Teamwork!

[JackValhalla]

Most of us play heroes as part of a team. So, how often does teamwork make all the difference?

 

Do you use co-ordinated attacks for the con-stun, or the teamwork skill for better chance to hit? Those are easy.

 

How often have you beaten an opponent only because the group pulled together?

 

Do your characters have planned tactics and have they rehearsed or trained any "combination attacks"?

 

How often do you plan an attack "to set him up so Joe can take him down"?

 

And, related note, have your characters thrown themselves into obvious danger for the good of the team?

 

Stories please!

[Haerandir]

Re: Teamwork!

 

I remember one campaign I was in once, in which I played a character who was designed primarily for a 'team support' role. The character's name was Phosphor, and he was a battlesuit hero with a tech-based Mindlink and a list of Senses as long as my... Well, it was long. IIRC, in a 250-pt. 4th edition campaign, he had nearly 100 points invested in sensory powers.

 

The upshot of all of this was that, while the character was somewhat lacking in offensive punch (his only attack powers were a 10d6 EB with Reduced Penetration & No Knockback and his whopping 10 STR), he managed to give our GM fits because he knew everything that was happening on the battlefield, and the rest of the team knew everything he knew. Worse, team consisted of Phosphor (an inventor and biochemist), Zauberer (a wizard) and Sun (the big dumb brick, who happened to be a world-class nuclear physicist). The team's average INT score was over 20, which meant we were all very perceptive. On the (rare) occasions that Phosphor failed a PER check, usually one of the others would see what he had missed.

 

Since our GM had a fetish for sending us up against villains against whom we were frequently out-muscled, out-numbered or both, we got to be pretty good at the teamwork. We never actually formally worked out any group tactics, but were became adept at using the environment to split up our opponents, and then converging on individual foes to take them out with coordinated strikes.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Teamwork!

 

Most of us play heroes as part of a team. So, how often does teamwork make all the difference?

 

Do you use co-ordinated attacks for the con-stun, or the teamwork skill for better chance to hit? Those are easy.

 

On occasion

 

How often have you beaten an opponent only because the group pulled together?

 

More common is the situation where the rematch goes far better than the first battle because we now can assess how to best deploy our forces and work together to capitalize on our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.

 

One example was a group in an alternate universe where Good and Evil get reversed (yeah, I know, real original). We knew we'd end up fighting ourselves, so we had the battle plan all worked out. Inside of two phases, we had two of 6 members completely neutralized. Inside of a turn, we had a clear victory. Why? We could work together and they couldn't

 

Do your characters have planned tactics and have they rehearsed or trained any "combination attacks"?

 

These develop over the campaign, in my experience.

 

How often do you plan an attack "to set him up so Joe can take him down"?

 

My current character runs primarily from a magic VPP. I rarely if ever have an attack that does Stun. Most commonly, I use Drains and Flashes. Making the opponent easier to hit and easier to avoid has become my primary tactical function.

 

And' date=' related note, have your characters thrown themselves into obvious danger for the good of the team?[/quote']

 

I recall a scenario where we were losing badly. We had finally come up with a tactic that could allow us to pull off a win, but it relied absolutely on the Brick. Who was, of course, the next guy targeted. My low DEF high DEX alien martial artist looked at the situation and didn't have a choice - "Dive for cover to block the shot - I'll take the hit."

 

I was KO'd thoroughly. But the Brick pulled off our plan and we won the battle.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Teamwork!

 

For the groups I'm in, playing, we rarely utilize the Teamwork skill, coordination, Multiple Attacker bonuses, and all that.

 

We tend to prefer the 'AE Entangle/Flash' setup followed by a high-risk, high-damage maneuver like a move-through or a haymaker. Seems more effective to attack a target at 1/2 or 0DCV than get a random +1 or +2 OCV.

 

With the last group, we pulled off a beaut, unfortunately the villain was a GM homebrew and I simply canNOT remember his name, but he was a tough AND fast SOB, so we did some fine timing.

 

1. Have our Artful Dodger-type play stalking horse, drawing an attack.

2. Once he's attacked, the stalking horse leaves the area, as fast as he's able.

3. Teammate #1 lobs an Entangle, immobilizing him for just a second. He'll break out on his next phase, but he's not going to get it.

4. I perform a hammer throw with our teammate, who can grow. He grows as I throw him, which constitutes the target effectively being 'above' him, so we get a 70 STR fastball with 10 levels of Growth Momentum propelled by a 50 STR at a 0 DCV target.

5. It's CRUNCH time.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Teamwork!

 

Most of us play heroes as part of a team. So, how often does teamwork make all the difference?

 

Do you use co-ordinated attacks for the con-stun, or the teamwork skill for better chance to hit? Those are easy.

 

How often have you beaten an opponent only because the group pulled together?

 

Do your characters have planned tactics and have they rehearsed or trained any "combination attacks"?

 

How often do you plan an attack "to set him up so Joe can take him down"?

 

And, related note, have your characters thrown themselves into obvious danger for the good of the team?

 

Stories please!

While only two out of our eight team members actually have the Teamwork skill and have even worked out some "code word" attacks, our team still does a pretty effective emulation of the real thing anyway. Legsweeping/Throwing down the badguy so the less-agile heavy hitters catch him at half DCV, Blocking to protect a teammate who is injured or otherwise engaged, etc. (One thing our team truly excels at is covering a fallen comrade. It's great for your morale when you know that if you fall in combat somebody will protect or evacuate you until you're able to fight again. My character has literally spent entire combat sessions doing this sort of thing because sometimes she's too low powered and/or poorly defended to fight the bad guy directly. That's never prevented her from being very effective in a fight.) We just watch for an opportunity and strike when it comes.