That never ending quest for more AC

[iwatt]

Typically the ranger who can fire off 5 arrows a turn will hang back while the pally wades into melee combat. the sorcerer/spellsword and the arcane trickster will fire spells then go either ranged or melee. A force to be reckoned with really.

This is of course if you don't count last week where the paly was busy trying to wrestle his weapon back from cave trolls (long story) most of the combat while the rest of the party had to deal with a deepspawn (advanced). They were a bit off their game last time.

We play in a game without arcane casters, but the party has a similar make up. Dwarf paladin holds the line while the Ranger/rogue peppers the enemy with arrows. The cleric RSoP keeps the Pally alive. It also helps the DM keeps sending Giants (+4 dodge bonus) and werwolves (immunity to disease). which makes it clear that my Pally must protect teh others

 

[Mystery Man]

You know, another idea might be to change the kind of adventure you run... Take a look at Piratecat's Story Hour for some examples of how to use NPCs who can't be defeated through combat. Pit your players against a mid-level bureaucrat in the next city they visit. Not only is the guy only a 5th-level Expert (or so), but he's also part of the local government. The PCs could whallop him easily, but it's immoral AND highly illegal. And, the more intimidation the PCs try, the more red-tape he puts them through...

Oh that's all there and its going to get ramped up the more they get involved with the Silverymoon court intrigue. They have several factions looking at them now as either a threat or ally. But I've got that part handled pretty well.

Imagine your heroic PCs having a warrant for their arrest because of "failure to pay back-taxes." No Armor Class in the world is going to keep them safe from the tax-collector.

They have some property they not only have back taxes to pay on, they also have some land grabbing opptunists they're going to have to deal with. I have no problems bringing the pain when it comes to their purse strings.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I don't understand. Are their ACs too high? Or are they appropriate for their level? If too high, then either start finding ways to reduce it (e.g. theft of magic items, rust monsters, M's disjunction, etc.) or bump up the level of encounters as needed.

Remember that higher ACs are accounted for in higher encounters by having monsters with higher attack bonuses.