Legacy Abilities

[Zanaikin]

anyways, with an argument about Divine Blade last night I did some thinking...

but first I'd like to point out a few things:
D&D is a game of specific situations and circumstances. Sure there are established mechanics, and there are also EXCEPTIONS to those mechanics. (like Adamantine Hurricane doesn't say crap about if there's enough room around you, but if you try to do that in a tunnel I'll have to call bullshit, and if half the people around you are allies I'll have to roll chances of you doing friendly fire). If you don't like the DM trying to factor in all factors, then you shouldn't be playing D&D, go find some MMO where established game mechanics is the LAW.
You should have noticed by now that when ruling on a spell or maneuver, I care about the description of how it's performed and managed just as much, sometimes even more, than I care about its mechanics and numeric values.

and hence things happen like me ruling that Phantom Edge (Norinth's best Legacy ability) is ineffective in AMF-vs-AMF confrontations (since the blades hovers about the weapon, and isn't actually being wielded by the user, whose the only one not affected in a classic shaped-AMF. otherwise I'd be doing a hell lot more damage to you guys right now), or that Brilliant Energy weapons doesn't work against Golem Armor (because when Brilliant Energy is active - the blade has no substance, it's pure magic).
Well guess what, nothing on the mechanics description touches either of that. Brilliant Energy says it "ignores" armor, thereby Drew by your logic, I shouldn't care WHAT your armor is made out of. It'll just ignore it, right? Same thing goes to Wraithstrike also...
( yes Wraithstrike doesn't really work on golem armor, as Ariethil discovered first hand during the battle. The only reason you were hit at all by some of those attacks were a combination of other effects like : Moment of Prescience, no Mind Blank to counteract Find-the-Gap, natural 20s and triple-AP burns, etc etc ).

The divine blade argument is another case of this. Sure it says "ignore armor, shield, and cover bonuses", but HOW does it do it? The justification is that "the weapon may cut through any non-living materials as if the were thin paper". It also says "as a Brilliant Energy weapon", and SRD says brilliant energy works by "A brilliant energy weapon ignores nonliving matter". Well guess what, force isn't a material, I'd like you to find me an entry that lists Force as a special material. It's not 'matter' either, seeing as it has no mass and doesn't actually sustain itself - only a temporary magical effect.

Thus, in case you're wondering Drew, divine blade doesn't ignore the most common cover bonus (Shield Rings) either. It also won't cut Golem Armor, seeing as it's a magical effect...

Well, I COULD make Divine Blade so powerful it'd cut through magic effects like force, but that same justification would mean it can cut through similar magical barrier like Prismatics... that's just getting TOO powerful there. Legacy abilities may be crazy, but none of them can completely obsolete an ENTIRE CLASS yet (and that would make one of the best PRCs in the game utterly useless).

So yes, for all future references, if you claim just because something says it does something means it MUST do that something under ALL situations, I'll have to ask you to rethink why the hell you're playing D&D. After all this is a game where mechanics are established as guidelines and suggestions, not absolute law (DMs ad hoc stuff all the time, either making it easier or harder based on circumstances).