Best AC for Two-handed fighters [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best AC for Two-handed fighters [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
BrazilRascal
12-10-06, 11:13 PM Playing the two-handed weapon Power-attacker is all well and fun, but it sure takes a toll on the HP, especially when you're stuck with light/medium armnor as the barbarian is in the early levels.

Are there any simple, item-based and feat-based formulas to get a decent AC between levels 1-10?
Keithioapc
12-10-06, 11:15 PM Tell your arcane caster to use shield on you or you'll chop his head off.
Arem_K
12-10-06, 11:32 PM A lot of Two handed fighters go the shock trooper route and sacrifice pretty much all their AC for more damage. If you go that way, you might as well just ignore your AC because you will hit negatives anyway...

If that is not you cup of tea, I recommend taking a level of cleric with the magic domain. This will give you a plus 2 will and fort saves, a few spells per day, heavy armor proficiency, and most importantly the ability to use command word activated wizard and cleric items. Grab a wand of alter self and you will get plus six natural armor and a bite attack that lasts for a while. Later in the game you can aim for a wand of polymorph. You can probably also snag a really nifty ability with you other domain choice. The downsides are the loss of one to your base attack bonus and a d8 hitdie, but that is not so bad.
Rowan_Whispercloak
12-11-06, 12:00 AM Tell your arcane caster to use shield on you or you'll chop his head off.

Shield won't work personal ranged only.
Kolsus_Hayl
12-11-06, 12:01 AM Feats-
Dodge + Two-Weapon Defense + Armor Skin = +4 AC

Also weapons with the Defending ability allow you to transfer power from damage to AC, much like the Starship Enterprise.

Edit: Also, being a dwarf with the Titan-Fighting feat can help with AC.
PhoenixInferno
12-11-06, 12:01 AM Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead.
Tleilaxu_Ghola
12-11-06, 12:08 AM Playing the two-handed weapon Power-attacker is all well and fun, but it sure takes a toll on the HP, especially when you're stuck with light/medium armnor as the barbarian is in the early levels.

Are there any simple, item-based and feat-based formulas to get a decent AC between levels 1-10?
Why yes there is:

Complete Warrior has a feat called improved buckler defense which lets you retain your shield bonus from a buckler while attacking. You can wield a two-handed weapon while wearing a buckler.

This will give you an extra shield bonus to AC which you can enchant as a normal shield.

One can also wear armor spikes with the +1 defending enhancement (they're treated as weapons). If your mage is kind enough to enhance the spikes further with greater magic weapon, you'll be able to get more AC out of them. Anyways, you can spend a free-action every round to transfer the enhancement bonus of the spikes (minimum +1) as an unnamed bonus to your AC.
There's the ring of force shield which grants a +2 shield bonus for 8,100 gp, if memory serves me.
You could spend a lot of money to purchase a mithril full plate. It will cost you over 9,000 gp, but it is wearable by a barbarian and grants a +8 bonus to AC (with +3 max dex). Depending on your stats, you may be better off with an enchanted breastplate.
NoldorForce
12-11-06, 12:14 AM As mentioned in another thread (and mentioned by yours truly on several occasions a few months ago), Improved Shield Bash allows you to smack people with that shield and get its bonus to AC at the same time.
Tleilaxu_Ghola
12-11-06, 12:21 AM As mentioned in another thread (and mentioned by yours truly on several occasions a few months ago), Improved Shield Bash allows you to smack people with that shield and get its bonus to AC at the same time.
The OP wanted to know how to improve AC for a character already wielding (and presumably specialized in) two-handed weapons. So while that's a great idea for a TWFing sword and board character, it's not exactly what the OP was looking for.
saru
12-11-06, 01:30 AM light armor : mithril breastplate
medium armor : mithril full plate

animated shield
ring of protection (deflection bonus to AC)
cloak of displacement (foes will have % to miss you)

And like PhoenixInferno said, if your character is build correctly, your foes should be dead when you hit them, so increase your initiative to be first to hit.
GaffeR
12-11-06, 02:06 AM My TWFer has AC 28 at level 6 (although he has significantly more wealth than he should). Here's the breakdown:

10 - Base
5 - +1 Mithral chain shirt
1 - Ring of Prot +1
1 - Bracers of Natural armor +1
2 - Ring of Force Shield (great item, 8500 TG)
5 - Dex (19 + Gloves of dex +2)
4 - Wis (16 + Headband of Wis +2) - Swordsage ;)

Basically, it's cheaper to buy a bunch of low power defensive items that it is a high powered single one. A +2 amulet of Nat armor is 8000. Compare that to a +1 amulet of NA and a +1 Ring of Prot for 4000.

