Once upon a time, my lil' group of gamers stumbled upon Unearthed Arcana. In it, we discovered the Class Defense Bonus. Using this variant, we created and played the most cinematic, and brutal game I've ever run. I wanna recreate this experience.
How would you convert the class defense bonus from 3.5 to pathfinder? Would you keep it as written, tacked onto the PF system? What complications could this variant system create?
Is that the one where each player gets a bonus to AC based on armor proficiencies? If so, in one (1) campaign I started I employed a simplified version where each player added half of their BAB as a bonus to AC that didn't stack with armor. It took a bit of work on my part to add it to enemy AC. I loved the idea of experienced warriors being able to avoid attacks even without armor, but I don't know if if it was worth it in the end. There were just less hits on both sides, it lengthens combat, and it hinders touch attacks more than weapon attacks.
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How would you convert the class defense bonus from 3.5 to pathfinder? Would you keep it as written, tacked onto the PF system? What complications could this variant system create?
This is how we do it:
"Class Based Defense Revision
We will be using a variant of the Class Based Defense Rules. The changes are as follows:
"Defense is no longer based on total character level. Rather one's Defense AC Bonus is derived from the actual levels of class that provides the AC bonus as per chart 4.1 in Unearthed Arcana (adjusted for Pathfinder below). If a character is multiclassed he takes the value of his first class and then adds +1 per additional class defense category possessed. In addition, Class Based Defense no longer provides full bonuses against Touch Based attacks; instead Class Defense provides half of its value against Touch attacks.
Level A1 B2 C3 D4
1st +2 +3 +4 +6
2nd +2 +3 +4 +6
3rd +3 +4 +5 +7
4th +3 +4 +5 +7
5th +3 +4 +5 +7
6th +4 +5 +6 +8
7th +4 +5 +6 +8
8th +4 +5 +6 +8
9th +5 +6 +7 +9
10th +5 +6 +7 +9
11th +5 +6 +7 +9
12th +6 +7 +8 +10
13th +6 +7 +8 +10
14th +6 +7 +8 +10
15th +7 +8 +9 +11
16th +7 +8 +9 +11
17th +7 +8 +9 +11
18th +8 +9 +10 +12
19th +8 +9 +10 +12
20th +8 +9 +10 +12
1 Use column A for monk, sorcerer, or wizard. (unarmored classes)
2 Use column B for bard or rogue. (light armor classes)
3 Use column C for barbarian, cleric, druid or ranger. (medium armor classes)
4 Use column D for fighter or paladin. (heavy armor classes)
"Warrior classes (Full BAB Classes) receive the following benefit:
While wearing armor, the warrior may add in 1/2 of his Class-Based Defense (rounding down) from his warrior class levels (only those class levels providing full BAB progression) to his armored AC. While doing so, his applied defense AC bonuses still protect against Touch attacks, but are not halved again in this case."