Barbarian Devestating Strike; does my solution make sense?

[mattcolville]

I'm building a PC for a character to run as an ally. A Barbarian. He has Devastating Strike. Basically, do lots of damage, but you're easier to hit until the end of your next turn.

Specifically; Target: One creature; Attack: Strength vs. AC; Hit: 1[W] + 1d8 + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: Until the start of your next turn, any attacker gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls against you. If you are raging, attackers do not gain this bonus.

Now the way FG2 handled this was to say: [Target] [All] TRGT; ATK:2

But as *I* read that, what that would do is give *only* the target of my attack a +2 bonus on all attack rolls against me.

But the power doesn't affect my target. It affect everyone who attacks me. Which I don't think FG2 has a notion of? Not sure.

Suspecting that it doesn't, I just changed it to; [Self] [All] DEF: -2

Because I figured...ah, same thing, isn't it? Or close enough.

Make sense?

[Fot5]

That looks right to me. You can set the expiration to START.

[mattcolville]

That looks right to me. You can set the expiration to START.

Good man. Ima do that. Thanks!

[Craw]

There are a number of powers that have several effects that require retargeting. E.G. Earthen Hail. There is a weapon attack against an individual target, followed by damage to that target and all other enemies in a Blast 3 followed by a buff to allies in a Burst 2. This requires three separate targeting actions. Target the original enemy and resolve the attack. Clear the target and then target enemies in the Blast, double click that effect. Clear the targets. Finally, target allies in the burst and double click the buff effect.

So you could use the Devastating Power effect as it parsed, you just have to resolve the initial attack and then add all the other enemies as targets before clicking the effect that grants ATK: 2. Unfortunately, FG2 does not currently distinguish between a bonus to attack value generally as opposed to a bonus against only a specific target. The work-around you used (a penalty to DEF) is not exactly the same as granting bonuses to enemies' attacks. There may be things that could target a defense that shouldn't get the bonus (environmental effects?) but it seems it would cover 90% of the situations you will likely face.

I've had to use the same thing with a bunch of the Warpriest powers. It doesn't work quite as well because some of the powers only grant the bonus to attacks against a specific target if you are within a certain range of the Warpriest when you make the attack, so lowering the target's DEF grants unintended bonuses to some of your allies.

[Griogre]

Third party targeting will probably solve some of the problems you are having. This allows you to have effects that only apply to some characters/monsters. There is not anything you can do about powers that only work based on range automatically. However you can have the player drop an informational effect to remind the player about about the bonus. IE for the Divine Oracle's Doom power I have the player dropped an effect called Doomed! on the monster to remind the others about the effect.

The important thing to realize is the order you do the steps for third party targeting depends on the power's effects and how they are written compared to the target and sometimes it may be better (easier to do / more understandable) to reverse the effects or just totally rewrite the power to reverse the target of the effect.

Mechanically the character selects the target and then holds down the shift key and then drag and drops the effect onto the characters/monsters that need it. The effect only functions between those characters/NPCs linked by being targeted and shift dropped on.

To see how this works it is best to start FG as a host and then start a second instance of FG locally and connect it to the first instance. Create an encounter and add monsters and characters. On the client version open two characters and practice. I'd suggest you learn with a power that is not a "once" one. Warlords favor is a good one because it lasts until end next so you can attack the "favored" monster and others to check its working right.

If you are doing third party targeting right there will be a notice in chat that says something like Effect ['TRGT; SomeEffect']-> [to CreatureRecievingEffect][by ChracterGivingEffect]
Because you are running two characters make sure you have the right characters active when attacking to check the effect or targeting and shift dragging the effect or things won't work right.

[Moon Wizard]

There are 2 ways to specify that an effect only applies to specific targets:

* Drag the target button next to the effect onto the creature that the effect should target. More than one creature can be targeted by an effect using this method.

* Use third party targeting.
- Use standard targeting to select the creatures you want to gain the effect.
- Hold SHIFT
- Drag the effect onto the creature that you want the new effect(s) to target.

Example From My Campaign

* The warlord hits with the "Warlord's Favor" power.
* He applies damage to the creature he hit
* He de-selects the enemy.
* He selects his ally whom he wants to grant the bonus to.
* Using SHIFT key, he drags the "ATK: 2" effect onto the enemy.

Result: The "ATK: 2" effect is added to his ally, and the effect is targeted to only that specific enemy. The ally will only receive the +2 attack bonus when attacking that enemy.

Regards,
JPG