Re: Rick's comments on the Defend Option

[Rick Smith <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi Matt, everyone.

  When you defend, you can not roll a 3 on 4 dice so triple damage

can not happen.  The chance of rolling a 4 on 4 dice is basically 

zero (0.08%) so it can not happen.  So defacto, the rules take double 

and triple hits off the table.

  One thing I am thinking of is to use the regular rules for Defend and

Aim, and the extra 1/3 miss rules in Defend and Edge Away.  This 

makes defending and edging an all out defence.  You give ground, 

and are not looking for places to attack, which makes you extra hard

to hit.

Rick

On 2018-01-29, at 5:35 PM, Matt Fraser wrote:

I'm OK with the 1/3.  Less than that and it's not much of a difference from the current chances.  

How about when defending, "special hits" (i.e., triple, double and criticals) are either downgraded (triples become doubles, etc.), or completely eliminated?

On Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 4:48 PM, dan nicholson <kootenayvalleydan@yahoo.ca> wrote:

Hi Rick:

I'm thinking that instead of making rolls that are divisible by three, why not make it rolls divisible by four, or even five?

That would reduce the odds for the defender, but would still give people an incentive to defend against high-DX opponents.

Dan

On Monday, January 29, 2018, 4:09:41 PM PST, Edward Kroeten <ekroeten@farmersagent.com> wrote:

This would seem playable, and would balance out against high attribute characters.  It will make battles take longer, but I was okay with that.

 

 

Edward Kroeten 7100 Stevenson Blvd Ste 105 Fremont, CA 94538-2485 License # 0E82876 510-646-1500 (Office) 510-579-0135 (Mobile) ekroeten@farmersagent.com http://www.farmersagent.com/ekroeten

------ Original Message ------
Received: 02:01 PM PST, 01/29/2018
From: Rick Smith <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca>
To: tft@brainiac.com
Cc: Matt Fraser <mathesonfraser@gmail.com>, CJ <chrjames@gmail.com>, Alec Morrison <alphaalec@gmail.com>, dan nicholson <kootenayvalleydan@yahoo.ca>, Jayson Webster <jayson_webster27@hotmail.com>, "gosel@tutanota.com>" <gosel@tutanota.com>, Steve Reinhardt <cpassport@mail.com>
Subject: Rick's comments on the Defend Option

Hi everyone.
I have argued before against any sort of parry as a free action. But what about the Defend option? I feel it is not powerful enough.

Against characters with low to moderate attributes it is fine. But when you are fighting against experienced figures it is a waste of time.

Some people argue that DX above 16 to 18 are useless. However, in my campaign, people are often fighting at DX negatives, so higher DX is useful. (You are hitting someone with a height advantage and they have a Haze ring for a total of -4 adj DX on your roll. If you change facing you are at an extra -2 DX for rough ground, etc.)

So experienced characters do not think that DX 16 is a stopping point.

But let us look at a Selina, a DX 16 figure. You are in a fight with her and need to buy a few turns so your friends can help you. If you defend, she has a 76.08% chance of hitting you. Usually it is better to just take the hit and strike back.

My first crack at improving the Defend option was to allow you to "Defend And Aim". Each turn defending (up to two turns) gave you a +1 DX when you eventually tried to hit the opponent. (If you were defending against several opponents, you got the +1 DX against whichever you decided to eventually hit.)

I also allowed "Defend And Edge Away". If you took this option twice, you got a free 1 hex retreat at the end of two turns, after all second shot missiles and other retreats. 

These improved defend options helped but they still were not enough vs. Selina and other high DX figures. I was thinking that when you defend, and the opponent hits you with a total that is evenly divisible by 3, then they auto-miss. 

(On 4d6 this would result in an automatic 33.33% chance of a miss, rounded off to two digits.)

So against weak opponents a Defend is a great option, that vastly reduces your chance of being hit. Against strong opponents, you get at least a 33% chance of blocking their blows.

*****

I've used the two options: "Defend And Aim" and "Defend And Edge Away" for a long time and quite like them. The idea of 1/3 of the time is an auto-miss, is new and I've not playtested it. It is an extra rule designed to help reign in the problem with attribute bloat. 

I welcome comments!

Warm regards, Rick.

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