I got into a bit of an argument with my venue's Judge this evening over the following ruling:

A character on level 1 terrain used pulse wave to target another character also on level 1 terrain while a third character (friendly to the pulse waver) was in the area of effect, on the rim of level 2 terrain.

It was ruled that pulse wave would not hit the elevated character because pulse wave doesnt ignore elevation. My argument was that a clear line of fire was drawn because the character was on the rim so the effect of elevation wasnt even a factor.

I was overruled. Was I wrong? If so I've been playing and teaching pulse wave incorrectly for years.

You were not wrong.

I heard this amazingly handsome and charming guy wrote a full article that explained Pulse Wave... wait... I know I have it... AHH here it is: http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519913

The thing about Pulse Wave not ignoring elevation merely means it doesn't fire through squares of elevation to hit people beyond the rim. It still affects the rim as normal if the lines can be drawn legitimately to the targets.

I've been seeing/hearing a lot about judges not knowing how the game works over the last year or so. Some cases are legitimately confusing, and others are failures of basic game knowledge. This one falls somewhere in the middle, but closer to "basic game knowledge failure." You don't need to ignore Elevation to see someone on the rim of it.

Seriously though. Judges who're lacking in game knowledge is becoming an epidemic these days. I wish there was something that could be done about it.

If a character doesn't have IT: Ignores elevation, does that then mean they can't target someone on the rim of elevation, or target OFF the rim of elevation? The argument makes no sense.