Four novices who cooperate are worth one hero. That is, mathematically, the entire business model.
Team rewards are diversified across currencies — only some are dice:
| Team play | Currency | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hold the window | tempo | Suppress — the Staggered target’s Rally doesn’t happen. The best action in the game, when it’s live |
| Open the window | tempo | Break the shield early so allies pile in — every hit on a Staggered target refunds the attacker’s action |
| Grant a Boon | dice | Bolster (bank a Boon on an ally), Focus (bank one on yourself), Called Shot (Mark — every ally gains one), flanking (free) |
| Clear an ally’s affliction | dice | Bolster steadies a Shaken ally; Benediction clears anything, including Poison |
| Impose a Bane | enemy dice | The Guard stance, Hex, a debuff aura |
| Repair the wall | resource | Patch — restore 2 Guard to yourself or an ally; the Warden’s Anchor aura steadies Wind along the line |
| Deny Wind recovery | attrition | Poison or Fatigue an elite — it stops recovering |
Most teamwork is free. Flanking and auras cost no action, so the baseline of cooperating never competes with attacking.
One Clock, No Rounds
Combat runs on the same clock as the crawl. Each action costs moments (a basic Strike: 1; a big swing like Cleave or Shatterblow: 2), and after acting you recover for a beat before you’re ready again. Enemies act on visible tempo markers — the party can always read who moves next and what they intend; even the erratic ones honestly telegraph “unreadable.” The clock waits while anyone on your side is deciding: thinking is free, acting costs time.
This is why refunds matter so much: a refunded action (a kill, a hit on a Staggered target) is stolen time — it advances the clock by nothing.
Sharp Edges
- Friendly fire is real. The dice don’t check whose side you’re on; the Grenadier is a promise of this. Enemies, professionally, hold no grudge about it.
- Reactions (the Warden’s Bulwark intercept, Riposte) trigger out of turn on someone else’s action — the one exception to “act on your beat.”
- The exploration↔combat transition is an explicit gear-change: UI arms on both screens, threat and range data reveal, movement becomes beat-scoped.