Looking for help understanding a specific Ranger Power

[mysticknight232]

This is a Ranger Sharpshooter PP lvl 11 power. I'm trying to understand how this power works since "flavor text is not rules text" as noted by another enworld poster (great line btw). I'm trying to understand...am i making a ranged attack for my primary attack? am i literally using my arrow as a melee weapon and stabbing my enemy? This is obviously important for OA against me since the range is Melee 1.

The way i read it is despite it being a melee 1 attack and despite the flavor text, i assume the actual attack against the primary target is a ranged attack with a range of Melee 1 as well as a ranged attack against the secondary target. If i hit with my first attack, then he's dazed and cannot make an OA against me anyway. But if i miss, i will grant an OA on my secondary attack. Is this a correct understanding?

Stab and Shoot

You drive your arrow into an adjacent enemy, pull it out, load it, and fire it at another foe.
Encounter

Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee 1
Requirement: You must be wielding a bow or a crossbow.
Primary Target: One creature
Primary Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and the target is dazed until the end of your turn. Make a secondary attack.
Secondary Target: One creature other than the primary target in weapon range
Secondary Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
First published in Martial Power.

 

[Saagael]

The primary attack is at a range of melee 1. Melee attacks do not provoke OAs, thus, the primary attack does not provoke an OA.*

The secondary attack only occurs if you hit with the primary attack. No need to worry about provoking on your secondary attack if you miss with the primary, as it doesn't occur then

*Range is defined two ways. There's the range of a weapon, then there's the range of a power. The range of the longbow is 20/40, which means you can attack anything within 20 squares, and anything between 21 and 40 with a -2 penalty to the attack. Melee 1 is the range of the power. Since the bow can hit an enemy within melee 1, there is no problem.

 

[Aulirophile]

You read the power correctly, it is just shoot at melee 1, and melee powers do not provoke.

 

[Samir]

✦ Provoke Opportunity Attacks: If you use a ranged
power while adjacent to an enemy, that enemy can
make an opportunity attack against you.

RAW, you can't provoke OAs on either attack, because the power is not a Ranged power and thus does not provoke OAs.

Personally, I'd houserule that the second attack provokes OAs from other enemies that are adjacent and not dazed, for the same reason that I'd houserule that Nimble Strike doesn't provoke an OA if you take the shift away before you make the attack. (RAW, Nimble Strike provokes as soon as you use it, but I don't believe this was the RAI, and so I choose not to play it that way.)

 

[CovertOps]

RAW, you can't provoke OAs on either attack, because the power is not a Ranged power and thus does not provoke OAs.

Personally, I'd houserule that the second attack provokes OAs from other enemies that are adjacent and not dazed, for the same reason that I'd houserule that Nimble Strike doesn't provoke an OA if you take the shift away before you make the attack. (RAW, Nimble Strike provokes as soon as you use it, but I don't believe this was the RAI, and so I choose not to play it that way.)

This. I think it's implicit that the secondary attack is a "Ranged" power and provokes (since it specifies "within weapon range"). Since the primary target will be dazed, only other adjacent enemies will be able to attack you.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

The way i read it is despite it being a melee 1 attack and despite the flavor text, i assume the actual attack against the primary target is a ranged attack with a range of Melee 1

No, it's just a melee attack made with a ranged weapon. Normally you can't do that, but exception based design and all. So you make a melee attack with your bow, so the first part doesn't provoke.

The second part technically should have the same keywords as the first unless the power says otherwise. Which would mean that you make a melee attack within 20 squares (or whatever your bow is). But I think the RAI is that the second part is a ranged attack, and that the designers just didn't specify clearly.

If i hit with my first attack, then he's dazed and cannot make an OA against me anyway. But if i miss, i will grant an OA on my secondary attack. Is this a correct understanding?

If you miss with the first attack, there is no second attack. The secondary attack is part of a hit line, not listed as an Effect line. So the second attack only happens if the first hits (so, the first guy is dazed unless there's something screwy involved).

 

[mysticknight232]

Thanks guys, that really helps clarify the power. Since i was wielding a bow, i totally looked past the fact that this is a melee 1 power and melee attacks don't provoke OAs. sometimes it's the little things that you miss which make the biggest difference.

 

[Samir]

The second part technically should have the same keywords as the first unless the power says otherwise. Which would mean that you make a melee attack within 20 squares (or whatever your bow is). But I think the RAI is that the second part is a ranged attack, and that the designers just didn't specify clearly.

I don't think that the designers didn't specify clearly; I think it's just a limitation of the power format that secondary and tertiary attacks share the attack type of the primary attack, and that the attack types "Melee" and "Ranged" actually themselves say nothing about the range of the attack.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

I don't think that the designers didn't specify clearly; I think it's just a limitation of the power format that secondary and tertiary attacks share the attack type of the primary attack, and that the attack types "Melee" and "Ranged" actually themselves say nothing about the range of the attack.

But they could have specified more clearly: "Make a secondary attack that is a Ranged weapon attack" and similar lines appear in other powers.

 

[Samir]

But they could have specified more clearly: "Make a secondary attack that is a Ranged weapon attack" and similar lines appear in other powers.

This would be better, but they don't seem to follow this template. I am looking for a power with a secondary attack that mentions a different attack type than the primary attack, but I am not finding one as you described. Could you give an example so I can compare?