Immortals Handbook - Grimoire (Artifacts, Epic Magic discussion)

[WarDragon]

He already said it would ignore hardness.

 

[Farealmer3]

1. I asked U_K
2. When i ask if adamantine would overcome tank hardness he give me DR which i guess means no, then when i asked about monoblades he says they ignore hardness which means it ignores DR thats not supernatural.

Which means he's given me a contradiction. One that needs to be addressed by Upper_Krust.

 

[dante58701]

How is that a contradiction? Ur talking about 2 different weapon types and their relation to the same material.

Adamantine can bypass 20 points of damage reduction or hardness, tank armor has a much greater damage reduction than hardness because it is layered.

A monofilament blade bypasses both damage reduction and hardness...provided they aren't magical or supernatural in nature.

How is this a contradiction? It makes perfect sense to me.

Now, if you were talking about adamantine being able to bypass 20 points of damage reduction and hardness and then suddenly it couldn't do it because someone said so...that would be a contradiction.

Are you confused about damage reduction and hardness maybe? Because they aren't the same thing, although they are related to one another.

 

[Farealmer3]

Also U_K when you get back, does an energy blade ignore supernatural DR, and is there any hardness a vibroblade can bypass?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hiya mate!

But what if you were playing, say, a Greater Deity with double Science portfolios that has Strength only adequate to wield weapons made out of 0.003% Orichalcum? What if you wanted to trade in some of your enhancement bonus budget to make your weapon a monomolecular blade or a lightsaber to increase its base damage and make it bypass hardness?

I would let a deity with one science portfolio (as yes this is something I should add to the portfolio but it then needs further explaination of Progress Levels) use weapons of +1 progress level (Chainsaws*), and those with two science portfolios +2 PL (Vibroblades)

*While mercurial weapons are indirectly +1 PL, you could say they are a new discovery and thus available (Very Rare), if not standard.

Treat average extra damage as equal to an enhancement bonus for balance.

e.g. A weapon deasling an extra +1d8 damage would need a +4 bonus.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Farealmer3 matey!

Now your confusing me, so i'll just cut to the thing thats bugging me, if a monoblade strikes a modern tank will it do /anything at all? If not how far up the tech ladder do you need to climb before a single PL6 tank isn't completely invulnirable to melee weapons not weilded by rediculusly strong people/mechs/power armor?

A monoblade could certainly damage a modern tank. Though its possible that contemporary tanks of the monoblade may have some sort of vibrating shell/layer which could disrupt the blade possibly causing it to shatter (a primitive force field of sorts).

 

[Upper_Krust]

1. I asked U_K
2. When i ask if adamantine would overcome tank hardness he give me DR which i guess means no, then when i asked about monoblades he says they ignore hardness which means it ignores DR thats not supernatural.

Which means he's given me a contradiction. One that needs to be addressed by Upper_Krust.

As dante mentioned, there is no contradiction.

Part of what makes a monoblade special (as well as an anime favourite) is that it can cut through anything...although certain force fields would disrupt it and its uncertain what happens when two monoblades collide/parry, so I imagine I would treat those as two force fields.

Supernatural Damage Reduction is magic, unless you have the specific unlocking mechanism you cannot bypass it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Also U_K when you get back, does an energy blade ignore supernatural DR,

No. But hypothetically you could make a magical energy blade that did.

e.g. a +6 lightsabre would ignore epic DR.

and is there any hardness a vibroblade can bypass?

I'd determine that a vibroblade would ignore 50% hardness.

So a vibro-axe (handaxe) dealing 3d8 (or 4d6 if you prefer) base damage would treat an Iron Golem as if it had DR 5 instead of DR 10.

 

[Farealmer3]

Part of what makes a monoblade special (as well as an anime favourite) is that it can cut through anything...although certain force fields would disrupt it and its uncertain what happens when two monoblades collide/parry, so I imagine I would treat those as two force fields.

Then why can't adamatine bypass a tanks armor?

 

[dante58701]

While it could conceivably scratch it, it couldn't bypass it because the damage reduction of a tank is greater than it's hardness rating due to layering or metal folding. It's specifically designed to be greater than the mere sum of it's parts. It's not like you're attacking a singular layer of armor when it comes to a tank. If you were, then it would be no sweat to bypass that armor.

Rather like a pointed wooden stick not being able to pierce a solid tree trunk, though remaining capable of ineffectually scratching the surface.