Deflection bonuses are priceless, though, as they apply to your touch AC. An animated shield and armor spikes are a nice touch, also.
Midnight_v
12-11-06, 08:55 AM You know you could take Martial study and use those parrys that let you replace your ac with an attack roll.

Take a level or swordesage gives you wisdom to AC

also . . . Take some binder levels and bind dalver-nar and get con to AC. You may be able to do that as a feat.

in addition to the things listed above.
NoldorForce
12-11-06, 10:05 AM The OP wanted to know how to improve AC for a character already wielding (and presumably specialized in) two-handed weapons. So while that's a great idea for a TWFing sword and board character, it's not exactly what the OP was looking for.The suggestion was not to TWF, but rather to THF with the shield. Nothing I can say stated that the hypothetical barbarian specialized in a particular weapon, so I was mentioning a weapon that worked for THF and also gave a bonus to AC if used properly.
Elexan
12-11-06, 10:13 AM An animated shield and armor spikes are a nice touch, also.

on a related note, I cannot for the life of me find out where the animated shield is from... I must not be looking hard enough...
Enamel_32
12-11-06, 11:09 AM It's in the DMG :D
cerberuspuppy
12-11-06, 09:36 PM Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead.

Animated Shield + Keen Greatsword = Fun. You should be able to get those by 10th level.
Terronus
12-11-06, 09:43 PM From Races of Stone you can take the feats Heavy Armor Optimization (req. BaB +4 and Heavy Armor Prof.) and Greater Heavy Armor Optimization (same, but BaB +8 and obviously Heavy Armor Opt.) These will give your character a +2 AC Bonus and reduce your check penalties by 3. If you are a dwarf, the battlesmith PrC (from the same book) gives you a +2 sacred bonus at 5th level to any armor you have crafted.
BrazilRascal
12-11-06, 10:31 PM Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead.

The problem is when the thing you just killed have friends. Many, many friends. sometimes even stronger and ready to Power-attack you to bits. :)
BrazilRascal
12-11-06, 10:43 PM Why yes there is:

Complete Warrior has a feat called improved buckler defense which lets you retain your shield bonus from a buckler while attacking. You can wield a two-handed weapon while wearing a buckler.

This will give you an extra shield bonus to AC which you can enchant as a normal shield.

One can also wear armor spikes with the +1 defending enhancement (they're treated as weapons). If your mage is kind enough to enhance the spikes further with greater magic weapon, you'll be able to get more AC out of them. Anyways, you can spend a free-action every round to transfer the enhancement bonus of the spikes (minimum +1) as an unnamed bonus to your AC.
There's the ring of force shield which grants a +2 shield bonus for 8,100 gp, if memory serves me.
You could spend a lot of money to purchase a mithril full plate. It will cost you over 9,000 gp, but it is wearable by a barbarian and grants a +8 bonus to AC (with +3 max dex). Depending on your stats, you may be better off with an enchanted breastplate.

Wonderful advice, all of it. Especially the first bit. A buckler already helps a lot by adding another defensive slot, so I don't have to pump my ar mor exclusively with AC bonuses and get some fortification and resists instead.

And Defending Armor Spikes are just too wocked. I'll definitely do that.

