I have been gaming for over half my life (i am approaching my fat-beard stage of development, early 30's and all that). I've run dozens of different games across the board, and read hundreds of gaming manuals.
Ultimate Combat is one of the BEST gaming manuals I have ever read.
I loved 99% of the book.
The only issue i had with the book was the absence of an armorless combat rule. The armorless combat option could be used in conjunction with the armor as DR rules, for those characters or campaigns that do not use armor.
i have seen many different systems used in different ways through the d20 systems, but i would like to see one that is viable for the Pathfinder game.
and coming this week to a Pathfinder game near you, Samurai Jack-tion!
does anybody else feel this way, or know of a good system for pathfinder? i do own the old unearthed arcana, but i was never really fond of that system.
in my modified modern game, i ported in some mutants and masterminds, and the defenses there are totally skill based.
any one?
The "A Game of Thrones" 3.5 rpg has some cool rules on combat that might be close to what you are going for. I believe it uses DR and instead of a static AC you make a defense check vs the to hit roll to see if an attack hits. It makes it feel like you are dodging or parrying attacks instead of standing there and taking them. Also, you could take feats to add certain attributes to your defense check and to hit(normally, no attributes were added to a to hit roll). All of the classes also got a plus to defense similar to getting a BAB.
Of course, using a shield a wearing armor made a character better than most unarmored opponents, but Syrio Forel didn't wear armor and his stat block was pretty boss.
But, I think this would probably be your best bet in a DR armor system or a system that uses no armor. Might be worth checking out.