[PU1] Imbuements questions

[chandley]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Well, Imbuements really are just IA with Follow-Up: Universal, and Requires Skill Roll. Buying Imbue itself is essentially the tax to get the individual effects as skills.

And really, do check out the latest Pyramid for ideas on Imbue.

Right, but how much IA can I get for Imbue 1, 2 or 3? Obviously, Explosive was considered expensive enough to require some limitations, but equally expensive enhancements where not (Homing, Guided). So something else is going on. If it is "game balance", that makes things even more difficult.

Also, not sure what you are intending me to look at in Dungeon Fantasy III. Just the alternate attacks? That is not what I want here.

Ideally, Id like to just say:
Enhancement Skills:
Explosive Strike
General; DX/Very Hard
Default: Specialty for related weapon at same penalty as weapon default.
Prerequisite: Imbue 3
Your weapon explodes violently at the point it impacts a target. This gives your weapon a 1 pt crushing follow-up attack with the Explosive modifier. As per Basic, p. 414, if your primary attack penetrates DR (and does not deal crushing damage), this is an internal explosion, DR has no effect and is treated as an attack on the vitals, multiply damage by x3. Otherwise, damage is full for the target, and divided by 3 times range in yards for all others nearby. While your weapon is protected against this damage, you are not! If you miss your target by 4 or less, you hit his hex. If you critically fail your attack, you hit your own hex (or yourself, if you get that result on the Critical Miss table). Ranged weapons roll for scatter on a miss as normal. Unlike normal explosions, this explosive attack is not considered incendiary, unless the base attack is already incendiary.
Modifiers: Higher crushing damage gives a penalty of -1 for 1d-4, -2 for 1d-3, -3 for 1d-2, -4 for 1d-1, -5 for 1d, -6 for 1d+1, -7 for 1d+2, -8 for 2d-1, -9 for 2d, or -10 for 2d+1. -5 to divide by twice the distance in yards or -10 to divide by the distance in yards.

Explosive Strike cannot be combined with Conic Blast or Shockwave.

Or even:
Transformation Skills:
Exploding Weapon
General; DX/Very Hard
Default: Specialty for related weapon at same penalty as weapon default.
Prerequisite: Imbue 3

The weapon or its projectile explodes on contact! Treat all damage dealt by the weapon as if it had the Explosive modifier. Damage is full for the target, and divided by 3 times range in yards for all others nearby. While your weapon is protected against this damage, you are not! If you miss your target by 4 or less, you hit his hex. If you critically fail your attack, you hit your own hex (or yourself, if you get that result on the Critical Miss table). Ranged weapons roll for scatter on a miss as normal. Unlike normal explosions, this attack is not considered incendiary, unless burning is added to the attack (by another imbuement skill, for example.)
Modifiers: -5 to divide by twice the distance in yards or -10 to divide by the distance in yards.

Exploding Weapon cannot be combined with Conic Blast or Shockwave. It can be combined with Shattershot (even on a melee weapon), but doing so automatically destroys the weapon.

[vierasmarius]

I'd add the caveat that Explosive Strike doesn't count as internal if the carrier attack dealt crushing damage. In that case it counts as contact instead. An unarmed or blunt-weapon fighter could still deal internal damage if they combine Explosive Strike with Pressure Secrets, Lethal Strike technique, or an appropriate Transformation imbuement to change the damage type.

Oh, I'd also add that this explosion is not incendiary, unlike normal explosions. Otherwise you're getting some of the benefit of Incendiary Weapon for free.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by chandley

Right, but how much IA can I get for Imbue 1, 2 or 3? Obviously, Explosive was considered expensive enough to require some limitations, but equally expensive enhancements where not (Homing, Guided). So something else is going on. If it is "game balance", that makes things even more difficult.

Also, not sure what you are intending me to look at in Dungeon Fantasy III. Just the alternate attacks? That is not what I want here.

It's more for the Imbued Souls and Techniques that amp up other Imbuements. Also, if you were using the Weapons of Pure Magic (change the power source to fit your campaign), you could reasonably treat Shockwave as a normal explosion with only the requirement that the weapon explodes in the process.

[Carlos]

Can Shockwave be combined with Crippling/Stupefying Blow and/or Penetrating Strike to stun multiple foes while bypassing their armor?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Carlos

Can Shockwave be combined with Crippling/Stupefying Blow and/or Penetrating Strike to stun multiple foes while bypassing their armor?

My ruling: yes.

Reasoning: Shockwave adds explosive to the attack's damage type; Crippling Blow and Stupefying Blow add an affliction Side Effect, and Penetrating Strike adds an Armor Divisor. All three are classified as Enhancement skills, not Transformation skills (which would change the base damage type of the attack). All three do different things. (I wouldn't allow you to combine Crippling Blow and Stupefying Blow, because of their similar effects.)

So what the attack would be is: ($num)d $dmg_type ex (2), with (HT||Will)-(penetrating_damage/2) aff.

What you cannot do is combine two or more Transformation skills. Even to the above, you can add a Transformation skill to the mix, such as Impaling Strike, turning the base damage type to impaling. You cannot mix Impaling Strike with, say, Cutting Strike, as both modify the same variable (the damage type).

Clear as mud?

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Carlos

Can Shockwave be combined with Crippling/Stupefying Blow and/or Penetrating Strike to stun multiple foes while bypassing their armor?

Unfortunately, Explosive does not play nice with Armor Divisor. Crippling/Stupifying are fine, though.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Unfortunately, Explosive does not play nice with Armor Divisor. Crippling/Stupifying are fine, though.

On the contrary. HEAT rounds are "crushing explosive (10)" rounds, after all.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

On the contrary. HEAT rounds are "crushing explosive (10)" rounds, after all.

Check the Explosive rules again. Armor Divisor only applies to Contact Explosions, and not to anything that happens to be in the blast radius.