For ranged attacks do you count the hexes between you and your target or the hexes between plus the one the opponent is on?
For melee attacks from different elevations do you count that as range and would then remove the dice that aren't equal to or higher or since it's melee you only need to be adjacent and in the first instance would reach apply?
Count the same way as if you were moving the piece - a character in an adjacent hex at the same elevation is at range 1. So it's the number of hexes between you and the target plus one, plus whatever extra is necessary to cover changes in elevation.
Melee attacks can only target hexes that are adjacent, but when you roll you calculate range as normal and remove dice that don't make range. Tachyon can still punch Legacy if she's in the street and he's on top of the Freedom Tower, but since he's at range 4 (one hex away and three elevation change) anything she rolls below a 4 will miss.
1. Count hexes to the target, so if there are 3 hexes between you that target is at range 4+elevation difference.
2. Melee attacks start at range 1 and add elevation difference.
3. Reach will subtract from actual range to give you the effective range of the attack, so in #1, if you have reach of 3 the range for your roll would be 1+elevation difference. It works for Melee or area effect attacks as well. You take the range and subtract reach, and that gives you the number you have to roll to hit.
I don't think that's quite right. It sounds like you are counting elevation changes along the path ("as if you were moving the piece"), not just the difference in elevation. From the rulebook:
Range is the number of hexes from one target to another plus the difference in elevation.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear there at all. I didn't mean factoring in all the elevation changes along the way, I meant counting the hexes as if you were moving ignoring range. Like moving one space puts you at range 1, assuming the elevation hasn't changed.
I'm getting it right, but I worded my explanation very badly.
Ah, I understand =)
And you don’t necessarily count ALL the elevation changes for range; if you’re 2 hexes away from each other, you’re both at elevation 2, and there’s a 1 in between, then you are still at range 2; only the final elevation difference actually matters.
Yeah, that's what MigrantP said. Compare "start" and "end" hexes only.
I was just clarifying on the "count as if you were moving" thing, which is basically true but not all of the time.