Combo Attack Skill

[CJ]

Combo has been retooled in this advent of the system. It is a little more complex and a little more costly, but the risks and costs it now incurs can pay off big time, dealing big damage and looking good doing it.


WHAT CAN BE COMBO'D?

Levels in this skill allow you to use multiple attacks in rapid succession. Moves that require a charge time or a lot of movement cannot be Combo'd, unless the attack before them causes some sort of stunning or the attack itself goes on DURING the motion rather than after it. Moves that do not damage the target can only be used as the last hit.


PHYSICAL VS MAGICAL COMBOS

Magic Combo and Phys Combo are seperate trees. If you want to go all DBZ with your Fire spell, you're gonna need to buy Magic Combo, though Enchanted Strikes count as Physical attacks.


MIXXED COMBO

If you have levels in both Magic Combo and Physical Combo, you can use combos that utilize both magic and physical attacks. The catch, though, is that if you do this, you use the lower of the two levels. Thus, if you have Level 3 Magic Combo and Level 1 Physical Combo, you will use the stats of the Level 1 Physical Combo if you make one that has both magical and physical components. If the levels are equal, you pick one or the other.


HOW MANY ATTACKS CAN I COMBO?

At base level, the max number of attacks is three, and the max level of all moves combined is 2 (normal attacks are level 0). Every level up either adds 1 to either limit, or adds a specific trait to a single 'slot', or whatever attack you put in that strike on the line (first hit, second hit, third, ect).
Special Techniques can only be used once per combo, but normal attacks can be used freely. Normal attacks are considered level 0 techniques.

EXAMPLE

Level 3 Combo. Up to three attacks can be used in a row, with a maximum total level of 4.

OR

Level 3 Combo. Five attacks can be used in a row, with a maximum total level of 2


Combos are put together on the fly. As long as you have the Combo and respect the rules above, you can throw together any move you know in any order.

[CJ]

When you decide to use a Combo in battle, you choose how many attacks you will make and which ones you will be using, and declare their names and stats. You pay half of ALL costs for the entire thing, Act included, before the attack even commences, and pay the other half afterward if any part of it hits. The entire thing is considered to be one action for ALL purposes.

The target of a combo has just one chance to react.


They can Dodge, in which case they roll Dodge normally for each attack, but MUST dodge every one of them. The first attack to hit causes all attacks after it to hit as well.

They can Defend, in which case their defenses are applied normally to each hit, but will also degrade normally with no way to change course.

The third choice is to attempt to react using Act, either to Interrupt or get out of the way. If this fails, then they take the full damage of the entire combo. Ow. If it succeeds though, then the Combo user just wasted a lot of Act and possibly MP.

In any case, Armor and other passive, defensive traits and/or buffs still apply to each hit in the combo. If one such trait is to automatically cause damage to attackers, then the attack may be post-emptively Interrupted, stopping the combo after the first hit.

[CJ]

"Other" Combo Types
These are simple guidelines for other kinds of combo that exist in the game, which don't use the rules above. They are generally 'weaker' but also cheaper than the listed above, but also much less versatile.


FLOURISH COMBO
The Flourish Combo is a graceful attack where you let inertia rather than strength carry the blade through your enemies. Flourish Combos are different from regular combos in that they cost only one Act. In compensation though, Power stat is only applied once, only the weapon's power going through for the extra hits.
A level 1 Flourish simply applies weapon damage twice, armor effecting both shots. Of course, number of hits isn't the only way one can improve a combo.
If the Comboer is Dual Wielding, they can freely choose between both weapons for each weapon damage added, but can only use one per hit. An extra one is added to the end though, making a level 1 Flourish deal three counts of weapon damage.
Like any purely physical tech, these can only be used once per round.

Flourish Combos can be statted with magic power behind them (such as Sora's Ars Arcanum attack), and will thus cost MP in exchange for either more hits or magic power behind those that exist.