So I've been playing PFS for a couple of years now, and I've seen where AC is utter garbage at some levels, and where it is heavily impressive.
But there's no good 'feel' for what AC a melee/frontliner should be aiming for at given levels, and the math, frankly, is making my brain hurt.
Without going into the math of it, is there a listing of what a good AC is for such for Levels 1-11, without insanely convoluted mechanics/applications?
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The benchmark I've seen around the forums a lot is that 15 + level is reasonable AC, and 20 + level is what you should aim for if you're really focusing on AC. Here's a previous thread on the subject. This pretty much applies to all levels, not just PFS. I don't have enough experience playing at various levels to be sure how accurate that is at higher levels, but I'd say it's a pretty good guideline for PFS.
In my Rise of the Runelords group, I've got a pair of front liners (paladin and cavalier) who really wanted to focus on being unhittable. They've got tons of AC equipment, the Shield Wall teamwork feat, etc. At level 15, their ACs are in the low 40s before temporary bonuses from smiting, etc. As the GM, it's frustrating, because I really never hit with any of the monsters, so I feel like I'm not giving them any challenge in fights half the time. Even at that level, the toughest melee enemies are only at somewhere around +22 or +23 to hit, so I need nat 20s to ever hit those two.
I suspect more recent APs might have enemies with more advantages, but in the mean time, I just focus on those two with touch attacks or spells, and try to have the melee beasts go after other party members when it makes sense. But I don't metagame it, so the enemies will start with trying to hit those front liners until they realize how tough it is.
Thank you for the feedback so far, that's important to know.
Part of the issue for PFS is different enemy types. Having 15+level aka 23 AC at lv8, is great when fighting humanoids. They attack like +16/+11 so 1st is like 30% likely to miss and 2nd like 60% that's some good damage negation. But when that 23 goes up against some monster enemies, those that use natural attacks at like +19/+19 meaning both attacks are pretty likely to hit, it kinda feels like AC doesn't matter. I know my paladin has come up against stuff that uses natural attacks and needed a 3 to hit me, and my AC was slightly ahead of 15+lv.
So having decent AC (15+level) will sometimes feel good and sometimes feel useless depending on how accurate the enemy is which is usually a factor of, are the humanoids or big monster with str and natural attacks.
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If you want to start making dragons miss in the higher tiers you need 40+ AC. An example very old Underworld Dragon has high attacks of +30 meaning you need 50 AC before they need a nat 20.I know there is something with at least +32 in normal tiers.
So if your 'thing' is AC I would recommend at least 40+ by level 10.
I think many characters attempting such ACs will want to include celestial armor. If you have the stats for it it provides 17 AC alone.
You will need some class features or feats to supplement it further of course.
As for item upgrades it depends on your character but don't forget you can do upgrades as you go. Celestial can start as chainmail, work your way up to +3, and then upgrade into the named item.
Ring of Protection is good if your class doesn't provide deflection bonuses and you don't have Protection spells.
Amulet of Natural Armor is decent.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Step 1: Decide what you want your enemies to need to roll to hit you. Maybe for one character you're okay with most enemies hitting on a 7, maybe with another character you want a 14 to miss. It'll depend on the character, but pick a number.
Step 2: This chart in the Bestiary shows ballpark monster attack bonuses by CR. Reference the "High Attack" column, since it represents what'll be used for the most attack rolls. For any given level, reference the attack bonus for that CR, and add it to the number you picked in Step 1. The result is your target AC for that level.
You're done! :)
Example
Suppose you're making a switch-hitter who will spend some, but not all, of their time in the front lines. Perhaps you decide that for this character you're okay with a 9 hitting you, meaning your AC will negate attacks that roll 1-8, or 40% of attacks.
Perhaps you're not really shopping for AC-related magic items until around 5th level, so you start by referencing the CR 5 row's High Attack entry, which is a 10. Since you picked 9 as the die roll you're okay with being the minimum to hit you, you add the 10 and the 9 for a target AC of 19. So when you're managing your gear, you can try to plan for having AC 19 by 5th level.
Perhaps you then wish to look ahead a bit (which is a good idea in Pathfinder) and want to set yourself a benchmark for 10th level. The High Attack for CR 10 is 18. You again add this number to your target die roll, which gives you 18+9=27. Thus, your switch-hitting character wants an AC of 27 by the time they reach 10th level. Repeat this process for any level you want to check.
Alternative
It's a bit more work, but you can alter Step 2 by referencing not the Monster Creation chart, but actual monsters' stat blocks. That is, you can reference the index of "Monsters by CR", look for likely opponents, and check their primary attack bonuses. Look at a few, get an idea of the ballpark of their attack bonuses, and use that number instead of the number from the chart, adding it to your target die roll to get your target AC.
