Armor Class is a Sucker's Game in Pathfinder (Here's A Way To Beat It)

Combat in RPGs, when boiled down to its bare essentials, comprises trying to hit the enemy as hard and as often as you can while attempting not to get hit yourself. While there are a lot of different mechanics for this throughout the gaming spectrum, Pathfinder opts for the passive defense mechanism of armor class. You take your Dexterity modifier, the value of your armor, the value of your shield (if you have one), unique feats and class features, magic items, protective spells, circumstance bonuses, and you add all of those up to determine how good an attack needs to be to actually hit you.

Pretty standard stuff, really.

Crap.

If you've played a long-running campaign, though, then you know armor class is a sucker's game the longer the story goes on. And as someone whose characters draw critical hits like a magnet draws iron, I'd like to share some of what I've learned on the subject of making sure you don't get smashed to a pulp whenever initiative is rolled.

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Diminishing Returns on Your AC

Let's lay some foundational points, here. I'm not saying that armor class is a bad mechanic. I'm not saying that it's broken, or that you shouldn't use it at your table. What I am saying, though, is that if you want your armor class to actually provide a lot of protection as you level up then it's basically the only thing you're going to be investing your resources in to allow you to keep pace with your enemies.

You spent HOW much on that?!

I'll give you a perfect example from my recent Rise of The Runelords playthrough. For that campaign I was running a paladin with a Dexterity focus. At lower levels all it took was decent armor and a shield to avoid getting hit a majority of the time. Sometimes the GM got in a lucky shot, but the character sometimes went through entire encounters with barely a scratch. By the time the party's level hit double digits, though, it didn't matter how high my armor class was. I had enchanted armor, a boosted Dexterity bonus, natural armor, a shield bonus, deflection modifiers, boost spells from the party enchanter, and the huge bonus from active smite on a target, and I was still practically guaranteed to tank at least 2 hits per big bad per round.

Why the change?

Well, part of it is that once you hit high single digits to double digits for character level, you start dealing with one big threat a lot more often than you do squads of smaller threats. While one big threat stands less of a chance of winning (because the party gets more actions, and is therefore more likely to cream that single enemy), these enemies tend to have huge attack bonuses that are practically guaranteed to hit at least once when they unload on a PC. And it's usually more, which can be a problem if those hits are all targeted at one PC instead of spread out among the party. Or, even worse, enemies tend to pack potent magic that targets your touch AC or your saving throws (thus ignoring a lot of buffs), or they opt to try to grapple characters, which targets your combat maneuver defense instead of your armor class.

So, to sum up, the higher your character level gets the less often enemies rely on purely physical attacks to harm you... and when they do rely on physical attacks, they tend to come from massive enemies with huge bonuses to hit so that even the tankiest of tanks is going to lose a hefty chunk of hit points by the time the GM is done rolling dice.

Thinking Beyond Armor Class

Now, for the record, I'm not saying you shouldn't invest in your armor class. Getting a good AC is going to save you from a lot of damage over the long-term, and you'll often be able to shrug off attacks from smaller minions, traps, and other sources of damage that can still pose a serious danger if you go running into battle with nothing but a bedsheet and a buckler.

All right, I'm ready. Let's do this!

There are three categories of defense that I find a lot of players don't invest in, but they can often provide you far more protection than spending all of your gold to get the best magical amulets, shields, cloaks, and armor you can find to boost your armor class. Those areas are:

- Attack Negation

- Miss Chance

- Damage Reduction

The first category is, admittedly, one of the rarest out there. Not only that, but it tends to be pretty narrow in its application. However, this covers class abilities like the swashbuckler or duelist parry, as well as feats like Deflect Arrows, Missile Shield, and Ray Shield. It also covers feats like Snake Style, Cut From The Air and Smash From The Air as well. The idea is that these abilities directly counter an attack that might otherwise hit you, allowing you to use your own prowess instead of relying on your armor class. These abilities tend to have a small pool of uses (they require you to spend attacks of opportunity, or they only function once per round), but they are ideal for characters with high attack bonuses (or just Improved Unarmed Strike) who want to use that offense as a defense.

These don't help much with magical attacks, of course. For that you need a counterspell, or for the caster to miss you entirely... which is where the second category comes in.

Miss chance is what happens when an attack should hit, but due to poor lighting, a magical effect, etc., there's a percentage chance that it doesn't land. You've got either a 20 percent miss chance for concealment, or a 50 percent miss chance for total concealment... and these are going to be far more effective than pumping all your money into your AC just to eke out another 1-4 points that won't stop you from getting your teeth knocked out.

