Combat System Tests - aka. Bull Kebabs anyone
After the last night’s discussions on the harsh reality of AM5 combat, I decided to see how effective my Last Stand of the Horned Gargantuan is against a basic starting grog.
Sufficed to say the name “Last Stand” is all too fitting.
Using the “Standard Soldier” grog template found in the AM5 book, and a random D10 generator, I decided to run a few rounds of combat over lunch to see how effective it would be.
I ran 3 different battles, the average of which I’ll use as an example (none of which had good endings for the Magus).
I was able to hold my ground for 8-9 combat rounds before I became effectively incapacitated. Some rolls of 1’s & 0’s on each side but no botches.
By the end of combat I had sustained 6 light wounds and 1 medium wound, meaning I’d be hard pushed to attack and due to my lowered defence, it was only a matter of time before becomming Bull Kebab (Receiving a fatal wound). I was however able to inflict 2 light wounds on the grog (pretty decent considering the advantages a grog has)
However, interestingly my Magus in human form, armed with a staff and with Wizards Sidestep active was able to avoid being hit at all, while unable to cause actual damage on the target with a weapon. It shows that evasion and a good group of shield bearers are definitely preferable to engaging in activities best left to the Grogs.
Edited by: SimpleSimon101 at: 19/1/06 17:06
Re: Combat System Tests - aka. Bull Kebabs anyone
Yes it’s a little worrying; I've already made adjustments to some of the encounters in mythic area's I've written, since I now have a far better understanding of how combat works, still I guess we’ll learn what the balance is as we play.
I did a few more tests with a beefed up magus, average other stats and 3 in great weapon (staff), no wizards sidestep.
Tough virtue +3
Stamina +3
Gift of the bear’s fortitude +3
Partial mail +6
Total soak: 15
With this extra level of soak and weapon skill the magus fairs better than he would in the bull form example. However on the three tests I’ve just run he still gets incapacitated between the 8th, 15th, 17th rounds of combat. He does however manage to inflict several wounds on his opponent. Hopefully by the 10th or so round his shield grogs have been able to fight their way through to their master and save his behind.
The problem for the magus relying on a strong soak is that with an average defense score, the skilled attacker only needs to cause 1pt of damage over the soak to inflict a light (-1) wound. While wound penalties don’t affect the soak total, they do affect the defense, meaning a skilled warrior can pick away at a fortified magus causing light injuries until the magus’s defense is so low that medium and heavy wounds start penetrating over the soak.
A combat against a superior skilled opponent is quick and deadly, you don’t need to botch for a quick death it just helps. I think that’s a good thing, it will stop complacency when a fight looks like it’s in the offing and remind us of why we’re going to be heavily reliant on the mundane members of our covenant.
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