Lord Haart
2013-01-16, 11:38 AM
Hallo there. Hyena's fellow player here. Being the only paladin of RAW, be they good, bad or silly (especially silly), in my group and a sworn enemy of the common sense, it often falls to me to point the way-too-obvious-to-be-noticed nuances (and sometimes fail miserably by not noticing something that blocks my interpretation). Today's topic is yet one aspect of the Block and Deflect talents; namely, is there anything in RAW that tells (or even just suggests, as i can't seem to find even that) that they can only be used to block an attack that targets the blocking character?
For reference, there is the full description of "Block" talent, errata changes included:
Block: as a reaction, you may negate a melee attack by making a succesful Use the Force check. The DC of the skill check is equal to the result of the attack roll you wish to negate, and you take a cumulative -5 penalty on your Use the Force check for every time you have used Block or Deflect since the beginning of your last turn. You may use the Block talent to negate melee area attacks, such as those made by the Whirlwind Attack feat. If you succeed on the Use the Force check, you take half damage if the attack hits and no damage if the attack misses. You may spend a Force point to use this talent to negate an attack against an adjacent character. You must have a lightsaber drawn and ignited to use this talent, and you must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed.
I'm too lasy to write down the description of "Deflect" too, but they don't seem to differ in any part relevant to my question. To me it seems that requirements are pretty clear-cut: you have to have lightsaber drawn and ignited, you must be aware of attack (which already makes it impossible to abuse the reading by blocking any attack made everywhere in Galaxy, as being aware of something not in combat you're part of is relatively hard) and not be flat footed, any you must succeed on UtF check, no hint of any additional requirement. So, what do more knowledgeable than me say on the matter?
For reference, there is the full description of "Block" talent, errata changes included:
Block: as a reaction, you may negate a melee attack by making a succesful Use the Force check. The DC of the skill check is equal to the result of the attack roll you wish to negate, and you take a cumulative -5 penalty on your Use the Force check for every time you have used Block or Deflect since the beginning of your last turn. You may use the Block talent to negate melee area attacks, such as those made by the Whirlwind Attack feat. If you succeed on the Use the Force check, you take half damage if the attack hits and no damage if the attack misses. You may spend a Force point to use this talent to negate an attack against an adjacent character. You must have a lightsaber drawn and ignited to use this talent, and you must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed.
I'm too lasy to write down the description of "Deflect" too, but they don't seem to differ in any part relevant to my question. To me it seems that requirements are pretty clear-cut: you have to have lightsaber drawn and ignited, you must be aware of attack (which already makes it impossible to abuse the reading by blocking any attack made everywhere in Galaxy, as being aware of something not in combat you're part of is relatively hard) and not be flat footed, any you must succeed on UtF check, no hint of any additional requirement. So, what do more knowledgeable than me say on the matter?