The Price Is…’Might’!

Mighty Elephant Boxer - Steven Wu

PART ONE - WHAT ARE YOU, NEW???

Chris called me the other day. He had a question about his character, a Mantis Boxer. Chris is a regular member of my playtest group, and holds a Brown Belt in Mantis Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. After a short scrap with his son (in good fun), he had questions about his character’s lackluster abilities in the game. During the last mission we ran through the potential to add elbow and knee strikes as future attacks for his Mantis Boxer arose. Chris’s question on the call was, “Why can’t I do this NOW? I just did these while play fighting with my son, why can’t my character do these?”

After listening to Chris’ story, we talked about where his current skills are versus when he started out training back in circa 2014/15 time period. Then we re-calibrated to understand his character in the game is a NOVICE level boxer compared to Chris being more of a FIEND level, and therefore juggling — strikes, kicks, plus grappling in order to get to the range where elbows and knees can be executed, and additionally having the — balance, stability, timing, coordination to then be able to stand in the clinch without getting rocked and knocked, long enough to have a foundation to launch attacks from while the other person is moving and defending, is a bit more aligned with MASTER or FIEND level, rather than a novice level boxer with enough training to be dangerous to others, and themselves.

As martial artists it is easy to forget through our progression how incompetent and inept we were when we started training. Our lack of coordination and mind-body connection; the awkwardness, stiffness, our body fighting itself, everything we do a struggle. The longer we train, the more distance we put between our first months/years of training, the thicker the fog becomes when viewing the past. We forget as we transcend.

I’m not a big fan of ‘balance’ being a goal in game design, but in this instance it would be incredibly OP for a Mantis Boxer at novice level, to be able to punch, kick, grapple, and elbow and knee strike as well. They are already one of the most powerful boxer styles in the game, providing you build it to maximize their potential. Some things need to be earned, and always held under the scrutiny of what is feasible based on the level of the character. Chris ‘got it’ as soon as his awareness set in on where he was skill-wise when he started out training with me in BJJ and Mantis Boxing.

Example of mantis boxer attributes and skills distribution from a pre-generated character within the Fists & Fiends Character Sheet Booklet.

PART TWO - TOUGH People Are JUST Harder To Kill

Let’s talk attributes and point spreads, and how these alter the chemistry of each character we create. The MIGHT attribute does not determine the musculature of a character. You could create a 110 lbs female Elephant Boxer with a MIGHT score of 5. If the Strength skill is 0, then she is not strong, she is just tough as nails and hard to kill. You can also have a character with a MIGHT score of 3, but their Strength skill is level 3. This indicates that the character is not as ‘tough’, but is incredibly strong.

Hard to kill can manifest in other ways as well. Even though a character may have a MIGHT score of 3, they may have a SLEIGHT of 5 and an Agility skill of 3 or greater. While they are not equipped to withstand damage, they are harder to kill from the sheer nimbleness they embody. If we create a character in the image of a literati/scholar, one who is more intellectual than physical, and prior to the floods had no fighting skills whatsoever, by design they may have no skill levels in Agility, and their MIGHT attribute is also low. This is within character, and while a boxer of this design can be highly beneficial when assuming the role of Commander, planning a recon, or deciphering a mysterious clue, other issues will need to be addressed in order to increase their survival rate during combat encounters.

PART THREE - MIGHT & SLEIGHT vs WIT & GRIT

The MIGHT attribute for characters acts as a dual purpose stat. On the one hand, it is the overall attribute that represents a characters toughness, health, or in other RPG terms - hit points. On the second hand this attribute represents the basis and foundation for power based traits and skills such as — striking & kicking, which govern how adept and hard your character can hit, as well as pole weapons which require more strength to wield. It additionally encompasses skills such as strength and stamina which affect such actions as —lifting, pushing, running, swimming, and climbing.

Juxtapose this to grappling methods such as — grabs, throws, trips, takedowns, and joint lock & choke submissions, along with blade weapons and flex weapons which require more nimbleness and dexterity to wield. These fall under the SLEIGHT attribute which includes other skills such as agility, stealth, and accuracy.

The conundrum during a character build is calculating the distribution of the limited attribute points (based on a character’s age) given. No attribute can be below 2 when building a character, and MIGHT is where physical damage is accrued in combat, so it quickly becomes obvious how important that attribute is to a character’s longevity. While I commend those brave enough to set their MIGHT at 2 or 3 in order to increase their character’s WIT and GRIT, to put things in perspective — a punch does 1 damage, a kick 2 damage; and a matchlock does 3 damage. A single shot can take out your character when the MIGHT score is set this low. Risky.

This does not mean that I advocate you always setting this to a 4 or 5, but it certainly means when not doing so, that you should be extremely cautious in combat and make appropriate decisions for your character accordingly…if you wish for that character to survive. You may find your character hangs back when combat begins, hides behind a rock with actions such as Take Cover, or tried to find something to pick up and throw instead of rushing straight into the fight. During one recent in game encounter, Thomas was running a character with 3 MIGHT. One enemy militiaman had a crossbow, which hits for 4 damage. One of the highest in the game. He was engaged in a grapple with an enemy when the crossbowman took aim on him. He used an action to roll grapple-standing and use his enemy as a meat-shield. It worked! This is a pristine example of using the environment to your advantage.

Boxers will need other skills during their travels especially during insertion rolls, which see a particular character take the lead and roll for the entire squad of boxers. Insertion rolls often lean into skills grounded in WIT and GRIT rather than combat skills tied to MIGHT and SLEIGHT. Buffing WIT or GRIT can be advantageous during insertion rolls, and the vulnerability of a character elevating those attributes over MIGHT must be offset through teamwork, and/or strategy if everyone is to have the best chance of survival and success.