Combat Provocation is a specialized combat technique that empowers the practitioner to taunt and challenge enemies on the battlefield, redirecting their attention and aggression away from their allies. By using psychological manipulation, aggressive taunts, and a commanding presence, those who master Combat Provocation become experts at redirecting enemy attacks.
As a Psychic Ability, many of its Actions and Augment have Strain, which can reduce your Psychic Capacity.
Default Action
Taunting Strike
Tempo: [w] + 1.
Strain: 1.
Range: Adjacent.
DT: Evasion, Psyche.
With a jeering taunt, you strike an enemy with a melee weapon and redirect their attention to yourself.
Make a single System Check when resolving this Action.
If your Check is greater than the target's Evasion, you strike successfully, dealing normal damage for your weapon.
If your Check is greater than the target's Psyche, the target suffers Taunt 1 on their next attack. (This means that the target has Disadvantage 1 on the next attack made against any individual other than you.) This penalty is lost after the target makes a single attack. Multiple uses of this Action are not cumulative.
As your Ability progresses, your taunts become more difficult to ignore. For every 3 Ranks of this Action, the Taunt imposed by this Action is increased by 1 (Taunt 2 at Rank 3, Taunt 3 at Rank 6, and so forth).
Actions
Basic
Challenging Roar
Tempo: 4.
Strain: 3.
Range: Near.
DT: Psyche.With a loud roar, you issue a challenge to all who are brave enough to face you, making cowards of those who flee from you. Each affected target suffers Taunt 1 on their next attack. Multiple uses of this Action are not cumulative.
This Action can affect a maximum number of targets equal to its Rank.
Retributive Strike
Tempo: [w].
Range: Adjacent.
DT: Evasion.If an adjacent enemy you have Taunted ignores you to attack another individual, you may use a Reaction to make a melee weapon attack against them with Advantage 1. You deal damage as normal for that weapon plus the Rank of this Action.
This Action does not reset the Count. Instead it only reduces your current Count by its Tempo.
Augments
Basic
Combat Resolve
Lingering Influence
Strain: +Rank.
The influence of your mental manipulation lingers longer than normal. You can increase both the Strain and duration of your Action by any number up to the Rank of this Augment. So, for every +1 additional Strain, you also increase the duration by +1.
This Augment cannot be applied to Actions which do not have a mentioned duration.
Mocking Defense
With constant mockery and derision, you agitate a target and reduce their effectiveness in battle. You add the Rank of this Augment to your Evasion against any individual you have successfully Taunted for as long as they remain under the effects of Taunt.