Have you ever tried describing how hits work based on a characters AC? 8 think it makes for coo descriptions to have some hits totally Wiff, and others be caught just barey by thick hide.
I wanted to ask how people figure that out and what rues they use?
I think having where the attack roll falls sounds cool.
Roll under 10 and you wiff completely.
Then is Dex and Dodge Bonuses so with a +5 for a dex mod with dodge bonuses added, rolling a 10 to 14 means the target dodged the attack.
After that I add Protection. The character wouldn't have evaded but the force-field knocked the attack off course
Next characters block with their shield bonus or parry and if the roll is higher than Dex+Dodge+(and Monk AC and stuff)+Deflection+Shield, then you hit the armor. After penetrating armor AC you have to get past natural armor.
Only then does a sword draw blood.
What do you think? And where should Sacred/Profane bonuses or Luck or other bonuses fall? Or bracers of armor/mage armor, and a Shied Spell?
Would it have a cool effect in game you think, rather than just getting a hit or miss?
I like to think of the most thematic option deflecting the attack, or whatever I feel like at the time.
In most cases for my cleric, I prefer most blows to be deflected off his barrier of light. (Shield of Faith)
For hard core martials, I imagine them parrying blows more often than not.
Most of the time when an attack catches me unaware but misses, it bounces off my armor.
I wouldn't care much for hard rules on it. As a subject of GM and player interpretation, I think we can get the cool describtion without.
If however, I was to make rules for it, it would be something like this:
Above AC: The attack hits. Penetrates armor, or finds an unarmored spot.
Below AC, above touch AC: The attack hits the target, but bounces of the armor/shield.
Below AC, below touch AC: The target avoids the blow altogether by dodging.
This doesn't include a "You just barely parry the incoming blow with your sword". That category can't really be included based on the mechanics, yet it is quite important flavourwise.
I wouldn't care much for hard rules on it. As a subject of GM and player interpretation, I think we can get the cool describtion without.
If however, I was to make rules for it, it would be something like this:
Above AC: The attack hits. Penetrates armor, or finds an unarmored spot.
Below AC, above touch AC: The attack hits the target, but bounces of the armor/shield.
Below AC, below touch AC: The target avoids the blow altogether by dodging.This doesn't include a "You just barely parry the incoming blow with your sword". That category can't really be included based on the mechanics, yet it is quite important flavourwise.
Personally, I would put the priorities as thus: Magic (shield for example, maybe with bright flash as weapon hit transparent, glowing object that suddenly appeared), Dexterity (just a simple dodge), and then armor/natural armor (they couldn't dodge, and had to rely on physical protection).
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What i find intriguing is figuring out a way to get the flavored reactions to show something about the enemies. SInce they tend to die quick, having an enemy dodge an attack can show players that they didn't beat Touch AC and give a little more information.
Glancing blows could be because they didn't score a hit, but got past touch, or the enemy didn't bother dodging, and just took the attack.
Parries could be used whenever a combatant with a weapon doesn't get hit and not give any information. The attack would have made Touch AC, but was blocked.
How would you respond to a GM playing that way, telling you the enemy dodged when you don't make touch AC and Dodge+shield means blocking, with glancing blows being up to full AC depending on wether or not the enemy dodged?
would it be fun to analyze what the hits mean, or frustrating if there's parries and any inconsistency in terms of what is applied?
This seems like a good option of telling Touch AC and the like. I've often been randomly choosing an AC trait and describing a missed attack off that.
I do feel like having an order would be something that works well in saying how late something applies. You can't dodge an attack that hits your touch AC because even if your AC is 20 thanks to armor, armor doesn't make it easier to evade, it just converts hits into glancing blows.
so You can dodge, then block, and wearing Plate won't make you better at that. Just means that you can jsut let the hit bounce off your armor if you like.
Unless people attack differently when an opponent has a shield or heavy armor, attacking differently. Would an attack aimed to hit a smaller target covered in chain versus plates be more likely to miss completely due to armor?
an attack directed an the attacker's weak side to not have the shield in the way be easier to dodge?
Descriptions like this are also a good way of telling the players why their attacks might be missing. Telling them that a sword swing scraped across a monster's thick hide (natural armor) might let them know to change tactics (use an attack that targets its touch AC).
Personally, I would put the priorities as thus: Magic (shield for example, maybe with bright flash as weapon hit transparent, glowing object that suddenly appeared), Dexterity (just a simple dodge), and then armor/natural armor (they couldn't dodge, and had to rely on physical protection).
