Can you get your AC to be negative through use of Shock Trooper/charging/raging and other similar effects or is there a limit of AC 0 that stops you from using these things if your AC would drop below 0? Also if you can go below 0 what would be the effect?

What version of what game are you talking about?

Quote from: Sacrosanct;732857What version of what game are you talking about?

This.

You can't tell from the rest of the post?

Shock Trooper is a feat from Complete Warrior that permits a character to apply the penalty from Power Attack to their AC, instead of their attack roll, while charging. So I'll assume the OP is referring to D&D v.3.5.

There is no rule prohibiting a character from having a negative AC. Let's say you're a naked 20th level fighter (AC 10), who is charging an opponent and using Power Attack (20 points). The heedless charge tactic from Shock Trooper can turn the -20 penalty to the attack roll into a -20 penalty to AC, instead. Combined with the -2 AC penalty for charging, your heedless charger has an AC of -12.

Since AC is the target number your opponents need to hit you, that means an opponent can have a massive penalty to their attack roll and still hit. If your opponent is a 1st level commoner (BAB +0) with a Strength of 3 (-4) who is suffering from the effects of the second effect under bestow curse (-4), wielding a cursed sword (-2), and rolls a 2 on their attack roll, you still get hit (2+0-4-4-2 = -8, which is >= -12).

That's all. Passing 0 just means the target number becomes negative. There's nothing special about it, otherwise.

Quote from: Pat;732870Shock Trooper is a feat from Complete Warrior that permits a character to apply the penalty from Power Attack to their AC, instead of their attack roll, while charging. So I'll assume the OP is referring to D&D v.3.5.

Quote from: Bobloblah;732864You can't tell from the rest of the post?

Sorry Bob, not everyone is familiar with 3.x splat book material.

Oh, I get that. But I'm not even familiar with the Complete Warrior; the context of the post just screamed 3.x munchkin.

As an aside, I seem to remember one of my players trying to push a charging/spring attack build that used shock trooper. Not surprisingly, I said, "No."

As an aside, welcome to the site Beowulf and Pat.  I hope you can find discussion here to be helpful, although in all fairness I have to say that if you're looking for advice/clarification on the min/max'd builds in 3.x, this might not be the best forum, as only a few people here probably have that expertise.  In fact, some may even respond with hostility (such is forum tribalism, alas).

If you're talking about what should be allowed or is possible in the game, I default to the same advice every group should follow, regardless of edition:

The DM runs the game and it's his or her world, so they make the final say.  Good DMs will communicate with their players effectively, and be fair.  Sitting down and talking with players in a mature and reasonable manner can resolve most of these questions.  Having fun is the primary goal, regardless of what a particular rule might say.

Try to provide context in your OPs and thread titles. Please don't assume people will automatically know what game or splat you are talking about.

Otherwise, welcome, guys.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;732887I hope you can find discussion here to be helpful, although in all fairness I have to say that if you're looking for advice/clarification on the min/max'd builds in 3.x, this might not be the best forum, as only a few people here probably have that expertise.

I'm not.

Quote from: Pat;732870Shock Trooper is a feat from Complete Warrior that permits a character to apply the penalty from Power Attack to their AC, instead of their attack roll, while charging. So I'll assume the OP is referring to D&D v.3.5.

There is no rule prohibiting a character from having a negative AC. Let's say you're a naked 20th level fighter (AC 10), who is charging an opponent and using Power Attack (20 points). The heedless charge tactic from Shock Trooper can turn the -20 penalty to the attack roll into a -20 penalty to AC, instead. Combined with the -2 AC penalty for charging, your heedless charger has an AC of -12.

Since AC is the target number your opponents need to hit you, that means an opponent can have a massive penalty to their attack roll and still hit. If your opponent is a 1st level commoner (BAB +0) with a Strength of 3 (-4) who is suffering from the effects of the second effect under bestow curse (-4), wielding a cursed sword (-2), and rolls a 2 on their attack roll, you still get hit (2+0-4-4-2 = -8, which is >= -12).

That's all. Passing 0 just means the target number becomes negative. There's nothing special about it, otherwise.

Wow.  Shock Trooper sounds like a 'Fix' to power Attack.

I am not currently a fan of 3X, but I always hated the mechanics of Power Attack because a penalty to hit directly reduces the chance to do damage, and that irritates me.

I would house rule immediately an AC penalty instead of a hit penalty for Power Attack.

Well, if I planned to dm 3x anyway. I kinda lost my taste for it.

From how I understand, there's no limit to how low your AC can theoretically be. Or how high, for that matter.