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Stunts

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 10 months ago

Attack Stunt

Attack Stunts work like this:

 

  1. Announce you're using a full attack stunt (including any penalties you're taking on the check)
  2. Make the stunt check
  3. If you're using Climb, Jump or Tumble, you may move up to half your move either before or after you attack (not both). As long as your stunt succeeded, the target of the stunt does not get any Attacks of Opportunity on you.
  4. Make one attack roll, with either a bonus to attack or to damage, depending on what you chose in step 1.

 

Using the Fast Stunt Challenge

Fast stunt works the same way, except:

 

  1. You get a full attack routine (or other full attack action) instead of one attack; and
  2. The benefits of the stunt (if successful) apply to every attack you make against the stunt's target during the rest of your turn (but not against other targets, or on attack rolls you do not make as part of your turn)
  3. You can't move as part of the stunt itself (since it is a free action), which means that any skill which involves movement (including jump, climb or tumble) can't be used for a fast stunt.
  4. You suffer a -5 penalty to the stunt check
  5. You suffer a -2 penalty to all your attack rolls if you fail

 

The rules indicate that you can make a fast stunt "while still gaining a full attack action", but I'd also allow it if someone wanted to use a fast stunt and then only make one attack and move their full speed (instead of the at-best half speed an attack stunt normally allows).

Q: What is the down side to attempting an Attack Stunt?

 

An Attack Stunt requires a full attack action to inflict one attack which might gain a bonus to attack or damage. This means that if you normally have iterative attacks, you don't get them, which is obviously a big loss of firepower. You can always try for a Fast Stunt to get your full attack routine, but if you do, there is a penalty for failing the check (-2 to your attack rolls).

 

If you don't yet have iterative attacks, you still suffer reduced movement (half your base speed at best, possibly no movement at all, depending on the skill used for the stunt), which limits your tactical options.


 

Disrupting Attack

When using a base attack check to make a disrupting attack stunt, you inflict only the base weapon damage. No other bonuses for damage (Strength, sneak attack etc) apply.

Q: Can you use Disrupting Attack to disrupt class abilities?

 

This stunt can be used to prevent a character from using an extraordinary or supernatural ability. Most class abilities in Iron Heroes are extraordinary abilities, so they would be affected by this stunt.

 

For instance, you could use a disrupting attack stunt to stop an Archer from using Killing Shot for 1 round.

 

For ease of play, I'd recommend that currently active multi-round abilities (such as berserk strength) are merely suppressed for the round (your attack cuts across his arm, momentarily weakening his strikes) rather than being completely negated and needing to be restarted next round.


 

Stunts and Harrier Movement-based Bonuses

See the Harrier for details.


 

Setting Stunt DCs

Q: What kind of difficulty should I be setting for stunts with a first level party? Should most of them be directly opposed checks, or fixed DCs?

 

I strongly recommend making all attack and defense stunts use opposed checks, because then the DC is never an issue. If you don't feel an opposed check is appropriate, I'd make the DC to inflict the minimum level effect somewhere in the 15-20 range, and modify the DC upward for larger effects based on the individual stunt descriptions. But Stunts are freeform for a reason: do whatever works in your game. There is no 'right' or 'wrong', really.


 

Negative Consequences for Failed Stunts

Q: Is it fair to impose failure penalties for the stunt check, if it makes sense in context? So, if the harrier jumps off a roof and tries to decapicatate a guard, but blows their Jump check, should they, say, still get to make the attack but fall prone?

 

If your players are OK with it, it is. Personally, I wouldn't do it: it might discourage some players from using stunts if there is a negative effect associated with failure (the "I'm better off just making a normal attack" syndrome)


 

Situational Modifiers for Stunts

For stunts that are based on Base Attack Checks, use the normal modifiers that apply to attack rolls (for instance, a Miss Chance would be appropriate against an Invisible opponent). For stunts based on skill checks, see the Situational Modifiers entry in the Skills subject for details.


 

Inflict Penalty

The Inflict Penalty stunt is a standard action.

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