So, I have a situation I'm not sure about, but I'd like to know how this works:
A kineticist with Kinetic Whip attacks a swashbuckler from 10 feet away. It's an energy element, let's say fire. The swashbuckler wishes to parry the attack, and has a melee reach of 10 ft. Is he able to?
1. OP&R doesn't say it won't work against touch attacks, and other topics I've found indicate that it does work against them.
2. The attack is still a melee attack, not a ranged attack, and thus qualifies for the ability.
3. OP&R does not say that the swashbuckler must be within melee range of the attacker to use this ability.
By RAW, the answer to this question is obviously yes. There's no stated reason why he's not able to, so it just works. Now, this makes no logical sense. In the "OP&R vs. touch attacks" threads I've found, the argument is made that you can deflect the attack by hitting the arm or whatever. In this case, though, from start to finish the swashbuckler has nothing in range that his weapon can interact with. It cannot interact with the whip itself, it cannot interact with any limb of the creature wielding it.
Is this a case of RAW trumps logic? Or should the whip be unparryable in spite of RAW?
I assume you mean that the swashbuckler does not have a reach of 10ft.
Is it really any more absurd than the halfling's dagger parrying the storm giant's great axe? If it really bothers you, I would suggest giving it a penalty instead of saying it just fails to function. Something is holding the whip in fire shape, it has some sort of force. She slashes her rapier through it at just the right time, momentarily disrupting it's cohesion and spreading out it's heat harmlessly at the moment of impact.
Opportune parry and riposte works against any melee attack, including melee touch attacks. Reach is irrelevant. The fact that your attack targets touch is also irrelevant as the ability bypasses the standard rules for targeting AC.
Before the whip ever truly begins to build, the swashbuckler slashes through the base, and the fire trickles off, forcing the kineticist to spend a moment to summon it again!
it seems like the fluff is whats bothering you, and it narrates just fine to me. in order to hurt someone, the fire whip has to have some substance. which means it can be disrupted. easy as that.
Cyrad - I already covered that in my original post. RAW it works. I was looking for any kind of explanation as to "why" or "how" it works. All that you did was re-iterate the points 1-3 I'd already made.
Weables - The "base" of the whip is in the kineticist's hand, 10 feet away, five feet outside of the swashbuckler's grip. The "fluff" bothers me because it makes no sense. Saying that a swashbuckler's parry, with their rapier or scimitar or whatever, can just "fan away" a kineticist's flames (Or their void, or any other energy they can summon" still doesn't answer the question. It doesn't make any sense, in any case. So, is the concensus "Ignore logic, allow RAW" or could somebody be justified in saying "RAW fails, accommodate reason"?
Speakachu wrote: Cyrad - I already covered that in my original post. RAW it works. I was looking for any kind of explanation as to "why" or "how" it works. All that you did was re-iterate the points 1-3 I'd already made.
Weables - The "base" of the whip is in the kineticist's hand, 10 feet away, five feet outside of the swashbuckler's grip. The "fluff" bothers me because it makes no sense. Saying that a swashbuckler's parry, with their rapier or scimitar or whatever, can just "fan away" a kineticist's flames (Or their void, or any other energy they can summon" still doesn't answer the question. It doesn't make any sense, in any case. So, is the concensus "Ignore logic, allow RAW" or could somebody be justified in saying "RAW fails, accommodate reason"?
"The Snaking Flames of the Kineticist's whip lash out at the swashbuckler, who slices madly at the glowing tongue of fire, which unravels, spraying flame left and right, but leaving the swashbuckler untouched AND driving a blistering riposte straight back at the surprised flame-wielder!"
OR
"The Snaking Flames of the Kineticist's whip lash out at the swashbuckler, who knee-slides under the slash and rises into a perfect thrust straight at the midriff of the surprised flame-wielder!"
It's just visualisation - you may find it easier to describe such attempts in terms of a dodge.
You can parry anything that's a melee attack, which kinetic whips and blades are, regardless of what element they're using.
After successfully parrying, you can riposte against anybody you can reach. So if the Kineticist is using Kinetic Whip specifically to stay out of your melee range, you can parry and not riposte. If you happen to be able to reach the person you're fighting, you can riposte against any melee attack you've successfully parried.
As for the fluff, just remember that drawing the element from the appropriate elemental plane and keeping it contained in a useful shape does not happen for free, it's something the Kineticist has to do at great effort (whip costs 2 burn) so it's something that can be disrupted.
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