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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Al'Kelhar" data-source="post: 1229353" data-attributes="member: 7884">I apologise if my comments have come across as a little belligerent.  I note that the topic was noted as a [Rant], and I pointed out that my comments were a rant, too.  However, the comments on the thread continue to miss the point about AC and DR as concepts in D&D 3E combat.  It's fun to have an argument about whether armour impedes mobility, and whether a modern rifle is better able to penetrate armour than a C19 musket, but the discussion is irrelevant to the question of whether armour should provide DR instead of AC.  I have no objection to people wanting to have more realistic combat mechanics than D&D provides, but simply saying "armour should be DR, not AC" is just plain wrong because it misunderstands those two concepts within the scheme of D&D combat mechanics.  I have no objection to people creating systems of combat in which protective vestments of whatever sort enhance resistance to damage as opposed to enhancing difficulty to hit, but if you want to do this in D&D you have to change a whole lot of other things to keep the system internally consistent and operational.  Natural armour has to become DR instead of AC.  Hence, being a fighter with a +1/level BAB increase is no more important than being a wizard with +1/2 levels BAB increase, because most things are within a few points of AC 10.  So you've just nerfed the fighter class, there.  Perhaps fighters should then get a scaling class ability to overcome DR instead?  Do shields provide DR bonus or AC bonus?  If you suggest that everything which currently does not contribute to touch AC should provide DR, then shields should provide DR.  But their purpose is to deflect blows, not to limit damage from blows which hit.  And while we're making D&D combat "realistic", who says a battleaxe does as much damage, on average, as a longsword, or a heavy mace, or a light flail?  What statistical studies of injuries prove that these weapons all maim and kill as efficiently as each other?  And better than a scimitar, and worse than a halberd?  Etc.  In short, if you make armour provide DR, consider the impacts it has on the combat system as a whole, and if your rationale in doing so is simply to make D&D combat more "realistic", there's a lot more things you have to change than just whether armour provides DR.We now return to your regularly scheduled program.Cheers, Al'Kelhar</blockquote>

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