Duvors

Carefully positioning yourself so you don't burn your face on the still-glowing metal, you lower your eye to the slit and peep through. You can't see anything that might have caused what just transpired, but you do see a door and what looks like a blue shipping container. Oddly, you notice that the lights are still on inside. Apparently Flatfoot's gang cleared out so fast they forgot to turn them off.

If that is the case, Billeck will defend themselves.

The thing is, this is all kind of pointless. The real issue we're trying to solve here is not action economy or lack of defensive options, it's that melee weapons can't attack outside optimal range. Honestly, everything you've suggested here is superfluous with existing full actions (and the purpose of dodge seems to undercut any boost to melee the others might provide anyway) and unrelated to what we're actually trying to accomplish. Parry Riposte is the only 'new' thing here, and honestly I don't quite see the point of it being separate from OA to begin with. Now hang on, while tying it to defend might make that particular action too good, I don't see why Opportunistic attack can't be a full action. If that were on the cards, I could even see a case for restoring the movement trigger.

Ronin Melee Weapon Check (DC 7 3 {Calibrated Energy Weapon}): (2,3,3,2,4) One success. Proving once again that doors are Heroica's true nemesis, your attempt to cut your way through the door ends with your sword lodged in it to no visible effect. Grimacing as you tries to pull it free, you can at least take solace in the fact that you don't seem to have set off any alar- Ronin Strength Check vs. ???: (6) One success vs. (6,2,1,5,3,3,6) Three successes. Before you can finish that thought, something on the other side of the door grabs the point on the far side and pulls with immense force. Before you can stop yourself, you feel yourself pulled into the door, slamming into it with a grunt. You can feel the... whatever on the other side, seemingly trying to pull the weapon for the door. After a moment, it releases its grip, and you're able to easily draw forth your weapon. What... what was that?

I think this has merit, but I think critical effects are a shade too far for this system, and all this stuff about rolling d6's and velocity checks would just burden the system with unnecessary additional complexity. Having to give up your action is a big enough penalty in-and-of itself methinks.

OoC: The thing is, I do in fact have precedent for trying to persuade someone to surrender without it costing an action. If you remember Mission 5, you allowed me to make an intimidation check against the last remaining enemy without spending an action even though I had intended to Try Something as per the rules. I didn't say I was making a persuasion check this time because I didn't want to push my luck and would let you adjudicate. I chose to restrain this turn because a. Cloak is probably dead, so my persuasion check would just fail I'm assuming, and b. even if I could make my check, if it fails then it's essentially a wasted action and the changeling is free to continue attacking.

Why? The defend action already fills all the same conceptual space, and quite frankly this seems like a lot to add for little. Why make movement actions their own category when there's only one of them? Brace seems utterly redundant with defending both conceptually and mechanically (and quite frankly would take away the importance of the defend action), Dodge is pretty much the same thing with dashing (and would, again, undermine the dash action), and Parry could just be rolled into the existing OA.

OoC: In the absence of other actions: If Dagger does not surrender, Billeck will move to B5 and attack. Aysu will attempt to disarm Dagger with strength.

Correct. I'd also like to mention a few other uses I've thought of. For one thing, although following is primarily beneficial to melee characters, ranged characters can also get some benefit in a specific niche case. Using short range as an example, if a hero with such a weapon follows an enemy whose velocity is one higher than theirs, then they force the opponent to choose between using their full velocity or moving themselves into optimal position to be attacked. There's also some things that can be done with following allies, such as a character moving toward an ally and defending them before following. The other character then moves on their turn, giving their ally the benefit of dashing while being able to take another action. Then there's the fact that following can be chained. If someone follows an ally, and that ally follows an enemy, then when that enemy moves so will the heroes. To be honest, this might not be the best thing to implement, but the fact that I can think of all these different ways to utilize it endears the concept to me. I like things that encourage people to think 'how can I use this?' Parry - I think the concept of Parrying is pretty much covered by defending, but that doesn't matter since the mechanics here actually model a Riposte - which is already in game as a Swashbuckler class feature that works identically to this. Not that that's a bad thing, things can always be changed and the duel in M#9 shows that works out pretty well. I have to ask though, is this supposed to be a special action? Because if it's a full action it seems inferior to simply attacking. Dodge - Unless the old OA is brought back, this action is completely useless. Brace - This honestly seems just a worse version of Defend. Oddly, if this is a special action then I can't see people choosing any of the others instead, because a flat bonus to damage reduction - on top of skill, armor, and potentially defend - is just more valuable.

