Battle for Gobwin Bump V

[Swodaems]

I think the Champion should be the biggest concern. He can Precise Blow one of use for 5 damage every phase, which leaves 1 of us dying every other round no matter our actions. Combine that with all the enemies with "support" ability and we're losing someone every phase to his attack alone. He also has 6 defense, so precise attacks are probably going to be the only way to take the monster down.

I Currently we have 5 damage from the 2 archers base, and 2 extra from Ian's support. That will be enough to down him next turn, unless we can get 6 more precise damage off this round. Upon looking, I don't think that is possible with only 2 characters that don't have abilities chosen, so I think Ian should boost one of the archers this and next turn so we can take out the big nasty quickly.

Actually, myself and Marbitchow can counter him easy with Parry. (Parry will of course be on my list if LTDave says a second frontliner is needed. Marbitchow already has it.) We could just sit there parrying against him forever until someone else manages to kill him.
The Caster and Archer with precise blow are actually more of a problem because they cannot be parried like that. While they both have only 2 Combat to start with, there is nothing that prevents those supporters you mentioned from boosting them instead.

[MarbitChow]

Let's get 2 parry-enabled in the front line, and let's have the archers & caster (with support) drop the back row first. Once that's done, we should be able to mop up the rest of these guys without difficult.

[Swodaems]

Oh, Marbitchow, I should mention that if the two of us are are both going to be in the frontline, then we're good candidates for the support sharing strategy mentioned above. If we can get it to work, then both of us could get a bonus to combat without the defense penalties of either beserk or mighty blow.

[MarbitChow]

Good point. I think support should go to the rear (Archers / Casters) until the back-row ranged enemies are dropped. This should hopefully let us level our archers and casters a bit.
Focus all damage on the Champion next.
Once we eliminate all the [Precise Blow] enemies, we can shift the support to the front ranks and start mowing them down.

[HerbieRai]

Actually, myself and Marbitchow can counter him easy with Parry. (Parry will of course be on my list if LTDave says a second frontliner is needed. Marbitchow already has it.) We could just sit there parrying against him forever until someone else manages to kill him.
The Caster and Archer with precise blow are actually more of a problem because they cannot be parried like that. While they both have only 2 Combat to start with, there is nothing that prevents those supporters you mentioned from boosting them instead.

Your logic is undeniable.

Numma To will move to the back rank when it is created, then use Mighty Blow on Enemy T

[LTDave]

One more char with Support for example, and that person and Ian Marius Stanley can give each other +2 to combat.

If you support, you cannot attack. Same with Parry.

Questions:
1. Exactly how many units are required in the front line to prevent melee enemies from having access to the second row?

Two - but each of them needs to stand adjacent to two enemies.

2. Aside from the caster specials, alot of the other abilities seem to be variations on the basic attack skill or have specific mention of your ability to attack while using them. Which ones prevent the user from attacking the enemy?

Support and Parry prevent you from Attacking the enemy. The others allow you to attack the enemy (except for the Caster Specials - you may not attack while casting Heal or Illusion, etc).

3. Are halbrediers still limited to only the basic attack from the second row? Can they still do that when they use an ability that boosts an ally's stats?

Yes - this isn't clear. But to attack from the second row you need to use the Default "Attack". You cannot use any of the variations and attack from the second row.

4. Are buffs from other characters stackable? (Support stacking on the archers may be the best option for taking out that caster of theirs asap. The enemies' higher starting hits means his healing is greater than Tim's.)

Yes - but I'm having second thoughts. How does a Halberdier support an Archer shooting at a guy way over there? Doesn't make a lot of sense.

5. What limits are there to changing ability lists?

I don't understand the question.

6. The heal spell was a touch skill last time. Is it this time? What about Shield?

Heal says touch. Shield says any character, so no touch.

[LTDave]

Tim opens with a Blue Dart at the enemy called T BTW, I just realized something, Can I switch out Shield for Blue Dart.

You don't need to. Your dart is subsumed under the default "Attack".

