Tower Shield Working Right?



  • While I think I must do more testing, I do remember seeing the taunted symbol in the upper right corner, so that may be why the pigs hit me on an 18. (Ghosts can taunt?)

    I was in combat with an echo while the pig hit me twice in a row with an adjusted roll of 18. Flanking bonus of +2 shows up in my log. My AC was 23, which taunt allows up to -6, correct?


    AubreyMaturin



  • @19b78569bb=AubreyMaturin:

    I wasn't concerned with getting hit on a roll of 20. That happens all the time. But twice in a row I got hit on a roll of 14+4, when my base AC was 19 and I was actively fighting with the tower shield. The stupid pig did 6 damage with each hit too. It was kind of deflating for the first time I tried using a Tower Shield.


    AubreyMaturin

    Character: Romulus Grey

    Those pigs have, one on one, only +2 AB. +4 meant flanking. You were fighting two pigs and flatfooted until you engaged. There's your problem.

    Don't try to be stealthy holding a big wall of metal.



  • 1/20. Happens more often than you'd think. Also, take the probability of a successful hit by a given foe and multiply it by the probability of a critical threat (which you can guess based on the weapon) and you have the probability of a crit, with one exception. If they their AB + 20 will not normally hit you, but the auto 20 does, then they cannot crit you.

    For example, let's say they can hit you on a 19 but no lower. Now assume their weapon has an unmodified Critical Threat range, nor keen nor Improved Critical. This monster will have a 1/10 chance of hitting you, and a 1/200 chance of hitting you with a crit.

    Similarly, AB can be increased without a spell. They'll get a +2 for flanking, your AC can be reduced by up to -6 by a taunt, and if you go flat footed (like, to drink a potion, run, cast a spell, or activate certain abilities), you'll lose Dexterity's bonus and all Dodge bonuses, but only the Taunt will register on anything you can read.



  • Could you have been taunted?



  • I wasn't concerned with getting hit on a roll of 20. That happens all the time. But twice in a row I got hit on a roll of 14+4, when my base AC was 19 and I was actively fighting with the tower shield. The stupid pig did 6 damage with each hit too. It was kind of deflating for the first time I tried using a Tower Shield.


    AubreyMaturin

    Character: Romulus Grey



  • Also a thing to remember. It doesn't matter how high your AC is, things will always hit you on a 20. Take it from someone that has a decent meatsheild, they always tend to roll them 😛



  • Ah, thanks for that clarification.

    And Aubs, the basic story is, no matter how well made your giant wall of dense metal is, it's still pretty damn hard to sneak around with.



  • Uncanny Dodge 1 works as stated.

    "The character retains his Dex bonus to AC, even if caught flat-footed or attacked by a hidden or invisible creature."

    People just tend to think that it means you keep Dodge AC when flat footed becuase of the name. The description of the feat says Dex bonus, and that's all it does.

    http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Uncanny_dodge

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



  • @87ea6ff5de=Dorakhan:

    @87ea6ff5de=Fraoch:

    @87ea6ff5de=AubreyMaturin:

    Nothing spotted me right away, but while standing still, a ghost pig suddenly took a run at me and started attacking.

    When you are not actively engaged in combat, you lose all your dodge ac. This includes ac from boots, tumble, and bard song. The reduction doesn't show on your sheet, but is applied.

    And your dex bonus AC without the uncanny dodge feat.

    Not that that works as stated either, from what all the level 2 barbarians tell me.

    AubreyMaturin, it sounds like you successfully hid despite the penalties, and then another interval passed in which you did not remain hidden from them. Remember, Hiding's a continuous comparison of your hide check and their spot check, and that is checks, not ranks. Therefore, to successfully hide 100% of the time from anything with 0 ranks in spot and and a 10 Wisdom, you need enough bonus to beat them even if they roll a 20 on the spot check, which means at least a hide of that and one more.



  • @68a0d9e3f9=Fraoch:

    @68a0d9e3f9=AubreyMaturin:

    Nothing spotted me right away, but while standing still, a ghost pig suddenly took a run at me and started attacking.

    When you are not actively engaged in combat, you lose all your dodge ac. This includes ac from boots, tumble, and bard song. The reduction doesn't show on your sheet, but is applied.

    And your dex bonus AC without the uncanny dodge feat.



  • @d78b5b7c9c=AubreyMaturin:

    Nothing spotted me right away, but while standing still, a ghost pig suddenly took a run at me and started attacking.

    When you are not actively engaged in combat, you lose all your dodge ac. This includes ac from boots, tumble, and bard song. The reduction doesn't show on your sheet, but is applied.



  • The base tower shield item provides +3 AC when equipped, but also an armor check penalty of -10. This penalty applies to most dex base skills, including hide, move silently, and tumble. The +1 bonus on the shield you bought offsets this penalty, so the effective penalty is -9.