By "bypasses", I mean that the Beam doesn't set Lifesaving off, even if you face Whorl. It's worth noting that other Punishing moves [Touch Of Death and Devastating Blow immediately come to mind] all activate Lifesaving Block if the damage taken would've KO'd the person holding Lifesaving. I guess someone forgot to factor Whorl into the mix, seeing as how his spouting Punishing Beam at the most inopportune times WHILE my char was facing him would kill them, anyway. This included an occasion where he killed a char that was holding NOTHING but TWO Lifesavings. Needless to say, this threw multiple monkey wrenches into my attempts tonight to accomplish the No Party Deaths Quest for The Troll Tyrant.
Actually they don't. This is normal behavior for all of these types of attacks and Lifesaving Block. EDIT: Details on Lifesaving Block in the faq.
@Scarponi: ...wouldn't that make it a bug? I mean, the text on the card clearly says.....well, here, read it yourself. I've lost count how many Punishing Strikes and Devastating Blows this has blocked for me in Multiplayer, by the way. It actually DOES work, no lie. The only Punishing move I've had it fail for so far IS Punishing Beam. If you're saying that it ignores all Punishing moves, Shouldn't it say so on the card instead of working for some and not for others?
Base damage is the keyword. Think of lifesaving as a bouncer who checks IDs and lets every attack through with a (birth-)damage lesser then your hp. So if the 3 base dmg from punishing would be enough to kill you, he would step in. But those attacks you listed only show their true numbers once they are past the bouncer.
sigh. Just check the faq if you want to be pedant, i just tried to paint a picture to assist comprehension.
@Robauke: Nono, what Time is saying is valid. Lifesaving has occasionally saved me from Pulverizing Bludgeons and the like beefed up by All-Out Attacks that would've otherwise brought my chars from 20+ HP down to 0 in a matter of one move; the base attack of Pulverizing is 14, so, if what the card says is true, beef-ups like Unholy Wellspring and All-out attack aren't part of the base damage, right? It blocks that, anyway, too, though. Granted, it doesn't block the 6 unpreventable damage afterwards, but, it blocks everything else. The card text should just say, "Block Any if an enemy's attack would kill/KO the user. Draw a card." .....I swear that the fact that it doesn't block Beam AT ALL is a bug, though.
Attacks are a complicated system of events that to the player pretty much appear to be a single action but actually go through a long list of steps. The entire system of steps is laid out in the faq under the anatomy of an attack. Blocks happen at step 10.3, so any damage added up until that point (which includes base damage of an attack, frenzies, AoA, and others) will be included for all blocks that trigger based on damage (e.g. lifesaving block, desperate block, etc.). However, any damage that is added to an attack after step 10.3 will not be factored. This includes the damage that is added to the attacks of punishing strike or desperate blow based on hand size which occurs at step 13.1 (there are other things that will add damage here as well - see the faq for the lifesaving block entry for more details as I already said). Punishing Beam's damage at step 10.3 is three, thus lifesaving block will never trigger for character with 4hp or more unless that attack has been buffed by frenzy or some other buff that takes effect before 10.3. Same goes for Punishing Bolt which has a damage of zero at the block phase. Punishing Strike and Desperate Blow have a base damage of 3 and 7 respectively which may be enough to trigger the block on their own but if they are not, follow the same results.
Lifesaving Block's wording is definitely flawed, hence the plethora of threads about it. It should honestly be something a bit over-clear like "Block any if the damage at time of blocking would be lethal." This would clearly include modifications like Vulnerable and Frenzy (which occur before blocks) and not include on-card effects like Devastating Blow (which occur after blocks). The use of "base damage" here is erroneous, and I'm sorry about that, as I am personally responsible
I've definitely seen it proc before blocks just playing the game ... I wonder if V's behavior is inconsistent?
Could be. It'd be interesting if you could reproduce it, I play tested it specifically before putting it in the FAQ for lifesaving block.
@Scarponi: This killed my 2 HP character, yesterday, who, by the way was indeed facing the Whorl. The base attack is not 0, but 3, which means that it would've had to bypass both of her Lifesavings entirely in order to do the 9 damage that killed her--and my chances of completing the Quest--off. No, seriously. Not kidding. This bypasses Lifesaving entirely. @Robauke: I'm aware that you still need to be facing the offender in order for Lifesaving to work, but, well.....see above. @Flaxative: Well, cleaning up the text would certainly be a help, for sure, and I thank you for noticing this, but, the problem is that Punishing Beam bypass--oh, just see above.
My mistake, I was remembering the base damage incorrectly. Everything else still holds though... so unless your character's health was 3hp or less, lifesaving block won't (and shouldn't) trigger because the "added" damage from the card text is added after the block phase of an attack.
Nono, I just noticed that I didn't mention that part--the most IMPORTANT part, actually--at all in the opening post. That's my mistake. I would've loved to have screened this for you guys, but, by the time I had that idea, she was already dead, and the battle log can't pinpoint a character's positioning.
