Rethinking Reflex and AC...

[mach1.9pants]

In R&C, and I know that was a while ago so things may have changed, it says " fighters can get more out of their armour than other characters; the<sic> certain feats allow a high-Dexterity fighter to add some of his Dexterity bonus to his AC even when he wears heavy armour, which no other character can do."
I would imagine this is still in.

 

[HP Dreadnought]

I think his concern is that not the 1/2 level bonus to defenses but that the hide wearer will continue to put points into dex or int, while the plate wearer can't get an increase to AC through stat bumps. Over time, without additional advantages to heavy armors, the light armor wearer who contines to max out dex will be harder to hit than the heavies.

The heavy armor wearer doesn't WANT to put his stats into dex/int. The point of the heavy armor is to give you a good AC, while freeing up your stat points for "more important" things like Strength or Constitution.

As it stands, if stat generation is point buy. . . my fighters are going to come stock with a nice 10 dexterity/int.

We also don't know whether or not there are powers you can take at later levels that enhance the protective value of heavy armor relative to lighter armors. Or magical enchantments that allow you to retain your dex/int bonus even while wearing heavy armor. Neither of these seem like a stretch.