Running a mock combat encounter in Avatar: Legends!

Combat in TTRPGs are simple, you roll some dice, you add the totals, you get the order. But not in Magpie Games' Avatar: Legends RPG, this game encourages you to avoid fighting if possible. So HOW do you run combat In Avatar: Legends? The main goal of telling a fun story is sometimes brought by combat and using your bending to take down some fire nation soldiers or the Agni Kais, this video will show you how to effectively run combat for your next game!
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[@TheGukos]

As others already suggested, I would slow just a bit and instead go into more detail what it actually means "to clear a condition" or "mark a fatigue". Not only mechanically/strategically (but you could also go into greater detail with that), but also role playing wise, because these "combat" rules are clearly designed to have the main focus on that.

[@krisfire]

Totally hear ya and I'm working on that moving forward! And the reason I really didn't go into that is because it doesn't really matter how I describe it. Because RP wise every player will describe their interactions differently. One of my players would describe things like hits as Injuries vs another who describes hits as wearing down their energy and exhausting them. It's up to each player and group to work out how they want to describe things RP wise. 😁

[@IceLancer115]

Im distracted by the bouncing dice icon in the TV & cheer every time it hits the corner.

[@krisfire]

You are officially the first person to acknowledge that and I love it lol. I designed and animated it to do just that! 😂

[@thoroughboyz]

As an older gamer who raised his kids watching ATLAB, I really appreciate your channel. My kids are excited about this game (me mostly) but thanks for explaining this. I am so used to rolling initiative.

[@minibuscus2]

damn my guy, dont know if it was me but as soon as the fight started it felt like you never took a breath. So Fast!

[@krisfire]

And that was the editing XD I've been trying to slow it down a hair lol.

[@minibuscus2]

@@krisfire also it was a bit unclear, did sokka take fatgue when he marked the firebenders condition?

[@krisfire]

Good catch! Yes Sokka would take the 2 Fatigue since he chose what happened to the fire nation soldiers! Otherwise they would've gotten to choose what happens to them.

[@bonesjones86]

0.75 speed makes this video much better.

[@justingonzalez3641]

Thanks so much for the video it helped me understand how to run combat better, hope to see more avatar legends tips in the future

[@krisfire]

Awesome! I'm glad it helped you understand better, Definitely gonna see more coming forward!

[@Chozal]

Man I completely forgot to manage small fry groups as 1 npc. That's why my exchanges ran so long... Thanks for the vid!

[@alaranarmstrong3718]

Bro is sprinting verbally

[@lachye.w2937]

Thank you so much for this. I have a game starting in a month and I appreciate all of this knowledge 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@krisfire]

No Problem! Glad this helped!

[@M4GG0TK1NG]

I know I'm hella late but on Sokka's turn, he got 2 techniques from his roll of 12+1 and you chose strike for both but don't the rules say you can't use the same one twice?

[@MaVoelk]

Another great video! Thanks again for another great post.

[@krisfire]

Thanks!!!

[@lioco6124]

this video is great thanks for making it

[@krisfire]

Thanks for watching it! Im glad you enjoyed it!

[@prozythos8397]

I notice that in the book it mentions breaking out combat exchanges into individual combats, so that each player takes on a different enemy. How do you run that when there are lots of enemies (say 5 distinct squads/individuals) and less heroes (say 3 for example)? Or do you forgo individual combats and run it all together?

[@Videofreak]

So one thing I'm a bit confused about when running this with some friends is that combat appears to be extremely one sided in favor of PC's, especially when statuses come into play. For example, I had 4 players fighting a "boss" character, a Fire Nation War Minister who was trying to capture the mechanist of the group due to knowing about how she crafted her own metal arm and wants to take her to develop weapons for the Fire Nation, his principle being Power. beefed him up to the 10 fatigue and 5 condition NPC, but he never was able to attack anybody as the waterbender would impair or stun him with ice frequently while the fire bender in the party pressured him continuously to not be able to attack, the mechanist and airbender of the group giving supporting fire with strikes. Was that a situation where I misread statuses and let them happen too frequently to make the encounter very one sided, or is it a situation where the design of the encounter put me at a disadvantage despite having a boss character operating at +2 on their balance scale for the majority of the fight? A lot of info, I know, but I did want to provide context for my question.

