10-21-2010, 08:15 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
I'm wondering if I'm missing something here, because right now it seems like Area Effect, for +50%, can give you an amazingly powerful ability for not much cost (effectively nearly the same value as the +300% Cosmic modifier that disallows active defense).
Basically, if I'm understanding right, Area Effect, at +50%, gives you a 2-yard radius attack, covering the target hex and 1 hex in any direction around it. You can Dodge & Drop to defend against an Area Effect attack, but it only has any effect if you can get out of the Area with it or can get behind cover. Since unless you have Move 11+, you'll only go 1 yard with a D&D, that means that if you're at the center of the AE attack, the attack is undodgeable. As far as I can tell, it is also unparryable, and unblockable (though maybe shields can grant cover)? So, yeah, a 2-yard radius isn't much as far as attacking multiple targets, but it is giving you an attack that cannot be defended against for a relatively low cost. This just seems odd to me...wouldn't it have been a little better, maybe, to just make "Area Effect" mean that your attack struck at everything in the area, but the things in the area got a normal Dodge defense like with any other ranged attack? Then if you wanted to make a "filling" AE attack that just plain hit, there could be another modifier that would let you do that for a higher cost (if your GM allowed it). Explosions make a little more sense--though honestly I don't like the top level (Damage divided by yards) as it can result in a similar effect for the person at the center (and yes, I know being at the center of an explosion should very realistically be very bad, but in game terms, saying "it doesn't matter what you do, you can't defend" doesn't seem very good to me). Am I just horribly misinterpreting something here? I understand GURPS is a system that requires a lot of GM management to run smoothly sometimes, but this just seems like an odd cost/benefit relationship if I'm reading it right. (Especially as there's no "Can Be Dodged" modifier that I can find anywhere...) |
10-21-2010, 08:32 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
I don't think it helps a great deal, but I would note that area effect attacks don't automatically hit. You have to make an attack to deliver them to the desired location...and if you try to hit someone and they dodge, your attack isn't necessarily going to go off right next to them!
However, you can make your attack on the space your target is in rather than the target themselves. Spaces don't dodge, and you get a bonus to hit too.
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10-21-2010, 08:36 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Yeah, I noticed that about the spaces recently. O_O That's a +4 bonus, right? That's quite considerable, enough for someone with moderate skill (and it isn't all that hard to get high skill, but that's beside the point) to absorb a decent range penalty.
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10-21-2010, 08:42 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Vermont, USA
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
The Bombardment limitation (p. B111) will cause an area effect to attack some targets and not others. The Blockable limitation (p. P110) will allow Block or Parry active defenses. Resistible, DX (pp. B115, P105) will allow a DX roll to avoid the effect (without diving or retreating) -- Resistible, Dodge might be legal. Another way to build an "area effect" that can be dodged is to use Rapid Fire and require that the attack use the Spraying Fire mechanic (p. B409) to attack multiple hexes.
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10-21-2010, 08:48 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Quote:
But yeah...it just seems odd to me that the attack by default is so unstoppable...normally you have to build on the attack's power with modifiers to make it particularly unstoppable (something I advise generally not allowing unless you're going for that kind of style), but with an AE attack, it's strong to begin with and you have to apply limiters (or require them, if you're the GM and worried about this) to reduce its problematic nature. Last edited by Sdrolion; 10-21-2010 at 08:53 AM. |
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10-21-2010, 09:10 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Quote:
I suspect there's some discount involved for the potential inconvenience of an area of effect. (AoE 2 yd radius + Dissipation does full damage in a 1 yd radius and is +0% net.)
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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10-21-2010, 09:32 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Shangri-La
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Quote:
I agree with your point, though ... if your interpretations is correct, and it seems to me that it is, RAW AE either seems waaaay underpriced or waaaay overpowered. EDIT: when you think about it, though, RAW AE isn't very realistic: damage that doesn't dissipate from the center, but does uniform damage through a set area, and simply "ends" at the border of the area. Most realistic area attacks are going to have some other modifier - Cone or Explosion, etc, which function by more realistic rules. Last edited by CousinX; 10-21-2010 at 09:37 AM. |
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10-21-2010, 10:20 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Straight AE attacks are GREAT for smashing an area with Gogs Giant Foot ;)
Summoning your god to stomp on the opposition isn't very realistic, but it's a pretty straight forward Innate Attack - realistic effects aren't the majority use here, except with toxic attacks and possibly FP attacks. * I can't remember the name of the orcish deity. It's a spell from Warhammer anyways - a big god goes stomping across the battlefield and anyone caught under his feet suffers the obvious consequences. Can be simulated by putting your 4 year old on the game table.
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10-21-2010, 12:46 PM | #9 | |
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(If you have to ask . . .) Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Somewhere high up.
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
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An AE isn't, really, a realistic attack. It's a comic book ability, or representing something very large hitting an area (fly swatters in that Vermin campaign). |
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10-21-2010, 12:48 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Orange County, VA
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Re: Area Attacks--Am I Missing Something?
Quote:
You're looking for Gork and Mork. Specifically, The Foot of Gork and Gork's Warpath. |
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Tags |
area effect, gurps |
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