Ramping stat bonuses to AC?

[Heretic Apostate]

In the Rules forum, there is discussion how the revamped (and heavily nerfed) bladesinger went from getting full Int stat bonus applied to AC, to having a max of +1 per bladesinger class level, up to the Int stat bonus.

Thus, if you have an Int of 18, you can get a +1 to AC at bladesinger 1, +2 at bladesinger 2, +3 at bladesinger 3, +4 at bladesinger 4, and stay at +4 until your Int goes up to 20 and you take another level of bladesinger.

Why isn't something like this done for paladins (with their bonuses to saves, from Cha, IIRC) and monks (with their bonuses to AC, from Wis, IIRC)?

It would definitely discourage Pal1/Mnk1/xxx multiclass combos, wouldn't it?

 

[Crothian]

Yes it would. I imagine it wasn't thought of till after 3.5 was done.

 

[shilsen]

Yoink!

 

[FireLance]

It would definitely discourage Pal1/Mnk1/xxx multiclass combos, wouldn't it?

[Pedantic Mode]In 3.5e, paladins don't get Divine Grace until 2nd level, so it would have to be a Pal2/Mnk1/xxx multiclass combo.[/Pedantic Mode].

 

[Cheiromancer]

Such a change would be hard on first level characters who happen to be monks. Since they can't wear armor or use a shield, the full wisdom bonus to AC should be allowed them.

 

[FireLance]

Such a change would be hard on first level characters who happen to be monks. Since they can't wear armor or use a shield, the full wisdom bonus to AC should be allowed them.

Why not allow the full bonus for straight monks and paladins and limit it for multiclassed ones? I admit, though, I'd be hard pressed to think of a good reason why this should be the case.

Somthing along the lines of:

Multiclassing: A multiclassed monk's AC bonus from Wisdom is capped at her monk level, if it is lower than her Wisdom bonus.

Similarly for the paladin and save bonus from Charisma.

 

[Darklone]

Thought about the same, but dropped the idea due to flavor considerations. Paladins are blessed or not. And they are not weak, but need every tiny bit especially during the low levels. Losing their good saves will spoil their single advantage over barbarians and fighters.

Monks: Hmm yeah. These wildshaped monk1/druidX builds with Wisdom 24 really suck. On the other hand, I like the build and the dude loses spellpower, that's bad enough. So no, I won't use it.