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[Draignean]

Actually, there's a good question: What happens if you get a free counter against an enemy you can't reach? Nothing?

I think I will switch to a light active block, if only to see how it plays out.

Very likely it does nothing. It cancels the incoming attack, and I'd let you make a ranged riposte if you had a ranged weapon equipped, but little else. I think I need to scale ranged weapon damage down, or make it easier to dodge. It just seems strictly better at the moment.

[Draignean]

Frame 1
Bandit 1 Does nothing

Bandit 2 Light Attack Against Shorn and Shorn Heavy Attack Against Bandit 2
L Vs H
10 vs 7 (10)  Reroll 7 Vs 6 (10), Miss
1d10-2 vs 1d6 |  -1 (AutoMiss) Vs 2, Miss   (Messed up their evasion last round)

Bandit 3 Moves West

Hau Rolls Defensively

Miles Attacks Bandit 3
1d10+2 vs 1d6, 5 vs 4, Hit
Bandit 3 Gibbed

Bandit 4 moves West
Bandit 5 Moves West

Frame 2

Bandit 1 Blocks!

Bandit 2 Dodge Rolls

Bandit 4 Moves West

Bandit 5 Moves West

Hau Dodge Rolls!

Miles Fires on bandit 1
L Vs B, Timed Block!
1d10+2 vs 1d9+2 | 6 vs 7, Blocked!

Shorn is on cooldown

Frame 3

Bandit 1 Winds up a Heavy Attack

Bandit 2 is Dodge Rolling

Bandit 4 Moves West

Bandit 5 moves West

Hau Makes a light attack against bandit 1
1d10+1 Vs 0 (No Evasion!), 4 Vs 0, Hit
Bandit 1 Gibbed

Miles Cools down

Shorn Cools down

Frame 4

Bandit 2 Does Nothing

Bandit 4 Moves West

Bandit 5 Moves North

Shorn Makes active block (light)

Hau Moves West

Miles Moves North

Frame 5

Bandit 2 Makes a Light attack against Shorn
1d10+1 Vs 1d2+6 (12)
11 vs 7 (12)  Miss...

Bandit 4 Does Nothing
Bandit 5 Does nothing

Hau cools down
Miles Cools down.

Spoiler: Enemies (click to show/hide)

Knife Bandit 2: 10/10 HP
Knife Bandit 4: 10/10 HP
Knife Bandit 5: 10/10 HP

Spoiler: Bandit Stats (click to show/hide)

Knife Bandit
HP: 10
Modifiers:
-1 Damage
+1 To hit
+2 Evasion
Weapons
Twin Daggers [L:1 H:3 D:2 Dam: 2-5]

Patterns:
At Range
M->M->M->A->O (Dagger Throw)
M->M->M->M->O (IF Dagger throw on cooldown)

In Melee
O->B->WH->H->CH
L->DR>DR->O->L

Abilities
Throw Dagger Cooldown 5, Frames 1. Make a light attack with a range of 3.

Spoiler: Miles (click to show/hide)

Name: Miles Twice Dead
HP:  20
Archetype: Pistol Wraith
Assets:
Dead Again: If you take more than 25% of your remaining life in a single blow, re-roll the damage and take the lower value.
Agonies:
Death Echo: If you take more than 25% of your remaining life in a single blow, you become staggered.
Inventory:
St. Elmo's Pistols  [L:2 Ra:4 Dam: 8-10]
Hangmans Noose [EVA +4 -Pot: 2]
Charons bribe [Grants Ability: Early Reaping]
Train robbers dynamite [P:5 H:1 Ra:3 U:3/- Dam:15-30]

Potency: 0 (-2)
Precision: 2
Vigor: 0
Will: 0
Agility: 3

Soul:
Hexagram 63: Aftermath
Upper Trigram: Water
Lower Trigram: Fire

Modifiers:
-2 to Dealt Damage
+7 Evasion
+2 to hit

Abilities:
Dead Shot:  Cooldown 10, Frame cost 4. If the attacker is at least 2, and at most 6 tiles away, make single light attack. Attack gains +1 bonus damage per point the attack roll exceeds the defense roll. This can double the dealt damage, but no more. If this ability doubles the damage of the light attack, it is counted as a heavy attack for the purposes of inflicting stagger.
Blazing Doubleshot: Cooldown -, Framecost 5. Aligns weapon with fire and and makes two heavy attacks. This attack staggers you.
Early Reaping: Cooldown 2, Framecost 2. Select a single damaged target. That target has a %chance to die instantly equal to its current health fraction divided by two. (A unit at half health has a 25% chance to be killed instantly). If it fails, you take 1-6 damage.

