The bloodrager in my Iron Gods game has decided to wear a scatterlight suit obtained as loot. I want to make sure I understand which weapons it protects against.
A scatterlight suit comes from the Technology Guide. It gives +1 armor bonus against most attacks, but against beam weapons and rays it gives a bigger armor bonus to touch AC. The size of the bonus is based on its rank on the Androffan color code: the suit worn by the bloodrager is rated "blue" which gives a +7 to touch AC against beam weapons and rays.
Unfortunately, the Technology Guide does not define beam weapons. It is obvious that they are some of the technological weapons in the guide and in the Iron Gods adventure path, but which ones? Will I have to open up the Technology Guide for every opponent and declare, "Sorry, but his energy pistol says blast not beam, so the scatterlight suit does not help." Another player suggested that since the suit scatters light, it works only against lasers but not against other energy, but that is extremely restrictive since enemies seem to have arc pistols (electricity), laser pistols (fire), and zero pistols (cold) in equal measure. Besides, since the scatterlight suits have to power up to gain the touch AC protection, their defense is probably more than simply reflecting light.
The descriptions for arc pistol, atom gun, death ray, EMP pistol, gravity pistol, laser pistol, laser torch, nuclear resonator, vortex gun, x-laser, and zero gun use the word beam. The descriptions for atom gun, plasmathrower, sonic pistol, stun gun, and x-laser use the word blast (two weapons overlap). Rifles says they are bigger versions of the pistols. The mindrender sends out nanites on a carrier wave; however, the death ray sends out nanites on a carrier beam. The other technological weapons shoot projectiles, such as an autograpnel, or are melee weapons, such as a chainsaw.
The robot subtype from Inner Sea Bestiary says describes laser weapons as "These weapons emit beams of intensely focused light waves that resolve as touch attacks and deal fire damage," and plasma weapons "These weapons emit bursts of superheated, electrically charged gas known as plasma. A plasma weapon's attacks resolve as touch attacks. Half the damage dealt by plasma is fire damage, and half is electricity damage." The plasma torch on an arachnid robot is described only as a ranged touch attack. The plasma beam on an advanced arachnid robot was described as a beam. The plasma lance on an annihilator robot is described as a line, area-of effect rather than ranged touch. Plasma torch, plasma beam, and plasma lance are the tail weapons on three multi-legged robots that differ mostly in size and CR.
The bloodrager plans to wear an armored coat over the scatterlight suit to protect against physical attacks.
You have confused rays with beams! D! Minus! I'd give you an F, but that would mean I'd have to see you in summer school. - Mr. Medulla
Unfortunately, the Technology Guide does not define beam weapons.
Beam weapons are those weapons in that have the word "beam" in their description. Pretty much all of the high tech weapons in the technology guide are beam weapons.
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OK actually I think that you have found a kind of flaw in the write up as almost none of the weapons have "beam" in the description, so I'm going to give you my opinion rather than something I can state as fact based on the way it's presented.
IMHO This suit only works against lasers or light based attacks.
A scatterlight suit is a tight, form-fitting suit of highly reflective polymers and synthetic metal fibers. It's designed to reflect beam weapon attacks, and provides only minimal protection against physical damage. Activating a scatterlight suit is a standard action; once activated, the suit diffuses and blurs light reflected from its surface, making the wearer appear hazy and indistinct.
While active, a scatterlight suit increases the wearer's touch AC by a variable amount—this bonus is an armor bonus, but does not increase the wearer's normal or flat-footed AC beyond the scatterlight suit's baseline armor bonus of +1. This bonus to touch AC only applies to attacks made by beam weapons and rays—it does not provide additional protection to other touch attacks.
I bolded what I thought was relevant. I would also extend the protection from any light based attacks like prismatic spray.
You have confused rays with beams! D! Minus! I'd give you an F, but that would mean I'd have to see you in summer school. - Mr. Medulla
I match your quote from Sky High with a quote from Girl Genius!
Gilgamesh: I don't have a death ray!
Agatha: Done be ridiculous. Dr. Beetle had stuff like that all over. You must have something. Sonic cannon?
Gilgamesh: No.
Agatha: Disintegration beam?
Gilgamesh: No.
Agatha: Doomsday device?
Gilgamesh: No.
Agatha: Now where would you hide it?
Gilgamesh: I don't have anything like that to hide.
Agatha: (long stare) Fine. So what you're telling me is that you--Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, the person next-in-line to the despotic, iron-fisted rule of the Wulfenbach Empire--have got no weapons powerful enough to destroy those things. That's just great. What kind of an evil overlord are you going to be, anyway?
Gilgamesh: Apparently a better one than I'd thought.
Unfortunately, the Technology Guide does not define beam weapons.Beam weapons are those weapons in that have the word "beam" in their description. Pretty much all of the high tech weapons in the technology guide are beam weapons.
