Flair in Combat Actions

There's quite a lot I like about 4e (no, really), but one thing I have come to really detest is the structure of the powers, and in particular the mix of At-Will, Encounter, and Daily powers. (There are also Utility powers, and powers from items, but in effect these are all examples of the above three types, and so can largely be ignored.)

Now, there's no denying that this power structure makes the game easy to play, especially for new players - when your turn comes, just look through your cards for the most suitable power, and use that.

But at the same time, it is extremely limiting. Because of the nature of the game, you are almost always best off using one of your fixed powers, rather than going "off-book". And after just a few combats it becomes obvious how to "game the system" - in general, the best thing to do is to start a combat by using your most powerful Encounter power, then work down the Encounter powers until you run out, and then switch to At-Will powers. For the final fight of the session (which you can predict, because a combat lasts a near-uniform hour), instead break out your Daily powers.

Amazingly, a game that has in excess of 9,000 powers in 'print' feels incredibly samey after just a few combats!

Now, that's not to say that 3e is significantly better. In that edition, for warrior-types at least, the optimal strategy is usually to move into a good position, and then proceed to full attack every round. The game does have various combat moves, but unless you have built your character specifically to use one (and only one) of them, they're not worth bothering with. And if you have built your character specially, then the optimum approach is always to just use that one single move above all others.

Yawn.

Ultimately, what I want is a system where any given character can perform a wide range of actions, and can generally try most of their tricks at will, where the character is encouraged to describe their action a bit better than "I full attack. Again", and where the character is expected to apply a bit of variety to their action.

At the moment, I'm noodling about with a "Descriptor" system, whereby at character creation the character would pick a number of descriptors for his character, describing his broad combat style: Two-weapon, Dirty Tricks, Berserker, Formal Training, etc...

When the character's action comes up, the player thus describes his action, with relation to his descriptors.

For example, Legolas would probably have the "archer", "multiple targets" and "focussed attack" combat descriptors, and the "acrobatic" movement descriptor. "On my turn, I'll climb up the arrows embedded in the dire elephant's hide (acrobatic), all the while firing at the soldiers in the howdah on top (multiple attacks, archer). When I reach the head, I'll put three arrows in my bow, and fire them directly into the creature's brain! (focussed attack)"

(To which Gimli's player will be shocked. "How many actions is that?" he might demand. To which Legolas' player would probably shrug. "It still only counts as one.")

Meanwhile, actions would be measured along a handful of metrics: Power (Damage), Accuracy, Defense, Special Effect. Characters would have a rating in each of these, each with a range associated (and with a minimum and maximum score determined by their level).

Having declared the action, the player will assign points to each of the four metrics to determine how his attack should be resolved - does he get a bonus to hit, does he do extra damage, does it leave him off-guard, or does it have some special effect?

And so, Legolas' attack would have a Special Effect (multiple targets), and do lots and lots of damage (focussed attack).

Now, as for the bit about encouraging players to actually describe their actions with some flair and variety, I would propose a "The Gods Yawn!" rule.

Under this rule, if the player describes his action using only his descriptors ("I fire my bow at all those targets, using focussed attack to get maximum damage!"), or if he just uses the same attack over and over again, then the DM (or the collective of the other players) can declare "The Gods Yawn!"

In such a case, the offending player is still allowed his action, and makes his attack roll as normal. However, as a sign of divine displeasure, if his attack succeeds it instead becomes a Glancing Blow, automatically having the minimum possible effect.

(So, if Legolas' attack would normally do a mighty 10d6, then when The Gods Yawn, the attack instead does 10 damage.)

There are obviously a lot of things still to work out with this system - balance for one, and how it all ties up with things like spellcasting for another. However, I think it represents the approach I'll be taking with Nutshell Fantasy once I get onto the powers subsystem.