As for the Mithril full plate, I'd thought of that, but I favor high-mobility builds. Still, we'll see how it works. Thanks a lot!
hogarth
12-11-06, 10:58 PM If you can get a few levels of Psychic Warrior or War Mind, you can buff with powers like Force Screen, Defensive Precognition and Thicken Skin.
neceros
12-12-06, 12:00 AM AC Thread:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=753542

Lots of AC to be had.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BrazilRascal 12-10-06, 11:13 PM	Playing the two-handed weapon Power-attacker is all well and fun, but it sure takes a toll on the HP, especially when you're stuck with light/medium armnor as the barbarian is in the early levels. Are there any simple, item-based and feat-based formulas to get a decent AC between levels 1-10?
Keithioapc 12-10-06, 11:15 PM	Tell your arcane caster to use shield on you or you'll chop his head off.
Arem_K 12-10-06, 11:32 PM	A lot of Two handed fighters go the shock trooper route and sacrifice pretty much all their AC for more damage. If you go that way, you might as well just ignore your AC because you will hit negatives anyway... If that is not you cup of tea, I recommend taking a level of cleric with the magic domain. This will give you a plus 2 will and fort saves, a few spells per day, heavy armor proficiency, and most importantly the ability to use command word activated wizard and cleric items. Grab a wand of alter self and you will get plus six natural armor and a bite attack that lasts for a while. Later in the game you can aim for a wand of polymorph. You can probably also snag a really nifty ability with you other domain choice. The downsides are the loss of one to your base attack bonus and a d8 hitdie, but that is not so bad.
Rowan_Whispercloak 12-11-06, 12:00 AM	Tell your arcane caster to use shield on you or you'll chop his head off. Shield won't work personal ranged only.
Kolsus_Hayl 12-11-06, 12:01 AM	Feats- Dodge + Two-Weapon Defense + Armor Skin = +4 AC Also weapons with the Defending ability allow you to transfer power from damage to AC, much like the Starship Enterprise. Edit: Also, being a dwarf with the Titan-Fighting feat can help with AC.
PhoenixInferno 12-11-06, 12:01 AM	Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead.
Tleilaxu_Ghola 12-11-06, 12:08 AM	Playing the two-handed weapon Power-attacker is all well and fun, but it sure takes a toll on the HP, especially when you're stuck with light/medium armnor as the barbarian is in the early levels. Are there any simple, item-based and feat-based formulas to get a decent AC between levels 1-10? Why yes there is: Complete Warrior has a feat called improved buckler defense which lets you retain your shield bonus from a buckler while attacking. You can wield a two-handed weapon while wearing a buckler. This will give you an extra shield bonus to AC which you can enchant as a normal shield. One can also wear armor spikes with the +1 defending enhancement (they're treated as weapons). If your mage is kind enough to enhance the spikes further with greater magic weapon, you'll be able to get more AC out of them. Anyways, you can spend a free-action every round to transfer the enhancement bonus of the spikes (minimum +1) as an unnamed bonus to your AC. There's the ring of force shield which grants a +2 shield bonus for 8,100 gp, if memory serves me. You could spend a lot of money to purchase a mithril full plate. It will cost you over 9,000 gp, but it is wearable by a barbarian and grants a +8 bonus to AC (with +3 max dex). Depending on your stats, you may be better off with an enchanted breastplate.
NoldorForce 12-11-06, 12:14 AM	As mentioned in another thread (and mentioned by yours truly on several occasions a few months ago), Improved Shield Bash allows you to smack people with that shield and get its bonus to AC at the same time.
Tleilaxu_Ghola 12-11-06, 12:21 AM	As mentioned in another thread (and mentioned by yours truly on several occasions a few months ago), Improved Shield Bash allows you to smack people with that shield and get its bonus to AC at the same time. The OP wanted to know how to improve AC for a character already wielding (and presumably specialized in) two-handed weapons. So while that's a great idea for a TWFing sword and board character, it's not exactly what the OP was looking for.
saru 12-11-06, 01:30 AM	light armor : mithril breastplate medium armor : mithril full plate animated shield ring of protection (deflection bonus to AC) cloak of displacement (foes will have % to miss you) And like PhoenixInferno said, if your character is build correctly, your foes should be dead when you hit them, so increase your initiative to be first to hit.