This can be done at all levels, depending on the situation you're involved in. A first level tiefling when fighting humans can use their darkness spell-like ability to lower the lighting conditions in an area, granting themselves a 20 percent miss chance due to concealment. Orcs fighting in total darkness in a cavern can get a 50 percent miss chance if they snuff all the lights in an area. Tossing down a smoke stick creates a cloud of vapor that makes attacks pretty likely to miss you, and is a good strategy if you're all sitting ducks in a hallway with an archer or a blaster at the other end. An invisible character gets that 50 percent miss chance, while a blurred one gets the 20. Magic items like a cloak of displacement are going to be worth more than their cost in terms of blood and suffering when it comes to how much pain they save you. And what's even better is that a miss chance can often save you from precision damage like sneak attack, meaning that even if the rogue or assassin manages to strike a blow, that mountain of d6s isn't going to accompany it.

While some would argue that mirror image isn't technically a miss chance spell, I'll remind folks about it here, because it is a life saver.

What if they don't miss, and you can't block?

If that blow does land, and you're going to take damage, there's still one more trick you can keep up your sleeve... damage reduction.

Damage reduction is usually something monsters get, but players can get their hands on it as well. The most common examples are when it's a class feature, which you see with barbarians, bloodragers, and some fighter and monk archetypes (such as the one I used for my Luke Cage character conversion). Anyone who've ever played a high level barbarian can tell you that ticking off a dozen points of damage that you just don't have to take adds up over the course of a fight. Adamantine armor also grants damage reduction, and spells like defending bone (one of my personal favorites) will also take some of the hits for you. If you have a divine caster who really likes you then you might be able to get them to use shield other on you. Or if you get a familiar, then one with the Protector archetype can do much the same thing around level 5 as long as the two of you are touching.

Layered Defense Works Best

There is no way to completely avoid taking damage in Pathfinder. Sooner or later a lucky shot, an area of effect spell, a trap, or an invisible assassin is going to make you bleed. However, you're going to have far more flexibility (and get screwed far less often) if you can create a layered defense against the threats you're facing.

The first layer of that defense is your armor class, and while it will stop some attacks, there's no way it will stop all of them. An active defense might cut some arrows out of the air, or parry some strikes, but it won't stop every shot coming your way. A miss chance might mean that even a few of the ones that do get through fly harmlessly past. And, lastly, even if the blow manages to land, damage reduction can chop that number down so that it's barely a flesh wound.

This isn't perfect either. Area of effect spells that require Reflex saves are still going to be something you need to contend with, Will saves are going to be a serious threat, and while a miss chance might stop you from getting grappled or tripped, none of the others will affect those attacks. Choking gas clouds, fear effects, an inability to reach flying enemies, illusions... there are still dozens of different challenges and threats you'll need to be ready for.

So keep that in mind before you start feeling too invincible.

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

5 Low-Level Protection Spells That Never Stop Being Useful (in Pathfinder)

Magic is one of the most useful resources in Pathfinder, but too often we end up letting our smaller spells sort of fall by the wayside, forgetting that our lower-level slots can still be useful even at higher levels of play. If you're looking for some ways to keep yourself (and your party) protected when crawling through dungeons and brawling through the bestiary, keep these simple spells in mind, as well as your daily preparations.

Also, for those who like to throw some mud in your enemies' eyes, check out 5 Low-Level Debuff Spells That Never Stop Being Useful (in Pathfinder) as well!

All right... let's talk protection!

#1: Delay Disease

Don't let charisma damage happen to you!

If you've ever played a paladin, then you understand exactly how invulnerable you feel when you can ignore the bite of a werewolf, or sneer at mummy rot because you are protected by a higher power. While getting permanent immunity to disease is tough, getting temporary immunity can be just as effective in the short-term.

Delay disease is a 2nd-level divine spell which also appears on the witch list as a 1st-level spell. Once cast it provides 24 hour protection against any disease taking effect on the target, and if there is already a disease present then the spell can halt it with an appropriate caster-level check. If you want to have something in place to keep your teammates safe before a dungeon delve, this is a solid one to keep in a wand and pass around before you kick in the door.

#2: Delay Poison

And I hit! What? Ah crap...