Spoiler: Hau (click to show/hide)

Name: Hau Enduum
HP: 20
Archetype: Beasthearted Fighter
Assets:
Overwhelming Power: Every point of damage Hau deals has a 1% chance to stagger the target. This stagger is calculated at the end of the round.
Agonies:
Ancient Wounds: Light attacks received have a 10% chance to be upgraded to heavy attacks.

Statistics:
Potency-2 (3)
Precision-1
Vigor-0
Will-1
Agility- 1

Inventory:
Metal Claws  [L:2 H:3 D:2  Dam:3-7]
Fur Armor [E:3 R:1]
Butchery Dagger [L:1 H:3 Dam: 1-5]
Power Armlet [+1 Potency]

Soul:
Hexagram 34: Awesome Power
Upper Trigram: Thunder (Wood)
Lower Trigram: Heaven (Metal)

Modifiers 
+3 Damage
+1 To hit
+2 Resistance
+4 EVA

Abilities
Savage Flurry (From Claws): Cooldown 15, Frames 5. Make 5 consecutive light attacks.
Wrath of Heaven: Cooldown 3, Frames as Light attack. Make two light attacks, use the better of the two. Attack is typed as Metal.

Spoiler: Shorn (click to show/hide)

Name: Shorn
HP: 20
Archetype: Writhing Wall
Assets:
Union of the Old Flesh: Every 3 points of damage gains a charged that can be applied to increase a stat by 1 for a round.
Agonies:
Unstable Form: Abilities have a 25% chance to fizzle and go on cooldown when used.

Inventory:
Writhing Gothic Plate [R:5 -Acc:2 -E:2]
Tower Shield of Eyes [D:4 H:1 Dam: 0-2]
Starmetal Sword [L:2 H:4 Dam: 5-12]
Amulet of Unspeakable Whispers [Grants ability: Insidious Doubt]

Statistics
Potency: 0
Precision: 0
Vigor: 0
Will: 5
Agility: 0

Soul:
Hexagram 8: Bonding
Upper Trigram: Water
Lower Trigram: Earth

Modifiers
Resistance: 10
1d2 Evasion
-2 to Hit

Abilities
Unspeakable Revelation: Cooldown 10, Frames 5. Swap resistance and Potency and make a single heavy attack.
Death Stare: Cooldown 3, Frames 1. Block action. Throw an attack roll on a successful block with the shield of eyes, if the target is struck their Will is reduced by the damage dealt. Reducing a target below 0 Will with this ability deals 1 point of damage.
Insidious Doubt Once per Encounter, Frames -. Curse a single target. That target gains a cumulative 5% chance to be staggered whenever they fail to hit you. Staggering an opponent in this manner resets the counter, as does a successful strike on their part. After three staggers, or if you stagger, the effect breaks.

[OceanSoul]

1:Windup
2:Windup
3:Move East
4:Move East
5:Heavy Attack nearest bandit

[IronyOwl]

I just realized not starting in melee range completely shafts their ability to do anything, because dagger throw has a 5 turn cooldown and no known patterns involve moving AND attacking.

Consider moving as a last action to screw them up.


1. Active Block (Light)
2. Heavy Windup 1/4
3. Heavy Attack 2/4
4. Heavy Cooldown 3/4
5. Heavy Cooldown 4/4

Mostly banking on the nearest bandit going for the known heavy attack pattern, which is convenient for me in particular because their light attacks are going to have difficulty harming me.

[Draignean]

I just realized not starting in melee range completely shafts their ability to do anything, because dagger throw has a 5 turn cooldown and no known patterns involve moving AND attacking.

Consider moving as a last action to screw them up.


1. Active Block (Light)
2. Heavy Windup 1/4
3. Heavy Attack 2/4
4. Heavy Cooldown 3/4
5. Heavy Cooldown 4/4

Mostly banking on the nearest bandit going for the known heavy attack pattern, which is convenient for me in particular because their light attacks are going to have difficulty harming me.