[@krisfire]

From what I understand given the context given you ran things right. I will say the GM gets to decide the conditions applied and how they're affected overall. if they want the trapped condition they have to justify how your NPC is trapped. This fight does seem very one sided, and it comes down the action economy (DnD term sorry lol) for every 1 action your NPC got your players got 4. How do you balance that? Give your baddy minions! They're a fire nation war minister so it stand to reason they would have an elite unit assigned to them. Have those minions help the NPC boss pressure the players and make the fight harder. As GMs we can have God themselves come down onto the battlefield but our players are limited in their resources. We can make fights as easy or as impossible as we want, but the ideal is when players think they beat a boss JUUUUST barely. They are beaten and battered but they won against the odds and they EARNED IT! So my advice would be to have this War Minister come back, and this time they aren't underestimating this ragtag group. "You made a fool of this old minister last time. It wont happen again." Now he's flanked by his elite guards and they have a hard fight ahead of them. With the 4 players I'd personally only have 4-6 guards to keep things just slightly stacked against the players. Hope this helps! If you have any more questions let me know!

[@enniodamato2933]

That’s a very interesting question. I don’t think he completely answered your question, though. Or at least to my understanding. Yes As a scenario, I imagine a battle between, e.g., Azula and the group: I can’t imagine Azula not attacking once, even without support. So I still have this doubt. Have you figured out an answer?

[@ajdynon]

@@enniodamato2933That’s why Azula got Ty Lee and Mai to help her against the gaang after the first time she fought them.

[@jarmuzz]

I know I'm 8 months to late but if I'm your example is Katara chose evade and observe would the turn order be Aang, Zuko , fire soldiers and then katara?

[@DarthVader1273]

Thank you for giving us this sample of a combat exchange, but I had one question. How can a player be allowed to still choose a technique after rolling a miss just by shifting their balance? Can you explain that in detail?

[@megarobe2069]

Yeah, i cant really find that in the quickstart

[@krisfire]

Page 43 of the quick start. Under the first block "When you engage in Combat" "On a miss, you stumble, but you can shift your balance away from center to use one basic technique." Its a cost/benefit. You shift balance and you can still use a move but you shifted balance which your GM can use.

[@krisfire]

Page 43 of the quick start. Under the first block "When you engage in Combat" "On a miss, you stumble, but you can shift your balance away from center to use one basic technique." Its a cost/benefit. You shift balance and you can still use a move but you shifted balance which your GM can use.

[@domlc7439]

Yo slow down.. lol. You’re videos are super informative and I think the Avatar Legends community are appreciative that you’re making this. But you talk way too fast to soak in the information. Other than that, great vid

[@krisfire]

Lol yea I'm taking this into consideration and working on that moving forward. I appreciate the feedback!

[@LotsofLol]

@@krisfire FWIW I like that you talk fast! I can always rewind if I miss something, and it makes the videos a lot short and easier to consume.

[@breeban3388]

I know this is old, but if someone on KZbin is talking too fast it might be helpful to change the videos playback speed to .75

[@SomosPapel_OFC]

​@@krisfire Nothing personal, it's just because some people who don't have English as a native language can get a little lost. Unfortunately the Avatar Legends system is not very popular here where I live😅

[@aisushitai2680]

This video doesn't slow down to explain anything at all.

[@arungupta9140]

What happens if two groups are fighting and they both pick defend and maneuver? What would roleplaying two sides not attacking each other look like?

[@zetten4109]

Standing there. They realize, they’re just like each other.

[@krisfire]

I imagine it would be like 2 MMA fighters being defensive. No one’s doing anything to specifically advance the fight and they’d be waiting on someone to make the first move.

