Any ideas for a Tactical Talent (or an ongoing action) that can only be used by a character without armor?

There is the Tactical Talent "Roll with It" which increases your Soak value by 2 against one attack (recharge 4 as an exhaust-able Talent)

There is also the Slayer Reaction card "Shrug it off" which does the same thing but has a recharge of 5 and can be used after damage is given.

You also can use Basic Action cards like Guarded Position and Assess the Situation to increase your Defence

I don't see any way to justify a Talent giving a permanent bonus to Defence or Soak. It needs to have conditions to be activated (like the Charge bonus to attack). A permanent bonus would need to be a Career trait, like the Troll Slayer one.

You could make a Fencer-type career with a small bonus to attack (with a Fencing weapon of course) and Defense bonus if unarmored increasing with Rank (1 fortune die to attack, and +1 defence per Rank), or something in those lines.

hmm i assumed you wanted a Talent type that would give Defence or Soak for someone without Armor. I may have misunderstood what you wanted (an offensive or utility Talent that would require not wearing armor)

Cwell2101 said:

Yes, exactly.

Maybe some talents to make the active defenses better.

Mercurial dodger
When performing a Dodge or Improved Dodge active defense you add a number of <B> equal to the number of Agility fortune dice you have. You do not get this bonus if wearing armour.

Duelist's parry
When performing a Parry or Improved Parry active defense you add a number of <B> equal to the number of Agility fortune dice you have. You do not get this bonus if wearing armour.

Another idea is to have talents that make the active defenses scale with skill level (i.e. you get your skill level in extra <B>) that only works when wearing no armour.

gruntl said:

With no limitation of Fortune on Attributes and the fact that each Career does not have the same amount of Fortune Advances, i find those 2 a bit powerfull. I'd rather see something like "for each rank of training the character has in [Coordination or Weapon Skill], add 1 Misfortune dice to attacker's pool if you declare a [Dodge or Parry] Active Defence and you are not wearing Armor"

That way, you scale with the character power (per rank trained) and not by the Career Fortune Advances available. Imagine a Commoner (career with 3 Fortune advances) becoming "Fencer-type" and the abuse it can bring compared to other "fighters".

Yeah, the skill version would work perfectly well, although I do not really think that strength based Parry needs more love. My suggestion was more aimed towards an agility-based melee fighter without armour (Wardancers, Thief-like careers).

But you're right about my proposals being too good, didn't really realise that there were careers with that many fortune slots. It needs to be limited, this is better:

Mercurial dodger
When performing a Dodge or Improved Dodge active defense you add a number of <B> equal to the number of Agility fortune dice you have (to a maximum of your current rank). You do not get this bonus if wearing armour.

Duelist's parry
When performing a Parry or Improved Parry active defense you add a number of <B> equal to the number of Agility fortune dice you have (to a maximum of your current rank). You do not get this bonus if wearing armour.

Why tag to Agility fortune dice at all? Wouldn't in make more sense to derive the bonus directly from the Agility stat: say half Agility rounded up?

...though I like the idea of it as a Focus Talent .

To keep it more in line with other cards, I'd make them add a flat [bB] (or possibly <P>) and exhaust or be limited to once per day/encounter, etc.

another option would be something similar to:

Add a number of , up to 5, to any Dodge Action (or Parry for the parry version) used by the PC. Place a number of recharge tokens on the talent equal to the number of added, plus one.

dvang said:

That is of course more inline with what already exists and should work fine. I think that is far too weak to give up armor for however, the houserule was meant to increase the viablity of non-armoured characters in combat. Mind, I'm not saying that this is needed (personally I would probably not use the rule), it's up to the GM/group. I guess the second version could work, but I find it too weak as well, forcing you to give up too much if you want to use it.

My suggestion makes the defenses scale which is a bit different in scope. But perhaps it makes for a too strong talent, but if only available without armor and if it is a Focus talent (that is a nice idea Schoon) I still think it's reasonable.

The reason for using the Agility fortune dice instead of raw agility is to avoid making AG too powerful. Raw AG already grants combat skills (ranged and specific melee cards) and the possibility of getting Imp. Dodge. To be honest, I think Coordinate/Weapon skill might be the better option (it has a natural cap of one per rank).

Keep in mind the problem of being allowed to socket talents into the party sheet. A talent that gives a universal effect without exhausting is pretty powerful when placed on the party sheet. So, something like the previously mentioned: Half Ag rounded up added to Defense (when not wearing armor). If that talent is socketed to the party, that means that every PC in the group gains that Defense bonus, which will be 2-3 Defense (unless someone takes only a 2 for Ag) for each person that isn't wearing armor. That sort of talent is better than most armors.

Although, re-reading the posts, some of the discussion revolved around linking the talents to Dodge/Parry, which at least use a (minimal) recharge, so it's not quite as bad.

Also, doing things like "half agility rounded..." are really 'too complicated' to be necessary. Keep it simple, is my suggestion.

Exhaust the talent to gain an additional number of equal to Ag on a Dodge (or equal to St on a Parry for the Parry version), for example. It's a great "oh crap" defense ability. I know, this is not the "replacement for armor" you were looking for.

Anyway, if the talent doesn't exhaust and is always on, I'd make it a small bonus like +1 Defense. This is still equivalent to Robes, meaning robe-wearers will use up a talent slot, but don't have the encumberance of robes. That's a reasonable compromise.