I read that a character with Force Field can nullify damage when he/she is 'attacked'.

Is Psychic attack can also be nullified?

What about Flamer (collateral damage)?

What about grenades (that is not aimed at the character)?

Are those are still considered as an 'attack' to the character?

Thank you in advance

Depends on the nature of the attack.

A psychic power that causes the victim's blood to boil would not be affected by a force field (Unless designed to do interfere with Warp-based powers) whereas a power that sends bolts of lightning to the target would have a chance of being affected by the field.

Grenades and flamers that would affect the player act as normal with regards to the fields.

One minor point I've found helpful in my games: Make the player decide whether they'll attempt to dodge or parry before the field takes effect.

So just for clarification: Force Field can also nullify (if successful) the effect of Photon Flash grenades, Stun grenades, and Choke grenades (that was not directly thrown at him)?

really sorry, english is not my first language..

I'd say no, since they don't exert a force with which to be fielded against.

I'd let a Best-Quality Salvation Shield filter toxins at a penalty, but none of the others act appropriately to do so.

MILLANDSON said:

Force fields do block lasers, meaning they can block pure light effects. So I'd say yet to photon flash and stun, since those grenades are light (and force for the stun). On the other hand, that would mean that the field has a chance to short out from a photon flash, even if the target is immune because they are wearing photo-visors and/or blind.

No to choke grenades, as the gas isn't going much faster than the ground is when you move (meaning if you block things travelling that slow, you will have trouble running) and blocking gas in general also blocks oxygen.

Bilateralrope said:

If they blocked light, logically then a force field would block off the light needed to see.

I'd say high-energy lasers are different to just bright light.

Las =/= laser. It's a blast of energy yes, but that doesn't mean it's a laser per se. Either way, it's more a question of how the field operates than what it responds to.

Thank you for the replies

Just curious, is there any 'official' clarifications already concerning this?

So for now I think my conclusion is almost all Force Field will not able to block gas, or psychic powers that manipulate your soul/mind/destroying you from the insides.

What if I'd houserule a bit, that Force Field cannot block things that do not deals damage 'immediately' (such as you have to do this test or that test first), is it still viable/playable/fair enough?

MILLANDSON said:

They are both sudden spikes in the light going through the field. The only differences are that the las blast is a point while the photon flash hits the entire field, and that the laser is probably a much greater spike.

Maybe comparing it to a las weapon was a mistake. A plasma grenade seems a closer fit ( a blast of heat and light), though you could argue that a photon flash don't produce enough light to trigger the field, while the plasma does. Since there is enough there to go either way, I'm going to go with the option that causes less rolls and say that stun and flash grenades aren't blocked, unless someone gets an official response.

You are right in that to block them, the field would need to go opaque for a fraction of a second, which might be a problem.

Las =/= laser. It's a blast of energy yes, but that doesn't mean it's a laser per se. Either way, it's more a question of how the field operates than what it responds to.

Have a look at the Las Weapons section in the Rogue Trader core rulebook:

Produced by the millions on countless forge-worlds, laser or "las" weapons...

Why do you say they aren't laser weapons ?

Another question on Force Fields:

If a person with Force Field is attacked with a Full-Auto Bursts, and hit several times, does the Force Field:

a. Can only block one of them

b. Can block either all of them or none of them (since effectively it is only one 'attack' action, so only one roll is needed)

c. Can block every hit (roll Force Field tests several times)

And this lead to another question as well:

If a bystander (who has Force Field) got the collateral damage of Auto Bursts, does he:

a. Can block the hits that went to him

b. Cannot do nothing since no 'attack action' is targeted at him

c. Cannot be harmed because all the Burst Hit can be nullified with a single Force Field test by the intended target

Personally I opt for a logical answer C for the first question and A for the second question. Comments, inputs, opinions, and rules verifications are welcome.

Thank you very much

If a person with Force Field is attacked with a Full-Auto Bursts, and hit several times, does the Force Field:

This is what the RAW says: If the result is lower than or equal to the ?eld’s protection rating, the attack is nulli?ed

Note that it says the attack, not the hit. So the RAW says that it either blocks all or nothing.

There are some people who say it blocks one hit for success, one for each DOS. But I don't like that for two reasons:

- Hit order becomes important if you are using a displacer field because you might only score a simple success, but if that success is applied to the first hit, the rest must also miss because you have been teleported out of their way.

- Multiple hit attacks can already burn through dodge with multiple hits, while single shot attacks are all or nothing. I don't like also giving that advantage when facing a force field.

Your option c is interesting, and does solve the hit order issue, but has the problem of needing a lot of rolls while making fields much more likely to short out to an autogun than a melta due to the number of hits.

