grappling torso w/ foot to dislodge impaling weapon from skull (Technical Goblining)

[Plane]

(part 3 of 3, sorry had to split due to char limit)

Originally Posted by Varyon

If the player (or GM in control of the NPC) choses not to capitalize on the bonus, you could say the character didn't realize Retreating would be extra-effective against this attack - or the character did know this, but opted not to Retreat for any number of reasons.

A bit handwavey. It's fine if there are tactical reasons for that (ie they remember there is a wall/ally behind them and a retreat would cause a collision) but whether they realize it ought to depend on Per/IQ.

Maybe instead of raw per or IQ you could do a weapon/combat roll based on those instead of DX? Success meaning "I realize a retreat would give an extra bonus".

Originally Posted by Varyon

My thought there was that it would be harder than normal to get an attack past the sweeping staff, and the character would already be well-positioned to Parry.

I think I get what you mean (links back to my prior mention of Committed Attack).

So I'm thinking that both All-Out Defense: Determined parry (+2 to parry = +4 to skill) and also Committed Attack (+2 to skill) should give bonuses in using your weapon to Obstruct to resist Evade in the Quick Contest

You're not supposed to be able to parry at all with a weapon you used for a Committed Attack though. MA100 is more extreme than I remembered, for some reason I thought it was -4 instead of -2 to defend, but it's actually "cannot parry with the hand(s) he used to attack" so I was remembering it wrong.

Obstructing Evade is technically different from a parry (even though it uses up a parry) so I could see that being different, possibly. If it were allowed it should probably only work against that singular foe you attacked.

TG22's "One Foe" might also have some kind of application here:

You may combine One Foe with All-Out Attack.
If so, you still lose your active defenses,
but you may make resistance rolls in Quick Contests against that foe at -4
(instead of an automatic failure)

Besides AOA, Committed Attack is also a situation of "you lose your active defenses" but in a limited sense (you only lose Parry, and only with the attacking arm).

It sounds like with AOA you normally could not stop Evade with your DX but One Foe allows it.

"Use up a parry to do a non-parrying action to substitute Skill for DX" is basically what we're talking about here...

In this case if it were allowed you'd be losing something you have no use for anyway (number of parries per turn with that weapon) so it seems like an exploit...

Maybe subbing the Weapon Skill for DX shouldn't cost a parry except when you need to relocate the weapon to a different hex to do so? That would still allow it to be done by people using AOA or Committed, but only if using the weapon to Obstruct the Evade of a foe traveling from the hex you just attacked. You'd still be out of luck trying to Obstruct the Evade of attackers coming in from other hexes.

Originally Posted by Varyon

My suggestion was to make this a generally-available option,
not a special, unique Technique.
If you make a Technique into something that anyone can do at default,
there's no need for a further penalty,
because there's no Perk needed to do it in the first place.

I guess my only concern is the more "general options" we introduce for free, the less incentive we have for people to buy Special Technique perks to design custom non-universal techniques, since the default options already cover a wider spanse of ground.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I'd at least require a [5] Advantage to unlock the ability to design Techniques on the fly (although in some campaigns existing Advantages, like Trained by a Master or Weapon Master, could work without a price increase), and apply a -1 to any Hard Technique.

Sounds like something we could cover under Modular Abilities. But since they need to spend time rearranging points, they couldn't instantly call upon different techniques.

Even w/ enough Reduced Time to change Modular Abilities down to "free action" that's still something you can only swap once per turn (multiple point rearrangemnts per turn might need something like Rapid Fire using Warp as precedent) and only at the start of turn, unless you allow something like 'Power Dodge' to use 'free action' ability during opponent's turn in reaction to them.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Combinations don't need to be designed on the fly (with the exception of those that use two weapons to attack more than once, but I'd give those a pass), because Combinations are just Rapid Strikes that you can buy off the penalty for. Using such at default is... just doing a Rapid Strike.

checking MA80 you're right except where it allows a 3-attack rapid strike if you spend a point on the combination (normal non-combination rapid-strikes are limited to 2 attacks)

Two-attack combinations seem pretty unattractive to me. You have a huge drawback on that 2nd attack (+3 to defend if 1st is defended against) plus an overall defensive problem (+1 to defend against if you keep using it) and combos are "Hard" techniques, you need TWO character points to buy off that first -1 to hit.

Even at the most expensive, improving your overall weapon skills is 4/level so you'd be paying half that and getting all those bonuses to attacker defenses plus limited target selection, it's just not a good deal.

In the very least I think combinations ought to be average techniques so it's a fixed 1pt per -1 you buy off. Even then it's hard to think of them as a good deal.