Tactics

Although Savage Worlds is a fairly rules-lite system, tactics matter. Sure, you could just spend all of your combat "I hit it with my sword," but A) that's boring and B) that's really inefficient. Savage Worlds rewards good tactics and MLP:SA in particular rewards team-based tactics - sure, you could do it all on your own, but it's a whole lot more fun with your friends!

If you're new to tabletop rpgs, you may be a bit overwhelmed by all the choices available to you. For a quick guide, there's the standard Savage Worlds Combat Guide, as well as a fan-made Combat Tactics guide here. On top of that, this is a page that word vomits a bunch of different options and tactics available in MLP:SA.

Tactics can be summarized down to either two goals:

    1. How can I make it easier for me (or my friend) to hit the other guy?
      • The easier it is to hit, the more likely you'll Shake the dude, or obtain a Raise and beat down more damage!
    2. How can I make it easier for me to hit the other guy harder?
      • Simple: Hit Moar Hard Is Good

Remember, in MLP:SA, Fighting is a perfectly valid choice - the default setting is always non-lethal.

  • Be Creative!!!
      • Tricks/Test of Wills are the bread and butter for combat in MLP:SA. That means if you can frame your action in such a way to distract, maneuver around, trap, bluff, tease or any number of methods that don't involve beating a (dead) horse with a stick, you can do it!
    • Use gang-up bonuses to get +1 bonuses to your Fighting rolls!
      • The higher chance you have to hit, the greater the chance to Shake/Damage/get the Raise bonus!
    • Use the terrain
      • Use cover, lighting, and your surroundings to protect yourself! Push them into walls, shove them over onto Difficult Ground, grab a leftover cider mug and toss it as an Agility Trick (or a slippery grenade)!
    • Go on Hold
      • If you have high Agility, you can go on Hold and then Interrupt your opponent. If you can Shake him, the opponent first has to Unshake (with a Raise!) before they can do their original action - a great tactic to block your opponent from hurting your friends!
    • Wild Attack
      • Remember, in Savage Worlds, a +2 bonus is huge (and so is a -2 Penalty). If you're reasonably sure of being able to hit the guy or have a friend to protect you, Wild Attack is a powerful option.
    • Knock 'em Prone
      • Use the Push maneuver to knock or trip your opponent prone first before beating them down.
      • This is a great team-based tactic: one character knocks 'em down, the other follows up.
    • Ranged Attacks
      • The TN to hit for ranged attacks is 4. If it's a nice, sunny day and you're in short range and your opponent doesn't bother to take cover...well it's their fault they were standing wide in the open. >D
      • Aiming even gives you +2 to hit!
    • Called Shots and Disarming
      • If you're skilled enough or have enough bonuses (Gang-up, Trademark Weapon, etc), Called Shots ignore Armor and if you go for the head, have +4 Damage. Ouch!
    • Tricks and Test of Wills
      • Use these to help set-up for your heavy hitters, or for yourself on the next action.
      • For inspirations with Tricks, see Whispers from the Pit #7 (remember that in MLP:SA, Tricks can cause damage; it's just "mental Wounds")
  • Leadership!
    • Don't let that measly +1 bonus fool you - it may mean the difference between a hit or a swipe!
  • Call on allies
    • The best thing to bring to a fight? You and all your friends. Recruit allies - sure they may be Extras, but those d4 can still ace, and they benefit from all your Leadership edges and gang-up bonuses too...
    • The Drop / Surprise
      • Offense is the best defense, right? Getting the jump on your opponents can quickly make the rest of combat much simpler

Defense

    • Run
      • Escaping is totally a valid tactic. They can't hit you if you're far away!
    • If lead is flyin', go Prone
      • When you're prone, you effectively have Medium Cover and all Ranged Attacks have -2 to hit you
      • Be careful that you're not caught in melee when you're prone though, or else you have -2 to your Parry...
    • Use the Defend and Full Defense options
      • Defend: +2 to Parry, but you can move
      • Full Defense: roll Fighting and you can't move, but you potentially could have a much higher parry
    • Disarm / Grapple
    • Use Cover / Obstacles / Lighting to your advantage
    • Use weapons with Reach so that you can retreat safely
    • Be Fast
      • Winning Initiative via the Quick or Level-Headed edges means you can get the jump on the opponent

The Shaken Stun Lock "Issue"

People new to Savage Worlds often get hung-up about the Shaken concept in Savage Worlds. ("What do you mean I can't do anything when I'm shaken? That's so unfair!")

First off, as of May 2nd, 2015, Pinnacle has made an official change to the Shaken rules for Savage Worlds:

"At the beginning of their action, a Shaken character makes a Spirit roll to recover. On a failure, he remains Shaken. On a success, the character removes their Shaken condition and may take their action normally."

(Here's the official errata pdf, the initial official thread announcement and an explanatory podcast on the change if you're interested)

So it is now a great deal easier to get out of the Shaken status - both for the PCs and the enemy alike, so beware! That said, there is still no such thing as a Dump Stat in Savage Worlds. If you created a one-trick pony that does only one thing to the exclusion of everything else, and chose Spirit as your "dump stat," you will quickly find out that just doesn't fly in Savage Worlds (well, unless you GM only does that one thing and nothing else) - Spirit is also used for Fear checks, resisting magic, resisting Intimidation (a great deal more important in MLP:SA), etc.

Secondly, while you may lose the ability to make an offensive action while Shaken, you can still perform Free Actions. That means: you can still tell your allies the opponent's weak points, you can still move your Pace (and get out of the danger zone), you can still find Cover (or fall Prone to effectively get medium cover), you can still ready weapons (allowing you to make better opportunity attacks for when you unshake if you have the right edges such as Counterattack / First Strike, and you can still make reactive rolls (resist rolls, Saving rolls, Notice rolls, Knowledge rolls).

In short, there are quite a few tactical things you can do while Shaken. None of them may deal damage, but all of them can help you influence the fight.