Phantasy Star: Eternal Story - Combo Techniques

Occasionally, adventurers combine their powers to create vicious combination techniques with a variety of different effects. Making one of these is complex, and should not be taken lightly.

The power of such a technique depends on what is comprising it and who is involved. Naturally, the more powerful the spell added into the mix, the more powerful the technique will turn out. Unfortunately, this extra power increases the energy cost as well.

To make a combo technique, consult the GM first. Tell him or her what you have in mind; what powers you will be combining, how it should look, act, etc. The GM will make a ruling as to whether it will even be allowed first; too many combo techniques spoil the broth, so only a handful will be allowed. Furthermore, they can only be done between the one set of people who created it since they are likely the only ones who know how it works. Remember that the Unite Power Feat or class ability must be known by your character.

For those of you who aren't so good at math, I'd advise you to skip to the last paragraph. The GMs primarily handle this next step, and you don't need to concern yourself with this confusing information.

After you have selected a set of characters and a spell, technique, technique weapon, or Nei power from each of them, it's time to do some math! Take the average level of each character (add up their levels and divide by the number of players). Next, add up all the modifiers they might have at the end of each of their powers (for example, if someone is doing a Foi that deals 2d6+4 damage, someone is using a Wat that deals 2d6+6, and someone else is doing Tsu for 2d6+8, you add up 4+6+8). Add this together with the average level to get the combo's modifier. Now the tricky part. Take all the dice involved and change them each to the highest dice--for example, if one attack deals damage in d6's and the other deals it in d8's, change the first one to d8's. Now, add up all the dice. For the previous Foi+Wat+Tsu example, it would be a 6d6. If one of those had a d8, it would be 6d8 instead. Now, multiply the number of dice by 1.5X. You should have something daft like 9d6+21 by the time you're done. That's the damage it would be. This is why you don't make these things up on the spot.

For clarification, let's construct a Triblaster with a Level 5 Hunter, a Level 4 Force, and a Level 3 Cyborg.

The Hunter uses Foi for d6+3 damage. The Force uses Wat for 2d6+9 damage. The Cyborg uses Tsu for d6+3 damage. Adding up all their modifiers, you come out with +15. Their dice are all d6, so there's no need to fiddle with them. Add the dice together and you get 4d6. Multiply the number of dice by 1.5x and it's 6d6. Now, take their average level (4) and add that into the modifier to make it 6d6+19. And so, you get something that deals roughly 1.5x the damage that it would normally do if they all just used their powers separately. However, the cost to each player is 1.5x what they would normally use to cast the spell or ability.

This statistic change is not the only thing that might take place when a combo technique like triblaster is formed. While a player may be able to grasp the math involved, the GM is consulted primarily to decide the shape of the technique. Triblaster, for example, is a cone of all three types of energy, and can engulf many foes. This may not be the case with all special attacks, though. Some may turn out as rays instead, or as airstrikes. Plus, status effects must be taken into account, if they are even a factor. Again, remember to consult the GM about a combo technique ahead of time so that we don't need to deal with this in the middle of a battle.

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