Mechanical Questions Questions and Questions

[Manabi]

I have a few very noobish questions that I've been trying to understand for quite some time now, most of it involves AC, saving throws, and skill checks.

First, AC. I've always struggled with this.

I'm trying to understand how AC works completely.
If I understand it right, there are a few types.

Natural Armor: Your natural armor that comes from somewhere. I genuinely don't understand where natural armor comes from. Race and class, I think - but I suppose I need to read up on this some more to see who gets what.
Armor Class: Your armor's base bonus
Deflection Bonus: Some additional bonus that I don't understand but it improves your overall AC (maybe your dex in some way? How does this work?)
Enhancement bonus: Your armor;s enhancement bonus the "+ #"

If I understand everything, magic armor gives +4 to Armor Class. Shield of faith gives some number's deflection bonus, and magical properties of gear gives it to enhancement.

Concerning Stacking. . .

If you have a +3 overall armor bonus, and someone uses Mage Armor on you, your AC will be +4 since it will take the highest AC modifier. The same can be said for deflection boosting spells - Is this correct? As far as Mage Armor AC +4, does this cover all four bonuses, or simply the one from the armor bonus?

Hypothetically, if someone somehow had a +4 deflection bonus, +4 natural bonus, and someone used a +4 mage armor, would they have 12AC?

I suppose all of these questions involve what equals AC.

I get that (10 + armor bonus + shield bonus + Dexterity modifier
+ size modifier = AC) but where does deflection, natural, etc come from? How do they (or don't they) stack?


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The next part, saving throws.

Some spells simply say, "Will/Fort/Reflex Save"

I've always assumed the save from the user's end was something like. . . 1d20+StatMod

A wizard with 16 INT would be. .
1d20+3 = DC

The victim would be 1d20+Save

If that is correct, how do DCs on creatures work?

Is a dragon's breathe/fear DC somehow involve the creature level? Are abilities somehow tied in with a certain stat? (Maybe wisdom for dragon breathe/fear?)

- - -

Skill Checks, just so I can make sure, are always 1d20+skill, right? So, someone with 20 heal using a +1 healkit would be 1d20+20+1. A spot +10 coming near a trap would be 1d20 + 10 vs Trap DC.

Am I right so far on skill checks?

[The Rambling Midget]

There are five types of AC: Armor, Shield, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection.
Of these, the only one that stacks with itself is Dodge. All others take only the highest value.

Armor AC comes from armor, Shield from shields, Dodge from boots and DEX, Natural from amulets, and Deflection from all other types of equipment. (barring special items) Various spells and feats may also contribute to these values, a popular example being Barkskin, which gives +3-5 Natural AC.

Mage Armor gives +1 to Armor, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection AC, so if you have +3 Armor AC, you will get +3 from Mage Armor, because the +1 Armor does not stack with what you're wearing. However, Shield, which gives +4 Deflection, would stack with the +3 Armor AC for a higher end value.

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A Saving Throw is made against a spell or effect's Difficulty Class (DC). The basic formula for spell DCs is 10 + Spell Level + Focus Feat Modifier + Stat Modifier. Caster Level is irrelevant. For example, a Fireball cast by a Wizard with 16 INT and Greater Spell Focus: Evocation would have a DC of 10 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 20. DCs are fixed; saving throws are modified by a d20 roll.

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Your Heal example is correct, however Spot/Listen/Search checks are only made with d20 + Skill when in Detect Mode or when standing still. (or when Elf) While moving, checks are made at 1d10 + Skill/2. (except possibly Search, which was bugged in previous versions)

[Manabi]

TRM, thank you so much for once again clearing some things up for me. The AC thing makes sense. So does everything else!

A hundred Kudos!

[Durvayas]

There are five types of AC: Armor, Shield, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection.
Of these, the only one that stacks with itself is Dodge. All others take only the highest value.

Armor AC comes from armor, Shield from shields, Dodge from boots and DEX, Natural from amulets, and Deflection from all other types of equipment. (barring special items) Various spells and feats may also contribute to these values, a popular example being Barkskin, which gives +3-5 Natural AC.

Mage Armor gives +1 to Armor, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection AC, so if you have +3 Armor AC, you will get +3 from Mage Armor, because the +1 Armor does not stack with what you're wearing. However, Shield, which gives +4 Deflection, would stack with the +3 Armor AC for a higher end value.

