Gun Kata - Daemon Trigger

[GuardianTempest]

The origins of the Daemon Trigger Gun Kata have been lost to the sands of time and memory impairing recreational drugs. As the story goes, the Gun Kata was created by a Tiefling (or Human with Tiefling blood, depending on the translation) who was so stylish, he could show even the Prince of Pleasure a good time. The validity of this tall tale is unknown, but you can understand how people could come to that conclusion after seeing Daemon Trigger in action.

They key skill for Daemon Trigger is Performer. It’s a skill that pushes (if not exceeds) the limit of how much fun one should have during a fight, like any good Slaaneshi art form should. Daemon Trigger is a Gun Kata that thirsts for constant momentum and action, so Shift actions are used to travel around the battlefield in style.

Level 1: Dull

- Trickster: Once per round you may Shift after successfully dodging as a free action.

- Action (Shift): Use Shift actions with Trick Shots. Any attack-related advantages applied to this Trick Shot are applied to the next attack you make after shifting. That attack cannot be a trick shot of its own.

Level 2: Cool!

(-2) Devil Arms: This attack may only be made with weapons that have the Daemonic special quality.

(2) Rain Storm: If this trick shot is done midair, it gains Blast (2) and reduces your effective fall distance by half, but you can only attack targets under you.

Level 3: Bravo!

(-1) Skill (Performer): As a part of this attack, make a Performer test against the target's Static Defense. If it fails, the attack fails.

- Twosome Time: Ranged Multiple Attacks made with two pistols take half as many reactions if you're attacking two or more different targets.

Level 4: Awesome!

(-2) Crazy Combo: This attack cannot be performed unless you successfully performed a melee attack on your target during your previous turn.

(2) Honeycomb Fire: This attack ignores the target's AP except from worn armor.

Level 5: Stylish!

(4) Air Trick: Apply this only to trick shots that use the Shift action. You teleport towards a target within twice your Speed, appearing anywhere within 5m of him (even vertically), instead of the action's normal benefits.

[GuardianTempest]

Hopefully this should be the last homebrew I port over from weredrago2. If it wasn't obvious enough, this is the CUHRAYZEE Gun Kata primarily inspired by Devil May Cry. The only changes this has from the original was slightly rewording Absolutely Crazy and a nerf to Crazy Combo, from -3 to +2. I knew that image from the outdated pdf would come in handy.

[GuardianTempest]

Absolutely Crazy nerfed to avoid insta-killing Fear-immune characters.

[Amanojyaku]

A target that's immune to fear can still be forced to roll on the shock table. That's why skipping straight to the shock table was such a big deal when Nob dropped the Youkai.

[GuardianTempest]

Can they, now? At least in core? Hmmm. I'll need more wisdom for this. It would be a little weird to be just as good as an Exalt ability. I suppose rolling for Shock is a little less harsh than losing Resolve to ignore it. What's your recommendation? Follow Youkai's similar clause? (Roll 1d5 if immune to fear)

[username]

As long as we're reviewing it again I suppose now is a good time to go over what I've seen of it from play and reading since someone else is curating it.

• Trickster still seems overpowered. It was originally worse, reactions equal to Gun Kata level rather than half rounded up, but +3 reactions is still too much in my opinion, nothing else really approaches that. Notably it isn't Daemon Trigger, but all gun kata so a 1 level dip in the Kata is enough to get +3 dodges immediately. Even +1 dodge is comparable to Step Aside, a level 5 feat. Although the 1st level is 200xp compared to Step Aside's 100xp, you're still getting a rank in the gun kata while spending that 200xp and can do so much earlier in the game. I think making it just 1 free reaction action that can only be used for dodging would be enough and still great.
  
  
• What type of Armor does Honeycomb fire ignore? Does it have infinite penetration, or is it just worn armor? Infinite penetration for 2 style points seems undercosted if the normal is 1 style point for 2 penetration. Of course if it is supposed to be appropriate for killing Daemons just ignoring worn armor wouldn't be enough and would instead need to be something like ignoring AP from nonworn armor.

