Jump to content
  • 0

Escaping an Entangle built as a Mental Paralysis


Surrealone

Question

Per 6e1 p216 (w/ red emphasis added by me):

 

 

To escape an Entangle, an Entangled character must either:

  • do sufficient BODY damage (with one or more attacks) to exceed the Entangle’s defenses and reduce its BODY to 0;
  • use a Power that allows him to overcome the Entangle’s effects (such as Desolidification or Teleportation); or
  • find some other appropriate method of escape based on the special effect of the Entangle (for example, using Contortionist to get out of handcuffs).

 

As I read this, reducing an Entangle's BODY to 0 is, alone, not good enough to escape it, since one must both:

1. exceed the Entangle's defenses AND

2. reduce its BODY to 0.

 

I raise the fine point over the use of 'and', here, because there appears to be no minimum BODY requirement for Entangle ... and there are times it would seem to make logical sense to build an Entangle using nothing but defense.  As an example: a non-corporeal, fully-invisible Entangle built as a Mental Paralysis is something I believe would make sense to build with no physical form/BODY to destroy ... so that there'd be:

  • nothing at which one 'chips away'
  • no means of 'healing' it by repeated (re)applications, and
  • instant escape from it the moment its defenses were exceeded (satisfying what I've numbered as 1, above) because what I've numbered as 2, above, is already satisfied (by the Entangle being built with 0 BODY) ... resulting in the satisfaction of both of the aforementioned conditions from the RAW, above.

 

I also raise this fine point because the RAW that is quoted/cited, above, is incongruent with the following text on the same page (6e1 p216) ... specifically because the following RAW citation lacks the condition I've numbered as 1, above and seems to only have the condition I've numbered as 2, above (which I've marked in red for emphasis):

 

An Entangled character doesn’t have to make an Attack Roll to hit or damage the Entangle restraining him. When he reduces the Entangle’s BODY to 0, he is free.

 

 

In a nutshell:

Is an Entangle that makes logical sense to build at 0 body automatically escaped, (per the latter RAW citation)?  Or does it hold someone in place until its defenses are exceeded (per the former RAW citation, which requires the satisfaction of both conditions due to the use of 'and' within the RAW verbiage)???

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 answer to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

First, thank you for such a detailed explanation of your question -- that helps me a lot, especially with potentially complex issues.

 

I don’t currently have access to all of my books and materials, which have been packed up as part of my home renovation project, so I reserve the right to edit or change this answer at a future time. ;)
 
A character cannot buy an Entangle with 0 BODY. An Entangle has to have at least 1 BODY to define its physical (or mental, in the case of Mental Paralysis) existence. If a GM wants to allow 0 BODY Entangles anyway, it’s up to him to decide the effect — but given the rules for breaking out of Entangles/Grabs discussed on 6E2 124, such an Entangle still would likely have no game effect.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...