Friday, July 01, 2011

Touch attack for C&C - my rules

This came up on our message boards, so I thought I would address my take here.

The touch attack mean that X has to touch Y for effect Z to occur. That means that X simply has to reach out and touch the recipient with a hand, finger, tentacle or other and the effect takes place. This is different than hitting someone and delivering damage with a sword.

As such, the basic Armor Class for the recipient of a touch attack is 10. This can be modified by their dexterity bonus if they are trying to avoid the attack.The AC can only be enhanced by magical protection. This can be from armor or from rings or spells. The reasoning is that the creature must defeat the magic for the touch to be effective.

Armor, even full plate, covers some if not all the skin and one might argue that the touch attack must somehow pass through the armor and touch the skin. This is not the case however. The logic behind the attack is that the touch must hit the skin or that which acts as a skin - the immediate protective covering (boots, gloves or plate).

The shield lies in an ambiguous area. Its not an immediate protective extension of the skin, nor is it magical. As such, I allow it on occasion. For example, if the creature must somehow needs to grasp or make a more solid touch than just a finger brushing type effect, I allow the shield to be used for AC enhancement if, and only if, the character is dodging.

That's my take. I might read the rules and see what they say though.

Oh one other thing, if a creature needs a magically enhanced weapon to hit, they can ignore the magical enhancement of an armor if that enhancement is less than that of that needed to attack the creature.


2 comments:

Anthony Simeone said...

Hey Davis. I thought that these were the touch attack rules from the PHB. I don't have that book in front of me right now, though...

Davis Chenault said...

I think that they are. I can not be sure. I do not think I have opened the PHB to check rules (other than spells) in about 2 years. So, I really can't remember. And I don't have a book handy either. Maybe I just know our rules?

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