Weapon Shatter Inquiry

[Dan Nickname Beshers]

Oh, cool, thanks for the heads up. It sounded more like it was pulled because the problem it intended to 'fix' was removed, which gave me the impression that it was likely gone for good. Glad to hear that's not the case, as I think it will make a vast improvement in Alliance combat.

Well, yes. Flurry was originally put in to facilitate a check on the speed that per day weapon skills could be swung. Changing all such skills to 1-shots (and making them recoverable with meditate) is judged to have addressed that specific issue. However, Flurry does also slow down combat spees in a more general way as well, which we also like. Removing Flurry from the play test was a miscommunication.

 

[Draven]

I still think examples like this are so unlikely that they aren't really worth considering. No fighter or rogue is going to waste a Shatter on armor when weapons and, most particularly, shields, are much, MUCH better targets. And if a rogue is attacking from behind, that strike would be significantly more effective as a Terminate or an Assassinate. Only a fighter might be tempted to swing a Shatter and that still is a poor use of a skill when just about every other fighter skill (except Disarm) would be better.

Also, while I acknowledge that every game is different, I can't think of even one character that I have ever met that wears a backpack (in over 20 years of play). I've never heard of a backpack being made indestructible. I am certain that one exists somewhere in the game (mostly due to Murphy's Law), but you can't convince me that indestructible backpack wearing characters are suddenly going to become a plague on any game.

-MS

I know of at least one guy in SF who does (Turtle!), and there was a player here who used one for supplies and as an archery quiver.

I've considered using one myself, as a storm mana bag and potion storage.

You can replace the backpack with shield and I can add a few others.

As for using Shatter to destroy Armor, with the coming of Poison Trigger/Cache, I can -absolutely- see this happening.

 

[Dan Nickname Beshers]

Honestly, the simplest solution to this question is probably that, in a combat setting, Weapon delivered Shatter will apply to a handheld object if struck, and armor if a person is struck. I honestly cannot remember where it is in process, but if it's not in test 0.8 it'll almost certainly be in 0.9; Shatter will work on any source of Armor points and reduce them to zero, whether that's physical, Arcane, or otherwise. So in the absence of the ability to specify otherwise in a timely fashion, Shatter would default to removing all armor points on a body hit. There is some value to doing this, in that this hit can be worth as much as a decent Slay on a freshly refit suit of armor that's up in the 50s, or potentially substantially more on certain NPCs with natural armor.

I should stress that this is not a rules clarification by me. This issue is NOT settled yet, and may even end up in playtesting before an official answer is reached. This is my speculation based on the rules as they are now, the intention of the rules, and the desire to keep things simple as much as possible.

 

[RiddickDale]

I still think examples like this are so unlikely that they aren't really worth considering. No fighter or rogue is going to waste a Shatter on armor when weapons and, most particularly, shields, are much, MUCH better targets. And if a rogue is attacking from behind, that strike would be significantly more effective as a Terminate or an Assassinate. Only a fighter might be tempted to swing a Shatter and that still is a poor use of a skill when just about every other fighter skill (except Disarm) would be better.

Also, while I acknowledge that every game is different, I can't think of even one character that I have ever met that wears a backpack (in over 20 years of play). I've never heard of a backpack being made indestructible. I am certain that one exists somewhere in the game (mostly due to Murphy's Law), but you can't convince me that indestructible backpack wearing characters are suddenly going to become a plague on any game.

-MS

Late to the party. But Riddick wears and indestructible backpack.

BUT I do agree. The likelihood of it being a significant problem is not high.

 

[Sage of Legaia]

I plan on getting an indestructible box/bag/whatever in future, but I would absolutely consider my armor Shattered if someone hit it with the weapon skill (and didn't specify the bag/box/whatever); I feel like to do otherwise would be a violation of the "don't be a jerk" rule, as it's sort of unreasonable to expect every other person (PC or NPC) to remember your bag is Indestructible and try to swing around it. :/

 

[Muir]

That's kind of the point. If they don't remember, or as an NPC shouldn't remember anyway, Render Indestructible has no visible cues to tell them.