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Old 06-09-2021, 08:19 AM   #32
Polkageist
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Verification re: Move and Attack

Mapping in real-life skill levels is tough, because as PC's you're heroic paragons in the high teens, and the everyday dude is probably shooting with a 12.

And IRL suppressing fire is used SO much compared to how often I've seen it in game. I think that has to do with the game-system incentive to end a fight asap, since the best and fastet way to minimize damage is to remove the potential source of damage and HP is as much a resource as anything so trading 3-5 HP of damage to eliminate a threat is a bargain in a game world. Thus prioritize direct attacks over mitigating incoming fire since you can tank a little bit and end the fight sooner.

Not so much IRL, where 3-5 HP of damage is not something that a human wants nor wants for their comrade, however trivial of a wound it might represent. So suppressing the enemy FIRST is a priority to reduce or remove the chance of even trivial injury, and then directly attacking a suppressed target. Outnumbering your opponent is probably really important.

That's at least how I'm interpreting that odd divide. It's colored a bit too by experiences w/ D&D and Savage Worlds where similar sorts of things come into play. We long ago saw the limitations of healing in-combat because an action spent on healing is an action not spent on eliminating a threat.

Hm, this is off track. Donny, sorry if I got a bit snippy. M&A feels odd, and all the math aside, a very smooth and convenient way I've found to take the roughness off of it is to allow Extra Effort. Players get a resource to spend, GM has fewer actions to police.

RE: Gaining skill/DX w/ actions (EE) is counterargued by All-out-Attack giving you +2 to-hit, which directly boosts a skill. Thing is, that there's always a drawback to that boost, be it giving up your attack (Fev. Def), giving up your defense (AoA), or spending a limited resource (EE).

In a given fight, a PC w/ 10-12 FP only has 7-8 uses of EE before they hit the 1/3 barrier and drop to half move and defense. From my own DF experience, a biggish fight will gas-out a party and they'll use those EE actions pretty conservatively so they don't have to spend 30m after every fight catching their breath. And as a GM, you've got to watch your pacing so you have a relatively rapid sequence to challenge their endurance, and pop in a break now and then to let them recuperate.
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