Blast + Dodge

By Iminent, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hello again ,

how blast works with dodge in certain cases is beyound me :)

take this scenario i have 3 beastmen lined up in front of my mage class hero 3 spaces away. XXX

i have a weapon that allows me to spend 2 serges/blast. so .. lets analise what happens when they dodge.

case 1: i aim the blast at the center beastman. the overlord plays a dodge card..... i reroll but this time i dont get 2 surges on the dice ... is it still considered a blast since the first shot was a blast ? or am i just going to hit the middle beastman

to make it even more intresting- case 2: i am the blast 1 space in front of the middle beastman ... so that still all 3 would get hit. i get 2 surges and of course i spend them on blast. booom ... dodge. reroll and i dont get 2 surges.. what then ? since the dodge was on actually a blast hit... so without the blast from my first roll there wouldnt be anything to dodge... how does this situation resolve ? does the reroll only diminish or increase the hit . or does it count twards the blast since i have to spend surges to get the blast in the first place ?

thanks in advance

Iminent said:

Hello again ,

how blast works with dodge in certain cases is beyound me :)

take this scenario i have 3 beastmen lined up in front of my mage class hero 3 spaces away. XXX

i have a weapon that allows me to spend 2 serges/blast. so .. lets analise what happens when they dodge.

case 1: i aim the blast at the center beastman. the overlord plays a dodge card..... i reroll but this time i dont get 2 surges on the dice ... is it still considered a blast since the first shot was a blast ? or am i just going to hit the middle beastman

to make it even more intresting- case 2: i am the blast 1 space in front of the middle beastman ... so that still all 3 would get hit. i get 2 surges and of course i spend them on blast. booom ... dodge. reroll and i dont get 2 surges.. what then ? since the dodge was on actually a blast hit... so without the blast from my first roll there wouldnt be anything to dodge... how does this situation resolve ? does the reroll only diminish or increase the hit . or does it count twards the blast since i have to spend surges to get the blast in the first place ?

thanks in advance

Case 1: Nope... no more blast.. This is a nice example of the power of the dodge

Case 2: Congrats- you just hit an empty square! Same principle is involved.

After the dodge reroll, the weapon no longer has the surges to activate the blast properties.

cool thanks for clarifying :) "dodge powa!" :D

As far as I can tell, nothing in the RAW requires you to declare how you are using the results of your die roll to produce damage/range/effects prior to the overlord deciding to play a dodge card or not. All that is required is for the player to state that they are letting the roll stand as is without adding dice or otherwise modifying the roll. It is up to the overlord to calculate the possible applications of the original die roll given the hero's abilities and equipment. Once the decision is made and any rerolls dealt with, the player then decides how to best use the results of the final die roll.

(My common sense initially rebelled at this interpretation, complaining that there would be all sorts of weird situations that would come up, but on further consideration, all of the potential problems I saw turned out to be imaginary)

Lord Foul said:

As far as I can tell, nothing in the RAW requires you to declare how you are using the results of your die roll to produce damage/range/effects prior to the overlord deciding to play a dodge card or not. All that is required is for the player to state that they are letting the roll stand as is without adding dice or otherwise modifying the roll. It is up to the overlord to calculate the possible applications of the original die roll given the hero's abilities and equipment. Once the decision is made and any rerolls dealt with, the player then decides how to best use the results of the final die roll.

(My common sense initially rebelled at this interpretation, complaining that there would be all sorts of weird situations that would come up, but on further consideration, all of the potential problems I saw turned out to be imaginary)

Conversely, of course, there's nothing in the RAW that requires the OL to play the dodge card before you've announced how you are using the results of your die roll. You'll have to make an announcement about how you intend to use the dice eventually, and the OL can wait until after that time to play Dodge.

thats exactly what she did :) (my wife .... - the overlord ) :P

NigelTufnel said:

Lord Foul said:

As far as I can tell, nothing in the RAW requires you to declare how you are using the results of your die roll to produce damage/range/effects prior to the overlord deciding to play a dodge card or not. All that is required is for the player to state that they are letting the roll stand as is without adding dice or otherwise modifying the roll. It is up to the overlord to calculate the possible applications of the original die roll given the hero's abilities and equipment. Once the decision is made and any rerolls dealt with, the player then decides how to best use the results of the final die roll.

(My common sense initially rebelled at this interpretation, complaining that there would be all sorts of weird situations that would come up, but on further consideration, all of the potential problems I saw turned out to be imaginary)

Conversely, of course, there's nothing in the RAW that requires the OL to play the dodge card before you've announced how you are using the results of your die roll. You'll have to make an announcement about how you intend to use the dice eventually, and the OL can wait until after that time to play Dodge.

Certainly, but the point I was trying to make is that it shouldn't really be necessary to declare the use of the dice for the overlord to play the dodge card. It is the post dodge results that will count if a dodge is played, after all. Since the ovelord can see the roll, they can determine the likelihood of a dodge producing a better outcome.


But sure, if you both want to sit there forever waiting for the other person to act, that seems like a legal way to play the game.

I thought, by extention of the rule that prevents you from targetting a blank space with the weapon that lets you spend surges to take Threat Tokens away, that it was illegal to make an attack where you did not have a legal target before spending surges.

Rajamic said:

I thought, by extention of the rule that prevents you from targetting a blank space with the weapon that lets you spend surges to take Threat Tokens away, that it was illegal to make an attack where you did not have a legal target before spending surges.

That is actually a very common point of confusion. You actually never target a figure, you always target a space . Step 1 of the Attack Sequence says:

Step 1: Declare Attack
The attacking player declares which space his figure is attacking . If the attacking figure is a hero, the player must also state which equipped weapon the hero is using. Heroes can only attack with an equipped weapon (or their fists, see “Unarmed Attacks,” page 19). For more information on the types of attacks heroes and monsters can make, see “Types of Attacks,” page 11. Note that the attacking player designates a space to attack and not necessarily another figure. This is important for weapons with the Blast ability. See pages 22 and 23 for a summary of special abilities, including Blast.

So when you declare the attack you actually target a space. Its only after the attack has resolved (Steps 4-6), that if there is no valid target in that space that the OL can't get threat from surges, or the FAQ example. If you do, the attack is just cancelled without effect.