The Winter King
2013-04-09, 05:14 PM
Did it ever bother you that armor in D&D makes it harder to hit you, rather than reduce the damage of an attack?
Me too.
As such, when I read Unearthed Arcana and saw the appropriate variant I jumped at it. But alas, it was not to be. For it was megafail, ungood, and all in all generally notfantastic. So I thought, and thought and this is what I came up with.
AC
1) Armor no longer applies to AC. AC is determined as a value equal to 10 + your defense bonus + all those other piddly little modifiers (dex, dodge, size, ect...)
2) Defense bonuses are different, they scale in a manner similar to BAB (1/2 level, 3/4 level, full level). I may be swayed on this, I also have an idea for making it like saves, good or bad where good is full and bad 3/4.
3) maybe change AC's name, as it no longer involves armor as its name would be misleading.
4) As Armor no longer applies to AC, there is no touch AC. To compensate, touch attacks receive a +5 bonus to hit. Flatfooted AC still exists.
Armor
1) Armor gives you DR/adamantine equal to its armor bonus.Same as UA so far
2) This DR increases by the armor's armor bonus for every 4 BAB or defense bonus you posses.This is the big bones of this. So at BAB or DB +5 you have double the armor bonus.
{table]Armor|DR at +0|DR at +5|DR at +9|DR at ++13|DR at +17
Light
Padded|1|2|3|4|5
Leather|2|4|6|8|10
Studded Leather|3|6|9|12|15
Chain shirt|4|8|12|16|20
Medium
Hide|3|6|9|12|15
Scale mail|4|8|12|16|20
Chainmail|5|10|15|20|25
Heavy
Splint mail|6|12|18|24|30
Halfplate|7|14|21|28|35
Full Plate|8|16|24|32|40
[/table]
As shown in the table the DR does get a little high and so it might need some reworking. Also I didn't list all armors as ones with the same armor bonus and category are essentially the same
3) Max Dex bonus is gone, instead armor will limit your max defense bonus.
Heavy limits you to Poor, Medium to Average, and Light armor to Full.
This way you trade off, high AC or Higher DR.
Natural Armor, Monsters, and You.
Armor doesn't apply to AC and neither does Natural armor.
For natural armor, look at the creatures BAB, and compare its natural armor to the DR values in the table above. Treat its natural armor as the armor its natural armor bonus is closest to.
If the creature already possessed DR, use what ever overcomes that DR. Otherwise use the following:
Adamantine: Constructs
Cold Iron: Fey, Outsiders, Elementals, Aberration
Silver: Shapechanger subtype, Magical beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Undead
Evil: Good subtype
Good: Evil subtype
Lawful: Chaotic subtype
Chaotic: Lawful subtype
Although given the number of special materials from splatbooks, a reduction of the number of Special Materials may be need.
Everything else is the same.
Me too.
As such, when I read Unearthed Arcana and saw the appropriate variant I jumped at it. But alas, it was not to be. For it was megafail, ungood, and all in all generally notfantastic. So I thought, and thought and this is what I came up with.
AC
1) Armor no longer applies to AC. AC is determined as a value equal to 10 + your defense bonus + all those other piddly little modifiers (dex, dodge, size, ect...)
2) Defense bonuses are different, they scale in a manner similar to BAB (1/2 level, 3/4 level, full level). I may be swayed on this, I also have an idea for making it like saves, good or bad where good is full and bad 3/4.
3) maybe change AC's name, as it no longer involves armor as its name would be misleading.
4) As Armor no longer applies to AC, there is no touch AC. To compensate, touch attacks receive a +5 bonus to hit. Flatfooted AC still exists.
Armor
1) Armor gives you DR/adamantine equal to its armor bonus.Same as UA so far
2) This DR increases by the armor's armor bonus for every 4 BAB or defense bonus you posses.This is the big bones of this. So at BAB or DB +5 you have double the armor bonus.
{table]Armor|DR at +0|DR at +5|DR at +9|DR at ++13|DR at +17
Light
Padded|1|2|3|4|5
Leather|2|4|6|8|10
Studded Leather|3|6|9|12|15
Chain shirt|4|8|12|16|20
Medium
Hide|3|6|9|12|15
Scale mail|4|8|12|16|20
Chainmail|5|10|15|20|25
Heavy
Splint mail|6|12|18|24|30
Halfplate|7|14|21|28|35
Full Plate|8|16|24|32|40
[/table]
As shown in the table the DR does get a little high and so it might need some reworking. Also I didn't list all armors as ones with the same armor bonus and category are essentially the same
3) Max Dex bonus is gone, instead armor will limit your max defense bonus.
Heavy limits you to Poor, Medium to Average, and Light armor to Full.
This way you trade off, high AC or Higher DR.
Natural Armor, Monsters, and You.
Armor doesn't apply to AC and neither does Natural armor.
For natural armor, look at the creatures BAB, and compare its natural armor to the DR values in the table above. Treat its natural armor as the armor its natural armor bonus is closest to.
If the creature already possessed DR, use what ever overcomes that DR. Otherwise use the following:
Adamantine: Constructs
Cold Iron: Fey, Outsiders, Elementals, Aberration
Silver: Shapechanger subtype, Magical beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Undead
Evil: Good subtype
Good: Evil subtype
Lawful: Chaotic subtype
Chaotic: Lawful subtype
Although given the number of special materials from splatbooks, a reduction of the number of Special Materials may be need.
Everything else is the same.