Chain Effect Modifier

[Blackguard]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

As for the hit roll mechanism, I'm not sure "automatically hits all subsequent targets if the first is hit" is a fair mechanic, unless it's priced similarly to Cosmic: No Hit Roll Required. Using MoS would be okay though- you hit a number of targets equal to your MoS or your number of levels of the Chain Effect enhancement, whichever is lower (just like Rapid Fire with Rcl 1).

It is equivalent to Area Effect. Everyone in an area (which scatters on a miss) is affected unless they can get out of the area or take cover, as appropriate. Since chaining would allow a broader range of active defenses than Area Effect, it seems reasonable to me as a dice rolling shortcut.

[Blackguard]

Originally Posted by munin

Blackguard, this is pretty close to modeling the concept you just posted except it defines bends instead of hops (and the attack's usual ranges are adjusted normally).

Yes, that's very interesting. I need to review all the notes on those modifiers.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Blackguard

It is equivalent to Area Effect. Everyone in an area (which scatters on a miss) is affected unless they can get out of the area or take cover, as appropriate. Since chaining would allow a broader range of active defenses than Area Effect, it seems reasonable to me as a dice rolling shortcut.

Ah yes, true. As it happens though, I consider Area Effect to be underpriced with respect to Cosmic, but that's a topic for another thread.

[Blackguard]

Originally Posted by munin

Overhead is the enhancement used to "bend" an attack (it isn't just for literally overhead attacks). Combined, they make an attack which can hit one target and then bend to hit additional targets.

Thank you, this solution is extremely elegant. All the minor details of a particular chain ability can be handled with additional modifiers, as you said. I do have one interesting question, though. Say you lay out your nice pattern of bends that covers the targets you want... and then miss the attack roll on your cone. Do you scatter the end point and rotate the whole pattern appropriately? That's as close to RAW as I think you can get, but it seems wrong with all those chosen bends.

[munin]

Originally Posted by Blackguard

Say you lay out your nice pattern of bends that covers the targets you want... and then miss the attack roll on your cone. Do you scatter the end point and rotate the whole pattern appropriately?

That does seem to be the obvious consequence of mis-aiming a cone effect, even one with zig-zags. It's complicated by the fact that a cone's aim point could be 1 yard away or 100. If your aim point was 100 yards away, then a scatter of a couple yards (your margin of failure) won't affect the cone's placement very much. But if your aim point was 1 yard away, a 1-yard scatter (since you round up) could throw your aim off by 60 degrees.

A cone attack, even with a malediction effect, is an aimed attack. Laying out a precise pattern of bends, when you're looking at it from the origin point not from overhead (with some of the legs of the path possibly going sideways or coming back towards you...), seems like a complicated thing to do. I think it makes sense to require an attack roll to precisely orient each bend (with distance penalties along the path to that bend's target). The fact that you might miss some of your targets is offset by the fact that you can get your chain back on track with the next bend (unless you have a nuisance effect preventing further attacks after a miss, or some such), and has similarities to how Spraying Fire works. I think you would still need to specify where all your bends are going to be before you make your attack though (or at least specify your intended targets). It might be interesting to penalize successive attack rolls with your cumulative margin of failure from previous misses to represent the attack being harder and harder to get back on track from your point of view (a nuisance effect).

If multiple attack rolls would slow down play, another way to do it would be to make a single attack roll, and your margin of success (possibly zero) determines how many bends are oriented correctly (and simply ignore scatter -- missed bends are just wasted). Fast and easy.

[Blackguard]

Originally Posted by munin

If multiple attack rolls would slow down play, another way to do it would be to make a single attack roll, and your margin of success (possibly zero) determines how many bends are oriented correctly (and simply ignore scatter -- missed bends are just wasted). Fast and easy.

Yeah, this seems more plausible. If you actually miss, you end up with a straight cone scattered from the first bend. If you hit, margin of success determines number of correct bends, stopping at the first failed bend.