"Back when I played Warhammer Online, my favorite class was the Swordmaster, primarily its combo system that acted on an opener/builder/finisher setup. Thus my suggestion is having various 'tiers' of momentum, with abilities having an entry and exit requirement as its minimum. here's a rough example, a fighter could use "Steel Burst" as their first move, which has a momentum entry of 1 (the default minimum) and an exit of 2, allowing him to use an ability with a momentum of 2 or lower, and so on, with the strongest abilities having 'finisher' tags that reset the level of momentum they have.
In other words, instead of building up a kind of super meter to spend, they build up their combo piece by piece. In my opinion, this might allow it to be a bit more intuitive and have less in the way of micromanaging on the sheet."
It's certainly true that a system where you unlock the ability to use tiers of abilities by executing lower tier moves requires less updating and note-taking than one where you build up and spend points to use abilities.
However, I think a combination of the two might have merit.
Fortunately, all Spell and Weapon Techniques are already assembled into tiers. This was originally done to determine what level a technique can be learned at, but I'm now wanting to change things so the tiers instead determine the "momentum" needed to use them in battle. The highest tier abilities will probably have a level requirement to learn, because the strongest abilities are very powerful. I am thinking that to learn Grade B abilities you must be level 6, and to learn Grade A and S abilities you must be level 10.
For an example of what the tiers look like, let's look at the Sword Techniques in Radiant Fantasia,
Grade E: Air Slash, Double Cut, Hurl Sword
Grade D: Iron Cutter, Artery Thrust, Blade Rush
Grade C: Sword Stance, Demented Slash
Grade B: Million Cuts, No Moment
Grade A: Brave Buster
Grade S: Final Hour
An example of what one of these abilities looks like,
Launch a stream of raw magical force from the sword blade to slash a target at a distance.
Tech. Power: 1 Delay: 1 round At Will [icon]
Weapon, Sword Range: Medium Target: Single
Check: Skill check Vs. Magic Defense
Special: This projectile attack can be used to intercept another projectile spell, resulting in a Magical Clash.
Magic Point Cost: 4
Tech Grade: E
(For historical purposes and so you can see how much progress I've made in refining the technique, this is what Air Slash looked like during the first draft of Radiant Fantasia,
Air Slash (Attack action)
Tech. Power: 1
Tech. Power: 1
This technique launches a stream of raw magical force from the sword blade to slash a target at a distance.
Check: An Air Slash skill check plus the ranged attack bonus of the character sets the DC for the target‘s Magic Defense check. A successful save means the target does not take damage. Air Slash can hit only one target.
Dual Air Slash: If the character is dual wielding swords, at the cost of 10 Magic points Air Slash deals double damage to a single opponent. The weapon damage of the main hand determines the damage to be multiplied.
Air Slash has a delay of one round. After it has been used the character must wait one round to use it again.
Special: This projectile attack can be used to intercept another projectile spell, resulting in a Magical Clash.
Range: Medium; Single
Dual Air Slash: If the character is dual wielding swords, at the cost of 10 Magic points Air Slash deals double damage to a single opponent. The weapon damage of the main hand determines the damage to be multiplied.
Air Slash has a delay of one round. After it has been used the character must wait one round to use it again.
Special: This projectile attack can be used to intercept another projectile spell, resulting in a Magical Clash.
Range: Medium; Single
Time: Air Slash is an attack action; delay 1 round.
Spell Resistance: Yes
Magic Point Cost: 4 (single); 10 (dual)
Tech Grade: E
Uses: Infinite
The structure was very similar to a standard 3rd edition spell. Currently it resembles 4th edition a'bit more, and fits neater into a little statblock. )
Anyway, as for the incorporation of the "momentum tiers", this is what I'm thinking of.
Grade E to B are going to be tiers that build Momentum. Grade A and S are going to reset Momentum.
By default a character has 0 Momentum, and with no Momentum character can use Grade E abilities.
Using a Grade E ability builds 1 Momentum, and Grade D requires 1 Momentum to be able to use those skills.
In order to obtain 2 Momentum the character must use a Grade D ability, which allows the use of.
Grade C abilities
In order to obtain 3 Momentum the character must use a Grade C ability, which allows the use of Grade B abilities.
In order to obtain 4 Momentum the character must use a Grade B ability.
After reaching 4 Momentum, the character may use a Grade A or S ability, but after using one of these abilities the character will be left with 0 Momentum.
Grade S techs are the strongest techs available, and the biggest difference between Grade A and Grade S is that Grade S abilities require the character to be in a mode called Dying Will, which all characters can enter after they have suffered significant Wound point damage (but can otherwise be entered for a limited time by using special abilities; for example, Elemental Champions have an ability called Gift of the Chiefs that allows them to tap into the Elemental Roads to enter a super mode and gives them the benefit of Dying Will on command.
(Dying Will normally functions as a way for a character to make a "last stand", not unlike the final fight scene of The 13th Warrior. The name of the ability, of course, comes from the manga Katekyō Hitman Reborn!)
(Dying Will normally functions as a way for a character to make a "last stand", not unlike the final fight scene of The 13th Warrior. The name of the ability, of course, comes from the manga Katekyō Hitman Reborn!)
I mentioned earlier in this post I am thinking that to learn Grade B abilities you must be level 6, and to learn Grade A and S abilities you must be level 10. If I implement this, then until level 6, using a Grade C ability will reset Momentum and until level 10 using a Grade B ability will reset Momentum.
Lastly I want the Momentum tiers to not be tied to certain classes of Techniques; if you built 3 Momentum by using nothing but Sword Techniques, you can use any Grade B ability your character knows, not just Sword Techniques. This way a character who decides to specialize in dual-wielding two different types of weapons (such as Sword and Shield) or wants to be a "spell-blade" kind of character who uses both melee weapons and magic, can generate Momentum without needing to focus on just one kind of tech.
So, you could throw fireballs until you build up enough Momentum to unleash a powerful axe strike, or perform a chain of knife thrusts until you build up enough Momentum to bombard the enemy with a torrent of wind.
Note that using Spell Techniques will cost Magic points, as will certain Weapon Techniques that are enhanced by raw magic ability, such as Air Slash.
there is one monkey wrench I'd like to throw into the momentum mechanic. a kind of secondary effect tag simply called Combo. On its own, the combo effect does nothing, until you use an attack that acts as a finisher, wich adds EVERY combo effect from your previous attacks (when applicable) into the effects of the finishing move.
ReplyDeleteThis adds to the previous purpose of the momentum mechanic by adding a bit of strategy into what techniques of the same tier they might want to use, and making the combos a bit more involving.
Hmm, I like the idea of this, but more-so as a way to create further synergy between classes. I'm a strong believer that the only way to have balanced classes is to design systems that make each have a needed party role, which is why I've always liked party combo systems and designed several different ones over the years.
ReplyDeleteI think the easiest way to implement a party chain attack system is by using the method you've described, secondary effects to abilities that stacks on an enemy but don't take effect until someone uses a 'finisher' move, and then the stack becomes active. However, this can get very complicated to handle on the fly without a computer to do the hard math, so I need to think carefully about the best way to handle this. I have a few ideas but they have more layers of complexity than I think should be in a tabletop RPG, mostly because of how the status effects are working right now. I believe I need to change them but I'm unsure of the right approach at the moment.
I will need to dwell on this. Thanks for sharing this with me.
One definite I can see is the need for effect cards, probably in the form of index cards, that can be tossed onto the index card statblocks of individual characters so the GM can track things easier. Either that or a whiteboard.
Delete