One of the things that has always frustrated me about D&D 3e and Pathfinder is the uselessness of armor. There are two types of characters: those who min/max their Armor Class, and those who automatically get hit. Oh, theoretically, a modest AC might protect against an iterative attack or two (those pesky -10 or -15 attacks), and low-CR monsters might have some difficulty penetrating your +3 plate mail, but when SHTF and you’re facing down that red great wyrm, he’s going to tear through the average fighter’s armor like tissue paper.

D&D 5e has attempted to solve this with bounded accuracy. Numbers start small and stay small, so no more +40 to attack rolls. Plate mail gives a potent 18 AC to even level one characters. The mighty pit fiend tops out at +14 to attack. Translated to calculator, that means that the redshirt fresh out of fighter academy has a 15% chance of deflecting the pit fiend’s attack—which isn’t much, but recall that the same character has a 0% chance of evading the pit fiend (technically 5% if you’re counting natural 1s) in 3e.

While 5e is an improvement over 3e’s numbers bloat, it doesn’t do away with the problematic nature of Armor Class. Armor Class is a function of armor, agility, magic, and miscellany that combines into a single, abstract value that measures how hard it is to stab someone—and that’s been a bee in my bonnet for awhile (and I can’t believe I just wrote that with a straight face). Functionally, there’s no difference ‘tween the dexterous elven swordsman and the armor-clad dwarf warrior. 3e sought to rectify this by adding in damage reduction. If you had the money to spend, you could buy ultra-heavy duty adamantine plate armor. It would reduce damage suffered from weapons by three—count ‘em, three—whole points. A nod in the right direction, but not one to bet on mattering with Power Attack and eyebrow-raisingly high Strength scores.

That’s why I think it’s about high time to bring back the armor save.

In wargames (such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000), units are either alive or dead because tracking hit points on dozens of units would be a bit much. Once someone hits them—or gouges or scalds or blasts or bludgeons them—they’re down for the count. Thus comes the armor save. When you’re about to go down for the count, there’s a chance your armor might take the hit instead of you. Roll a die and hope for the best. If you get lucky, you stay standing; if not, you’re bleeding out as the Ruinous Powers continue their relentless advance.

Now, there’s a reason that Armor Class works the way it does: it reduces rolling. The chance of an attack “missing” is already factored into the Armor Class equation. Return to the graceful elf and mighty dwarf. In theory, an enemy mighty only have a 1-in-4 chance of actually striking the elf with a weapon, whereas attacking the plodding dwarf would grant him a 3-in-4 chance of hitting, but the dwarf’s armor might grant him a 3+ armor save (75% chance to be hit, but only 33% chance of penetrating his armor). In effect, the elf and the dwarf have the same chances of dying on a hit—a meager 25%. It’s simpler and more elegant to streamline the two together.

BUT IT’S WRONG. [Cue 2 Stupid Dogs clip here and caption that “only ’90s kids will get this”…err, I mean don’t do that.]

When you write the rules of a game, you’re not just describing how the game works. The mechanics “color” the game and influence how the players interact with it. In this case, the streamlining turns the color of the game to a drab grey. (Gandalf the Grey had nothing on the fab Gandalf the White.) There’s no real mechanical difference between Legolas and Gimli, except maybe their hit points and preferred weapons. (The lack of distinctive and functional combat styles in a combat-focused game is another problem, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms.)

Aside from making a mechanical distinction between gracefulness and sturdiness, the armor save has a few things going for it. First, it fits in with D&D’s saving throws. The mechanic is already half-written in the game. Secondly, it automatically scales with level. In 3e/Pathfinder, you sweat keeping your Armor Class high enough to defend against preposterously high attack rolls. An armor save doesn’t care about that, and it doesn’t care whether you’re a grunt with 5 HP or a dragon-slaying war general. Thirdly, it makes armor matter more than it does currently in 3e/Pathfinder.

As you can see, my case for the armor save is foolproof…except…

OBJECTION! Armor saves slow down gameplay with an extra roll. Yes, they do. It's a matter of preference. Some people are fine with the idea of Armor Class as catch-all measure of hard-to-hitness. They should continue using the system as-is. OBJECTION: Sustained. OBJECTION! Armor as damage reduction provides an easier alternative solution. Armor as damage reduction is indeed a workable system, but we're talking D&D here. Hundreds of hit points are commonplace, so the only alternative is either to scale the armor's damage reduction with level (messy) or to rework hit point and damage values (a complicated undertaking). Neither of those systems is as easy as using an armor save. OBJECTION: Overruled.