Handling High Evasion character and Crew  

 OPFOR = Opposing Force.

I already made a post about combat and I addressed this point. Many people chose to Homebrew Evasion in order to limit the bullet dodging feature as it can lengthen combat a lot and PCs with high Evasion tend to be very hard to challenge. Feel free to do it of course. But there are also ways to play it RAW and to enjoy high Evasion dodging characters.

This question is again all about choices, players make choices and because of them they gain some capabilities in the 3 main fields for a CPR campaign : Combat, Social and Investigation. Combat optimized characters, or team, have sacrificed efficiency in other areas and you have to play on these weaknesses during the social and investigation phases. It's a trade-off. Don't punish them for that during the combat phase. Make the other two phases more difficult.

Ex: They need to bribe someone, not persuade, not intimidate, only bribery will work. And that's a skill they don't have. Too bad they have to spend a LOT of money because they don't really know how much they're supposed to spend here.

Tips : Every time a player complains because I ask them for a skill they don't have (in this case Bribery):

• Player: "Bribery ! that's another skill we don't have !"

• GM : "It's a choice you've made. You are the Fixer and the Face of the group."

• Player: "My character can't be good at everything and it's a very situational skill".

• GM: "It's possible to be good at Bribery, Trading, Interrogation, Persuasion, Personal grooming, Wardrobe & Style, Conversation and Human perception at the same time."

• Player: 'I know, but I needed STAT point for DEX and REF and skill point for Evasion, Handgun and Shoulder arm."

• GM: "Yes, that's why your group is steamrolling the OPFOR most of time. Every single one of you is very good at combat while being capable to do other stuff. Your choices".

Of course, this only works IF the players have other ways of solving a problem. If the only means of escape is a tiny tunnel in a cave and you ask for a "Contortionist Check DV17 or you die"... you're bound to be hung by your players and I'll support them. 

Analysis

Hypothesis

• You have a Ranged attack dodging team with high Evasion (base 14+).

• Each combat they steamrolled the OPFOR.

Analysis

I've got good news for you, that's normal. That's how they built their characters, to be very effective in combat situations, even though some of them aren't Solo. As a result, they crush OPFOR.

You have to let them do that most of the time, they spent IP and Money into it.

Recommandations

While letting them have fun, you should challenge them from time to time. And there are many ways to do it. 

>> Basic techniques

 Big guns: Hardened (mook, lieutenant and mini-boss) OPFOR : that's big guns in order to fight against big guns.

Prepare a mission with a hardened crew they will encounter. Be careful, everything can go south quickly for either side. I hope your players have a Trauma Team subscriptions. This is the most simple way to adress the issue, but also one of the most dangerous. In CPR everything can turn sour with a bad critical injury and with the same action economy at the start of the battle, same amount of HP, same Armor SP, you might kill your party. Even with inferior base skills, OPFOR might get lucky and then PCs might enter the circle of death.

That's the easy way, not a bad one, but you can be more creative.

Big numbers: Action economy works both ways.

Just dump many mook where they CAN'T use explosive (a mall with civilian running around in panic). Have some lieutenant in the mix and see how it turns. The best way, by far, is a swarm of hardened boosterganger. Keep in mind 1 hardened booster gang have SP4 and 30 HP. Two them on on PC, that's 60HP, ROF 4, Melee Base 12 (Wolfers) and two small armor to ablate. And they have Black lace, so they will endure. Base 12 Melee vs base 16 Evasion seems hard... it is. Still that 4 attack per turn on each PC. I can tell you, sooner or later they will failed a check or the boostergang will explode one. And because of Melee weapon SP/2 feature, the PC will lose a bit of HP and armor. That's going to pile up.

Main problem, the combat are long, or short if they have AOE attacks. Still, mook swarm is a thing. 

>> Targeting

 All characters have weaknesses, it's time to target them.

Target gear (absence of gear): Night and Smoke malus is a big one (-4), you can avoid it with LowLight/IR/UV capability (cybereyes or Smart glass). If one PC doesn't have this capability, be sure that the whole opponent team have it and let them fight inside one or multiple smoke grenades.

Target Brawling: High Evasion is NOT a thing against Brawling. I get that some of your PCs might be good at Brawling too : combat optimized charcter. Not all of them, I hope the Media who has REF6 DEX8 Reflex co-processor, Evasion 8 (base 16), Handgun 7(base 13 + smartlink + EQ =15) doesn't have Brawling above 12 too.

• When grappled

  • • you have -2 to each action, meaning people outside the grapple have better chance to hit you as there is malus or risk to shoot at character fighting at close quarter.

    • And you can't use 2handed weapon. Shotgun users aren't going to like you.

• Disarm people when it seems to be a tactical advantages.

