The "I'm going to get hit no matter what my AC is" philosphy

[The_Gneech]

Not only am I going to get hit no matter what my AC is, I'm not going to be able to succeed in hitting back, no matter how good my attack bonus is.

It's depressing.

-The Gneech

 

[wally]

Not only am I going to get hit no matter what my AC is, I'm not going to be able to succeed in hitting back, no matter how good my attack bonus is.

It's depressing.

-The Gneech

Now that is depressing. Does your DM want you challenged that much or does he just not know about balancing things?

-wally

 

[The_Gneech]

Now that is depressing. Does your DM want you challenged that much or does he just not know about balancing things?

-wally

Neither. Dice just hate me. I had a 5th level ranger get wiped out by a pair of off-the-shelf hobgoblins ... in 2e, no less! All because I always rolled 5- and they always rolled 16+.

My in-game catchphrase has become, "I can't make rolls, stop asking me to. I take ten for everything, or I fail."

-The Gneech

 

[RithTheAwakener]

I have found that for our group its nearly the opposite. We just finished City of the Spider Queen, and now we're searching for the Crown of Thorns. My dragon disciple (lvl 16) nearly always connects with his attacks even while Expertising for 5, and when i expertise for 5 my AC rises to right around 40. The mobs rarely can hit me on more than 1 attack a round, and those mobs in the underdark are pretty tough...

 

[Tom]

At 11th level you should be able to buy +5 Full Plate, that would be a good start for relatively cheap. Second option would be a +5 Natural Armor. Third a +5 Ring of Protection. If you haven't accumulated this much gold yet, insist your DM take you through a Gary Gygax module.

AC is very important because of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th swipes at you (-5,-10,-15 to hit).

Also, for those really tough fights, get a displacement or blink potion (50% miss chance).

I didn't want to hijack the "IS Dragonhide too cheap" thread, so I'm creating a new one.



I can attest to this. I'm the tank of the party and I have the second lowest AC of the group (which becomes the lowest once the Sorcerer gets her shield spell up).

Of course, I'm walking around with +1 Full-plate and MW Large Darkwood shield for AC at 11th level (and generally weild a greatsword, so that knocks the shield out of the equation). My AC is either 19 or 21, while everyone else's is between 25 and 28.

Since the DM throws things in that can hit the others regularly, I've adopted the philosophy that I'm going to get hit no matter what my AC is. So, I pretty much just stick to my Greatsword and rely on my hit points to get me through the night.

From what I've seen, there comes a point where the Attack bonuses of the things you face far outstrips a group's ability boost their ACs. It seems to start around the 7th or 8th level for us.

I'm wondering if others have found this to be true.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Normally, my character can't hit, since we've been running into a lot of stuff with ACs in the high 20s, low 30s lately. But, he's a Bard/Paladin without any combat feats and only a +1 Merciful Greatsword (he has a +2 Adamantine longsword which he does use on occasion, but prefers the greatsword). I hit maybe 20-35%. When I do hit, it is frequently "when it counts." (Critical Merciful Smites can be quite nasty).

Now, as for the rest of the group, they can hit roughly 60-75% of the time.

This doesn't truly bother me, because he was not built to be a combat monster, though it does get a little frustrating after the 8th monster in a row that I can't hit (cept on a 16 or higher). My contribution to the group is generally singing, healing, and pointing out monster's weaknesses and defenses (he has a very good knowledge religion, knowledge the planes and a decent bardic knowledge).

 

[Shadow64]

I have the same philosophy about AC, after a while, it just doesn't seem to matter. So, at least with my melee characters, I try to go for a decent AC (so that mooks have a tough time hitting me, and itterative attacks aren't as punishing either) but high HP. The Toughness feat and the Toughness feats from the Masters of the Wild splatbook can really, really help over the course of a fighters levels since (IIRC) the MoW feats are fighter bonus feats.

Sadly, my most robust character (~200hp @ 12th level) hasn't hit the game table yet since that game is on long term hold. Darn.

 

[Soul]

Sounds like your character could use Karmic Strike from the complete warrior, especialy if he has combat reflexes.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Neither. Dice just hate me.

That's also my problem. Well.. it was with my old sets. My gf bought me a new set of dice for christmas. I have kept in their box and completey seperate from my other dice, to the point that they're on my desk and my other dice are in my secondary gaming bag. I don't even bring my other dice with me to the games (they need to be punished). This new set, at least, seems to be fairly random (does not consistantly roll below a 10, at least). It does seem to favor 20 and 1, though (which have each came up roughly the same number of times).

With my old sets, we regularly commented that they were in serious need of a dice cleansing.

 

[DanMcS]

Since the DM throws things in that can hit the others regularly, I've adopted the philosophy that I'm going to get hit no matter what my AC is. So, I pretty much just stick to my Greatsword and rely on my hit points to get me through the night.

From what I've seen, there comes a point where the Attack bonuses of the things you face far outstrips a group's ability boost their ACs. It seems to start around the 7th or 8th level for us.

I'm wondering if others have found this to be true.

I play a monk character, and it has almost always been true for him, from low-level on. It's fine. That's what hps are for, not just to represent getting hit, but narrowly avoiding a bad hit or whatever. The +1BAB fighters in the group have been the same way, but in D&D, you don't lose combat effectiveness from wounds until you hit 0 hps, so it works pretty well as intended.