Juggernaut
First Post
Sunder... You ask for the difference in someone trying to hit your shield, and you using your shield to block his blow. Try to picture this... I am trying to hit YOU and you throw up your shield and block my sword, hence catching it in mid swing and diverting the force of it in another direction. Then picture this... I have a pretty good feeling that you are going to throw that shield up at my sword trying to deflect my sword so instead I plan in hitting your shield as you throw it up instead of trying for you. So I am putting the full force of my blow into your shield and where it will be positioned a the exact time of my swing. So its all about where the attacker is planning on hitting and when and where he is planning on making the force of the blow. Planning on hitting the shield is obviously going to do more damage to the shield then planning on getting around the shield and "accidentily" hitting it because the defender stuck it in the way.
Initiative... Don't look at the round in the way you are looking at it. Player A does not complete all of his actions before player B starts. Player A gets the jump and starts his action a split second before player B. The six second rule means that there are six seconds from the time that each player starts their actions until the time that they start their next round's actions. Which is why the "roll initiative every round" rule doesn't really make sense.
Spellcasting... A DM I used to play for had similar concerns to yours I believe. So he interpretted the rules (or House ruled) a little differently than most I have played with. Say player A is a spellcaster he wins initiative and casts Mage Armor on himself in round 1. The other PCs and NPCs act and throughout round 1 Player A takes 4 points of damage. In round 2 player A wishes to cast Magic missile, in order to do so he must make a Concentration check with a DC of 12. He does so and hits the kobold. Round 3 comes and the spellcaster wishes to cast Magic Missile again at the kobold, in round 2 he took 2 points of damage and as he declares his intention, the kobold who held action to shoot him as he casts again hits him for 4 more points of damage as he casts the spell causing player A to make a Concentration check at DC 15.
In simpler terms, any damage that a spellcaster takes in the round prior to casting a spell counts as continuous damage listed in the PHB. I'm not saying that it is or should be as the rules are written but this is the way that a former DM treated it. I'm not saying it is perfect... or even correct, just throwing out options.
Initiative... Don't look at the round in the way you are looking at it. Player A does not complete all of his actions before player B starts. Player A gets the jump and starts his action a split second before player B. The six second rule means that there are six seconds from the time that each player starts their actions until the time that they start their next round's actions. Which is why the "roll initiative every round" rule doesn't really make sense.
Spellcasting... A DM I used to play for had similar concerns to yours I believe. So he interpretted the rules (or House ruled) a little differently than most I have played with. Say player A is a spellcaster he wins initiative and casts Mage Armor on himself in round 1. The other PCs and NPCs act and throughout round 1 Player A takes 4 points of damage. In round 2 player A wishes to cast Magic missile, in order to do so he must make a Concentration check with a DC of 12. He does so and hits the kobold. Round 3 comes and the spellcaster wishes to cast Magic Missile again at the kobold, in round 2 he took 2 points of damage and as he declares his intention, the kobold who held action to shoot him as he casts again hits him for 4 more points of damage as he casts the spell causing player A to make a Concentration check at DC 15.
In simpler terms, any damage that a spellcaster takes in the round prior to casting a spell counts as continuous damage listed in the PHB. I'm not saying that it is or should be as the rules are written but this is the way that a former DM treated it. I'm not saying it is perfect... or even correct, just throwing out options.