Pillars of Eternity’s ‘ablative armor’ sounds more like ‘Star Trek’ than ‘Dungeons & Dragons’

Pillars of Eternity’s roots may reach into the old Icewind Dale role-playing series, but many of its systems aren’t exactly a carbon copy of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons — or even modern D&D.

This is most apparent in the armor system, which abandons the old Armor Class defense system from the Icewind Dale games (which Obsidian Entertainment’s progenitor, Black Isle Studios, worked on). According to game director and lead designer Josh Sawyer, a concept that took its inspiration from a mix of D&D 3.5 and 4th editions — but in some cases veers away from those — also has a name that brings most gamers into Star Trek, not fantasy.