The proc this stance provides does not seem to work as designed, based on what the code says. Code: <spell name="Polearm Repel" type="adjacent" attack="1" downtime="1" icon="skills/polearming32.png" > <!--<effect type="trigger" spell="Dagger Double Attack" />--> <effect type="knock" amount="1" after="1" /> <effect type="knock" amount="1" after="1" /> <effect type="paralyze" turns="1" after="1" /> </spell> It is an attack="1" proc, but it does not do full attack damage. Apparently the knock effects somehow happen before the attack is calculated, so that the enemy is no longer in melee range when hit. This does only your melee power in damage, nothing else. In other words the after="1" flag doesn't seem to work properly. For this to work properly, you'd need to make another subspell that is triggered and the trigger using an amount="1" delay. Like this: Code: <spell name="Polearm Repulser" type="adjacent" > <effect type="knock" amount="1" /> <effect type="knock" amount="1" /> <effect type="paralyze" turns="1" /> </spell> <spell name="Polearm Repel" type="adjacent" attack="1" downtime="1" icon="skills/polearming32.png" > <effect type="trigger" spell="Polearm Repulser" amount="1" /> </spell> Although I'm unsure how that would play out when it procs when you are hit during an enemy's turn.
Hey, this was just brought to my attention. attack="1" actually just specifies that the attack animation be used here (the default is the spell-casting animation). So this has nothing to do with dealing melee damage. Hope that helps sort out the confusion!
Perhaps this was broken in one of the recent patches (hotfixes), because I was using the after="1" flag successfully in a mod I'm working on, and then last night, when I tested it again, it seems to be not working. Or at least not working in the same way as when I first used it.
Actually it specifies that the spell is counted as a melee attack. This has multiple implications, for example it means if your target is in melee range, you deal full melee damage to it, if it isn't, you still deal your melee power in damage to it(defaulting to crushing damage if no mundane damage is done by the spell). It also means it can be countered, like any other melee attack (and this is regardless of distance).
Edit: Oh, you might be right. Hm. I'll dig. Also Nicholas will receive beatings for the way this feature is laid out.
Have you ever actually tried your polearm defense stance? It does damage. An attack="1" spell without a damage line does 0+(1x1 ) damage. (If non-adjacent, if adjacent, and on the primary target only, it does full melee damage). Or in code terms: Code: <effect type="damage" crushing="0" crushingF="1" secondaryScale="2"/>
It's worse than that. Any spell with an 'attack="1"' on it does a normal melee attack on whatever adjacent square the character is facing and it does whatever the spell says it does -- including, if it deals damage, dealing normal melee damage plus any damage effects to whatever it's target is. That means that attacking an adjacent monster with an 'attack="1"' spell that deals, for example, a mere 1, will end up dealing twice your full melee attack damage plus 1 to an adjacent targeted monster. For a long time, Bushido had just such a spell, until RaustBlackDragon pointed out that it was effectively a double-damage attack on a 9-turn cooldown. This also causes issues with several mod skills that are attack='1' ranged effects, because you can get the full ranged effect and a full normal attack on an adjacent foe as a single action.
