How much AC is DR 5/- worth?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Though it is difficult to get Damage Reduction 5/-, it isn`t that powerful, except maybe against 1st level goblins and koblins.
I think a +3 bonus to armor class is already okay...

 

[swrushing]

This isn't science. it isn't objective.

if your enemies tend more towards high hit chance and low damage, DR is more important than Ac.

if your enemies tend towards low hit chance and high damage, then Ac is worth more than dr.

All the way between those two, it varies.

IN PLAY, the Gm will control the relative value by the choice of which opponents he throws at you, whether he means to or not.

So i would say go with something SIMPLE and play it out.

frankly, +1 Ac per -1 Dr sounds too simple not to go with for me.

 

[Elric]

My bad. I just assumed that the ability worked the same as in 3e (+3 enchantment). Also, I don't think that 5/- DR is really worth +5 AC at very high levels. This all depends what the AC bonus stacks with and when it is lost, but if you were hit 75% of the time before, +5 AC reduces damage against you to 2/3 of what it used to be. On the other hand, a really high level enemy (when you'd have the DR) probably does more than 15 damage a hit.

 

[robberbaron]

DR 5/- is equal to +3 ac... 5/- is the same as the invonurability (sp) ability on armors from the DMG.
~~Brandon

Invulnerability gives DR5/Magic.

DR5/- is an amazing ability. It means that you can ignore many ranged weapons and will take minimal damage from averagely strong opponents.

Sure, high CR creatures will do a lot of damage and hit all the time, but taking 5 points off all of the attacks is still very useful.

Personally, I wouldn't give it up for a few points of AC but 2AC per 1 DR would make me consider it.

 

[Elric]

+10 AC is much better than DR 5/- in every situation you can think of at high levels. For example, suppose that someone is firing arrows at you for 10 damage (really wimpy for high levels) and hits 95% of the time (hitting exactly on a roll of 2). Then, +10 AC means that you are hit 45% of the time, for 10 damage a hit, or 4.5 damage/attack. DR 5/- means that you are hit 95% of the time, for 5 damage a hit, or 4.75 damage/attack.

This is a very unrealistic scenario for the DR (95% chance to hit is high, and 10 damage at high levels is extremely low) and it is still worse than +10 AC.

 

[Mahali]

In 3.0 there is a vest that give you 5/holy for 76k IIRC.

 

[Scion]

+10 AC is much better than DR 5/-

Probably true, but +5 AC is much to little, hence why I said either +7 or +8 way to go me!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Though it is difficult to get Damage Reduction 5/-, it isn`t that powerful, except maybe against 1st level goblins and koblins.
I think a +3 bonus to armor class is already okay...

I disagree... an 11th level fighter in my campaign had armour which gave DR5/magic and when fighting a dragon with 5 attacks every round it typically saved him from 20-25 damage a round... without that DR he would have been toast.

At high level particularly there are many challenges which will hit pretty much automatically whether or not there is +10 to AC, but knocking 5 damage of every attack, every round is always going to be a benefit, even if they do 4d8+10 each attack.

I'm not arguing for a specific level of AC bonus, and I'd never swap DR for AC. Consider how easy AC bonus is to obtain in the game and how hard DR is obtain!

For a dervish style barbarian I'd actually *keep* the DR, and just redefine the flavour text - so that they don't reduce damage by toughing it out, but by flinching away from blows, rolling with the punches etc. They make it impossible for a foe to land a clean blow on them.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Excellent idea, Plane Sailing. I think I'll do just that

 

[swrushing]

In scenarios where the bad guys have multiple attacks doing light damage, DR will be worth more than AC.

in scenarios where the monsters have fewer attacks doing more damage, AC will be more important.

In the many levels of scale in between, varying levels of balance and imbalance will exist.

In scenarios where th bad guys attacks do more than HP, like energy drains, then Ac will be better.

Its really going to come down to which of these your campaign features more than the other.

In other words... its going to be highly variable, highly dynamic and vary from enemy to enemy, encounter to encounter, campaign to campaign, Gm to Gm as to how much Ac is worth compared to DR.

There is NO OBJECTIVE value for comparison here. It is subjective based on the Gms scripting. A marilith will produce a different "how do they compare" than an advanced fire giant will of the same cr and they will probably all vary off of a lich or vampire of similar cr.

So, IMO, its easier to pick a easy-to-remember ratio (1-1 works for me) and then while running the game, keep in mind the scenario factors you need to incorporate to MAKE THAT TRUE in play.