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General Tabletop Discussion
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Unarmored Defense as a Feat?
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<blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 8089462" data-attributes="member: 72555"><p>No, it is a core concern.</p><p></p><p>In raw 5e, fighting orcs/goblins at level 20 can be a threat. You have to expend resources (like spells) to kill them en-mass, and they can threaten in aggregate.</p><p></p><p>A non-magic item using L 20 fighter has 21 AC with defensive fighting style. A CR 1/2 orc has +5 to hit, hitting 1 time in 4.</p><p></p><p>With magic armor/shield, they become near-immune to the orc (only crits hit); or, with proficiency scaling, it is free.</p><p></p><p>With proficiency scaling, that fighter hits 31 AC base. Make it an EK with shield spell and we are talking a 36 AC to reliably hit the fighter. This shuts down even CR 20 foes.</p><p></p><p>---</p><p></p><p>A level 20 wizard has something like 16 AC (mage armor, 16 dex). With a staff of power and ring of protection, they have 17 AC.</p><p></p><p>The orc hits on a 12+ (45% of the time).</p><p></p><p>Toss in 4 points of proficiency scaling, and that orc hits 25% of the time and is barely half as effective at attacking a low-AC high level player.</p><p></p><p>---</p><p></p><p>Basically, hyper-scaling of defences makes low level monsters into trivial threats, even on low AC players. Already high level fighters can get AC sufficient to make high-level threats often miss; with proficiency scaling, they could make high level vsAC threats trivial.</p><p></p><p>A side effect of that is monsters will stop attacking AC, in practice.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="NotAYakk, post: 8089462, member: 72555"] No, it is a core concern. In raw 5e, fighting orcs/goblins at level 20 can be a threat. You have to expend resources (like spells) to kill them en-mass, and they can threaten in aggregate. A non-magic item using L 20 fighter has 21 AC with defensive fighting style. A CR 1/2 orc has +5 to hit, hitting 1 time in 4. With magic armor/shield, they become near-immune to the orc (only crits hit); or, with proficiency scaling, it is free. With proficiency scaling, that fighter hits 31 AC base. Make it an EK with shield spell and we are talking a 36 AC to reliably hit the fighter. This shuts down even CR 20 foes. --- A level 20 wizard has something like 16 AC (mage armor, 16 dex). With a staff of power and ring of protection, they have 17 AC. The orc hits on a 12+ (45% of the time). Toss in 4 points of proficiency scaling, and that orc hits 25% of the time and is barely half as effective at attacking a low-AC high level player. --- Basically, hyper-scaling of defences makes low level monsters into trivial threats, even on low AC players. Already high level fighters can get AC sufficient to make high-level threats often miss; with proficiency scaling, they could make high level vsAC threats trivial. A side effect of that is monsters will stop attacking AC, in practice. [/QUOTE]
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Unarmored Defense as a Feat?
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