Combo Attacks

Combination attacks, in which two or more characters combine their strength to become more than the sum of their parts by attacking as one, are as major a hallmark of the Magical Girl genre as any other. They are extremely dangerous, but also a tactical gamble, since a single reaction can go very favorably (or unfavorably) for the defender. Here are their rules and guidelines:

• Attacks are added to the combination individually; an individual character must have their attack’s required Mana (and Morale, in the case of a Finisher) to add their attack to a combo.
• If any component attacks in the combo are Finishers, the entire combo attack is considered a Finisher for the purpose of Survival Finishers and counterattacks. Everyone's Morale will reset to 0, so join a Finisher combo with anything but at your own risk!
• For the purposes of a counterattack, a combo attack’s Power Level is equal to the highest Power Level component attack, plus the number of combo attackers. In other words, it’s nigh-impossible to effectively counter most combo attacks. There is no such thing as a combo-counterattack; for combat rounds where two sides are facing off in a single, explosive moment of confrontation, break it down into individual vs. individual (or just have one side use an area combo attack, the second side react, and then the second side area combo attack).
• In the unlikely event that a counterattack punches through a combo attack, damage and status effects are only applied to whoever started the combo.
• Any combination of magical/physical/ranged/melee attacks are legal; you can absolutely have one person blast away from a distance while another charges in with a sword. For the purposes of brace and counter, the attack’s type and range are determined by the majority of the attacks used in combination. In the event of a tie in either category, combos randomize their type or range as necessary, fifty-fifty chance.
• If the combo is targeting more than one person, all component attacks of the combo must have the Area flag. If the combo is only targeting one person, components of the combo may have the Area flag, but its benefits are lost.
• Critical chance is rolled separately for each individual’s attack, but if any one component attack rolls a crit, the entire combo attack is treated as a critical hit and enjoys the benefits.
• Damage from individual component attacks is added, not averaged.
• All flags from the component attacks are incorporated, but redundant flags are not counted multiple times. If Efficient is present, only the attack it came from, and its attacker, receives the mana discount. If a Bind Break is present, it only clears the debuffs on whoever started the combo, but everyone can gain morale (as modified by Psych, or not) by a successful combo attack, if they haven’t already gained it in the round the combo attack was used (only really a possibility when someone +heal/bossed is involved in a combo).
• Combos are listed in the defender(s)’ +queue under the name of whoever started the combo. They are reacted to normally with the reaction commands.
• TEAM attacks, as indicated by the TEAM:# flag, can only be used in a combo, though other, non-TEAM attacks can join the combo as long as the minimum number of combo attackers (#) invoke an attack with the same name and TEAM:# flag. Only Specials and Finishers can be TEAM attacks, and to make up for the permanent dedication of an attack slot to an attack that can only be used very situationally, TEAM attacks are built on extra points. Examples of canonical TEAM attacks include Blast Calamity (TEAM:2), Shining Fortissimo (TEAM:3), and Sailor Planet Attack (TEAM:4). Canonical TEAM:4+ attacks may be permanently redefined at a lower TEAM level at the request of players in the cast, if their extreme limitation is making them impossible to ever use in a scene.

For information on the combat system commands and their syntax, please see: Battle Commands

For more information, please see: Attacks, Reactions, Chargen