Combat Talents

Ideas for New classifications of Combat Talents, along with actual combat talents for classes given go here.

Classification- Monk. General theme is that combat techs sound physical, and give more effects than damage.
[+2] Focus- Go last in the initiative order next turn.
[-1] Meditate- Your next attack does 1d8/2 more damage. Effect does not stack
[-3] Hooves of Fury- Do 1d12 damage to every enemy.
[-2] Recoil- Immediate interrupt. Enemy is stunned until next turn.

Hooves of Fury – I like the name. It seems a bit cheap for a power that hurts every enemy, though. Maybe increase the PiP cost to -5 or more?
Meditate – Is it rounded up or down if you get an odd number?
Focus & Recoil both sound good to me. I suppose Focus would still work even if you were already last in the initiative order?

Here's one I thought of:

[-4] Protective Bubble
All allies have Resistance 5 until the end of your next turn.

for flurry of hooves, Fireswath does 1d8 to all enemies and it's -1.
Meditate- Down.
Focus- nay. If you're last, it only gives 1 pip.

Bard

[+1] Inspire Courage
Target ally takes an action immediately.

[-2] Dis-chord
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-3] Healing Hymn
Heal 1d8 damage from all allies.

[-4] Inspiring Tune
All allies gain 5 temp HP.

[-5] Symphony of Destruction
Deal 2d12 to all foes.

(Could use some PiP-gaining move ideas here, so suggestions welcome.)

I think Inspiring Tune is a little unbalanced isn't it? So far I don't recall seeing too many things that give/subtract an uneven amount of PiPs.

Ramsus wrote:I think Inspiring Tune is a little unbalanced isn't it? So far I don't recall seeing too many things that give/subtract an uneven amount of PiPs.

Changed. Hopefully this'll help.

So many great ideas! Hooves of Fury definitely seems fair at 3 pips with fireswath in the game (which, by the way, is a power that I think might be too strong). But since Fireswath is still considered balanced, Hooves of Fury is totally fine. I can see it being added as-is, but I'll wait till we get a fully fleshed out Monk. =)

These initiative-changing talents are interesting too. The only issue is that initiative is rolled once for combat, not every round. Resolving initiative is a pain and slows everything down. While you certainly could roll initiative every round - the system is intended to just roll at the beginning of combat... So these temporary initiative boosts don't really fit. Can we find a way to polish them so they work for the current initiative rules?

Protective Bubble is a very cool ability too, but I feel it's undercosted. Resist 5 is enough to almost cancel out the average d10 of damage... Which is close to what most enemies do. 4 pips for making the rest of your team almost immune to damage for a turn it pretty hefty. Perhaps make it 5 pips for all allies, 2 pips for one ally or less if you attach a coin-flip to it (if you win the flip, the ally/allies have resist 5).

Dis-Chord is awesome. Pure awesome. Flavorful and a great talent for those players that like to gamble. Great job, hands down.

Recoil could use some reworking too. First, immediate interrupts need triggers (they can only activate when a specific thing happens). Second, stunning an enemy is just ridonkulously powerful. How about attaching a coin-flip to it?

Edit - Inspiring Tune is also a bit too powerful. I'm not crazy about powers that give pips to allies in the first place, since I don't want anypony pressured into becoming a pip battery. It's also hard to balance powers when allies can act as said pip batteries. If you ever make a talent that hands pips to allies, try to make sure it's not a sure thing (like adding a coin flip), is barely worth the cost (so it's only used in tactical emergencies) and/or comes with something fun for the user to do (at least deals a little damage or grants some temporary hitpoints).

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:These initiative-changing talents are interesting too. The only issue is that initiative is rolled once for combat, not every round. Resolving initiative is a pain and slows everything down. While you certainly could roll initiative every round - the system is intended to just roll at the beginning of combat... So these temporary initiative boosts don't really fit. Can we find a way to polish them so they work for the current initiative rules?

Dis-Chord is awesome. Pure awesome. Flavorful and a great talent for those players that like to gamble. Great job, hands down.

Inspiring Tune is also a bit too powerful. I'm not crazy about powers that give pips to allies in the first place, since I don't want anypony pressured into becoming a pip battery. It's also hard to balance powers when allies can act as said pip batteries. If you ever make a talent that hands pips to allies, try to make sure it's not a sure thing (like adding a coin flip), is barely worth the cost (so it's only used in tactical emergencies) and/or comes with something fun for the user to do (at least deals a little damage or grants some temporary hitpoints).

In order:

Inspire Courage has been modified to make the target ally move immediately after the user.

Thanks!

Inspiring Tune's been changed, giving the whole group 5 temp HP for 4 PiPs.

Sweet. Let me try a bit of polishing (this is a good thing, it means it's very close to being added to an Official Expansion).

Bard
[+1] Inspire Courage
Target Ally gains 1d12 temporary hp.

[-1] Quick Tempo [Free Action]
Target ally's place in the initiative order now comes directly after yours. (They take their turns as if they'd placed right after you in the initiative check)

[-2] Dis-chord
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-3] Healing Hymn - Free Action
Your allies gain 1d12 temporary hp.

[-3] Inspiring Tune
Until the end of the encounter, target ally can roll twice on dice rolls and take the higher result.

[-5] Symphony of Destruction
Deal 2d12 to all enemies.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Sweet. Let me try a bit of polishing (this is a good thing, it means it's very close to being added to an Official Expansion).

Bard
[+1] Inspire Courage
Target Ally gains 1d12 temporary hp.

[-1] Quick Tempo [Free Action]
Target ally's place in the initiative order now comes directly after yours. (They take their turns as if they'd placed right after you in the initiative check)

[-2] Dis-chord
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-3] Healing Hymn - Free Action
Your allies gain 1d12 temporary hp.

[-3] Inspiring Tune
Until the end of the encounter, target ally can roll twice on dice rolls and take the higher result.

[-5] Symphony of Destruction
Deal 2d12 to all enemies.

Cool stuff. Although, I have an ability called Hymn of Healing, so now I'll be all confused.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Sweet. Let me try a bit of polishing (this is a good thing, it means it's very close to being added to an Official Expansion).

Bard
[+1] Inspire Courage
Target Ally gains 1d12 temporary hp.

[-1] Quick Tempo [Free Action]
Target ally's place in the initiative order now comes directly after yours. (They take their turns as if they'd placed right after you in the initiative check)

[-2] Dis-chord
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-3] Healing Hymn - Free Action
Your allies gain 1d12 temporary hp.

[-3] Inspiring Tune
Until the end of the encounter, target ally can roll twice on dice rolls and take the higher result.

[-5] Symphony of Destruction
Deal 2d12 to all enemies.

Hmmm, Free Actions for Healing Hymn and Fast Tempo, huh? Makes sense for Fast Tempo, actually, since it wouldn't take too long to do that, but I'm not sure how much sense it makes on Healing Hymn. Additionally, I'm not sure why a Healing Hymn gives temp HP. Also, I like your Inspiring Tune better than anything I came up with. Go figure! XD

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Sweet. Let me try a bit of polishing (this is a good thing, it means it's very close to being added to an Official Expansion).

Bard
[+1] Inspire Courage
Target Ally gains 1d12 temporary hp.

[-1] Quick Tempo [Free Action]
Target ally's place in the initiative order now comes directly after yours. (They take their turns as if they'd placed right after you in the initiative check)

[-2] Dis-chord
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-3] Healing Hymn - Free Action
Your allies gain 1d12 temporary hp.

[-3] Inspiring Tune
Until the end of the encounter, target ally can roll twice on dice rolls and take the higher result.

[-5] Symphony of Destruction
Deal 2d12 to all enemies.

Hmmm, Free Actions for Healing Hymn and Fast Tempo, huh? Makes sense for Fast Tempo, actually, since it wouldn't take too long to do that, but I'm not sure how much sense it makes on Healing Hymn. Additionally, I'm not sure why a Healing Hymn gives temp HP. Also, I like your Inspiring Tune better than anything I came up with. Go figure! XD

Great. Glad you like Inspiring Tune too. =)

The issue with Fast Tempo was that, as a [+] power, it's an infinite combo. Just juggle two ponies with fast tempo between one another and they'll gain infinite pips. So I had to make it a [-] power, but the cost of skipping your turn was too high... So I made it a free action. Then, since I liked the idea of some more free action abilities, I decided to take a look at the healing version too, since most players don't like skipping their turn to heal someone. Also, emergency healing is in short supply and is useful as a free action. Miracle is one of, if not the only, other existing ones. But we could definitely take the healing hymn out of a free action, I'm just playing around with that.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Great. Glad you like Inspiring Tune too. =)

The issue with Fast Tempo was that, as a [+] power, it's an infinite combo. Just juggle two ponies with fast tempo between one another and they'll gain infinite pips. So I had to make it a [-] power, but the cost of skipping your turn was too high... So I made it a free action. Then, since I liked the idea of some more free action abilities, I decided to take a look at the healing version too, since most players don't like skipping their turn to heal someone. Also, emergency healing is in short supply and is useful as a free action. Miracle is one of, if not the only, other existing ones. But we could definitely take the healing hymn out of a free action, I'm just playing around with that.

Makes sense on Fast Tempo, and I can see how having emergency healing as a free action would make sense. But I have difficulty seeing a bard being able to play a five-note ditty and heal someone to that extent. Maybe I'm just too attached to the idea of it being a bard skill, though. Besides, it's not a huge thing, just something that didn't quite make sense to me.

There are a bunch I designed with minotaurs in mind.

[+2]Drop and give me twenty!
Target enemy skips it's turn and starts doing pushups. It gains 3 resistance on the following turn, for one turn.

[-2]Furious charge
Deals 1d10 damage to target enemy and knocks it on top of another one, making the enemy act as adjacent to it until the end of it's round.

(e.g. if there are creatures "a", "b", "c", "d", creature "a" can be knocked onto creature "c". Hitting "c" or "a" afterwards will damage every creature)

[-6]Get up RIGHT NOW!
The sheer intimidating power of your voice "motivates" an unconscious ally to get up. They immediately recover with 1d4 hit points and perform one of the three (their choice) effects of their special ability.

Zarhon wrote:There are a bunch I designed with minotaurs in mind.

[+2]Drop and give me twenty!
Target enemy skips it's turn and starts doing pushups. It gains 3 resistance on the following turn, for one turn.

[-2]Furious charge
Deals 1d10 damage to target enemy and knocks it on top of another one, making the enemy act as adjacent to it until the end of it's round.

(e.g. if there are creatures "a", "b", "c", "d", creature "a" can be knocked onto creature "c". Hitting "c" or "a" afterwards will damage every creature)

[-6]Get up RIGHT NOW!
The sheer intimidating power of your voice "motivates" an unconscious ally to get up. They immediately recover with 1d4 hit points and perform one of the three (their choice) effects of their special ability.

Get Up Right Now is good enough to be added as-is I think. So awesome. Might be good for either the new Bard *or* the Warlord. I love the mechanic of Drop and Give Me 20 too, but it's hilariously unfair against Solo monster encounters. You can just keep gaining PiPs while skipping the Solo's turn entirely. Furious charge is a sweet idea too and opens cool new build options, but I'm worried it's a bit confusing. Perhaps if it just let you re-order the enemies' positioning?

Here are some ideas for the Monk polish too.

Ideas for New classifications of Combat Talents, along with actual combat talents for classes given go here.

Classification- Monk. General theme is that combat techs sound physical, and give more effects than damage.
[+2] Perfect Focus
You gain resist 4 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, you gain 2 more pips.

[-1] Meditate
Your next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-2] Hooves of Fury
Deal 1d10 damage to up to two target creatures. Those creatures suffer -2 damage on their next turn.

[-2] Venom-Serpent's Strike - Immediate Reaction.
Trigger - A creature deals damage to you.
The triggering creature suffers 5 ongoing damage (save ends).

[-3] Vengeful Tiger-Claw - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger - A creature would reduce you to 0 hp or less.
The triggering creature suffers 1d12 vulnerability (save ends).

[-4] Stunning Heron's Hoof - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger - A creature would deal damage to you.
The triggering creature is stunned until the end of your next turn.

I really love what happened with the Monk idea ^u^
Now I'm gonna make a pegasi monk once all the details are flushed out /]^3^[\

[-1] Meditate
Your next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

Why even bother with this? Unless you're hoping for a 11 or 12, or specifically to trigger the level 12 Special Move, you've got +1 PiP attacks that are almost as good. For example, Stab is +1 1d10; Divine Boom is +1, gives 1d8 bonus damage to an ally's next attack, and heals another ally for the same amount; and Fireball does 1d8 damage to target creature and the two adjacent to it. This is both cost and time-ineffective.

[-3] Vengeful Tiger-Claw - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger - A creature would reduce you to 0 hp or less.
The triggering creature suffers 1d12 vulnerability (save ends).

