D&D 4E suggestions for 4e ideas easy enough to HR now?

[BryonD]

Somebody explain the need for the +1/2 level AC bonus to me.

Just my guess:

It is a fundamental part of "the math works at every level".

If BAB is already known at a given level and the potential modifications to BAB and AC are known at a given level because magic items now have levels, then giving AC an advancement by levels would allow the system to micromanage the chance of a hit being the same at 14th level as it is at 3rd level and at 29th level. Obviously feats and such would need to be built in as well, but that could be controlled if the goal was to do so.

 

[ruleslawyer]

One idea:

Because attack bonus vastly outpaces AC at mid- to high levels, and if you strip out magic items, the tendency is to make that spread greater, not less.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

One idea:

Because attack bonus vastly outpaces AC at mid- to high levels, and if you strip out magic items, the tendency is to make that spread greater, not less.

Just talking off the top of my head-- completely unchecked and prepared to be schooled-- but if I made two columns, one "Sources of AC" and the other "Sources of AB," sources of AC is the longer column by a wide margin.

Hmm, maybe spells are giving AB the boost? Bless and bardsong and the like?

If anything, AC vastly outpaces AB at low levels. It's hard for a gnoll to overcome plate mail and tower shield. So you catch up a bit at mid level, and then I think it evens out as AC starts to lag and BAB slowly catches up.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Just my guess:

It is a fundamental part of "the math works at every level".

If BAB is already known at a given level and the potential modifications to BAB and AC are known at a given level because magic items now have levels, then giving AC an advancement by levels would allow the system to micromanage the chance of a hit being the same at 14th level as it is at 3rd level and at 29th level. Obviously feats and such would need to be built in as well, but that could be controlled if the goal was to do so.

Well, in the context of 4e, anything is possible with regards to the math, but that is an unsatisfactory answer for this thread. I'm curious why folks think AC is broken now, and how they could houserule a fix now.

EDIT: To put that another way, I am curious why folks would houserule this 1/2 level AC bonus without any other fundamental rules change context. Again, it seems to me a case of "SAGA did it!"

To which my first and most facile response is, "Yes, but that bonus exists in SAGA because there's no magic armor in Star Wars."

 

[GlassJaw]

Again, it seems to me a case of "SAGA did it!"

Well if SAGA jumped off a bridge, would you?!?!

But seriously, Wulf's right. There's no need to add a defense bonus to "standard" D&D unless you plan on drastically altering the system in some other area.

 

[Gloombunny]

EDIT: To put that another way, I am curious why folks would houserule this 1/2 level AC bonus without any other fundamental rules change context.

Are they? I kind of assumed that the people who were doing so were also stripping down the magic items. Which counts as a fundamental rules change in my book, since it's the only way for PCs to have the ACs they're supposed to at mid-to-high levels.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Are they? I kind of assumed that the people who were doing so were also stripping down the magic items. Which counts as a fundamental rules change in my book, since it's the only way for PCs to have the ACs they're supposed to at mid-to-high levels.

What AC is a PC "supposed to have" at various levels? That's an assertion of conventional wisdom that has to be challenged.

PCs do not require the Big Six in order for the game to be balanced wrt CR and PC level.

In fact just the opposite is true. 3e quickly became unbalanced because these items were so highly desirable they became "standard issue."

 

[Gloombunny]

What AC is a PC "supposed to have" at various levels? That's an assertion of conventional wisdom that has to be challenged.

PCs do not require the Big Six in order for the game to be balanced wrt CR and PC level.

In fact just the opposite is true. 3e quickly became unbalanced because these items were so highly desirable they became "standard issue."

Are you saying that PCs are not expected to have higher AC at level 15 than they did at level 3?

 

[CleverNickName]

Oh, another one that's dead easy:

Most creatures and NPCs have no alignment.

By "no alignment," do you mean "true neutral?" From what I've heard about it, being unaligned sounds like a fancy way of saying you are neutral. Which is a good thing, I think.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Are you saying that PCs are not expected to have higher AC at level 15 than they did at level 3?

Are you saying you prefer to be ignored?