Don't forget that crucial +1 AC per 5 natural ranks of tumble!

[Manabi]

There are five types of AC: Armor, Shield, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection.
Of these, the only one that stacks with itself is Dodge. All others take only the highest value.

Armor AC comes from armor, Shield from shields, Dodge from boots and DEX, Natural from amulets, and Deflection from all other types of equipment. (barring special items) Various spells and feats may also contribute to these values, a popular example being Barkskin, which gives +3-5 Natural AC.

Mage Armor gives +1 to Armor, Natural, Dodge, and Deflection AC, so if you have +3 Armor AC, you will get +3 from Mage Armor, because the +1 Armor does not stack with what you're wearing. However, Shield, which gives +4 Deflection, would stack with the +3 Armor AC for a higher end value.

Don't forget that crucial +1 AC per 5 natural ranks of tumble!

Is that natural AC?

[The Rambling Midget]

Tumble gives universally stacking "other AC", which is a can of worms. It counts for Touch Attacks, and is lost when flat-footed.

[Lorkas]

Also DEX AC isn't dodge AC--it's "other AC", like the tumble bonus.

[Manabi]

flat footed is in NWN. . .? Is Touch AC also there?

[The Rambling Midget]

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Flat-foot

Touch AC is just your full AC minus Armor, Shield, and Natural modifiers. Some "other AC" applies, and some does not.

[Manabi]

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Flat-foot

Touch AC is just your full AC minus Armor, Shield, and Natural modifiers. Some "other AC" applies, and some does not.

Wow, I had no idea those applied in NWN at all. I REALLY should have looked into this a long long time ago >_>

A more PnP question - is there an easy way to figure out the CR of a creature? If a level 1 Kobold Fighter has 1/4 CR, what does a level 5 fighter have? I've poured through the DM, Player, and Monster Manual and I can't find an exact equation.

Example, I know that a Svirfneblin has a +3 to ECL, so a level 1 Svirf is treated as a level 4 when it comes to CR, but I'm not sure how to treat a level 4 of (insert class here) when it comes to challenge rating. Certainly there has to be a standard. With monsters, it's very clear and written down - but when it comes to creatures that can take classes (Kobolds, Goblins, etc) it is very vague on the calculation.

I'm specifically looking at 3.5 if that helps at all.

[The Rambling Midget]

I'm not sure what you're trying to figure out. What's the purpose of the question?

[Manabi]

Just a mild curiosity dealing with PnP. It has nothing to do with Arelith so maybe I shouldn't have brought it up.

EXP is given out based on a creature's CR (challenge Rating) I'm unsure of how to find it or how to even calculate it.

EX: A party of 4 with all level 5s (with no ECL modifiers) has an ECL of 5. If they fight an enemy (or group of enemies) with a CR (challenge rating) of 5, that means that the party should only have an average difficulty in dealing with the encounter. A single enemy with a CR of 5 would be a boss fight if it took an average amount of effort for 4 people to bring it down, and it would yield 375exp for someone with an ECL of 5 at that time.

I can't figure out the equation to find a character's CR.

Edit:

It's also used to check loot within a dungeon's chest/creatures/whatever the DM decides if they choose to use this method.

Here is an example. Basically, you take the challenge rating (a level 12 dungeon is the first here) roll a percent die, and then you break it up from there. Item, Art, Gems all have their own percentage. It's terribly time consuming and numbing, but figuring out the CR of enemies is the first step to understanding exactly what a dungeon will give.

[Lord_Phoenyx]

Characters... don't really have a CR. Because you're not supposed to be attacking your allies. An NPC's CR is usually their class levels + racial modifiers. Some races have really high modifiers (I think minotaurs are a +8) and some are lower (fairly certain Drow are +2). What D&D leaves for the DM to factor in are the various allies of the NPC. If you have a 16th level Cleric of Cyric, depending on where your party runs into him, his CR could fluctuate. If he's all spelled up and has used a Summon Monster spell, his effective CR might be 18 or 19. If your party teleports into his bedroom while he's asleep and they wake him up with a dagger to his throat, his effective CR might only be considered an 8. That's the funny thing about PnP. It's variable. (Though, if you took out a Cleric of Cyric while he was sleeping like that, he'd still have all the treasure that being a level 16 character would provide!) I hope that helps...