Melee basic attack within X squares - huh?

[Ruarc]

This is probably a basic question that has been asked and answered before, but when it came up in our game I didn't know how to rule on it.

An Acidic weapon (and probably others) has the encounter power of "Make a melee basic attack with the weapon against a target within 5 squares of you."

I can't make heads or tails of that. Does it imply movement? Teleportation?

 

[Kordeth]

This is probably a basic question that has been asked and answered before, but when it came up in our game I didn't know how to rule on it.

An Acidic weapon (and probably others) has the encounter power of "Make a melee basic attack with the weapon against a target within 5 squares of you."

I can't make heads or tails of that. Does it imply movement? Teleportation?

No, it implies that you get to make a melee basic attack against a target up to five squares away instead of just one within your weapon's reach. Check out the descriptive text: "A stream of acid lashes out from this melee weapon, burning a target who might otherwise be out of reach."

 

[Ruarc]

I didn't read the descriptive text (power card though character builder), so that explains it. I don't agree that this should be a melee attack, though. It's the very definition of a ranged attack.

 

[Kordeth]

I didn't read the descriptive text (power card though character builder), so that explains it. I don't agree that this should be a melee attack, though. It's the very definition of a ranged attack.

Except that if it's a ranged basic attack it uses your Dexterity bonus, which makes the weapon nigh-on useless to most melee fighter types.

Think of it like a whip--you're getting extra reach because, hey, spurt of acid, but it's still your melee attack (swinging the weapon to make the whip arc out and melt a guy's face off) that makes it work. It's not "point sword, shoot acid."

 

[Mad Hamish]

I didn't read the descriptive text (power card though character builder), so that explains it. I don't agree that this should be a melee attack, though. It's the very definition of a ranged attack.

It's done as a melee attack so that melee classes who are using the weapon have a chance to hit with it rather than whiff air with a dex based attack.

 

[Mentat55]

It also allows you to use this in melee without provoking an opportunity attack.