Only blocking one makes fields other than displacers rather useless when facing anything other than single shot weapons, so option a is right out.

If a bystander (who has Force Field) got the collateral damage of Auto Bursts, does he:

He gets to blocks the hits coming at him because the field device doesn't know why the hits are coming towards its wearer, only that they are.

What is the best force field a rogue trader character can get and at what body part the force field should protect?

thor2006 said:

I am personally aiming at getting and Eldar Forcefield, with a protection rating of 75. Only on quarter of any attacks will go through, kinda ups my odds of survival, needed due to my low wounds.

A forcefield protects the entire character, no matter if the shot is going towards the head or the toes.

On the matter of blocking several hits, I would say, do one roll and it either blocks them all or none, to limit the amount of dice rolls needed. Though feel free to increase the chance of the field shorting (within reason) out when blocking multiple hits, since the field activates several times.

Nightsorrow said:

You need to have extremely good luck to aquire that force field(with the Unique modifier).

thor2006 said:

I am painfully aware of that. Thus the remark that I am "aiming" for it, not meaning that I will neceserily get it in my characters (or my own ) lifetime. But as they say, Ambition have no bounds.

Untill then, I will try and get a Conversion field. 50 protection rating, and a photon-flash if it "soaks" more then 12 damage. Good times, especially since my char is kinda melee oriented, or at least I am trying to get him to be, but my bolt pistol kicks to much ass at the moment.

I'd go with B and A. Seems obvious to me. These shots are milliseconds apart. Meaning that it either blocks them all or it blocks nothing. And like bilateralrope said: a forcefield doesn't judge how the attack came to threathen the wearer, just that an attack is threathening to do so = it activates. Not having it function as normal is just plain illogical.

DH Inquisitors handbook does have an interesting dodge option: If you are adjacent to someone who is attacked, you can make a -10 dodge test to take the hit for them.

If you do that, or have a talent that does something similar, I would allow the field to work. But the number of hits coming at you is the number before they dodged, not after.

Thank you, now I'm quite convinced to go with B and A, especially with the 'common sense' . Those attacks are 'split-second' attacks, so treated as 1 attack; and the Force Field is 'intelligent enough' to know that danger is coming.

Well, my group of rank 2 explorers recently managed to acquire (with sooo many 01 to 04 rolls) 5 Conversion Field, 5 Good Conversion Field, and 1 Salvation Shield during '1 month game time' to do some re-stock and idle downtime.

Force Fields really (literally) save life.

@Bilateral: I'd use the dodge option as well then, it's very interesting thanks for the information

Telosse said:

The Inquisitors Handbook has a lot of extra rules for skill tests like that. It also has several items that an explorer might like, such as the tech-priest only power armour that doesn't have a limited battery life. So it is a good book to pick up, even though it was written for the Dark Heresy line.

Just stay away from the force field devices in it. Their rules are horrible, which is probably why they were discarded when FFG decided to publish more of them.

Nightsorrow said:

I'm a fan of the Refractor Field. Sure, it has the lowest rating, but it can be taken at better quality to compensate meaning that you're more likely to keep the protection going longer.

We have two fields in our game - the Archmilitant has a Good-craftsmanship Refractor Field and the Missionary has a Common-craftsmanship Conversion Field. The Conversion Field is great but tends to short out (bad luck keeps kicking in, and it's not a roll that Fate Points really help with). There have also been times where the Conversion Field's flash impaired friendlies more than enemies.

Got a reply from the Sam Stewart, concerning Force Fields:

1. Force Fields cannot block gas weapons

2. They block accidental attacks

3. Character must roll separately for each shot of auto-bursts

4. Force fields can block psychic power attacks that involve hitting you with something, as in a burst of force or a thrown object. Basically, telekinetic attack yes, telepathic attacks no.

Telosse said:

Oh, god. So many dice to roll.

or why we'll ignore that bit in favour of simplifying things

Telosse said:

Thus making the displacer the best of all the force fields. Once you block one of the hits you get displaced and thus avoid the rest. If you ignore fate points and the field overloading, this is your chance of shot x making it through the field:

1: 45.00%
2: 20.25%
3: 9.11%
4: 4.10%
5: 1.85%
6: 0.83%
7: 0.37%
8: 0.17%
9: 0.08%
10: 0.03%

I also note that it moves you 2d10 meters, but you need 3 dice to show the same number for bad things to happen.

What happens if you are using a conversion field and it blinds the shooter with the first hit ?

That is bound to throw off his aim for the rest of them.

What about scatter weapons ?

Some of their hits would be simultaneous. Especially if the weapon is single shot.

Take these questions to him, see how he responds.