[@Zazume_]

Amazing tutorial series, I'm really starting to understand how it's going, which is important, because I want to be a GM for the first time with this game. There's one thing that's still unclear to me about "Smash": Say, an earthbender causes the roof of a cave to fall on a foe. The description of Smash states, that the player is allowed to inflict a status effect here (in this case, trapped would be a good match). But I mean, the initial hit of the rocks would probably deal direct damage to the foe as well, right? Am I, as the GM, allowed to inflict fatigue to the opponent in this case on top of the status condition, or is it always just the status condition and nothing else?

[@krisfire]

Thank you for the kind words! I really appreciate it! In the case DM inflicting fatigue, you could! By RAW (rules as written) it’s just the status but Given the situation it would make sense to give fatigue. I personally wouldn’t because trapped already means the trapped character will be losing 3 fatigue/conditions just to escape. But that’s a decision YOU would have to come too. Because keep in mind, if the players can do something, so can the NPCs 😈

[@Zazume_]

@@krisfire Thanks for the quick answer! I guess I will do some experimental combats before our first actual session, just to test out the balance on that matter a little bit :D

[@Ciicii4673]

That was so fast lmao. Award for speed. Pleasssse slow down 😭

[@djturbo89]

no hit points or damage rolls??? how do I kill people then?

[@jessyonugbolu2106]

I don’t get is avatar legends a board game or a pc game?

[@androkguz]

It would be nice if you could add some visual help here. I think that stating at first who is in the fight and showing it at some corner or something would help a lot. Plus, you could keep track of who has what condition and what not I have watched your videos and i still don't get 1) what is the equivalent of hit points. Like ... Could you keep fighting forever? 2) what's the differences between the benders here? It seems that there is none and the element is just a skin.

[@krisfire]

There isn’t HP (per say) but fatigue. I just recently put out a video about fatigue, and conditions! Mechanically, RAW there’s no difference, it’s all in RP, the GMs description and rule calling.

[@tsunodaishi]

i really want to play this, but it seems really pretentious

[@JBZ_Official]

Is the game like a board game or a 3d game

[@kaweskarDX]

Ok... How can I kill characters and npcs? Fatigue and condition are not health, I still don't understand this combate system... Plus you did exactly what system says how to play do sound like hey I talk with fire lord to stop kill ppl I have, you roll harmony and 2 six plus +2 harmony 14 then the fire lord stop of killing ppl? I don't get it... It’s so dynamic bc you really use your creativity for solve issues and combats but still is lack of spicy, still I feel lack of a Real combate, the system sound like "rocket team has been defeated again" do you follow me? If follow the system then airbenders never die just got fatiged 😂 Good video btw thanks I though I didin't get what I read but was exactly what I read 😂 I though "dude I can't belive this work like this" then I watch your vid and... Well thanks for the video

[@krisfire]

Simply put, you don’t. Like obviously it’s up to your GM on if you can but the system itself doesn’t have a “you kill them by doing X” mechanic. Because that’s not the Avatar series, vary rarely did they use someone’s death as something to push plot along.

[@kaweskarDX]

@@krisfire truth, only Jet died and didin't shows, it it's a nickelodeon little kids system for, thanks

[@LODmann]

2 years late but maybe someone else sees this too. Just get creative man! Your party of heroes defeated the enemy? He is too tired or hurt to resist anymore and is basically at your party's mercy. If your players want to kill them the waterbender could bend a sphere of water around their head and suffocate them. The earth bender could crush them with a boulder they got out of the ground, the fire bender fries them alive. This TTRPG revolves heavily around plot and roleplay. Let them roleplay the killing. The mechanics are just there to help you alomg the way of telling the story.

[@urc12345]

Plz, slower during the explanation videos or slower during the examples

[@krisfire]

Working on that. Till then we have a playback speed button lol.

[@samuelwest6435]

More

[@samuelwest6435]

Please

[@damiangonzalez2755]

I am so confused so this isn’t a mobile game

[@krisfire]

It isn’t a Mobile game. It is a tabletop game like dungeons and dragons. 😁

[@galiantreaper4609]

This combat looks unfun ngl