HoF, what party?

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How many monsters in the game really have BAB +52? If it's just the Slayer Knights of Xvim, you could just plan to Blink/Invis when they're around, or Dominate them, or cast Recitation/Prayer/Despair on them. Security requires that you decide who you intend to be secure against, and if you're secure against everyone but the Slayer Knights (and moderately secure against them too) it might be still a fun game with the extra +1 damage, with just a little more hassle in the endgame.

So anyway, does anyone know who can hit AC 70 on a roll of 19?

-Max

 

It's only Slayer Knights that are EXACTLY at +52 BAB, but that's the highest of any monster you meet in numbers. There are some considerably higher, too -- the innocent-looking Olive Slimes in Dragon's Eye weigh in at +70 or so and the manticores in Severed Hand peak at +87 or something stupidly high like that.

Most monsters are below +35 in Prologue, below +40 in Chapter One, below +45 in Chapter Two, Three and Four and below +50 in Chapter Five, although you start seeing some abnormally high ones from Dragon's Eye onwards.

Edit: While a point or two lower AC still lets you tank stuff much better than any sub-60 AC character, keep in mind that you get exponentially increasing returns on your AC as you approach the point where enemies need to roll a natural 20 to hit you. Landing just a point below that sweet spot means you'll take DOUBLE as many hits - 10% instead of 5%.

 

Useful data, Sir Rechet. Thanks.

-Max

P.S. +70 for olive slimes?! That's messed up.
P.P.S. And landing a point HIGHER than 72 means you're immune to critical hits, yes. Which is arguably a bigger benefit than halving the number of hits, because you can manage risk more predictably (i.e. don't have to stay maxed-out on HP all the time).

 

@spmdw45

As far as I know a roll of 20 is always a hit, no matter what, so that might not help. Not sure if it will protect against critical hits though - I thought helmets did that (or is that Baldurs Gate 2?).

 

You need to "hit" with your critical threat roll to actually score a critical. If you AC is high enough, ie. your enemy "needs" to roll 21 or more to hit you, they cannot crit. There is no "auto-hit on 20" feature on the critical threat roll, I've verified this in-game on several occasions.

Edit: I didn't notice the BAB of those olive slimes before since they are usually roasted alive with a simultaneous blast of several fireballs, firestorms and stuff like that before they manage to attack anyone. But this time I decided to gather them in a clump with my tank and soon noticed him eating hits like mad. Yes, they're seriously messed up -- maybe it has to do with their touch-based attack, just as Manticores show the abnormally high value only when using their breath weapon?