Just like the title says, I had Jump Back, and it did not trigger and give me the opportunity to dodge Stink Bomb or Noxious Breath. I was definitely facing the attacker.
Not a bug. Area spells target the floor, not individual characters, so cards such as Jump Back are not intended to trigger.
Actually every spell/attack targets the tile(s) rather than the character(s) on it. If step back procs and your char is not able to actually jump back any amount of tiles (say, if you're blocked by a wall or other char) even a miserable weak chop will still hit you.
Not correct Bandreus, those just check that you still fulfull the "reach" of the attack - if you're not able to move out of range with your jump back, you're still hit. The case mentioned above is more about not being "targetted" (i e, specifically chosen as a target) by an attack, thus Jump Back wouldn't even trigger in this case.
What makes it more confusing is that true Blocks trigger even on non-targeted attacks like Firestorm and Whirlwind. It's only these pseudo-blocks (like Dodge and Quick Reactions) that require the char to be specifically targeted.
These card never categorize themselves as block, never has that word mentioned. (Dodge is not block) so I'm fine with their mechanics being different. The rule specifically said "when targetted by an enemy attack" While the rule for blocks seems to be: "while being attacked from the front". Clearly you don't need to be targeted to be able to block. Edit: I take that back, here's the true rule words for block Code: Block any: "When an enemy plays a card targeting you, cancel that card. " Block Magic: "When an enemy plays a Magic card targeting you, cancel that card. " Block Melee: "When an enemy plays a Melee card targeting you, cancel that card. " Block Projectile: "When an enemy plays a Projectile card targeting you, cancel that card. " So yes, there is an inconsistency between these 2 mechanics that should be the same.
Good catch. So, yes, Blocks will trigger from any card that affects you whereas Dodge requires that the card target you. That's why Blocks trigger from area effect cards but Dodge doesn't. I'm going to reword the Block keyword to make this distinction. There's a larger discussion about whether these cards should work this way I guess. I certainly don't want to change the way Blocks work but I could see making Dodges trigger from more things.
dodges do work vs spells like Whirlwind. I guess that's because LoS-less attacks don't really have an area of effect, but rather target each and every character on the board.
actually when I said "dodges" I was thinking more to Hard To Pin Down, which should fall under the same category right? edit: saying this because it happened to me earlier today. opponent casted WW and Hard to Pin successfully proc-ed, preventing the spell's effects.
Hard to Pin is actually a block that lets you move. It's very different from Dodge which just lets you move.
Logically, flavorwise, I'd think I should be able to Jump Back from an Ember Spray. If flavorwise the area is so big that jumping back doesn't help, that's covered by firing the spell such that the AoE extends to 2 spaces behind the character.
I feel like Dodge (and similar) cards are powerful enough without letting them trigger even more often. They're mechanically distinct as is, and being ineffective vs AoE spells gives the player another interesting way to deck build around them in the campaign.
