Shattered Kingdoms

When I'm in the front row of my team, I don't have to overcome sanctuary everytime to cast something (even targetted) on a NPC that I am in combat with.

However, if I move back to the 2nd row and tell my pets to engage combat, I have to overcome sanctuary everytime because I'm not in combat? How does me being in the 2nd row stop me from being in combat?

Is this a bug?

If you are in second row you most likely arnt in melee. Get a reaching maul and you will only have to break sanctuary once.

That doesn't answer the question Joe.

Sanctuary prevents a person/people from engaging in combat with an idividual. Once you have overcome this aura of protection, until you disengage you can strike away, with less damage, over and over until the encounter is over or you disengage.

When you are front rank, you stay engaged via melee indefinetly. When you are second rank, you break the sanc, engage with a spell, and *poof* disengage. A work around would be to get a reaching weapon even if you can't use it well so you simply stay engaged in combat. I feel though the knowing why is more important.

Fepel you just said the same thing I did but with more words.

1) Sanctuary prevents aggressive NPCs/PCs from instantly attacking you, they have to roll to overcome sanctuary to strike you.
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2) When with Sanctuary, if you initiate combat (i.e. kill XXX or c harm XXX) you break it with your aggression.
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3) When with Sanctuary if you auto assist in combat, you dont brake it since you dont BEGIN the aggression yourself.
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4) On case 3 if you wish to strike another person than the one you are in melee with, or if you chose to c harm XXX instead of c harm, then it is considered aggressive move and sanctuary brakes.

All in all SK's sanctuary spell is not like the Ad&d spell. You are allowed to battle still keeping sanctuary, being able to workaround it with a collection of ways. This is what tactics in SK are all about.

i.e.
- A paladin with sanctuary cannot immidiately attack an enemy since he will lose sanctuary to his aggressive move.
- The same paladin may chose to initiate battle with a dark aura character though, by casting Holy Word, an AREA affecting spell which will cause the dark character to strike him, while it is not DIRECTED on him alone.
- Thus, a Paladin will have the same result, combat with the dark char, without breaking sanctuary.

All in all it would be considered a bug, since sanctuary means you are not entering any aggression, in Ad&d for example, but this is SK. Tactics is all it is about.

Hope that helped a bit.

I think he's just pointing out that sanc is unfair to spellcasters, since they have to overcome the sanc everytime they want to do damage, if they're behind a pet, that is.

It makes sense.

Well, sanctuary is a defensive spell, at it's very heart.

If you want to be the one doing the damage, then unless you get hit first, you have to drop it. It keeps the playing field balanced a little. Otherwise, in group PK almost every character would have sanctuary, even the warlocks, sorcerors, and necromancers. Gross.

All three of those classes can very easily have sanc up, and with a reacher if they are 2nd rank *which is stupid*, they could cast offensive spells and not break sanc if they auto assist.

Exactly my point. If a necro/sorcerer is going to be doing anything offensive in a big group PK, he isn't going to hold sanctuary.