Tuesday 15 May 2012

+2 Is Easy

One of the goals for the classes in Heroes Against Darkness was that each of them should be easily able to gain +2 to their Attacks, whether it's a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a spell attack.  The game's combat powers are all based on class specialties, situational bonuses, or trade-offs, so each of the classes draws from these possibilities for their specific attack power that grants +2 to hit.

Heroes Against Darkness has an assumed hit chance of around 45% (hitting on a 12), based on the standard progression and monster stats, so the extra +2 on offer immediately switches this to 55% (hitting on a 10). Each of the classes gains this +2 in different ways, so let's take a tour:

Warrior

Warriors have the most straightforward method of gaining their +2. The Careful Strike power allows warriors to trade off some damage (2 damage per damage tier), for +2 to attack:

Careful Strike
Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:
Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Barbarian

Unlike the warrior, barbarians don't have a straightforward trade-off for +2. What they do have (which hopefully compensates) is the Reprisal Attack:

Reprisal Attack
Condition Target in melee range.
You’ve been hit by the target since your last turn.
Attack Melee + 4 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

As you can see, the barbarian has to take some damage to get a bonus, but he gets a whopping +4 for his troubles.

In keeping with the health theme of barbarians' powers, at Level 2 they gain Fierce Attack, which is a flat +2 when they're under 50% health:

Fierce Attack
Condition Target in melee range.
Your HP is under 50%.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 14:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

If you're a particularly brave player, you can easily score +4 once you reach Level 4 by keeping your barbarian under 25% health and using their Dire Attack:

Dire Attack
Condition Target in melee range.
Your HP is under 25%.
Attack Melee + 4 vs. AD
Damage
Level 8:
Level 12:
Level 16:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Berserker

Berserkers gain their simple +2 by attacking with their particular kind of wanton abandon that opens themselves up to counter-attack:

Reaching Attack
Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 3:
Level 7:
Level 11:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee
Power Effect You take -2 to Defenses until the end of your next turn.

Rogue

In keeping with their crafty nature, rogues gain their +2 by using their Engaged Attack power against a distracted target. In this case the definition of distraction is that the target has itself been the target of an attack since the rogue's last turn.

Engaged Attack
Condition Target in melee range.
Target engaged by another combatant.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Rogues also have a secondary +2 attack that kicks in once they've already hit their target:

Weakpoint Strike
Condition Target in melee range.
You've previously hit the target.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 14:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Hunter

Hunters, as skilful proponents of their ranged attacks, are able to trade off some potential damage to gain a simple +2 to their attacks by using their Pinpoint Shot power:

Pinpoint Shot
Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:
Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Hunters can also follow up a successful hit with an Arrow-Split Shot, just to rub some salt into the literal wound:

Arrow-Split Shot
Condition Target in melee range.
You hit target with a ranged attack last turn.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:
Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Hospiter

Hospiters have two options for gaining their simple +2 to attack. First, they can rely on their martial weapons training to use a Careful Strike to pick out their target's vulnerability:

Careful Strike
Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:
Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Furthermore, hospiters also have access to the Empower spell, as shown below for all magi. These two powers can be combined to gain +4 to attack, but the cost is less damage and 1 anima. Of course, sometimes you've just gotta hit, so no price is too high!

Magi

Even though they don't have a physical way of strengthening their attacks, magi and hybrid classes (warlock, canonate, healer, necromancer, mystic, and hospiter) have the Empower spell power that they can use in conjunction with their other spells to increase their chance of success:

Empower (1 Anima)
Casting Time Move action
Spell Effect Target gains +2 to next attack or ability roll.
Target Single target
Range 10'+10' per level



Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness - Game Rules.

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