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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: 5570397" data-attributes="member: 1165"><p>Going through the responses I'm getting, I wanted to clarify something:</p><p></p><p>The possibility of math errors is, I think, pretty small. I can check those out, but I'm doubting those are the root of the problem.</p><p></p><p>The 4th-level issue is pretty small. Yes their defenses went up, but they <em>all</em> went up by the same amount (2 points).</p><p></p><p>PCs are <em>not</em> boosting their NADs. I'm a little mystified why people thought their NADs are too high. They're not. I'm hitting them with equal-leveled non-controller monsters <em>too</em> easily, if anything.</p><p></p><p>PC AC scores seem to be too high, NADs are too low, or (probably the real issue) the gap is too large. This makes picking monster levels difficult. My previous strategy of using monsters higher in level by 1 on average doesn't really work well; while they might be able to hit AC more regularly, they're also becoming unhittable, and it only makes the problem of targeting low NADs worse.</p><p></p><p>PC design gives bigger mathematical gaps than monster design. This leaves me wondering why WotC designed these expertise fix-feats. I'm also wondering; <em>are</em> there expertise AC-boosting feats? The barbarian player wanted to use one, but changes his mind, so I never really hunted that down. And if these feats exist, why? From what IanB is saying, this problem with overly-high ACs only becomes worse with levels. Making that type of feat doesn't seem like a problem solver to me.</p><p></p><p>I need to take a much closer look at the barbarian class. They seem to have too much AC. Why give them a free point of AC? They're not defenders.</p><p></p><p>"Classic" soldiers can't defend very well against a high-AC rogue (as they have no attacks that target anything other than AC; I think the only soldiers I've seen in combat that avoid that problem are custom-built, other than some MM3 monsters that I'm now ripping abilities off of). I've recently designed a cluster of psychic warrior NPCs to go around that problem. However, said soldiers might be <em>too</em> deadly, as the rogue's NADs (other than Reflex) are downright terrible.</p><p></p><p>Until I can get a better grip on the issue, this puts problems like monster selection and design "on hold". I <em>probably</em> will go with giving out free attack expertise feats, and <em>maybe</em> free NAD-boosting feats (depending on whether I go with higher-level monsters or not), and I <em>might</em> use more NAD-targeting monsters, but that all depends on whether that's a good idea.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 5570397, member: 1165"] Going through the responses I'm getting, I wanted to clarify something: The possibility of math errors is, I think, pretty small. I can check those out, but I'm doubting those are the root of the problem. The 4th-level issue is pretty small. Yes their defenses went up, but they [i]all[/i] went up by the same amount (2 points). PCs are [i]not[/i] boosting their NADs. I'm a little mystified why people thought their NADs are too high. They're not. I'm hitting them with equal-leveled non-controller monsters [i]too[/i] easily, if anything. PC AC scores seem to be too high, NADs are too low, or (probably the real issue) the gap is too large. This makes picking monster levels difficult. My previous strategy of using monsters higher in level by 1 on average doesn't really work well; while they might be able to hit AC more regularly, they're also becoming unhittable, and it only makes the problem of targeting low NADs worse. PC design gives bigger mathematical gaps than monster design. This leaves me wondering why WotC designed these expertise fix-feats. I'm also wondering; [i]are[/i] there expertise AC-boosting feats? The barbarian player wanted to use one, but changes his mind, so I never really hunted that down. And if these feats exist, why? From what IanB is saying, this problem with overly-high ACs only becomes worse with levels. Making that type of feat doesn't seem like a problem solver to me. I need to take a much closer look at the barbarian class. They seem to have too much AC. Why give them a free point of AC? They're not defenders. "Classic" soldiers can't defend very well against a high-AC rogue (as they have no attacks that target anything other than AC; I think the only soldiers I've seen in combat that avoid that problem are custom-built, other than some MM3 monsters that I'm now ripping abilities off of). I've recently designed a cluster of psychic warrior NPCs to go around that problem. However, said soldiers might be [i]too[/i] deadly, as the rogue's NADs (other than Reflex) are downright terrible. Until I can get a better grip on the issue, this puts problems like monster selection and design "on hold". I [i]probably[/i] will go with giving out free attack expertise feats, and [i]maybe[/i] free NAD-boosting feats (depending on whether I go with higher-level monsters or not), and I [i]might[/i] use more NAD-targeting monsters, but that all depends on whether that's a good idea. [/QUOTE]
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