Pathfinder 1E How to deal with high AC PCs

[The Little Raven]

Any tips, or suggestions for major gameplay changes?

Use attacks that don't target AC.

I had a DM who threw a fit because I built a 3.5 character that could not be hit on anything but a natural 20 by every monster, and instead of adapting, he demanded I change characters because he "can't handle it" and then canceled the campaign when the other players protested.

Instead of being that guy, just look at the character's weaknesses and target those. Hit him with Will, Fortitude saves. Do touch attacks. Area effects. Do everything but stab him with a sword, and maybe he'll get the idea that hyperspecialization just makes it easier to find a weakness.

 

[jpmg90]

As for Security or City Guards, considering having the town require you to be in 'civilian' cloths and to leave 'weapons' at the gate, light armor and simple weapons only. This will give your generic guard that seemed to be an insect before, now able to put up a challenge.

As another mentioned you could also try to disarm shields and such, but also consider attacking armor directly. This can be difficult with magic armor, but say an enemy captain had a wand of Dispel Magic and cast it on the magic armor (temporary removing magic AC bonuses) and then focusing on 'breaking' the armor to again limiting this AC of the armor. This tactic would work well if it was done near the beginning of a dungeon or group of encounters, so that the high AC fighter has a debuffed AC until he can get back to town to get his armor repaired.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I think a lot of good points have been made here. You don't need to made the encounters all about hitting the AC, neither do you need to only target the weak spots (i.e. Will saves) against the high AC fighter. You can vary the encounters with assortments of what the group is fighting, tossing in minions/mooks, tossing in ranged damage doers, and adding in terrain that makes it difficult for the high AC fighter to even move around in his platemail. That high AC fighter is pretty useless if you are staging hit and run tactics against the group utilizing cover, speed, terrain, and smart NPC's. You can basically ignore him all together and pick on his companions by putting another "tank" against him where they just bash on each other with little to no results while his teammates are being outflanked and out damaged by the opponents he'd normally try to face off against to protect them.

 

[CAFRedblade]

If the PC's are being targeted by a specific group/baddie, have a few early battles that target the fighter normally. After those battles, have the enemy adapt and change things up. Traps, ambushes, area effect magic.

They want the PC dead, or captured, so they have to adjust to do so.

As for the guards, if the city doesn't require a license to carry arms and armour, or limits civilian items, and then if the PC's resist as law abiding citizens, have the law come down on them by the book.
Toss law infractions at them with heavy fines.

 

[CM]

Having zero experience with pathfinder whatsoever, I've seen this problem in 3.5e as well. A lot of people are suggesting exploiting the character's other weaknesses, but you have to be careful about doing that too often or it becomes obvious to the player that you are just out to get him.

Perhaps these guards could use aid another, especially if there are feats that improve it. The mancatcher would be a good weapon to use as it targets touch AC.

Edit: I see Rangerwickett mentioned aid another already.

Upon further reflection, these sorts of things came up a few times in my 3.5 games. There was the dire-bear CODzilla, the warblade, the incanter, and a couple of others I can't remember any more. In every case the players were mature enough to work with me to houserule certain things to enable them to continue playing the character they want to without forcing me as DM to play the arms race metagame. I suggest talking with the player and seeing if he/she is even aware of the issue and the difficulty it's causing you.

 

[gamerprinter]

Yeah, I never allow my players to have any magic item they want. They can hand me a wish list, and I'll allow some items to be available or found in a dungeon treasure. No low level player can ever have an AC 34, at least not through magic items - it won't happen. No such thing as a magic shop in any of my worlds. If anything, magic is a controlled substance, there are laws and economics that prevent any magic item to be accessable for any character.

While not quite appropriate for low levels, ninja and assassin attacks bypass AC completely if they hit with their special attacks.

Many of the suggestions made above I can agree with heartily. Terrain can be great inhibiter of being in heavy armor - cliff ledges for example.

Almost none of our players (including PC fighters) ever where the heaviest of armors - mobility is the biggest reason for that.

 

[Razjah]

Why not use the group to help? Have you tried talking to the problem player?

Or you have a group use the aid another action to have a sergeant get a higher bonus to hit. It would be the equivalent of a phalanx attacking all at once, but only one spear actually got through the armor.

If this still struggles to hit the high heavily armored PC, then use this tactic against the squishier members of the party. If half the group gets getting nearly killed, perhaps the high ac guy will share some items to help boost everyone's ac.

 

[CM]

Use attacks that don't target AC.

I had a DM who threw a fit because I built a 3.5 character that could not be hit on anything but a natural 20 by every monster, and instead of adapting, he demanded I change characters because he "can't handle it" and then canceled the campaign when the other players protested.

Instead of being that guy, just look at the character's weaknesses and target those. Hit him with Will, Fortitude saves. Do touch attacks. Area effects. Do everything but stab him with a sword, and maybe he'll get the idea that hyperspecialization just makes it easier to find a weakness.

In this case I'm not sure which of you was really being "that guy."

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Oh one more thing I just thought of that you can toss out at them: flying creatures! Doing this means that the fighter won't shine nearly as bright as he's bumbling around on the ground like an upside down turtle in his platemail and unless he's got a good bow or a way to fly he will be a non-issue in these situations, while the ranged and casters will be having a lot of fun. Now I'm not advocating picking on the fighter, but rather having things help offset what you seem to think as a problem with his/her high AC.

It all just comes down to the varied encounters concept, don't just throw run of the mill kobolds and goblins at them all the time, there are literally hundreds of bestiaries/monster manuals out there and probably hundreds of thousands of creatures/beasts/NPCs you can use. Let your imagination run wild, that's what this game is for!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Fire doesn't care about AC. Push heavily armored opponents into a pit, add oil, light, and BBQ!

Never fight symmetrically. If they go heavy armor, you go energy or touch-AC attacks. If they go dodge, you go area of effect.