Rogue Power Interpretation Help

[Rechan]

The power Jumping Blade Assault (MP2) reads like this:

Attack: Dex vs. AC
Effect: You knock the target prone.
Hit: 2[w]+Dex.

My question is, because the target is prone when you deal damage, do you get to do SA damage because they are NOW granting CA? Or does that only work if they are granting CA before you hit?

 

[Neurotrash]

That is weird. I haven't seen many effect lines that fall between the attack and the hit lines. It's a pretty badly-written power. From the flavor text (which I realize doesn't have any actual bearing) you can tell the intent was to knock people down and then stab them (presumably with combat advantage).

The way I'd probably rule that is you don't have combat advantage for the attack roll (so no +2), but you can deal your SA damage if you hit.

Although...Sneak Attack says "when you have combat advantage against an enemy and hit that enemey with an attack"...which could be interpreted to mean that you have to have CA before you make the attack roll...but that's plainly not what the power intends...

 

[Dice4Hire]

I'd be tempted to pre-errata the Effect line below the hit line were it seems to belong.

 

[twilsemail]

I'd be tempted to pre-errata the Effect line below the hit line were it seems to belong.

I'd be tempted to do the opposite (put the Effect before the Attack). That seems to be the intent of the power.

"You deliver a flying kick to the face of your foe, knocking it to the ground. You then plunge your blade into its vitals."

 

[MrMyth]

Yeah, this is poorly written. My guess would be that the prone was intended to be reliant on the attack, rather than automatic.

Thus: You attack an opponent. If you hit, they get knocked to the ground, and then you get to deal damage "to the vitals", ie, with sneak attack.

Now, the order of operations here (Hit; Effect; Damage) is actually just fine, mechanically. The problem is that Sneak Attack triggers on hitting with Combat Advantage, as Neurotrash notes. So the power doesn't actually work as intended, and the effect of knocking prone doesn't quite mesh with how the power seems to want to operate.

Here would be two possible ways to write it, instead:

Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: 2[w]+Dex, and the target is knocked prone. You may apply Sneak Attack damage on this attack even if you did not have Combat Advantage before the attack.

or:

Effect: You knock the target prone.
Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: 2[w]+Dex.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'd be tempted to do the opposite (put the Effect before the Attack). That seems to be the intent of the power.

This is what I'd do too. The fact that they intentionally put the Effect before the Hit tells me something important. (Especially considering they haven't told us via errata that it was written incorrectly in the first place.) The only reason to put the Effect before the Hit would be to indicate that you do in fact knock the enemy prone before rolling damage, and thus when rolling damage you now have combat advantage and get to add in Sneak Attack.

If the power was not meant to do this... they would have written it the same way they do most of the other powers... Hit: 2(W) + Dex and knock enemy prone.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Effect: You knock the target prone.
Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: 2[w]+Dex.

But wouldn't this then indicate that you'd get to gain Combat Advantage for the Attack roll too? So not only do you gain Sneak Attack damage on the Hit line, but you also gain a +2 to the attack roll on the Attack line because of CA. And it doesn't seem like that was the intention of the power.

Your first method of writing does certainly give you the effect that I think they were looking for, however.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I think you may be reading too deeply into this power. I think it does exactly what it says it does
1: knocks the target prone
2: deals damage

I'm pretty sure if the intent was to give Combat Advantage, it wouls say in the damage section "+ sneak attack damage".

 

[RigaMortus2]

Let me take a stab at this (no pun intended...) How about this:

Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: You knock the target prone.
Secondary Attack
Target: Creature you knocked prone with this power
Effect: 2[w]+Dex.

OR

Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: You knock the target prone.
Secondary Attack
Trigger: You knock a creature prone with this power
Effect: Target you knocked prone with this power takes 2[w] + Dex damage.

 

[jimmifett]

I think you may be reading too deeply into this power. I think it does exactly what it says it does
1: knocks the target prone
2: deals damage

I'm pretty sure if the intent was to give Combat Advantage, it wouls say in the damage section "+ sneak attack damage".

Actually, the way powers are conceptually modeled in thier XML, having the Effect line before the Hit line, it lends more towards attack, knock prone, deal dmg vs prone target, thus you have combat advantage and can use sneak attack against the prone target.

It makes a big difference.