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Mage Wars => Rules Discussion => Topic started by: Halewijn on June 15, 2015, 11:04:29 AM

Title: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Halewijn on June 15, 2015, 11:04:29 AM
1) Plants often have hydro immunity, so they cannot be damaged by water. Now my brother pointed out to me that I wasn't able to geyser my plants from his burns because the rules state that the plants cannot be targetted by water spells. This seems like a huge error and renewing rain is doing the same thing.

2) Can you do ranged area attacks when you don't have line of sight to the area? Seems to me that you really don't aim a lot for an area attack so it's not really necessary.

Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: iNano78 on June 15, 2015, 11:31:32 AM
1) Plants often have hydro immunity, so they cannot be damaged by water. Now my brother pointed out to me that I wasn't able to geyser my plants from his burns because the rules state that the plants cannot be targetted by water spells. This seems like a huge error and renewing rain is doing the same thing.

See p. 19 of the Rules and Codex Supplement (aka FAQ):

Quote from: FAQ
Extinguish (Conquest of Kumanjaro)
Example of how Extinguish works: If you use an Extinguish attack with 3 attack dice against a creature with 4 Burn conditions, the Extinguish attack will roll 1 die (the minimum) and subtract 4 from the effect die roll. All 4 Burn conditions will be removed.

A hydro attack (or attack spell) which has the Extinguish trait, may target an object with the Hydro Immunity trait. If it does, the attack deals no damage or effects to the object, other than to remove all Burn conditions. This is an exception to the normal immunity rules. In this manner, a Hydro attack can be used to extinguish the fires of a burning plant object, even though the attack cannot actually damage or harm that plant.


2) Can you do ranged area attacks when you don't have line of sight to the area? Seems to me that you really don't aim a lot for an area attack so it's not really necessary.

You always need line of sight (LoS) to the target.  If the spell's target is a zone, you need LoS and range to the zone.  If the target is a vine marker, you need LoS to the vine marker (but not range).
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Halewijn on June 15, 2015, 11:47:35 AM
oké, thanks for the reply!

Doesn't make much sense though. The attack is completely unavoidable unless I can't see you?  :o
[mwcard=FWA03]Hail of Stones[/mwcard]

[mwcard=MW1A05]Firestorm[/mwcard]

[mwcard=FWJ01]Akiro's Hammer[/mwcard]

Not much aiming going on here. a catapult not being able to shoot over a wall is just a joke. Isn't that why they built them in the first place?

I guess we are just going to make this a house rule then :P
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: iNano78 on June 15, 2015, 12:20:33 PM
oké, thanks for the reply!

Doesn't make much sense though. The attack is completely unavoidable unless I can't see you?  :o
[mwcard=FWA03]Hail of Stones[/mwcard]

[mwcard=MW1A05]Firestorm[/mwcard]

[mwcard=FWJ01]Akiro's Hammer[/mwcard]

Not much aiming going on here. a catapult not being able to shoot over a wall is just a joke. Isn't that why they built them in the first place?

I guess we are just going to make this a house rule then :P

Again, not about targeting "you" but rather "the zone."  You can't attack a zone you can't see.  Thematically, this might be because the wall is too high for your Stone (or whatever projectiles you're firing) to get over.  You can, however, attack a creature you can't see as long as it's in a zone you can see. - Consider an Invisible Stalker in a zone that you can target with your Hail of Stones or Firestorm or whatever.

It's not a joke.  It's a rule.  You can play by it or you can invent a variant.  But the rule almost certainly exists for a reason.  Otherwise you might need to rebalance the spells that you allow to break the rule (e.g. Akiro's Hammer or other zone attack spells might become too cheap/powerful).
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Halewijn on June 15, 2015, 12:34:48 PM
Thematically, I don't think a wall can be high enough for such a spell. Firestorm really seems to be summoned from above. Even a wall of steel seems low enough for a catapult.

And Akiro's hammer seems rather weak instead of overpowered. (but this is in this discussion irrelevant :P )

It's good I know the official rules for if I would ever play online.

But I believe houserules can be fun if everybody agrees beforehand.  ;)
(like Our wizard pays triple for war and every non primary element. )
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Coshade on June 15, 2015, 01:53:26 PM
Thematically, I don't think a wall can be high enough for such a spell. Firestorm really seems to be summoned from above. Even a wall of steel seems low enough for a catapult.

And Akiro's hammer seems rather weak instead of overpowered. (but this is in this discussion irrelevant :P )

It's good I know the official rules for if I would ever play online.

But I believe houserules can be fun if everybody agrees beforehand.  ;)
(like Our wizard pays triple for war and every non primary element. )

Triple for war! You should try triple for nature! There are so many Novice War spells!
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: V10lentray on June 15, 2015, 03:50:54 PM
Thematically, I don't think a wall can be high enough for such a spell. Firestorm really seems to be summoned from above. Even a wall of steel seems low enough for a catapult.

I've been argueing since day 1 that this card needed indirect. It's a freaking Trebuchet, it doesn't care about walls.

Same thing with Ballista, put a wall in front of it, it's useless.
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: iNano78 on June 15, 2015, 04:10:23 PM
Thematically, I don't think a wall can be high enough for such a spell. Firestorm really seems to be summoned from above. Even a wall of steel seems low enough for a catapult.

I've been argueing since day 1 that this card needed indirect. It's a freaking Trebuchet, it doesn't care about walls.

Same thing with Ballista, put a wall in front of it, it's useless.

Although apparently Ballista can target a wall in front of it, whereas Akiro's Hammer cannot (e.g. wall bordering its zone), as per the discussion here (http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=15523.msg50867#msg50867).
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Halewijn on June 16, 2015, 04:16:10 AM
I've been argueing since day 1 that this card needed indirect. It's a freaking Trebuchet, it doesn't care about walls.
Same thing with Ballista, put a wall in front of it, it's useless.

Indirect would certainly be good for the trebuchet. But I can somehow understand they won't let you use that 8 dice attack (this would be too strong with indirect). I was talking about distance zone attacks in general --> For Akiro's hammer the 3 dice attack. That way a wall could hinder the trebuchet a lot but it wouldn't be completely useless.

Maybe they could make a new enchantment/incantation:
A force spell that let's you sense aura's --> giving you indirect, being able to hit obscured targets and targetting invisible creatures. (Based on the "use the force Luke", where he shoots with his eyes "shut" into that small hole and destroys the death star.)

Or in a different theme: a holy spell: Eyes of God/Godly Vision/aid of Malakai/...
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: Wildhorn on June 21, 2015, 01:10:24 PM
Thematically, I don't think a wall can be high enough for such a spell. Firestorm really seems to be summoned from above. Even a wall of steel seems low enough for a catapult.

And Akiro's hammer seems rather weak instead of overpowered. (but this is in this discussion irrelevant :P )

It's good I know the official rules for if I would ever play online.

But I believe houserules can be fun if everybody agrees beforehand.  ;)
(like Our wizard pays triple for war and every non primary element. )

About Firestorm and Hail of Stone, they are magic spells. In all good magic setup, you need to see the target (the ground in this case) of where you want the spell to aim. This is why you can't cast them if you do not have a LoS with the zone.

For Akiro Hammer, this spell really need an errata and get Indirect trait. It is too weak for the mana cost and limitation it has.
Title: Re: Hydro immunity & Line of sight for Area attacks
Post by: echephron on June 21, 2015, 01:15:34 PM
I'd like to errata indirect onto all zone attacks!!! ...maybe...
but it wont happen