Kharille wrote:
Starkad wrote:
Quote:
no knock down rules now are there?
No, there aren't.
Maybe its time we invent them! I figure people should only use EVASION when they can move, which is not the case if you're hanging on a rope and some twit hurls a FIREBALL at you, which is not covered in dragwars rules. I figure EVASION should only be applied when a character moves which may include hand to hand manoeuvring. If people are caught in a FIRESTORM they should 'move' out of the edge of the radius, and thus not remain in combat. Easy to evade DRAGONBREATH but not easy to evade an area effect spell. Just like if I dropped a 3m diameter boulder, at least the players should 'move' out of the area of effect.
That is unless you have a shield big enough and resilient enough to fend it off.
In the interests of accuracy, almost that exact scenario is mentioned in the rules. To quote:
"It is very important to visualize the situation when a character has to evade an attack. Do not simply make the roll without considering what it represents. A character dangling on the end of a rope is treated as having evasion of zero when a magic ring is fired at him, unless he says that he is prepared to let go of the rope. A character trapped at the bottom of a deep well will certainly be hit by the fireball that his enemy lobs down at him. evasion scores only apply when it is physically possible to evade."
In my own homebrew version of DW, I changed the way shields work thus allowing them to be used to block other types of attacks also:
Using a Shield
To successfully block a blow with your shield, roll less than the opponents hit roll on a D20. This applies to both melee and missile attacks.
E.g. If your opponent rolls a 5 to hit (and is successful), you must roll less than 5 on a D20 to block the blow.
Note that critical hits cannot be blocked, as it is impossible to roll less than 1.
Blocking Indirect Spells
In the same fashion as blocking a normal attack, the defender may catch a spell blast on their shield by rolling less than the value of the speed vs evasion roll. However, this can only be attempted in place of dodging, so the defenders evasion is considered 0.
Only spells that normally have their damage reduced by armour can be blocked on a shield. If the damage is only blocked by magical armour, then consequently only a magical shield can be used to block that spell.
Some spells are so devastating that they cannot be blocked at all - Firestorm is an example. Any indirect spell or spell-like attack with an area effect cannot be blocked by any shield.