Shaman questions

[Mengu]

Some shaman questions:

1. When the spirit companion moves, does it provoke opportunity attacks?

2. "The spirit can be targeted by melee or ranged attacks." Does this mean the spirit can't be targeted by area or close attacks?

3. If I use healing spirit on an ally adjacent to my spirit, and apply the 1d6 healing to another ally adjacent to my spirit, do both allies benefit from the protector spirit spirit boon?

 

[Akaiku]

1: I think so.
2: Yes it does, helpful, no?
3: You are using a healing power on them, so it looks like it.

 

[Eldorian]

Some shaman questions:

1. When the spirit companion moves, does it provoke opportunity attacks?

2. "The spirit can be targeted by melee or ranged attacks." Does this mean the spirit can't be targeted by area or close attacks?

3. If I use healing spirit on an ally adjacent to my spirit, and apply the 1d6 healing to another ally adjacent to my spirit, do both allies benefit from the protector spirit spirit boon?

1. Sure.

2. Sure.

3. Not so sure.

Spirit Boon: Any ally adjacent to your spirit companion regains additional hit points equal to your Constitution modifier when he or she uses second wind or when you use a healing power on him or her.

I don't know if gaining the d6 healing counts as you using a healing power on them. They aren't the target. Needs clarification.

 

[FadedC]

Actually I'm not so sure about the spirit provoking an AoO. My understanding is that it's just a conjuration like a flaming sphere and not an actual creature. I'm just going by the information provided on the delve characters though.

 

[Bolongo]

Actually I'm not so sure about the spirit provoking an AoO. My understanding is that it's just a conjuration like a flaming sphere and not an actual creature. I'm just going by the information provided on the delve characters though.

Unlike a conjuration, though, it can be attacked and affected.

I assume that if someone wanted to take a swipe at a flaming sphere that was rolling past, they could. It just wouldn't accomplish anything.

 

[Wepwawet]

2. "The spirit can be targeted by melee or ranged attacks." Does this mean the spirit can't be targeted by area or close attacks?

Do you people really think that this means that the spirit CAN'T be targeted by area or close attacks?
IMHO that's nonsense and so not RAI...
I don't think they need to explicitly say that it can be targeted by area or close attacks... For me that line only says that it can be targeted (unlike conjurations). And that's it.

 

[radja]

area attacks don't target creatures, they target areas. you then roll for anything that happens to be in the area, invisible, hidden or otherwise out of sight. there's no need for specific targeting.

 

[fissionessence]

area attacks don't target creatures, they target areas. you then roll for anything that happens to be in the area, invisible, hidden or otherwise out of sight. there's no need for specific targeting.

I disagree. Close and area attacks say:

Close blast 5
Targets: Each enemy in blast

or

Area burst 2
Targets: Each creature in burst

There is a target line, designating the targets of the power within the designated area. I will maintain that a shaman's 'pet' can't be targeted by these powers because they are conjurations, and there are no special rules saying that they can be targeted; there is such a rule allowing these conjurations to be targeted by melee or ranged attacks only.

~

 

[Mengu]

So I'm hearing mixed opinions here. I'll try to expand on why I'm asking these questions to begin with and maybe we'll go from there.

1. The spirit companion does not normally provide a flank, but it does have an opportunity action. It's obviously not counted as a normal creature. That's why I thought it might not provoke opportunity attacks, though since it can be attacked by melee attacks, it stands to reason they could provoke opportunity attacks.

2. We have feats and the like, that specifically say "if you are hit by an area or close burst," or "you gain a bonus against ranged, area, and close attacks." So it seems they used "melee and ranged" to specifically refer to those two kinds of attacks, but I didn't want to be pulling a fast one, reading rules too literally. The reason for eliminating close and area attack damage I think is because they didn't want the druid potentially taking damage twice from the same attack (sort of like old Shield Other).

3. Comparing the boon to Healer's Lore, the difference in wording seemed deliberate, so I was thinking the bonus might not apply to the secondary target, though they are essentially picked as a target after the first target, and so you are using your power on them too.

I seem to be able to defend both sides of the argument for 1 and 3. For 2, I'm fairly certain "melee and ranged" means exactly those two kinds of attacks, but I'd like to hear more thoughts on how you think RAW should work on all of these.

 

[FadedC]

Unlike a conjuration, though, it can be attacked and affected.

I assume that if someone wanted to take a swipe at a flaming sphere that was rolling past, they could. It just wouldn't accomplish anything.

Yeah I'm not so sure about that. By the rules you definitely can't swipe at the flaming sphere, and allowing this would open up a whole new can of worms as some creatures might then be able to trigger other abilities as a result of their attack, such as the phane who would be able to shift 4 squares before or after his attack.

Ths shaman's spirit ally is definitely a conjuration like the flaming sphere, but it does have rules for attacking it. I personally don't think that means it can trigger AoOs (and in fact if that were the case t would have no way to avoid them because it is incapable of shifting). But I'll admit it's a somewhat grey area. Perhaps it will be covered in more detail somewhere.