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So, a few friends and I have been discussing the possibility of adding a defense variant in our games. I have always like the idea of a defense bonus, but never liked their delivery. Until now...
The idea here is, the bonus does not stack with Armor of any kind. The bonus on applies to AC (not flat-footed or touch). It does stack with shields and any other type of bonus. While the bonus does not stack with armor, armor still has the benefit of apply to flat-footed. The concept around this is promote a play style where players do not feel the need to wear their armor at ALL times.
"Oh, your wearing your spiked full plate to the bar...really..."
- or - "You are all going on a sea fearing vessel, why are you donning heavy armor." - or - "your tracking through 108 degree dessert in half-plate..."
The bonus is not large, but it does allow characters to feel like they are "defenseless" when their armor gets sundered, or they get arrested and have to break out, or they go to a court ball and need to wear nice clothes.
We call the bonus: Parry bonus to AC.
Heroic Characters
Not Proficient in armor - +1 Parry bonus to AC
Light Armor Proficiency - +2 Parry bonus to AC
Medium Armor Proficiency - +3 Parry bonus to AC
Heavy Armor Proficiency - +4 Parry bonus to AC
At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, all characters receive a +1 Parry bonus to AC (or +5 at 20th level).
If you take the armor proficiency feats or later take levels in a class that grants armor proficiency, your base Parry bonus increases to match. For example, a level 3 wizard then takes 1 level of fighter. His base Parry bonus increases from +1 to +4, and he gains an additional +1 bonus to Parry for reaching 4th level granting him a total of +5 Parry bonus to Defense. If he then chooses to equip a chain shirt, his AC does not increase, but his flat-footed AC does increase by +4.
NPC classes nor monsters get this bonus. NPC's with Heroic levels do. (The difference between a Warrior and a Fighter).
Ideas, suggestions, thoughts.
For a more realistic armor variant, I usually double armor penalties and then have characters gain a 'defense' bonus equal to half BAB as they level. This works rather well up to mid levels, I find...
Edit: And no, the defense bonus doesn't stack with Armor or Shield.
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It is incredibly silly how people are decked out in full plate 24/7. No one ever says they're taking it off so its like they're constantly squeaking around in plate whether they're at the bar, taking a s@%$, climbing a wall etc.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. I also will houserule that while in a town/city or other social situations, all characters wearing armor get a -2 penalty to Diplomacy checks and a +1 Intimidate checks. I grant the same bonus for characters with a weapon visible. The bonus and penalties stack. So if they got their sword and armor on walking through town square, they get a -4 Diplomacy and a +2 Intimadate. I may boost the penalty and bonus if it is a practically scary piece of equipment. I find this too works really well to promote socially acceptable behavior from adventures. Or at least more realistic.
For a more realistic armor variant, I usually double armor penalties and then have characters gain a 'defense' bonus equal to half BAB as they level. This works rather well up to mid levels, I find...
Edit: And no, the defense bonus doesn't stack with Armor or Shield.
Interesting... How do monks work with this? At mid level plays its a +2 at most but curious to see if you've seen how they do with it.
Its something that would work well for E6 play. I like it.
I just play it straight. If you find it causes issues, my advice would be to count the wisdom to AC bonus as armor for this purpose; so they can either add wis mod or the defense bonus. This makes low level to mid level play come out about the same, but lets them scale up a bit better at high levels.