Revision as of 08:05, 5 April 2010

Abstracted Range System

• written and maintained by FourWillowsWeeping.
• See also PowerCombat, CombatPlus.

This is an attempt to extend and simplify the Range rules proposed in CombatPlus. Unless otherwise stated, combat works as described on that page.

Goals & Underlying Logic

Like Ikselam, I have always been bothered by certain aspects of the combat system, but as per our usual pattern, I did not arrive at the same conclusions that he did on what precisely it is that bothers me, nor how I would fix them. Ideally, my system should:

• Be relatively easy to understand and use.
• Work well for small combats, and provide a certain amount of new tactical complexity.
• Allow for a variety of character types.
• As in CombatPlus, weapon-based modifiers should only be relevant to weapon-based actions.
• Provide rules that easily andle the use of multiple weapons.

Parenthically, this work assumes that PowerCombat weapon stats are well-conceived and well-balanced. This is not necessarily the case.

The Meaning of Abilities

The five Dawn Caste Abilities are measurements of the warrior's ability to use a particular class of devices as weaponry. Under the auspices of TheCastelessAbility, this applies to armies as well; the War Ability is about doing war on people, not logistics, recruiting, or training. I mention this to clarify the interaction of these two sets of house rules, and to remind myself to consider their interaction.

There are several other Abilities that one might want to concern themselves with in order to be an effective warrior - Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Endurance, and Resistance are all directly useful. Dodge is particularly important because it allows one to manipulate Range.

Range

Range is rated on an abstract scale, starting at 0; this indicates the distance between two fighters. Higher values mean that the fighters are more loosely engaged. Every weapon has a "home range". This is one-half the value listed as its PowerCombat Speed bonus, rounded up.

Why?

This is basically intended to replace that crazy initiative-modification system that the Core started, and the PG turned into an equally bizarre system where reach equated to order of actions. Here, weapons don't modify the order of actions; instead Reach is a purely spatial operation.

Accuracy & Defence

These describe the spread of Ranges where a weapon is optimally effective; positive values offset Range penalties on appropriate actions, while negative values increase Range penalties. A weapon with a negative value in one of these traits effectively has no ideal range for that application; for instance, the tetsubo and grimcleaver are never ideal defensive weapons, while the fighting chain is not well-suited for attack. Positive values cannot convert a penalty into a bonus.

Weapons with positive modifiers can have their home Range stated as a sequence of numbers, rather than a point; this makes it unnecessary to subtract the bonus from a Range penalty. For example, the daiklave has a base home Range of 3; its home attack ranges are 0-6. A penalty is easiest stated as a flat penalty to dicepools.

Why?

It's possible to argue cogently that weapons, besides having different home widths for attack and defence, could have different home ranges entirely for these, as well as for an infinitely increasing variety of maneuvers. I don't want to do that, though; it could rapidly become cumbersome and more complex than it's worth.

The reason that Accuracy and Defence modify Range instead of acting directly is that this approach shrinks dice-pools over the long run, and with the span of home ranges, it reduces the number of operations necessary to perform an attack.

Closing and Breaking Distance

Whenever an individual initiates combat, it is assumed that he does so at his home range.

If a character wishes to change the range he and his opponent are fighting at, he may disengage or close in. This is a Dexterity + Dodge action, affected by mobility penalties as well as weapon Accuracy modifiers. It follows the normal rules for splitting actions. The opponent may parry or dodge this action as though it were an attack. For each net success a character has on a disengage or close-in action, he may adjust the Range he and his target are fighting at by one point. He may not reduce it below 0.

Even if the character that wins initiative decides to retreat, his opponent may automatically retain distance, within his ability to follow, as long as he wishes, unless the fleeing character makes a disengage. A disengage to flee requires only a single net success.

Heroic characters can stunt to use Athletics to manipulate Range; Dawn Abilities may contain Range-manipulating Charms.

Variation

You can exchange successes on an attack or defensive Dawn action for units of Range; these take effect after the attack in question is completed. You must put more successes into the action itself than in the clse/disengage part of the result.

Why?

There's a reasonable argument that the Dawn Abilities, particularly Brawl and MartialArts (which are very poorly-defined), should be useable to disengage or close in. They do not fall under AbstractRange's definition of these Abilities, however, and the separation makes it easier to create a diversity of character types, such as virtuoso swordmen who simply cannot grasp the subtle positioning of maai even though their cutting form is beyond reproach, or to make relatively unskilled warriors who make up for their clumsiness with weaponry by being unearthly fast on their feet, without having to resort to the use of Charms or Specialties.

Reach

When taking actions against an opponent at a weapon's home Range, a character suffers no penalty and recieves no benefit.

When taking actions against an opponent outside a weapon's home Range, a character suffers a penalty of -1 die per point that his range and the weapon's differ. This penalty applies to all actions taken with that weapon. This applies both to long weapons at too-short Ranges and short weapons at too-long Ranges. The Essence dicepool rule protects you when you're inside your Range, but not outside it--no matter how awesome you are, no amount of awesomeness will allow you to stick a dagger in someone standing ten paces away.

Fly- and Run-by Attacks

Characters with the ability to fly, those with twice the movement rate of their targets, and other superiorly mobile attackers are able to take advantage of flyby attacks as described in PowerCombat. These are always performed at the attacker's home range.

Tactics

Mortal Tactics

Non-exceptional mortals cannot ordinarily afford to split their actions casually, unless they are specialized in this tactic. This fact colours mortal approaches to combat. Some different optimized strategies for mortal-on-mortal combat include:

• Carrying multiple weapons, which work for very different ranges. This is the tactic of the Roman spear-and-gladius legionnaire. This allows the warrior to choose the weapon that is most appropriate for the Range that he arrives at, whether his opponent chose it or he did.
• Having an advantage of mobility - this permits the attacker to use run-by attacks. This is the tactic favored by skirmishing horsemen.
• Using armour and large, superior weaponry, more or less ignoring the effects of Range. Armour doesn't suffer any penalties from Range, so even a poorly-trained combatant can rely on that to keep him alive while he uses his weaponry to deal the smackdown. This is the favorite tactic of the romantic medieval knight, as well as the samurai.
• Training in footwork and avoidance tactics, possibly to the detriment of real weaponry skill, and using Range to control opponents and take the optimal position to attack. This is the stereotypical strategy of martial artists and fencers.
• Taking the fight out of the space of Range. This is the tactic of grapplers and archers.

Supernatural Tactics

Beings with awakened Essence and heroic mortals with large dicepools can take advantage of mortal tactics, but they have other options available to them as well.

• Split actions or use Charms to generate Range manipulations, trying to always attack at optimal Range.
• Use direlances or other unusually large mystic weaponry to be at home in a Range that makes mortal combatants uncomfortable.
• Use daiklaves or other supernaturally accurate mystic weaponry to be at home in a wide space of Ranges, which makes it possible to choose Range offensively with greater freedom, or to simply ignore Range issues.

Charms

A number of Charms need their application in this system discussed. This is a work still in progress.

Solar Charms

Dodge

Reed in the Wind

This need not be used before an attack is rolled.

Shadow over Water

This need not be used before an attack is rolled.

Seven Shadow Evasion

This need not be used before an attack is rolled.

Reflex Sidestep Technique

This Charm permits the user to disengage or close in a number of Range units no more than twice her Essence. It must be used before an attack is rolled.

Flow Like Blood

This need not be used before an attack is rolled.

Comments

[GC3] Would riders use ride to close and disengage? (Particularly when fighting with other riders). Or would they use dodge, capped by ride, or their mount's dodge bonus? [GC3] AbstractRange/Archive