• Equip as a PC as a human shield. The grappler can now use the human shield to protect him from ranged attack. Any ranged attack. Even friendly fire. (that's 1 action to grab and 1 action to equip as a human shield, not easy but great reward)

• Throw Melee weapon user to the ground and take a step back (or more), they might not have martial arts to get up for free. If they get up with a move action, they aren't at closed combat range anymore because you you did take a step back.

Drag and drop : You can drag somenone with you, drop him near another PC and leave. More people at the same place means a chance for AOE damage. Risk of someone failing a check increase with the number of people rolling the dice.

Target Resist T&D: Of course you need to hit first, and it's hard. But with one lieutenant using a dartgun base 14 + EQ = 15. You will hit sooner or later. Sleep ammo can be effective against a low Resist T&D score. Or use a flashbang grenade, that's more annoying than you think (you will need a improved goons as they don't have good Athletics in the CRB).

Target Cybertech: This is the Skill to resist EMP. If the check is failed... that's you choosing 2 cyberwares to shutdown. It's not random. It's your choice. That's RAW. Period. Choose something relevant and something irrelevant the first time. If you hit a second time the same PC, choose a fundational cyberware. Grenade EMP are a thing because of AoE, but official goons do not have a high Athletics in order to use it very well, fortunately you also have a VHP : Microwaver. And we have some hardened mooks/lieutenants who have Handgun 12, one of the lieutenant (Thunder) have 14. (And you can build your own goons with high Athletics)

Target Concentration: With a base 14 (some hardened mook and lieutenant have that), Suppressive fire will work fine against PCs. Target the melee specialist.

Target Perception in combat: This one is vicious. Use Environmental defense p.214-216, it's traps that requires a Perception check DV17 to be spotted. The combat need to start as soon as they enter the area, two guards behind the door for example. Keep in mind that most Solos will spend their Combat Awarness point into something else then Perception when a combat start. Choose a map with multiple path in the same room (like with a big separation in the middle, they can choose path 1 or B while being in the same room) and someone is going to miss a perception check for the trap on his path. And you can't dodge what you can't see : that's 6D6 damage. Keep also in mind they might not be looking for traps WHILE fighting. You can add a negative modifier such as a complex task (movement, perception to check the position of the OPFOR, and shooting. All this in 3 seconds + spotting a trap without knowing it's there).

 >>Make them spend resources: 

Give them multiples small encounters in the same session.

They need to be hard enough to hit some of the PC. They should lose SP, HP, Grenades, Speedheal, Stim and Luck. The last combat should be interesting as they might lack important resources. You don't need big guns for the last stand, just enough effectiveness to hit the already weakned PCs. some AP grenade throwing is good here during the first encounters, PCs tend to use Luck here. That's manipulative ? Yeah, I know. 

 >>Location and timing

Why is a team effective? Because they plan most of their fights. Otherwise, they're just little skirmishes with people they haven't managed to intimidate or something like that. But if you want to disrupt their tactics, you have to impose constraints on where (range of the engagement) and when.

You need to be creative and to know the rules perfectly. The idea is to force their hand with time constraint, external factor (a hostage / a chip they NEED to get back NOW). Don't let them replan, because their plan already failed due to unpredictable factors, and now they need to act. And you should built an environnement that doesn't give them a lot of choices. That's unfair ? Of course it is. You can't always predict every thing. Sometimes shit hit the fan.

The most difficult part is to anticipate why they can't use a clever means to get out the situation. Time constraint and location constraint are a thing in all tactical situation. Most of the time you deal with it with a clever plan. Which is the first to die when you start fighting. You need to "Improvise, adapt, overcome". Sounds like a movie quote? It is indeed, doesn't mean it's not true. Why do you need to anticipate ? Because that will lessen the "railroading" feeling, because it's not the idea, the idea is to set-up a difficult tactical situation. They know BEFORE they need to ask, and they can decide : Go or NoGo. Cyberpunk is not DnD, you might failed jobs.

Let's dig into some examples because their is a mindset and a way to do it.

1. Very Short range team

If you have a team specialized in short range engagement : MA, Brawling, Melee, Handgun and shotgun (shell or slug). Find an RP reason to start a fight at more than 100m with opponents using poor quality AR. The easiest way to do that :

OPFOR : number of PC+1 Hardened Security Operative = mooks. They are equipped with poor AR and have base 12 in Shoulder arms & 14 Autofire.

a) The false ambush :

Fixer call :"Chomba, I've got your Intel, your target is laying low in the Old Combat Zone, I sent you the coordinate of the building. That's was not easy ! By the way; that's not a pretty place, it's in the middle of 4 blocks which belong to 4 different gangs, they are kinda very territorial and a bit crazy. I heard they shoot down AV on sight with rocket and AR. Also don't enter the area with a car, they will send goons to steal it and they don't care about retaliation. Moving during night time is not a good bet, that's pretty heated their at night."

