Highest Fighter AC? [Pathfinder]

[Belial_the_Leveler]

So, you got that Fighter 20 guy. He's supposed to be the best of the best in what he does (physical combat) but that monster is attacking you at +35 attack bonus. What's the best armor class a Fighter focusing on having a high AC could have and is it worth it being a fighter to have such defense against physical attacks?


So far, my highest bonus is 10 base, +10 dex bonus from a dexterity of 30, +14 for a +5 adamantine celestial full plate, +9 for a heavy celestial shield with greater shield specialization, +5 amulet of natural armor, +5 ring of protection, +1 insight from an Ioun Stone for a total of 54 AC and DR 8/-
The same fighter should have an attack bonus of 20 base +10 ability, +4 weapon training, +2 greater focus, +5 enhancement, +2 gloves, +1 ioun stone for a total of +44 attack and 1d8+25 damage



So, given those stats, could the fighter beat other physical-oriented characters? Could he solo monsters like CR 20 dragons, the Pit Fiend or the Balor?

[limejuicepowder]

Can he fly? See invisibility? Prevent teleportation? Bypass miss chance?

Unfortunately, big numbers stop mattering in the higher levels. If this fighter wants to tackle some of the big name CR 20 monsters, he's going to need ways around spells, and impressive stats eint it (except against dragons. Even if the dragon was foolish enough to engage an enemy who can't fly in melee, they'd still be tough to beat without using ubercharge, first-strike cheese).

Edit: just to clarify, there ARE no physically oriented CR 20 monsters - at least, none that actually should be CR 20. The tarrasque is famously easy to beat because it's only a block of numbers; pit fiends, balors, solars, elder dragons; these are all dangerous enemies because they have very potent spells or spell-like abilities.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Celestial armor + celestial shield = overland flight.

There are items that provide see invisibility.

An anchoring weapon dimensionally-anchors any being hit for the round.

Greater Blind Fight (the feat) ignores concealment miss chances. It can also be used to ignore mirror image and similar illusion by attacking with your eyes closed.

[Eldariel]

Well, you can obviously add feats like Combat Expertise, Dodge, etc. and get some more. Defending weapons too if desired. Now, it's worth noting that said Fighter won't probably be able to solo a Balor or the like simply due to their mobility. It's very hard to keep up with their fly-speed and land meaningful attacks (I personally give Mounted Charging feats to all my high level Fighters and some ways to generate mounts, be it Leadership, items or whatever; Spirited Charge is the next best thing for doing damage), especially compared to their mostly magical arsenal.

However, it's possible for a level 20 Fighter to solo purely martial encounters like the Tarrasque (PF Tarrasque (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/tarrasque.html#_tarrasque) is a chump; all you need is Greater Fortifications armor and Ring of Freedom of Movement, which should be standard issue equipment, to trivialize its attack options). Martially a Fighter 20 of course surpasses caster monsters like Balor or Pit Fiend but with Dragons, it can be hairy (also with equipped Balors and Pit Fiends).

[limejuicepowder]

Celestial armor + celestial shield = overland flight.

There are items that provide see invisibility.

An anchoring weapon dimensionally-anchors any being hit for the round.

Greater Blind Fight (the feat) ignores concealment miss chances. It can also be used to ignore mirror image and similar illusion by attacking with your eyes closed.

Well at least then he won't be beaten trivially xD

He might able to take on a pit fiend; his armor is high enough that their attacks would need a 20 to hit, so melee damage is minimal. He would be immune to blasphemy because of HD. Still, the fiend could summon some more demons, like ice devils, to slow him down. Hold monster, fireballs, meteor swarm, greater dispel magic, and flight could whittle him down until power word: stun was effective (and that would be game over).

The balor would be a tougher battle, as their caster level is 20 - blasphemy would daze with no save, preventing any actions. Blasphemy each round to prevent action, and move far enough away so the fighter can't close the distance. Summon another balor, they take turns using blasphemy while the other full attacks/grapples. Once he is sufficiently hurt, power word stun and they both attack.

Dragons have unique spell lists, so their power is very dependent on how tough the DM wants to make them. For that reason, I won't go in to strategy, except to point out that an intelligently played dragon is hard to beat - even by t1.

The main problem I see with the build is damage, or lack there of. His full attack routine, assuming they all hit, would only do about 120 damage. A balor could easily eat two of those. Additionally, he probably won't get many opportunities to full attack just because of movement, which means it would take several rounds to take one down. That's several rounds of save-or-die, or even no save SLA's.

[gr8artist]

I didn't think DR stacked. The 3/- from adamantine and the 5/- from fighter would end up as 5/-.
How are you keeping your full +10 dex bonus? 1+armor training =/= 10
And could you provide a link for Celestial armor? the only thing I could find was a specific set of chainmail that allows flight.

[Daftendirekt]

Celestial Plate (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/specific-magic-armor/celestial-plate-armor)

Also, considering the DR 5/- from Fighter is an (Ex) ability, and the DR from adamantine is just from the armor itself, I'd say they stack.

[Xerxus]

Don't forget the fighter archetypes. Long has the tower shield been shunned, but lo and behold the Tower Shield Specialist! At level 20 you'll not only have an awesome base AC, you'll also have Improved Evasion, a very high touch AC and the privilege of total cover. Of course, your offense will be weaker, but not at all bad.