I'm going on the assumption you haven't played D&D. If I'm wrong, I apologize. Anyways.... here.... we.... go!!!
Spell memorization makes me not want to bother with spells.
Okay, the Wizard class has to do spell memorization to 'burn' the spell into their mind. Now there are certain spell you don't have to memorize, called 'cantrips'. These spell are, however, the lowest level spells, but you can cast them all day long. They can be anything from illusion-type spells to damage dealing ones.
If you don't want to memorize spells, you can opt to take either the Warlock or Sorcerer class. Sorcerers are natural born spell casters and Warlocks make pacts with other-dimensional beings for their powers. They aren't able to cast as many spells per level as a Mage, but their spells come without having to study to earn them.
Armor class? Wearing armor reduces your chance of getting hit? How does that even work?
Alrighty, armor class! How does it work? It tends to be described wrong. It doesn't prevent you from getting hit, it's more like it prevents you from taking damage. If you have a good DM, they can describe what happens when an opponent
biffs their attack roll.
Basically, a higher armor class means that if the attack roll fails, the blow can :
A: Completely misses, or you dodged out of the way. This result can come from a poor attack roll, or the fact that the AC is high from a good dexterity score. (All DM's discretion.)
B: You parried the blow with your weapon or shield. Or you Bruce Lee that
stuff bare-handed. (Noooooo, not the actual sword/mace/ax, but the weapon hand wielding it. You shove the arm out of the way, so the attack misses.)
C: The attack hits you, but your armor or shield, absorbs the blow and you shrug it off. If your DM wants to run a relatively realistic campaign, he could make you have to get your armor/shield repaired after so many battles.
Now it falls onto the DM if he wants to actually describe the effects of each miss, or he could ask you, or it could be understood that you both understand how it works, and you skip it to speed up combat.
I do combinations of all of those when I DM. On small brawls, such as bar fights or minion fights, we accept what happens to speed things along. On the big epic boss-type fights, I like to go A and B. When the players miss, I describe how the baddie blocks their blow (or dodges it.) And when the baddie misses them, they can tell me what they did. Sometimes things get mixed and I do the descriptions all around. It depends on the players, the mood, etc.
Anywho, hope the helps explain AC for you. And hope that also helps you re-think the magic-classes.
