Combinations are techniques designed to buy off Rapid Strike penalties. Optional rule on MA80. It's special since it involves "split" skill levels.
Two-Handed Combinations are possible and substitute -4/-4 for -6/6 as per a Dual-Weapon Attack but without the benefit of -1 to defenses or being able to target different foes.
They are harshly restrictive because of five required specifications:
- skill
- number of attacks
- attack type
- target (ie mandates MA80 Targeted Attack: specifically says you specify "2 or 3" o fthem)
- order of type+target pairings
There are three other drawbacks:
- a miss or successful defense against any component gives +3 to defend against later ones
- (unclear if this is cumulative for 3+ move combinations, like +6 against 3rd if 1+2 fail)
- specifying a setup/followup attack (ie grapple+throw) can waste the 2nd attack if the setup fails
- An opponent targeted a third time in a single fight by the same combination is +1 to defend against all the components
A primary benefit (other than being the only way to legally buy off penalties) is also that it's considered the only way to realistically allow a 3-attack rapid-strike, the traditional limit being 2.
"including a basic attack to the torso or a TA the fighter hasn’t improved" seems to indicate that if you have bought off TA penalties, these are bought off when using them in a combination.
Explanations
- "bypassing the usual “precision for speed” tradeoff – by omitting the extra step of matching attacks to targets."
- "cannot include untargeted attacks or leave the order of attacks unspecified"
Cost[]
Cost is more than usual for a hard technique (usually 2 pts for get default+1) as you add the number of attacks.
Unlike many techniques which can be used at a default, this cannot normally:
- "Fighters without one of the two advantages above can only use a three-attack technique if they’ve spent the minimum 5 points to raise it above default."
This implies that TBAM or Weapon Master CAN use combinations at default though, which is especially useful for them since they halve the base penalties.
This basically means they can make 3-attack rapid strikes at will by specifying any combination whatsoever. The base 5 restrictions don't matter here since thy could use any theoretical combination on the fly: the only limit would be the 3 otherdrawbacks (+3 to defenses, wasted followups, +1 on 3rd repeat)
The 3rd drawback is easy enough to avoid by subtly changing the technique by a small amount but keeping it relatively the same. The "wasted followups" issue can be avoided by not using them. The biggest is the +3 to defend on a miss/parry since that's not normally a drawback of rapid stirkes. That's a fair tradeoff for being able to get a 3rd attack though, which even TBAM/WM traditionally could not do except when using Wuxia/Chambara optional extension.