Thought experiment today, since a player wanted to go toe-to-toe with bad guys, relying on his dexterity to save him. Normally, being a dextrous fighter means doing a lot of dodging, which is a fundamental action in combat. However, doing lots of dodging means you can’t do a lot of attacking. So here are some tactics, based on the five basic modules (and lists), that a lightly- or non-armored combatant could use to still do some damaging:
- Parry during the first round, delaying your turn until the beginning of the next round. Then, your turn will come first, and as long as you use all of your attacks on your turn, your attacks will take priority (i.e. occur slightly before) over your opponent’s reactions. Or if your opponent waits until his turn to attack, all of your attacks will occur before your opponent’s attacks.
- Get a bonus action. If you have at least 15 points in Physical, you can take the Bonus Action perk for Parry or Fight. This will give you a one-action edge on slower opponents, allowing you to parry their attacks and then counterattack once they’re busy.
- Let your comrades fight. There’s no need to be near an opponent who still has three actions available, when he could be using those on your comrades instead. Wait until your opponent is busy, and then do your Fighting.
- Get Small. The Small Size perk will reduce your opponent’s Close range damage to the minimum, leveling the playing field if his weapon is bigger than yours.
- Stick and move. If you move away from your opponent each time he approaches, then his last movement will leave him right next to you and out of actions. Use your last action to attack, and as long as your initiative contest is higher than his, you have better odds of getting away from him next round before he crushes you.
Disclaimer: these methods are not guaranteed to work, because each battle (and campaign theme) is different. Use at your own risk. The author is not responsible for PC death, unless he and the PC agreed that the character should die.
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