Fantasy Hero Schtick

[Christopher R Taylor]

So, one of the more enjoyable parts from Matt Forbeck's original Western Hero that I managed to expand on was the bits he explained how to do, like "how to ride a horse off a cliff."  It basically covered cool Western schtick, moves that people do in Westerns and how to simulate that in the Hero system.  It was fun to work on and hopefully useful to GMs and players. 

 

What are some Fantasy schticks that could be written up?  Some classic moves.  I mean, I'm not sure it counts because its a one-off, but "sliding down stairs on a shield" from the woeful Two Towers movie might be one.  Swapping hands with your sword could be one.

[Hermit]

Damsel Catch and Release. Be it a grab by as you swing from a chandelier to yoink her away from a dangerous crowd, or a nifty one handed catch as she plummets from the dragon's open claws towards the ground... essential for swashbucklers 

 

 

 

 

[Scott Ruggels]

Well the whole Lars Anderson/ Legolas schtick is highly important but it has their precedents. I believe that it would be necessary. Also spear tricks as well because spears are more common and easier to train than sword and board. 

 

 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I mentioned the "swapping sword to another hand" move, never smart in combat, but something shown in movies

"Charging a shield wall" probably ought to be in there

Cutting/breaking chains or ropes

Breaking your opponent's weapon

Blocking a spell with another spell

Interrupting/disrupting a spell

some other stupid horse tricks from Western Hero like "jumping onto a horse"

[Ninja-Bear]

Not sure how to call it but the you duel someone and the fight stops because the opponent realizes that you could’ve used a killing blow but stopped. I’ve used the Covered Mechanic myself for it.

[Tjack]

How about being able to use a reflecting surface to stop something that mirrors wouldn’t stop...like fireballs or bolts of lightning?

[Ninja-Bear]

13 minutes ago, Tjack said:

How about being able to use a reflecting surface to stop something that mirrors wouldn’t stop...like fireballs or bolts of lightning?

That’s just Block-Ranged Attack with the acceptable Item and SFX.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Sure, most of these are easy to work out the mechanics for, that's in the write up.  I'm just interested in the bits from fantasy

Like grabbing a weapon to protect yourself (Rob Roy anyone?)

[mallet]

Like the mirrored surface, and such, but another example is using a sword (usually a magical one) to block/defend against a magic attack spell or Dragon breath attack. 

[Tjack]

7 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

That’s just Block-Ranged Attack with the acceptable Item and SFX.

    I never said it couldn’t be done, it’s just a trope of fantasy movies that’s always bugged me.  😜

[Hugh Neilson]

Even if it is "just block-ranged attack", isn't the point to describe some common Fantasy tropes and spell out how you would do this in Hero (or, perhaps, provide multiple possible ways to do this, from which you can choose the one you like for your game)?

 

Splitting an arrow or other projectile mid-flight with your own arrow (or ranged weapon).  Perhaps in swashbuckling games, at least some ranged blocks are a default maneuver.

[Ninja-Bear]

56 minutes ago, Hugh Neilson said:

Even if it is "just block-ranged attack", isn't the point to describe some common Fantasy tropes and spell out how you would do this in Hero (or, perhaps, provide multiple possible ways to do this, from which you can choose the one you like for your game)?

 

Splitting an arrow or other projectile mid-flight with your own arrow (or ranged weapon).  Perhaps in swashbuckling games, at least some ranged blocks are a default maneuver.

Well yeah. When I responded to Tjack, I thought he was looking for mechanics then to his Trope. I was like “ well that’s just Blocked-Ranged Attack” hence the post.  And I believe this is why Blocking Ranged Attacks have been allowed now-with the proper SFX and GM permission.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Two I came up with are "slide on a shield" and "catch an arrow in the air"  I'll add in the "shoot an arrow out of the air" which is a preposterously difficult maneuver, but worthy of a fantasy setting.  By my calculations based on the size of an arrow and its speed, they have an effective DCV of... 19.

[Duke Bushido]

Throwing a 2-handed sword forcefully and accurately.

 

Drives me nuts when I see it in a movie, because it is almost always done with one hand, overhand, and with no more effort than I might pitch a dagger.

 

It is, however, aomething of a Schtick in fantasy.

 

[BigJackBrass]

Chopping through hefty metal chains with a single sword blow (only works when releasing a captive or dramatically dropping a portcullis).

[Lord Liaden]

Jumping off a balcony to the top of a tall window, and sticking your knife into the curtain so it tears just slowly enough to slow your fall.

 

Kicking a table your opponent is standing behind so they're pinned against the wall.

 

Whip tricks: snagging something to swing from, grabbing an opponent's weapon and disarming them, or yanking someone's legs out from under them.

 

Leaping from a height onto a conveniently-placed awning, tent, pile of hay bales, etc.

 

Pulling or knocking someone off their galloping horse as they charge you. If you're strong enough, knocking the horse off its feet.

 

Crippling/killing a big animal/monster from underneath, striking at legs, belly, or throat.

 

Killing the evil wizard with a thrown weapon before they can cast a spell on you.

 

Finding the secret weakness of the monster/wizard/demon/whatever: the one spot on its body where it's vulnerable, the hidden place or object where its life is kept, the sole weapon or substance that can destroy it, and the like.

 

Riding an unusual animal -- dragon, pegasus, and so on -- like a bucking bronco until it gives in and becomes your loyal mount.

 

Variation of the above: saving the life of some creature which becomes your companion out of gratitude. Sometimes works on people.

[Scott Ruggels]

Lars Anderson continues his demonstration of Archery tricks.
 

