A middle road is to see if the difference between the number required to hit and the die roll is equal to or smaller than the damage resistance, ie a Ghoul is fighting a guy in chain and shield (AC 4, DR 1). This can be a reflection of how true the blow was.
Roll
10 or less is a miss (AC5)
11 miss but strikes the shield (AC4)
12 hits the chain, rolls a 1, reduced to 0, doesn't hit skin (the strike was not quite hard enough to get through the armor), greater than 0 damage, roll save
13 or greater, touches skin regardless of damage (the strike was powerful enough to get past the armor, roll save)
Basically, the 0 reduced damage and no save only works out when the attack roll is really close to what is barely needed, and the damage is reduced to 0. Higher attack rolls mean the beast got a clammy paw on you regardless, but didn't get you good enough to cause damage.
Of course, the damage reduction effect is magnified with plate, since two of the claw attacks are 1-3 damage (d3), reduced to d3-2: -1,0,1. In this case, treat any -1 results as a clean miss, which is understandable considering the amount of protection plate provides, with elaborate undergarments, padding, chain, plate, leather, etc...
12 or less is a miss
13 a miss, but hits the shield
14-15 hits the plate, damage is reduced by 2. Any damage above 0, roll save.
16+: Damage reduced by 2, roll save if damage is 0 or higher
ANOTHER way to do this is to give the damage reduction as a bonus to the Death save on a successful hit as some sort of avoidance bonus, which would probably be simpler overall.
Last edited by Hackhamster (2/15/2019 4:39 pm)
"AS&SH feels like late 70’s fantasy roleplaying from a parallel dimension where Frodo was unceremoniously slain by Conan." -
rpg.net review
achiriaco wrote: