[Wolfe]

Hello friends!

This was one area that I haven't hashed out quite yet, and wanted to ask some assistance with. This thread is very much for idea bouncing, and we have several months because this becomes relevant enough to require action so we got some time.

I think it would be helpful to iterate what I want out of any system that would come out of this, and some boundaries.

1. I want a system that does not give extra XP to characters. Flat out. I want the Team Progression to stay with the Team. If Team STRQ is out and about and Qrow decides to be drunk and angry and fuck off -- he leaves behind the benefits that Team STRQ built up and no longer has access to them. A system could be made for team moves that included Qrow to be partially refunded (a large percentage like 75% or so) too.

2. I want the benefits to be segregated between PvP and PvE. If someone can think of an elegant way to do this, by all means but honestly I think it would just be easier to separate them. In PvP the advantages gained would by their very nature have to be smaller due to balance purposes and that's tricky as hell to do well. I want a veteran team to have an advantage over a noob team, but honestly I don't think a heck of a lot of that should come from mechanical benefits from Team Progression. Maybe no PvP benefits at all, even, and just relegating it to PvE as in Grimm slaying so the bonuses could be beefier.

I think that the main value in teams and team progression is PvE, or Huntsmen and Huntresses against Grimm and other NPC enemies. To be perfectly honest with you, the rules are more like guidelines in PvE and I'm not shy about saying it. Grimm aren't going to whine about PCs being overpowered, and that’s where I think the Team Progression should focus. Combination moves that allow characters to do shit together that neither could do alone is a really cool concept. I'd ideally like some guidelines as to what could and couldn't be done at various ranks for those as a baseline so that we don't have wildly differing power levels. Just because I say I don't care about balance so much in PvE doesn't mean I don't care about consistency, and I really do care about consistency across teams in the relative power level that they are able to output should they choose to specialize in similar stuff.

3. I would prefer the method to get that progression to be threading with your teammates and doing missions. I'd be perfectly okay with a system that assigned points to various levels of Scenarios that you must complete with your teammates in order to receive credit for advancement -- with likely a system for partial credit if only 2 or only 3 showed up for that particular scenario maybe?

[Flower Fiorella]

I'd definitely suggest a 'shop' of sorts! Like players as a team get to pick bonuses they can apply when they thread together as a team. Each time they would thread together, they'd get 'tokens' of sorts and be able to trade them in, like missions or training sessions together. maybe like every 2-3K the team writes together they'd get a 'token/credit'? Things like combo moves/boosts or a system to make/train combo moves that are stronger say when all four members of the team contribute than when only two. I'd say the same thing could be applied to PvP scenarios as well as PvE, but lesser variants or simply not part of them at all. It would be difficult to balance all that together I would agree.

[Wolfe]

Resurrecting this thread to get suggestions.

I don't want this progression to be fast, and if anything I want it to be pretty slow. I also don't want any mechanical bonuses from this team progression system to be overpowering. I want to enable team members to come up with cool combo moves, but I also don't want those combination moves to be game-breaking. There's a delicate balance there, because we very well may have teams vs teams IC in the future. While I definitely want the more experienced and cohesive teams to have an advantage, I want that advantage to be in line with the tier differences of the individual progression system.

If there are other bonuses that aren't strictly mechanical that anyone has any ideas for, I'd be all ears. I want to incentivize people joining and creating teams, but not to the level of giving them benefits that are way out of line of individual progression.

The way to get points is very negotiable at this stage, and I was thinking something like scenarios completed or total XP gained as a group. Both would be retroactive, but the second would have a bigger effect for characters who have had a lot of threads together before the team system was implemented.

Perk Ideas

Heroic Save: When selected, pick two characters on the team who can then choose to share any attack taken so long as the party not being attacked is in range to assist and take some or all of the blow. This can be done once per thread, per member of the team, and this perk can be taken more than once.

Dual Attack: When selected, pick two characters on the team who can then choose to do a dual attack once per thread that in addition to dealing regular damage also leaves behind one additional damage over time effect that does the rank damage of the lowest damage attack over the course of two posts. An example would be if a dual attack with an E rank weapon and a D rank manipulation semblance happened, the damage over time would be E rank and last for two posts.

Team Attack (Not balanced, removing from final draft but leaving here for idea): When selected, pick four characters on the team who can then choose to do a team attack once per thread that in addition to dealing regular damage also leaves behind one addition damage over time effect that does the rank damage of the highest damage attack over the course of two posts. An example would be if three E rank attacks and one D rank attack occurred, the damage over time would be D rank and last for two posts.

Signature Skill: When selected, pick one combat ability that is not the semblance to pick as your team's signature skill. Signature skills can be advanced up to C rank with a 20% reduction in XP required. Each rank of this skill upgrades the rank that the discount is applied to by one, so buying this perk twice would mean that a signature skill can be advanced up to B rank with a 20% reduction in XP required. This skill can be changed only with buying the slot again and replacing one skill with another of the same rank. (2x cost of other perks)

Flanking: When two members of the same team are attacking the same enemy, both members can roll twice for accuracy instead of once and take the highest roll. The players are expected to write how they made it easier for each other to attack.

Cover: When two members of the same team are fighting within 5 meters of each other, any single target enemy attack can be misdirected to force the enemy to roll twice for accuracy instead of once and take the lowest roll, with you the player describing why your character caused the difference.

