Detailed sequence for an attack

[deleteme123456]

Sure, wizards could have done this, but hey, that would be... well... out-of-character for them. They're chaotic, and this is the realm of lawful.

I sat down, partly for personal amusement, partly for trying to figure out the rules before someone in the party comes up with some crazy unexpected combination of powers that leaves us scratching our heads for 30 minutes, and partly just to see if it could be done, and wrote out a draft of what I thought all the steps in making an attack were.

Sure, I could just look at PH 2xx or whatever, but that's not nearly enough detail, and it's very ambiguous when you start talking about triggers (more than half the steps here involve them).

So, I'm posting what I have and asking for feedback. The goal is NOT to define what an attack is (I have no intention of starting that holy war) but to define "given that we are making an attack, how do we proceed, and when are the correct times for triggers to fire?" I'm trying to stick to RAW as much as possible, but willing to fudge it if it becomes obvious that RAW simply leaves too many holes.

THE SEQUENCE (in greater detail than you hope you ever need)

1. Declare attack:
   1. Identify power being used
   2. Identify target(s) of power and/or the origin square and area of effect for burst/blast powers
      1. It is not impossible that there could exist a power which changes the area of effect as a reaction, something like "immediate reaction to being targeted by an area or close power, exclude your square and squares in a close burst 1 around you from the effect"; this is adequately covered by step 2
   3. Identify additional powers/properties being used as part of this power such as which weapon or implement you are using (most of the time this should be obvious)
2. Interrupts*, Opportunity*, No actions, and Free actions that trigger on "makes an attack" or "is targeted by an attack" occur.
3. Follow only the step(s) for your attack type:
   1. (AREA and CLOSE) Roll damage. No action and Free action powers that trigger on a "damage roll" or any "roll" may be used.
   2. (AREA and CLOSE) Roll attack against valid target of your choice within burst or blast which has not been previously targeted by this use of the power.
   3. (MELEE and RANGED) Roll attack and damage against valid target of your choice within range/reach which has not been previously targeted the maximum number of allowable times by this power. No action and Free action powers that trigger on a "damage roll" or any "roll" may be used.
4. No action and Free action powers that trigger on an "attack roll" or any "roll" may be used (generally, unless the power explicitly states you must use it before you know if the attack hits, you should wait until step 6).
5. Determine if attack hits. (The target must still be a valid target, within range/reach/area of effect, you must have line of effect to it, you may require line of sight to it, and your attack roll plus all applicable modifiers must meet or exceed its defense.)
6. No action and Free action powers that trigger on an "attack roll" or any "roll" may be used, unless the power explicitly states you must use it before you know if the attack hits. If any are used, return to step 5.
   
7. Interrupts*, No action, and Free actions that trigger on "is hit / missed by an attack" occur. If any are used, return to step 5.
8. If applicable, deal damage and impose conditions. (Actions taken by the enemy in steps 6 or 7 may have invalidated it as a target, changed a hit into a miss, redirected the damage, etc.)
9. Reactions*, No action, and Free actions that trigger on "is hit / missed by an attack" or "takes damage" occur. Other similar triggers, such as "becomes bloodied" "is reduced to 0 HP" "dies" etc. also trigger here, and Immediate, No, and Free action powers keying on those triggers may be used.
10. Follow only the step for your attack type:
    1. (AREA and CLOSE) If there are any valid targets left in the burst or blast, return to step 3b.
    2. (MELEE and RANGE) If the power has additional targets/uses left, return to step 3c.

* Immediate and Opportunity Actions can't be used on your own turn.

 

[the Jester]

Out of curiosity, do you really feel that you need something like this?

It seems like you want to make this extremely rules-explicit, in which case you might want to insert verbiage to the effect that you cannot use immediate actions on your own turn, otherwise the interrupt and reaction stuff in your post is a little bit misleading.

 

[deleteme123456]

With the players in our group, we just might need this. It's definitely better to have it, IMO, and never have to use it, then not have it. I suppose a general note that IA's or OA's can't be used on your own turn could be placed at the top, since I suppose the argument that "everyone knows that" is somewhat counter to the explicit detail of the list.

 

[NMcCoy]

As I understand it, Reactions (except for reactions to movement) should go after the entire power has been resolved, not just one attack of that power.