Innate attack + Magic

[Not]

How do I know which spells use innate attack (beam) and which use innate attack (projectile)?

[Nereidalbel]

Most spells tell you which skill to use. In general, Beam is for laser-like spells, while projectile is for something you hold in your hand and throw.

[GodBeastX]

You should read the innate attack skill for each, it describes their attack types and method.

[roguebfl]

Note as per the description of the innate stack skill says missle spells default to IA (projectile) unless of course the spell it sell says differentially.

[Not]

I'm not getting it. For example, Sun bolt and lightning bolt could plausibly be either. Radiation at least is described as a "beam," but why do I have to scour the description for it? Why can't it say in the gloss, along with energy usage and whatnot?

I'm a bit miffed they would create two different skills for magical attacks at all. (Gaze and breath at least emerge from different body parts!)

[Nereidalbel]

Assume Projectile for missile spells, unless a spell says otherwise.

[Lord Azagthoth]

I always use Innate Attack (Magic) for spells unless it originates from your eyes (Gaze) or other extermitiy than your hands.

The Innate Attack (Beams) I use for built-in beam weapons, Innate Attack (Projectiles) for Built-In rockets and missiles

[Not]

That would be my preferred solution. Is there any textual support for it? Basic lists beam and projectile as possible specializations, and Magic simply says "use innate attack". A few spells clearly use gaze and breath, but most missile spells emit from the hand or finger.

[Anaraxes]

Once upon a time (in 2007), Kromm said

Originally Posted by Kromm

Innate Attack (Projectile) works for all Missile spells. Even the ones that are ostensibly "energy" are actually pseudo-solid bolts that can be turned by a Missile Shield spell and so forth.

though perhaps that's out of date.

For Lightning, you could imagine Zeus throwing zigzags with an overarm motion rather than Darth Sidious generating purple arcs from his hands.

I might reverse the logic in that quote and say that anything that can be repelled by Missile Shield is a projectile; otherwise it's a beam. Sunbolt is specifically excepted. Lightning generally gets argued about because of the line in the fluff text that says "from a fingertip", just as in Sunbolt.

GMs are of course free to define spells as belonging to one or the other category. Or, for that matter, to eliminate one or the other specialization of the IA skill, or merge them.

Classifying Missile spells as beams along with Sunbolt and granting them the ability to pierce Missile Shield is of course making them more powerful relative to the other Missile spells. Expect your mages to divert to the favored class of spell unless you add some disadvantages specific to beam attacks.

[Not]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Once upon a time (in 2007), Kromm said

though perhaps that's out of date.

For Lightning, you could imagine Zeus throwing zigzags with an overarm motion rather than Darth Sidious generating purple arcs from his hands.

I might reverse the logic in that quote and say that anything that can be repelled by Missile Shield is a projectile; otherwise it's a beam. Sunbolt is specifically excepted. Lightning generally gets argued about because of the line in the fluff text that says "from a fingertip", just as in Sunbolt.

GMs are of course free to define spells as belonging to one or the other category. Or, for that matter, to eliminate one or the other specialization of the IA skill, or merge them.

Classifying Missile spells as beams along with Sunbolt and granting them the ability to pierce Missile Shield is of course making them more powerful relative to the other Missile spells. Expect your mages to divert to the favored class of spell unless you add some disadvantages specific to beam attacks.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that quote. You've outlined my concerns well, and proposed reasonable solutions.

Here's a solution that might be unreasonable: has anyone tried simply eliminating this skill for magic missiles and used DX instead? I noticed that Innate Attack doesn't appear on the Mage template in Basic.