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Thoughts on PD and ED in Fantasy


Alcamtar

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  • 11 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

In my game, I don't use ED specifically for against magical attacks. Rather magical is the chief source of Energy attacks. It's an important but small distinction. I use the FHC suggestion that armour has half its rating against Energy attacks (with some nuance not worth getting into).

 

I was trying to go for a little bit of Rock, Paper, Scissors given that mages are generally weak to physical attacks but knights are vulnerable to spells. I like synergy and tactical cleverness in my games so a well-rounded party is expected to have an arcane magic user amongst them.

 

A further important refinement I made was to add Counter-Spelling. Arcane spellcasting in my game has a mandatory Spellcasting skill roll. Another mage can make an opposing Counter-spelling roll to "Block" the spell and they can do this on behalf of others just as you can use your shield to Block for others.

 

When you put the two together you get a lot of tactical cooperation between PCs where the mage is a key element for using Energy attacks against opponents and for blocking incoming. It's a little Eggshells Armed with Hammers, but I like it. It encourages thought and planning.

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  • 6 years later...

Sometimes the regular PD or ED should work against spells. Should the spell be something that is definitely real, which could even just be regular fire, the in this case their ED should be in play. But if you want to have that magical fire attack that can burn even that creature who can survive in lava, then add the AVAD Advantage so that they only get their ED that is magical in nature. Normally in 6th Edition the AVLD Advantage is not as high as it is in earlier Editions. The only thing I would state that in your game the "Does Body" +1 Advantage is not required. This would make an AVAD attack be able to actually be purchased in a heroic campaign. This would mean that the AVAD Advantage where the target can only use their magical ED against the attack, only be a +1, not a +2. In addition, should the caster want a spell that does not do BODY, they can add the -1/2 Limitation "STUN Only" which would drop the cost of the spell even more.

Edited by Gauntlet
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