11-11-2019, 01:10 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
|
enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
I was checking out the section on enchanting armor in GURPS Magic and noticed where the cost if for total suits and energy costs reduce for doing individual pieces of armor.
The cheapest being a 2.5% (1/40) cost for Neck armor, such as a Gorget... This makes well enough sense for adding DR, since if you don't get DR for some armor, enemies could target that un-protected location... But when it comes to the enchantment to add a defense bonus, usually a defense bonus from something like a shield will add to a dodge/parry/block no matter where you get targeted, I thought? In that case, why go to the trouble of enchanting an entire suit with an expensive enchantment if you can get the +1 to your defenses by enchanting something cheap like a scarf or neckwarmer? I was wondering if balance-wise, maybe that DB should only apply if that location is actually targeted? That would also deal with a potential problem like "I have +1 on my left glove, my right glove, my right shoe, my left shoe and my scarf, for a total of +5 to dodge/parry!" at much more achievability than buying +5 DB on a single item. |
11-11-2019, 01:15 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Defense bonus on armor only applies to the location struck. The very existence of this spell is a carryover from 3rd edition PD, and honestly, they should have deleted it, not converted it.
|
11-11-2019, 02:45 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
If an active defense (block, parry or dodge) succeeds, you manage to avoid the attack or deflect it with a shield or weapon, so the armor wouldn't get struck.
Did you mean if it was targeted with a successful to-hit roll so that it WOULD be struck, if an active defense failed? That's what I'm thinking of as a house rule but I don't actually see it saying anything like that in 4e Magic. Was this clarified somewhere in 3e magic and omitted? |
11-11-2019, 02:54 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Quote:
In 3e, deflect was a PD bonus, and PD only applied to attacks targeting the protected location. |
|
11-11-2019, 02:55 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Quote:
I would only apply it to those items that are actively used in the defense. So weapons for Parry and shield for Block.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
|
11-11-2019, 03:20 PM | #6 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Quote:
Quote:
Further evidence of intent is provided in DFRPG Adventurers: "Cost is for a suit of armor. Piecewise armor can have Deflect or Fortify that adds Defense Bonus or Damage Resistance only vs. attacks on that location" (p. 118). |
||
11-11-2019, 03:38 PM | #7 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Quote:
That being said, if you had a magic anti-vorpal gorget and paid the enchantment cost based on a full suit of armor then I could see it being basically a Dune shield belt: yes, the thing has a field that protects all of you, and you pay accordingly. If you pay a reduced price for the item (paid in points, dollars, souls, whatever) then you get a reduced benefit.
__________________
My blog:Gaming Ballistic, LLC My Store: Gaming Ballistic on Shopify My Patreon: Gaming Ballistic on Patreon |
|
11-11-2019, 04:37 PM | #8 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
One of the things I love about DFRPG is the streamlined clarity of the rules. Kromm at his very best (which is saying something... I suspect Kromm in a drunken stupor could out-edit me).
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
11-12-2019, 11:32 AM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2018
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
Quote:
Well (not actually kidding) if Fortify's DR only applied when a location was targeted for an attack, then in theory it shouldn't protect against stuff like "Hurting Yourself" when you take damage as a result of punching something with 3+ DR, since there isn't actually an "attack" targeting your hand. Or similarly, if you were stepping into a pool of lava, is the lava attacking you? Or if you were grappling someone with Spikes? DB "only vs attacks on that location" makes sense, but DR might be better described as "only vs damage on that location" since there are ways for a location to be damaged other than someone attacking it. Quote:
So it would be harder to remove your defense bonus if that required targeting a smaller item, so that's a pretty huge advantage. A counterpart drawback to this might be, whereas if a piece of a full suit was removed you would still presumably get your DB from all the remaining pieces if those pieces were targeted (but not if the removed piece's location was targeted) whereas if you got a whole-body DB from 1 piece, all your eggs are in 1 basket and you get no DB against ANY locations once your magic ring is destroyed/stolen. Size of the location still probably should matter. There'd be a difference between "I wear a chest plate (-0 to hit) that gives me DB+5 so I can dodge better no matter where people snipe my body" and "I have false eye (-9 to hit) which gives me DB+5 so I can dodge better no matter where people snipe me" Maybe if there was some sort of precedent with enhancing spells? Normally full-body protection is basically -0 to hit (any random hit location would work) so something like +5% or +10% energy cost per -1 to hit? The "I only need to protect one location" vs "all my protection depends on one location" might balance out. |
||
11-12-2019, 02:15 PM | #10 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: enchanting a Gorget with a Defense Bonus?
I'll say only that "I have to punch 30 holes in this one piece of plate armor, which might be enchanted to be harder to punch holes in, to make just that one bit less magical" seems like a more daunting challenge than "I have to steal this guy's ring to completely negate the magical protection it provides to his whole body." In the case where you're a crap thief, there's always simply chopping off the ring-finger . . . that's one penetration.
Yes, there's a downside to having to wear a suit of plate armor rather than a ring: It's much, much heavier. But the extra weight is also doing something, which is providing you with DR 6 regardless of enchantments, so I'm not sure that's a real drawback.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
|
|