How to Explain Evasion?

[drnuncheon]

SAY WHAT!?

Haven't you ever watched an action movie? Die Hard? Predator?

As long as you make a heroic leap into the air, the explosion can't hurt you.

J

 

[Piratecat]

You have... SEEN them??? OMG!

Our old apartment had a really crappy stove.

 

[shilsen]

Simple explanation - the character with the evasion ability is special. Just like the 1st lvl guy who takes a dive off a 50 ft building and walks away from it.

 

[Sheng Long Gradilla]

If you check the documentation carefully, you will see that Evasion is labeledas "Ex" (Extraordinary ability). Now, if you look for the information about what Extraordinary abilities are, you find this:

Extraordinary Abilities: These abilities cannot be disrupted in combat, as spells can, and they generally do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Effects or areas that negate or disrupt magic have no effect on extraordinary abilities. They are not subject to dispelling, and they function normally in an antimagic field. Indeed, extraordinary abilities do not qualify as magical, though they may break the laws of physics.

That's it.

 

[Kilroy]

How do you explain a character taking no damage (with evasion) when in the centre of a blast radius?



For example, a barren stone room with no obstructions. A fireball goes off, centred on the character. How does the character evade without moving from the centre of the radius? Same thing with a large gas cloud attack.



It's really a stretch of the imagination to explain how a character managed to avoid the attack entirely.



Thoughts?

It's a magic, don't require real world physics to avoid it.

At the end of a near epic level game, I once had a character evade a point blank retributive strike by pinching his nose, covering his eyes, making his reflex save and leaving a blast shadow on the wall.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I guess there is no good answer.

I know a good one word answer: Anaprop.

 

[Storyteller01]

Haven't you ever watched an action movie? Die Hard? Predator?

As long as you make a heroic leap into the air, the explosion can't hurt you.

J

Gotcha!!

 

[rbingham2000]

My explanation for this is that the character sees the attack coming from a mile off and hauls it out of range or behind available cover before it hits.

Or if he's the type to use a shield, he could be very good at positioning it so that it bears the brunt of the effect (why did NONE OF YOU mention shields?! )

 

[TheEvil]

Or if he's the type to use a shield, he could be very good at positioning it so that it bears the brunt of the effect (why did NONE OF YOU mention shields?! )

Ahem! If I may direct your attention to Theory #2 as posted above...

Theory #2:

Much like the 'push aside with cloak' theory Zephalon postulated, rogues are simply better at using all available cover of any kind. MUCH better. Even if they happen to be holding that cover.

The fact I didn't mention the shield by name is balanced by the fact that few classes with Evasion are proficient with shields. So Nyah!

 

[Plane Sailing]

I know a good one word answer: Anaprop.

Why Plane, why are you using a big word like that?

I think the analogy with radar is important. We tend to think of radar sweeping the whole sky, and your best chance of getting past it is going "under the radar" by keeping real low. Actually there are ways of getting past the radar without going real low which take advantage of anomalous propagation - the fact that radar doesn't uniformly fill its volume of effect.

Before "evasion" it was common to think of fireball as uniformly filling its volume, just as if the air had been turned into fiery fluid within its boundaries. That doesn't have to be the case though - it may be more reasonable to assume that the area is suddenly filled with a roiling mass of flames, and during it's instantaneous duration there are pockets of greater or lesser temperature. The rogue or monk is then adroit at taking advantage of this non-uniform propagation of the flame within the fireball.

It is an answer that makes sense to me in terms of the rules, in terms of visuals and even, dare I say it, in terms of some kind of physics

Cheers