Combo Attacks in a TTRPG? - Daily Vlog #180

Had you looked into Panic at the Dojo?

Okay, lot of thoughts here. First, as one with a passion for fighting games, this has been a topic near and dear to me for ages. Also, I want my role playing games to allow me to fight the way I want, and with strong roots in Street Fighter, that doesn’t mean ‘I make one attack and wait 15 minutes to make my next’. D&D has its strengths when the party plays tactically, utilizing each classes strengths. So it works…okay. But the moment I’m playing in my own setting, or playing Power Rangers, it just feels wrong. What I’ve been doing in Essence 20 is utilizing my free actions as “combo” hits. Maybe they don’t deal the weapon’s damage, but instead give me an upshift on my finisher, my actual attack roll for the round. But you have me thinking. It would be fun to play with different dynamic effects with those such as shifting the fight 5 ft in one direction to better include an ally, or protect a civilian or otherwise add something to your attack. I’m terms of team assists, I’d let player do it even if the rules didn’t specify it as a combat action. In a recent Power Rangers game, one player was knocked back into scenery and was prone. Well, the other ranger leaped after him, but instead of just helping him up, wanted to launch him into the air so that he could deliver a devastating aerial attack against the monster. There’s no rules for ‘devastating aerial attacks’ or launching your buddy into the air but that’s exactly the kind of action I want in my game, so I granted the attack an extra upshift. I’m thinking of allowing any ranger near others in the initiative sequence to just decide their order to encourage collaboration like that without needing a mechanical system to back it up.