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View Full Version : [3.5] Strongheart Vest v Touch of Idiocy



Vangor
2010-09-04, 12:33 AM
Wondering about how one would deal with reducing ability damage, Strongheart Vest (MoI), against multiple statistics with a single attack, Touch of Idiocy. Assuming Touch of Idiocy hits and penetrates SR, this will deal 1d6 to Wis, Int, and Cha, and Strongheart Vest will, along with the one Essentia granted by being an Azurin being invested into the soulmeld, reduce the amount of damage by two. Do any rules clarify if the ability DR applies to each statistic, or does the ADR strictly apply once per attack?

My assumption is the reduction applies for all different statistics due to a lack of rules, to my knowledge, on which statistic specifically the DR applies to or how this is determined.

As well, because I know of no others off the top of my head, do any other attacks target multiple statistics simultaneously similar to Touch of Idiocy? Can be the ability of monsters, special attacks such as maneuvers, spells, etc., from about any source actually in a 3.5 compatible book, though we rarely use outside official materials.

The Glyphstone
2010-09-04, 12:44 AM
Not that I can think of, but you could draw an analogy in that Damage Reduction versus physical damage applies separately to each of the arrows fired with a Manyshot attack. They all target the same 'stat', but it's still multiple 'attacks' as part of a single action, and the relevant defense/shield triggers for each of them.

Vangor
2010-09-04, 06:01 AM
The problem with manyshot specifically says, "Damage reduction and other resistances apply separately against each arrow fired." One could interpret this to be an exception as opposed to a rule, though rules do not seem to cover this multiple strikes from a single attack since I know of no others but the two in this thread.

Iferus
2010-09-04, 06:17 AM
I would interpret that as a clarification.

Snake-Aes
2010-09-04, 06:21 AM
Touch of Idiocy deals ability penalty, not ability damage. Strongheart Vest does not protect you against such spell. It would, for example, protect against a shivering touch.

Otherwise, damage reduction, even ability damage reduction, apply against each incoming damage separately. If your damage reduction has no sort of maximum cap (as spells usually do. Strongheart Vest doesn't), it can really just soak everything.

Pechvarry
2010-09-04, 02:30 PM
Though Five-Shadow Creeping Ice Enervating Strike can damage multiple attributes in one attack, so it's still a valid question. But yes, I can't see the logic to lumping them into one stack labeled "ability damage" and randomly Stronghearting only some of it away. It's still separate sources of damage, as surely as a flaming sword deals flaming damage and slashing.