My take on defensive bonus for Pathfinder

[ngilop]

Hey guys, well I was in a conversation with my rise of the runelords group about AC and such, and I mentioned the defense bonus form unearthed arcana, but also said it needed to be modified.

SO here is my super quick idea on how to incorporate a defense bonus on the various Pathfidner base classes, I have left out he occult classes as I am 100% ignorant about them and have no idea what any of them do, are, or are capable of let alone have any idea of their names, well except the kineticist.

Level A B C D
1st +1 +3 +4 +6
2nd +1 +3 +4 +6
3rd +2 +4 +5 +7
4th +2 +4 +5 +7
5th +2 +4 +5 +7
6th +3 +5 +6 +8
7th +3 +5 +6 +8
8th +3 +5 +6 +8
9th +4 +6 +7 +9
10th +4 +6 +7 +9
11th +4 +6 +7 +9
12th +5 +7 +8 +10
13th +5 +7 +8 +10
14th +5 +7 +8 +10
15th +6 +8 +9 +11
16th +6 +8 +9 +11
17th +6 +8 +9 +11
18th +7 +9 +10 +12
19th +7 +9 +10 +12
20th +7 +9 +10 +12

Use column A for arcanist, sorcerer, summoner, cleric, druid, oracle, wizard, shaman, witch.
Use column B for bard, monk, or rogue, inquisitor, magus, bloodrager, skald, or warpriest.
Use column C for barbarian, ranger, gunslinger, paladin, slayer, hunter, or investigator.
Use column D for fighter, cavalier, or brawler, swashbuckler.

Level A B C D
1st +0 +0 +1
2nd +0 +0 +1
3rd +0 +1 +1
4th +1 +1 +2
5th +1 +1 +2
6th +1 +2 +2
7th +1 +2 +2
8th +2 +2 +3
9th +2 +3 +3
10th +2 +3 +3

Use Column A for Prestige Classes that have no or light armor proficiency.
Use Column B for Prestige Classes that have medium proficiency
Use Column C for Prestige Classes that have heavy armor proficiency


The above number is added as a untyped bonus to the character's base armor class, this stacks with any armor bonus or natural bonus to the character's AC.
A character gains half this amount to apply as a bonus to his or her Touch AC.

How it works Lets say a 20th level fighter plays in a game with this alternate rules. he gains a +12 bonus to his armor bonus and a +6 bonus to his touch AC
But, wait that fighter took a heavy armor PrC at level 10 for all 10 levels, so lets take a peek at the chart he gets +9 for being a fighter and +6 for being in the PrC, a total of 15, as you can see. my quick idea really does not work so much.

for PrCs.. so I am thinking that I should have a different one for prestige classes, but eh i guess thats what I get for a quick and dirty idea.

Did a different table to prestige classes

[Kamai]

To try to understand what the purpose is here, would this be paired with Armor as DR rules (like I believe the UA one is) or would this go alongside armor? Either way, it might be simpler (and less broken by multiclassing) to base it off of BAB. Maybe if you pair it with a typed bonus given by a class to better catch the difference between a ranger and a fighter, for example.

[ngilop]

To try to understand what the purpose is here, would this be paired with Armor as DR rules (like I believe the UA one is) or would this go alongside armor? Either way, it might be simpler (and less broken by multiclassing) to base it off of BAB. Maybe if you pair it with a typed bonus given by a class to better catch the difference between a ranger and a fighter, for example.

The purpose here is to make the difference between Attack Bonus and Armor Class not be such a dramatic chasm of opposites.

normal average BaB class has at level 20 (just going from personal experience) an attack bonus in the mid to lates 30s, 5 or so points higher when temp buffs are added in

what the average AC for level 20 characters at those same tables an AC in the mid to upper 40s for a class that is supposed to chunk most of their gold in the form of defensive stats.

as you can see even a non full BaB class is going to successfully hit most of the time against good AC.

It gets even worse when you take a full bab character who at level 20 who should have an attack bonus close to the lower 50s where any AC means, 'I hit as long as I do not roll a 1'

Again, it kinda crappy that a stat for a character that determines their survival ( or should) has absolutely no bearing on whether or not they survive.