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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6060659" data-attributes="member: 22424">The various different ACs are an area where the 3e rules are actually really quite clever and elegant in theory, but are pretty horrible as soon as they hit practice. It's almost as if they designed the game with one eye on an eventual video game and/or electronic character manager - a computer eats this sort of stuff up, where a human just finds it to be a pain.In theory, I agree with the OP about replacing "flat-footed" with "combat advantage" and giving a flat bonus, and also with replacing "touch AC" with something. I just don't think that a Reflex save is really the thing to go for - the key problem being that a save rises with level, where touch AC does not....Actually, there is something there... a spell requiring a touch attack becomes more likely to hit as level increases (the Wizard's BAB goes up while the target's AC does not, and the target is also more likely to be larger and so have a poor touch AC). Conversely, a spell requiring a save becomes less likely to have its full effect (because Reflex save goes up with level, where the save DC is mostly static once spells of that level have been gained).(And, yes, there are feats and items that can change both of the above, but they're both fairly rare and fairly expensive.)Meanwhile, some spells get significantly better with caster level (fireball gains 1d6 per level, of course), where some others do not (the inflict wounds spells gain a palty +1 damage per level).So, then, if they're smart, the designers have recognised this, and tied the two together - spells that require a touch attack increase in potency only slowly with level, while those requiring a save increase rapidly, so the higher level Wizard gets the interesting choice: reliably do lower damage, or go for a riskier shot at higher damage.But... I wonder whether they actually recognised this...?</blockquote>

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