Follow-up on Combined Attack

[slaughterj]

Follow-up from this posted Q&A: http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/89274-multiple-attack-combined-attack-off-hand-punch-and-autofire/

 

6E2 74 says "COMBINED ATTACK Using two or more powers or similar abilities (but not Combat/Martial Maneuvers or the like) once against a single target isn’t a Multiple Attack. It’s a Combined Attack, and counts as type of Strike."

 

(Strike is a Combat Maneuver and thefore noted not able to be used to make a Combined Attack, yet the combination of two powers/abilities counts as a type of Strike - that just seems a bit odd...)

 

6E2 80 says "STRIKE This is the basic attack Maneuver. It includes attacks such as punches, kicks, elbow smashes, headbutts, attacks with weapons, firing a gun or a longbow, and just about any other way a character can hit another character."

 

1.  Just to clarify, one can't use Strength via a Strike to punch once with each hand as a Combined Attack (since that would be a Strike, thus a Combat Maneuver, and theefore can't be a Combined Attack), so could one pick up two knives (knives being Killing Attack power with no range), clubs (clubs being Hand-to-Hand Attack power), thrown rocks (Hand-to-Hand Attack power with Range), or two pistols (Ranged Killing Attack power) and make a Combined Attack, or would that be a Strike (all those are powers yet still fall into the definition of Strike)?  Does it matter if Strength is involved or not?  Does it matter if the power is bought as Equipment or not?

 

2.  Are melee or ranged attacks used in a Combined Attack that are based on a power or ability somehow not Strikes?  (If all attacks are Strikes (or some other Combat Maneuver), the rule about no Combat Maneuvers being usable for Combined Attacks would seem to result in Combined Attack not being possible.)

 

3.  Or can only powers which are not Equipment be used for Combined Attack (somehow the powers' attacks not being a Strike, though they would seem to fall into "about any other way a character can hit another character")?

 

It seems like all attacks for damage or effect are technically Strikes (if not some other Combat Maneuver), effectively making Combined Attacks impossible if the Combat Maneuver rule applied.  Any clarity on what is not a Strike or other Combat Maneuver yet is still an attack on another character with a power or ability that can be used to make a Combined Attack would be appreciated.

[Steve Long]

Technically speaking, any attack that doesn’t involve some other specified Combat Maneuver is considered a Strike, because it has to be defined as something. That’s why Strike provides no CV bonuses, damage bonuses, or other benefits — it’s the HERO System’s default, bog-standard form of attack. For that very reason, the fact that it’s a “Combat Maneuver” is generally ignored for purposes of rules restricting things that characters can use with Combat Maneuvers. (For example, see 6E2 69, where it’s noted that even though characters can’t Haymaker with a Combat Maneuver, that doesn’t apply to Strike, because it’s the default form of attack.) So don’t get hung up on the technicality when adjudicating situations in your games.

 

1.  None of the situations you describe are Combined Attacks; as shown by the examples on 6E2 73-74, they’re Multiple Attacks. Determining what they are doesn’t depend on whether STR is involved, or equipment/weapons are being used, or any other such factor. It depends on a common sense and dramatic sense interpretation of what Combined Attacks are specifically stated to be for:  “sing two or more powers or similar abilities[.]” That primarily refers to superpowers in Champions campaigns, but it could also apply to spells in some Fantasy campaigns, psionic powers in some Science Fiction campaigns, and so on. Hitting someone with your hand or foot isn’t a “power,” and neither are weapons, in both the everyday and gaming senses in which the term “power” is used. (Though of course every GM is free to define anything he wants to be a “power” — it’s his game, and the Gaming Police are off getting doughnuts. )

 

I hesitate to try to give broad guidelines, because I suspect they’ll be misinterpreted, but I’d suggest using this rule of thumb as an initial consideration:  if the attacks being used are things you could envision people in the real world using (e.g., punches, knives, guns, thrown bottles of whiskey), then it’s a Multiple Attack. (The same reasoning typically applies to “alternate” forms of those attacks that aren’t used any more or don’t exist yet — flintlock pistols, laser pistols, energy swords, and so on.) If the attacks being used are things you can’t envision as existing in the real world (superpowers, spells), then you have to consider whether using them is a Combined Attack or a Multiple Attack, based on how the GM wants things to work in his campaign.

 

2-3.  See above.