I'm finally getting around to converting my main character that I've been playing (and morphing) from the D&D Basic set up through 3.5.
I was wondering what the average AC for a 17th level character would be. Just wondering what's hard to hit, easy to hit or impossible to hit. Not just for a wizard or a fighter. I'm just wondering about monsters (or NPC bad guys) ability to hit things at that level.
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Here's a resource that gives you an idea of some target numbers for each level. There's a larger article on how these numbers were arrived upon here if you're curious.
Blue is amazing, green is good, orange is passable. So for level 17 you want around 35 AC to be in the good range.
By 17th level you will absolutely need some non-AC defences; there's a lot of variance in attack values by that point and some of the higher values would be very hard to get enough AC to beat (for CR 17 they're up to +38 according to this). Many will be vs. touch AC too.
35 AC would be enough to mitigate some damage, but you'd want 40+ to have a serious chance of a monster missing you entirely.
Thanks. My character has a 28 without any spells or combat expertise. I might be able to get up there. LOL
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By 17th level you will absolutely need some non-AC defences.
I'll go a step farther and say by 17th level you may no longer need AC defenses. I played a 16th-level life oracle and I think she had AC 14. At that level, unless you heavily invest in AC, virtually everything is going to hit you anyway, so saying "why bother?" and focusing on non-AC defenses is a perfectly viable option. (In case you're wondering, the only time she died was to a greater banshee's wail.) Obviously this probably isn't a smart strategy for melee characters, but for full casters it can work just fine.
By 17th level you will absolutely need some non-AC defences.I'll go a step farther and say by 17th level you may no longer need AC defenses. I played a 16th-level life oracle and I think she had AC 14. At that level, unless you heavily invest in AC, virtually everything is going to hit you anyway, so saying "why bother?" and focusing on non-AC defenses is a perfectly viable option. (In case you're wondering, the only time she died was to a greater banshee's wail.) Obviously this probably isn't a smart strategy for melee characters, but for full casters it can work just fine.
Well, the logic is that usually, you are not aiming to avoid a full BAB attack, and you are just hoping to avoid the second and third iteratives. That would be enough to get rid of a good portion of a creature's damage.
Yes. That doesn't work to well against natural attacks from things like dragons, which all hit at full BAB.
Agreed with all above. At this level, your AC comes a distant third in relation to your survivability compared to your saving throws and maximum hit points. When your ally can simply tag you with a Heal spell for 150 hit points using a Reach metamagic rod, you don't even really care about a full attack from a dragon eating your face off.
By 17th level you will absolutely need some non-AC defences.I'll go a step farther and say by 17th level you may no longer need AC defenses. I played a 16th-level life oracle and I think she had AC 14. At that level, unless you heavily invest in AC, virtually everything is going to hit you anyway, so saying "why bother?" and focusing on non-AC defenses is a perfectly viable option. (In case you're wondering, the only time she died was to a greater banshee's wail.) Obviously this probably isn't a smart strategy for melee characters, but for full casters it can work just fine.
There are plenty of encounters where the difference between a 45 AC and 14 AC is the difference between coming out the fight uninjured and being one-rounded.
The dragon in book 5 of the AP (level 15) my group was fighting tore into the barbarian for over 200 points of damage in one round. Anyone else in the group would have been dead, including the fighter and monk.
Fortunately, both the fighter and monk had a 40+ AC. Neither took significant damage when the dragon focused on them (after the barbarian retreated).
That's a nifty resource.
In my experience, characters at 17+ should have at least a 30 AC to avoid getting hit by iterative attacks. Most primary attacks will still hit you but you can duck the iterative.
Then you get to level 20 and certain builds can have over 60 AC and don't get hit by anything.