Ground Breaker (Rage) questions

[LostGamer]

Source: Advanced Player's Guide page 76 wrote:

Ground Breaker (Rage, Ex): 6B, Once per rage, the barbarian can attack the floor around her as a standard action. This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally. If the barbarian manages to deal more damage than the floor’s hardness, the space she occupies and all of the squares adjacent to her become difficult terrain. Creatures in these squares, except the barbarian, must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be knocked prone. A barbarian must be at least 6th level to select this rage power.

So, this "Creatures in these squares must make a DC 15 Reflex save" sounds like friendly fire possible. Is that correct? as in allies in adjacent squares must also make a DC 15 reflex save?

"This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally." to what? all the "Creatures in these [adjacent] squares"? again does this also mean friendly fire possible?

and with what - the barbarian's equipped weapon of choice or unarmed? so I know what damage to calculate normally...

Thanks!

[Midnight_Angel]

LostGamer wrote:

So, this "Creatures in these squares must make a DC 15 Reflex save" sounds like friendly fire possible. Is that correct? as in allies in adjacent squares must also make a DC 15 reflex save?

Yes.

LostGamer wrote:

"This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally." to what? all the "Creatures in these [adjacent] squares"? again does this also mean friendly fire possible?

You automatically hit the floor with whatever method of attack you choose to employ. Roll damage appropriate to the attack you just used on the poor floor. This damage goes to... the floor. No one else.

Hmm... since you automatically hit the floor, a Power Attack might come in useful.

[Bascaria]

LostGamer wrote:

Source: Advanced Player's Guide page 76 wrote:

Ground Breaker (Rage, Ex): 6B, Once per rage, the barbarian can attack the floor around her as a standard action. This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally. If the barbarian manages to deal more damage than the floor’s hardness, the space she occupies and all of the squares adjacent to her become difficult terrain. Creatures in these squares, except the barbarian, must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be knocked prone. A barbarian must be at least 6th level to select this rage power.

So, this "Creatures in these squares must make a DC 15 Reflex save" sounds like friendly fire possible. Is that correct? as in allies in adjacent squares must also make a DC 15 reflex save?

"This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally." to what? all the "Creatures in these [adjacent] squares"? again does this also mean friendly fire possible?

and with what - the barbarian's equipped weapon of choice or unarmed? so I know what damage to calculate normally...

Thanks!

Dealing damage to the floor is important because you need to deal more than the floor's hardness in order for the effect to trigger.

[LostGamer]

Umm, it doesn't sound quite so interesting then.

Thanks, folks!

[Cleanthes]

Thread necromancy: Even though the title of the power is "ground breaker", does it matter that the power description talks about the floor instead of the ground? For instance, I have a bit of trouble with the idea of the barbarian smacking a dirt surface and having that make difficult terrain all over the place. A wood floor at an inn? The rock floor of a dungeon? Sure. Mushy, muddy bank of a river? I'm having a harder time buying that. The RAW are pretty unclear, but all of a sudden I have a player who took this power, and I have to make a clear ruling. Have other people dealt with this in your campaigns? What did you do? And is there a handy guide for different floor hardnesses somewhere?

[jwtelesio]

Floor and Ground are the same word. In some languages quite literally. Though Floor is most often used when describing the bottom of a structure.

The idea behind Ground Breaker is that you're putting enough force into the floor below you that it destabilizes the area around you.

Maybe for dirt floors it causes random piles of dirt to form and leaves small divots in the ground that make it hard to walk over.

For Mud it most likely displaces a large amount of mud making it more difficult to get through properly.

[Yure]

Necro:

How does adamantium weapons play into this?

[Rhatahema]

Adamantine weapons allow you to ignore hardness less than 20 when attacking an object. As such, when you attack the floor, if its hardness is less than 20, you will ignore its hardness when dealing damage. Then you would compare the damage you dealt to the floor's hardness as usual.