I'm going to have to make some changes to Parry, Support, and Precise Blow, otherwise the game is broken in some bad ways.



Some More Changes from the last set of Rules as They Are Known:

The Random Number will now be a d4, rather than a d6. This adds an element of luck, but reduces the excessive results.

All Characters have as default:
Attack / Fire – Hit an adjacent opponent. Combat and Defence normal. Halberdiers may Strike an opponent from the second rank. Archers and Casters may target any enemy on screen.

Abilities: Each character chooses TWO of the abilities below:

Block – Defence +2, Combat -2. Unit may still attack while Blocking.

Precise Blow – attack / fire at a weak spot – Inflict 2 hits on opponent, ignoring defence and Parry.

Parry - deflect all opponents’ melee attacks against you for the phase (you cannot parry Precise Blow, Arrows, or Spells) (only Characters with Swords) (you may not attack while using Parry).

Mighty Blow - Combat +2, Defence -2. {May be used by Halberdiers in the second row - may be used by Archers and Casters at any target}

Guard - +2 to Defence of a specific Adjacent character. -2 to your Combat. Character may still attack enemies.

Support - +2 to Combat of a specific Adjacent character of the same combat type – melee, ranged, caster. You may not support and attack. Multiple Characters can support the same attack.

Berserker: Combat +X (where X is the number of hits you have lost) Defence is reduced to 0.



Caster Specials:

Heal Wounds - restore half the target’s lost hits on touch (rounded up).

Spark - summon fire without flint nor tinder. Effect: can light candles if needed.

Shield – +4 Defence of any Character for the turn.

Illusion – All enemies have combat -1 for the rest of the turn as they are distracted…


Levelling – Everyone starts out as level 0. If you add the final touches and cwoak an enemy, you might level. You need to cwoak one enemy to reach level 1, two more to reach level 2, and three more to reach level 3. Once folks get to level 3, we’ll start adding extra abilites.
For each level you go up, you get +1 hits, and +1 to Combat or Defence.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Would it then be kosher to wait until the details settle on abilities, before sending orders?

Not that I plan anything too sophisticated. I think I'll follow Swodaems's plans and either boost offense for someone in the front or defense for an archer.

Btw, does "adjacent" include immediately in front/immediately at the back?

[LTDave]

How 'bout that?

If you want to change your choices, please do so. Hopefully we'll have people hitting each other now, not Parrying endlessly...

You know what - we should change it to choose "two" abilities. Remebering that everyone has Attack/Fire as default. Yeah - let's do that. Retconjuration in progress...

You all need to change your choices.
Thanks.

[LTDave]

Enemy Stats and Abilities

Spoiler: show

Enemy S Krit'ik, Level 0 : COM 2 , DEF 2 , Hits 10 /10 {Precise Blow, Mighty Blow}
Enemy T Bit'ya, Level 0 : COM 2 , DEF 2 , Hits 10 /10 {Heal Wounds, Precise Blow}
Enemy U Bag'ga, Level 0 : COM 3 , DEF 5 , Hits 10 /12 {Block, Mighty Blow}
Enemy V Bag'ga, Level 0 : COM 3 , DEF 5 , Hits 8 /12 {Block, Mighty Blow}
Enemy W Champion Hay'ta, Level 3 : COM 5 , DEF 6 , Hits 11 /13 {Precise Blow, Parry}
Enemy X Wyn'a, Level 0 : COM 2 , DEF 3 , Hits 8 /10 {Support, Guard}
Enemy Y Wyn'a, Level 0 : COM 2 , DEF 3 , Hits 10 /10 {Support, Guard}
Enemy Z Wyn'a, Level 0 : COM 2 , DEF 3 , Hits 10 /10 {Support, Guard}

Question: Adjacent?
Yes, includes immediately in front / immediately at the back.


Sorry for mucking around with this. I give 36 hours before the end of the turn so you can pick more holes in the rules (see, this is why I don't publish the rules as a rule...)

[MarbitChow]

I'll go with Parry / Mighty Blow. I'm still going stand in front of the Champion and Parry.

