Armorless Bonuses to armor class


Homebrew and House Rules


I'm working on a new homebrew setting that takes place mostly in an urban setting. It's a very old city and in decline, but the laws are still in place. A character walking around in armor (of nearly any kind) attracts a great deal of attention from the authorities and unless they are actually agents of the crown they are treated with suspicion and often their activities are observed to see what their intentions might be. Also, being an urban environment, heavy armor could well be a hindrance in certain situations.

So, my question is this: Are there any Pathfinder rules, either official, 3PP, or homebrew that offers a system to increase the chances of avoiding a blow that does not use armor? Magical protection such as amulets or bracers don't count against the character.

I know the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana has set of rules, but I don't really like them. The rule I'm thinking of proposing is that every class gets half of its BAB added to the AC at every level where the BAB increases.

Anyway, suggestions are welcome!


maybe but then i can see some monk or druid builds getting pretty durable.

Sovereign Court

Could look at the Armour as DR form Ultimate Combat.

I do have to say, it's a little odd to hear of Armour being the item that gets people in trouble. Usually you hear a lot more about various kinds of weapons. I know there was a great write up for the City of Greyhawk someplace that had the kinds of things they allowed, allowed with peace bonding and just outright banned.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The Armor as DR variant from Ultimate Combat has a Class Defense system that replaces the normal AC from armor mechanic. If you're thinking of using it, you might want to use the Wounds/Vitality system from there as well.


LazarX wrote:
The Armor as DR variant from Ultimate Combat has a Class Defense system that replaces the normal AC from armor mechanic. If you're thinking of using it, you might want to use the Wounds/Vitality system from there as well.

We've used the W/V system in the past (taking it from Star Wars d20) and it seemed to work pretty well, though I have a 30 year veteran player who we still have to tell him to roll a d20 for most actions. He doesn't handle change very well on top of that. It's pretty frustrating to have to NOT shout, "It's called d20 FOR A REASON!"

@Morgen---(I don't know how to do double quotes). It's not so much illegal as it would be greatly out of place, I think (I probably wrote that without thinking it through thoroughly). I can't imagine a city dwelling character clanking around in full plate just to go buy a loaf of bread (which is how a lot of people seem to think a character does, anyway). And what happens if a character is caught out of his armor? The armorless defense system would definitely come into play then.


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You could also think about reflavoring the already existing mechanics.

Heavy armor in d20-based Neverwinter Nights: Link
Heavy armor in d20-based Knights of the Old Republic: Link


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Everybody has Combat Expertise. There, done!

Dark Archive

DungeonmasterCal wrote:
We've used the W/V system in the past (taking it from Star Wars d20) and it seemed to work pretty well,

Ultimate Combat's approach to the W/V system fixes the bugs that the SW version had, just FYI.

Sovereign Court

I don't know if this sounds rude or not, but if it isn't illegal are your players really going to care? You know obviously much better then I but from my previous experience most PC's usually don't care about getting funny looks, and might even enjoy them.


Give all characters (PC/NPC) half BAB as AC bonus but which DOES NOT stack with armor bonus (always use the better).

Then you could simply state that heavy armor is only made and sold to the rich upper class, medium armor for soldiers, etc. and "the common man" can only get his hands on light armor.

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