Can someone explain energy explosion to me. And perhaps give an example? A friend and I have been trying to figure it out. I just can't seem to make sense of it the way it is written in the rules. Somehow my characters always seem to do less damage using it than they do without.

Thanks,
Jones

so you don't understand EE at all? its just an excercise in adjacency. you declare a ranged combat action. you make a ranged combat attack to your target/s. after a successful hit, the target and any character adjacent to the attack takes damage equal to the number of times ther were hit.

about the lower damage thing, usually you don't do as much unless there are three or more bunched up and you can tripple target them. fun with armor piercing, though.

Hey, welcome to HCRealms! I see this is your first post. Nice to see HC virgins getting into the game. Great to have you here as this is a great community.

See the image I have attached at the conclusion of this post. In the below example, the only character that has a damage reducing power, in this case Toughness, is S18. The numbers after the letter is the Defense Value of that figure.

Key:

• EE - Character with Energy, , 10 Attack Value.
• T15, T17 - Targets that are being targeted.
• S16, S18 - Targets that may be hit twice by 'splash damage'. S18 has the Toughness power.
• A14, A19 - Targets that may be hit once by 'splash' damage.
• Pink Dot - Character that will not be affected by the EE attack.

Here is how, in the proper situations, Energy Explosion be very useful.

Character EE declares that he is going to use Energy Explosion, utilizing this to target both T15 and T17.

Also remember that all damage dealt by Energy Explosion is resolved as one attack, i.e. times hit by the attack + splash damage would be dealt together, and not separate.

Character EE makes his Attack Roll. The result of the dice roll is 8. 10 + 8 = 18.

Character now compares his Attack Roll to the two targets and to all adjacent figures to the targets.

He successfully hits all targets, with the exception of A19, since he has a 19 Defensive Value, he missed by 1.

Now to assign damage. Since damage dealt is 1 for each time the target and adjacent figs are hit, you must determine how many times each character was hit.

Since T15 and T17 are adjacent to each other, they both take 2 damage. One for being hit, and one for the 'splash' damage that crosses over.

S18 is hit twice since he's adjacent to both T15 and T17 for two damage. But remember, S18 has Toughness, which reduces damage dealt by 1, hence S18 only takes 1 click of damage.

S16 his twice since he's adjacent to T15 and T17. In effect, he's dealt 2 damage.

A14 his hit by once by 'splash' damage, so he is dealt 1 damage, since he is adjacent to T15.

As stated earlier, A19 was not hit, because the Attack Roll was 18, and he has a 19 Defense Value.

The pink figure was out of range of the attack since he's not adjacent to either of the two original targets.

You just dealt a total of 8 damage. So you can see that in the right circumstances, Energy Explosion can be a very useful power. I hope this answers your question and helps you out.

Again, welcome to the game!

What visibleninja said brought up a question in my own mind.

In the past the PAC explicitly stated that the attack against the initial target had to succeed in order to deal the splash. The way it's worded now leaves doubt in my mind as to whether or not a success against the original target is necessary for splash. An argument could be made for the implicit necessity of success, but an equal argument could be made for the sentance in question to be equivalent to, "Also compare the attack roll to the defense value of each character adjacent to a target of the attack to determine if the attack succeeds against it."

The player's guide didn't shed any light on this question; was there a RA post about this ever post FF?

Great explanation VGA.

Here's a couple of added tidbits that might come up:

You can roll Super Senses for the splash damage and if you are the original target. You can't roll Shape Change for the splash damage but can if you are the original target.

You can Mastermind splash damage and since all damage happens at the same time this will increase the damage dealt by EE. Let's say that in the above picture by VGA T17 has Mastermind and he uses it to transfer the damage to S18 (who had Toughness) who is now dealt a total of 4 damage (2 from splash + 2 from Mastermind) which he then reduces by 1 and takes 3 clicks of damage.

Yes there was, and you still do need to hit the first guy first.

Awesome. Thanks, Harpua!

The same thing crossed my mind as well awhile back as well. But for the 'splash' damage to occur, the original target(s) must hit. The wording should be changed to be more clear.

In the Player's Guide there is nothing to clarify the confusing wording either.

Thank you. That helps a lot. That is how we have been figuring it but have had it explained differently at times. Someone told us that a character who is hit by the splash damage is by definition being hit so then anyone adjacent to them becomes hit and so on. Setting off a chain reaction. This didn't make sense to me and I doubted it so I thought I would just ask here and have it clarified.

Jones

No problem. I'm always glad to help. Yep, it is true, that the characters who receive splash damage are hit in the attack as well, but they aren't targeted. So certain defensive powers and team abilities can't be used by them to avoid the attack. However, the targets themselves can use the powers and Team Abilities to avoid attacks; e.g. a target makes his Super Senses roll, this would mean that the adjacent figures wouldn't be hit either.

Thanks to everyone who responded to the original question (I'm the friend referred to.) We had another situation with Energy Explosion last night, and I'm looking for a clarification.

I'm fighting against the Cloak & Dagger double figure. This figure has two lightning bolts, it is a double figure, and it has energy explosion. Now, I'm guessing that since it has the duo attack ability, they can each make ranged combat attacks targeting two different figures.

However, can they both make energy explosion attacks? That is, can the figure make two ranged EE attacks, then will the duo attack ability allow for two more EE attacks?

I'm guessing no because it requires a power action to make a duo attack, and it requires an action to make an EE attack. Therefore, each figure could make regular ranged attacks at two target figures, or they could make one EE attack, but attacking two different targets because of their lightning bolts.

At least, that's what I'm thinking.

Thanks!

Ed

DUO ATTACK Give this character a power action to make a duo attack. It makes two separate attacks against opposing characters as free actions (making two separate attack rolls). These attacks can be close combat attacks or ranged combat attacks (ranged combat attacks can have only a single target). Resolve the first attack before making the second; this character’s damage value is modified by –1 for the second attack, to a minimum damage value of 1. If this character is defeated as a result of the first attack in a duo attack, the second attack is not made.

ENERGY EXPLOSION Give this character a ranged combat action; this attack can target only characters. Compare the result of the attack roll to the defense value of each character adjacent to a target of the attack to determine if the attack also succeeds against it. Each character successfully hit is dealt damage equal to the number of times it was hit by this attack (characters adjacent to multiple targets might be hit more than once by this attack). A critical hit with this attack automatically hits the target(s) of the attack and any characters adjacent to the target(s), and deals 1 additional damage to all characters hit. If a character successfully evades, it evades all hits by this attack.

You are mostly right. Duo attack is incompatible with EE for the reason you said. Duo needs a Power action to activate, and only gives 2 attacks as free actions (You need a Ranged Combat Action to use EE)
So the Duo fig could make a single EE attack with two targets because of the .

Or you can use a Duo attack. Which could be 2 Close combat attacks, 2 Ranged combat attacks, or one of each. But remember that because of the Bolded bit in the Duo attack description that any Ranged attack can only target one figure per attack even if the figure has .

Tarnish