Affliction and Missile Shield

[arnej]

Pondering an Affliction for a wizard-hunter character.

Affliction is a ranged attack. It has Acc, Max Range, half-damage range (although I'm still not sure how that would work), but you get the picture.

Would the affliction attack be deflected by a Missile Shield? The attack form can be specified when the power is defined. Could I make some sort of specification that would not be affected by MS? Obviously, if I call it 'Poison Dart Affliction' I could see where it would be, but is that just a special effect?

Thanks,

arnej

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by arnej

Pondering an Affliction for a wizard-hunter character.

Affliction is a ranged attack. It has Acc, Max Range, half-damage range (although I'm still not sure how that would work), but you get the picture.

Would the affliction attack be deflected by a Missile Shield? The attack form can be specified when the power is defined. Could I make some sort of specification that would not be affected by MS? Obviously, if I call it 'Poison Dart Affliction' I could see where it would be, but is that just a special effect?

Thanks,

arnej

Depending on the nature of the game and so forth, I would probably have Missile Shield stop any Affliction that doesn't have Area Effect, Cone, Malediction, Rapid Fire, etc.
In other words it's by default a simple ranged attack of some kind, and Missile Shield applies pretty widely to ranged attacks, even including things like Lightning bolts.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by arnej

Pondering an Affliction for a wizard-hunter character.

Affliction is a ranged attack. It has Acc, Max Range, half-damage range (although I'm still not sure how that would work), but you get the picture.

Would the affliction attack be deflected by a Missile Shield? The attack form can be specified when the power is defined. Could I make some sort of specification that would not be affected by MS? Obviously, if I call it 'Poison Dart Affliction' I could see where it would be, but is that just a special effect?

Thanks,

arnej

Missile shields don't stop rays. Usually an Affliction is more like a ray unless it's a carrier attack.

[Bruno]

Missile Shield is one of those defenses that protects against a description, not a game mechanic.

"Lasers" aren't a game mechanic, they're a description. Burning attacks could be lasers, corrosion attacks could be lasers, cutting attacks could be lasers - DR vs Lasers would protect against all of those, but not against torches, acid, or knives.

Missile Shield protects against missiles. "Is it an Affliction" is the wrong question. "Is the affliction a missile?" is the right question. Go back to how you described the ability in the first place and check that.

When you create an ability, there's various descriptive elements that can be game mechanically important but aren't in themselves game mechanics.

"I shoot jets of fire out of my hands" - Well, now this attack can be stopped by DR vs Fire, and you can stick your hand over a wall and shoot without exposing your head, but if you're tied up, you'll have a lot of trouble aiming. It also has an extra impact on creatures with Vulnerability to Fire, or who's Regeneration or Unkillable have an Achilles Heel to Fire.

They could also be balls of magma or really really hot embers - the embers are probably stoppable by missile shield, not sure about the magma.

The affliction could be bolts of magic, poison darts, or an enchanted slingstone made out of the brains of your enemies (thanks, ancient Celts). The darts and slingstone would be missiles, the bolts of magic perhaps not.

Details matter.