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@Deadmanwalking: Thanks for the clarification. :)
Can't wait to see the Archive (despite it will take so Long until it's released...).
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I guess what's important to me, and that I'm not clear on from this discussion, is if the PCs catch one goblin unarmored and one goblin armored, will their AC vary and will I (as the GM) be able to tell by how much? Or, if a PC sunders an NPCs armor, will it make a difference to that NPC's AC? If so, then I can probably roll with the rest even if it's not my ideal.
Yes, all that could (and IMO should) matter. You can make these calculations as easily as for a PC (just subtract their armor's bonus from their listed AC).
@Deadmanwalking: Thanks for the clarification. :)
Can't wait to see the Archive (despite it will take so Long until it's released...).
No problem, I'm happy to be of assistance. Besides, looking through First Contact and trying to figure out the math/base assumptions is interesting.
And yeah, I'm very much looking forward to that as well.
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I think Sean K. Reynolds had a interesting blog post about how bad it was for game designers to be bound by rules when designing new monsters. He used an example about a high level faerie who was supposed to be like a heroe or general of faeries, some sort of high level super-martial fae.
But.... faeries have 1/2 BAB per HD. So his melee attack sucked. He wasn't really big and muscular, so a huge STR didn't make sense. The designers could give him an arbitrarely high HD number, so the 1/2 BAB per HD improves high enough, but that would pump saves, and skills, and other things. They ended giving him a permanent haste, and some racial bonus to attack , and some arbitrary stuff.
But.... if you are going to end giving the NPC arbitrary stuff until they meet your expectations as a high CR martial archetype... why not just do it? It would be pretty much easier if you could just say "this fae is a martial heroe, so he has a good melee attack, because he is a martial heroe, and should have a good melee attack". Poof. Martial heroe faerie now has the appropiate amount of attack for your goal.
Being too much bound with the rules means high level demons and angels have max ranks in performance and craft basket weaving and what not, because they have to spend a bazillion points in skills, and once they already have all the skills that make sense for their role, they fill up the rest with things that do not make sense at all.
If you need a villain who happen to be a high level fae soldier, then make a high level fae soldier that makes sense. That's it. It's a game about pretending to be elves, that's all.
DeadManWalking, or anyone else here - do you have a clear, easily defined formula for ACs, attack, and damage outside of armor to use?
Though I've done okay in some minor conversion work, the actual numbers are way off the ones presented, so far, so I'd appreciate some sort of system to work with, even if it's not the final product; unfortunately, my time is short enough that I lack the mental "space" to do it myself at present.
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DeadManWalking, or anyone else here - do you have a clear, easily defined formula for ACs, attack, and damage outside of armor to use?
Though I've done okay in some minor conversion work, the actual numbers are way off the ones presented, so far, so I'd appreciate some sort of system to work with, even if it's not the final product; unfortunately, my time is short enough that I lack the mental "space" to do it myself at present.
Based on what creatures we have, which are limited, it looks very much like KAC is around the Pathfinder Monster Creation Rules AC by CR. EAC is one or two points lower.
That's total AC mind you. You then, on creatures that wear armor, give them armor of a level equal to their CR or thereabouts, and, if they're somehow not wearing armor, subtract it.
So that's AC.
Attack bonus seems to also go by the Monster Creation table, but add +2 CR or so (so a CR 4 should have +12/+8), and all seem to have a 'high' bonus in whichever of melee or ranged attacks they're good at and a 'low' one in the other category. These all vary by up to a couple of points depending on role (thuggish creatures often have a bit better than this, for example).
Damage can be done by just giving an appropriate weapon of level equal to their CR and then adding their CR to damage (on top of Str if it's a melee weapon). Even creatures without weapons should probably have damage dice in the same range as this. Most should have one attack, though two at a 'low attack' bonus is also valid.
HP are probably trickiest, but going by the same chart and sometimes adding +1 or +2 CR seems likely to be close-ish.
Thanks!