I'm not sure how effective this would be overall, since it doesn't actually STOP the attack. Going to 0 should never be part of a battle plan, and this just eats up an attack talent slot. Still, I'm sure someone can find a use for this.



Bard talents look fine.

Videocrazy wrote:

[-1] Meditate
Your next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

Why even bother with this? Unless you're hoping for a 11 or 12, or specifically to trigger the level 12 Special Move, you've got +1 PiP attacks that are almost as good. For example, Stab is +1 1d10; Divine Boom is +1, gives 1d8 bonus damage to an ally's next attack, and heals another ally for the same amount; and Fireball does 1d8 damage to target creature and the two adjacent to it. This is both cost and time-ineffective.

Very good point. How about upping it to this?

[-1] Meditate
You gain +1d12 damage for your next two turns.

[-3] Vengeful Tiger-Claw - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger - A creature would reduce you to 0 hp or less.
The triggering creature suffers 1d12 vulnerability (save ends).

I'm not sure how effective this would be overall, since it doesn't actually STOP the attack. Going to 0 should never be part of a battle plan, and this just eats up an attack talent slot. Still, I'm sure someone can find a use for this.[/quote]

Precisely, it lets you gain vengeance on an enemy and open them to a lot of damage. It also lets you get rid of some pips you'd lose anyway if you fall to 0. It's a reactive talent, not a proactive one, though berserker builds could probably actively use it too.

Bard talents look fine.

Awesome. I'm going to add the last Minotaur talent to them too. Possibly change the AOE one and the healing one too, not exactly bard-like (as mentioned). The healing one is pretty good though, bards have quick fingers.

Some Regeneration based abilities.

Cleric: Regen. -X PiPs. Allies gain Regen X/2 for their next 3 turns. (Allies gain it only at the start of THEIR turn.)
Cleric: Absorb. -2 PiPs. Deal 1d10 damage. You gain regen 2 for your next 3 turns.

Alright, new combat talents are almost ready for the first ever expansion! Last chance to comment folks.

Monk [7]
[+2] Perfect Focus [Inspired by LoganAura]
You gain resist 4 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, you gain 2 more pips.

[+1] Gather Energy [Created by Karilyn]
On your next turn, you may take 2 standard actions.

[-1] Meditate [Created by LoganAura]
For your next two turns, you deal +1d12 damage.

[-2] Hooves of Fury [Inspired by LoganAura]
Deal 1d10 damage to up to two target creatures. Those creatures suffer -2 damage on their next turn.

[-2] Venom-Serpent's Strike - Immediate Reaction. [Inspired by LoganAura]
Trigger - A creature deals damage to you.
The triggering creature suffers 5 ongoing damage (save ends).

[-3] Vengeful Tiger-Claw - Immediate Interrupt [Created by LoganAura]
Trigger - A creature would reduce you to 0 hp or less.
The triggering creature suffers 1d12 vulnerability (save ends).

[-4] Stunning Heron's Hoof - Immediate Interrupt [Created by LoganAura]
Trigger - A creature would deal damage to you.
The triggering creature is stunned until the end of your next turn.


Bard [6]
[+1] Inspire Courage [Created by The Warrior of Many Faces]
Target Ally gains 1d12 temporary hp.

[-1] Quick Tempo [Free Action] [Created by The Warrior of Many Faces]
Target ally's place in the initiative order now comes directly after yours. (They take their turns as if they'd placed right after you in the initiative check)

[-2] Dis-chord [Created by The Warrior of Many Faces]
Flip a coin for each foe. If heads, that foe is now Confused (when they attack, flip a coin. If tails, they attack a random enemy instead [save ends].) If the flip is tails, the foe's next attack deals an extra 1d12 damage.

[-2] Magnificent Melody [Inspired by The Warrior of Many Faces]
Target ally gains Regeneration 4 and +1d8 damage for its next two turns.

[-3] Inspiring Tune [Inspired by The Warrior of Many Faces]
Until the end of the encounter, target ally can roll twice on dice rolls and take the higher result.

[-6] Get up RIGHT NOW! [Created by Zarhorn]
The sheer intimidating power of your voice "motivates" target unconscious ally to get up. They immediately gain 1d4 hp and perform one of their three Special Moves (their choice).

And here's that expansion in its rough form. I want to get at least 4 new 'classes' of 5-7 talents each before finishing it. We're halfway there already!

