Questions About the Playtest Rules

A

Alex319

Artisan
Monster Abilities:



Swarmed by #: This would still be affected by the Powerful Blows rule above, right? So in the example, the monster wouldn't be able to swing Spell Death with every swing, he would only be able to swing Spell Death once every 3 seconds (all other swings would be normal).



Spell Changes:



Meditate: The requirement is 5 minutes to meditate ONE spell, correct? So if I wanted to meditate multiple spells back I would have to spend more time.



Fighter and Rogue Skills:



Shatter: The spell Shatter states that it works on any suit of armor no matter how big, while the fighter skill Shatter states that it only works on suits of armor up to 20 points. Is this intentional?



Resolute: With the current wording, Resolute cannot be used on an attack that would take you to exactly 0 Body Points. Is this intentional?



Intercept: So just to clarify, it's perfectly legal to Intercept something and then call a Dodge to not take the effect?



Purchasing Skills: Does the BP expenditure from a particular skill count towards the prereqs for that same skill? For instance, if I have 28 BP of fighter skills, I can purchase a Slay (bringing me up to 30 BP and satisfying the Slay's prereq, so I never have an “invalid” set of skills?)



Traps



Creating Traps: Is there any upper limit to the amount of damage that a trap can have (aside from how many PP you can spend?) For instance, if I have 20 levels of Create Trap and a workshop, so I have 200 PP, I could create a 400-point weapon trap?



Weapon Traps: In the current ARB (p. 145) you can put a contact poison on a weapon trap and have the contact poison go off on the target (current weapon traps only hit one thing). In the new rules, where weapon traps can hit multiple targets, is that still possible? If so, does that mean that you can affect multiple targets with a single dose of contact poison? If so, can you use the Potion Coating ritual to attach a healing potion to the weapon trap and thus heal multiple allies with a single dose of a healing potion? (Also, when it says “rotated around the pivot point”, that means rotated 360 degrees, even if the path of rotation would be blocked by an obstacle? Or do you keep rotating in a specified direction until the weapon hits an obstacle, then stops?)



Alchemy



Contact Gels / Weapon Coatings: So now any Contact Gel can be used as a Weapon Coating and vice versa? Can you use a Vorpal Coating as a contact gel (attached to a chest or something) and if so, what does it do?



Rituals



Counterspell: How does Counterspell work on Signature Spells? Does it have to be the same level – e.g. if I get hit with a “15 Magic Fire” I can use a 3rd level Evocation Bolt spell slot to counter it? (And I would still need to use a 3rd level slot even if the caster just used a 2nd level slot that was augmented with Potency? Or if I have my own Potency active, then could I just use a 2nd level spell slot, because it's effectively a 15?)



Defensive Burst: Can you have both a batch of regular Critical Attacks (that add to your weapon damage) and a batch of Defensive Bursted Critical Attacks (that let you call Reduced) active at once? Or if you want both an “offensive” and “defensive” batch active then one has to be Critical Attacks and one has to be Back Attacks?



Enhance Armor: What do you mean “end if the suit is reduced to 0 Armor Points”? Does this mean that as soon as my armor hits zero, then the entire Enhance Armor ritual is effectively gone and I would need to cast another Enhance Armor ritual if I wanted to get the effect again? Or is enhance armor like a “times per day” thing where each time I activate it, it stays active until my armor reaches 0? Or is this just saying that when my armor is at 0, the Enhance Armor isn't doing anything (but it starts working again as soon as I refit my armor)?



Empower Warrior: Can multiple Empower Warriors be stacked in order to increase the maximum batch size higher than 15? If not, what is meant by “can be used in conjuncture with other skills, abilities, or rituals that allow increased expenditures of Critical Attacks and Back Attacks?” Are there any?



Poison Cache: Can multiple Poison Cache Rituals be used on the same item to add multiple additional “Contact Poison slots”?



Poison Trigger: Poisons now last until you connect. If I have a contact poison applied with a Poison Trigger, and choose to use it on a specific swing but don't connect, do I have to keep calling the poison until I connect, or can I start swinging normal again (and save the poison for a later time)?