In the same boat as delay disease is another 2nd-level spell delay poison! This one only works for 1 hour per level, but it essentially stops the clock on any poison in someone's system (without a caster level check), and if someone is under the effects of this spell they can ignore any poison in their veins until it runs out. If you're high enough level that you have a lot of 2nd level slots to spare, this is a good one to keep on-hand, but even if you just have it in a wand for those rainy days when you need to stop a poison from spreading it's quite handy to have.

#3: Defending Bone

Don't worry boss, I got you!

Defending bone is a spell that is likely going to wind up on every character I ever play just for the way it looks. You animate either the femur bone or skull of a Medium-sized creature, and it floats around you. It interposes itself between you and physical attacks, granting you DR 5/bludgeoning. It lasts for 1 hour per level, and it will absorb 5 points per caster level with a maximum of 50 points before it gets turned to dust.

The most useful thing here is that the spell doesn't say you need to be aware of the attack for the bone to protect you. So if you're ambushed, or you have invisible rogues stabbing at you, the bone still interposes itself. Even better, if the DR negates an attack's damage entirely (say, a poisoned dart being fired from cover) then that will block any poison on the weapon as well.

#4: Protection From X/Y/Z

Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me...

Protection from evil, and the variants that apply to good, law, and chaos are basic, 1st level spells that show up on most spellcasting lists. When we initially take them it's usually the boost to armor class and saves that we consider most important, but the other effects of the spell are arguably a lot more important at later levels.

The first is that it protects you from enchantment (compulsion) and (charm) effects, making it basically impossible for a big villain to just reach into the fighter's head and turn him into a party-killing puppet if there's a protected alignment in play. The second is that it means summoned creatures whose alignment matches the protection spell can't make contact with you unless you first attack them. This can be a life saver when a high-level villain is depending on summoned monsters to tear you to pieces, but the demons, archons, or chaos beasts can't get within a foot of you due to a lowly 1st-level spell.

While you get the biggest benefits from casting it at your character level, this is one that's fine to put in potions for immediate battlefield consumption.

#5: Stone Shield

Oh boy, that's gonna be nasty!

Stone shield is an immediate action spell that essentially lets you earth-bend a slab of stone out of the floor, making it rise up to protect you. It grants you cover (+4 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves), and it basically lasts 1 round, or until something destroys it.

Those are relatively small bonuses, but they can be very helpful in a pinch. Especially when you consider that cover bonuses can be a life saver against ray spells, when there are so few things that help improve your touch AC. Additionally, if you have cover from an enemy, they can't take attacks of opportunity against you, so this is a great method to both cover your butt, and get the hell out of a dangerous situation while maintaining your standard action to heal up, or to cast something bigger once you're at a safe distance.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

5 More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting

Apologies to all my readers for the skip week, but I was at Windy Con in Chicago last Friday, and between travel time, panels, readings, and networking just didn't have the time to put up a new entry. However, I'm back now, so I thought I'd add on to what has been one of my most popular series thus far by pointing out even more rules Pathfinder players tend to forget, mis-remember, or just flat-out not know.

Previous entries in this series are:

- Playing By The Book: Some Pathfinder Rules That Players Keep Forgetting
- MORE Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- Even MORE Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- Still More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- 5 More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting

What didn't I cover in the first four installments? Well...

Rule #1: You Can Charge As A Standard Action

Time to bring the pain!

This one actually requires a bit of clarification. Under the charge rules on page 198 of the Core Rulebook, if you are limited to taking only a standard action on your turn (as you would be when staggered, like when you're below 0 hit points and have the Die Hard feat, or if you're acting in the surprise round), you can make what I refer to as a partial charge. It's the same as a normal charge attack, except you can only move up to your movement speed, and you can't draw a weapon during the charge unless you have Quick Draw. Just the thing for that suicidal barbarian who wants to wager it all on a single roll of the die.

Rule #2: Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance Are Different

Damage reduction and energy resistance are both traits we tend to associate more with monsters than we do with PCs, but there are a lot of class archetypes and playable races that will get one, or both, of these abilities. And they seem simple, but judging from the posts I see in the groups I frequent, they're often confused. So, here's the simple run down you need to know when you have these powers.

Energy resistance is for energy damage (like fire, cold, acid, etc.). It doesn't matter if it's magical or mundane. If you get hit with alchemist's fire, or a fireball, and you have fire resistance 5, you take 5 off the damage you would have been dealt, according to page 562 of the Core Rulebook.

But what about damage reduction?

