Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Metal Head Bard 08-06-05, 08:26 PM	I know there is an alternate way in the Unearthed Arcana book to do AC. Something like a deflection bonus based on class I think? Does anyone have that info that they can give me. I am going to run a bounty hunter campaign and I think it would add a bit of flavor if I ran AC that way Thanks! \m/ ROCK ON!! \m/
Mind Rogue 08-06-05, 10:35 PM	Well, they do have a defense bonus system in UA, and it goes like this, being that they made it pretty simple: classes with no armor get a +2 bonus, those with light give a +3 bonus, medium gives +4, and heavy gives +6. This then increases by one every three levels. However, I think that it was really crudely done. The system in UA was designed to replace armor, so that it doesn't stack with it. Unfortunately, it's so high that there is absolutely no reason to ever wear armor because it also provides a bonus against touch attacks, doesn't impose armor check or maximum dex penalties, and it's just as good as the armor you are likely to be wearing anyway. Instead, I think the system in d20 modern, which I believe the system was based off of, would work better. The three things to note are that the AC values are lower, with most of them starting at +0, that they stack with armor, and that few people in d20 modern are proficient with any armor and incredibly few with the heavier armors because no classes grant armor prof, although a number of characters have the choice between light armor prof and firearms prof. Slightly simplified because the , the Strong, Tough, and Dedicated heroes gets +1 AC +1 every even level (they actually lose a level at sixth for some reason, so they advance at seventh and ninth), the Fast gets +3 AC and really does get +1 AC every even level, and the Smart and Charismatic heroes gets +1 at second level and every three levels thereafter. Based on the themes of these classes, the Rogue and Monk might use the Fast progression, the Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, and Druid would probably use the Strong progression, and the Sorcerer, Wizard, and Bard would probably use the Smart progression. However, this does throw a little bit of a monkey wrench into balance. Fighter types are supposed to have the highest AC out of everyone, and this slides things against them, unless you decide to give them the fastest progression. You might bump the Fast progression down so that it starts at only +1 or +2, which levels the playing field a little bit. Since this version is designed to stack with limited armor, you might choose to bump all versions up a little bit if you don't want it to stack, probably +0 for Smart, +1 for Strong, and +2 for Fast. If you do want it to stack, you could limit the bonus by the max dex of armor, encouraging people to only wear lighter stuff, but still putting on a little protection. Regardless of what you do, you'll probably need to tweek it some. -Mind Rogue
Jerks 08-07-05, 09:42 PM	I'm currently using a variant set of these rules for my campaign. I agree that the implementation in Unearthed Aracana was crude. I especially don't like how you simply used the highest progression available to you. So a lvl 6 wizard, lvl 1 fighter would use the much better fighter progression no matter what. Under my system, classes with no armor proficiency or light armor prof. gain a defense bonus equal to a weak save. (0 to +6 at 20th level). Classes with light and medium proficiency gain a defense bonus equal to a moderate save (not used in D&D, but available in other d20 sources). This goes from 0 to +9 at 20th level. Classes with heavy armor proficiency gain a defense bonus equal to a strong save. (0 to +12 at 20th level). In addition to this rule I also use the armor as DR variant, Armor values in my game are cut in half, with the other half being DR. Finally, to give them a bit of an edge I allow fighters to stack a bit of their armor bonus with the class bonus. Up to 1 point for every 4 levels