As it stands this skill is rather OP.
What currently happens is you are being guarded by some one, or some thing, and randomly in combat they "jump in front of you" -- LITERALLY canceling one round of attacks against you.
What needs to be changed? The person, or thing, that is guarding should take the blows and have to pass a defensive check as if they were the intended target.
That is all. 
Guard should not happen in pk as you usually guard a group member while traveling. So I fail to see the problem in this. A mammoth works similarly btw, the mammoth does not take damage either.
I think the mammoth (and the blood guard) is the reason for this post at first place.
When does a blood guard jump in front of the owner?
Tribunal must be of a certain rank and subcabal for that.
Its fine. Kill the mammoth first. Kill the blood guard first. Problem solved.
I think the mammoth (and the blood guard) is the reason for this post at first place.
Yes, and the skill. I believe there is one more mob that may guard.
Honestly it's not purely for PK. It makes no sense. I shouldn't be willing to guard someone when I am naked, as it should mean a little danger for me.
Yes, I agree, kill mob with sanc in the middle of a PK... If the mobs were taking damage as they should, since they are intercepting the damage in the first place it would happen either naturally or be slightly easier.
This only affects melee characters.
EDIT: The only class I've seen able to quickly dispatch a blood guard to make it viable for PK was a necromancer with travens.
And casters don't have to worry about being guarded against.
Clerics being the obvious exception can dispatch it easily.
So the suggestion is to weaken rangers and tribunals of a certain sub cabal?
And the reason is because certain classes have trouble with them?
Before I comment are these accurate assessments of the flavor of this thread?
So the suggestion is to weaken rangers and tribunals of a certain sub cabal?
And the reason is because certain classes have trouble with them?
Before I comment are these accurate assessments of the flavor of this thread?
No. The suggestion is to make the skill guard less of a hack and actually function in a manner that makes sense.
I do not think these mobs taking a couple melee hits will drastically change the outcome of combat. Worst case scenario, give them some extra HP. I am a huge fan of Trib. This is something that has always bothered me.
Chances are.. its gonna bother you for a lot longer. 
It's fine as it is, IMO.
Believe it or not it used to work the way you're describing, Mudder.
It's been changed in the past by other coders. I'm not so sure it warrants a change back, to be honest.
Believe it or not it used to work the way you're describing, Mudder.
It's been changed in the past by other coders. I'm not so sure it warrants a change back, to be honest.
When? I was in Knight during 1.0, I promise, it worked the same as it does now.
EDIT: I'll be the first to admit, it may be a little nit picky as I already described it likely won't affect PK much. It just disturbs immersion. I like all the skills and abilities in an RP enforced game to be focused on keeping immersion, or at the very least, not violating it.
This is the same premise for my object restring post.
No. The suggestion is to make the skill guard less of a hack and actually function in a manner that makes sense.
I do not think these mobs taking a couple melee hits will drastically change the outcome of combat. Worst case scenario, give them some extra HP. I am a huge fan of Trib. This is something that has always bothered me.
I disagree. This will highly effect every ranger tribunal or not, it will also affect crusaders, and ALL classes that take that path of the tribunal. You say a couple of melee attacks, but it has already been disclosed that this does not bother casters as much. So by a couple of melee attacks, you mean 3-6 melee attacks coming from a pinned Hero of Aabahran on a creature that is not wearing a suit of armor that gives it -500 AC. I can not condone your idea, Love you mudder, but I can not.
this does not bother casters as much
An extra enemy mob attacking your 1 defense mage bother casters a lot more than it bothers melees with 3 defenses.
Think of it as a balancing feature for the advantage of playing a melee.
You guys think guarding ranger mobs are hard? Wait until you play a 1 defense mage and the freaking ranger pets are CHARM IMMUNE and can't be put to sleep. And to rub it more, they all have a freaking vuln that can be exploited by melees attack.
And then they wink back at you with an ICE resistance...
Let's play a DK and either use Iceball to harm the master, or Fireball to harm the pets and scratch the master.
Rant apart. The best would be to change the guard message so that it states that the pet jumps at you deflecting your blow so that you miss your target.
Mya, did you even read what we are discussing?
Yes, people complaining that guard pets are OP for their meele characters because it gives an additional defense to their owners.
People expressing the effects of said pets on mages.
And Mudder asking for something that would break his immersion less.
Did you read what I posted?
Mya's suggestion to change the wording of the skill would satisfy me if nothing else were to be done. I just hate the idea of a whole round of combat disappearing into the ether with no real explanation.
I also don't get the feeling most people are behind me. I feels as though most people here seem to be less interested in changes that bring immersion in favor of keeping the status quo. Does everyone remember the pwipe from 1.0 to 2.0?
People were so angry at the plethora of changes at first. Now, they defend those changes.
Yes, and the skill. I believe there is one more mob that may guard.
Honestly it's not purely for PK. It makes no sense. I shouldn't be willing to guard someone when I am naked, as it should mean a little danger for me.
Yes, I agree, kill mob with sanc in the middle of a PK... If the mobs were taking damage as they should, since they are intercepting the damage in the first place it would happen either naturally or be slightly easier.
This only affects melee characters.
EDIT: The only class I've seen able to quickly dispatch a blood guard to make it viable for PK was a necromancer with travens.
I have never had trouble with: Druids, Rangers, Battlemages or any of my qclasses in dealing with the blood guards.
Picture this if you will:
A giant mammoth jumps in front of you - you flinch and don't attack... Because its a mammoth.. and at least six tonnes of BRUTE jumping at your ass.
Miss 1 attack.