 

[Duke Bushido]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Killing the evil wizard with a thrown weapon before they can cast a spell on you.

 

Typically,by throwing your 2-handed sword across the banquet hall.

 

Ugh...

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Finding the secret weakness of the monster/wizard/demon/whatever: the one spot on its body where it's vulnerable, the hidden place or object where its life is kept, the sole weapon or substance that can destroy it, and the like.

 

 

 

 

Is Find Weakness not a thing anymore?

[Christopher R Taylor]

6th edition eliminated find weakness.

 

Typically I build creatures with a weak spot to have a weak spot built-in to their character sheet either less armor in the underbelly or a vulnerability to taking damage in a certain location (Smaug's missing scales).

[Ninja-Bear]

What about pushing guards into each other and it seems to tie them up for a few phases? More than the Speed chart would indicate? And throwing them to the ground also stalls them a bit too.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Great ideas here, and I'll be posting a few as time goes on that I worked up, maybe others might have suggestions or better ideas.  For example:

 

Quote

 

CATCHING AN ARROW

You’ve probably seen this trick in a fantasy movie, and maybe even seen people do it on Youtube.  This is theoretically possible, with extreme practice and care in real life, but in a combat it’s a bit more difficult to pull off.  I mean, its easy to catch an arrow in the chest, but getting it in your hand safely and usefully is extremely challenging.

 

An arrow is very small, moving at high speed, and is usually straight at the would-be arrow catcher, making its profile even smaller.  The person catching the arrow has to close their hands with enough force to grasp the arrow in the split second it passes through their grasp.  In other words, good luck with that.

 

In game terms, the arrow is roughly 1/16th the size of a human, giving it a DCV of +10.  It is moving very rapidly, roughly 60-90 meters per second (giving it a DCV of 9)  For especially powerful, magical bows, the GM can even give the arrow a DCV of 10 for moving even faster.

So the arrow has an effective DCV of 19, making it virtually impossible to snag out of the air without being incredibly lucky. 

 

But, in the assumption you did manage this, it also requires a STR roll to hang on to the arrow: roll the STR Roll of the character, and convert the Damage Classes of the arrow into STR (1 damage class = 5 STR) and roll for the arrow.  If the character wins, they grab the arrow.  If the arrow wins, they fail to grab it, and it might hit them.

 

If the GM wants to be especially realistic, failing to grab the arrow probably should be an automatic hit on the character’s hand or forearm because you stuck your hand out in front of an arrow.

 

Follow up: Then the kind of arrow matters, depending on your intent.  If you want to restring the arrow and shoot it back at the opponent, it has to come from the same basic kind of bow: Self Bow or Long Bow.  Technically there’s a lot more variation but for the sake of simplicity there’s just two types for the purposes of this stunt.  You cannot really shoot an arrow from your bow if it’s the wrong kind, its unbalanced, won’t draw properly, etc.

 

Stabbity: An arrow can deal 2 DC killing PD damage if used to stab an opponent, just in case you were wondering.  Treat it as an oddly shaped dagger for the purposes of Weapon Familiarity but it does not get any armor piercing advantage to the damage when used this way.

 

 

One for all the Legolas fans, although I have seen this stunt done in other films.

[IndianaJoe3]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:42 PM, Duke Bushido said:

Is Find Weakness not a thing anymore?

 

On 11/9/2022 at 1:45 PM, Christopher R Taylor said:

6th edition eliminated find weakness.

 

The canonical replacement is to use a Naked Advantage on Armor Piercing or Penetrating (typically taking a Half Phase or longer and requiring a skill roll).

[Duke Bushido]

1 hour ago, IndianaJoe3 said:

 

 

The canonical replacement is to use a Naked Advantage on Armor Piercing or Penetrating (typically taking a Half Phase or longer and requiring a skill roll).

 

 

Yeah....

 

I'm not doing that when I have all these books with Find Weakness laid out all nice and clean, but I genuinely appreciate the information.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Today's bit

 

Quote

TANGLE UP ENEMIES

I am sure you have seen this in a few dozen movies, especially older ones.  The character throws or bowls an enemy into other enemies, and they are all knocked down and tangled up so badly that they do not rise for a while.

 

This is at its core a Grab-and-Throw maneuver, just using a standard Grab.  You heave the hapless target into a group of other targets, and hope you get a good knockdown roll.  The GM should consider giving you a bonus to Knockdown based on the size of the attack and targets running toward the PC perhaps +1 to +3 to the Body total to Knockdown.  As the attack is basically a 2m x 2m area attack you can get a few people at once with that kind of move.

 

Given that most “Mook” style enemies will be slower than the average Player Character, knocking them down at a distance will tend to force them to use a whole phase to get back into action, which will be a while (especially for someone with 2 Speed!). 

 

Crabby: However, for cinematic reasons, the GM may decide to give a penalty to the victims based on the “Crab in a Bucket” effect, where people are pulling each other down in an effort to stand up, and are piled on top of each other.  This could give an extra half phase of delay to stand up, burning an entire phase.

 

[Duke Bushido]

According to _a lot_ of previous discussions, that _must_ be a martial maneuver, becauase only the "Target Falls" element allows you knock people down.  Without it, you're going to have to kill them to make them fall.

 

There, now that's out of the way...

 

 

That is right up there with fastballing your Claymore-  you've seen it a zillion times, and yet you still get mad about it. 

 

good choice.  Entangle: requires skill roll (grab), range based on STR (throw), Area of Effect (perhaos it varies depending on the crowd?  Some movies Will show forty soldiers completely incapacitated by this maneuver), OIF: Large crowd of opportunity.

 

Make it a full-on power!