Defense

[Scarlet]

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I noticed my defense never goes higher than 19 points from my base. Is there a limit? The stuff I equipped my character was supposed to increase it 24 points, but it always gets stuck at 19. Is this a rule or just another bug?

[Ohma]

The armor you're wearing could restrict your dexterity bonus, thereby reducing your base defence.

[Scarlet]

That makes sense but it is not the cause. The armor gives me exactly the dexterity bonus I have. I tried removing and equipping all the items that added defense in different order and they kept adding - up to 19 points total. It's not the "stacking" effect either.

[Cona05]

i heard there was somewhere...which is why some of the defense boosting powers dont give you the bonus' sometimes

[Dragonforce]

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I noticed my defense never goes higher than 19 points from my base. Is there a limit? The stuff I equipped my character was supposed to increase it 24 points, but it always gets stuck at 19. Is this a rule or just another bug? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

seriously who cares about defense, you're gonna be hit no matter what, the best strategy is to kill them before they kill you

[Scarlet]

seriously who cares about defense

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seriously, I do. :cool:

 

you're gonna be hit no matter what

No, you are not, if your defense is good enough. I don't know how familiar you are with RPG games, but not to worry about defense seems a rather suicidal trait to me. When I managed to raise my defense (and that of my party) to the maximum 19 points mentioned above we very rarely got hit.

 

the best strategy is to kill them before they kill you

An interesting theory, it's too bad it doesn't work. The game works on the round-based D20 system. You are unlucky on the die roll on your turn and the opponent is lucky on his, he deals a lot of damage before you can scratch him.

[Lord Tarondor]

Consular with 20+ Dexterity and Wisdom and on Difficulty = game owned. And Light Side too. Throw some Charisma in and what-not and by the end of the game I had probably amassed 200,000+ Credits in one way or another -- I had about 50,000 left over and each teamate decked out in ridiculously over-powered junk.

 

I duck everything and with BBR I was owning people with their own crap throughout the game. It is a strategy; stop being cookie-cutter in a game that yields little possibilities as it is. Not everyone has to have 20 strength or amazing powers. Hell, I did Consular (Jedi Master) with Security, Repair, and Computer, Light Side Mastery, and Force Wave that yielded nothing save dead bodies. I had Atton Rand and Disciple converted by my second planet and let them deal with up-front battle, not that they could ever get close to them since they were dead before they got within 5 meters of em.

 

To the post starter: I don't know what the issue is but all I can think of is Max Dexterity on your armor being restricted to +5 or something -- otherwise its just another error on an error-ridden game.

[Darth Frog]

seriously who cares about defense, you're gonna be hit no matter what, the best strategy is to kill them before they kill you

 

Wrong. A DEX/WIS build with Battle Precognition (males only) can have defense in the 50s/60s; even bosses have trouble scratching such a build and all others hit only on a roll of 20.

 

I, too, prefer damage-oriented builds with negligible defense because the fact that the enemy can actually kill you makes the game more interesting. But this does not mean that turtle builds aren't viable.

 

As regards the mysterious limit: AC boni of the same kind don't stack. If you have two items that grant a bonus to, say, your AC dodge modifier then the higher of the two boni will be effective and you might as well replace the other item with something useful. This is one of the basic d20 rules. In KotOR/TSL such details are often glossed over or even ignored, but the engine comes from NWN and so it may obey more rules under the hood than is apparent on the surface (especially the inadequate documentation and incomplete/erroneous item/power/feat descriptions). Another d20 rule limits attribute boni to a maximum of +12 beyond your natural attributes; if this rule has been incompletely purged from the game engine then it may cause strange effects.

[Darth Frog]

Hell, I did Consular (Jedi Master) with Security, Repair, and Computer, Light Side Mastery, and Force Wave that yielded nothing save dead bodies. I had Atton Rand and Disciple converted by my second planet and let them deal with up-front battle, not that they could ever get close to them since they were dead before they got within 5 meters of em.

 

LOL, poor example. Consulars/Jedi Masters are supposed to be good with Force powers, so what's your point? Or did you want to highlight the fact that Consulars/Jedi Masters cannot fend for themselves until late in the game?

 

If offer a Guardian/Weapon Master with 16 natural INT, 18 natural WIS and Security/Repair/Computer as class skills via the three cross-class feats; she, too, used the Force to clear away groups of more than two enemies, simply because using melee requires one combat round per enemy instead of two per room. She was an LS Master, too, but she used Force Storm instead of Wave anyway. The alignment penalty on FP cost doesn't matter if you have FP coming out your ears.

 

The atypically (for a Guardian) high intelligence and wisdom did not compromise her primary capabilities in any way. She did about 500 melee damage per round (52-93 main hand) and no other melee build could drop bosses in fewer rounds except perhaps for an extreme Guardian/Marauder build who might be able kill Traya in two rounds instead of three (or a critical build with lucky dice rolls).