My players sometimes say that they would like more options in combat, beyond the usual (attacking and then spending advantage and triumph on crits, activating item qualities and adding boosts/setbacks).

Somewhat inspired by the Genesys magic rules, I'm thinking of adding some more options for PCs to spend triumph and advantage, to give combat the feeling of strategically choosing whether to fight defensively or offensively, pull off combo moves, etc. These will give the PCs a bit more to keep track of in combat, but I think that's what they want. I'm curious what others think of this idea.

Some possible options below... I've tried to balance them, but let me know if you think some are OP (or underpowered):

[1 Triumph/1 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to gain +1 Defense for the rest of the encounter (Use only on a hit, may repeat up to 3 times for 3 Adv/1Tri).

--Increase the difficulty of your next attack by 1; that attack gains Vicious 2.

[1 Triumph/2 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack against the same target Breach N, where N=(damage canceled / 5) (Only on a hit).

[1 Triumph/3 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to upgrade the difficulty of every attack against you once for the rest of the encounter (Only on a hit).

[1 Triumph/4 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack Linked 2 (Only on a hit).

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack Blast N, where N=(damage canceled).

--Increase the difficulty of your next attack by 1. That attack gains Concussive 1.

I think you should probably scale the Triumph cost up with some of those things. Having the Adv cost go up, but the Triumph stay the same seems a bit OP. Like maybe 1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 2/4 perhaps.

I really like this idea (it merges well with some simplified rules I'm working on, which removes many Talents but allows PCs with sufficient skill to generate that Talent's effect).

I think @KungFuFerret has a point about the costs, but I'm not sure about the scale. 1T is worth about 5-6A judging from the standard combat chart and other FFG resources (I can't recall where I just read it, but there's a Talent somewhere that allows you to spend 6A to generate 1T).

I would say the items in each group don't necessarily feel on the same scale of effect. Group 1 seems extremely effective for 1A, I would start these at 3A and move up from there. Group 4 seems more like 2T effects...although I don't really see the point of Group 4 item 1: if you just hit, and you cancel this to get Linked 2 on your next attack, you've just spent 2 attacks to potentially get 2 hits. If you don't cancel you're guaranteed the damage and might get a hit on the second attack anyway; if you cancel you might get no hits, or not have enough Adv to generate the second.

Thinking more about it, I'm not sure I like the idea of cancelling damage to get anything...knowing how mercurial the dice can be, as a player I'm not sure I'd ever do it.

But in general I really like the idea

10 hours ago, whafrog said:

Group 1 seems extremely effective for 1A, I would start these at 3A and move up from there.

I think I agree about the Vicious 2 option, but I'm not sure I agree about the others... Knockdown is useful but rarely makes a huge difference, I find, and +1 Defense for the encounter is nice, but as you point out yourself, forfeiting damage is a major cost.

11 hours ago, whafrog said:

Group 4 seems more like 2T effects...although I don't really see the point of Group 4 item 1: if you just hit, and you cancel this to get Linked 2 on your next attack, you've just spent 2 attacks to potentially get 2 hits.

Well, Linked 2 means a total of 3 possible hits, so you are potentially increasing your total hits. But I think I agree it's a bit weak, Linked 3 might be better balanced.

11 hours ago, whafrog said:

Thinking more about it, I'm not sure I like the idea of cancelling damage to get anything...knowing how mercurial the dice can be, as a player I'm not sure I'd ever do it.

It is a big cost in this system, so the benefit will have to be significant. I'm thinking these abilities would mainly be used when you really need the benefit (like if you know you want to focus on defense over offense) or if the attack wouldn't do much damage in the first place. For example, the 2A for Breach ability would be most useful against vehicles (or super-high-soak enemies like Vader or a Death Trooper)... like if you shoot your light repeater at an AT-ST and roll 15 damage, you can get Breach 3 on your next attack and pierce the walker's armor for decent damage next round.

Thanks for the helpful comments, both of you!

35 minutes ago, DaverWattra said:

Knockdown is useful but rarely makes a huge difference, I find

I always feel a need to defend Knockdown. It is particularly useful as a melee fighter, because if you Knockdown a ranged minion, they can't take a maneuver to get out of Engaged range, increasing the difficulty of their attack either by 1 or by 2. The alternative for them is to take 2 maneuvers and not take an action, sparing you the danger entirely. With a Rival, you basically add 2 damage to the attack or increase their difficulty. It is less useful with Nemeses, though, because they have a Strain Threshold, though sometimes the extra 2 Strain is particularly useful if you want to take them in alive. If you are a brawler going for strain damage, that's basically an extra 2 damage on your attack.

Helpful points... Although an extra point of difficulty isn't the end of the world in most circumstances, especially when it's still just difficulty 2.

12 hours ago, DaverWattra said:

Helpful points... Although an extra point of difficulty isn't the end of the world in most circumstances, especially when it's still just difficulty 2.

Try a blaster rifle, which becomes 3P when you are engaged.

I recently updated these, I've found them to be pretty fun in my game. Sharing in case others are interested.

For any effect that says "Your next attack gains X," I also allow the PC to spend 1 extra advantage to have the effect apply to their next ally's next attack instead of their own.

[1 Triumph/1 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to gain Defense 1 for the rest of the encounter (Use only on a hit).

--Increase the difficulty of your next attack by 1. That attack gains Vicious 1.

[1 Triumph/2 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to gain Defense 2 for the rest of the encounter (Use only on a hit).

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack against the same target Breach N, where N=(damage canceled / 5) (Only on a hit).

[1 Triumph/3 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to gain Defense 3 for the rest of the encounter (Use only on a hit).

--Cancel all damage from this hit to upgrade the difficulty of every attack against you once for the rest of the encounter (Only on a hit).

[1 Triumph/4 Advantage]

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack Linked 3 (Only on a hit).

--Cancel all damage from this hit to give your next attack Blast N, where N=(damage canceled) (Only on a hit).

--Increase the difficulty of your next attack by 1. That attack gains Concussive 1.

--Your next attack gains Pierce 3.

[2 Triumph/5 Advantage]

--Your next attack gains Linked 1.