Bodyguard stunt

[Taran]

Is there a mechanic or stunt that allows a person to protect someone else by taking a hit in their place or parrying a blow for them?  Something reflexive as opposed to doing a block action.

I seem to remember something about being able to spend a FP to do something like that.

[Mr. Death]

I came up with a stunt like that for a character of mine.

Taking The Hit - You're either trained as a bodyguard, or are otherwise just that selfless. Whenever an ally fails a defense and takes a hit that would require a Moderate or higher consequence to avoid being taken out, you may sacrifice your next turn to interpose yourself, taking the blow and rolling your own defense instead, taking the damage instead of your ally.

I never got any use out of it, though, so I can't really say if it's good or balanced or anything.

[Tedronai]

At the very least, I would add a specification that the ally must be within the same zone as you, and that the stunt functions only against physical attacks.

I'd also suggest a stunt that provides allies in the same zone as you with a small static bonus to their defense rolls against some subset of attacks.

[Haru]

I think a stunt would do.

You could also take a page from core and do this with active opposition. The idea is, that if there is an aspect that justifies rolling to oppose an action, then you can do so. It's sort of how core handles blocks. So the Bodyguard would be allowed to do so simply because he is a bodyguard and has the appropriate aspect. You could require him to establish an aspect first, if he wants to shield someone. Doing a maneuver (or "create advantage", as it is called now"), and as long as the aspect is in place, he can roll to oppose any action against the person he is protecting.

[Mr. Death]

The one thing about making it a stunt is, as I said, it's never really come up in the games I've played and run. It may not be a frequent enough occurrence to devote permanent refresh to.

[Taran]

The one thing about making it a stunt is, as I said, it's never really come up in the games I've played and run. It may not be a frequent enough occurrence to devote permanent refresh to.

Make it an aspect and use a FP where appropriate?

[UmbraLux]

You could make it a maneuver ("I'm guarding so-and-so") and tag/invoke it for effect to reactively block or take a hit - or simply pass them the tag for a better defense.  You'd want to work out the details & possibilites with the group ahead of time but it's an easy way to protect someone without needing a new power.

[Taran]

You could make it a maneuver ("I'm guarding so-and-so") and tag/invoke it for effect to reactively block or take a hit - or simply pass them the tag for a better defense.  You'd want to work out the details & possibilites with the group ahead of time but it's an easy way to protect someone without needing a new power.

Actually, this is a nice solution.  If I leave the zone of the person I'm guarding the maneuvers ends and would require another attempt.  The difficulty could be based on the scene.  A room might be easy while a wide-open space would be much harder to defend against.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't know if these are really appropriate, but there are a couple of things on the stunt and Power lists that you might find useful.

There's the Protector stunt for Athletics

Protector: You are an expert at the protection of others. Add two to your Athletics skill when using it to create a block to protect another character. (A similar stunt could exist in many other skills.)

and the Defender stunt for Weapons

Defender: You watch over not only yourself but others. Allies in your zone may take a supplemental action to hide behind you. If you take a supplemental action to protect your allies, they may use your Weapons skill to defend against melee attacks that exchange. You may take a single supplemental action each exchange to protect up to two allies. Both you and your allies may take these supplemental actions in response to an incoming attack, as long as you have not yet acted during that exchange.

and the Protective Instincts upgrade for the homebrew version of Pack Instincts.

So yeah, those exist.

I came up with a stunt like that for a character of mine.

Taking The Hit - You're either trained as a bodyguard, or are otherwise just that selfless. Whenever an ally fails a defense and takes a hit that would require a Moderate or higher consequence to avoid being taken out, you may sacrifice your next turn to interpose yourself, taking the blow and rolling your own defense instead, taking the damage instead of your ally.

I never got any use out of it, though, so I can't really say if it's good or balanced or anything.

Seems kind of weak. Why limit it only to attacks that would require a Moderate Consequence to survive?

The fact that you never got to use it indicates that it's probably too narrow...assuming the game you made this for lasted for more than like one session.

If I were you, I'd go with something like...

Taking The Hit: You're either trained as a bodyguard, or are otherwise just that selfless. Whenever another character in your zone is targeted with a physical attack, you may sacrifice your next action to make yourself the target of that attack in their place. (This may lead to the attack targeting you twice, if it's a zone attack.)

[Dr.FunLove]

These reminds me of good old Cover of Final Fantasy fame. In fact...*scribbles*

[Mr. Death]

Seems kind of weak. Why limit it only to attacks that would require a Moderate Consequence to survive?

It's been a couple years, but I think my reasoning was that I didn't want it to happen every round, and to add more risk to it. It's also one of the first stunts I came up with, so yeah, it's probably not the best balance.

The fact that you never got to use it indicates that it's probably too narrow...assuming the game you made this for lasted for more than like one session.

Partly that, partly it belonged to a character in a game I took over GMing (so she ended up not showing up as much). Also the dice don't cooperate, and most of the times that I throw a big attack at one of the squishier party members, they end up just dodging anyway.

If I were you, I'd go with something like...

Taking The Hit: You're either trained as a bodyguard, or are otherwise just that selfless. Whenever another character in your zone is targeted with a physical attack, you may sacrifice your next action to make yourself the target of that attack in their place. (This may lead to the attack targeting you twice, if it's a zone attack.)

When and if I get to play in a game rather than GM it, I'll give it a shot.

[Taran]

What about a stunt that lets you use up your turn to reflexively put a block on someone else?  Kind of the opposite version of riposte but only on a person in your zone.  Maybe it could also add a bonus to the roll.