Armor and AC

[Ares]

So I've started with a few different classes just trying out various combinations to see what I enjoy the most. And some things I noticed is that most of my high Dexterity based characters that wear light or no armor have higher AC then a heavy plate wearing characters.

Is that normal? What is the advantage of heavy armor then?

[EvilDonut]

No advantage, basically. Dex build is best build, in pathfinder and dnd as well.
When you go on a str build, however, you need the sturdiest armor you can find, because most likely your dex sucks...

[Amigo]

You can lose your dexterity bonus. And AC from armor doesnt go away.

[Shadowkire]

It depends on the stats and armor. High DEX + armor usually tops out at 18 ac without rings, amulets, magic gear, or shields.
Heavy armor is hit or miss, Full Plate is good (9 armor + 1 DEX = 20 ac) while banded mail and half plate top out at 18 aswell.
Maybe the problem you are having is the heavy armor guys have negative(below 10) DEX?

[timechef]

The advantage is that your heavily-armored character can basically ignore Dex, dedicating resources to buffing Con and Str. Also, your Dex-based character will lose a rather large chunk of AC if they're caught flat-footed (unless they have uncanny dodge). The FF rules as implemented are kinda iffy and seem to apply more often than they should.

[Marcos_DS]

Originally posted by Amigo:

You can lose your dexterity bonus. And AC from armor doesnt go away.

Sunder armor

[Kommissar K]

Realize you can do both. A high Dex Fighter in Mithril Full Plate is indeed better on AC than some other class wearing light armor.

Fighter also gets Armour Training, which increases the max dex of armour.

Generally you should look at what happens when you add the Armour AC + Max Dex for a given set.

Full Plate - 9 AC, +1 Dex (10 total)
Padded Armour - 1AC, +8 Dex (9 total)
No armour - Have fun getting to 30 dex?

Or are you checking this against the results of touch attacks?

[Amigo]

flat footed is not the only situation when you can lose your dex bonus. Your dex can also be drained from you and I think there are some other situations

[Sharindel]

Originally posted by Ares:

So I've started with a few different classes just trying out various combinations to see what I enjoy the most. And some things I noticed is that most of my high Dexterity based characters that wear light or no armor have higher AC then a heavy plate wearing characters.

Is that normal? What is the advantage of heavy armor then?

Thats right.. Dex is the the best option. Because you have all your skills, in the PnP its even better. If you Multclass a Aldori Defender with a Rogue you can be a god on the battleflied.

I am not far enough to know it the dex fighter get problems in the lategame. Because in the PnP there are mainly a lack of high enchanter light armors. Because the most enchanted tanky artifacts are big and heavy plates.

But you do nothing wrong to have them both.. a tanky str fighter and a dex with evil damage.

[HTakara]

my Valerie has almost 40 AC

[Amigo]

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Krun Thuul
There are some magic items as well...

ACROBATICS
A creature is flat-footed when using Acrobatics to cross narrow surfaces or uneven ground.

BLINDED
A blinded creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

BLUFF
A creature can be denied it's Dexterity bonus to AC by an opponent using Bluff to feint in combat.

CLIMB
A creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC when using Climb.

COWERING
A cowering creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

FLAT-FOOTED
A flat-footed creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

HELPLESS
A helpless creature is treated as having a Dexterity of 0, and rogues can sneak attack it.

INVISIBLE
An invisible attack can ignore it's opponent's Dexterity bonus to AC.

PARALYZED
A paralyzed creature is helpless.

PETRIFIED
A petrified creature is unconscious.

PINNED
A pinned creature creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

STEALTH
A creature can use Stealth to cause opponents to be unaware of it.

STUNNED
A stunned creature creature looses it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

SWIM
A creature that fails a Swim check might becomes off-balance and lose it's Dexterity bonus to AC.

UNCONSCIOUS
An unconscious creature is helpless.

[EvilDonut]

Originally posted by Marcos_DS:

Originally posted by Amigo:

You can lose your dexterity bonus. And AC from armor doesnt go away.

Sunder armor

That.

And also, you cannot sleep in medium or heavy armor, so if you get a random encounter while camping, you're armorless against it, while a dex based char isn't.

[Amigo]

basically if you are being cced in dec armor you are scre wed

[Kommissar K]

Originally posted by w0lv3n:

And also, you cannot sleep in medium or heavy armor, so if you get a random encounter while camping, you're armorless against it, while a dex based char isn't.

Well, likely not in this game, but it is a solved problem

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/magic-armor-and-shield-special-abilities/restful/

[Kyutaru]

Light armored people aren't ever the best AC in a pathfinder game. It just requires a lot of dedication to the build to craft a heavy armor candidate.


75 AC

Dwarf Fighter Tower Shield Specialist

*base* +10

*armor* = +21
+9 full plate
+1 regular Dex
+2 mithral
+4 armor training
+5 enhancement bonus

*shield* = +9
+4 Tower Shield
+5 enhancement bonus

*other gear* = +16
+5 deflection ring
+5 enhancement to natural armor amulet
+1 insight ioun stone
+5 defending weapon

*feats* = +19
+1 Natural Armor from Ironhide
+9 Improved Natural Armor x 9 (3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19)
+1 Dodge
+2 (Greater) Shield Focus
+6 Combat Expertise

[Ares]

@Kyutaru

Thanks for that write up. That's impressive. None of my toons are high enough to have that many feats or equipment yet.

I've unfortunately (or fortunately) am currently suffering the same issue I had when Baldur's Gate came out. That is I want to try every class, so I keep restarting to try different things out.

And this game is worse because it has more options.

I think my highest right now is level 5. LOL