Monster Creation 101

Class Eight - Armor Class.

Or as we say in this country - Armour Class. (Sorry, my englishness coming out there!)

This section can get quite complicated and I may jump around a bit so bare with me. Feel free to comment if you think something isn't easy to understand.

Big Pile of Armor

The first thing to note is that there are many different 'types' of armor. Each type of armor provides an Armor Class bonus (or AC for short). When calculating someones AC these different types do not add together (or stack). For example you cannot wear two types of normal armor, and add the ACs together. Only one would apply. (Yes, this is a stupid example but it makes the point). The table below gives some different types of protection and their bonus 'type'

*Shields are the special case to the rule - its bonus does stack with normal armor.

Armor Class, Touchy touchy!

First off, there are a number of different Armor Classes (or AC for short) you will need to work out. The standard stat block from the new 3.5 revision seems to include all three, which should be helpful to most.

Some types of attacks bypass different types of AC, hence the different calculations. Your Touch AC bypasses all 'Armor' and 'Cover' types, taking only dexterity and deflection into account. Flat-footed AC ignores your dexterity AC bonus (and also some others if specified, such as that from the Dodge feat) so only takes your Armor AC bonuses into account.

Things to consider!

You should obvisouly consider whether your creature actually wears normals armor (such as a humanoid character) or has it got extra tough skin which gives it natural armor bonuses. Types of natural armour are listed in HTCM with suggested AC bonuses. Finally don't forget the size bonus (or penalty) to AC - the bugger something is the easier it is to hit.

Back to basics

For starters your base AC is 10. For your 'normal' AC then add on all the bonuses, dexterity, natural and manufactured armor etc. For Touch AC subtract all 'armor' bonuses from the normal AC and for Flat-Footed AC subtract the dexterity bonus.

Why won't I be able to hit the giant rabbit with my sword?

I've no idea, just something Krishnath wrote in his list of sub-title suggestions - he never did explain it!

Example 1: Our ooze has no natural armour, and a dexterity modifier of +0. Its size gives it a +1 to the final AC of 11. Its Touch and Flat-footed ACs are therefore both 11 as well.

 

Example 2: Our big fella slightly tougher skin than a human, giving it a +1 natural armour. Its high dexterity means it gets a +6. Its large size gives it a -2 AC penalty. Finally we'll give it some leather armor for another +2 armor bonus (anything better than leather would have meant reducing its dexterity modifier, as leather armor has a max dexterity modifier of +6).
Its final AC is there +7. Flat-footed AC goes down by 6 (no Dex) to +1, and Touch AC goes down by 3 (no Armor) to +4.

 

 

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