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So, this is reviving a very old thread but here goes.
We've been playing it so that Pierce actually works against PF and not Parry. At first it was simply an accident/misreading of the rules but then we decided that it seems to make more sense thematically. So it's been working out fine for the most part and I've managed to get some sort of a rhythm going as far as encounter difficulties go.
Tonight I've been looking back at past combat encounters (as a means of looking to plan for future ones) and have noticed that the encounters which have felt the most balanced and enjoyable (not the EASIEST mind you) have been those in which I presented NPC Dwellers with actual Archetypes/Levels and custom made gear from the Craft Skill and/or Denizens that relied very much on ranged attacks, Mental/Spiritual damage, and Conditions. I've also had to make extensive use of Flight and water.
Now, the feel I got from the Core book was really that the majority of combat encounters on Midgard should be against non-humanoid Denizens with pretty simple methods of combat. Obviously, there will be a lot fewer Wight Sovereigns and Banshees than Wolves or Trolls. Now, I love strategy in combat, with environmental factors, etc. so my above methods of designing things has been fun, but it's become hard to throw together a sort of quick encounter of simple Denizens when I just want a "normal" fight - at least, an encounter in which the Dwellers don't just slaughter the enemies.
So, my first thought is - okay, I'll use the RAW rules and have Pierce bypass Parry. Cool.
But then I was looking at some numbers and to me it seems like the errata for Mauling, Fangs, etc., might be statistically too much of a nerf, if you actually have a Blacksmith Dweller in the party. I understand the errata choices for such powers without access to the Blacksmith Archetype/without one in the party. But the nerf PLUS having access to Blacksmith-smithed items seems like a double whammy, so to speak.
For example, currently the "tank" and crafter of my group's party is a level 14 Blacksmith. He uses all items he personally crafted. Without using any Powers he has PF 2 and Parry 8. So, spending two Runes to Defend and then activate the Deflect Meta would put him at PF 6 & Parry 24 against the incoming attack. That seems a little crazy to me at this level, at least when it comes to fighting Denizens that are using natural weapons.
Just for comparison, I brought up the Level 14 Polar Kraken Denizen I have prebuilt. Now, the real threat of the Kraken should be its constriction abilities and the fact it can deal out ridiculous DF in a single attack because of its Physical attacks being Amped for its tentacles. This should kind of be a benchmark monster for high-end Physical DF output.
If my math is correct, if it did an Amplied Mauling Attack, it would deal 36 Physical DF with a Pierce of 4. So the Dweller's Blacksmith would only take 10 Physical damage if he Defended once and activated his Deflect Meta once.
Is this how things SHOULD work, thematically? Is the feel right? I'm not questioning whether or not it's good or bad I just want to know if I need to tweak slightly how I've been viewing the majority of combat encounters in Midgard during Fimbulwinter.
In contrast, the group's Druid has a PF of 3 and a Parry of 1. Obviously, this makes much more sense, he's a support/healer caster, not a tank. So if the Kraken attacked him and he did the same - Defend with a Deflect Meta - he would take 24 Physical damage, which is almost 5 out of his total 7 Essence Runes. With how the Druid is played, it's unlikely he'd even have those two runes free to do that, especially if he was higher in Initiative.
In your experience, Andrew, how do these sort of things balance (or not balance) out? I'm not asking "is it balanced" so much as do you find yourself having to build different versions of the same level & type of Denizen with significant differences multiple times depending on the sort of factors above? What about in groups where they don't have regular access to custom Blacksmith items?
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