attack and ignore AC

[arcanjl]

I have looked and looked, I learned a bunch of sweet stuff, but could not find if this is possible. Is there a way to program and ATK that would ignore the recipient's AC?

[Trenloe]

So they always hit? If so, don't roll the attack - just roll damage.

[arcanjl]

No, so lets say I am swinging at a a guy with ac 16.
10 + 4 (from armor) and +2 for dex.
I roll a 15. Bummer, I missed. But wait, I have a sword that ignores armor, so their ac is really 12 (No 4 from armor). HIT! :)

[LordEntrails]

Just roll damage? I mean if you are ignoring AC then the attack always hits right?

Or are you wanting some type of attack that always hits if you roll a 12 or higher? I think you would just do this manually, just roll without a target and then if it hits target for damage. Someone might come up with something better though, so stay tuned :)

Note, since this type of attack or success determination is not included in the 5E rules, there won't be a direct way to automate it. Since their is no way to foresee all homebrew and custom rules that players and DMs may come up with.

EDIT: Now I see what you want. No way I know of. Someone else might.

[arcanjl]

Yeah, I was vague on the AC - I guess I mean: I want to ignore the bonus given for wearing armor :)
I thought that might be the case, but thanks for answering!

[Zacchaeus]

Create an effect of AC: -x and place it on the target. The only problem is that you'll need a bunch of them to cover all possibilities. Simpler just to either give the player with the sword advantage on the attack roll (since that's a 5e mechanic anyway - but is very powerful) or give the target a penalty or the attacker a bonus.
Because of the 5e mechanic of bounded accuracy ignoring armour will very quickly skew the balance of your game. So use with caution.

[arcanjl]

That’s a great point. I think what I will do is just add a plus 2to atk. Will still keep with the lore of his sword, and average out the armor bonus.

[Andraax]

Not real familiar with 5E, but C&C has a "touch" attack which ignores armor... Normally I would test and see if it's available in 5E, but I'm at a con this weekend, and need to head out for a game right now...

[Zacchaeus]

Not real familiar with 5E, but C&C has a "touch" attack which ignores armor... Normally I would test and see if it's available in 5E, but I'm at a con this weekend, and need to head out for a game right now...

Some spells do have a range of 'Self' which means you must be able to touch the creature that you want to cast the spell on. However there isn't any concept of ignoring armour because you are close enough to touch a creature in 5e. I suspect this again is to do with the bounded accuracy mechanic in 5e. It would be far too powerful if you could ignore armour.

[Nickademus]

Touch attacks exist in the 5e ruleset. They require the target to make a Dexterity save to avoid the touch. Not exactly an attack (and doesn't classify as an 'attack' in 5e) but it accomplishes the goal of ignoring AC.

[Myrdin Potter]

Touch attacks exist in the 5e ruleset. They require the target to make a Dexterity save to avoid the touch. Not exactly an attack (and doesn't classify as an 'attack' in 5e) but it accomplishes the goal of ignoring AC.

This traces back to an answer on Twitter from Jeremy Crawford. Basically he said if armor stops it, attack roll, if armor does not stop it, saving throw.