Why Wait?

[Mailanka]

So, in previous discussion about making combat dynamic, one helpful poster suggested that, if I wanted people to use tactics other than "Attack/Attack/Attack," I should hit them with tactics that encouraged them to do other things. For example, if I want players to use Wait (and I do, I very much do), I should use tactics against them that will encourage them to Wait.

So, my question to you is: What would make you Wait?

To be clear, I don't think Wait is "too weak," I just think it's situational, and I'm looking for the kinds of situations where you tend to see a lot of Waiting happen.

Off the top of my head, if two warriors are skilled in Counterattack, they'll likely want to wait for their opponent to attack first.

Any other comments or suggestions?

[Landwalker]

If I'm using anything with longer reach than my opponent's weapon, and I expect them to try to move into range and attack me (Move and Attack, All-out Attack, Committed Attack, etc.), I might Wait. Especially if I'm using a Reach 2-3 weapon like a Heavy Spear.

As far as other tactics go, making opponents harder to bring down (through good defenses and/or armor) may encourage players to Evaluate, in order to do build up a bonus for something like Deceptive Attack or a Targeted Attack to a more vulnerable, but penalized, hit location (like the hand).

Similarly, just about any time a character is firing at a range longer than a few yards and far enough away that their opponent can't close the distance in one turn warrants an Aim action. Ranged combat is also another possibility to see Waits, for things like "Wait until the enemy sticks his head around the corner" or "Wait until the enemy is within X range."

One of the frustrating things for me, Wait-wise, is that you can't "stack" Evaluate/Aim and Wait. So if your opponent is 20 yard away, closing at 4 yards per round, and you take 3 Aim Maneuvers (opponent is now 8 yards away), you can't then take a Wait maneuver (Wait: When Opponent is less than seven yards away, All-Out Attack with ranged weapon) and still get the Aim bonus.

[Fnugus]

I'm an archer (or similarly ranged) covering a doorway, narrow bridge, etc. I specify "I wait 'til an enemy appears", and shoot the guy

I've got a Reach 2 or 3 weapon. I specify "I wait for the opponent to close in for an attack" and attack the guy before he is allowed to attack me

I'm waiting for a mage to cast a spell (buff on me, debuff on opponent), and plunge into combat as soon as he's done.

[RobKamm]

There is always allowing the players to set an ambush. Then they take Waits until the bad guys wander into the kill zone...

Start the combat out of range. Waits allow a character to let someone else enter range. Or, if the other guy has a longer reach allows the shorter reach combatant a way to enter the fight (Wait: when spearman attacks I Step and Attack.

In a modern day game you might use a Wait to allow two snipers to coordinate their attack. The first one shoots out the window, the second fires through the hole.

I think Kromm mentioned allowing untriggered Waits to qualify as Evaluates if all of the requirements for Evaluate are fulfilled.

[sir_pudding]

To echo the above, I see Opportunity Fire used quite a lot in my games.

[Joseph Paul]

Why wait? Because real combat hurts a lot and can permanently maim or kill you. If you want that as an option ramp up the deadliness of disease, nerf medicine and healing, mandate longer periods of reduced skill and stat use from wounds. Your aim is to make getting hit an onerous exercise that will make a player want to temper his quest for glory with as many advantages as he can.

Oh apply plusses to an opponents defenses based on the movement of the PC. Stepping in to the time of the hand from outside the time of the foot is a big tip off...

[Joseph Paul]

Doh - one of the best ways to show the effectiveness of other strategies is to use them succesfully against the players with NPCs. Having their rash impudent grasshopper asses handed to them by someone with the same skill but a better grasp of the tactics will - probably - sober them up.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Doh - one of the best ways to show the effectiveness of other strategies is to use them succesfully against the players with NPCs. Having their rash impudent grasshopper asses handed to them by someone with the same skill but a better grasp of the tactics will - probably - sober them up.

That only works if Wait and Evaluate actually give a mechanical advantage when used appropriately.

If using Attack followed by more Attack is mechanically superior, the rash and unsophisticated characters will sweep the floor with the supposedly smarter and more tactically-minded ones.

Which is why, in my games, I allow the combination of Wait and Evaluate (if, after the first turn of Wait, it is not triggered, the character can Evaluate a target that is the subject of the Wait while still retaining his Wait) and double the to hit bonus given by Evaluate.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Which is why, in my games, I allow the combination of Wait and Evaluate (if, after the first turn of Wait, it is not triggered, the character can Evaluate a target that is the subject of the Wait while still retaining his Wait) and double the to hit bonus given by Evaluate.

I've been seriously considering that too.

Given that I keep stealing your house rules, I don't suppose you have a website where you've listed all of your house rules?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Given that I keep stealing your house rules, I don't suppose you have a website where you've listed all of your house rules?

No such luck. :(

Too lazy to do work without pay. Too lazy to do work for pay, really, which is why I only work enough to be able to survive.