Damage Reflection: Melee or Missile

[st33d]

I've put a damage reflection mechanic in my game and I'm unsure how to roll with it. I've got "bees" armour and "flying knives" armour that reflect a percent of damage taken. I've also got a "thorns" spell that does pretty much the same when used to enchant armour (boosting or adding a thorns stat).

Originally I set it up as melee only. Then changed my mind and felt that it should offer some help against missile attacks. Then a play-tester piped up and found it odd that he was receiving damage reflection when using ranged weapons on a thorned monster.

Of course I could separate the armour effect and the magic effect - but aside from it being more work, it's also confusing for the player and inconsistent. The game is based around simplicity first and depth later, so this personally is my least favourite option.

Please vote and share your own opinion.

[NON]

Intuition > Simplicity

Receiving damage reflection on ranged attacks is just plain weird.

[guest509]

  Thorns or spiky armor should not reflect damage. They should cause damage when touched. Right? I guess the amount of damage could be contingent on the strength of hit. So in effect this would be reflection.
  It seems logical, within fantasy tropes, that spikes/thorns and what not cause melee damage.
  Reflective armor, especially shields, should bounce magic back at the attacker. This is a common trope. Mirror shield, shiny armor, etc...
  I can't think of anything that might bounce back physical ranged damage. Like arrows and rocks. Nothing common among fantasy mainstays. Perhaps a kinetic absorption device? Vibration Armor? Vibranium (like capt. america's shield?). Amulet of shot/kinetic absorption? You'd have to get creative but you can make it work.
  To stay thematic and not to get too wacky you'd have to get very creative in order to make an item/armor that reflects all damage. Note that Nethack is incredibly wacky thematically and it seems to work. For me anyway. I am thinking that this could be an emotional reflector. Amulet of Reflected Malice or Negative Reaction Armor. Ha! Maybe Newton's Armor (after Newton's 3rd law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.) Or just go simple. Shield of Damage Reflection.
  You can make your armors and what not do whatever you want mechanically as long as it works within your game universe thematically and you give the item a name that gives a bit of a hint about what it does.
  Well man I hope that helps. I love design discussion.

[st33d]

I checked Diablo's thorns mechanic after posting this and they also limit it to melee. I didn't know that till I looked.

I also have a protection spell that increases armour and reflects magic. So yeah - thorns does sound very much melee and thorned armour also sounds melee. I've even got a thorned race of cactus people.

It gives more value to the missile weapons and throwing weapons really doesn't it?

I still think it should reflect damage received though, because it's the sort of benefit you want when you go for a tank or high regen build.

[Z]

Yeah, it makes no sense for "thorns" to affect ranged attackers. Maybe they could damage the weapons themselves, but that does not sound very useful.

My VoI has items with magical runes which are activated on contact ("action runes"), including magical armors which are evoked when the wearer is attacked, and cause nasty magical effects on the attacker. Since contact is required, this is melee only. However, there are also special "wizard cloaks" which can cause magical effects from a distance (similar to wands) and are able to "retaliate" at ranged attackers.

[st33d]

That's a great idea.

It reminds me of the "Diabolist" in the Palladium Role Playing Game whose ability was creating magic wards. Given enough time to prepare you could invent a lot of really interesting one shot traps. It even covered the practicality of warding weapons - you generally had to get in a lucky strike and make sure the materials used stayed on the weapon.

In my game you generally throw a rune at a monster to inflict an effect, it hadn't occurred to me to allow you to set traps as well!

[Pueo]

I've put a damage reflection mechanic in my game and I'm unsure how to roll with it. I've got "bees" armour and "flying knives" armour that reflect a percent of damage taken. I've also got a "thorns" spell that does pretty much the same when used to enchant armour (boosting or adding a thorns stat).

Originally I set it up as melee only. Then changed my mind and felt that it should offer some help against missile attacks. Then a play-tester piped up and found it odd that he was receiving damage reflection when using ranged weapons on a thorned monster.

Of course I could separate the armour effect and the magic effect - but aside from it being more work, it's also confusing for the player and inconsistent. The game is based around simplicity first and depth later, so this personally is my least favourite option.

Please vote and share your own opinion.

I think that even if the damage reflection is inconsistent, it will make much more sense for thorns to only hurt melee.  It will confuse people if they take reflection damage from 10-20 feet away.