Rambling on Soar, Blast and Elevation

By dragon76, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

So we were playing some RTL dungeons we'd seen in our last campaign as training for the next RTL campaign and the question came up concerning elevated positions and blast.

Does the blast do -1 damage to the Elevated (big e, game term) figure? Seems simple and as it had no effect on the outcome it didn't really matter but my brain started churning and thought I would pose the question on the forum to see what other's opinions are on the subject.

The main reason for the question is that according to the FAQ there is no reduction to Blast damage for a soaring figure who is so elevated (little e, not technically elevated) that they cannot be reached by melee.

I know they are two different 'positions' for the figures and that they don't equate in any relevant game mechanics way. Just getting opinions and thoughts as there dungeons with multiple levels of Elevation where you could in theory centre a large blast and hit a higher and lower Elevation with the same blast.

Thanks

dragon76 said:

So we were playing some RTL dungeons we'd seen in our last campaign as training for the next RTL campaign and the question came up concerning elevated positions and blast.

Does the blast do -1 damage to the Elevated (big e, game term) figure? Seems simple and as it had no effect on the outcome it didn't really matter but my brain started churning and thought I would pose the question on the forum to see what other's opinions are on the subject.

The main reason for the question is that according to the FAQ there is no reduction to Blast damage for a soaring figure who is so elevated (little e, not technically elevated) that they cannot be reached by melee.

I know they are two different 'positions' for the figures and that they don't equate in any relevant game mechanics way. Just getting opinions and thoughts as there dungeons with multiple levels of Elevation where you could in theory centre a large blast and hit a higher and lower Elevation with the same blast.

Thanks

Elevated terrain gives you a bonus or penalty for the attack , based purely on the target space (and/or space of attacker). You target one space, and that space (and your own) defines your penalty or bonus, which applies to the whole attack.
An elevated figure attacking a non-elevated figure (i.e., attacking down) gains +1 range and +1 damage. A non-elevated figure attacking an elevated figure (i.e., attacking up) loses –1 range and –1 damage.
Remember that attacks do not actually target figures, they target spaces. So wherever the term 'figure' is used, you should really substituted 'space'.

So it is really very simple. You compare that attacker's space to the target space (centre of the blast), calculate the relative elevations of those two spaces, and apply the bonus or penalty to the entire attack, which affects all figures equally regardless of their location (attacks are always like this, with the explicit exception of the Stealth Dice).

Soar is not in any way related to elevation, and should not be considered in the same way. Blast (and Breath) attacks simply ignore Soar, as per the FAQ answers, which make perfect sense as the blast and breath effects are not measuring range to the soaring figure, just affecting certain spaces.