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Old 03-08-2023, 08:30 AM   #1
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Altered Time Rate Variant - Simultaneity

This is largely just the start of a thought I had thanks to the discussion of point defense in the TL 9 armies thread. One of the issues with ATR is that the extra turns are taken sequentially - so maneuvers like Wait, All Out Defense, etc can only be taken once, at the end of the turn, while you can use All Out Attack for every maneuver but the last without consequence (unless a foe happens to have an appropriate Wait, but then your speedster with 100 maneuvers to their single one is rendered helpless against their attack).

What if we instead changed ATR so that the maneuvers more-or-less happen simultaneously? Essentially, you declare all of your Maneuvers, then actually take what amounts to a single maneuver that has all the movement, attacks, defenses, readies, aims, etc of those Maneuvers. So three Attack maneuvers let you take three Steps and make three Attacks at full skill (each of which can be subdivided into Rapid Strikes or similar) in whatever order you see fit (so two Steps and one attack, then a third Step and two attacks, for example) and three defenses. Replacing one of them with an All Out Attack (Determined) means you get a +4 to one of the strikes and can move two Steps plus half Move, but lose one of your defenses. Replacing one with All Out Defense (Double) means you get to double up one of your defenses and can move three Steps, but you lose one of your Attacks. Note this also means you could do something like taking a Wait to watch several hexes and Aim at a target that enters one of them (this is arguably more fair if using the "On Target" article, where Aim calls for a roll, so that you penalize that roll for watching multiple hexes) as well as a Wait to watch those same hexes and attack a target that enters one, resulting in you getting to Aim and Attack a target that enters a watched hex.

Most of this feels fairly straightforward, but I'm not certain how to handle the defenses. If you get three defenses, does that mean you get to roll up to three times against each attack? Or should it instead mean that you get three defenses before iteration penalties come into play? I'm thinking the latter is more appropriate, as it results in two characters with the same level of ATR fighting each other being on more-or-less equal footing to two characters without ATR fighting.

How does this sound? Would this be appropriate as a simple replacement to ATR, or should it be an Enhancement? It seems like this treatment would go a long way toward making ATR feel as though the character is actually acting faster, rather than just somehow acting more (which is what the current trait does). Note things like Compartmentalized Mind should probably get similar treatment.
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