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A single-mastery advantage is about the equivalent of five lesser combatants.
(With the Mastery-elimination mechanics, it doesn't matter if the odds are 12 to
12w, or 12w3 to 12w4, it adds up the same way).
Because AP can be transferred on a critical roll, and because bumps make criticals
more frequent, a 1-mastery advantage can actually get "stronger" by sucking AP from
his opponents.
Heroes fighting against a mastery advantage need to make low or no AP bids until
they have augmented as far as they can. Instead of attacking, augment yourself. If
you start close to the "Mastery Barrier" of 20, you may be able to turn the fight
into a no-mastery-advantage one with augments. Of course, your target numbers will
still be much lower than the villain's, but he won't be getting bumps anymore.
The Hero Wars/HeroQuest system is flexible enough to ensure that there
are no 'perfect' tactics, though. Here are a couple of different ways in which player
heroes can take on an enemy with a mastery advantage.
The SWAT Team
The band of heroes work together. Use augments to boost one of the heroes as far
as possible - with 4 people augmenting the fifth, they should be able to get ~+10
(assuming the hero also augments himself, otherwise ~+8)
to his ability in one round. This may get him past the "Mastery Barrier" and
eliminate the bump advantage that a mastery gives his opponent. If the four augment
him again on the next turn (using different abilities), that could take him up
another 10 - which will put him almost on a par with his opponent. On the third
round, if they can augment him again, he will have the advantage on his opponent.
Followers will boost AP, making the hero less vulnerable to damage. All heroes
should have followers.
Bowmen or ranged magic users can suck AP off the opponent, or loan them to their
hero.
Use the Multiple attacker rules (after boosting your comrade...) A party of 5 heroes
can impose a -12 penalty on a lone defender. In this method, the un-augmented heroes
make weak attacks (1-2AP) attacks to drain the defender's target numbers, so that
when the augmented hero steps in (as the last attacker), the defender has the
penalty.
Example:
A party of Starting Heroes with 17 abilities (for some reason, all of them put
their masteries in other abilities) versus a single villain with 17w.
Round 1: All five of the Heroes will use magic or skills to augment one
member of the party. He rises from 17 to 7w. The Villain will probably get a 1x
transfer from someone. Since this is the first round, he won't know how powerful
they are (can't ask for APs), so will probably have bid low, like 7AP.
Round 2: Four heroes augment the fifth. He rises from 7w to 15w. He is nearly
at par with the villain, at can either attack at 15 to 17, or augment himself to
17w. The villain, knowing that he has a mastery advantage will probably try to take
out the guy he hit earlier. A 10-12AP bid will probably occur, and the probable
outcome will be one hero down and the villain with extra AP.
Round 3: One hero is down. The other three attack with low AP bids (only
1-2 AP). The villain will probably try to take out the pumped-up hero. The PUH
waits and attacks after his compatriots. Villain will have a -9 penalty due to
Multiple Attacker penalties, so the contest will be Hero 17 to Villain 8. Villain
will start to go down...
Of course, if the Villain has followers of his own, then he will have lower or no
Multiple Attacker penalties, and may be able to make attacks against multiple
heroes, taking out two in one shot.
Conan the Barbarian
The more rounds of combat, the more the law of averages will even out the die
rolls such that a stronger character will beat a weaker one. A high-risk option,
then, especially for characters who are on their own and thus cannot rely on
augments and multiple target penalties, it to go all-out and bid high, even using
the desperation stakes rule to bid more AP than the hero actually has, and hope
for a lucky roll. After all, speed and savagery can sometimes prevail over
experience.
However, what might appear to be a suicidally dangerous option is transformed by
the use of hero points to bump rolls. A hero with a skill of 17 against a villain
with 17w who also has a couple of hero points available is in a stronger position,
depending on how the narrator chooses to interpret the 'narrator decides' option
of critical vs critical successes, which will be common in such circumstances.
Even so, this is still a situation in which high AP bids are imperative, because
the hero will be in serious trouble if the villain is still in the fight once he
has burnt through his hero points. Or if villain is sufficiently important a
character that the narrator has also chosen to give him a few hero points, too...
Lateral Thinking
Another thing to try is to change the nature of the contest - if the villain has
great Close Combat, how is his Magic Resistance? Or his Running?
Or his resistance to Pleading and Whining?
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