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Alright, so I've done a lot of research, or at least as much as I could being limited to the PRD resources. I have two questions regarding Brilliant Energy weapons and armor worn by opponents.
1) Magical Enhancmenet Bonuses on armor still count towards your AC against Brilliant Energy attacks, right? If I'm wearing +3 Leather Armor, would the +3 magical bonus still protect me against a Brilliant Energy weapon even though the +2 bonus from Leather armor wouldn't?
2) Is there any magical effect that can be put on armor to be effective at blocking Brilliant Energy? Like Ghost Touch? I would think Ghost Touch effectively changes the armor from being physical armor to some sort of incorporeal armor. And since Brilliant Energy harmlessly passes through physical non-living matter, would Ghost Touch armor provide it's protection against a Brilliant Energy weapon?
Any help will be appreciated. The BBEG of our game has both BE melee and ranged weapons and short of using Mage Armor, the whole party has no reason to wear armor anymore. Thanks in advance.
-Agent
Brilliant energy reads:
This property can only be applied to melee weapons, thrown weapons, and ammunition.
A brilliant energy weapon has its significant portion transformed into light, although this does not modify the item's weight. It always gives off light as a torch (20-foot radius). A brilliant energy weapon ignores nonliving matter. Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor. (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) A brilliant energy weapon cannot harm undead, constructs, and objects.
I've bolded the part that should clear this up.
Edit: I can't find any armor that helps. I'd grab a wand of mage armor, and a wand of sheild, and just buff everyone pre combat.
as you might feel that the halfling hasn't answered to your second question, there are 2 ways:
either become nonliving matter (undead, constructs, and objects) or you need an armor out of living matter, like chaining a few halflings around your body.
Anyhow, the simple answer is NO, unless you are evil and the GM is nice.
mage armour and braces of armour are both force effects, and are thus unaffected by brilliant energy. just a thought.
Hmm...
Do force effects help against Brilliant Energy?
Do force effects help against Touch attacks? (while we're at it)
All I can find in the rules is that force effects help against incorporeal touch attacks...
Rosewood Armor should be effective against brilliant energy, since the armor "needs to be watered each day or die". The clear implication of that description is that it is currently living, and as such brilliant energy wouldn't ignore it.
Similarly, an Abrogalian Corset (out of the Cheliax book) has living matter (a swarm of hellwasps) as part of it. So the special ability of it preventing the first 20 points of damage each day should still function against a brilliant energy weapon.
Besides those two, there really isn't much defense.
I don't think even rosewood armor would help.
As far as I can tell, the weapon goes through just about everything (it's just light, after all). It just happens to harm living matter as it does so.
If anything, this means that your armor still wouldn't protect you and both you and your armor could potentially be damaged.
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mage armour and braces of armour are both force effects, and are thus unaffected by brilliant energy. just a thought.
they are, but at the same time they are armor bonuses to AC, and thus fall under this part of brilliant energy:
Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor.
mage armour and braces of armour are both force effects, and are thus unaffected by brilliant energy. just a thought.they are, but at the same time they are armor bonuses to AC, and thus fall under this part of brilliant energy:
Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor.
However, I'd rule since they are force effects they fall under the (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) area.
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However, I'd rule since they are force effects they fall under the (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) area.mage armour and braces of armour are both force effects, and are thus unaffected by brilliant energy. just a thought.they are, but at the same time they are armor bonuses to AC, and thus fall under this part of brilliant energy:
Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor.
Which is a fine houserule, and a logical one, it is not RAW. Mage armor says nothing about it helping vs touch attacks:
An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of a mage armor spell, providing a +4 armor bonus to AC.
Unlike mundane armor, mage armor entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Since mage armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can't bypass it the way they do normal armor.
When we look at incorporeal creatures we find this:
An incorporeal creature's attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it.
So, if brilliant energy was like an incorporeal attack (and thus could be deflected by force armor effects), it should also ignore natural armor...
However, I'd rule since they are force effects they fall under the (Dexterity, deflection, dodge, natural armor, and other such bonuses still apply.) area.mage armour and braces of armour are both force effects, and are thus unaffected by brilliant energy. just a thought.they are, but at the same time they are armor bonuses to AC, and thus fall under this part of brilliant energy:
Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the weapon passes through armor.
that would be incorrect though, as they are specifically called out as armor bonuses in the spell/item descriptions (for that matter the shield spell provides a shield bonus and would also be ignored by a brilliant energy weapon).
When we look at incorporeal creatures we find this:
An incorporeal creature's attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it.So, if brilliant energy was like an incorporeal attack (and thus could be deflected by force armor effects), it should also ignore natural armor...
Nothing about the brilliant energy enhancement suggests that it works like an incorporeal attack. in fact it does not, as incorporeal creatures can still attack constructs and other undead.
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Nothing about the brilliant energy enhancement suggests that it works like an incorporeal attack. in fact it does not, as incorporeal creatures can still attack constructs and other undead.
When we look at incorporeal creatures we find this:
An incorporeal creature's attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it.So, if brilliant energy was like an incorporeal attack (and thus could be deflected by force armor effects), it should also ignore natural armor...
I agree, I was just showing that it is not like it myself. This is part of the reason that mage armor and force effects do not defend vs brilliant energy. You cannot use incorporeal as a bases since BE is not incorporeal.
but force effects are not non-living matter, they're an energy effect. by the reasoning above brilliant energy weapons would be able to hit creatures on the other side of a wall of force
I read it as any bonus that is not an armor or shield bonus will still apply.
Against brilliant energy only DEX, dodge, deflection boni and force effects help. Although the enhancement says so, i think natural armot shouldnt help either, but it obviously does.
So someone with high DEX, ring of protection +3 and dodge should have a not too bad AC against this.
Also monks WIS to AC bonus should help.
You can disarm, grapple, trip or stun him though.
Or get him into a force cage or something and shoot at him.
Many options there.
Ever treid stuff with saves? Will saves?
Shield boni are armor boni.
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Against brilliant energy only DEX, dodge, deflection boni and force effects help. Although the enhancement says so, i think natural armot shouldnt help either, but it obviously does.
So someone with high DEX, ring of protection +3 and dodge should have a not too bad AC against this.
Also monks WIS to AC bonus should help.You can disarm, grapple, trip or stun him though.
Or get him into a force cage or something and shoot at him.
Many options there.Ever treid stuff with saves? Will saves?
Shield boni are armor boni.
Can you please point me to RAW that states that force effects help?
From what I can see, it ignores all armor and shield bonuses to AC, no matter what the source. Other bonuses to AC (natural armor, deflection, etc..) are good, but just not the armor or shield bonus types.
[petpeeve] The Correct plural of bonus in english is bonuses, and Boni would not be correct even if we were writing/speaking latin unless you were talking specifically about good men. [/petpeeve]
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Better question is: "What constitutes as 'other such bonuses'?" I would still prefer an official ruling on this, but as a GM, I would just house-rule what those bonuses were. Not everything has to be completely spelled out by the game developers; your GM has ultimate say on RAI.
Any bonus to AC that is not listed as "Armor" or "Shield".
A list of some of them are listed here:
Don't know how complete, but it is a list.
Hmm...
Do force effects help against Brilliant Energy?
Do force effects help against Touch attacks? (while we're at it)All I can find in the rules is that force effects help against incorporeal touch attacks...
Fwiw, we've added to our homebrew character sheets (since the 3.0 days actually...) a "ghost touch" armor class just to handle those pesky incorporeal touch attacks.
But to answer your question, because of the existence of the incorporeal touch attack we reasoned (way back when) that barring something explicit in the RAW force effects are ineffective against touch attacks; since a touch could be touching your shield or armor and "not you".
Just my 2 cents...
It is a +4 bonus equivalent so if you get it at first chance the total price is equal to a +5 weapon which is 50000. I would say 13th level at the earliest.
Brilliant weapons are mainly useful as PC killers and NPC killers. They are generally a waste against most monsters, especially constructs and undead.
Being able to shave 20 pts of AC off a high level fighter is a very potent ability, however.
===Aelryinth