I have two high-end, specialized Combat Talent ideas. The first is an Immediate Reaction. When an enemy deals damage, deal the same amount of damage dealt to the attacker. It's not very useful, unless you're against a solo monster that uses a group attack, and it requires damage to be taken first, but use it right and it can take out a significant chunk of HP.

The other is a battle-wide heal. Every combatant (ally and enemy) gains HP. No idea what a good roll would be (Pristine suggested 3d10 for 8 PiPs), but it's a suggestion. This obviously works better if your enemies aren't heavily damaged, and if you outnumber the enemy.

No idea how to properly balance these, just throwing it out there.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Get Up Right Now is good enough to be added as-is I think. So awesome. Might be good for either the new Bard *or* the Warlord. I love the mechanic of Drop and Give Me 20 too, but it's hilariously unfair against Solo monster encounters. You can just keep gaining PiPs while skipping the Solo's turn entirely. Furious charge is a sweet idea too and opens cool new build options, but I'm worried it's a bit confusing. Perhaps if it just let you re-order the enemies' positioning?

How about these modifications to "drop and give me twenty!"?

a) Can't be re-used until after the resist effect wears off (letting enemies get a proper action before you can make them skip) OR a turn after that (two actions before you can make them skip again).
b) Using it again while enemy is under the "resist" effect makes it deal damage to the caster, and it gets resist for an extra turn.
c) Flip a coin if it's reused while enemy is under "resist" effect: Winning makes it skip again (Keeping the +3 resist, AND it gets +6 resist on next turn), losing makes it damage the caster and get the resist effect for an extra turn.
d) The enemy can't be stunned or made to skip if it's used again while under the "resist" effect, and its attacks deals +5/+10 extra damage vs the caster of the ability.
e) Enemy gets +2 pip boost for subsequent uses, and flips a coin to see if he skips turn or not.


As for furious charge...

Re-ordering enemies is good utility, but it doesn't seem worth it enough to justify using it over other abilities.

Variant A:
[-2]Furious charge
The target is dealt 1d10 damage, and it's position can be changed.

Even the "4 adjacent at once" effect is limited in use, due to requiring at least 4 enemies (and it becomes useless if there's less than 4 enemies, or one of them is KO'd), which is why I made it "break the rules" a bit, to justify using it. The "4 enemies adjecent" effect *is* a bit confusing though. Here's a better description:

Variant B:
[-2]Furious charge
Choose a target, and three other enemies. The target is dealt 1d10 damage, and is considered adjacent to the other three enemies you've chosen until the end of it's round, regardless of actual positioning.

I'm kinda rethinking the ability in fact... Maybe instead of affecting positions, it affects turn orders?

Variant C:
[-2]Furious charge
Choose a single enemy. Enemy is dealt 1d10 damage and can be knocked into another enemy. For the current and following turn, both of them will have their actions are delayed until every other creature takes its turns, regardless of initiative order. They can attack both at once, or one after another, at the DMs discretion.

(Example: Three enemies (A, B, C), two players (E, F). Initiative order is A, E, B, F, C. Player E knocks enemy A into enemy B. New order is E, F, C, A, B for that current turn and the next.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:[-2] Venom-Serpent's Strike - Immediate Reaction. [Inspired by LoganAura]
Trigger - A creature deals damage to you.
The triggering creature suffers 5 ongoing damage (save ends).

An immediate problem I see.... Ongoing Damage takes place at the start of a creature's turn. Saves are done at the end of a creatures turn. If a creature deals damage to you, then it's immediately going to get a save to resist the effect, before next turn where the damage would be dealt. That would make the ability quite underpowered at [-2].

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Protective Bubble is a very cool ability too, but I feel it's undercosted. Resist 5 is enough to almost cancel out the average d10 of damage... Which is close to what most enemies do. 4 pips for making the rest of your team almost immune to damage for a turn it pretty hefty. Perhaps make it 5 pips for all allies, 2 pips for one ally or less if you attach a coin-flip to it (if you win the flip, the ally/allies have resist 5).

Thanks! I'd like to keep it a group-wide power, and what you mentioned about average damage is very helpful (mainly that Resist 5 acts almost as invulnerability), so let's up the cost to -6 to make it a nice expensive-but-hopefully-worth-it bubble shield. Revised version:

[-6] Protective Bubble
All allies have Resistance 5 until the end of your next turn.