They have the intel, they know that's a scary place. They can have some mitigation plan, but the idea is : no car, no AV, day time. If they don't comply, punish them with consequences as they were aware of the risks. They are on their way to building "A" when they are ambushed while passing near building "B" which is unrelated to the mission at hand and not close to Building "A". That's just a small group of desperate security operative who lost their job, they want to loot some well equipped dudes passing by. That's unpredictable.

Prepare a real ambush (from NPCs point of view) that will failed because they can't beat the solo perception, not all of them. And that's not the point, you want your PCs not to be ambushed (cheap move). They will detect some shaddy movement at the 5th floor of a building, some dumbass is aiming at them and his AR was spotted. That will trigger Initiative and NPCs will start to open fire ASAP. They are entrenched on the 5th floor of a almost destroyed building (150m from your PCs) surrounded by an empty car park with almost no cover against someone firing from the 5th floor. It's obvious that nobody live hear, it's just 5 security operative trying to pray on people. They will concentrate their fire on a single target. The first cover is 50m away from the PCs and not toward the building. If the PCs avoid the fight that's fine, the operatives will provoc them with insult. Your PCs should start the next fight while being already injured.

If they try to retaliate, they will spend ressource and they need to reach the building entrance. That's 4 hardened PCs vs 5 hardened mooks : 20/25 Shoots to dodge before the entrance. 5D6 damage when hit that's something.

b) The long corridor:

You, describing the initial assault of the team, the goal is to rescue a hostage at the first floor of a house in the badland: "Guys, there's nobody here, they already left the first floor ! But Mover (the Solo) hear a noise coming from the basement." a few moment later "Okay, you are moving forward with the Solo in front of the stack. When you reach the basement, you can see a very long tunnel in front of you, it's about 600m as far as you can see and 150m away from you there's a group of 5 men and the hostage. They're evacuating him to who knows where. Now you understand why they chose this building in the badlands. It's certainly hard to defend. But there's an escape route and they could see you coming from a mile away. So what do you do ?"

They will certainly move "a little" faster than OPFOR. As soon as PCs reach 100m, OPFOR will engage in combat. They will focus their fire on the fastest PC. They move 8 metres per turn and fire every turn. The fastest PCs Run at 32m/turn (maybe 38m... let's say 32m). It takes 5 turns to reach them. AND they will attempt a Suppressive fire as soon as they can.

a) & b) result : 4 hardened PCs vs 5 hardened mooks. Around 5 round before close combat. That's 25 Shoots to dodge before starting to retaliate, the targeted character will get hit. 5D6 that's something. If your team is even more dangerous, just use the hardened reclaimer chief (lightning) but change the shotgun for an AR with shotgun underbarrel. He has base 14 in shoulder arm. The team will destroy him ? Use the hardened mini-boss Militech veteran Solo. This one has base 16 in Evasion and multiple weapons + AP ammo.

2. Short range & Middle range team :

OPFOR : number of PC+1 Hardened booster gang = mooks. They are equipped with poor VHP and Heavy melee weapons and have base 12 in handgun and Melee weapon and low Evasion. But they have Black Lace. You can add hardened reclaimer chief (Lighting) in the mix.

You have a more balanced team using a mix of skills in order to perform well, mainly Martial arts, shotgun and AR. It's time to fight in a corporate night club. They were here for whatever reason (invitated by a friend, party time, a job) and they were spotted by an old nemesis or someone who has a grudge while they were entering : "Lighting". At the entrance, they need to store any non concealable weapon, and they will be checked for concealable weapon with a high Base 14 in Conceal/reveal. That's standard procedure for a lot of corporate level nightclub. This idea : no 2Handed weapons. They will also be asked to leave unconcealed SP11 armour in the hatcheck room/locker room. After a few minutes their Nemesis + friends will arrive full force, with SP11 and shotguns. Some assaillant will fight bouncers but the other will hunt down the PCs with Lighting leaing them. A lot of civilian will run in panic mode everywhere, PCs can't use their pop-up grenade launcher or concealed grenade, else MAX-TAC will come for them, because that's a sick move. If they take the risk, the bouncer team will stop targeting the Nemesis and attack the PCs, because they are damaging the reputation of the club by attacking civilians. 

Conclusion

 I hope you now have a better idea, it's all about being creative within the boundaries of the rules and without being unfair. Of course Numbers and Big guns will help you a lot. But you can challenge them with only Hardened mooks if you find the right tactics.

Be smart. 

 << disclaimer : Despite no being a Tactical RPG, Cyberpunk have a tactical ruleset. Therefore some players will try to get the best out of it. That's normal, a Solo is a war veteran, living on the edge of the cyberpsychosis, fueled by combat drugs because he need to be the best. Of course some of them are also very Stylish as the system allows you to do both : Style AND Substance. