Ok, so I have an artificer with an AC of 18, using scale mail and shield, and a Barbarian with AC of 17 No armor/shield. I then have a squishy rogue and cleric. How do I hurt the tanks?
The artificer has optimally a +2 to his dex modifier, hit him with saving throws, such as from Ankhegs or Centaur Troopers. The barbarian in general probably has good physical stats in general, go for his mental stats, wisdom saves like from Gibbering Mouthers or Lamias could work. In general, the usage of non-AC based damage typically counters high AC, like how Fire Elementals burn anything that's in its space, regardless of saves or stats.
Probably not. But that’s kind of the point. Down the healer so they have to heal themselves then have the tanks use the help action to stabilize then your monsters can cast on the tanks.
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“And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.'"
It's a system. The frontliners fight, the back liners support. AC of 17 or 18 should be close to a 50/50 hit chance, even at level 1. Magic doesn't care about AC.
But it's a system: Stress the parts enough, and the system fails. Hold Person on the rogue, silence the cleric, whittle down the tanks. But then of course, you risk winning the fight. Which might be the point, but not if you're the GM.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Seriously, if someone has optimised their character to have a high AC, it's because they want to be in the thick of it, tanking hits. If you bypass this, you're nullifying why they built the character.
It's the old "Shoot the Monk" mentality. Monks can deflect missiles and slow fall, so many DMs (wrongly) stop shooting at them, because they feel their job is to damage them. In reality, your job is to control the world around the party, and Joe Bloggs the Bandit has no idea that the guy without armour on is a monk who'll send that arrow back down his windpipe at twenty paces.
If you want to get through the high armour without making the world counter their ability, limit what they can achieve with high armour instead. Throw an ambush at them with a bunch of little guys who are fishing for crits on the armour, but hitting the other party members consistently, who approach from multiple directions. Add in some spells which force saves, but don't focus them on the armoured guy until the enemy would actually do so - a smart enemy might open with it, but less smart enemies might go a round of failing to hit before they call in some alternatives. Goblins might throw alchemist's fire at them, to try and get through armour, or send a volley of arrows their way to try and get through with a high roll. With an AC of 18, anything with +3 to hit will hit them on a 15+, so 1/4 of the time. Send 8 arrows their way and you should expect 2 hits. Get someone to grapple them, or throw one bigger guy into the mix - goblins with their Ogre they sent to crush the artificer like a tin can. Then, let the artificer relish every time they roll a 17 to hit, and they miss.
Let them have this in the early game. When they get to higher levels, you'll be back asking "how do I not kill my party with a monster with +9 to hit?". Armour gives diminishing returns as levels go higher, so let them have this.
Ok, so I have an artificer with an AC of 18, using scale mail and shield, and a Barbarian with AC of 17 No armor/shield. I then have a squishy rogue and cleric. How do I hurt the tanks?
The artificer has optimally a +2 to his dex modifier, hit him with saving throws, such as from Ankhegs or Centaur Troopers. The barbarian in general probably has good physical stats in general, go for his mental stats, wisdom saves like from Gibbering Mouthers or Lamias could work. In general, the usage of non-AC based damage typically counters high AC, like how Fire Elementals burn anything that's in its space, regardless of saves or stats.
Spells
Target the cleric.
Then let inevitability take over.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
kill the healer or just hit them with attacks that ignore AC. I.e. spells
Do you think he can handle it?
Probably not. But that’s kind of the point. Down the healer so they have to heal themselves then have the tanks use the help action to stabilize then your monsters can cast on the tanks.
“And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.'"
How you hurt the tanks? You deal damage.
It's a system. The frontliners fight, the back liners support. AC of 17 or 18 should be close to a 50/50 hit chance, even at level 1. Magic doesn't care about AC.
But it's a system: Stress the parts enough, and the system fails. Hold Person on the rogue, silence the cleric, whittle down the tanks. But then of course, you risk winning the fight. Which might be the point, but not if you're the GM.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Don't.
Seriously, if someone has optimised their character to have a high AC, it's because they want to be in the thick of it, tanking hits. If you bypass this, you're nullifying why they built the character.
It's the old "Shoot the Monk" mentality. Monks can deflect missiles and slow fall, so many DMs (wrongly) stop shooting at them, because they feel their job is to damage them. In reality, your job is to control the world around the party, and Joe Bloggs the Bandit has no idea that the guy without armour on is a monk who'll send that arrow back down his windpipe at twenty paces.
If you want to get through the high armour without making the world counter their ability, limit what they can achieve with high armour instead. Throw an ambush at them with a bunch of little guys who are fishing for crits on the armour, but hitting the other party members consistently, who approach from multiple directions. Add in some spells which force saves, but don't focus them on the armoured guy until the enemy would actually do so - a smart enemy might open with it, but less smart enemies might go a round of failing to hit before they call in some alternatives. Goblins might throw alchemist's fire at them, to try and get through armour, or send a volley of arrows their way to try and get through with a high roll. With an AC of 18, anything with +3 to hit will hit them on a 15+, so 1/4 of the time. Send 8 arrows their way and you should expect 2 hits. Get someone to grapple them, or throw one bigger guy into the mix - goblins with their Ogre they sent to crush the artificer like a tin can. Then, let the artificer relish every time they roll a 17 to hit, and they miss.
Let them have this in the early game. When they get to higher levels, you'll be back asking "how do I not kill my party with a monster with +9 to hit?". Armour gives diminishing returns as levels go higher, so let them have this.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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The rogue should only end their turn in melee range about half the time, and the cleric should be a midline character, so there isn't really an issue.