I thought about that, but here's the thing. For NPCs, who can't change the major flow of their patterns, I'm going to allow them to substitute move actions for any of their actions. Now, if they sacrifice a heavy attack for move, they can't refill any of their warm-up/cooldown, which makes it pretty sub-optimal, but it makes kiting less viable.

Also, cooldowns are in frames. So a cooldown of 5 just prevents the move from being used the next round.

[IronyOwl]

I thought about that, but here's the thing. For NPCs, who can't change the major flow of their patterns, I'm going to allow them to substitute move actions for any of their actions. Now, if they sacrifice a heavy attack for move, they can't refill any of their warm-up/cooldown, which makes it pretty sub-optimal, but it makes kiting less viable.

Ah, I see. So they're actually pretty mobile, despite being a little rigid.

Also, cooldowns are in frames. So a cooldown of 5 just prevents the move from being used the next round.

Well that makes more sense. Related: Does reducing a target's Will below 0 with Death Stare result in negative Resistance values?

[Draignean]

Right. Negative resistance behaves mostly like normal resistance, so every -2 gives you a -1 on your evasion roll.

[Criptfeind]

1: Blazing Doubleshot on the southern bandits, one shot each.
2: Heavy attack Cool down
3: Heavy attack Cool down
4: Heavy attack Cool down
5: Heavy attack Cool down

Edit: Also I agree, ranged does feel strictly better, less damage is probably a good option? Or even possibility making it so all ranged weapons have a U:X/Y. It seems like a lot of the system is going to be stepping away from enemy attacks when you can, and ranged means you can do that without concern of timing or returning for your own attacks. Like if I was in melee against these guys I could step back on the third frame, which I think would dodge 2/3 of the attacks, but I still get both of my attacks that round, which is pretty good. I could even step in the first and third frame to dodge all their attacks, and still get a attack of my own even though I'm retreating away from them at the start because I have that range...

Edit 2: On the topic of active blocks, I'm wondering about something, the rules specify that you need to chose what enemy you're blocking with an active block, but we've not been doing that, and it's gone though without issues?

[Draignean]

Edit: Also I agree, ranged does feel strictly better, less damage is probably a good option? Or even possibility making it so all ranged weapons have a U:X/Y. It seems like a lot of the system is going to be stepping away from enemy attacks when you can, and ranged means you can do that without concern of timing or returning for your own attacks. Like if I was in melee against these guys I could step back on the third frame, which I think would dodge 2/3 of the attacks, but I still get both of my attacks that round, which is pretty good. I could even step in the first and third frame to dodge all their attacks, and still get a attack of my own even though I'm retreating away from them at the start because I have that range...

Another option would be to give it a much lower base die for the to-hit, or make it more effected by evasion/resistance- but that brings in other balance issues.

Edit 2: On the topic of active blocks, I'm wondering about something, the rules specify that you need to chose what enemy you're blocking with an active block, but we've not been doing that, and it's gone though without issues?

I mentally nixed this rule the moment it came up. One, because it's a pretty heavy nerf to something that's already rare and dangerous. Two, because the movement system often means that you're not entirely sure if you're next to anyone at all. It was just a bit too clunky before.

[Draignean]

Frame 1

Bandit 2 Light Attacks Shorn, Shorn makes an active block!
Shorn ripostes, Bandit cannot evade. 1d10-2 Vs 0 | 2 vs 0
Shorn Hits, 7 damage.

Bandit 4 Moves North
Bandit 5 Moves West

Hau winds up a heavy attack
Miles Uses Blazing Doubleshot
H Vs O Bandit 4
1d10+2 vs 1d6 | 8 vs 3
8x2 = 16 Damage, Gibbed
H vs O Bandit 2 | 12 vs 5
6x2 = 12 Damage, Gibbed

Frame 2

Bandit 2  Dodge rolls

Hau Winds Up
Miles Cools down
Shorn Winds up

Frame 3

Bandit 2 Dodge Rolls

Hau Moves east
Miles Cools down
Shorn Makes a heavy attack
1d10-2 vs 1d21 = 5 vs 14, Miss.

Frame 4

Bandit 2 Does nothing

Hau Moves east
Miles cools down
Shorn Cools down

Frame 5

Bandit 2 Makes a light attack against Shorn
1d10+1 vs 1d2+5 (10) | 4 vs 6 (10), Miss

Miles Cools down
Shorn Cools Down
Hau makes a heavy attack against bandit 2
1d10+1 vs 1d6 | 7 vs 6, Hit
(6+3)*2 = 18
Bandit 2 Gibbed.


