Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

Depends on the NPC, if they're ganging up 3:1 on the PC, then they probably believe themselves outclassed, it can be worth it to them to make an attack in the 6-9 range which might get through, vs making an attack in the 12-15 range which will probably not get through, and if they're working together as a team they may willingly try Deceptive Attacks which will miss more often, relying on their comrades to distract their target.

If there's no Parry or Block available to the character, sure, and the next round he'll also have shock issues unless he has High Pain Threshold.
I don't see a problem with this. Once he's hit, he should be more susceptible to follow-up hits unless he can pull back and regroup.
If someone's outnumbered 3:1, unless he's really good, or has friends who can come to the rescue, he's going to get his ass handed to him.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

You cannot reduce your skill below 10 with Deceptive Attack (B370).

Even if you allow it, mathematically it isn't worth.

NPC broadsword-12, PC dodge-13

normal attack: P(12-)*(1-P(13-)) = 7.2%

deceptive attack -3: P(6-)*(1-P(10-)) = 4.6%

Deceptive attack is useful only for skills 13+, generally speaking.
Yeah, if that's by design, it's fair. However I'd like to avoid the "hit spiral".

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

11 is nowhere near 14. 11+ is what, 63% success? 14+ is around 93%. So this is a major difference.

As was already said, this problem is practically non-existent if you use Deceptive Attacks and/or Feint.

Also, leather armor is at most DR2, so one hit can cause a lot of damage. With HT 13, 8 points of damage puts you at half move and dodge. Also, a major wound to the face or vitals gives a -5 penalty to the HT roll; -10 for the brain.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

I would take exception to that statment as it implies that a GM goal is to amke his players happy. as opsend to have fun with his friends.

It is distntyl possible for the players to be happy and the GM not. But this is a stong indcation that there migh be a play style mismatch.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

Neither of these is available for ranged attacks, hence at least part of the problem.

-Polaris

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

I like giving semi-skilled fighters the option of effectively swinging half-wild and possibly connecting.
This is actually pretty realistic when you think about the effect of a semi-skilled fighter fancing an expert, and trying his best to connect by deception.
He's more likely to fail, but he'll still try to do it.

All the more reason to use it, especially for NPCs against PCs at a 3:1 ratio.

Of course, if the NPCs are really scared, and they know which one of them the PC is engaging, the other two might AoA Accurate, and convert the +4 bonus to their 12- skill to a -3 Deceptive attack on a 10- to hit.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to avoid, and why.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

Plus, it's 20pts a level. 20pts is 6 levels of a new skill, or 5 extra levels of an old skill. Consider:

Joe Average, stats all 10, Speed 5, Dodge 8.

He can get Speed 6, and thus Dodge 9, for 20pts.

Or he can get a Melee weapon, 20pts gets him, with a DX/avg skill, Attribute+5, or Skill 15 with that weapon. That's Parry of 10. Plus, he gets to attack.

Of course, if you gave him 200 or 500 points to spend, then he'll just get the extra Speed, AND the weapon skill. But if it's a 50 or 100pt character, then the player starts having to choose between things...

So what's being said here is that, "if you have a 200-pt character, he can do things that are really powerful and not very realistic in flavour, more cinematic." Well, yeah! A high-point character should be able to do crazy stuff like that.

If you don't want munchkins, don't give them munchkin-level points.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

Jim-Bob,

As I already showed on the Uberthread (and others did as well), it is possible to get a dodge of 13 or even more (as high as 19!) with "default" stat characters (stats of 10). In short, you can get shockingly high Dodge defense scores for a suprisingly low number of points.

-Polaris

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

Sorry, could you tell me what which überthread this is, or could you tell me why getting a Dodge as high as 19 with few points is possible?

I think it's not, but maybe I overlooked something.

Re: Active defense debate o_Ô
 

The überthread aka Is Dodge Overpowering?