Not exactly. I was thinking of a bowling ball effect where a followed enemy can't move toward their allies without forcing them to scatter, though conversely a character could abuse being followed to pull someone into a disadvantageous position. It was intended to have a similar effect to the original OA, simply because being kited seemed to be a specific complaint surrounding melee. However the intent was to accomplish it in a materially different way, especially one that didn't discourage movement. I should also say that the wording deliberately allows someone to follow an ally, though I can only see niche uses for that.

It is. The weathering is a feature in stud.io's render that adds scratches to bricks.

Well that was unexpected. Enson is floating in a quiet place. Not the blackness of unconsciousness, but the full emptiness of the meditative trance. The shock of being stabbed has propelled him into this state. He wishes he could remain here, but he can already hear his heartbeat, and feel the determination to act. Slowly, he opens his eyes. Enson gasped, feeling time rushing back to him. The relentless march of now. He felt his wound, his life's blood pouring out in rivulets. He knew it was no danger to him yet though, he could concern himself with it later. He knew what must be done now, and drove himself toward it. With an agility few in his position could muster, Enson leapt to his feet and vaulted over the bar, charging into the remaining changeling. Unerring as an arrow, his hand lashed out toward its mark, a point at the base of his opponent's spine: Enson will move to C3 and attempt to paralyze the Changeling's legs, restraining them with medicine. As he struck, he shouted: "Listen! Surrender now and I might yet save your accomplice! Fight, and you will die." The way he said 'die' was filled with a terrible finality. It was not spoken as a threat, but as a statement of fact.

Thank you! I've never really done anything like that before, so this is wonderful to hear. I actually built the whole thing in three hours, so that's why the rest is so basic. I was having trouble with the width of some of the gaps at first, but I found that a minifigure neck bracket could give me a 1/3 plate fit with the smoothness of a tile and it was smooth sailing from there.

Decker Perception Check (DC 2): (6,6,3,3) Two successes. Checking over the numpad, you're able to determine that the most used numbers are one, three, six, and eight. That should bring the number of possible combinations down to about... somewhere in the mid-to-low twenties.

As I said: This change actually occurred during Mission 5. The reason it never came up was because the enemies in the first battle were immune to them anyway, and in every other battle it was either never triggered or had already been removed.

This is probably a terrible idea. Special Action: Follow When you end your turn adjacent to character, you may choose to follow them. When that character moves, you move in the same direction up to your velocity. You may not dash on the same turn. Critique?

OoC: Oh no, please, continue your current actions. I'm just pointing this out so that you aren't afraid to try if you can't finish the fight in time I just remembered that a fight doesn't end until unstable characters are stabilized.

Your footsteps echo against the foamcrete floor. Most of the time it's easy to forget that everywhere in this station is an interior space, but with the absence of any other sound here the echo takes on an oppressive weight, pressing down from the nighttime-dimmed lights overhead. As you reach your destination and stop walking, the echoes fade into absolute silence. Reaching the building, you fail to see any entrance other than the rolling door. The only other distinctive features the building seems to have are a keypad for the door and a rather untalented graffito. Decker Smarts Check (DC 1,3): (5) One success. Looking at the keypad, you can see the door requires a four digit combination. From what you know, the number of possible four-digit combinations is... errr... over nine thousand? Anyway, the likelihood of you being able you just randomly punch in some numbers and get it right is astronomically low. On the other hand, you could try to hotwire the door. Maybe change the combination or trigger it to open?

MM note: Quick correction, the description you heard was 'five hooded guys who had another guy with them'. This other guy was the one described as weird. I thought the description wasn't as clear as I wanted. I'll have a response to @Endgame in a little while.

OoC: Just a quick note, the DC for the check to stabilize a dying character is DC 1. Anybody could make it with little difficulty.

