How to protect casters?

[Feathers]

Lets say I'm playing a warrior. My friend is a squishy magic user. We are attacked by two Orcs. One of the Orcs rushes into combat with me. The other one goes around and attacks my friend. Except for using a ready Reach weapon I don't see how I can stop anyone from getting by me. Is there some mechanic like Threating or Opportunity Attacks that I am missing?

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Make sure the mage is armed and armored too, instead of setting him up as some sort of squishy target.
Squishy targets don't belong in combat unless they're meant to die.

You can do a sacrificial dodge to help out your friend, but really, don't allow squishy targets into melee combat.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Feathers

Except for using a ready Reach weapon I don't see how I can stop anyone from getting by me. Is there some mechanic like Threating or Opportunity Attacks that I am missing?

No. You can, of course, stab him in the back now that he's run past you, which in the real world discourages tactics like this, but GURPS doesn't really have much of a concept of zones of control, making it very hard to stop people from moving at will.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Anthony

No. You can, of course, stab him in the back now that he's run past you, which in the real world discourages tactics like this, but GURPS doesn't really have much of a concept of zones of control, making it very hard to stop people from moving at will.

Beyond the Sacrificial Dodge, you can also Wait, and step in front of someone trying to do that type of thing.

Basically one has to remember GURPS combat is fast, taking place in 1 second intervals, so if you want to make sure someone doesn't get around you, you'll probably be reacting to them with triggered Wait actions instead of going out to attack them and allowing them to get by you.

[Archangel Beth]

(You could also try to fast-talk the GM into letting you take some kind of penalty to attack/defenses/both in order to stick your leg out and trip Enemy #2 as he goes past... It's not a Mechanics thing, then, but a GM call as to whether a cinematic move like that fits with the campaign the GM desires to run.)

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Beyond the Sacrificial Dodge, you can also Wait, and step in front of someone trying to do that type of thing.

True but usually a poor tactical option.

The big problem here is that the time scales of movement and striking are off. Realistically, it takes longer to go around someone than it takes for that person to turn and whack you.

[younglorax]

Originally Posted by Anthony

True but usually a poor tactical option.

The big problem here is that the time scales of movement and striking are off. Realistically, it takes longer to go around someone than it takes for that person to turn and whack you.

True, which is why a Wait maneuver lets you do it. If you're already in a fight with someone else, and you've already swung at them or parried something they swung at you, then you probably can't also turn to hit someone running past you if you weren't preparing for it.


Is there any rules-legal way of taking an AoA:Double and Wait-ing one? Would that be at all realistic?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by younglorax

True, which is why a Wait maneuver lets you do it. If you're already in a fight with someone else, and you've already swung at them or parried something they swung at you, then you probably can't also turn to hit someone running past you if you weren't preparing for it.

Hm. For some reason I was thinking of this as being the same orc as you engaged also running around you. Agreed that fighting one orc will keep you busy.

[younglorax]

Originally Posted by Feathers

Lets say I'm playing a warrior. My friend is a squishy magic user. We are attacked by two Orcs. One of the Orcs rushes into combat with me. The other one goes around and attacks my friend. Except for using a ready Reach weapon I don't see how I can stop anyone from getting by me. Is there some mechanic like Threating or Opportunity Attacks that I am missing?

There's always the "keep anyone squishy as far away from danger as possible" maneuver. It involves either taking Ze's suggestion of armoring the mage, or the very reasonable option of not getting in a fight with two orc's when you have someone squishy on your side.

My suggestion for the "opportunity attack" type thing (I'm going by what the name sounds like, I don't know what it means in DnD terms) is to Wait for someone to enter your range.

But really, getting yourself into a fight when you have someone who's essentially helpless to defend and you're outnumbered two to one is just dumb.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Feathers

Lets say I'm playing a warrior. My friend is a squishy magic user. We are attacked by two Orcs. One of the Orcs rushes into combat with me. The other one goes around and attacks my friend.

General caster protection schemes in place in my current fantasy campaign.

1. Get them before they can get you. For fighters this most often means high damage attacks possibly enhanced with Targeted Attack, magical and Weapon Master bonuses. Add in Rapid Strike at appropriate level of power. For mages, first screw up as many as possible. Using Flash so they're all at -3 DX is good. Then finish off with efficient damaging spells like Flame Jet or Shocking Touch all extended by your Staff.

2. Stand more than 1 average Move behind the fighters. Flying or Levitating can help too.

3. Iron Arm or Blink at 16+

4. DR from leather armor with moderate magical enhancements or just go all magical when you've got enough money.