Quote:
Originally Posted by FeiLin
I have no idea how PD works
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Just to help you interpret 3e stats, armor before 4e had both DR and a "Passive Defense" rating. PD supposedly reflects the possibility that your armor could just turn/deflect/bounce a blow, as opposed to just not get penetrated by a solid, direct hit (which is DR). It was added to Active Defense/2. Note that this gives you a chance to defend even if you don't have an AD. PDs in 3e for low-tech humanoid armor were in the 2-4 range, with a max of (IIRC) 7 for plate armor.
The "3" in the 4e formula for defense (3 + skill / 2 + DB) is a vestige of PD, effectively declaring that all armor always has PD 3. Defenses would be pretty low without that +3, and of course the mechanics had been designed assuming there was some PD involved. You can also see echoes in the Magic armor enchantment spells. "Fortify" and "Deflect" were +DR and +PD; without PD, Deflect turned into +DB (mechanically similar, but the name shows the old PD flavor rather than the "massive shield block" image of DB).