Alas, reading that description text showed me that the exact words are flavorful visualization, not rules mechanics. What is the different between the death ray's carrier beam and the mindrender's carrier wave? The atom gun says, "An atom gun is a cruel weapon that harnesses the devastating energies of a miniaturized nuclear reactor to create a focused cone of radiation that blasts and sickens those caught in the beam." The range of that weapon is a 40-foot cone, so it refers to an area of effect as a beam. Same for the vortex gun. And it seems awfully silly that the scatterlight suit is useless against a plasma torch simply because 1d6 plasma damage in a ranged touch attack was not called a beam, while the scatterlight suit helps against the 2d6 plasma damage from the plasma beam, described as "an advanced version of the typical arachnid robot's plasma torch," because it did say "beam."
Therefore, it is clear to me that "beam weapon" is meant to be a general type of weapon and does not depend solely on whether "beam" is mentioned in the descriptive text. The scatterlight suit, the arachnid robot, and the advanced arachnid robot came from three separate books, so any individual author might have missed the memo to "Don't say beam unless it is a beam weapon."
Header for Arc Pistol: DMG (M) 1d8 elec.
-- Arc Pistol ...ionized particles that it then electrifies, creating a crackling beam of electricity between it and its target. Arc pistols gain a +2 circumstance bonus on attack rolls against targets that are metal or are wearing medium or heavy metal armor.
The beam of electricity isn't just fluff. It defines the form of effect (beam) and type of damage (electricity).
From the atom gun: The beams of radiation created when the wielder fires an atom gun...
I think you are overthinking things. There is no reason to define "beam weapon", as those that fire beams, and thus are impacted by the scatterlight suit, are put in the description.
As far as the difference between the death ray and the mindrender is the following text:
harmless carrier beam of energy at a target. When the beam hits a target, the death ray then projects a stream of specialized nanites through the beam into the body of the target.
The mindrender uses no such beam to assist in the delivery of the effect, and thus is not affected by the scatterlight suit.
harmless carrier beam of energy at a target. When the beam hits a target, the death ray then projects a stream of specialized nanites through the beam into the body of the target.The mindrender uses no such beam to assist in the delivery of the effect, and thus is not affected by the scatterlight suit.
Yes. it does.
A mindrender is a cruel weapon that emits a carrier wave of light which transmits a mass of nanites into the body of the creature struck.
Both weapons send a carrier, either beam or wave, that directs a stream of nanites into the target. Since the nanites do the damage, I might rule that these are projectile weapons and the scatterlight suits don't help against either of them. Or I might rule that a scatterlight suit reflects the carrier beam of energy or the carrier wave of light so that the nanites cannot find the target.
I think you are overthinking things.
I often do.
The easy answer, the one that avoids overthinking, is that beam weapons are technological weapons that hit touch AC and deal energy damage instead of physical damage. Rays are spells with the ray descriptor.
But I overthink and don't settle on the easy answer.
One way to jog me out of my overthinking is to force me to view the problem from another angle.
After the party battled a monster with natural armor +12, a PC wanted a touch-attack weapon like two other PCs used. Those two PCs had weapon proficiency in firearms, so they carried a laser pistol and an arc pistol. The PC without a pistol did not like the -4 non-proficiency penalty.
Ultimate Equipment has several alchemical weapons that make ranged touch attacks, but they are one-shot weapons that slow a character down with drawing them. The player wanted a reusable alchemical weapon.
My players have been using Lemmy's Custome Weapon Generation System to design custom weapons. We devised an alchemical crossbow based on Bottled Lightning. The modified Bottled Lightning creates an electrical arc across the front of the crossbow for a minute, and the crossbow fires a glass bead with a special alchemical coating that acquires an electrical charge when shot through the arc. Her character is proficient in all simple and martial weapons, so can handle a crossbow. The party has not yet had downtime to actually build the arc crossbow.
That is a ranged weapon that hits touch AC and deals energy damage instead of physical damage, but it is not a beam weapon.
I need to toss aside nitpicking because weapon design is going to get complicated. A beam weapon is one that attacks via a beam, even if the text does not say "beam." The characteristics of a beam are attacking at range, hitting touch AC instead of regular AC or area of effect, dealing energy damage, could be described as a beam or blast or stream or wave, and not described as a projectile. Having all of these characteristics is not necessary if the other characteristics are definitive; for example, a Star Wars light saber is a melee beam weapon. An inferno pistol and arc crossbow are not beam weapons because they shoot a projectile to carry the energy damage. A laser pistol, arc pistol, and zero pistol are beam weapons.
A powered scatterlight suit creates an effect that diffuses and deflects beams, even the carrier beam and stream of nanites from a death ray, making them harder to aim at the suit.
It's funny. I was just thinking of this thread last night when my brain wouldn't shut down either (I blame you).
Anyway. A beam and a ray are largely synonymous in actual parlance, a "beam" is a an emIssion of something, whereas a ray is an stream that radiates out from something.
So, essentially the same thing. So, your beam could be any type of weapon that emits a stream of energy. And leave it at that.