Damage reduction, the barbarian's best friend, applies only to normal attacks (normal in this case being from weapons, as opposed to being hit by something that deals elemental damage or untyped damage from a spell) according to page 561 of the Core Rulebook. So, if someone hits you with a longsword, and you have DR 5/-, then you take 5 points off that damage. If that longsword has the flaming quality, though, the fire damage still goes through, unless you also have fire resistance.

It should be noted, though, that spells which specifically deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage are subject to DR. As mentioned in Paizo's FAQ, spells like ice storm, which deal bludgeoning damage, will still be blocked by a zombie's DR 5/slashing.

Rule #3: You Can Take A 5-Foot Step During Your Readied Action

The 5-foot step is the best friend to adventurers everywhere. It allows you to get some breathing room before casting a spell, or to back up before shooting a zombie in the skull. But the villains also have access to the mystical 5-foot step, and there is nothing worse than your readied action becoming useless because your target backed off 5 feet before triggering your action.

It's okay, just follow him!

Your clever plan, you did not think it through!

According to page 203 of the Core Rulebook you may take a 5-foot step as part of your readied action, provided that you have not moved during that round, and provided that your readied action isn't a move action. So if you took a move-equivalent action like, say, standing up from your seat in the tavern, and you ready an action to deck the spellcaster if he tries anything, moving 5 feet back from you won't save his face from your fist.

A handy thing to know for all the tacticians out there.

Rule #4: You Can Totally Catch Falling Party Members

We've all been there. The party has to climb to the top of a chasm wall, or go up a chimney in harpy-infested territory, and no one has any means to actually fly. So you break out the pitons and the rope, knowing that as soon as you're high enough for the stakes to really matter, someone's going to fall. And when they do, you'll have to recruit a new party member.

Or will you?

Not if you have very good arms.

According to page 91 of the Core Rulebook, if someone climbing above you or adjacent to you falls, then you can make a melee touch attack to grab them. The falling character can willingly forego his or her dex bonus to AC in order to make the grab easier. Once you've snatched your falling party member, you have to make a climb check equal to the wall's DC + 10 in order to stay in place. If you fail by 4 or less, you lose your grip on your party member, but don't fall. If you fail by 5 or more, you lose your grip on both. Also, said party member and all the gear that person is carrying can't exceed your heavy load, or you automatically fall.

Again, you want the brawny fighter at the bottom to be sure you catch the falling wizard.

Rule #5: Invisible Creatures Gain Bonuses on Attacks

This one is for both DMs, and for lovers of ninjas, rogues, and dastardly magi. We all know about the ridiculous bonuses you get to stealth while you're invisible, but if you are invisible and attacking sighted opponents, then you also get a +2 to attack rolls. This is over and above the benefits you get for ignoring the dexterity bonuses to AC your targets receive. All of this according to the description of the invisible condition on page 567 of the Core Rulebook.

Good news for the 15 invisible kobolds who won the initiative order.

And that, my loyal readers, is the latest installment of this particular series. As more books are released, and more games are played, I'm sure I'll have even more fun things to share with you. Until then, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter to get all of my updates, and if you want to help me keep producing content just like this, then consider visiting my Patreon page to become a patron today!

Still More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Pathfinder is a really dense game as far as rules go, so it's only natural for players to miss a few here and there. This is the fourth installment of a series covering often-overlooked, obscure, or mis-remembered rules, and the previous installments are:

- Playing By The Book: Some Pathfinder Rules That Players Keep Forgetting
- MORE Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- Even MORE Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- Still More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting
- 5 More Rules Pathfinder Players Keep Forgetting

Some of these rules might not be new to you, particularly if you're the sort of player who reads the entire rule book cover-to-cover. If you're just a casual player, though, hopefully these rules will help you bring your A game to the table.

Let's get started with this latest installment, shall we?

#1: Powerful Magic Weapons Ignore Damage Reduction

Damage reduction is the bane of low-to-mid-level combat characters. If you don't deal the right kind of damage, or your weapon is made from the wrong kind of material then you're going to find even your mightiest blows reduced to little more than cuts and bruises. DR doesn't represent as big a threat at higher levels though; mostly because particularly powerful magic weapons ignore it.

They also deal bonus damage to non-magical rocks!

According to the chart on page 562 of the Core Rulebook a weapon that has an enhancement of at least +3 overcomes cold iron/silver damage reduction. A +4 overcomes DR that would require an adamantine weapon, and a +5 or higher overcomes alignment-based DR. It should be noted that if a creature has a flat damage reduction (as you get from wearing adamantine armor or being a high-level barbarian) there is no weapon powerful enough to overcome it. You're just going to have to hit them really, really hard.

