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I am attempting to translate a D&D character sheet into Japanese, and I am running into difficulty with a line saying that 'the target (of a particular blessing) may not be attacked.' Though I am reasonably confident in my guess of 目標 for 'target', I have been at a loss for the correct verb. It seems like I need the negative potential form of an intransitive verb here, but the only intransitive 'to attack' verbs I can find are 撃つ, which seems to most commonly mean 'to be shot (at)' and 攻め込む, which appears to be have the connotation of large scale attacks, such as by a military. Is there a better word here?

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    What about 攻撃?­
    – Blavius
    Oct 11, 2015 at 1:24
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    Generally, and particularly in RPG (slashing with a sword, beating with a war hammer or something), "to attack" in Japanese is 攻撃する. You should use negative-passive form of it, so it conjugates to 攻撃される(to be attacked/will be attacked), and to 攻撃されない(not to be attacked/not will be attacked). You can omit a potential modal verb "may". Target for spell is normally 対象, since 目標 has connotations of an objective/goal for a project, or shooting target(enemy).
    – marasai
    Oct 11, 2015 at 2:01

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TLDR; try: (blessing)されてる対象への攻撃は禁止。

Edit: According to native speaker @TsuyoshiIto, されてる can be dropped leaving: (blessing)の対象への攻撃は禁止。 which would read as "Attacks on blessed targets is prohibited".

Original post: I'm not a native speaker but something like (blessing)されてる対象を攻撃することはできません。 "Targets affected by (blessing) cannot be attacked." should be understood.

Instead of 攻撃することはできません。 (cannot be attacked) you could also say:

  • は攻撃されません。 Will not be attacked.
  • を攻撃することは禁止です。 Attacking is prohibited.
  • への攻撃は禁止です。 Attacks are prohibited. (Attack is a noun in this sentence; makes sense in Japanese but doesn't quite fit the English grammar)

There are a number of ways to convey this and I'm not sure what the best or most native would be.

If this is on a character sheet, something compressed like (blessing)されてる対象への攻撃は禁止。 should be understood. This is what I would personally write if I was translating it, meaning "Attacks on targets affected by (blessing) are prohibited."

Literally:

  • (blessing)されてる Affected by (blessing)
  • 対象 target
  • への (on)
  • 攻撃は attack (as a noun)
  • 禁止 prohibited

禁止 could also be replaced by 不可能 (impossible) but I would go with 禁止 as this is a rule.

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    Great suggestions, but some of the particles are off. "を攻撃されません" should be "は攻撃されません". "を攻撃は禁止" should be "の攻撃は禁止". ("を攻撃することは禁止です" is correct.)
    – mirka
    Oct 11, 2015 at 7:45
  • @mirka Thank you. One question though: (blessing)されてる対象の攻撃は禁止。, wouldn't that mean "Targets affected by (blessing) cannot attack" ? This is why I thought to put を. Would への攻撃は禁止。 make sense?
    – Ninj0r
    Oct 11, 2015 at 8:34
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    Yes, it has the risk of being interpreted both ways, “X cannot attack” or “X cannot be attacked”. (Often this ambiguity is not an issue, like in 環境の破壊は禁止 or 偶像の崇拝は禁止.) But you just can't use を there, so like you say it's a good idea to add 〜への for clarity.
    – mirka
    Oct 11, 2015 at 8:59
  • @mirka Thanks, I've updated it. If you look at my edits, I actually had の in the first version but then changed it because I wasn't sure about the ambiguity... :(
    – Ninj0r
    Oct 11, 2015 at 9:03
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    1. I am not familiar with role-playing games, but from my limited knowledge, character sheets in Japanese are usually written in formal tone, and されてる looks too colloquial. 2. I am not sure if (say) 聖別されている対象 is a usual phrase in D&D character sheets, but in isolation, されている対象 sounds like a duplicate expression to me. I think that 聖別の対象 should be enough.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Oct 12, 2015 at 11:07

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