GaffeR 12-11-06, 02:06 AM	My TWFer has AC 28 at level 6 (although he has significantly more wealth than he should). Here's the breakdown: 10 - Base 5 - +1 Mithral chain shirt 1 - Ring of Prot +1 1 - Bracers of Natural armor +1 2 - Ring of Force Shield (great item, 8500 TG) 5 - Dex (19 + Gloves of dex +2) 4 - Wis (16 + Headband of Wis +2) - Swordsage ;) Basically, it's cheaper to buy a bunch of low power defensive items that it is a high powered single one. A +2 amulet of Nat armor is 8000. Compare that to a +1 amulet of NA and a +1 Ring of Prot for 4000. Deflection bonuses are priceless, though, as they apply to your touch AC. An animated shield and armor spikes are a nice touch, also.
Midnight_v 12-11-06, 08:55 AM	You know you could take Martial study and use those parrys that let you replace your ac with an attack roll. Take a level or swordesage gives you wisdom to AC also . . . Take some binder levels and bind dalver-nar and get con to AC. You may be able to do that as a feat. in addition to the things listed above.
NoldorForce 12-11-06, 10:05 AM	The OP wanted to know how to improve AC for a character already wielding (and presumably specialized in) two-handed weapons. So while that's a great idea for a TWFing sword and board character, it's not exactly what the OP was looking for.The suggestion was not to TWF, but rather to THF with the shield. Nothing I can say stated that the hypothetical barbarian specialized in a particular weapon, so I was mentioning a weapon that worked for THF and also gave a bonus to AC if used properly.
Elexan 12-11-06, 10:13 AM	An animated shield and armor spikes are a nice touch, also. on a related note, I cannot for the life of me find out where the animated shield is from... I must not be looking hard enough...
Enamel_32 12-11-06, 11:09 AM	It's in the DMG :D
cerberuspuppy 12-11-06, 09:36 PM	Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead. Animated Shield + Keen Greatsword = Fun. You should be able to get those by 10th level.
Terronus 12-11-06, 09:43 PM	From Races of Stone you can take the feats Heavy Armor Optimization (req. BaB +4 and Heavy Armor Prof.) and Greater Heavy Armor Optimization (same, but BaB +8 and obviously Heavy Armor Opt.) These will give your character a +2 AC Bonus and reduce your check penalties by 3. If you are a dwarf, the battlesmith PrC (from the same book) gives you a +2 sacred bonus at 5th level to any armor you have crafted.
BrazilRascal 12-11-06, 10:31 PM	Animated Shields are useful as well. But if you're a brute with your two-hander, built correctly, 80-90% of the time, whatever you just attacked should be dead. The problem is when the thing you just killed have friends. Many, many friends. sometimes even stronger and ready to Power-attack you to bits. :)
BrazilRascal 12-11-06, 10:43 PM	Why yes there is: Complete Warrior has a feat called improved buckler defense which lets you retain your shield bonus from a buckler while attacking. You can wield a two-handed weapon while wearing a buckler. This will give you an extra shield bonus to AC which you can enchant as a normal shield. One can also wear armor spikes with the +1 defending enhancement (they're treated as weapons). If your mage is kind enough to enhance the spikes further with greater magic weapon, you'll be able to get more AC out of them. Anyways, you can spend a free-action every round to transfer the enhancement bonus of the spikes (minimum +1) as an unnamed bonus to your AC. There's the ring of force shield which grants a +2 shield bonus for 8,100 gp, if memory serves me. You could spend a lot of money to purchase a mithril full plate. It will cost you over 9,000 gp, but it is wearable by a barbarian and grants a +8 bonus to AC (with +3 max dex). Depending on your stats, you may be better off with an enchanted breastplate. Wonderful advice, all of it. Especially the first bit. A buckler already helps a lot by adding another defensive slot, so I don't have to pump my ar mor exclusively with AC bonuses and get some fortification and resists instead. And Defending Armor Spikes are just too wocked. I'll definitely do that. As for the Mithril full plate, I'd thought of that, but I favor high-mobility builds. Still, we'll see how it works. Thanks a lot!
hogarth 12-11-06, 10:58 PM	If you can get a few levels of Psychic Warrior or War Mind, you can buff with powers like Force Screen, Defensive Precognition and Thicken Skin.
neceros 12-12-06, 12:00 AM	AC Thread: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=753542 Lots of AC to be had.