Questions about Defend Actions

Heya!

I have some questions about Defend -

• My hero rolls for a Defend action and gets a result of 6.  Is that:
  • a pool of six points of defense that I can use to mitigate damage until it is exhausted or until the next turn,  
  • Six points of defense that I can use to mitigate damage from the first (next) attack to hit me in this turn, up to that value, with no remainder carrying over to use against subsequent attacks, 
  • Six points of defense that I can use to mitigate damage from each attack that hits me until the next turn.

My hero is attacked by four baddies over the course of a turn.  The Baddies do 3, 4, 5, and 2 damage, respectively, for a total of 14 damage.  I have six points of Defend.

• In the first example above, I'd mitigate 6 points of that damage, and take the remaining 8.
• In the second example, I'd mitigate the first attack (3 pts. damage), and take the remaining11 points of damage from the subsequent three attacks.
• In the third example, I'd take no damage at all, since I'd have 6 points of Defend to apply to each attack's damage.

• Example 1 feels like a balanced approach.  You'll avoid some damage, but you may not avoid all of it.
• Example 2 feels limited and somewhat weak.  "Oh yay, the first thing to hit me is a ninja, for 2 points.  There goes that six Defend... crap.  A villain just hit me for 10.  Ow."
• Example 3 feels a bit overpowered, but covers those comic-book action scenes where heroes wade into a mob of minions and take no hits... but if a dangerous villain gets them in their sights, they'll take some pain.

Which, if any, of my examples are accurate?  :)  

thanks!

c86

It's the weak one, unfortunately.  Reduce the next single attack by up to the amount you rolled.  Some abilities specifically say they apply to all attacks until your next turn, but that's the exception (and all the ones I can recall off the top of my head are Red abilities).

Hm, I forsee the need for a House Rule variant on that one, then.  :)  How are other groups handing this?  I'm curious!

We say that each attack is reduced by the damage result until the start of the next turn. Like, you're crouched in a defensive stance for the entire turn, so you should keep gaining the benefit of your defensive action. Not to mention that without this reading of the rule, "Defend" is wildly weak, and the GM could completely negate it with a little potshot from a little minion followed by a colossal attack by a larger enemy.

One way of seeing it with the defensive stance above is that the first attack distracts you, so the second attack gets around your guard but you could also just apply Defend to all incoming damage as a Risky Action if you don't want to house-rule anything.

As an aside, does anyone know/is it stated anywhere, how much time one action is (roughly) supposed to equate to?

That's a good question. There seemed to be a lot of variability to what players could do with an action during the livestreams. To say nothing of the lack of actual playmat indicating distance.

I think it's being treated like FATE's zones where you can affect everything within your zone but moving between them is probably your turn.

But if we had something about the time taken, it might help clear up questions like this.

For obvious reasons, putting an actual time frame (like, say, 6 seconds for instance) on an action simply isn't practical at all in a system centered around super powers. Conceptually, an action should probably be viewed as a panel or two of comic book action, with all that entails. Otherwise, if you were to put a time frame on the space of an action, you raise the rather problematic question of why exactly Tachyon can't take ten (or even a hundred actions) in that same space of time.

A thought:  why not base the Defend results against the initial rolls made as part of the Defend action?

As in, if you Defend, it will be effective for up to 3 attacks made against you before your next turn.  The first attack, you're totally ready for--you dodge/withstand/block the attack with your Max die result.  The second, you're still braced for--you reduce that damage by the result of your Mid die.  By the time that third attack comes, you're still on guard, but you're getting ganged up on--you can only reduce by the Min result.  If you take any further attacks, you get no benefit from the Defend action.

Obviously this is just speaking from personal experience, so it’s just my opinion with all that an opinion entails, but I’ve run enough supers games with free-form “initiative” to believe that a panel or two of comics still equates to a few seconds. Sure, a speedster can hit more targets or travel further etc., but they’re still only doing one kind of thing, as represented by the ability.

As for problematic, most comic lore has speedsters limiting themselves/having external limits placed on them to avoid that kind of question (at least, that’s my understanding).

As an example, I’ve been running Marvel Heroic recently, as written Iron Man’s datafile lists him as capable of supersonic flight. Is he managing to hit every mook in the scene? Not at all. His few panels are using that speed to bear down on a single target to remove them from the equation, or, as in the case of last night’s game, he’s using it defensively to book it from the overwhelming numbers of guards. A couple of panels is usually a REALLY tight timeframe in MHR and in Masks (a PbtA supers game).

But again, this is all just my opinion and I’m welcome for it to be challenged, I just wanted to explain it clearly.

PlatinumWarlock’s suggestion is good though (as we expect by now).

*kicks dirt*  Awww, shucks.  Thanks, Comrade Bubbles. :D