Question (Potential Breaking Combo)

[Mort_Q]

Except when the enemy uses it

True. That's the number one anti-Munchkin DM tactic... anything you come up with, your Nemesis will get wind of. Don't get too clever.

 

[Runestar]

True, it is not as if only the players can come up with effective party setups and potent combinations of tactics...

 

[Stalker0]

It does say "spaces", but it's contrary to how the term is used elsewhere; everywhere else discussing difficult terrain defines "squares of difficult terrain", not "spaces of difficult terrain". And "space" is used to refer to collections of squares: "A creature is considered to occupy the square or squares within its space", "An ogre takes up a space 2 squares by 2 squares", "shift so your space includes at least one square the target just left", and so on.

-Hyp.

While I agree from a balance standpoint that the blade barrier should only damage once, this interpretation here doesn't work well with the exception based rules design. Exception based basically says that that X can work this way 99 times out of 100, but in this it works differently.

So even if squares is defined in many other places, the fact it it is also defined in the blade barrier description, and as such the more specific example takes precedence.

 

[Arbitrary]

True. That's the number one anti-Munchkin DM tactic... anything you come up with, your Nemesis will get wind of. Don't get too clever.

Heh.

If moving from square to square inside a Blade Barrier causes damage, and you don't have to leave it and then re-enter it to take immediate damage, why bother with any multiclassing at all? Set up a Blade Barrier, spend an action point, and use Command to force the enemy to move 5 or 6 squares up and down it.

If there is anything about 4th edition that is broken it seems to be this. I was already plotting out characters utilizing hazards + forced movement thinking I'd have to move an enemy in and back out and then back in again. If I can just make a damaging zone and slide someone along it the game is going to get a whole ton more fatal.

 

[Andur]

Still don't think you can yo-yo SLIDE anyone. Slide clearly states you can move them in any Direction, not Directions.

I'm with Hyper on this one BTW. Specific > General cannot apply to definers or keywords, and it is impossible for an object to occupy multiple spaces. It is either in a space or it is not. If they wanted teh Blade Barrier or Wall of Fire to do damage for every square moved within, that is what they would have put.

 

[Danceofmasks]

You can't pluralise direction in that sentence without breaking english.
Its use in that context isn't singular, it's a category. E.g. The food you eat; The money you earn

 

[ST]

No way do creatures take damage for each square of Blade Barrier they were pushed through. That's just treating it like the 3.x spell (which in my experience was such a CoDzilla thing). I'd have to say it's an AOE power, you spent the turn in the AOE, you take the damage once.

I don't have any problem with CustServ, but they're the Betty Crocker "how to bake a cake" hotline, and I don't trust them with stuff like this. I'm sorry but that just sounds like the CS guy just took a stab at it.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Still don't think you can yo-yo SLIDE anyone. Slide clearly states you can move them in any Direction, not Directions.

This distinguishes it from Push and Pull.

When you Pull, there is a restriction on the direction you can move the target: each square you pull him must move him closer to you.

When you Push, there is a restriction on the direction you can move the target: each square you pull him must move him further from you.

When you Slide, there is no restriction on the direction you can move the target. It's not a requirement that each square you slide him must move him closer to you, nor is it a requirement that each square you slide him must move him further from you.

In the same way that the restriction on the direction you can Pull or Push a creature applies to each square of movement, the lack of restriction on the direction you can Slide a creature applies to each square of movement.

-Hyp.

 

[Goumindong]

Space refers to the area of the AoE. Wall is an AoE type, a monster would only take more instances if they entered then left then entered the space again. Which is possible with clever positioning.With a wall 5-8 you could do it twice, with 9-12, 3 times, with 13 4. At least, on a single turn.

The only other way to abuse this is with large AoEs and the epic wizard feat. Take a spell like necrotic web, or really any other large zone spell and put "murderholes" in it. The sole purpose of these holes is to push and pull enemies through them to trigger the "enter the zone" condition.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Umm, if you start on a diagonal with the mob you're pushing, you can push them in a zig zag along the blade barrier .. each square you push them into is further away than the previous? check.