Class Stances

Okay okay Daniel has convinced me over skype. I suppose we could, in theory, just put the stances in the combat talents.

And/or traits and items too.

Will we get a Combat Trait at level 1?

I'm not wild about that idea, as it makes things more complex for new players. If they don't have to worry about traits till level 2, the system's easier to pick up and play.

I guess that would be why we wouldn't want stances at level 1.

Right, added complexity. But if that kind of specialization can be provided through combat talents that turn on stances or items that are very role-specific (the pacifist healer trait is also a great example of a trait providing role specialization) - then that would be fantastic.

I mentioned this before for another idea, but instead of making the Class/Combat Stances something that you have to have for your character, something that you have to take into account. Why not make it an optional module? Like the seem to be doing for D&D Next.

Keeps the core game simple for the beginners, and provides experienced people more complexity and customization if they want it.




Personally? I actually prefer the idea of the stances becoming more powerful as you level up, because that makes a LOT of sense. The more you fight, the better you becoming at fighting, so your abilities in the stance become greater. It doesn't make sense for you to have all the abilities at lvl 1.

And of course, people seem to be wanting a smaller, passive increase, 'styles', as well as more active combat stances... both can be modules.

I've seen the suggestion of being able to change stances mid-battle, which can make sense to me. After all, the battle is a ever-changing, so it makes sense to be able to change your tactics mid-battle. If Combat styles are incorporated, I can see them not being able to be changed, as changing a style of fighting is much, much harder then just a stance.

I was talking with Hayatecooper yesterday, and we came up with the idea of combat destinies, basically exactly what they sound like, separate destinies that give combat bonuses as you level up. It'd be like a collection of unique traits that you get at levels 4, 7, and 10 (so when you choose your regular destiny, you could also choose your combat destiny).

Then I realized that the idea reminded me a lot of the class stances here, with their three levels of abilities. They may turn out to be completely different ideas, but I thought it might make some sense to pick a "class" that gave you abilities as you level up.

As an example, what sparked this train of thought was the phrase "Assassin Destiny", so as a very rough first go:
Level 4
You deal an additional 3 damage on single-target attacks.

Level 7 – 2/battle – Minor Attack
You may deal 2d8 damage to one target, or 1d8 damage to two targets (rolled separately).

Level 10 – 1/day
Target creature's health is cut in half.

Being a collection of traits such a system wouldn't constrain your combat style, merely enhance it. I could see one being made for just about any class you like: healer, summoner, fighter, etc. For instance, take the Weaponmaster-stance from the document:

Weaponmaster Stance-Stance; Free Action
You gain these benefits.

[-2] The Hammer of Thunder and its attacks or one of the variants of Hammer of Thunder get a reduction in PIP cost by one.
[-3] +2 bonus to damage done by Hammer of Thunder or one of its variants.
[-4] You can activate Hammer of Thunder or one of its variants as a free action.

You can easily make those effects into traits that you get leveling up, and it would have the benefit of not requiring you to sacrifice your starting PiPs. Anyway, I just thought I'd post the idea here in case the original poster wanted to make use of it; if not, I'll probably start a separate thread for it.

Destinies are a roleplay thing, so Combat Destinies aren't really part of the system.

LoganAura wrote:Destinies are a roleplay thing, so Combat Destinies aren't really part of the system.

I guess I didn't explain very well, they're not Destinies, per se, it's just that that was the closest analog for them. They're like Destinies in that you pick one out of a group of options, and get more and more powerful results from it as you level up. I'd go ahead and write a supplement for them myself, but I'm no good at all at combat balance. If no else one thinks it's a good idea, eh.

I for one think the idea is cool some type of combat add on for lvls 4, 7, and 10. Strikes me as something this system could use.

I agree with the idea of making traits that help define roles (like Pacifist), but the problem is without a PiP cost they are going to be much weaker benefits overall. That isn't really what I had in mind.

So hey everyone me and Daniel have been working on the stance system and I think we came up with the basic system.

Under the system me and Daniel created stances will be:
-Combat talents
-Sustaining effects that last until the end of an encounter
-Minor actions
-Comprised of three different PiP versions with each PiP version being its own separate mini-power.
-PiP versions will be [-2], [-3], and [-4]

Stances will NOT be:
-Traits
-Free actions
-Stackable

Furthermore we decided to scraped the original idea of having the higher cost versions activate the lower cost versions as well.

Stances will look like:
*example*
[0] Template - Stance; Minor Action
You enter the (Insert Name) stance. You may only enter one stance at a time, and may exit it as a free action. When you enter the (Insert Name) stance, choose one of the following and pay the PiP cost. You gain those corresponding benefits for as long as you are in the (Insert Name) stance.

[-2] (Insert Title)
(Power description)

[-3]


[-4]
*example*

I also have created some stances in the hopes this system will be the one that is adopted. These stances ARE NOT ready to be put into characters yet. Do not put them into your characters. Again. Do NOT put these in your characters. They are meant for discussion purposes only.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XBjCCwAQ8LgX3DyiURQ5vG1Ir-iGblem8Sw7l3wSIQI/edit

Nitpicking pre-alpha stuff seems a bit silly, but for the sake of clarification

[0] Wild Sorcery - Stance; Minor Action
You enter the Wild Sorcery stance. You may only enter one stance at a time, and may exit it as a free action. When you enter the Wild Sorcery stance, choose one of the following and pay the PiP cost. You gain those corresponding benefits for as long as you are in the Sorcery stance.

[-2]
Roll two dice of your choosing at the beginning of your turn.
-OR-
Whenever you attack, you may roll 1d20. If you roll a 20, you may activate all 3 of your special moves.

What does that do? Is it supposed to let you roll twice for damage all the time?

[-4]
You can activate summoned weapons as a minor action.

Couldn't you already do this?

I like the way the moves work, but I'm not completely certain how you plan to implement them. Are they just supposed to be other combat talents you can take?
EDIT: Now that I'm properly awake, let me rephrase that. These are obviously combat talents. Can you take more than one? Can you choose them with your normal combat talents? or is the new purpose of this thread to discuss all that?

Well, I can answer the first question. Rolling 2 dice allows you to activate specials, that's all it's meant for. And I would definitely take this stance with my character, since he's a special activating fiend who uses critfisher far more often than he should.

sunbeam wrote:Nitpicking pre-alpha stuff seems a bit silly, but for the sake of clarification

[0] Wild Sorcery - Stance; Minor Action
You enter the Wild Sorcery stance. You may only enter one stance at a time, and may exit it as a free action. When you enter the Wild Sorcery stance, choose one of the following and pay the PiP cost. You gain those corresponding benefits for as long as you are in the Sorcery stance.

[-2]
Roll two dice of your choosing at the beginning of your turn.
-OR-
Whenever you attack, you may roll 1d20. If you roll a 20, you may activate all 3 of your special moves.

What does that do? Is it supposed to let you roll twice for damage all the time?

[-4]
You can activate summoned weapons as a minor action.

Couldn't you already do this?

I like the way the moves work, but I'm not completely certain how you plan to implement them. Are they just supposed to be other combat talents you can take?
EDIT: Now that I'm properly awake, let me rephrase that. These are obviously combat talents. Can you take more than one? Can you choose them with your normal combat talents? or is the new purpose of this thread to discuss all that?

As silentbelle stated the rolling of two dice gives a chance to activate special. As for that ability in Weaponmaster I meant free action.

Under this plan they would be normal combat talents. You could take as many as you wanted up to your combat talent limit, however, you can only have one stance active at a time.