Beefy AC...how?

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Ok, for all the powergamers and experts, how do you make a really chunky AC? I can't get over about 25 for fighters and the best I ever got was a monk with about 35. How do you guys do it?

Come on spills the beans and give us you tips and tricks. BTW maybe you should make a file and send it to SP!

Thanks in advance.

 

I am in Dragons Eye now and have two tanks with 31 and 26 AC. There arent many goodarmours in this game, atleast not in non-hof mode, I even think there were more good ones in BG1. What you need to do is to really calculate all difference bonuses for your tanks, give them 13 dex so they get one dex ac which works with most armours and making them able to get the dodge feat. The 31AC dude is only possibly due to those bracers you get after freeing the genie in the bottle you buy from the drow in the wandering village. Those are wicked. +5 generic ac bonus or something.

 

OK, analyze AC:

AC is made up of several componenets:
1) Base AC = 10 for all characters, except monks who get +1 AC every 5 levels
2) Armor AC = depends on Armor and/or Bracers worn, but spells like Mage Armor (+5) and Shield (+7) give Armor bonus
3) Deflection AC = comes from ring of protection +1/+2/+3, Cloak of Protection +1/+2/+3, some bows and weapons called "xxx of Defence" give +1 or more (a dagger gives +3), and a spell Ghost Armor, gives +5. Defensive Harmony (+4) and Protect from Evil (+2) also.
4) Shield AC = comes only from shields (AFAIK).
5) Dexterity AC = the dex bonus, capped by any armor you're wearing. Cat's Grance is the key (with a high base Dex too) - if not anything giving a dex bonus is good.
6) Generic AC = from Haste and Mass Haste (+4), a funky pair of Bracers (Brazen Bands) gives another +5. A bandana called "Swing of the Masts" gives +1 Generic AC too, but only Rogues can wear it. The Dodge feat also gives a +1 Generic AC bonus.
7) Expertise = can give upto +5, but only whith a melée weapon in hand.
8) Wisdom = special Monk-only bonus

Note that AC bonuses of the same category do not stack, except for the "Generic" category.
So if you're wearing armor with Armor AC +6 and Bracers with Armor AC +3, your Armor AC component will only be +6, the highest in that category.
But for Generic AC, they do stack. So Brazen Bands and Haste stack to give +9 total.

In the beginning when you don't have rings, you can give everyone +2 Deflection AC easily with the Magic Circle against Evil spell. If you have Defensive Harmony, they'll even get +4, but only for 5 rounds or so.

There are several Shield Amulets, and a Shield Ring that can be used by everybody, giving +7 Armor AC. Although the Shield spell lasts for 5 rounds/level, I noted that the Amulets last for 5 rounds only, but that's not too bad as there have 50 charges so you can use them several times if needed per day. (You can also recharge any amulet or wand by selling it and then buying it back).
There's also a Mage Armor Ring which anyone can use, giving +5 Armor AC for 1 hr. (The Mage Armor spell lasts 1hr/level).

It's difficult to maximize AC for everyone, but maximizing AC for one or perhaps 2 people is not difficult.

Take the example of my Sorceress.

1) Base AC = 10
2) Armor AC = 7 (from the Shield spell she has)
3) Deflection AC = 5 (from Ghost Armor spell, which can be targeted at anyone)
4) Shield AC = 2 (a Small Shield with just 5% Arcane spell failure. She also has Armored Arcana feat level 1 which cancels out the penalty).
5) Generic AC = 9 (5 from Brazen Bands, and 4 from Haste or Mass Haste)
6) Expertise feat = 5
7) Dexterity AC = 5 (with help from Cat's Grace)

Total = 43 AC
Adding Stoneskin also helps.

Notice that her total Armor + Dex AC is 12. Which is what a fighter would get from wearing the best armor in the game. So a fighter carrying a +4 shield (the best) would be able to reach 45 AC.

I can see how someone who is looking to maximize AC can reach the highest possible AC with a Monk at level 30, but that seems a bit improbable:

A monk gets +1 AC every 5 levels, so at level 30 he'd have +6 (counted as Generic AC). If he were to use all his 20 starting ability points plus the 7 points he gets every 4 levels to level 30, in Dex and Wis, he's have 27 points. Using the +5 Dex shoes from Severed Hand, and the +5 Wis ring would bring his total Wis+Dex extra ability points to 37. That's +18 in Dex+Wis AC bonuses. So total 18+6 = 24 AC. Add to this the AC from the example I gave: 43-5(Dex) = 38, gives 38+24 = 62 AC !!. Not bad. Tough Monk.

[ November 17, 2002, 08:18: Message edited by: Quint ]

 

Wow, Quint, how's anybody suppose to hit that monk..... And with his resistances hmz....

 

Look here

If you advance the monk to level 20 and make a lvl 1 Cleric mix-in, you can put the AC to 70.

 

Nice svirf, Modjahed. Did you actually play him? If so, could anyone touch him?

BTW, you seem to be one of the few on this forum who's interested in calculating stuff. Would you care to beta test my weapon Damage excel table, see if I didn't make any blunders before I release it? (You're familiar with spreadsheet formulas?)

@AlexGK:
>Wow, Quint, how's anybody suppose to hit that monk..... And with his resistances hmz....

High resistance, yes, especially if you make the monk a Drow. By level 10 or so, no spells will ever touch him (Spell Resistance 42+). At level 30 his resistance would be 82! True Mage/Cleric killer!

[ November 17, 2002, 17:41: Message edited by: Quint ]

 

how did that spell resistance ever get that high??

 

Why cleric mix in makes him 70 AC?
And drow monk gets up to 28 lvl

 

Drow get 11 + 1/Level spell resistance.
Monk gets 11 + 1/Level additional.

AlexGK:
Is the level 30 limit based on real level or effective level? (I haven't got that far yet, although I suppose one could cheat to answer this question.)

 

Don't think there is a table for 32 level of experience in the game.
Still thinkin on the 70 AC....
what's the highest "to hit" you guys had?
Or this must be new topic....

 

@Quint:

1. To wear the +5 wis ring you have to be able to cast divine magic - so no lvl 30 monk

2. I don't think that I will be testing your damage table - there are other more interesting things to do - and I am VERY limited in time.

3. Yes, I have played the Normal Mode monk I have described, and my HoF monk svirf is at Character Level 17 at the moment (started from lvl 1).

4. Yes, that svirf is touched pretty often in HoF: if you are attacked by 5 Orcs that each has 3 attacks per round, then they are dealing 15 attacks per round, meaning that they have a 3/4 chance to roll a 20. They do not make Crits, but the damage still goes through. In order to avoid this, I use all kind on concealment spells: Blink, Improved Invis, Blur. This gives all enemies 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.8 = 0.2 chance ONLY to hit my monk (provided they do not have a Blind Fight Feat)

By the way, the minimum Attack Bonus in HoF is +29 for a GOblin, the Max I saw is +51 from Sherincal (Iron Golems prolly have as much)

@AlexGK:

My highest To Hit bonus was:

-> To Hit: +32/+27/+22/+17/+12 (+5 if no Power Attack)
-> 5 attacks per round
-> 39-47 damage range (-5 if no Power Attack)
-> 12-20 critical hit threat range
-> x3 critical.

You do not need that high to hit, however, because the AC of monsters in HoF is rather low.