A rumor seems to have spread through the server, one that by the time it reached my ears, had turned into a complete lie. I bet you're wondering what it is. I bet some of you know already. Don't worry, I'll get there. First I have to wonder, does this community like conflict? Because the word is "yes!" Especially when it comes to RP. The action is "NO STOP!" As in people tend to get frustrated OOC when they lose a conflict. Even when IC they kick a hornet's nest and get their bootys stung. This is both from observation and experience. Simple question, simple answer. Conflict? y/n.

Now to the rumor. Are shifters using an AC exploit? Many think yes, and will INSIST on this because they fought these shifters and know how broken they are. It's my understanding too that just as many people think they're intentionally cheating.

Well, let me fill you in on the fine details. When you use wisdom buffing spells on a shifter/monk, for whatever reason the AC does in fact go up when it should not. Why is this? I thought there was scripting to prevent the boost. We all did, right? Turns out not. What the shifters were doing though, was using the wisdom buffs to boost their spot, listen, and more importantly, shifter based spells (medusa petrify, mind flayer blast, and so on). What wasn't known or intentionally abused was the AC increase. I heard radical numbers such as 9 even. Ha. Ha. Well, as you know, that's not possible, since the modifier can only go up by 6 with items/spells.

Now my question of legailty! Or, rules if you prefer.

While it's of course not legal (within the rules) to abuse the exploited AC, what if it was accidental? Should anyone be punished for that?

After all, the offical forum class changes state: "The AC bonus is capped to Monk level (e.g. a level 3 Monk would only receive a maximum of +3 AC from their Monk AC Bonus, no matter how high their Wisdom modifier is)."

(Additionally please don't think this is aimed at anyone specific, I have no intetion other than to get our error out to the public and see what the community thinks. YES, I am one of the shifters!)

Happy to clear this up.

The DMs have done their own testing. It is indeed possible to work this exploit (which we are now fixing) to get up to +9AC that shouldn't be gained. It is also not as simple as "buffing WIS" and accidentally getting the AC bonus; there is more to the exploit. While this "more" is potentially possible to have done accidentally once or twice without noticing (which the team -is- taking into account), it's also something specific enough where continued "accidents" of that nature makes it rather blatant that -some- have been using the exploit intentionally.

Hope that clears it up for folks.


*edited to fix some spelling errors since my brain is overheating*