Unintentional AC buff across the board

[Gairun]

The new patch 'fixed' natural ac statistics on all monsters. The consequences of this is that goblins/gnolls/ogres/etc. etc. all gained from 4-9 ac. The goblins gained +4 and the ogres +9 ac. Before I bother clogging up the bug reports I wanted to put this out there to see what Saulus and the dev team have to say as it's not really a bug, but instead a funky change the patch did.

[sharringtonm]

*Is secretly happy the critters have been given more of a chance of surviving the Adventurer's slaughterfests*

[Gairun]

*IS slaughtered easily by mere goblins*

Goblins now need an AB of +8 to hit them reliably, if that helps determing the effect of the patch.

[Dark presence]

Well I don't know where you got those numbers. Goblins have no real reason to have any natural AC. Thats quite high for ogres too, at least by the books.
Of course, I'd also say the monsters here are generally too hard, going by the fact you're expected to kill like a hundred in one dungeon run.

However the patch should improve animal companions too, which were totally reliant on natural AC and died ridiculously fast because it wasn't being applied.

[Saulus]

You guys should be happy, more challenging.

[Gairun]

It's alot more challenging indeed. For my caster PC's it is not much of a change, however for any of my melee focused PC's the change is incredible. The one thing that is most noticable now is that difference between casters/melee. Going from hitting a goblin 55% of the time to 35% is a pretty impressive change

[Peridan]

Yeah, usually I find that as I increase in levels, the easier it is to hit things, not harder. Especially creatures that do not give me exp (such as goblins) and not being able to hit them for about 3 minutes is a little frustrating.

[Kangleton]

An additional +9AC to a creature is worth nine levels to a full BAB class! Witholding Strength/Dexterity bonuses which aren't certain, a Fighter has to gain nine more levels to be equivalent to how he was before the patch, fighting the exact same creatures. Nine levels is a lot, considering we only even get fifteen.

[GatorPhD03]

I don't know if I have noticed that things are harder to hit but I have noticed that I seem to get hit more than before the patch. I attributed this to some side effect of the strange command lag I seem to be getting now (takes up to three rounds for commands to take effect sometimes).

[Drider-man]

I've experienced perhaps a slight increase in goblin combat prowess, although it certainly isn't anything mayor, definitely not a +4 increase on their, I would think.
I certainly don't mind the NPC monsters being a bit more difficult to kill, might encourage more partying and less solo runs. Of course, if level 5 fighters are getting creamed by goblins, it's starting to get a bit silly

[sharringtonm]

*chuckles* Guess its time to chime in. i have a sneaking suspicion some of you are suffering from DM interference. Yes, yes, yes, I know not all of you are, but I for one can count two people in this thread that LH and I watched battle gnolls and goblins that had been given potions of speed, cure serious wounds, g. heroism, death armor. Did I mention they were not doing well against the goblins/gnolls?

[Leaving Hope]

Friendly suggestion:

Don't memorize the spawns. Don't expect them to be in the same place every time. Don't expect them to be of the same power every time. Don't camp an area.

Do know when to run. Do party up (Thank you, Drider).

[Chiangtao]

Yes, they are harder. I for one like it--challenge is good! I'm sure the staff is aware and will look at the ACs if they feel it is necessary. As Drider suggested, party up kiddies!

[nickbeat]

That was me fighting them goblins and gnolls! We did alright until the invisible one snuck up on me.

It really is a good thing to not always know what to expect, and I really appreciate the DM interference actually.

[joker]

An invisible goblin. That is sneaky.