Sorcerous Triage: It's an OOG decision whether to activate this, so does this mean I can use OOG information? Like if I see (OOG) that a healer who I know has a lot of Life spells is coming toward me, I could choose not to use it?



Spiritual Smith: Can Spiritual Smith be used in conjunction with Sturdy Armor, effectively allowing the refit to occur instantaneously (3 seconds, reduced by 5 seconds from Sturdy Armor?)



Sturdy Armor: What does “must be cast on a physical suit of armor” mean? Is this just saying that you can't cast it on an Arcane Armor? Or does it mean that you actually cast Sturdy Armor on a specific armor physrep instead of a tag, and the Sturdy Armor follows the physrep around rather than a tag?



Warrior's Incantation: What does “does not need to … use magical aura” mean in the ritual description? Does this just mean you don't need to use a spell packet?
 
That's quite a list, your potion coating question actually got me wondering, is it a ritual cast on the potion, making one potion spellstrikeable, or is it cast on a weapon, giving the weapon a "potion slot" so I could in theory make a weapon with potion coating and poison trigger that would be a pick me up stick? Though I would love that, it seems as though that would make pocket healers into gold powered pocket healers, I'd fill mine after every fight.

My other question is on rogues evasion, though it says rip free, it's unclear if it is instant or a three count like I have seen with monsters strength.
 
Ardos said:
That's quite a list, your potion coating question actually got me wondering, is it a ritual cast on the potion, making one potion spellstrikeable, or is it cast on a weapon, giving the weapon a "potion slot" so I could in theory make a weapon with potion coating and poison trigger that would be a pick me up stick? Though I would love that, it seems as though that would make pocket healers into gold powered pocket healers, I'd fill mine after every fight.

My other question is on rogues evasion, though it says rip free, it's unclear if it is instant or a three count like I have seen with monsters strength.
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And you wouldn't have to wait till the end of the fight to fill it. Applying a coating is only a three count.
 
Alex319 said:
And you wouldn't have to wait till the end of the fight to fill it. Applying a coating is only a three count.
Click to expand...
Ah, but that would require me to have alchemy.
 
I'm going to throw out quick answers to these since there are a lot of them. If you (or anyone) would like a follow up answer with more detail, please feel free to ask.

Swarmed by #: This would still be affected by the Powerful Blows rule above, right? So in the example, the monster wouldn't be able to swing Spell Death with every swing, he would only be able to swing Spell Death once every 3 seconds (all other swings would be normal).

I know it's a little unpalatable, but the answer is this will probably be case by case, and depend a good deal on the local usage. In NH, our monsters that use this kind of mechanic usually use it on a 3 count and have a radius effect of some kind. So shortest answer: Not necessarily.

Spell Changes:



Meditate: The requirement is 5 minutes to meditate ONE spell, correct? So if I wanted to meditate multiple spells back I would have to spend more time.

No. The intention is 5 minutes for all applicable spells.

Fighter and Rogue Skills:



Shatter: The spell Shatter states that it works on any suit of armor no matter how big, while the fighter skill Shatter states that it only works on suits of armor up to 20 points. Is this intentional?

No.

Resolute: With the current wording, Resolute cannot be used on an attack that would take you to exactly 0 Body Points. Is this intentional?

No.

Intercept: So just to clarify, it's perfectly legal to Intercept something and then call a Dodge to not take the effect?

Yes.

Purchasing Skills: Does the BP expenditure from a particular skill count towards the prereqs for that same skill? For instance, if I have 28 BP of fighter skills, I can purchase a Slay (bringing me up to 30 BP and satisfying the Slay's prereq, so I never have an “invalid” set of skills?)

No. You must meet the requirements for a skill in full before purchasing it. However, If you have 58 build in fighter skills and do not have Slay, you could purchase Slay twice because the first purchase would leave you fully qualified to immediately buy the second.

Traps



Creating Traps: Is there any upper limit to the amount of damage that a trap can have (aside from how many PP you can spend?) For instance, if I have 20 levels of Create Trap and a workshop, so I have 200 PP, I could create a 400-point weapon trap?