• Absolutely Crazy is still Absolutely Crazy. Forcing rolls on the Shock table alone with no save is incredibly powerful considering what the effects do (and that you can then force them to roll multiple times in a row by shooting them again, with stacking penalties). But making it roll at +1 per raise? Guns are entirely about raises for damage and so tend to be tremendously accurate, with Accurate, Full Auto, Scatter, etc. Any good gun character isn't worried about hitting the target as that's a given, the question is how many raises they can expect. With a Full Auto Burst weapon and Steel Rain, enemies can't even attempt to dodge to reduce that accuracy. It is not hyperbole that you could expect to achieve at least 10 raises every attack, meaning the 13+ on the shock table for instant "kill" every attack. The fact it hits you even if you're immune is bad too since it is a no-save stun, meaning it is easy to lock down anything without resource points or stun immunity. As for the question on whether the shock table is a fear effect: It isn't really specific. The general consensus has been "only when caused by fear", otherwise it is just an effect table you can be forced to roll on, similar to how you can be forced to roll on the Psychic Phenomena table even without casting a spell. That could be a little unclear though since several of the entries do make mention of fear. "Fear effects" is only mentioned twice in book 1 and once in book 2 and is never specifically defined. If you want to leave it as shock table, I would probably make it cost more more, not be affected by raises and remove the stunning option.

• Twosome Timing seems a bit wonky. Making a Full Action multiple attack be a half action is very powerful as all things that mess with action economy are. Now, multiple attacks are not a strong feature for guns (generally needing Scatter to work with it and even then not being great) but it is still dangerous, especially since it is currently not worded in a way that requires the multiple attack to be made with the Pistols (A Boxer could hold two pistols and start kicking people to death for example). I get what it is going for, trying to make it so you can Shift (the school's action) and then still be able to apply the Special Attack to multiple attack with two pistols, but it still ends up wonky. You could just as easily Standard Attack special attack with 1 of the pistols, then Multiple attack with both of the pistols again (and with a dip in Elemental Gearbolt that can be a special attack too)

[GuardianTempest]

I'll see what I can do.

[GuardianTempest]

Okay, I tried fixing it. It's a very big deviation from weredrago2's concepts. Oh well. The new capstone advantage is essentially one of the last moves you learn in the Trickster Style from the DMC games. Twosome Time's new iteration is based on how its namesake game mechanic works. I'm sleep deprived, weary, and caught up trying to catch up on...something.

Putting this here for posterity
- Trickster: You gain a number of free reactions per round equal to half your ranks in Daemon Trigger (rounded up). These reactions can only be used for dodging ranged attacks.

(4) Absolutely Crazy: If this attack is successful, the target either loses a point of Resolve or rolls on the Shock Table as if they failed a Fear test. If the target is immune to Fear, they instead lose a Half Action or a reaction. This advantage has no effect if the target can't see you.

[username]

Hmm, that's really quite interesting. I was expecting the easy out on Trickster of just making it 1 reaction for dodging per round, which would still have been good, but the new set up is intriguing in how it addresses several things.

At first glance you might wonder what's the point of the Shift after dodging since Evasion is a thing already, but since it is an Actual Real Shift action, it means you can use it to trigger the Gun Kata's action typing, Shift. This means that even though the Multi-Attack is a full action again, you can still trigger the Trick Shots while Multiattacking without needing another school. Nifty. It also makes several of the advantages function better such as Rain Storm. If you can dodge in the air, you can then use the free shift to trigger it although since it is attack related it would go on to the next attack made rather than immediate. Good if you can return fire though.

