Will these changes break the Armor system?

[Ace]

I am planning a low magic item campaign fairly soon

All classes will have a Defense Bonus based on level that stacks with armor-- This covers the (+) effect of magic.


However I am not trying for a swashbucklery feel instead I want an "Armor is king" feel for now so to encourage medium and heavy armor I was considering the following. i

N addition to normal AC bonus I

Remove maximum dex bonus-- OK you can't dodge as well in armor but parrys and shield blocks work at least as well.

Medium armor grants Dr1

Heavy Armor grants Dr2

Shields work as follows

Buckler +1 AC

Small Shield 1/4 cover

Large Shield 1/2 cover

Tower Shield (requires EWP) 3/4 cover


Also there are 4 new shield feats

Shield focus (SF) req Shield Pro bab +1 gain +1 to your AC when you have a shield

Shield Spec req SF bab +4+2 to AC with shield in hand

This seem balanced to y'all?

 

[ichabod]

No max dex bonus: something I have considered, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. I feel there needs to be a trade off, and taking away the max dex weights it too much in favor of the heavier armors. Maybe put in a penalty to dex in terms of armor class, so there's no max, but you still can't use your full dex bonus for AC.

I like the feats, but I worry about the shields. The feats come slowly, and can be delayed in the level progression by giving them BAB requirements. I think the shields may cause problems at low levels by boosting AC too much.

All of this with the caveat that you're doing a low magic campaign. In a high magic campaign I'd raise the BAB requirements on the feats, and drop the shield bonuses.

 

[Aaron2]

Armor and Shields

I'm not a big fan of dinky DRs because of the time involved subtracting (and remembering who needs to subtract what). On the other hand the rules you have for shields are similar to my own (although I stick with the +1/+2/+4 for sm/lg/tower). Making them cover bonuses gives them a little boost since they help with Reflex saves and touch attacks. I also let character crouch behind their shield to up the coverage.

I would up the Max Dex by one or two points rather than remove it entirely. Also, I would remove the prereqs and 5 point limit to Expertise. This feat can makes a big difference.


Aaron

 

[Ace]

Thanks all

 

[Kemrain]

If you want Armor to be king, following the Grim and Gritty rules example might be helpful.

Armors give their AC bonus in DR.
Max Dex and everything applies as written.
Shields boost AC, not DR.
Light armor gives a 1 point penalty to AC, Medium a 2 point penalty, and heavy a 4 point penalty.

This makes it so that you can get whacked easily, but simply suck the damage on most non-crit attacks. With a built in defense bonus, the AC penalty for armor isn't so bad at all. If you do a google search for Grim and Gritty Hit Point Rules, you can probablt find a copy of the rules. In a low magic game, they work very very well, and impose a feeling of mortality on your players. They make monsters very powerful, like they are in myths, instead of how they're traditionally handled in D&D. If you aren't opposed to changing thefeel ofyour game, these rules are fantastic. Give them a looksie.

- Kemrain the One-Man-Grim'n'Gritty-Ad-Campaign

 

[Thresher]

Going out on a limb here but anyway.

One of the problems my GM and I had a talk about awile ago was the lack of 'scaling' of armour vs BaB's, especially at the high levels where it just simply stops going up along with the BAB.
Then wait to you get to epic and it falls on its face! When we still bothered to play I couldnt remember the last time a character, particully our heavy tanks 'didnt' get hit. About the only people that didnt get hit all the time where the monk and my wiz who was running around with a cloak of major displacement.
Seemed a bit silly to all concearned that a man running around with bracers punching people and a skinny wizzy wearing magic cheesecloth took less hits than the main tanks in +5plate/+5shield against critters the same CR or slightly less on most occassions.

If you really want to help the tanks at higher levels turn into somthing slightly less than hitpoint attrition and back to around level 1-15 where bad guys sometimes miss because of armour.

Give people a 'dodge bonus' of 1/4 their BaB to their AC (Not touch or flat footed)
It did seem to scale ok and in theory, if your just like us, regular gamers who dont abuse the heck out the system it dosnt throw anything out of whack.

 

[ThomasBJJ]

or to simplify things:

Medium Armor provides DR 2
Heavy Armor provides DR 4

(optionally Light Armor could provide DR 1)

 

[Ace]

If you want Armor to be king, following the Grim and Gritty rules example might be helpful.

SNIP

This makes it so that you can get whacked easily, but simply suck the damage on most non-crit attacks. With a built in defense bonus, the AC penalty for armor isn't so bad at all. If you do a google search for Grim and Gritty Hit Point Rules, you can probablt find a copy of the rules. In a low magic game, they work very very well, and impose a feeling of mortality on your players. They make monsters very powerful, like they are in myths, instead of how they're traditionally handled in D&D. If you aren't opposed to changing thefeel ofyour game, these rules are fantastic. Give them a looksie.

- Kemrain the One-Man-Grim'n'Gritty-Ad-Campaign

Have em, like em. Players won't touch em. Besides if I wanted that much kill factor I would play GURPS

I am trying to find a third way to do it other than WP/VP