Well, that's the end of test one.

Proposed changes:

Ranged Attacks
Ranged damage is approximately halved.
All ranged weapons have a reload parameter
Evasion adds 2 to the upper bound of the die against ranged attacks

Resistance
The guaranteed value given by resistance is capped at the highest possible evasion roll. This reduces Shorn's base resistance from a constant 10 to a constant 7, and reduces it to a 5 when completely unable to dodge.

Thoughts?

Edit: Also considering increasing player health slightly as well as moving the +3 from vigor to a +5.

[IronyOwl]

Edit: Also I agree, ranged does feel strictly better, less damage is probably a good option? Or even possibility making it so all ranged weapons have a U:X/Y. It seems like a lot of the system is going to be stepping away from enemy attacks when you can, and ranged means you can do that without concern of timing or returning for your own attacks. Like if I was in melee against these guys I could step back on the third frame, which I think would dodge 2/3 of the attacks, but I still get both of my attacks that round, which is pretty good. I could even step in the first and third frame to dodge all their attacks, and still get a attack of my own even though I'm retreating away from them at the start because I have that range...

Another option would be to give it a much lower base die for the to-hit, or make it more effected by evasion/resistance- but that brings in other balance issues.

Ranged Attacks
Ranged damage is approximately halved.
All ranged weapons have a reload parameter
Evasion adds 2 to the upper bound of the die against ranged attacks

I feel like ranged attacks need an explicit niche to function. Light attacks are safer, needling attacks. Heavy attacks are more devastating but harder to pull off. Ranged attacks are... not in melee. Without a solid identity to work towards, they're probably always going to be wonky.

Resistance
The guaranteed value given by resistance is capped at the highest possible evasion roll. This reduces Shorn's base resistance from a constant 10 to a constant 7, and reduces it to a 5 when completely unable to dodge.

I don't have a good enough grasp on the system to say, but this would appear to impede high stackers of the stat and nobody else, so that's probably a good sign.

Edit: Also considering increasing player health slightly as well as moving the +3 from vigor to a +5.

HP vs defenses is always a weird decision, and in this case it's especially weird because HP can't be recovered. I'm not sure what to think, but I find it hard to believe 5 hp will be able to compete with most of the other benefits.

[Criptfeind]

HP vs Defense is going to come down to how battles generally go (depending on enemy to hit stats and how hard their patterns are basically) since healing is limited/nonexistent, if damage is inevitable even with mitigation, raw health gains a lot more value, if mitigation can completely remove damage most of the time, that gains a sorta exponential value that raw health will have a hard time keeping up with.

On resistance, I found it odd that resistance, which comes from willpower and heavy armor helps you avoid blows, not, well, resist them. Not really a comment on balance, but just it was against my expectations. (I'll admit I didn't actually totally read all the rules until the test started lol.) I expected that resistance would be some sorta damage negation, allowing you to ignore light attacks if you had enough of it. This solution looks okay though. Although I guess more enemies need to be seen before it's figured out how good exactly various things are. If enemies scale up so fast that you have to exploit their patterns to avoid attacks, resistance isn't going to be good stat no matter how op it is.

As for ranged weapons... It's tough, maybe they should be restricted to abilities like the throwing knifes were... I'm a bit worried that halving their damage, giving them a priming time (I assumed that what a reload time would mean?) and doubling the effectiveness of dodging them might push them into not being usable, even if they would still be this semi broken mechanic in a melee focused game, past a certain point you might as well not be using your actions if you have melee allies, since I mean, infinitely kiting people with pistols doesn't help your allies that got butchered because you do almost no damage and so they were effectively outnumbered. And importantly it doesn't mean that they are less able to infinitely kite people, just that they take over four times as long to do so. If the goal is to remove them as primary weapons, turning them into just abilities or adding limited uses seems like a better way to do it then to nerfing them into the ground.

[OceanSoul]

Maybe the downside to ranged attacks has to do with targeting foes: you have to pick a space to target with a shot, and if no enemy's there, possibly just the targeted enemy not being there, when the action occurs, it either misses or, if the enemy's still close to the target, it attacks with an accuracy penalty. Maybe just a flatter penalty based on how much the enemy's moved that turn.

