HoF" What's the best AC I can achieve?

[Klorox]

Aerich, I know you've gone through the game... what's the best AC I can hope for?

Is it good enough to be similar to a decoy (AC 72) IWD2 type character, or do I need to rely on summons & resistances. If so, how do I boost up resistances?

[Aerich]

You can get a great AC. However, you can't get it with everyone, as AC is so item-dependent in IWD/HoW. If you get around -25 or -30 AC with your tank, that's good enough against about 90% of monsters. Certain monsters appear able to hit you no matter how good the AC - Tarnished Sentries, Ice Golems, and Spectral Guards come to mind.

An attainable "base" AC with your tank should be in the range of -15 to -20 by the mid-game. An exceptional AC (-30 or better) is attainable only through heavy use of short-duration spells (e.g. Defensive Harmony, Draw Upon Holy Might, Entropy Shield, etc). Also don't forget that Curse, Prayer, Recitation, Malison, etc do not add to your AC, but do affect your enemies' attack rolls.

Ideally, you should rely on all three of AC, summons, and resistances. I know you've seen my HoF from scratch thread on another board, and you can see in there that I use all three. Resistances are the hardest to get, and work best with druids. Resistances work differently in IWD/HoW than in IWD2; they operate as a percentage of damage, not a set amount of damage. If you achieve better than 100% resistance, you can "heal" damage depending on the amount of your resistance - e.g. 110% resistance means you would heal 1 damage for every 10 that you would have incurred if you had no resistance. The max is 127% resistance, which gives approximately 1 for every 4.

You can increase your resistances to elemental damages through spells. For example, Protection from Fire combined with either Resist Fire/Cold or a fire protection item (e.g. Frostbrand scimitar) gives 100% resistance or better. You can also combine Storm Shell with the polar bear or winter wolf shapechange for over 100% cold resistance - very useful against winter wolves and ice salamanders.

Resistance to physical (e.g. weapon-inflicted) damage is harder to get, and is almost entirely based upon finding items. There's a random-drop item in the Severed Hand (Bone Marrow Belt) that gives 50% slashing resistance - characters of good alignment cannot use it. Several swords give minor slashing resistance, as do a few other items. There's some studded leather armors that give anywhere from 10% to 20% resistance to all physical damage types. Certain elemental shapechanges (earth and water) give significant slashing resistance. Combining the Bone Marrow Belt with either of them gives over 100% slashing resistance (making Spectral Guards easy prey). With a druid, 100% slashing resistance should also be attainable even without the BMB, combining the shapechange with one of the studded leathers. Also, the bard's War Chant of the Sith gives 10% resistance to all physical (weapon) damage types.

[Klorox]

Awesome. Thanks so much Aerich!

[gbeck1]

Aerich

I would be grateful for an item list for -15 to -20 AC. Best I can get is -15,
for a Gnome fighter with 18 DEX, Bathed-in-Blood, Trusted Helm, +4 shield, Black Wolf Talisman and Battleaxe +2 Defender. What else am I missing?

[Klorox]

Originally Posted by gbeck1

Aerich

I would be grateful for an item list for -15 to -20 AC. Best I can get is -15,
for a Gnome fighter with 18 DEX, Bathed-in-Blood, Trusted Helm, +4 shield, Black Wolf Talisman and Battleaxe +2 Defender. What else am I missing?

I'm no expert, but I can see you don't have the Bard singing his level 11 song.

[gbeck1]

Originally Posted by Klorox

I'm no expert, but I can see you don't have the Bard singing his level 11 song.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry I should have said which items I am missing for a base AC greater than -15 before any buffs are applied, this was my understanding of Aerich's post

[Aerich]

The item you're missing that leaps out at me is the Shimmering Sash, which puts the user under the effect Blur (effectively +3 to AC). It's only useable by good characters, and can be purchased from Orrick. You can also find the Boots of the Fox (+1 AC, increased speed) as a random item in Dragon's Eye.

In the expansions, you can find a Cloak of Scintillating Colors (+3 AC, useable with other protection items) and/or the Wailing of Virgins (cloak granting mind-spell immunities and bonuses to AC depending on weapon type).

The post was also written considering that Klorox was using a paladin as a lead character. Paladins, of course, get +2 AC for their long-lasting special ability Protection From Evil, which stacks with PfE spells. That extra +2, combined with the Shimmering Sash, would give a base AC of -20 with the items and Dex you described.

Your Gnome Fighter may not be able to reach the best AC (-30 or lower), as that requires the use of caster-only spells, but will certainly be serviceable as a tank.

[gbeck1]

Thanks Aerich