PDA

View Full Version : Damage Reduction AC



ChomZ
2007-10-20, 01:16 PM
I've been thinking about armor recently and think that a certain amount of AC should be damage reduction rather than a chance at no damage. With that idea in mind here's my simple house rule for armor:

when an attack is being made, the attacker rolls to hit, which is opposing the touch AC, if it beats the touch AC the attack strikes. If the blow lands, the attacker then rolls damage. The attackee (or defender for those of you with a more accurate vocabulary) then applies damage reduction to be blow equal to their total AC minus touch AC (plus any other class, racial, or munchkin features).

for example, a bandit is attacking a level 1 fighter, the fighter's AC is 15, 10 + 3 (studded leather) + 2 (15 dex.. odd I know, but what ever)

the bandit rolls 13 (12 + 1), which is a strike because it beats fighter's touch AC of 12. Therefore the bandit may roll damage, he rolls a four, so the fighter takes 1 point of damage because he gets three points of damage reduction from his studded leather armor.

--
ChomZ

Lord Zentei
2007-10-20, 01:22 PM
Makes sense. One implementation is to be found in the SRD from Unearthed Arcana: linksky (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/armorAsDamageReduction.htm).

Xefas
2007-10-20, 01:23 PM
There are already official rules for Armor as Damage Reduction (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/armorAsDamageReduction.htm), just so you know.

ChomZ
2007-10-20, 02:01 PM
haha.. didn't know, thanks

Nebo_
2007-10-20, 09:46 PM
Using those rules, why would you not power attack to just bypass that DR? You're going for touch AC anyway...

trainer343
2007-10-21, 01:55 PM
My group does something like this. All armor and nat. armor bonuses go to DR.

Lord Zentei
2007-10-21, 04:26 PM
Using those rules, why would you not power attack to just bypass that DR? You're going for touch AC anyway...

You would use that a lot more, obviously. It's just a matter of how much. And if you think it needs a bit of balancing, the Defense Bonus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm) rules (or some variant thereof) could be what the doctor ordered.

Basically, the Defense Bonus adds to your AC as you progress in levels in a way similar to the BAB rising with level.

It's also useful in swashbuckling campaigns and suchlike where you would need to take a lot of swimming checks and medium or heavy armor would therefore be too risky to use.

Nebo_
2007-10-21, 08:34 PM
I used armour as DR once and it was awful. Most of the characters couldn't harm anything and none of the enemies couldn't lay a finger on my character. It was the least fun I've ever had being overpowered.