Anybody find anything about radiant wpns vs fortification? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Anybody find anything about radiant wpns vs fortification? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
NeueRegel
06-14-07, 12:40 PM A radiant weapon ignores the Armor bonus including magic + of magic armor, but did anybody ever find out if magical armor that also has the special ability of fortification is still "fortifying" against critical hits, despite the fact that it's otherwise being ignored by the radiant weapon?

Neue
tarkin
06-14-07, 01:01 PM It ignores the AC, it does NOT cancel out all other magical properties of the armor.

Fortification is expressely done by a magical force field generated by the armor.

It is NOT a magical enhancment to the physical armor.

You can no more ignore the field than you a +1 Radiant flaming sword could ignore the Fire Resistance of a set of +1 fire resistant armor.

Similarly, holding a +1 radiant weapon does not make it easier to see or hear someone wearing +1 silent moves, Shadow armor.

Nor does holding one prevent your opponent using Celestial armor from flying, not even if you hit him with it.
NeueRegel
06-14-07, 01:05 PM Thanks Tarkin. I'd been leaning that way myself. It's sort of a gray area about force fields though, because apparently the radiant weapon "does ignore" the force field created by bracers of armor because it's an armor bonus.

Neue
Jeriaus
06-14-07, 02:04 PM A brilliant energy weapon only ignores nonliving matter. Bracers of Armor has a Force effect, and as such is not ingnored.

Now if Radiant is a new enhancement ignore this.
NeueRegel
06-14-07, 02:08 PM I did in fact mean brilliant. I swear, I can't stop calling it radiant for some reason, I've been making the mistake for years, since 3.5 came out. Some sort of mental block of mine.

Neue
mvincent
06-14-07, 02:12 PM A brilliant energy weapon only ignores nonliving matter. Bracers of Armor has a Force effect, and as such is not ingnored.You might possibly be confused with the ruling for incorporeal touch attacks. By RAW Brilliant Energy bypasses magical forces like mage armor, bracers of armor, ring of force shield and the shield spell. fwiw: I use tarkin's ruling, but (as evidenced by the plethora of threads about this: here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11687535), here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=744049) and here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=10954455)), there is room for debate

Brilliant energy weapons seem to require a bit of DM adjudication even under the best of circumstances. For instance:
1) Can a Brilliant Energy weapon sunder or disarm another weapon? (using the strict RAW interpretations above, it would appear that Brilliant Energy weapons are treated like any other weapon in this respect since the Brilliant Energy rules make no special allowances in this areas).
2) Can a Brilliant Energy weapon be sundered or disarmed by a normal weapon?
3) What if you had an armor or shield bonus from living material (say, an ogre using two-weapon defense while wielding gnomes).
4) Does DR from armor count?
5) How does Brilliant Energy interact with a tower shield
6) Can you attack someone blindly through full cover (say, with a Brilliant Energy spiked chain?)
etc.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
NeueRegel 06-14-07, 12:40 PM	A radiant weapon ignores the Armor bonus including magic + of magic armor, but did anybody ever find out if magical armor that also has the special ability of fortification is still "fortifying" against critical hits, despite the fact that it's otherwise being ignored by the radiant weapon? Neue
tarkin 06-14-07, 01:01 PM	It ignores the AC, it does NOT cancel out all other magical properties of the armor. Fortification is expressely done by a magical force field generated by the armor. It is NOT a magical enhancment to the physical armor. You can no more ignore the field than you a +1 Radiant flaming sword could ignore the Fire Resistance of a set of +1 fire resistant armor. Similarly, holding a +1 radiant weapon does not make it easier to see or hear someone wearing +1 silent moves, Shadow armor. Nor does holding one prevent your opponent using Celestial armor from flying, not even if you hit him with it.
NeueRegel 06-14-07, 01:05 PM	Thanks Tarkin. I'd been leaning that way myself. It's sort of a gray area about force fields though, because apparently the radiant weapon "does ignore" the force field created by bracers of armor because it's an armor bonus. Neue
Jeriaus 06-14-07, 02:04 PM	A brilliant energy weapon only ignores nonliving matter. Bracers of Armor has a Force effect, and as such is not ingnored. Now if Radiant is a new enhancement ignore this.
NeueRegel 06-14-07, 02:08 PM	I did in fact mean brilliant. I swear, I can't stop calling it radiant for some reason, I've been making the mistake for years, since 3.5 came out. Some sort of mental block of mine. Neue
mvincent 06-14-07, 02:12 PM	A brilliant energy weapon only ignores nonliving matter. Bracers of Armor has a Force effect, and as such is not ingnored.You might possibly be confused with the ruling for incorporeal touch attacks. By RAW Brilliant Energy bypasses magical forces like mage armor, bracers of armor, ring of force shield and the shield spell. fwiw: I use tarkin's ruling, but (as evidenced by the plethora of threads about this: here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11687535), here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=744049) and here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=10954455)), there is room for debate Brilliant energy weapons seem to require a bit of DM adjudication even under the best of circumstances. For instance: 1) Can a Brilliant Energy weapon sunder or disarm another weapon? (using the strict RAW interpretations above, it would appear that Brilliant Energy weapons are treated like any other weapon in this respect since the Brilliant Energy rules make no special allowances in this areas). 2) Can a Brilliant Energy weapon be sundered or disarmed by a normal weapon? 3) What if you had an armor or shield bonus from living material (say, an ogre using two-weapon defense while wielding gnomes). 4) Does DR from armor count? 5) How does Brilliant Energy interact with a tower shield 6) Can you attack someone blindly through full cover (say, with a Brilliant Energy spiked chain?) etc.