Why does +1 Defense Bonus cost less than +1 Block?

[Finius_Lyn]

Looking through the DFRPG magic items book, I see that for armor and shields, the magic bonus for +1 block is 5 times the cost of +1 Defense Bonus, which applies to ALL Defenses...

Am I missing something?

Exploits page 47: Defense Bonus
If you have a ready shield or cloak, add its Defense Bonus (DB) to any Dodge, Parry, or Block roll against an attack that comes from your front or shield side. Defense Bonuses appear on the Shield Table (Adventurers, p. 107).

https://www.screencast.com/t/qJPo0XLuq

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Finius_Lyn

Looking through the DFRPG magic items book, I see that for armor and shields, the magic bonus for +1 block is 5 times the cost of +1 Defense Bonus, which applies to ALL Defenses...

Am I missing something?

Exploits page 47: Defense Bonus
If you have a ready shield or cloak, add its Defense Bonus (DB) to any Dodge, Parry, or Block roll against an attack that comes from your front or shield side. Defense Bonuses appear on the Shield Table (Adventurers, p. 107).

https://www.screencast.com/t/qJPo0XLuq

Are you referring to the Deflect enchantment vs the Defending Shield enchantment?

I posed the question here, as such:

The Magic Weapons and Armor Table on Adventurers 118 says a $2000 Deflect enchantment provides a +1 Defense Bonus, which I understand would aid any defense.

Meanwhile, a $10,000 Defending Weapon/Shield enchantment also gives a +1 bonus, but to Parry or Block alone.

Am I missing something, or is the latter a really bad deal?

Turns out there's an earlier thread, too: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=153471

I think the key (made clear in the second link) is this: The two bonuses do stack, so it makes sense for a wealthy PC to get both.

But it definitely makes sense to get Deflect first!

[ehrbar]

It's a straightforward pull of the relative enchantment costs as seen in GURPS Magic for 4th edition, as was dragged forward without revision from 3rd edition's GURPS Magic (copyright 1989) for Deflect and GURPS Grimoire (copyright 1994) for Defending Shield.

I suspect the pricing of Defending Shield in Grimoire was done on a "This new, more limited bonus stacks with the already-established Deflect, so we have to price it to reflect that it's an increase for people already benefiting from Deflect" basis, but I wasn't an author, editor, or a playtester on Grimoire thirty years ago.

I would have revised the whole scheme going into 4th edition GURPS, but that obviously wasn't done.

[sir_pudding]

I wish Deflect had gone away with PD. The whole "my gloves have deflect +4 and my breastplate has Deflect +1" thing is very annoying in play, and requires random hit locations to be rolled before defenses.

A DB bonus item that gives a force field effect like a ring of protection wouldn't be as bad. Nor is adding DB to shields.

[ehrbar]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I wish Deflect had gone away with PD.

Well, there's a reason my "errata" for GURPS Magic converts it into the more-expensive Dodge bonus enhancement counterpart of Defending Weapon (Parry) and Defending Shield (Block). But that might be underpowered for DFRPG.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I wish Deflect had gone away with PD. The whole "my gloves have deflect +4 and my breastplate has Deflect +1" thing is very annoying in play, and requires random hit locations to be rolled before defenses.

I'm pretty sure you're not suggesting that someone could stack Deflect +4 from gloves with +1 from breastplate, but at any rate Exploits pg. 118 says they can't. You only get one DB.

Are you saying it's annoying to determine the DB of a specific hit location (+4 vs. hands, +1 vs. body in your example)? If so, why not just not buy armor that annoys you? BTW you can still roll random hit locations last if you want to--just apply DB retroactively. It's no different really than rolling 3 attacks and damage before rolling 3 defenses, which is also a timesaver.

(Also wow, putting Deflect +1 on just a breastplate is only $350! What a great deal.)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

Are you saying it's annoying to determine the DB of a specific hit location (+4 vs. hands, +1 vs. body in your example)? If so, why not just not buy armor that annoys you?

Other than banning it, what prevents players from doing it?