CMD Question/mea culpa

[Aaron]

Here is a troubling rule question. I think that we've been adding the wrong Dex bonus to CMD for a long time. Currently and in the past we've been adding the Dex bonus to AC to CMD, however after investigating I think that we should be adding the full Dex bonus regardless of the Max Dex of the armor/encumberance.

Based on the "Max Dex" section in the core rulebook's equipment section (core rulebook, pg 149 and 150).

Maximum Dex Bonus: This number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to AC that this type of armor allows. Dexterity bonuses in excess of this number are reduced to this number for the purposes of determining the wearer’s AC. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer’s ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn’t affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.

Combine that with the fact that the CMD description on pg 199 refers only to the "Dexterity Modifier" in the formula and the section describing flat footed CMD. In addition, I've commonly seen examples of our CMB being lower than Paizo's published statblock because of Max Dex limitation.

We haven't gotten any bug reports about this, but I stumbled upon it while researching another bug. It seems hard to believe we have gone this long without someone noticing and reporting it (if my understanding of the rules is correct).

Do you guys agree we're currently calculating wrong?

[AndrewD2]

Well I asked in the DMTools chat room (unofficial Paizo chat that is frequented by many Paizo employees) and it was said "CMD = 10 + + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier. It's just flat Dex mod" by one of the employees. I'm inclined to agree with him.

[Aaron]

Alright, that's one vote for "Yer doin it wrong". Anyone else? C'mon. Hit me. HIT ME!

[ShadowChemosh]

I agree that if you limiting it to the Max Dex of armor then yes its wrong. It should simply be the Dex Modifier added with no care for the armor. I am sure it was not noticed much as if a person wears say Full Plate they most likely only have a +1 or +0 Dex Mod anyways. The characters with a higher dex mod are most likely Fighters and they get to raise their Max Dex on armor so again it would have been fine.

So this means at least at my own games 99% of the time the value of CMD would have been correct. After it being correct the first dozen times I would have stopped double checking the value actually. I would have just trusted that what HL put out was correct.

As my home games everyone uses HL it would have been balanced as everyone would used the same calculation.

And on the bright side at least you where not rounding a dollar amount incorrectly costing fractions of a penny to be lost.