Question: How do you balance two-weapon fighting with two-handed weapon fighting (two short swords vs a greatsword)? Taking the multiple attack penalty allows a player with two swords to effectively double the amount of damage he can put out (triple with your Blitzkrieg knack) compared to a player with one larger weapon.
We balance it easy as pie: there's no difference between the two!
Fighting in Scion is at least 50% style, flair and badassery; that's what the stunting system is for. If one player wants to be a double-nunchuk-wielding dervish and another wants to be a broadsword-toting juggernaut, those are both super-cool archetypes that we want to encourage. We don't see any reason to penalize the guy with one weapon just for picking a different fighting aesthetic.
So we allow double attacks to be used for folks with a single weapon just as they would be for those with two. As long as the player commits to it by describing what they're doing in a stunt, there's no reason he can't strike his opponent twice with the same object. Sometimes they do a swift double crack about the head; sometimes they go for a stab and twist in the wound, or try to deal as much damage pulling the weapon out of flesh as they did putting it in. Whatever they choose, it works just the same way as it does for the guy with two weapons; both of them take a -4 dice penalty in order to attack twice.
Does this mess around with physics a little? Yeah, theoretically, maybe, but we don't care very much. Scion isn't exactly all about the concrete scientific laws of the universe (seriously, it really is not), and we have no problem fudging that sort of thing to make sure that everybody's brand of badassery is equally viable. The dual-wielding dex monkeys and the single-weapon monoliths are both valid choices for epic, legendary and heroic feats in battle, so we're not about to use a fiddly little rule that penalizes one of them for no good reason.
Blitzkrieg is an entirely different story; you're right, you need separate weapons (or at least separate body parts) in order to use that effectively. That's not a fundamental flaw in combat, however, but just an example of different specializations - Blitzkrieg is specifically designed for characters that want to be so fast and nimble that they can engage their entire bodies in lightning-quick combat, and it has limitations (like not being able to deal aggravated damage and requiring multiple separate limbs) that those who specialize into other areas may not have to worry about. The knack is meant to help PCs who are incredibly swift find their way around the normal two-attacks-only rule that everyone operates under; it's an exception, not the rule.
I assume that the dual-wielder also has to make a stunt to attack with 2 weapons... do you give out stunts like candy for effectively/evocatively describing the action a character is taking?
ReplyDeleteIt's subjective, like all stunting. We're pretty liberal with one-die stunts; if you described it in some cool way and are obviously into it, you'll probably get one. Two-dice stunts have to really knock our socks off, so you don't see as many of those unless it's a truly inspired action or a long chain of events that have entertained us.
DeleteIt's a little bit of a sliding scale for the players, too. Some players are better stunters than others and we try to respect that; if a player describes doing a backflip over a monster to stab it in the back, a weak stunter might get two dice for coming up with that, while someone who comes up with awesome maneuvers off the cuff all the time might get only.
We have found that players always get better at stunting over time, however, particularly if everyone is doing it.
To the question asker: The default rules allow you to make two attack actions as part of a Multiple Action. The rules do not care if you use a single two handed weapon or two single handed weapons (or any other creative combination with unusual alteration).
ReplyDeleteYou can visualize the result in any way you desire. A powerful blow landing and then being ripped out of your opponent. A flurry of blows where several are feints and two strike home. A dozen blows that all land for minor damage that adds up to your total.
To Anne: How do you rule Blitzkrieg works in regards to Multiple Actions? The way I run the knack is that it can only be used reflexively to modify a Multiple Action: Attack, Attack and I assume you run it the same way?
Whoops, posted in the wrong place.
DeleteWe generally require it be declared and rule that it eats up all of a player's multiple physical actions (they could still also take mental actions with Multi-Tasking) - so at the beginning of your turn, you'd say, "I'm using Blitzkrieg to do X awesome stunt attacks," and you'd get three attacks at -4 instead of the normal maximum of two. You couldn't use Blitzkrieg for both of your actions and attack six times.
Wow I guess I always just read that as attacking with two weapons for some reason. Thanks for the help with reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone - I think that question crops up on the forums every so often, too, so obviously a lot of people are confused about it.
DeleteIry, we generally require it be declared and rule that it eats up all of a player's multiple physical actions (they could still also take mental actions with Multi-Tasking) - so at the beginning of your turn, you'd say, "I'm using Blitzkrieg to do X awesome stunt attacks," and you'd get three attacks at -4 instead of the normal maximum of two.