Opportunistic attacks already work like that. All you have to do to trigger one is end your turn next to an enemy and wait for them to trigger it, every other part of the action is done by the MM without player input. It is not mutually exclusive with movement. That's why it's a special action (an action type that is specifically not exclusive with other actions) and not a full action (one per turn, not counting special actions). The only way this doesn't reflect the current rules is the bit about attacking targets who move away, which was removed for being annoying and hard to remember in practice. While I agree in principal to the point that being kited around is annoying and difficult to manage, I don't want to give attacks native access to special effects. I really don't think getting a free attack with a chance to deal restrained when someone moves away from you would be balanced. My own personal issue here is that pretty much that every suggestion so far has either boiled down to 'hit harder' (which I find boring and would create an exception to the game's standards) or bringing back the old opportunity attack. I have said many times that I do not like the old opportunity attack. I distinctly dislike a mechanic that de-incentivizes movement when movement is the source of most of the dynamism and tactical complexity of the fights. If players and enemies are just going to stand next to each other and attack every round we may as well go back to the old system of 'front row, back row'.

Not really a fan. I don't like making melee weapons work fundamentally differently from ranged weapons in this way.

"A candle? You expect us to-" "Wait, hold on." Neros gestures to the other two to wait. "That looks like something my father would give you, but..." Pausing in his speech, he approaches you and holds out a hand toward you, as if feeling for something in the air. Suddenly, he drops his hand to the side and nods. "They're telling the truth, there's a spell of protection on them. I can feel the extra air resistance." "You can do that?" "If you know what you're looking for." As you describe Avery's odd effects on observers, the three look at each other nervously. "Spooky." "Ah, no chief. I think we'd remember seeing something like that." he said, not knowing how wrong he was. "Honestly, I don't actually pay much attention to wanted posters. The other guy I was mentioning, the one I recognized, I think I half-saw his poster and sorta caught the resemblance, but I can't confirm." "If you're going after those guys at Grey and Brown though, you're outta luck. The whole crew of them cleared out about five or six days ago. Looked like they were in a hurry too." He gestures over to the right - his left - at a small warehouse to one side of the storage yard. "And now you say the sewers are full of dead people." "I sure-" "No." "Hey!" "Just telling it like it is." He turns to you. "You're right. Honestly, if what you say about people dying in the sewers is true, this place isn't safe to hang around in anyway. C'mon people." With a nod to his companions, Neros leads the trio away - or most of them. The kid in blue hangs back for a moment. "Uhh, umm, uhh." he swallows, "Listen, I know this guy, and about a week back he said he saw some weirdoes in cloaks - five of them - going down into the sewer in this neighborhood. That's not too weird for these parts, but he also said - this is why I haven't told those two - that they had another guy with them. And this guy was, er, wrong somehow. Made my friend's head hurt to look at him, and he seemed to be normal sized and too tall at the same time. I thought he was just making stuff up but-" "Come on." Aeson calls back. "Uh, sorry, catch you later! ...?" And without a word more, he runs after his companions. And like that, you're alone.

Why did you move? You were already in optimal position.

This would actually hamper non-kinetic melee, since you would them have to raise two attributes to optimize your attack instead of one. Kinetic melee, on the other hand, would be boosted by getting a damage bonus tied to it's attribute without additional investment (and they already have armor requirements tied to it). First thing, spells have never triggered opportunity attacks, even damage dealing ones. Secondly, as I have said many times, the way opportunity attacks triggered when you move away without dashing was the thing I found least enjoyable about them. I personally feel that having attacks trigger as they currently do (attacking a non-adjacent enemy) is the main source of their ability to hamper ranged combatants. Even if a ranged fighter can move away freely from you, you can still abuse it to force them into non-optimal positions. Personally, I'm not in favor of the idea. My reasons are honestly rather petty, but quite frankly I don't think It's necessary and will create more work than is immediately obvious. To start with, at least one of the major complaints seems to be that ranged players need to prioritize Velocity in order to be effective. I utterly fail to see how any of the proposed changes would effect this. Velocity and Skill are pretty much the most important stats in game - you can afford to mostly ignore anything else, but you need both of them high to be really effective. Secondly, changing weapon ranges will remove an instance of things occurring in fours (told you this was petty) - four weapon ranges, four weapon grades, four armor grades, four spell proficiencies, four weapon proficiencies. Thirdly, classes. Doing this would mean altering the class requirements for every class that can be gained from both long range and artillery. I don't know off the top of my head how many that is, but the warrior - our 'generic fighter' class - requires all four weapon proficiencies as part of it's 'generic' theme. We'd have to find a suitably generic replacement (don't say perception, every class and their mother seems to require perception already). Honestly, at this point I just want to get rid of the class system entirely. Bring it back in a reworked form once we actually have a ruleset everyone's happy with. I'm sick of worrying about needing to revise the damn things when the rules change again.