Armor upgrades - 10% or +1?

[Arnkell]

I'm trying to figure out which armor over/underlay is the best, I'm going up against the Handmaidens soon and would like to have decent piercing-slashing-bludgeoning cover, but I don't know which of the two power levels are best, 10/20/30% against or +1/2/3 against.

 

I mean, 10% of what? The incoming damage? Then what is +1? One measly hit point? That's not a lot of protection.

 

I'm level 8 currently, will the percentage-defense become more efficient than the set +1/2/3-figure eventually?

[metadigital]

10% is on the damage sustained.

+1 is added to each successful hit, and it counts as "unstoppable" damage, cumulative to all other bonuses, so it is pretty good.

[Arnkell]

+1 is added to each successful hit, and it counts as "unstoppable" damage, cumulative to all other bonuses, so it is pretty good.

 

So if I put a Durasteel Underlay Mark I (+1 Vs. Bludg./Pierce./Slash) in my armor, the next guy hitting me gets hit himself with 1 point of unstoppable damage?

How does that protect my health from bludgeoning?

[nightcleaver]

+1 AC vs. Bludg./Pierce./Slash. That lowers the chances of a character hitting you, when their weapon uses any of those weapon types, Bludg./Pierce. or Slash.

 

Let me explain: The basics of the D20 system is that, when a character tries to strike another character with a non-magical attack, they roll a 20-sided dice. Their attack bonus is added to whatever they roll; say their attack bonus is 15, they roll a 17, they get a 32.

 

Now, the defender also rolls a twenty-sided dice, and they add their AC to their defense roll. So, if the defender rolls a 15, and their AC is 20, the defender gets a 35.

 

Whoever gets the higher number wins; in this case, the defender wins by three points.

 

So, let's say you have an AC of 20. You put in that durasteel underlay. Someone shoots at you with a blaster, then your AC is still 20. If someone tries to punch you, or hit you with a vibroblade, your effective AC is 21 against THAT Bludg./Pierce. or Slash attack. This means that you are hit less often; your chances of being harmed by Bludg./Pierce. or Slash attacks are lessened.

 

The ten percent reduction may reduce the damage when you're hit, but it doesn't reduce your chances of being hit, as a higher AC would. If you are hit for ten damage, that damage reduction of ten percent will lower that individual hit to only doing 9 damage to you.

[Arnkell]

Very interesting. Thank you for the thorough presentation, Nightcleaver.

 

Is AC affected by DEX? Because I'm trying out a Guardian-build based on STR so my DEX is 12 and will stay there, would it be foolish to use the "+X vs. bludgeon"-upgrades if I'm not a DEX-guy? Should I stick to the %-ers?

 

(Of course, I may just be able to afford putting one of each into the armor. Hope so.)

[metadigital]

I would recommend doing a search for posts by Darth Frog, who has made numerous, exhaustive posts about the various pros and cons of different builds (Dex, Str, etc).

 

But Dexterity is used up to the limit imposed by the armour being worn (with robes being no limit), so yeah, a high-dex build makes for an agile, hard to hit PC.

 

PS Ignore my comments above, they wree a tad confusing -- even for me when I re-read them just now! Nightcleaver has hit the nail on the head.

[Arnkell]

Thanks. I did manage to get one Ballistic Shielding overlay (15% vs) and an underlay with a similar disposition against bludgeoning (+3), it worked very well.

I took down all five of the handmaidens with 15% health left, using improved force barrier and a mandalorian melee shield. It felt good to not have to "cheat" to win, like pushing the girls off the mat or such.

 

Sarth Frog, you say? I'll look into it, always fun to pick up tricks from others.

[metadigital]

Darth Frog