Unearthed Arcana Question

[swordsmasher]

OKay,
In my campaiagn I use the VP/WP system.
I also use the Armor as DR and the Class AC Bonus variant.

I was just wondering if you made it so the Class AC bonus stacked with the Armor AC bonus, BUT you subtracted the Armor's Check Penalty from the character's Class AC bonus if it would totally unbalance the system.

 

[erian_7]

The system I'm trying out now uses the Class Defense Bonus as the starting AC for a character. A character must have the appropriate feat to use armor to gain an Armor instead of the Class Defense bonus and gain the associated DR. Character's without the appropriate armor proficiency suffer the Armor Check Penalty to their Class Defense bonus and gain only the DR from the armor. I've added a feat, Armored Defense, modeled after the Wheel of Time RPG feat that allows a character to stack Armor and Class Defense bonuses. Seems to work fairly well so far from a rules stand-point, although my armor-wearing players keep forgetting about the DR. I'm actually going to revert back to the standard system just because the additional complexity hasn't added anything to the game (other than more time for me as a DM to have to work on stuff).

 

[Terath Ninir]

I was just wondering if you made it so the Class AC bonus stacked with the Armor AC bonus, BUT you subtracted the Armor's Check Penalty from the character's Class AC bonus if it would totally unbalance the system.

That is such a big change I think you'll have to playtest it to find out. My gut reaction is no, it won't unbalance things, but that does go pretty far from the standard rules.

What I'd do is get your players together and run some sample combats against monsters that should be an even match for them. Throw in unarmored monsters, medium armor, and heavy armor. See what happens. If it's going to be a disaster, it should show up pretty quickly.