No limit.

Weapon Traps: In the current ARB (p. 145) you can put a contact poison on a weapon trap and have the contact poison go off on the target (current weapon traps only hit one thing). In the new rules, where weapon traps can hit multiple targets, is that still possible? If so, does that mean that you can affect multiple targets with a single dose of contact poison? If so, can you use the Potion Coating ritual to attach a healing potion to the weapon trap and thus heal multiple allies with a single dose of a healing potion? (Also, when it says “rotated around the pivot point”, that means rotated 360 degrees, even if the path of rotation would be blocked by an obstacle? Or do you keep rotating in a specified direction until the weapon hits an obstacle, then stops?)

No answer at this time.

Alchemy



Contact Gels / Weapon Coatings: So now any Contact Gel can be used as a Weapon Coating and vice versa? Can you use a Vorpal Coating as a contact gel (attached to a chest or something) and if so, what does it do?

Nothing. Contact Gels with a specific purpose will do nothing if used outside the purview of that purpose.

Rituals



Counterspell: How does Counterspell work on Signature Spells? Does it have to be the same level – e.g. if I get hit with a “15 Magic Fire” I can use a 3rd level Evocation Bolt spell slot to counter it? (And I would still need to use a 3rd level slot even if the caster just used a 2nd level slot that was augmented with Potency? Or if I have my own Potency active, then could I just use a 2nd level spell slot, because it's effectively a 15?)

Yes.

Defensive Burst: Can you have both a batch of regular Critical Attacks (that add to your weapon damage) and a batch of Defensive Bursted Critical Attacks (that let you call Reduced) active at once? Or if you want both an “offensive” and “defensive” batch active then one has to be Critical Attacks and one has to be Back Attacks?

No answer at this time.

Enhance Armor: What do you mean “end if the suit is reduced to 0 Armor Points”? Does this mean that as soon as my armor hits zero, then the entire Enhance Armor ritual is effectively gone and I would need to cast another Enhance Armor ritual if I wanted to get the effect again? Or is enhance armor like a “times per day” thing where each time I activate it, it stays active until my armor reaches 0? Or is this just saying that when my armor is at 0, the Enhance Armor isn't doing anything (but it starts working again as soon as I refit my armor)?

The benefit is passive, but is inactive when the armor is at 0.

Empower Warrior: Can multiple Empower Warriors be stacked in order to increase the maximum batch size higher than 15? If not, what is meant by “can be used in conjuncture with other skills, abilities, or rituals that allow increased expenditures of Critical Attacks and Back Attacks?” Are there any?

No answer at this time.

Poison Cache: Can multiple Poison Cache Rituals be used on the same item to add multiple additional “Contact Poison slots”?

Yes.

Poison Trigger: Poisons now last until you connect. If I have a contact poison applied with a Poison Trigger, and choose to use it on a specific swing but don't connect, do I have to keep calling the poison until I connect, or can I start swinging normal again (and save the poison for a later time)?

Once the poison is active it stays active.

Sorcerous Triage: It's an OOG decision whether to activate this, so does this mean I can use OOG information? Like if I see (OOG) that a healer who I know has a lot of Life spells is coming toward me, I could choose not to use it?

No. This is the same as choosing to Regenerate on the spot as per that ritual. You, the player make the choice because the character is incapacitated and cannot choose, but you make it based on the character's most recent information prior to being incapacitated.

Spiritual Smith: Can Spiritual Smith be used in conjunction with Sturdy Armor, effectively allowing the refit to occur instantaneously (3 seconds, reduced by 5 seconds from Sturdy Armor?)

No. The Spiritual Smith reduction overrides the refit time for the armor, Sturdy or otherwise.

Sturdy Armor: What does “must be cast on a physical suit of armor” mean? Is this just saying that you can't cast it on an Arcane Armor? Or does it mean that you actually cast Sturdy Armor on a specific armor physrep instead of a tag, and the Sturdy Armor follows the physrep around rather than a tag?

