Ye Olde Inn

Conceptual rules, never been played...

Dedicated Combat Stance

Defense
When a Hero or Monster takes a 'Dedicated Defense' stance the combatant forgoes any chance at attack or other action, on their next turn and they increase the amount of Defense Dice they receive. For Basic Hero's, Villains and Monsters the bonus will be 1 Dice. For Champion level the bonus is 2 Dice and Epic level** the bonus is 3 dice.
The figure may still move. A dedicated defender may not take a non combat action so long as they are in Defense Stance. The player may opt to change their stance at the beginning of their next turn.


Dedicated Combat Stance

Attack
When a Hero or Monster takes a 'Dedicated Attack' stance the combatant forgoes any chance of defense on the EWP turn, in return they increase their Attack Dice. For Basic Hero's, Villains and Monsters the bonus will be 1 Dice. For Champion level the bonus is 2 Dice and Epic level** the bonus is 3 dice.
The figure may still move.
The figure may still move, but they may not defend until they change their stance next turn, neither may a hero in a Dedicated Attack Stance take a non combat action, until the player declares a change of tactics on their next turn.


** Epic=25+ Missions Completed for Heroes. Monsters and Villains will be designated to level by the EWP.

I think this would be really nice as skills for an individual hero class rather than a generic ability. I think I'll steal this for my fighter, I was looking for a skill to make him more distinctive.

I like them, too. Elegant.
Both of them inscriped into the back of my head as ideas for special rules.
Would fit my Marauder, Questknight, Runesmith, and several other characters.
I'll also offer something similar in The Academy (where heroes can buy special rules and skills).

I like this as well. Only thing I would suggest is to decrease movement when in the stances. Even in an offensive stance, one isn't usually just rushing into combat. Generally the steps would be slow and calculated.

MickyG did something similar with his monk hero but more elaborate, six stances that have their own bonuses and penalties including a standard movement penalty for any of them. That works well for a more elaborate fighter but a simple attack or defence option is nice for a more basic fighter. I agree that a movement is a good way of penalising , I think I'll go with a slightly more subtle version. Offensive (+1A/-1D) or defensive (+1D/-1A) and half movement rate in either.

I like these stances because they are super-simple to use. I think i will apply cleptocreativity here.

Gold Bearer wrote:I think this would be really nice as skills for an individual hero class rather than a generic ability.

My thought exactly

The rules come from a different game, I just figured out the HQ version of things.

One of my things is converting mechanics from one game system into another.


Another take that just came to me:

Same limitations on actions and movement as above:

Dedicated Attack = +1 Skull on the attack roll.
Dedicated Defend = +1 Shield on the Defend roll.

I much prefer giving an increased chance with extra dice over definite hits and blocks. Besides, it's a bit overpowered. Adding one skull is the equivalent of adding two attack dice and adding one shield is the equivalent of adding three defence dice.

I've converted some rules from other games as well, like the guarding and free attacks against opponents that move away from D&D. From old D&D anyway, not sure if those are still in there. I'm going to put together all the skills I've got for my various heroes and make a list so they're all in one place and people can use whatever they like for heroes, magic items, spells, skill cards, etc.

Gold Bearer wrote:...Adding one skull is the equivalent of adding two attack dice and adding one shield is the equivalent of adding three defence dice...

I feel that one way to mitigate this is to dedicate the attack to + damage, i.e. In order to hit, the character must roll at least one skull, then the extra point is added. A lower level of the skill might be at least one damage must get through opponents defense, but then 1 damage is added to the total.