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Fluff behind defense roll abilities

Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 6:45 pm
by Lord Specineff13
I've been wondering something, what is the in-character reason for Barrier, Incorporeal Form and Teleport replacing Quick and Evasive for defense rolls? At least in the case of characters with Barrier-type abilities, if they can dodge attacks, I don't see why they shouldn't try to do that before putting up their shield to stop an attack.

On a mechanics question note: does the Defensive perk from an attack still add bonuses to a Defense roll while using any of those three abilities?

Re: Fluff behind defense roll abilities

Posted: Fri May 15, 2015 7:19 am
by sniffycrab
Barrier is always on and it lets you burn Endurance to protect your HP in case you are hit. Normally if you are hit and lose 1/2 or more your hp in one hit you are atomically stunned or impaired, but the barrier prevents such complications because you spent endurance to stop the attack. Using barrier is like holding up a big honking shield and using it to deflect or block attacks rather then dodge out the way.

As for stacking with other abilities, I think it could be game breaking if it did. My players fought Shadowman 3 vs 1 and they had a really hard time getting around his barrier. A lot of things in OVA look weak on paper but when you use them in play they are surprisingly powerful.

Re: Fluff behind defense roll abilities

Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 10:14 am
by Clay
The “fluff” reason you’re looking for is that neither Ability really uses physical reflexes. These Abilities either use special equipment or magical/mental ability instead of relying on one’s own athleticism implied by Quick.

Of course the real reason is stacking would make characters unbeatable juggernauts in short order and make Abilities like Evasive useless by comparison, but sssh! ;)

You could make the argument that Evasive stacks (since it’s skill at evading by some means...not necessarily skill in physically getting out of the way), but it’s something that would have to be handled on a case by case basis and impossible to make a global ruling about in the rules themselves. This same argument goes for the Defensive Perk bonus. Make a judgment call using common sense and stick with it.