Talk:Graze Damage (3.5e Variant Rule)

Sneak Attack?

How does sneak attack work with this rule? --Leziad (talk) 23:36, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Touche, precision damage doesn't apply (but any other kind does, such as Flaming). -- Eiji-kun (talk) 23:35, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Ubserchargers now kill you all the time and rogues are fairly useless under this rule compared to the damage other people can bring even when missing. --Ghostwheel (talk) 23:49, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

True, this rule is less appropriate for upper-High and greater games due to ubercharging. But my focus is mostly for the lower levels anyway. Originality this was just going to be "you deal your weapon damage, no Str or other bits", but then I already know your reply. "But Psimonks and 256d6 King of Smackers". Given there was no way for there to make it without some loophole, I chose the one that is reliable with all classes, up to a certain degree of power. Just some insight into the mind of plushie. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 23:54, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Graze Damage based on DDO?

The first thing I thought when I saw this variant rule was "why does it sounds a lot like grazing hits from Dungeons & Dragons Online"? Turns out, it IS pretty similar to grazing hits from the game.

Honestly, I find the mechanic a bit off. The way it's been translated is decent enough (you determined a sensible threshold, so that not all hits are automatic hits), but the damage is either too small or too large: it approaches real fast the binary issue of D&D. I'd probably go with a solid basis for the mechanic, where you deal base weapon damage but without considering size increases, UNLESS the character's actual size increases as well. That way, while you can't improve the damage using INA, Greater Mighty Wallop and other such boosts, but it can use the bonus from Enlarge Person, Expansion and Powerful Build. It reduces the impact of increasing sizes, but still allows for some improvement.

I'd consider limiting grazing hits to manufactured weapons as an alternative. It's a bit harder to improve weapon damage than natural attack damage (barring GMW and bludgeoning weapons), and makes it a bit more of a PC thing than a monster thing. The monk's unarmed strike counts as a manufactured weapon, so a monk can use unarmed strikes and get grazing hits.

BTW, Eiji; what about glancing blows? That'd make fighting with two-handed weapons even better, considering that right now it's already ridiculously good, but I consider glancing blows to be creative. T.G. Oskar (talk) 03:27, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

I've never played DDO. Great minds think alike? Hmm, whats this about "glancing blows" though? -- Eiji-kun (talk) 05:10, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Armor as DR against glancing blows?

I love this variant rule, but there's also the fact that if a giant swinging a hammer sized for him managed to only hit the dainty rogue's touch AC, he'd cut his damage in half... Even though the armor doesn't do a whole lot to protect.

You could implement that rather than half damage, your armor grants you DR against Glancing Blows (Which, since I play DDO, i'm just gonna call Graze damage out of habit) equal to twice the amount of AC bonus the armor grants (Including Enhancement bonuses). Yeah, that means some glancing blows by weak attacks will be negated entirely and larger attacks won't be negated as much, but that's? What armor used to do.

Also, to answer your question about glancing blows in DDO, where you attack with any melee weapon, you have a three-attack cycle you run through, and rather than getting extra attacks at high BAB, your crappy attack bonuses on these attacks just increase, and at a higher level your attack sequence gains a 4th attack. When you use a two-handed weapon, or a hand-and-a-half weapon (Bastard sword or Dwarven Waraxe), your first (And 4th, if you have a 4th) attack is a Glancing Blow, which hits in an arc in front of you, but has a lower chance of hitting, deals less damage and has a very low chance to trigger weapon effects like Flaming. Here is the link to the full page on Glancing Blows.

Anyway, thanks for your time, as always. --Zhenra-Khal (talk) 20:02, 13 May 2017 (MDT)