Specific Physrep.

Warrior's Incantation: What does “does not need to … use magical aura” mean in the ritual description? Does this just mean you don't need to use a spell packet?

Yes.
 
Dan Nickname Beshers said:
Counterspell: How does Counterspell work on Signature Spells? Does it have to be the same level – e.g. if I get hit with a “15 Magic Fire” I can use a 3rd level Evocation Bolt spell slot to counter it? (And I would still need to use a 3rd level slot even if the caster just used a 2nd level slot that was augmented with Potency? Or if I have my own Potency active, then could I just use a 2nd level spell slot, because it's effectively a 15?)

Yes.
Click to expand...

Hello Dan, a quick clarification on this as there were multiple questions. By your answer I infer that you mean in the example given you would need to use a 15 Magic Fire to counter, regardless of how it got to be a 15 Magic Fire, or how I got it to be a 15 Magic Fire. Am I understanding your answer correctly?
 
To Counterspell an Evocation Bolt or any other attack that did 15 Spell [element], you would assume that the spell was cast at third level and expend a third level Evocation Bolt of your own. This is because the attack, regardless of its construction, replicates the effect of a third level Evocation Bolt. In the same way, if a monster ability allowed an NPC to throw a "Spell Sleep", this could be Counterspelled with a Sleep from memory regardless of whether the monster is actually casting the spell via the full verbal, delivering a spellstrike, or some innate ability.

It's worth noting that this applies to individual packets from a storm spell being countered as if they were a single spell of the appropriate level, and that by using Potency on a ninth level spell resulting in a packet attack for "50 spell [element]" you can prevent a Counterspell from being possible since no spell in memory replicates that effect.
 
That clears most of it up, thank you. And just to make sure I understand, if they call 15 Spell Flame, I have to use a 3rd circle Evocation, not a Potency 2nd Circle.
 
I assume you cannot Counterspell a Magic/Earth/Chaos Storm, since the spell is never thrown, and the Effect results in the target (self) being able to throw 8/15 packets of <whatever>.
 
Draven said:
I assume you cannot Counterspell a Magic/Earth/Chaos Storm, since the spell is never thrown, and the Effect results in the target (self) being able to throw 8/15 packets of <whatever>.
Click to expand...
Based on my intention, you can counterspell an individual packet if that 10 or 15 damage is going to be a real problem, just like you could spell shield, cloak, etc. Just like those other defenses, however, it would have no effect on the remainder of the storm spell.
 
Dan Nickname Beshers said:
Based on my intention, you can counterspell an individual packet if that 10 or 15 damage is going to be a real problem, just like you could spell shield, cloak, etc. Just like those other defenses, however, it would have no effect on the remainder of the storm spell.
Click to expand...
This is how I assume it works, too.
 
That seems odd from an exception perspective.

Magic Storm's packets aren't the actual...spell. It's the effect. What you're being hit with is one of 15 different packets.

1) If you want to counter it, what are you countering it with? An entire MS spell?

2) If I have a MS up, and you hit me with a MS charge, can I Counterspell your MS charge with one of my MS charges?

Because MS has a unique mechanic, and the spell cannot be stored or otherwise transferred because the target of MS is always self, explaining how Counterspell relates to it seems like it would be an exception (but only because Storm spells are special snowflakes, honestly).
 
You're not countering the magic storm, you're countering the single damage bolt in question. If its mechanics identity is "10 spell flame", and you have a spell in memory that generates that effect, you can counterspell with it. This is the same as a monster like a barghast that under current rules throws "Magic Death." That effect will be subject to Counterspell, even though it isn't an incanted spell.
 
Can Enhance Armor go on Arcane Armors, or just physical suits of armor?
 
I believe Enhance Armor only goes on regular suits of armor. This is to encourage real armor. It also requires an armor tag, not an arcane armor tag.
 
As I understand it, any of the armor-enhancing rituals only go on physical suits of armor with an armor tag. They cannot be added to Arcane Armor.
 
Can Enhanced Armor go onto a suit of RDI armor (I would assume so)?
 
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