Question about how an item works.

[Iron Angel]

Our Knight has picked up a lightning tunic and is now asking me how it works. He is making the case that the word "strike" is used so all they have to do is beat his touch armor and he can activate it. I say that anything under your AC doesn't actually HIT you, so they have to beat AC.

I know what he's doing; He's jacked his AC up so high nothing can hit him so he's trying to make it so he can use it anyway.

The book says what it says, is there an official ruling on this or at least a common consensus?

[KillianHawkeye]

Well... the terms "striking" and "being struck" are not strictly defined by the D&D rules. You can certainly infer them to mean hitting a target's Armor Class, or you could take a broader approach and say that any kind of offensive physical contact counts.

I know one thing for certain, which is that there isn't any rule to determine which portion of your AC bonus was the determining factor for any given miss. Comparing your Touch AC to your regular AC is one way you could go about figuring out if you managed to strike the enemy and the added bonus from things like armor and natural armor may or may not be enough to protect them.

Basically what I'm saying is that this is going to have to be a DM ruling, because the item was written poorly.

[Khedrac]

Think about the special "Strikes" in Tome of Battle - they don't work on a "miss".

Basically "strike" in D&D is the same as "hit" and the player is reaching too far.

Also, you can point out that in older versions of D&D the general fluff was that you were not actually struck physically until your hit-points got quite low - the rest was near misses etc. that wore down your edge - this way the 1st and 20th level fighters are just as tough at each other, but the 20th level is much, much better at not getting hit. Admittedly then the Wilderness Survival Guide was published with bleeding rules that were nasty for low-levels...

[Dalebert]

Think about the special "Strikes" in Tome of Battle - they don't work on a "miss".

Whatever you rule, it should be consistent and this seems like a good point of reference. It makes sense as striking is not the same as touching. If so, brushing against someone in a crowded subway car would be assault. Many affects, many spells for instance, just require touching. Other effects require striking. If you just want a way of explaining it by fluff, think of a blow which lands solidly is one that gets past AC though maybe doesn't do much damage. A blow which is deflected by armor completely did no damage at all, giving weight to the notion that though it made contact with armor, it was not a successful "strike".