#2: Cover And Concealment Are Different Things

Cover and concealment are the bread and butter of tactical combat. Whether you're tossing down a smokestick so the wizard can't pinpoint you with a blast, or you're crouching behind a low wall to avoid being shot at by archers you are taking away at least some of the enemy's ability to do you harm. While a lot of tables don't bother with them, cover and concealment can be the life or death of characters.

Also, they're very different mechanics.

Pictured: Concealment

Let's start with concealment. If you're making a ranged attack and there's anything blocking your line of sight between a corner of your square and a corner of the target's square then the target has concealment. If a target is in a square completely enveloped by a condition that grants concealment (like a smokestick) then you have a 20% miss chance. If you have line of effect to an opponent but not line of sight then the opponent has total concealment (a 50% miss chance). You can't take attacks of opportunity, or even attack the opponent; you can only attack the square and hope for the best. These conditions don't stack; so if you're attacking in a cloud of smoke in pitch blackness then the defender only gets the one 50% miss chance.

Now on to cover!

Cover is an actual, physical barrier between you and an enemy. This includes door frames, walls, and even other people! If there is any sort of barrier you can hide behind it grants you a +4 to your armor class and a +2 on reflex saves. If more than half of you is sticking out of the cover then you reduce the bonus by half to a +2 to your armor class and a +1 to reflex saves. Improved cover, such as crouching behind an arrow slit, typically grants double the bonus (+8 and +4 respectively). If a target has total cover, meaning it's completely hidden behind a wall or other obstacle then you can't attack it.

You can have cover and concealment, and in fact it's a great idea to get both if you can! The details on these states of being are listed in the Core Rulebook 195-197.

#3: Armor Check Penalty Is Hell On The Non-Proficient

Most adventurers are familiar with the armor check penalty rules; your armor makes it harder for you to perform strength and dexterity-based actions based on how cumbersome it is. It's frustrating, but combat characters have been dealing with it for years.

If you're not proficient with an armor though that check can get heinous in a big hurry.

"Guys... guys?" Wizard's Last Words

If you are using armor you're not proficient with then you take a penalty because you just aren't trained to deal with the armor, but according to page 150 of the Core Rulebook the armor check penalty for armor you're not proficient with also applies to your attacks. This penalty stacks with any non-proficiency you take for wielding a shield you're not trained with as well.

This is the reason you never see wizards putting on plate armor without at least a level or two of fighter.

#4: You Can Direct Attacks of Opportunity Against Potions

Everyone knows that drinking a potion provokes an attack of opportunity (which is one reason the Drunken Brute barbarian variant is great, as it allows you to ignore this rule). If an enemy is drinking down a game-changing spell though a single attack might not make the difference... unless you direct the attack at the potion.

And hope it doesn't blow up in your face.

According to page 478 in the Core Rulebook you may choose to take your attack of opportunity against a potion when an enemy provokes you by trying to quaff it while threatened. If you manage to destroy the container then the target can't drink the potion, since your attack of opportunity happened before the target could pour even a little of the magical elixir into his mouth.

#5: Clerics Can Seriously Ruin A Vampire's Day

We've all seen classic Dracula movies where the count is shown a crucifix and he recoils in atavistic dread. We've also been in games where the villain is a vampire, and the party is overmatched, outgunned, and needs to pull out every trick they know in order to carry the day. If you're in a party like this then be really glad you've got a cleric or a paladin on hand (though a religious fighter will do, in a pinch).

Assuming you're all out of gummy Type-O treats, that is.

If you are fighting a vampire (which is any creature with the vampire template according to the Bestiary) then you can keep it at bay by using a standard action to present a holy symbol. The vampire has to stay 5 feet away from the person presenting the symbol, and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the target. After 1 round has gone by the vampire can attempt to overcome this repulsion by making a DC 25 Will save. At that point you'll get more use out of a good gorget than you will a holy symbol, but it's still a good idea to keep something sacred on hand if you're worried you'll be set upon by undead bloodsuckers.

What's Next...

That's all for this installment of overlooked and mis-remembered rules, but I'm sure there will be another installment. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative then stop by my Patreon page and consider becoming a patron today! If you want to be sure that you don't miss any of my updates then either plug your email into the box on your right, or follow me on Facebook and Tumblr!