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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 2212812" data-attributes="member: 2011">You can get AC 21 at second level with full plate, dex +1, and large shield.AC 23 at second level with full plate, dex +1, and tower shield (AC 24 if you throw Dodge into the mix and AC 26 if you throw in Combat Expertise).I consider AC 18 (his AC with a bow) to be very low at level 7, AC 22 to be average, but still not good. Overall, an AC range of 18 to 22 is low for level 7 (btw, one point of this is Dodge, hence, only good versus one opponent per round).The 7th level fighter type opponents are going to be +8 to +12 to hit with BAB +7/+2. Against AC 22, that's hitting "35% to 85% of the time" (i.e. +8 = 35% of normal one swing damage, +12 /+7 on a full round attack = 85% of normal one swing damage).A 6 hit dice CR 5 Troll hits AC 22 40% of the time with claws, 15% with bite.That's an average of (40% * 9.5 * 1.05 Claw) + (40% * 9.5 * 1.05 Claw) + (15% * 6.5 * 1.05 Bite) + (16% * 16 Rend) = 11.5 points of damage per round in a full round attack. A 14 Con Ranger with AC 22 could stand up against said Troll for just 4+ full round attacks.If the Troll has something as simple as flank with another foe, a full round attack bumps up to 15 2/3rds average points per round against AC 22 or 3+ full round attacks to take down the 14 Con Ranger.2 CR 5 Trolls are supposed to be a moderate challenge for 4 7th level PCs, but I suspect that if AC 22 is a good AC in your game, that they would be more than a moderate challenge and would use up more than 25% of party resources to defeat.Quite frankly, AC is the bread and butter of DND survival (not hit points and not damage dealing). If you do not get hit, you do not get poisoned or level drained or many other nasty things. Sure, you need good saves (and hit points and damage dealing ability) as well, but you will typically run into more opponents who hit for damage than ones who cast spells.Some people think that Fighters should be offensively powerful. I personally prefer defense over offense in DND any day. The higher the AC, the better. IMO. If your opponents need 20s to hit you and you need less then 20 to hit them, you have a serious advantage.Plus, if you can hold off an opponent, that gives the other PCs a chance to counterattack AND it gives the party Cleric or Druid options which do not include healing fellow PCs nearly every round.I really feel for players who play Clerics and who get annoyed at the fact that they are almost forced into the most rounds walking medic roll. Blow that nonsense off. If I played a Cleric, I would tell the other PCs to either concentrate on AC, or die. I might heal someone a little after the combat is over, but don't expect me to stop fighting in order to heal their sorry butt on a regular basis. It's their own job to stay alive, not mine. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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