Hi all,
I doubt that this could be implemented in PF 2e, but it's something I have often been thinking about.
I find rather strange that an attacker has the same chance of hitting a living god of war (lvl 20 Fighter) and a lowly commoner wearing the same equipment, barring the little difference that Dexterity and feats like Dodge may bring.
I think that the first defense against melee attacks is the skill of the combatant: dodging, parrying, blocking with a shield; armor is a second line of defense that works when you didn't avoid that swing in the first place.
Fighting a much better swordsman than you should mean that you can't land any blow at all, whether he is wearing a full plate or no armor: he won't offer you any opening in his defense, and your attemps at hitting him will probably open you to an easy counterattack instead (and that fail-by-10=fumble rule is perfect in this sense).
My suggestion is: AC should go up along with your fighting skill (BaB, or however it will be called). How much? I guess +1 every two points of attack, roughly.
This would help a lot with touch AC, too.
I wouldn't even make ranged attacks an exception, because a skilled combatant will probably make aiming at him more difficult and can still block better if he has a shield, and why not, even deflect the projectile with his weapon.
Being flat-footed (=flanked) would negate this AC bonus, instead: if you are not aware, you can't actively defend yourself. This is huge, but it makes sense to me that a Rogue surprising said super-skilled Fighter has a much higher chance of succesfully backstabbing him.
What do you think?
Not much, but I know what it is about.
It does a similar thing, but it's been thought to address another need (abolish the need for the big six) and we don't really know how relevant it will be in the next edition.
I could want to wear a magical armor AND get more skillful at avoiding attacks.
We have seen one form of active defense - raising your shield - and there have been hints at other forms, probably linked to specific feats, allowing the reaction action to be used for dodging, parrying or similar things.
This would be great, since the more wounded a PC is, the more he'll feel encouraged to use defensive actions alongside his main attack action.
I'm sure we'll know more soon.
Um, your dex bonus is your active defense (and anything that adds to dodge.. like that silly feat that totally needs to add moar than one point omg~).
Also .. it couldn't be the same bonus to touch attacks as to regular attacks. You can't block or parry a touch attack. If you're hit by it at all, you get zapped. Only defense is to duck it or hop out of the way or something like that.
That being said, I think it would be nice for a fighter to have additional small free dodge bonus, as well as a block/parry bonus (which would stack with the dodge bonus against regular attacks, but not touch attacks).
I say small because it sounds like they might be going for a system where all people have a reasonable chance to hit in an appropriate encounter, and stacking up huge numbers won't be necessary anymore.