TFT Defense

tbeard1999 · 01-12-2018, 08:34 AM

OK, some crazy talk follows. It may be a great insight, or it may be the cough syrup talking.

As we know, a common complaint with TFT combat is that figures pretty easily get to a point where they effectively automatically hit. The solution has been to come up with some way to make it harder to hit - parry rolls, harder DX rolls, defensive modifiers, etc.

The problem with all of these systems is that they make the combat turns last longer.

What if we made two simple changes to TFT instead:

1. Resolve combat in initiative order, not DX order. This eliminates a key advantage of high DX - going first. (Or assess damage simultaneously at the end of the turn. I don’t like that as much).

2. Make rolls of 13-16 automatic misses (17 and 18 treated like they are now). This gives a 74% maximum success chance of success. High DX figures can distinguish themselves by trying aimed shots.

The result is that combat becomes a lot less predictable. There’s now a solid chance of missing and a lot of uncertainty in combat due to the unpredictable order. However, this would only have a very modest impact on the amount of time a combat turn takes.

As far as my own goal of enabling swashbucklers, I’d stay with the parry/riposte rule that lets figures with the Fencing talent stop hits (2 maybe) by taking an adjDX penalty (2 maybe). This advantage does to 1 hit stopped if wearing leather and 0 if wearing anything heavier (though I’d allow something like mithril chain to be treated as leather).

After all, a swashbuckler’s main combat disadvantage is no armor. Give them a way to more or less take *some* armor (though not as much as a normal warrior) and the problem is solved.

I know all this sounds crazy, but I kinda have a feeling it would work.

Or maybe the cough syrup thinks that.

01-12-2018, 08:34 AM	#16
tbeard1999 Join Date: May 2013 Location: Tyler, Texas	Re: TFT Defense OK, some crazy talk follows. It may be a great insight, or it may be the cough syrup talking. As we know, a common complaint with TFT combat is that figures pretty easily get to a point where they effectively automatically hit. The solution has been to come up with some way to make it harder to hit - parry rolls, harder DX rolls, defensive modifiers, etc. The problem with all of these systems is that they make the combat turns last longer. What if we made two simple changes to TFT instead: 1. Resolve combat in initiative order, not DX order. This eliminates a key advantage of high DX - going first. (Or assess damage simultaneously at the end of the turn. I don’t like that as much). 2. Make rolls of 13-16 automatic misses (17 and 18 treated like they are now). This gives a 74% maximum success chance of success. High DX figures can distinguish themselves by trying aimed shots. The result is that combat becomes a lot less predictable. There’s now a solid chance of missing and a lot of uncertainty in combat due to the unpredictable order. However, this would only have a very modest impact on the amount of time a combat turn takes. As far as my own goal of enabling swashbucklers, I’d stay with the parry/riposte rule that lets figures with the Fencing talent stop hits (2 maybe) by taking an adjDX penalty (2 maybe). This advantage does to 1 hit stopped if wearing leather and 0 if wearing anything heavier (though I’d allow something like mithril chain to be treated as leather). After all, a swashbuckler’s main combat disadvantage is no armor. Give them a way to more or less take some armor (though not as much as a normal warrior) and the problem is solved. I know all this sounds crazy, but I kinda have a feeling it would work. Or maybe the cough syrup thinks that.