Saving attacks till the end??

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dread samurai
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Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by dread samurai »

Another question I'm sure has come up but...

If my character has, say 7 attacks per melee round, can I let my opponent go through his/her attacks and I unleash all of them in the end?

The 15 seconds of the round would not be affected (same number of attacks by both parties), just who is doing them and when.

It could produce some interesting head to head exchanges...

Thanks as always
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filo_clarke
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by filo_clarke »

Hmmm. If you are ignoring the traditional round-robin combat melees, then why not take all seven of your attacks right at the beginning? That would end the fight even quicker... :D
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by Stone Gargoyle »

I would say no because attacks take time and it's not like you can move that fast before others would attack you. Waiting until the end would forfeit most of your attacks, IMO.
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eliakon
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by eliakon »

I would say "no"
This is because the rules are set up that you go in order...
I.e. in order of initiative player 1 takes action 1, then player 2 takes action 1 then...
It does not say that you have the option to take it if you want, or to save it for a burst flurry at the end.
This is made even more clear by the fact that the combat explanation states that it is only at the end of the round if one person has more actions left over that they get to make a flurry of attacks.

The other reason to say no of course is that of fairness. This is basically allowing a person to get the ability to make all their attacks with no option for the other person to have any active defenses. Which is utterly unfair in the extreme. No player would think that it was fair to do this to their PC, which in turn suggests that it is not fair to do, period.
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dread samurai
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by dread samurai »

Well thanks for shutting me down everyone!
dread samurai
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by dread samurai »

lol - Just kidding.

The point of: your opponent only defending while this is happening is 100% valid. Who would do that (in a real fight)? I wouldn't necessarily say it's unfair though, because your enemy gets to get all his/her attacks in first.
Last edited by dread samurai on Thu May 18, 2017 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Razorwing
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by Razorwing »

I believe there is a Rune Weapon in the Library of Bletherad book for Palladium Fantasy that does something to this effect the first time it is unsheathed for battle.

The wielder of the sword looses all but their last action for the round as the weapon pools that power for a devastating strike that is automatically a critical hit. Even so, the user of the weapon only gets the one attack even though he made no other attacks that round (they are lost)... and more than one wielder of this weapon has been said to have been killed by others before it got the chance to launch this attack.

So... as for the idea of saving all attacks for a devastating flurry at the end of a round... this is the closest I can find as precedent in Palladium Games... and even here it is merely a single attack that is treated as a normal (though automatic) critical strike (double damage... rather than x# of attacks lost).
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eliakon
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by eliakon »

dread samurai wrote:lol - Just kidding.

The point of: your opponent only defending while this is happening is 100% valid. Who would do that (in a real fight)? I wouldn't necessarily say it's unfair though, because your enemy gets to get all his/her attacks in first.

The unfairness issue comes in with the meta
Basically unless the opponent uses OOC knowledge that "Oh, I better save my attacks so that we can have the round run normally" (and what then? You all just save your actions and stand there saying "You go" "no you" "no you" "you first" "no you"?) They will end up in a situation where they can not take defensive actions, react, or worse someone would get to wait until the last few seconds of a 15 second round... and then suddenly be able to, for example,
Cast a full round spell, with no chance of interruption... in just 3 (or how ever many are left) seconds.
-Or be able to launch 7 AOE attacks that, since the other person has no movement left, will automatically hit... even though in a normal turn the person would have moved around or away.
-Or be able to utilize a transformation that renders you helpless for a whole round...
-Or be able to suddenly break out abilities that the other person had no idea of and would have run away if they knew were there (for example, a vampire would probably turn to mist and flee if you break out a Holy Weapon of Undead Slaying... but this way you have a fairly good chance of killing it with out it being able to even know you had that stashed away)

I also suspect this is why the ability to 'flurry your attacks' and take all of your attacks at the start is a rare martial arts ability (as in two MAFs have it). Anything that changes the turn order tends to have devastating consequences to everyone else and is enormously powerful to the person using it. Especially since like anything else the user can always tailor its use to;
1) Cater to their strengths and
2) Cater to their opponents weaknesses
3) Can pick when and where to use it
Where as the person it is used on has no say on these matters and thus has to deal with the tactic cold, from surprise, and most likely coming in a way that is designed specifically to take advantage of their weaknesses.
The rules are not a bludgeon with which to hammer a character into a game. They are a guide to how a group of friends can get together to weave a collective story that entertains everyone involved. We forget that at our peril.

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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by Reagren Wright »

Well let me be the first to say I no problem with you "holding your action until the
end. I mean in the combat round besides the actions/attack, each character has non-
combat actions. I do believe two non-combat actions/attacks equal one attack.
Characters who don't even have hand to hand combat skill have nothing but non-
combat actions/attacks.

Furthermore, you could simply parry all the time and then attack the guy when he
used up all his attacks. Talk it out with your G.M. if he allows you to do it, then there
shouldn't be a problem. Just be aware he could do the same thing to you with NPCs.
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

Unless your are playing with the Mystic China and N&S martial arts forms I would not allow a player to "delay" their actions. Especially if the char has more then 5 APM. Less then 5 APM I would let the player delay using one of their APM as to cover the requirement of needing to have APM to be able to parry incoming attacks.

As to the exception I might allow. It concerns MAF abilities in the kick boxing MAF and the Chao TA KF MAF. Where they have special 'use up all my APM' moves. :twisted:

There is no canon game mechanics that allow a player to delay their char's use of their APM for later in the melee round.
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The Oh So Amazing Nate
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Re: Saving attacks till the end??

Unread post by The Oh So Amazing Nate »

How are you going to know when your opponent is out of actions? As a GM I wouldn't tell you when the round was up until it was time to reroll initiative. Unless you've got an insane AR, bonus to parry, or massive amounts of S/M DC it sounds like a good way to die a humiliating death.
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