[Draignean]

Maybe the downside to ranged attacks has to do with targeting foes: you have to pick a space to target with a shot, and if no enemy's there, possibly just the targeted enemy not being there, when the action occurs, it either misses or, if the enemy's still close to the target, it attacks with an accuracy penalty. Maybe just a flatter penalty based on how much the enemy's moved that turn.

Problem with that is that ensures dedicated ranged characters just stick behind their shield-bros and attack with impunity and nerfs the potentially rare ranged abilities of more dedicated melee combatants. Bah. In more source-ish examples, ranged attacks either had massive warm-up times or did nearly no damage.

As for ranged weapons... It's tough, maybe they should be restricted to abilities like the throwing knifes were... I'm a bit worried that halving their damage, giving them a priming time (I assumed that what a reload time would mean?) and doubling the effectiveness of dodging them might push them into not being usable

Oh, I'm not implementing all of those suggested rebalances. Two of the three at most. Hmm. Hmmm.

Edit: Also I agree, ranged does feel strictly better, less damage is probably a good option? Or even possibility making it so all ranged weapons have a U:X/Y. It seems like a lot of the system is going to be stepping away from enemy attacks when you can, and ranged means you can do that without concern of timing or returning for your own attacks. Like if I was in melee against these guys I could step back on the third frame, which I think would dodge 2/3 of the attacks, but I still get both of my attacks that round, which is pretty good. I could even step in the first and third frame to dodge all their attacks, and still get a attack of my own even though I'm retreating away from them at the start because I have that range...

Another option would be to give it a much lower base die for the to-hit, or make it more effected by evasion/resistance- but that brings in other balance issues.

Ranged Attacks
Ranged damage is approximately halved.
All ranged weapons have a reload parameter
Evasion adds 2 to the upper bound of the die against ranged attacks

I feel like ranged attacks need an explicit niche to function. Light attacks are safer, needling attacks. Heavy attacks are more devastating but harder to pull off. Ranged attacks are... not in melee. Without a solid identity to work towards, they're probably always going to be wonky.

Edit: Also considering increasing player health slightly as well as moving the +3 from vigor to a +5.

HP vs defenses is always a weird decision, and in this case it's especially weird because HP can't be recovered. I'm not sure what to think, but I find it hard to believe 5 hp will be able to compete with most of the other benefits.

Both good points. Sadly, at this point it would seem that ranged attacks serve basically to kill other ranged attackers.


Rule Changes for Next Round

Ranged Attacks
1. Ranged Attack Accuracy for dedicated ranged attacks is Penalized by 2^(X-1) where X is the city-block-distance to target. Basically, there's a -1 penalty if you're 2 tiles away, -2 for for 3, -4 for 4, and so on.
2. Ranged Attack damage has been reduced by ~25%
3. Ranged Attacks cannot fire through allied targets. If you cannot draw a center-to-center line without obstruction, you cannot hit the target.

Resistance
The resistance guaranteed by your armor cannot exceed the total of your best possible evasion roll.

Vitality
Vitality improves HP by 5 per point.

Test 2

Spoiler: Enemies (click to show/hide)

Knife Bandit 1: 10/10 HP
Knife Bandit 2: 10/10 HP
Knife Bandit 3: 10/10 HP

Axe'n'Shield Bandit 1 15/15 HP
Axe'n'Shield Bandit 2 15/15 HP

Spoiler: Bandit Stats (click to show/hide)

Knife Bandit
HP: 10
Modifiers:
-1 Damage
+1 To hit
+2 Evasion
Weapons
Twin Daggers [L:1 H:3 D:2 Dam: 2-5]

Patterns:
At Range
M->M->M->A->O (Dagger Throw)
M->M->M->M->O (IF Dagger throw on cooldown)

In Melee
O->B->WH->H->CH
L->DR>DR->O->L

Axe'n'Shield Bandit
HP: 15
Modifiers:
+2 Damage
+2 Resistance
Weapons
War Axe [L:2 H:4 D:1 Dam: 2-8]
Iron Rimmed Shield [D:3, L:1, Dam 1-2]

Patterns:
At Range

In Melee

Abilities

Spoiler: Miles (click to show/hide)

Name: Miles Twice Dead
HP:  20
Archetype: Pistol Wraith
Assets:
Dead Again: If you take more than 25% of your remaining life in a single blow, re-roll the damage and take the lower value.
Agonies:
Death Echo: If you take more than 25% of your remaining life in a single blow, you become staggered.
Inventory:
St. Elmo's Pistols  [L:2 Ra:4 Dam: 6-8]
Hangmans Noose [EVA +4 -Pot: 2]
Charons bribe [Grants Ability: Early Reaping]
Train robbers dynamite [P:5 H:1 Ra:3 U:3/- Dam:15-30]

