Attacks and Stamina (Patreon)

It is I, your James Introcaso! A few weeks ago, Matt showed off the tactician pregen we used in testing. If you don’t remember, here it is again:

If you looked over that image closely, you probably noticed two things. Well, you probably noticed a lot, but there are two things on this sheet that we have already changed, and I want to talk about what they are and why.

Attacks

If you’re familiar with 4e, you probably noticed that the pregen’s attacks are similar to those you might see on a player character from that edition of the game. The pregen has three levels of attacks: signature, heroic, and ultimate, while 4e has at-will, encounter, and daily powers. This worked well for prototyping how we thought a tactician in our game might work. It made playtesting the core mechanic and the spending of resources simple and straightforward, allowing us to focus on the big picture instead of the details of the class, which hadn’t really been created at that point.

But then Matt and I started working on fleshing out classes. In fact, I wrote a rough draft of the tactician that includes all levels of play and three subclasses. Before I got to work, Matt and I had a couple of meetings about what the tactician can do (draw enemy attacks away from allies, lock down foes, and grant allies more maneuvers, attacks, and bonuses) and what they can’t do (deal a ton of extra damage with their own attacks, fight well at ranged, or create harmful areas of effect). We talked about how the tactician should be a good negotiator and be able to make speeches that inspire allies to greatness. We also talked about what signature, heroic, and ultimate attacks the tactician should have and we realized that the answer is … none!

It’s no secret that Matt and I both like 4e. However, one of the chief complaints with that edition of the game is that many of the classes feel like they play the same as other classes. The fighter, wizard, rogue, cleric, barbarian, and most every other class had the same number of at-will, encounter, and daily powers. Toward the end of our meeting talking about tactician attacks Matt said, “This feels too close to 4e.” He was right. We were making the same mistake.

The second problem with our pregen’s attacks is that they were too prescriptive. I run our game for one of my weekly gaming group. One piece of feedback the players gave when we were using the tactician and other pregens was that despite having options, they never felt like they had an interesting choice to make with their attacks. They only had a few very prescriptive attacks, so in most situations, one attack clearly rose above the rest. “All my allies are where they want to be right now, and I have 3 Focus, so I’ll use Double Trouble.” The players also wanted more flexibility in what their attacks could do. “I need everyone to move, so I think Move as One is the right choice, but the battle is almost over so the extra Boons feel like a waste. Can I just use 3 Focus and use just the first half of the attack?”

When Matt brought up the attacks in our game feeling too close to powers in 4e, I got an idea. There was another way to do this. What if the tactician didn’t have signature, heroic, and ultimate attacks, but instead had a bunch of abilities (which Matt cleverly dubbed “Stratagems”) they can spend Focus on in different situations? For instance, many Stratagems can be triggered when the tactician hits with a basic attack.

The tactician could have a few Stratagems that cost no Focus (Signature Stratagems), and then have others that cost focus (Heroic Stratagems). You can use one Signature Stratagem at a time and as many Heroic Stratagems as you have the Focus for. This means that the tactician actually works a little bit more like 5e’s Battle Master Fighter. They have more flexibility and customization, because instead of picking a few distinct and specific attacks, they can mix and match effects. “I just want to push this goblin,” costs no Focus. “I want to push this goblin, and daze them!” costs 3 Focus. “I want to push this goblin, daze them, and give each ally a chance to move!” costs 6 Focus.

Check out some of the Signature Stratagems from the rough draft:

• Advancing Attack: When you deal damage with an Attack, one ally with 10 squares of you can move a number of squares equal to your Reason score.
• Back Off: When you deal damage with a Melee Attack, the Attack gains +1 Knockback.
• Cleave: When you deal damage to a creature with a Melee Attack, another creature within your reach takes damage equal to your Might score.
• Reaching Attack: When you make a Melee Attack, you can make it with +1 Reach. If the Attack deals damage to a target, you can Pull the target 1 square.
• Seize the Opening: When you would normally make an Attack, you can instead issue a command to an ally within 10 squares of you. That ally makes an Attack and adds your Reason score to the damage.
• Tactical Strike: When you make an Attack against a creature’s Armor, you can make it against the creature’s Reason instead.

And while we’re at it, let’s show off some 1st-level Heroic Stratagems as well. Each of these puppies costs 3 Focus to use:

• Dazing Blow: When you deal damage to an enemy with a Melee Attack, the target is Dazed until the end of your next turn.
• Grappling Attack: When you deal damage to an adjacent creature with a Melee Attack and have at least one hand free, you can initiate a grapple with the target without needing to make a Stat Test.
• Forward: As a maneuver, you and each ally within 10 squares of you can move a number of squares equal to your Reason score or Knockback an adjacent enemy a number of squares equal to your Reason score.
• Tactical Orders: When you deal damage to a creature with an Attack, each ally within 3 squares of you gains the following benefit until the end of their next turn: They ally can make Attacks against the target’s Reason defense instead of another defense.
• Where I Want You: When you deal damage to a target with a weight equal to your Might score + 2 with a Melee Attack, you can knock them Prone and slide the target a number of squares equal to your Might score.

Stratagems aren’t the only class feature tacticians get. They also get the ability to parry incoming attacks, the ability to taunt foes into attacking the tactician instead of the other heroes, the ability to give inspiring speeches, and the ability to lay the groundwork for a negotiation with a convincing opening argument. Stratagems are a big part of a tactician’s gameplay loop, but they’re not the only part!

Not all classes will work like the tactician either. Some, like the mage, may have more distinct and specific spells that they cast, but they’ll have a much bigger list of options to choose from to ensure that they always have a fun choice to make. And those spells will likely still be customizable. Maybe the mage can spend resources to increase the area of a fireball or add a little poison to their lightning bolts!

Other classes might be simpler than the tactician. For instance, right now we think that the Fury gains passive abilities that are “always on” as they build up a class resource (which is probably called Fury though maybe Rage or Anger is a better choice to avoid confusion … we’ll see). As their resource rises, the Fury gains better defenses, their attacks gain Knockback, and their speed increases. Then, when they make an attack, they can spend Fury to deal more damage. For them, spending resources is a balancing act, “How much of my passive stuff do I want to keep?” vs “How much do I want to chop this foe’s head off?”

You can now see that our classes will play quite differently from one another, all because of a few playtests and a couple of meetings.

Stamina

Matt already talked about Stamina in another post, but for those who need a quick primer in our game player characters have Stamina and Health, which together are referred to as a hero’s Vitality. Whenever you take damage, it first reduces your Stamina. Once your Stamina is depleted, damage reduces your Health. At the end of the battle, you regain all your Stamina. Some classes even have at-will abilities that cost no resources and can restore Stamina during a battle. To get Health back, you need to rest or someone needs to spend their sweet, sweet class resources to heal you (or you need to spend your own to heal yourself). You can also spend Stamina during combat to take an extra maneuver on your turn.

Now, you can see based on that pregen that we started off with the idea that half your Vitality was Stamina and the other half was Health. It seemed as good a place to start as any for testing! Folks really like having Stamina and Health, but having half your Vitality restored after every battle was making combat throughout the adventuring day too easy for the players. So, we’re going to dial it back and make your Vitality 25% Stamina and 75% Health. We’ll see how that goes! We don’t want to throttle Stamina too much, because then no one will ever spend it to take an extra maneuver, which is a big part of the fun that makes having two health pools to track worth it.

More to come!

Ex animo,

James Introcaso

MCDM Lead Game Designer