[ED4] Same spell multiple times on one target - what happens?

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ChrisDDickey
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Re: [ED4] Same spell multiple times on one target - what happens?

Post by ChrisDDickey » Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:48 pm

Lursi wrote:
Wed Jun 05, 2019 9:10 pm
Does this also count for a group of 7 Elementarists all casting a fireball at mister bad guy in the same round? So only the highest damage is counted and the rest discarded?
I was going to say no, with Mind Daggers, Fireballs, etc. The damage duration is usually considered an instant effect, it is only the Partial Blindness and the Defense Penalties that have a multi-round duration, thus the damages stack, but the penalties do not.

But then I remembered that the rules list no "Instant" duration effects. Every spell says it lasts at least one round. Thus an argument could be made that since all spells last until at least the end of the round they were cast, and since spells don't stack, the rules as written could be interpreted that only the "biggest" instance of each spell can affect any one person. Only the biggest fireball and/or the most damaging Mind Dagger do damage, with the lessor successful castings of duplicate spells that strike the same target being discarded.

Bare in mind that I know of nobody who has ever even considered playing that way, but now that you point it out, the way it is written could support that interpretation. But I am pretty sure that most people play that damage stacks and it is only penalties and bonuses that don't stack.
Last edited by ChrisDDickey on Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Mataxes
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Re: [ED4] Same spell multiple times on one target - what happens?

Post by Mataxes » Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:45 am

The stacking rules and limits don't apply to damage*, because the damage is not an ongoing effect (the way penalties or bonuses are).

* Unless otherwise noted -- it would be fair to rule that an ongoing area-effect damage (like, say Blizzard Sphere) doesn't stack with multiple uses.
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Lursi
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Re: [ED4] Same spell multiple times on one target - what happens?

Post by Lursi » Mon Jun 17, 2019 7:30 pm

Oh, why not allowing the hero to cast multiple instances...

... there is just one problem... multiple instances of the same spell on the same target create resonance in astral space. Resonance attracts attention...

So for each additional instance he needs 1 success more and failure triggers the same effect as raw magic.

Just spinning ideas. Have to try rule rule.

Lets allow things, but give them a good price...
Of all things I lost, sanity I held dearest.

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