Highest AC's

[backbeat]

My Level 4 knight is almost identical to the one Bagpuss posted (no shield specialization or ring of protection yet though).

My Lvl 9 gestault Ninja/conjuror has an AC of 27 with mage armor, plus he is invisible 90% of the time, so there is a 50% miss chance. I would Peg the Character as effective level 12 though because he got a lucky resurection as a Bug Bear, and is gestaulted.
I think his break down is +4 Dex, +4 Mage Armor, +6 Ninja AC bonus, +3 Natural

 

[Caliban]

My 18th level Ftr4/Mnk2/Exotic Weapon 1/Pious Templar 1/Dwarven Defender 10 has a base AC of 40, and can pump it up to 55 or 56 with various tricks (combat Expertise, Defensive Stance, Haste, potion of Barkskin +5, Dodge), or 60 against giants.

His base touch AC is 25, and by using Combat Expertise, Dodge, and Defensive stance can get that to a 35 touch AC. He also have Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge, and Mettle.

His AC breakdown is complicated: 10 + 10 (mith breastplate +5) + 5 (animated shield +3), +3 (dwarven defender bonus), +5 (Dex), +2 (sacred bonus from helm), +4 (ring of protection), +1 (ioun stone) = 40 normal, 25 touch

My 14th level Sor10/Argent Savant4 has an AC of around 30 most of the time. (10 + 4 from Dex, +8 from Greater Mage armor, +6 from Shield, +2 from Ring of Protection.) Before Alter Self was banned from the campaign he regularly had a 36 AC (Troglodyte for +6 natural armor). Sometimes he uses Reduce Self to get another +2 AC, or a Potion of Barkskin +5. He also regularly uses Empowered False life, Greater Invis or Greater Blink, and has a ring of evasion.

My 11th level Brb1/Ftr4/Dervish 6 Has a base AC of 24 (10 +8 from Mith Breastplate +3, +1 from ioun stone, +3 from Dex, +2 from dervish). This increases by up to +10 when he uses Dodge, Mobility, and Combat Expertise - which he often does as he can take a full move and a full round worth of attacks a the same time. He also begs for Shield of Faith and Barkskin whenever possible. He also uses the Elusive Target tactical feat from Complete Warrior to make people not want to attack or flank him. =)

These are all 28 point buy characters that have I have played in the Living Greyhawk campaign.

 

[Jemal]

well, AC's been gone over MANY times..
Here's a thread where we talked about lvl 20 CORE Ac twinks...
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=194533

As to other.. Well, It depends on level..
LVL 1, A good AC could be 20+ (Halfling Monk w/ 20 dex, 18 wisdom, etc)

Lvl 6, you can have Mithril Breast Plate + 2, Tower Shield + 1, and +5 dex mod, +1 size, and some feats for an AC of about 30.

By lvl 12, AC's around 30-40 are available/fairly easy.

LVL 20, I've had several characters with AC's from high 50's to well over a hundred(If you're a caster). I'd have to pull out some specific builds to show you, though.

These are all on the UPPER side, of course.

'Averages' would probably be around 15-20 for lvls 1-5, in the 20's up to about lvl 12, high 20's and low/mid 30's up to lvl 16/18, and high 30's, through to high 40's for 18-20. Epic, don't even bother. I've seen epic AC's ranging from NEGATIVE 10 to several hundred (not counting broken and repeating combos) up to level 60.


Here's an example of some of my characters that I actually play HERE on ENWorld:

Sir Jonathon (1st lvl Human Fighter): 18 (+4 chain shirt, +2 dex, +2 hvy stl shield)
Jonas Firebeard (1st lvl Dwarven Fighter): 19 (10 base +2 dex +5 armour +2 shield)
Janelle (10th lvl Human Warlock): 28 (10 base + 6 armour[+2 mithril Shirt] + 4 shield[+2 darkwood shield] + 6 dex + 1 Deflection + 1 Natural Armour)
Quinn (2nd level Human Swashbuckler): 18 (10 base + 4 dex + 4 armour)

Higher level AC Twinks I've played/proposed:
Unnamed (Feral Human Saint Monk 2, Swashbuckler 3, Thief Acrobat 3, Duelist 9): 73 (10 base + 7 dex + 8 Int + 12 Wis + 12 Insight + 7 Armour + 5 Deflection + 11 Nat Armour + 1 Agile Fighting). *+1 dodge feat*
** Can Fight Defensively/Combat Expertise for -9 Atk, + 17 AC, meaning AC 90.
Whin Z Roe (Male Spellscale Fgtr1/Human Sorc6/E.Knight7/Monk1/Abjurant Champion5): 58 (10 Base + 6 Dex +10 Cha + 1 Class + 5 Deflection + 5 Natural Armour + 11 Armour + 9 Shield + 2 Luck - 1 size) [44 Flat Footed, 44 touch]

Note that neither of my AC twinks actually wear armour... That's standard at higher level.

 

[Slaved]

Current character is level 4 with an armor class of 23 (touch 11, flat footed 22).
The next character looks to be level 4 with an armor class of 18 (touch 12, flat footed 16).

 

[Nail]

AC = CR +13 in the MM, FWIW.

 

[Doodle]

Most useful character with High AC was a sword and board fighter6 /tempest5 (improved shield bash).

Regular AC was about 36, touch was in the mid to high 20's (shield Ward).

I've had casters/monks with similar ACs and fighters who could have higher ACs at ECL 8 - 12, but none of them combined the BAB and damage output of the Tempest with a decent AC.

Me.

 

[Nail]

Currently, in my game (moderate magic level):

Ftr 6 (AC 17)
Mnk 2/WB 5 (AC 13)
Rog 7 (AC 21)
Warmage 7 (AC 21)
Warlock 7 (AC 19)
Clr 7 (AC 17)

Generally speaking, I judge these ACs as being too low. The PCs could do better. My Bad Guys hit them regularly, and without really trying. BTW: How would you let your players know they need to deal with this? (Aside from hitting them repeatedly.)

 

[Stalker0]

Give them more armor boosting gear, and whenever they sell it, have the next guy be a power attacking ogre barbarian

 

[moritheil]

My previously stated rule of thumb for "good" AC is roughly 5*character level. It only holds for level 8 and up, as obviously one can hit AC 40 well before level 8 if one wants to (and has splatbook access) without trying too hard.

This is by no means a ceiling, just a point of reference that I use.

Nail - I told my players that openly in one campaign, but all it really accomplished was irking them.

 

[shilsen]

BTW: How would you let your players know they need to deal with this? (Aside from hitting them repeatedly.)

I'd tell them. Any other method is playing guessing games, and I never do that with my players. I discuss strengths, weaknesses, tactics and the like with them, bring up strengths and weaknesses of the feats/spells/abilities they're choosing and suggest feats/spells/abilities they may not have considered, etc. So if I think there's a particular weakness, I'll bring it up.