Oh man, it was far too late at night when I posted that to do math. Anyway, basically, I would have touch AC boosted up by magical protection for the flavor description when dealing with normal full AC.
Under this new touch AC, it would be the spell stopping the attack, over it but under real AC would be dodge, and over this adjusted touch AC would be armor. Maybe If there is a shield I would figure that in before actual armor and natural armor.
I was thinking about Sacred bonuses, and feel like they could make it so the lowest necessary AC is boosted if that prevents the hit.
Swing is one away from touch AC and would have hit were there not the sacred bonus, it i a dodge wiht the target moving in just the way or a little too fast?
Telling them it hit the target's hide could also indicate that they were so close, but just need to roll a little higher if tey can be hitting the Nat Armor
Go from highest to lowest.
IF his dodge is highest, usually he ducks out of the way, if it's fromm plate and shield, usually he deflects.
IF he misses by 1 point, then I assume it's that +1 dex bonus in regular plate and so he "rolled" with the blow. Obviously you have to know alot about said character, but this is usually just a generalization.
If you are willing to track the details, I think OP's list is probably the best.
What I would add is describing a person fighting defensively or using Combat Expertise as Parrying, and have those take the position before even dodging.
Having an order to the descriptions does communicate valuable information to the players, but it increases book keeping a lot too. If as a DM you are willing to put in the effort, actually writing out the ranges for each NPC at which a given description applies would be useful.
Hark: Thanks! I feel like I'd put such defensive stances in with dodge and mentioning themeven if the hit gets up to Armor, to show that there is a defensive focus, twisting out of the way so the spear-tip slides harmlessly over the chestplate of the enemy's armor.
Eragar: how would one put it then? I feel like it depends on the creature. how do these sound for Nat Armor and DR
Nat Armor
-Your swing is deflected by the thick carapace.
-Your spear gets knotted in thick fur and fails to connect
-There is an FFX style Plink! when your axe clangs into the dragon's scales is fails to get past them
DR:
-Skeleton DR/Bludgening: Your blade barely scratches the hard bone as there is nothing there to cut / Your ally's arrow chinks a rib but passes through the hollow frame of the skeleton. Thorgrim's hammer on the other hand shatters fragile bone and the creature falls apart
-Zombie DR/Slashing: Bone shatters as your morning star hits, but the animated flesh retains it shape and it takes only superficial damage from the spikes.
Lycan: you make a goodly hit, slicing the beast open, but the cut has already partially healed by the time you complete the swing, leaving only a trickle of blood.
Invulnerable Rager: Your whirlwind of blades seems to be a flurry of knicks and scratches on th barbarian's chest as the cuts and stabs you make seem to barely bleed at all. (when faced with a twf ranger or something)
Since damage isn't affected by accuracy you can simply say that in the case of DR the characters weapon didn't have nearly the kind of impact on the target that one would expect.
Or you could just tell your players that you are using this cool new system, and they could use it for their character too. Explaining the finer points of it ahead of time avoids confusion.
Meh. I just eyeball the roll and describe it based on how high or low I feel it is. No need to work so hard at it.
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I like to envision what happens to my characters, and the AC issue has always messed with me.
Take my tiefling cleric, for example. At 9th level, he currently has:
+9 armor
+4 shield
+2 DEX
+3 natural armor
+1 deflection (or +3 if he casts shield of faith)
+2 luck
+1 insight
Now suppose an attack misses him by 1. Removing any one of those bonuses would make it a hit. So which one caused it to miss? Or does the closeness of the miss mean it was "all of them working together"? Because that makes for some really complicated situations:
Preparing to change targets, you happen to turn just in time to see a blade coming your way. They've clearly gone to plenty of trouble to dodge your armor and shield, and you realize you can exploit the resulting lack of stability in their attack. Shifting your weight quickly, you angle yourself to the side such that your ring's field of force can slow the incoming blade *just* enough for it to skitter harmlessly across your tough hide.
That's a lot to run through in my mind every time there's a near miss. :/
Jiggy:
My take is that ideally, you want a hit to miss you by as much as possible. So first you try to avoid, and anything that goes into Touch AC goes into that (except maybe luck).
-The attack takes int account your shield, coming from your weak side or cuts under the shield and still strikes true and penetrates your protective field (deflection)
-Finding a chink in your armor the blade gets through only to get stopped by hitting just the wrong spot and clinking off your scales.
I'd go with something along the lines of this for attacking your tiefling:
You make a well-aimed strike and find a chink in the Tiefling's armor, but the blade is halted by a hard patch of its thickened skin.
epically close shaves can merit slightly expanded word-count, imo