Tell me if this has ever happened to you: you're playing D&D, and you find yourself waiting a while for your turn. But when it finally arrives, you can't seem to contribute in any meaningful way! "Even if I use my full movement, I still can't reach the nearest enemy." You try to reposition yourself to be better set up for the next turn, but otherwise do pretty much nothing.
There are few things worse than this. It's a huge waste and kills player motivation. But read on, dear gamer, as there's hope for you yet!
Now, we can't prevent that situation from ever happening to you. No matter what, there will occasionally arise some combination of factors that puts you into this frustrating position. That's the price of playing an open-ended, tactical combat simulator. But what we can do is offer you a consolation. One that I think you'll agree is well worth it.
One of the unique mechanics in this game is a combat action called Bide. Here's how it works:
You wait and focus on the battlefield. Forgoing immediate action, you gain advantage on your next Kung Fu roll and a bonus action on your next turn, accumulating if you continue to Bide. You can accumulate a number of bonus actions up to your Rank. You cannot use these bonus actions until you finish Biding, and you cannot use a bonus action to Bide.
Essentially, you do nothing on this turn, but you'll get to kick extra ass next turn. It may sting for the moment, but in my experience, the turn that follows is usually so satisfying that players forget about the wasted turn from before.
Merely getting an extra action wouldn't quite be enough. That just means you're breaking even.
1 action first turn + 1 action second turn
=
0 actions first turn + 2 actions second turn
Although you could argue that, since time is one of the most important resources of all, it's still actually worse to do 0 then 2, because that wasted first round could have made a huge difference. Thus, we also grant advantage on your Kung Fu roll, so that your next turn is even more likely to turn things around.
Our intention was for this to serve as a safety option. Something you could fall back on if you didn't have anything better to do. And so far, it's served that purpose quite well.
However, something interesting we observed in playtesting was when players began planning to Bide instead of merely treating it as a last resort. There are actually some pretty sick combos that work better as back-to-back actions. Splitting a setup and a payoff across two turns tells your foes your plan and gives them a chance to nullify it. But when you Bide, they can't read your intentions as easily, and they can't interrupt your combo when you execute it.
Here's some examples to get you started:
When you Grab a foe, you're also setting yourself up for an advantage on your next strike against them. But if they get a turn between now and then, they have a chance to break the grab. Maybe it's better to Bide first and then do both attacks in one turn.
Likewise, when you Sweep a foe, you're setting up your allies to all have an advantage on their strikes against that foe. But again, they might get a chance to stand up before you can fully capitalize on this. Bide first and you can give 'em the ol' one-two in a single turn.
Same with inflicting Ailments. Great as a setup, but your foe might Refresh them before you can fully capitalize on them. Bide first, lock down that combo.
One of my favorites I've seen has been a player using their extra action to Hide first, then move, and then attack.
I also think Dashing is sometimes better spent as an extra action. It's your main option for "catching up" if the rest of the fight runs away from you. Spend your action on turn 1 Dashing to reach your foes, then spend your action on turn 2 actually getting to attack, right? But sometimes you Dash on turn 1, only for your foes to move right afterwards, and the whole situation has changed again. Might be better to Bide first, then Dash and attack back-to-back, since you'll have more control of the situation if it all takes place during your own turn.
I'll confess, I haven't yet playtested a character above Rank 1 using the Bide action to get a triple-action, quadruple-action, etc. How powerful is getting to do six attacks in a row? Probably very, but I suspect there's a natural balancing factor, too. You have to waste time first, allowing your foes to make progress. But I can't wait to see it happen for real.
-Dwiz
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