What is the lowest AC I need in SoA? Or maybe i should say, what is the lowest reasonable AC I need. Like, do I need any more after, say, -8? I guess I'm asking for enemy THAC0's, in a round-about way. Thanks for your responses, hopefully I can start having Jaheira dual-wield.

Later!

define "need"
tough enemies (e.g. Dragons) will have incredibly low THAC0, so the lower your AC the better
maximum achievable AC lies at -22 or -23 I don't recall completely. At this level is is maxed out (NOTHING will get it lower)
A reasonable AC for a tank would be around -10 IMHO (-+3)
Good armor gives you -1 or even -2, DEX bonus (DEX 18) another -4, other items (helmet, cloak, ring) will provide you with -1 or -2 each.
The rest can only be gained by shields, class boni, singleweaponstyle or defensive weapons (e.g. DoE).
If you really want to avoid getting hit then use buffs: Stoneskins, Ironskins, PfMW, Mantle,...
This is far more reliable than anything else. With ToB the improved Bard song will give you some extra boni, that come in handy.

And if you have ToB installed, you can get an extremely powerful suit of armor that is extremely hard to get. That suit of armor can greatly lower you A/D also. But to get that armor, your character must be imported from BG1, unless you cheat, of course ;)

There will always be bad guys who can hit you, no matter how low your AC. For that reason, taking them out is generally a priority for me. That being said, I found that getting your tank down to -13/14 (I like the Saving Grace shield for that) usually does the trick. I wouldn't sacrifice dual-wielding for more than one character.

I understand that enemies like dragons have ungodly low THAC0's, what I'm asking is, "What is a good AC to have for a tank", as in, how low do i need to go before it's just overkill?

Notice: All Dragons dead, don't care what their THAC0's are, therefore, exclude them in your responses, please! just a general AC, if you will. Thanks.

I found that -13 or so, my tank rarely got hit (in most fights in SoA).
At -9, my backup tank took some damage but only from more powerful enemies.

[POSSIBLE SPOILER]


If all dragons are dead, are you not too far along in the game to worry about AC?

As I was stating,
put on a nice suit of armor, a helmet with AC bonus and a nice ring
add your DEX bonus, and that should be it
don't sacrifice your preferred weapon style and don't sacrifice equipment you consider crucial
One common setup (listed at the bottom because of
Item spoilers) would get you to -9, which is as much as it will take. You can always be hit, but if you concentrate on doing a lot of damage that won't be that often.
I don't know where in the game you are (if ALL dragons are dead, you have not much to face anymore), but let me say:
Golems WILL hit you, Demons WILL hit you
Everything else won't do much.
Assuming there's still something left ;)
If you're thinking about ToB however, then AC won't save you. Enemies there are though and will hit you. Again I recommend the Bard song and special abilities.

finally Item spoilers
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Armor of the Hart: -2 base
DEX bonus (18): -4
Helm of Balduran: -1
Ring of Gaxx: -2
total: -9
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you could now use the cloak of the sewers (-1) and the Ring of Earth control (-1) for additional boni, but maybe you have something better in mind to improve resistances etc.
You could also add a shield or single weapon style.
Going lower than -10 won't give you very much an edge over tough opponents, and may take away some other possibilities from you.

If a creature rolls a natural 20 (a critical hit), the they will always hit you. The only times it won't do damage to you is if you are resistant to their attack (by means of a spell such as mantle, for example).

Well, everyone has their own style. I tend to focus all of my best defensive gear on a single Tank, and make sure all of my other Warriors have an AC that is, at least, decent. Your Marching Formation is important, too: I like to use the pentagon formation: It puts a single Tank in front, two Backup Tanks covering the flanks, two Thieves/Spellcasters in back, and the center spot could fall to any role: It's protected enough to be a Wizard, yet positioned forward enough to be a substitute Tank. Continuing with this example, one of my current games has the following setup:
Center Position: Mazzy. Gesen Bow, Short Sword of Arvoreen. AC of -8.
Point Position: Kyrenia, a Ranger/Cleric. FoA, DoE, Sentinel Shield. Permanent AC of -18, with buffs -26. (some Weimer items)
Left Flank: Valygar. Daystar+4, CFury+5, Belm. AC of -8.
Right Flank: Keldorn. Carsomyr, Light Crossbow of Speed. AC of -8.
Left Underbelly: Kelsey. Staff of the Magi, Sling of Everard. AC of -3.
Right Underbelly: Imoen. Short Sword of Backstabbing, Tuigan Bow. AC of -4.

And Archers WILL hit you, and Kensai WILL hit you. Also, if this is ToB we're talking here, where all of the enemy Warriors are Level 18 and up, then all Warriors will hit you at least 1/3rd of the time, as well.

[ 11-18-2003, 09:25 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

I know the automatic hit with the 20, i was just wondering what a safe AC would be for me to dual wield. I really want to give Jaheira Bel, that way she can chop things even faster than normal. Also, as a note, no ToB, just SoA. Thank you, guys, I've now decided to let J dual wield along with Minsc, letting Mazzy do the main tanking using the aforementioned formation (thank you, Six). Basically, this entire thread is spawned because I was a bit reluctant to go full-out offensive. Thanks again for your insight. [img]smile.gif[/img]