Twosome Time is interesting. I had initially be wondering if a semi-generic "1 free reaction action for Multi Attacking" would be a good replacement, although it wouldn't have worked properly before due to Shift and Multi-attack normally taking more action than you get. The new Trickster solves that though and in a rather cool way that encourages the use of the pistols and can still save you more reactions for dodging.
Twosome Time works in interesting ways due to DtD rounding down. Only the 2nd+ attack in a multiattack costs resource normally so it ends up dividing in odd ways that means you want to make an even number of attacks:
2 Attacks: No Reaction cost (normally 1)
3 Attacks: 1 Reaction cost (normally 2)
4 Attacks: 1 Reaction cost (normally 3)
5 Attacks: 2 Reaction cost (Normally 4)
Of course, it's hard to get that many attacks normally. Dual Wielding will get you 2 and can be combined with doubletap for 3. You would need Fan the Hammer or a homebrew option for 4+ though.
Multiple attacks can be questionable for ranged weapons (since normally you'd more likely want to be full auto-ing or accurate aiming with a basic weapon), but this kata works fantastically for Scatter weapons. In fact, one cool trick it encourages is using two different profiles of pistols: One Scatter for actual damage, and another either longer range (to ensure you can make at least 1 attack against someone else) or with disabling properties to soften up the opponent for the scatter attacks. The dodge and shift also work well for keeping you in point blank where Scatter is effective.

Honeycomb Fire is still great but at least situational now, I rather like it. "natural" armor becomes more and more popular so it is still a useful advantage but doesn't completely invalidate the universal ones.

Air Trick is a big improvement from Absolutely Crazy (but nearly anything would be). At first I was perplexed but it actually works in exciting ways since it modifies the Shift and you can get a free shift when dodging. The teleport mixed with the distance you're already shifting means you can traverse the battlefield easily, bypassing enemies or retreating back to your allies if you choose them as the Target. With the distance from Air Trick and Evasion you can travel across a battlefield (even further if you're a Tau as well) and since it is teleporting there isn't much they can do to stop you. I like it, it works well as a capstone and encourages greater creativity in thought and build.

[username]

You had asked my thoughts on Rain Storm, the level 2 advantage. I honestly don't care that much for it though that isn't your fault. It seems to make some strange assumptions and is perhaps overly situational.

Since it modifies the attack, if you Shift with it then it won't come online until you actually attack as well. It mentions that the attack can be performed mid-air, which may imply an assumption that you can't normally attack in mid-air anyway.  I suppose you could use a move action to jump in the air or leap from a building and then make a standard attack with Rain Storm to reduce the fall damage but it still seems perhaps overly situational. The new Air Trick gives it a bit more use since then you can use Shift to teleport into the air (via free action shifting or doing it on your turn) and then attack with it so the all is less painful. That can be useful if you are attacking something that is flying and playing keep-away but probably too situational since guns have a longer range anyway.

As it currently is, if I were to use it on a character I'd probably put it as a 1 style point Trick Shot on standard attack and just use it as a parachute if I ever get knocked out of a vehicle or the like, shooting a random target (the ground, a building, myself, anything) just so I can reduce the fall distance.

[GuardianTempest]

Do note though that I said "instead of the action's normal benefits". I also have a new idea on how to fix Rain Storm, tell me what you think. I would've gone with something more complicated but I decided against it.

Here's the old one for comparison.

(1) Rain Storm: This attack can be performed midair and reduces your effective fall distance by half.

[Nightwalker]

Oct 30, 2018 21:23:08 GMT -6 GuardianTempest said:

(2) Rain Storm: If this trick shot is done midair, it gains Blast(2) and reduces your effective fall distance by half, but you can only attack targets under you.

I've been following the major overhaul of this Kata, and I have to say, I like this best of all the proposed versions of Rain Storm we've seen so far! It gives you a real baked-in incentive to put yourself over the heads of your enemies when making the attack.

[GuardianTempest]

Following Lestat's suggestion, Twosome Time has been buffed to allow more than two targets. Now Grammaton Clerics can imitate their namesake better.