Impairing Impairing

Much has been discussed about the ease or deadliness of combat in Mythic Bastionland and I think the following can all be true at the same time.

• Combat is fast and brutal and a well-prepared group of Knights can be pretty devastating. I like having a high damage output and it fits my pursuit of decisive combat.

• Using a Gambit to impair an enemy attack can lead to a sort of “stun lock” situation, where the fast combat also becomes quite a safe-feeling combat, which isn’t something I want to happen in every case.

• This problem is especially prevalent in groups of four or more Knights, as while damage has diminishing returns from multiple attackers, those larger groups will gain progressively more dice to spend on Gambits without any real restriction.

Of course some Knights will just pile it all into damage.

So if you’re playing with a larger group of Knights and want to avoid this situation, there are a few optional levers you can pull on in isolation or combination with each other.

I've tried to avoid big blunt rule changes, so these are intended to be a more gentle retooling of what's already there.

Lever 1 - No Gambit Stacking

For Gambits other than Bolster, each enemy may only be the target of a specific type of gambit once per turn.

In effect, if they pass their Save to resist a particular type of Gambit they cannot be the target of that gambit type again this turn. 

For example: Two Knights roll attack dice of 8, 5, 4, 1. They spend the 5 to attempt to Impair the enemy’s weapon, but the enemy passes their VIG Save. Now they cannot attempt another “impair their weapon” gambit against the target this turn, even if they wanted to use the 8 as a Strong Gambit.

Lever 2 - Resistant Natural Weapons

Natural weapons such as claws, tramples, and bites, cannot be Impaired by the “impair their weapon” gambit. A Strong Gambit can apply the “greater effect” option to attempt this, but the target receives a Save as normal.

Note that this goes against the example on the Gambit page of the Oddpocrypha.

Lever 3 - Secondary Attacks for Big Enemies

A lot of the “solo enemies” in the book have multiple attacks, so if you impair the Wyvern’s “Bite and Throw” attack then it can still use its “Sting” attack at full strength.

A few don’t, such as the Spider which only has a “bite” attack, so is left vulnerable if this is impaired.

If your Myth has a big monster like this that’s likely to be fighting a group of Knights on its own I’d recommend giving them a secondary attack of some sort. If in doubt then a classic d8 slam can represent them throwing their weight at the enemy. Just make sure this is weaker than their main attack. 

Lever 4 - Uncertain Initiative

Shift the “Surprise” rules slightly so that for a standard combat, where both sides start aware of each other, players must pass a CLA Save or miss the first turn. Those that pass then act first as normal. This means for an average group of Knights only half of them are going to act on the first turn, tempering the power of that first onslaught. 

If the players truly have the drop on their enemy then they all act first as normal. Likewise, if the players are ambushed then the enemy attack first.

Playtest Notes

I’m going to try applying all of these to my next game. 

I’ll add some notes here after I’ve tested these out a bit.