Topic: base ac question
I'm new to LotFP, but like what I see and am looking forward to the release of the referee book. I did have one major question though. Why does the base ac start at 12 rather than 10 like most ascending ac systems?
Re: base ac question
I don't know Jim's mind but my suggestion is...
Everyone except Fighters get a flat '+1' to hit bonus, just for being a PC (see R&M p.7).
If base AC is 12 then most folk need to roll 11+ on a d20, which makes the roll 50/50.
I'm guessing that appealed to Jim on some level.
You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.
- JimLotFP
- Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
- Offline
Re: base ac question
It makes armor very, very effective against most characters.
Re: base ac question
Jim wrote:
It makes armor very, very effective against most characters.
Wait... I am not sure that really answers the question of why armor starts at 12 instead of 10. It does answer the question of why non-fighter classes have an attack bonus of +1 that does not increase (which I think is pretty cool by the way).
It's nice that the plate armor that characters purchase at first level doesn't ever need to be upgraded/improved for the entire game.
Re: base ac question
CironeAE wrote:
Jim wrote:It makes armor very, very effective against most characters.
Wait... I am not sure that really answers the question of why armor starts at 12 instead of 10. It does answer the question of why non-fighter classes have an attack bonus of +1 that does not increase (which I think is pretty cool by the way).
It's nice that the plate armor that characters purchase at first level doesn't ever need to be upgraded/improved for the entire game.
It doesn't really answer the initial question. The 50/50 for unarmored does if it works out that way, but should a PC have just a 50/50 shot at hitting an unarmored opponent regardless of level? exception being fighters (I also like the fact that non fighters don't get continual attack bonuses, even though on of my few house rules gives a dwarf character a +1 to attack and damage at levels 5 and 9 which gets them only a +3/+2 by 9th level).
I might consided making 10 the base unarmored AC, but keep the armored AC the same to keep the effectiveness of armor up, unless it breaks the game when I run it sometime in the hopefully near future. Or this thread convinces me otherwise 
Again, I really like the system and its pretty much the game that's bringing me to the OSR (although I did back the Adventures of the East Mark and will either mash up these two systems or just use this one in the East Mark world)
- JimLotFP
- Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
- Offline
Re: base ac question
The combination of Fighters getting +2 to hit to start, 0-levelers getting no bonus, and other classes in between, just felt like it had a lot of impact with base Armor 12. Didn't go any deeper than that.
- JimLotFP
- Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
- Offline
Re: base ac question
Maliloki wrote:
should a PC have just a 50/50 shot at hitting an unarmored opponent regardless of level?
Yes. One of the big ideas of setting things up this way is that non-Fighters still look at well-armored foes, even 0-level soldiers, as a threat (or very least a problem) in combat.
Re: base ac question
I agree when they're fighting armored foes. They should be tougher without needing to resort to 30+ AC values like in the newer editions of dnd. I was talking about opponents not wearing any armor. I don't want to lower the AC values of any of the suits of armor.
I don't know how this reads because I can't really convay emotion in text form. I just wanted to say this is not intended as a fight/challenge/bickering/I'm right-you're wrong thing. Im new to the boards and to the system. Im just trying to figure stuff out. Thank you for your responses.
Re: base ac question
JimLotFP wrote:
The combination of Fighters getting +2 to hit to start, 0-levelers getting no bonus, and other classes in between, just felt like it had a lot of impact with base Armor 12. Didn't go any deeper than that.
That satisfies me.