Touch and flat-footed

[bwerntz]

Hello again PFS,

Since everyone was so helpful with my first question today i figured why not ask another.

Once again i ask if anyone can point me in the right direction to figure out my characters touch and flat-footed. i have looked at a few things but have not found what i am looking for.

This message board is always so nice and helpful no matter how noob-ish my questions are and i thank you all for that.

Sincerely,
bwerntz

[Charon's Little Helper]

You should be able to find it in the rulebook index :P - but if you're feeling lazy :

Touch AC - is generally your AC minus your armor and/or shield bonuses (including natural armor)

Flatfooted AC - is generally your AC minus dexterity bonuses

There are exceptions and outliers - such as feats which allow your shield to be used for touch AC, and odd AC bonuses which don't apply to one or the other and are mentioned in their own rules.

[bwerntz]

i have been known to be lazy ;) but ty for your help ive been reading pathfinder stuff for about 8 hr now so i took a short cut with this question.

[Worldbuilder]

Heh, usually people are nice, though I do see people trolling and flaming the boards sometimes.

Touch: When you are the target of a touch attack, your AC doesn't include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) apply normally.

Flat Footed: You loose your Dex & Dodge bonuses to AC. You also can't make AOO's without combat reflexes.

[Jiggy]

bwerntz wrote:

Hello again PFS,

Since everyone was so helpful with my first question today i figured why not ask another.

Once again i ask if anyone can point me in the right direction to figure out my characters touch and flat-footed. i have looked at a few things but have not found what i am looking for.

This message board is always so nice and helpful no matter how noob-ish my questions are and i thank you all for that.

Sincerely,
bwerntz

First, I'd like to point out that for general questions about the rules of the Pathfinder system, you're better off posting HERE. This forum is supposed to be for things relating specifically to Organized Play. But there are a lot of forums here, so I can certainly sympathize with not being sure where to post. :)

As for your question, the answer is in the Combat chapter, under Armor Class.

First, your general armor class uses this formula:

Core Rulebook: Combat chapter: Armor Class wrote:

10 + armor bonus + shield bonus + Dexterity modifier + other modifiers

Start there.

For your "touch AC" (as it's commonly called), you start with your armor class and then...

Core Rulebook: Combat chapter: Armor Class: Touch Attacks wrote:

When you are the target of a touch attack, your AC doesn't include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) apply normally.

So take your normal AC, remove your armor, shield and natural armor, and you've got the number for the "Touch" box on your character sheet.

Flat-footed is slightly less straightforward to find. Keep your finger on the AC section I've been referencing, and then look in the glossary definition of "Flat-footed":

Flat-footed wrote:

A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.

So being flat-footed costs you your DEX bonus to AC. So for the "flat-footed" box on your character sheet, you take the AC you figured up to start with, and remove your DEX bonus. Note that you only lose a "bonus", not your DEX "modifier". If you have less than 10 DEX (giving you a penalty to your AC), you keep that penalty. Also note that some bonuses to AC (primarily "dodge" bonuses) also go away when you lose your DEX bonus. They'll usually say so in the text of the ability/item giving you the bonus in the first place, though.

Hope all that helps!

[bwerntz]

ok thank you for the info and the link. i was unaware of which board to post on but no longer thank you very much

[Lincoln Hills]

To summarize the most common types (there are some AC bonuses so rare that you can take the time to look them up if they happen to come up:)

AC: 10 + (armor) + (shield) + (deflection) + (natural armor) + (DEX bonus or penalty) + (size) + (dodge)

Touch AC: 10 + (deflection) + (DEX bonus or penalty) + (size) + (dodge)

Flat-footed AC: 10 + (armor) + (shield) + (deflection) + (natural armor) + (DEX penalty if any) + (size)

The rare touch attack while the character is flat-footed: 10 + (deflection) + (DEX penalty if any) + (size)

(Edited to reflect Jiggy's corrections below)

[Jiggy]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

To summarize the most common types (there are some AC bonuses so rare that you can take the time to look them up if they happen to come up:)

AC: 10 + (armor) + (shield) + (enhancement) + (deflection) + (natural armor) + (DEX bonus) + (size) + (dodge)

"Enhancement" is a bonus type, but not a bonus to AC. If it were, then a +1 shield and +1 armor would not [fully] stack. Rather, enchanted armor and shields receive an enhancement bonus to their armor or shield bonus. For instance, a +1 heavy shield grants you a +3 shield bonus to AC, not a +2 shield bonus and a +1 enhancement bonus.

Also note that a DEX penalty, not just bonus, applies to your AC.