Trithne/TickHack

No-Flurry version of Tick System.

Changes

Flurries are gone. Just gone.

Weapon Speed values are going to change. The Speed range will move from a 4-6 range to something closer to a 6-12 range. All other actions will be made to take longer accordingly.

The Attack action is exactly that - You attack once, taking a -2 DV penalty for attacking. You can use any Charms you could normally use on the same Tick you make an attack. Note that Charms used to buy additional attacks are changed. The DV penalty caused by attacking lasts until your DV refresh, after the attack's Speed value in ticks.

If you are armed with a second weapon or a shield, the benefit of having a second arm with which to defend means you can ignore the DV penalty caused by attacking. Martial artists fighting unarmed are considered to have a second weapon, as is anyone using paired Martial Arts weapons. Alternatively, you may choose to attack with the second weapon on any Tick other than the one you made your primary attack on, but you suffer the DV penalty to your attack roll, and can no longer defend with the second weapon until its Speed value in ticks has passed.

When you are attacked, you take a -1 penalty to DV that applies to defending against any future attacks. (The Onslaught penalty). This lasts until your DV refreshes from your primary action, regardless of whether you are using an off-hand weapon or shield to defend.

Action: Rapid Assault - Rather than attacking carefully, leaving heed to your personal defense, you lash out with a dangerous that leaves you open, but you can recover from it much faster. Rapid Assault reduces the Speed of your attack by 2, but imposes a -2 DV penalty in addition to the regular penalty for attacking, which cannot be negated by wielding a second weapon or a shield. Rapid Assault cannot be used immediately following an Aim action.

Action: Heavy Assault - Taking the time to put all the power you can into your swing, you strike the enemy with all your might, leaving you off-guard for longer, but striking with much more force. Heavy Assault increases the Speed of your attack by 2, while reducing your opponent's DV by 2, as the heavy swing is much harder to defend against or avoid.

Charm Changes

One Weapon, Two Blows - 1m, Supplemental, Melee 2, Essence 1.
Reduce Speed value of supplemented attack by 1. Not stackable. You cannot make a Rapid Assault on the same turn as using this Charm (Potential removal for 'cool' factor.)

Peony Blossom Attack (Now Peony Blossom Stance) - 3m, Simple, Scenelong, Melee 3, Essence 3.
Reduces Speed value of all attacks for remainder of scene by 1. Can be stacked with One Weapon, Two Blows.

Iron Whirlwind Attack - 5m 1wp, Simple, Melee 5, Essence 3 or 4.
Make 1 attack on every tick for the next (Dexterity) ticks. If comboed with any charms, the combo is assumed to be in effect for every tick on which Iron Whirlwind provides an attack. After the last attack, your DV penalty and time until next turn are the same as if you made one regular attack.

Topics that need addressing

Combos - With attack-spam in a single action no longer possible, combos are no longer going to be supplementing more than one attack, which reduces their appeal slightly using standard rules, seeing as you have to burn a willpower every time. Make creation and use of smaller combos more appealing, rather than every combo seemingly being a massive splurge of every charm the exalt has.

Allow the willpower cost to be ignored on combos below a certain size? (Less than 2xEssence seems okay. Essence 2, that's a 3 Charm combo. Given these are intended to be used to create mini-combos, that's okay. Essence 3, that's 5 charms, which is quite a lot for no wp) Possible rules alteration to accompany tick system modification.

Totally new option thought of

Rate is now the number of attacks you can make over (speed) ticks. each attack needs to be on a separate tick. this system does allow for all manner of fun with itnerrupts and flurries and stuff.

Comments

I'm not sure I totally understand where you are going here, but it seems like a different approach might also be considered. As you say, eliminate flurries. Increase the speed of every action except attacking by X (essentially, you are dividing the amount of time represented by a tick by X). Eliminate Rate. Change weapon Speed to mean how many ticks it takes to make a single attack. Most weapon Speeds would be set to 1, with slower ones at 2 or 3. Then, and this is the important thing, eliminate the concept that DV refreshes for free. Instead, you have to act to reset your defense. Perhaps the Speed of this reset action depends on how much DV penalty you are negating (i.e. spend one tick "resetting" to eliminate a -Y DV penalty from accumulated actions). Tune X and Y to taste. - Wordman

As a follow up, this idea could solve the combo problem you mention: make combos last until you choose to refresh your DV. - Wordman