____

Possible progression?

Team Progression through threads and completed threads with different metrics for each. 'Completed thread' in this sense means a thread where at least ten posts total has been done and each member of the team claimed has posted at least twice.

Uncompleted threads provide 1 point for 2 members and 2 points for 3+ members.

Completed threads provide 5 points for 2 members, 10 points for 3 members, 15 points for 4 members.

[Wolfe]

Team Progression and Roles Rough Sketch

The progression system for teams will take the form of minor benefits based on the role in the team that each member decides to take on. In effect, these will be once per thread buffs for the vast majority of threads with only longer scenarios or event finales being situations where you can get more than one use of these skills.

We are opening with six roles, with the possibility of more being added along the way. The main issues I wanted to fix mechanically were giving some form of stamina regen for clutch moments and the fact that taking a combat skill for combat medic was pretty punishing when it was almost entirely going to be used narratively rather than constantly like most other combat abilities.

These bonuses are not meant to replace related combat abilities, and will be woefully inadequate for that purpose. They are weak individual buffs that become noticeable when combined and used together in a team setting, and give teams a little bump when fighting against less coordinated groups of enemies.

These abilities can either be bought with experience like normal abilities or unlocked by reaching certain experience thresholds in threads that team members have together. If one character has 3000XP and no threads with any teammates, they contribute 0 to this total. If four characters are on a team and have a combined 3000XP gained with threads with each other, then that all counts towards this total. Characters not on the team also in those threads do not count towards Team XP, because they are not part of the team. Threads that occur before the team is made also count towards this total. Ranks earned in this manner do not cost any XP, similar to tier and are given freely to all characters who meet requirements. A character must have a minimum of 100XP earned between teammates

If a team member leaves, the rank of everyone’s abilities does not change and they keep the highest rank they achieved and the team gets credit for all past qualifying event finales. Team XP is adjusted, however, and can go either up or down and progress to the next rank may be substantially lowered. The new member of the team gets either their past highest rank or the adjusted rank of the team they join for their role, whichever is higher. If someone has an F rank team role and joins a D ranked team that goes down to E rank Team XP because they join -- they still get the E rank upgrade for free so long as they meet the required minimum contribution to the re-adjusted team experience. This minimum contribution is to require even those who join established teams to actually contribute to the team before reaping the benefits of being part of said established team. Team roles can be changed for 75XP in the character’s progression thread with the rank remaining unchanged in the swap, regardless of circumstances. This is done so that swaps are possible but come at a minor cost to prevent people from spamming frivolous changes.


Teams can also gain bonus Team XP for various tasks. Completing a scenario with only team members adds 100XP to the Team XP total, or 50XP if there are 2 or more team members in a mixed group. The scenario bonus does not count if the thread dies before completion. Completing an event finale with 2 members in the same thread adds 50XP. Completing an event finale with 3 members in the same thread adds 100XP. Completing an event finale with 4 members adds 300XP.



The Vanguard is the first one into every conflict as the scout and the skirmisher, drawing the attention of the enemy and allowing their teammates to get into position. This role often goes to the most mobile member of the team, allowing them to get a sense of what is happening ahead and letting them report back to inform the rest. Vanguards have the role ability to regenerate a small amount of stamina over time because their role of being the first in the fight means that when it comes to the end of the fight they may very well be struggling and need a bit of a boost.

The Medic is the backbone of every team’s ability to survive the most dangerous missions, and play a pivotal role in keeping civilians alive in the field. Medics are required to undergo Combat Medic training at their home academy, but the role is so popular nearly every team has one. Their role ability is to provide minor heals meant to stabilize dying or severely wounded allies over time.

The Sniper is the long ranged specialist of the team and is comfortable with staying stone still for a long period of time to line up the perfect shot from extreme distances. They are often the most calm members of their team, because excitable breaks in concentration removes their ability to stay focused enough to line up their shots. Snipers have the role ability of extending their effective range when standing still and focusing for a period of time before the enhanced attack.

The Defender is the shield of the team and is typically someone who has some method of forcing the Grimm to focus on them rather than their allies whether it be crowd control abilities or simply an ability to call forth negative emotion more easily as well as typically having the strongest aura on the team to begin with due to their role in taking a bunch of hits and surviving the ordeal. The Defender has the ability to grant themselves temporary aura by a short period of intense focus in order to better defend themselves against an imminent attack.

The Guard is the sword of the team and has the duty of destroying the enemy. They are often the best individual fighters of the team and reinforce that role with additional weapons and semblance training to ensure they always hit their mark. The Guard has the ability to occasionally roll their attacks with advantage. Advantage means that for a selected attack they roll twice to determine if they hit rather than once.

The Supporter is the tactician who makes sure everyone is in the right place at the right time with minimal wasted time and effort. They are the coordinators of the team and following their directions pays dividends for all involved. The Supporter grants a stamina-wide bonus to their entire team over time which allows them to stay in the fight for longer.

The Specialist is someone who is much better with Dust in all of its applications than others. They are an enthusiast who carries around small amounts of dust which they can activate with their role ability and use to refill the Dust Enhancement skills of their allies over time. They get around the need to carry a lot of dust with knowing exactly how to use it, allowing those effects to happen with less dust than usual to make carrying it much less dangerous than it might otherwise be.