In a game I DM'd recently (AD&D 3E), I did away with AC and split defensive scores into two categories:
Evasion/Deflection: Affected the character's ability to avoid being hit altogether, opposed by adversary's attack roll. Heavier armors severely reduced this ability. Lightly armored characters we also able to react more quickly and roll with attacks, reducing the chance of critical hits.
Absorption/Reduction: Affected the character's ability to shrug off damage, opposed by adversary's damage roll. Heavier armors were more effective at reducing the damage taken.
There were some associated skills as well, but what it boiled down to was creating two combat phases for every attack, and involving the defensive player more. For each attack, phase 1 was the to-hit roll checked against an attempted counter-roll, using the defender's evasion score. If the attack hit, the damage roll would be countered by a reduction roll (essentially the efective damage reduction was the % difference between the rolls).
It ended up balancing out pretty well... lightly armored characters were able to do a better job of not getting hit, while heavily armored characters were able to take boatloads of damage. Sort of an unintended but happy side effect was that medium armor became the preferred happy-medium instead of the bastard middle-child nobody likes.
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Update #29: Fulfillment and the Pros and Cons of Nostalgia and Realism
in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
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In a game I DM'd recently (AD&D 3E), I did away with AC and split defensive scores into two categories:
Evasion/Deflection: Affected the character's ability to avoid being hit altogether, opposed by adversary's attack roll. Heavier armors severely reduced this ability. Lightly armored characters we also able to react more quickly and roll with attacks, reducing the chance of critical hits.
Absorption/Reduction: Affected the character's ability to shrug off damage, opposed by adversary's damage roll. Heavier armors were more effective at reducing the damage taken.
There were some associated skills as well, but what it boiled down to was creating two combat phases for every attack, and involving the defensive player more. For each attack, phase 1 was the to-hit roll checked against an attempted counter-roll, using the defender's evasion score. If the attack hit, the damage roll would be countered by a reduction roll (essentially the efective damage reduction was the % difference between the rolls).
It ended up balancing out pretty well... lightly armored characters were able to do a better job of not getting hit, while heavily armored characters were able to take boatloads of damage. Sort of an unintended but happy side effect was that medium armor became the preferred happy-medium instead of the bastard middle-child nobody likes.