Earthdawn
Does anyone remember the game Earthdawn?
It was written by FASA, newly resurrected by
Living Room Games, and had a similar approach to armor. Your physical defense, how hard it was to hit you, was based almost solely on your dexterity. Depending upon your class, you might get a bonus, but not terribly much. All armor did was reduce the amount of damage you take from physical attacks.
As soon as I saw this on the front page of the site, I thought, "yet another Earthdawn mechanic ripped off for d20." Not that that's a bad thing, Earthdawn is an _awesome_ system. Anything d20 can take from it, it should, it can only make it better.
Coincidentally, FASA also made Shadowrun, a Cyberpunk/Fantasy mix, where elves and dragons and mages ran around Seattle in 2070 right alongside gun-totting Street Samurai and explosives experts. Sounds kinda like one of d20 Modern's plans.
Living Room Games also has a press release on their website saying that they're coming out with a d20 cyberpunk game this summer. Might be interesting to see how these all mesh together.
If you're interested in another fantasy setting game, check out Earthdawn, it's a really good game. It meshes skill-based and class-based systems remarkably well.