Episode 62: Comrades in Arms and Focused Targeting

Get in line, rookies!  I’m Darth GM and I will be your instructor for episode 62 of Fragments From the Rim.

I’m about to start up a new bi-weekly campaign set in the Clone Wars era, and two of the PCs are playing Clone Troopers.  They both just happened to pick the same talent at level one.  It’s from the Clone Wars Campaign Guide, and can be found in the Soldier Talents section on page 26.  The talent they chose is Comrades in Arms; "When you are within 3 squares of an ally, you get a +1 circumstance bonus on all melee and ranged attack rolls."  Not bad, especially when one thinks about the game.  More often than not, the clone troopers will be within three squares of at least one ally in combat, most likely  each other.  It’s not a kick-ass “Oh my god, I have to take this” talent, but it does gateway to some other useful talents, and if carried through to a logical conclusion this talent can work nicely with several others.

The next talent up the “chain” is Focused Targeting, which states “when you damage a target with a melee or ranged attack, all allies within 3 squares gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls against the target until the beginning of your next turn”.  Now, I’m going to make an assumption that the ally needs to be within three squares of you, not the target.  This is nice because if these two guys have this talent, if they keep shooting the same target, they’re giving each other the +2 bonus damage, and mow through targets faster.

If the campaign makes it to level 8, I can see these characters looking into the Republic Commando Tree for the Elite Trooper Class, also in the Clone Wars Campaign Guide.  With Shoulder to Shoulder, they gain bonus hit points equal to their Heroic Level at the beginning of each turn if they’re adjacent to an ally.  With Strength in Numbers, their Damage Reduction is increased by +2 if they’re within 10 squares of an ally.

Finally, all these talents mix in very well with the Brute Squad Talent Tree from the Legacy Era Campaign Guide.  Now, that Talent Tree is more fitting for melee fighters, and doesn’t offer much for ranged attackers, but if you and a fellow PC are building melee fighters, and looking at talents from the Brute Squad Talent tree, take a look into the Trooper Talent tree for Soldiers as well.  Get some cross-era synergy going and really whallop that BBEG.

At Ease, Gamer Nation.  Until next time; 20-side up, 1-side down.

Originally aired on the Order 66 Podcast, Episode 116 "Gnomes in Advance"