Potency: 0 (-2)
Precision: 2
Vigor: 0
Will: 0
Agility: 3

Soul:
Hexagram 63: Aftermath
Upper Trigram: Water
Lower Trigram: Fire

Modifiers:
-2 to Dealt Damage
+7 Evasion
+2 to hit

Abilities:
Dead Shot:  Cooldown 10, Frame cost 4. If the attacker is at least 2, and at most 6 tiles away, make single light attack. Attack gains +1 bonus damage per point the attack roll exceeds the defense roll. This can double the dealt damage, but no more. If this ability doubles the damage of the light attack, it is counted as a heavy attack for the purposes of inflicting stagger.
Blazing Doubleshot: Cooldown -, Framecost 5. Aligns weapon with fire and and makes two heavy attacks. This attack staggers you.
Early Reaping: Cooldown 2, Framecost 2. Select a single damaged target. That target has a %chance to die instantly equal to its current health fraction divided by two. (A unit at half health has a 25% chance to be killed instantly). If it fails, you take 1-6 damage.

Spoiler: Hau (click to show/hide)

Name: Hau Enduum
HP: 20
Archetype: Beasthearted Fighter
Assets:
Overwhelming Power: Every point of damage Hau deals has a 1% chance to stagger the target. This stagger is calculated at the end of the round.
Agonies:
Ancient Wounds: Light attacks received have a 10% chance to be upgraded to heavy attacks.

Statistics:
Potency-2 (3)
Precision-1
Vigor-0
Will-1
Agility- 1

Inventory:
Metal Claws  [L:2 H:3 D:2  Dam:3-7]
Fur Armor [E:3 R:1]
Butchery Dagger [L:1 H:3 Dam: 1-5]
Power Armlet [+1 Potency]

Soul:
Hexagram 34: Awesome Power
Upper Trigram: Thunder (Wood)
Lower Trigram: Heaven (Metal)

Modifiers 
+3 Damage
+1 To hit
+2 Resistance
+4 EVA

Abilities
Savage Flurry (From Claws): Cooldown 15, Frames 5. Make 5 consecutive light attacks.
Wrath of Heaven: Cooldown 3, Frames as Light attack. Make two light attacks, use the better of the two. Attack is typed as Metal.

Spoiler: Shorn (click to show/hide)

Name: Shorn
HP: 20
Archetype: Writhing Wall
Assets:
Union of the Old Flesh: Every 3 points of damage gains a charged that can be applied to increase a stat by 1 for a round.
Agonies:
Unstable Form: Abilities have a 25% chance to fizzle and go on cooldown when used.

Inventory:
Writhing Gothic Plate [R:5 -Acc:2 -E:2]
Tower Shield of Eyes [D:4 H:1 Dam: 0-2]
Starmetal Sword [L:2 H:4 Dam: 5-12]
Amulet of Unspeakable Whispers [Grants ability: Insidious Doubt]

Statistics
Potency: 0
Precision: 0
Vigor: 0
Will: 5
Agility: 0

Soul:
Hexagram 8: Bonding
Upper Trigram: Water
Lower Trigram: Earth

Modifiers
Resistance: 10
1d2 Evasion
-2 to Hit

Abilities
Unspeakable Revelation: Cooldown 10, Frames 5. Swap resistance and Potency and make a single heavy attack.
Death Stare: Cooldown 3, Frames 1. Block action. Throw an attack roll on a successful block with the shield of eyes, if the target is struck their Will is reduced by the damage dealt. Reducing a target below 0 Will with this ability deals 1 point of damage.
Insidious Doubt Once per Encounter, Frames -. Curse a single target. That target gains a cumulative 5% chance to be staggered whenever they fail to hit you. Staggering an opponent in this manner resets the counter, as does a successful strike on their part. After three staggers, or if you stagger, the effect breaks.

[OceanSoul]

1.Warmup
2.North
3.East
4.Block
5.Light Attack nearest bandit.

..maybe you could prevent/apply a penalty to shooting through other units to hit a unit? Enemies would then have to have Line of Sight on ranged units to attack, leaving openings for them to be attacked?