05-12-2020, 12:37 PM | #21 | ||
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
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05-12-2020, 01:08 PM | #22 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
Well, unless using Damage to Shields, in which case anytime you succeed due to the DB of the shield it basically instead grants you DR, which it sounds like touch spells specifically bypass. If going with my suggestion above to allow for a penalized Block to avoid it, I'd be tempted to apply that same penalty (or maybe a fraction of it) to the shield's DB when using Dodge/Parry... but that can readily get complicated.
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05-12-2020, 01:13 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
For the physical "limit the range" interpretation, I was thinking that the GM just rules that Melee spells in fact have a range of, say, two or three inches, not zero. Not long enough to reach to the next hex or through walls -- or battleships -- and probably not with parries with anything longer than a dagger; long enough to get through reasonable humanoid armor and shields if you could actually touch their outer surface.
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05-13-2020, 06:18 AM | #24 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
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I.e if a shield a metal/wooden/ leather thing you hold in your hand and interpose between the attack and yourself is dis-qualified in this context because it's really parrying with an extremely well armoured hand. Then how does that significantly differ from a weapon a metal/wooden/leather thing you hold in your hand and parry by interposing between the attack and yourself? Not wanting to get into an esoteric discussion on the nature of shields and weapons*, but just by the defined reason given for shield/block not working I don't think weapon/parry should either? (Or I guess is the weapon/parry does work than so should the Shield/block) *although FWIW a shield to me is more weapon than amour
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Grand High* Poobah of the Cult of Stat Normalisation. *not too high of course Last edited by Tomsdad; 05-14-2020 at 08:52 AM. |
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05-13-2020, 06:20 AM | #25 | |
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
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05-13-2020, 08:08 AM | #26 |
Join Date: Sep 2016
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
There’s also a pretty big difference between different types of shields. A heater strapped to the arm is used more passively than a center grip bossed Viking round shield, both are different than bucklers, and cloaks can allow a block as well. The differences are real, but beyond the scope assumed by the game. While I agree that a center grip using edge blocks should probably not let the deathtouch flow, a block from a heater, buckler, or cloak likely should.
I’m completely fine with the edge case of edge blocks being disallowed, especially since blocks are usually the best defense option available and the defense bonus from the shield will also apply to dodges and armed parries. |
05-13-2020, 08:50 AM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
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Ultimately I guess a lot of this is going to come down to how you envision death touch (and touch spells in general) working in setting.
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05-13-2020, 07:19 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
Yipes...
If the spell is one that ignores armor, neither an unarmed parryI somehow missed this until now, they should probably call this something cooler-sounding than ignores armor like "unblockable" and "only weapons can parry it" It just seems rude to shield users, normally they can block stuff that can't be easily parried (like fireballs/arrows) not the other way around... Some shields are actually thicker/bigger than some weapons, after all, a reach-1 shield compared to a reach-1 dagger or something... Quote:
Not every parry involves contact. A parry against an attack on your weapon or your hand represents yanking the target out of harm’s way,It seems like if someone is trying to use Deathtouch on your hand means you should be able to no-contact parry it, but you couldn't no-contact parry it if it was the limb (arm) rather than extremity, or a non-arm extremity like the foot. I don't really understand why you can't unarmed parry either. You can parry a knife via grabbing the arm rather than the knife, so why not be able to do that by touching the wizard's arm instead of his "death hand". Especially with a staff, can't you in theory parry a staff swing by reaching past the staff to hit the arm holding it? "the item must touch the subject" is a requirement for if you make it a magic item and I assume also if you use a Staff w/ a melee spell... It's not like 'death touch' is a 'death aura' where it automatically hits anyone who otherwise attacks you (or even your arm, or even your hand) so long as the spell is active... Conceptually doesn't it seem odd that I can bite the hand of a guy w/ Death Touch active and be fine, but if I use my shield to stop that hand from poking me, it arcs and gets me? It feels like there should be some kind of limited variant of this spell created... |
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05-13-2020, 07:42 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
I'm pretty sure I would, too. Maybe I play with players who are less creative than most about magicking opponents' weapons but meteoric iron always struck me as priced out of sync with its utility.
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05-14-2020, 08:19 AM | #30 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Avoiding Deathtouch? (or touch spells in general?)
I'd certainly rule that meteoric iron shields can block Melee spells that bypass armor! That said, the high price of the stuff for shields and armor is mostly based on the assumption that, as in old-school times, the first thing any self-respecting dragon, lich, or necromancer will do to a hero with powerful gear is toss a few cheap-and-easy Shatter or Disintegrate spells.
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