Making AC Work -- Bare Bones Variant (3.5 Brainstorming)

[wayfare]

Hey All:

Last Week I posed a question -- how do we make AC balanced and workable in-game?

The playground advised me that its a tough nut to crack, as AC is very swingy --there are a ton of buffs to consider, debuffs, etc.

Now, in principle, I am not opposed to these things. I like buffs. But they do pose some balance issues, so I've been thinking: would any of these solutions work?

1) All direct bonuses from spells/class features become Enhancement Bonuses.
1a) This includes spells like Bless and Magic Weapon, but does not include situational bonuses (like a bonus to hit granted by invisibility).

Logic: Ok, so only the best buffs effect your roll. No layering bonuses, unless you use tactical maneuvering to get it.

2) As above, save that equipment bonuses are their own category called "Equipment Bonuses"

Any thoughts?

[wayfare]

Ok, all this AC work is for a 10 level variant of 3.5 I've been working on for about a year. Another part of making AC work is the Armor System used by the game.

AC is calculated as:

10 + (The Highest of Dex/Wis/Con) + Armor Bonus

There are only 3 type of Armor

Light Armor
AC: +2
DR: +1
Armor Check: 0

Medium Armor
AC: +4
DR: +2
Armor Check: -1

Heavy Armor
AC: +6
DR: +3
Armor Check: -2

There are also 3 types of Shields

Light Shield
AC: +1 vs Melee
Armor Check: -0

Medium Shield
AC: +1
Armor Check: -1

Heavy Shield
AC: +2
Armor Check: -2

Armor Check reduces skill rolls and is also a penalty to squares of movement.

Equipment is Capped at a +2 enhancement bonus (+3 when you include bonuses for materials)

Does this make any kind of sense?

[Techwarrior]

Would this include things like weapon focus? and would this enhancement bonus be separate from a weapons enhancement bonus

[Phosphate]

Shields are already used by almost nobody, and you're making them even worse. I'd suggest upping them a bit.

[wayfare]

Would this include things like weapon focus? and would this enhancement bonus be separate from a weapons enhancement bonus

I think things like weapon focus would have to be an inherent bonus that would stack with enhancement.

[eftexar]

Why work with AC at all? What about other benefits? Just remove AC as a concept entirely and try these.
Maybe shields provide a miss or block chance.
Armor could provide DR.
If you want attack rolls to still be a factor, then have them reduce the miss chance or DR somehow.

Just some ideas.

[toapat]

if you want AC to matter, about the only way to make it work is to use the AC as DR rules from Unearthed Arcana

[wayfare]

if you want AC to matter, about the only way to make it work is to use the AC as DR rules from Unearthed Arcana

Thats what I am basing my rules on...

[wayfare]

Shields are already used by almost nobody, and you're making them even worse. I'd suggest upping them a bit.

What sort of shield buffing do you think would be best?

[Techwarrior]

The best fix I've seen for shields is actually one that me and a friend came up with. It completely nixed the AC portion of a shield and made the shield into a blocking device. I use it in all of my 3.5 games. If you would like I can PM you the details of the current version of the fix, or post it here.

Coolest thing we found about the fix is that it wasn't a fix that benefited Animated Shields at all. In fact it destroyed them so badly that we had to go back in and make them better than we had originally intended.