Player AC seems a lot lower than expected

[AndrewRead]

I rolled a Humakti character the other day, and was surprised at how low the AC seemed when compared to NPCs.
1st level with average stats ended up with AC 17 

(Heavy armor, no shield: 15, +1 for level, +1 for stats)

Compare this to other 1st level enemies:

Orlanthi Bandit = AC 16
Alpha Baboon = AC 17
Newtling Juvenile = AC 15

and 2nd level enemies:

Orlanthi Outlaw = AC 17
Battle-Ready Trollkin = AC 17
Thunder Delta Slinger = AC 17
Dara Happan Legionaire = AC 19

I may be wrong in this thinking, but I would've thought that the heavily armoured merchant-of-death Humakti would have a much better AC than this, esp when you compare to the above enemies.

The other classes also seem to have inordinately low base AC.

 

Am I missing something with how I calculate AC here?

[AndrewTBP]

8 hours ago, AndrewRead said:

1st level with average stats ended up with AC 17 

I think average stats is your problem. Try again using the array recommended in 13G p.24

Otherwise you could post the ability scores and I can check it for you. 
The basic AC for a 1st level foe should be 17 as detailed in 13th Age p.254 so lower AC for Orlanthi Bandit (mook) and Newtling Juvenile (weakling) looks good. 

[John Biles]

Keep in mind that PCs get the Escalation Die and their foes do not.

13th Age is set up so the PCs get hammered early in the fight, then do extra hammering later in the fight.

IF you use the array rule, you get 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 to spread on stats.

Let's say you raise the first two to 19 and 17.  Strength 19, Wisdom 17, Con 14, Dex 13., Intelligence 12, Charisma 10.

The middle stat of Con/Wisdom/Dex is Con, for a +2.

Heavy Armor + Shield + 2 = 18 AC.

Which is about as good as a first level char can get due to how the bonuses work.

But to quote the rulebook:  But Humakt is the god of Death and you’ve noticed that he seems more interested in you slaying his enemies than getting through battles in one piece.

[AndrewRead]

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, that all makes sense now. I was using rolled stats rather than the array.

"For Humakt!"

[Quackerjack]

in general the defensive stats are pathetic, but the characters can deal out such a whalopping that it often doesn't matter. Battle Drill, Undeniable Strike, the escalating berserker die for Zorak Zoran, etc.

Also Uroxi and ZZ'ers can choose the Scrapper talent to keep them alive. In about Round 3 when they get to Staggered levels, they sometimes heal more HP than the monster did to them in the attack that triggered the auto-heal. Humakt's Who's Laughing Now? power is also handy, if not as powerful. 

[AndrewTBP]

In 17 sessions of my campaign I have come close to killing a PC exactly once, when the Earth Priestess was unprotected and was charged by a Tusk Rider. 

The player thought it was an auto-kill until they remembered an ability that forced a re-roll and turned a crit into a normal hit. Phew!

😉

So don't worry about the "low" AC numbers. 13th Age PCs are hard to kill, easier to knock down. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by AndrewTBP