That doesnt sound like DnD thing tho ...
As far as i know, blocks and armor in DnD allways prevent either all damage (from single strike), or none of it. O_o
Armor that prevents partial amount of damage is more like Dragon Age thing. O_o
It would be nice tho if game would react differently than just "miss", "miss", "miss". :-/
It indeed look a little weird if my Halfling is unable to "hit" an Ogre on 5f range.

On the other hand, lets be honest with each other, its just matter of flavour ... technically things will stay just the same as they are, and there are bigger problems to solve. :-/