Talk:Influence Attacks/@comment-37116883-20181006162843

The MAC rules are inconsistent. Is MAC = Base MAC + Position Modifier + Int Mod + Wis Mod?

What are the position modifiers? Is +2, +4, +8 the position modifier?

Or, is the MAC = 12, 14, or 18 plus Wis Mod?

Traditionally, AC = 10 + Armor bonus + Dex. Mod. In 5e, they’ve combined the 10 + Armor bonus to give us a range of targets from 11-18 + Dex mod (though high armor values typically limit or prevent the application of the Dex mod). Without magic bonuses, the highest vanilla armor class possible is 18 (full plate) (although in a campaign where stats are rolled, you might be able to hit 19 with a monk (20 Dex or Wis plus 19 Dex or Wis).

Here, I’m going to assume it’s supposed to be 12, 14, 18 + Wis Mod (because that’s closer to the range of Standard AC ranges and makes things possible for most characters). On top of that, each playable class will add an additional modifier ranging from +1-+5. A high Wisdom Druid is going to start with an MAC of between +9 and +10 (+4 or +5 from Wis, +5 from class). On top of that, they’ll have a bonus of between +12 - +18. Persuading a very recalcitrant Druid to do anything might require a roll of 28.

A min/maxed 6th level character (Rogue, with Expertise) might have a +10 bonus on a skill. A highly competent sixth level character will have a +7 (+4 Cha, +3 Proficiency bonus). That’s going to make persuasion of such a character almost impossible (assuming a natural 20 is a crit., that’s a 5% chance) for anyone who isn’t spec’ed for it, and only slightly more possible for a specialist (10% chance). And that’s just to land an influence attack, much less to do enough damage to persuade.

It might make sense to tweak the DCs down a bit. Or not.