1 higher, and you'll hit 55% of the time - this is enough to remain challenging. And of course, you can and should use the occasional slightly higher level moster, who will hit more frequently; so the average hit rate will probably be above 50%. Most attacks are against AC - that makes it important. If you shift towards using NADs (and note that's not that easy since that's not typical heroic tier monster design), you'll be encouraging them to focus even more on NADs, and diminish the ability of the defender to do his job, and diminish the impact of the psion's choice to eshew armor. Basically, it sounds like they've got attack-bonus issues; which, if they spread around stat points, isn't unexpected. Handing out expertise for free sounds very reasonable. They could probably optimize their attack bonus a lot better; but it's perfectly OK that they don't as long as you're aware of the fact that they might have more difficulty with overlevel monsters than usual. [/QUOTE]
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