/ooc: If everyone who can target me does so, parry negates all non-Precise Blow attacks. DEF 6 means that rear row can do max 2 each to me, if they use Precise Blow. I'll live through the first turn, but I'll have 1 hit left.
Tim, I think you need to be in the 2nd row center, so that you can touch-to-heal anyone. Bro'badiers should guard Tim, I think, if front row is parrying.
All ranged attacks need to be on the enemy caster first; with archer Mighty Blow's and a Tim dart we should be able to drop him this round.

[LTDave]

(one last edit - came to me in my... ur... I think the appropriate term is "turmerlebnis")

[Exate]

I've tweaked and hopefully clarified the system a little. My notes are in italics. You can use or not use this at your option, of course, but I would like to think that the rules presented here are tightened up a bit and hopefully easier to build upon.

Basic Attacks
Attack: Deal Combat+1d4 Hits of damage to an adjacent opponent, reduced by their Defense.
Strike: Deal Combat+1d4 Hits of damage to an opponent who is either adjacent or separated by one rank, reduced by their Defense.
Fire: Deal Combat+1d4 Hits of damage to any opponent on screen, reduced by their Defense.

Modified Attacks - Use in combination with a Basic Attack.
Block: Get Defense +2 and Combat -2 for the round.
Mighty Blow: Get Combat +2 and Defense -2 for the round.
Guard: Get Combat -2 for the round. A single adjacent ally gains +2 Defense for the round.
Support: Get Combat -2 for the round. A single adjacent ally targeting the same enemy as you gains +2 Combat for the round.
Note that I have changed Support here to reflect the pattern established with Block, Mighty Blow, and Guard, with a small concession to logic. I don't consider letting you attack while simultaneously supporting overpowered- with the reduction in Combat it seems reasonable enough to me, and it provides an explanation for what the support consists of, i.e. a weaker attack intended to distract.
Berserker: Add your Defense score to your Combat score and reduce Defense to 0 for the round. This may not be used with Fire.
I thought berserking archers or casters was fairly ridiculous.

Special Attacks
Precise Blow: Deal 2 Hits to an opponent in range of your Basic Attack.
Parry: Deflects all Basic Attacks except for Fire targeting you for the round.
Note that this also applies to Modified Attacks, since those are all presented as "change stats and use a Basic Attack".

Caster Specials
Heal Wounds: An adjacent ally recovers half their Hits, rounded up.
Shield: Any single ally on screen gets Defense +4 for the round.
Illusion: All enemies on screen get Combat -1 for the round.


Knights start with Attack and two other abilities, which must be Modified Attacks, Precise Blow, or Parry.
Warriors start with Attack and two other abilities, which must be Modified Attacks, Precise Blow, or Parry.
Halberdiers start with Strike and two other abilities, which must be Modified Attacks or Precise Blow.
Archers start with Fire and two other abilities, which must be Modified Attacks or Precise Blow.
Casters start with Fire and two other abilities, which must be Modified Attacks, Precise Blow, or Caster Specials.

[Werebiscuit]

Spoiler: show

Nicely tightened up Exate Congrats.

One suggestion -for spark. Sets clothing alight causing 2 hits ignores defence ( precise blow for casters)

[Swodaems]

Im going to go with Parry and Beserker for Chess' skills.

[LTDave]

Cool. Thanks Exate.
We'll go with your list. But give the Warriors Parry.
Just ignore spark - I was having a humourous dig at The Colonel Sahib. Pyrokinetic indeed.

[Exate]

Updated. Numma Trois will take Mighty Blow and Support.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Hmm, so at level 3 one can pick an extra ability, but needs to croak 6 enemies to get there. This indicates that the better selection of starting abilities is offensive.

In that case, I'll have Ian Marius Stanley pick Guard (because MarbitChow makes a good point as to what Bro-badiers should be doing) and ...

wait, can I Berserker from the second row?

[The Colonel]

Fine Heal Wounds and Illusion

[LTDave]

Remember that you need to choose your action and movement as well as your abilities. Just under 20 hours till the turn ends...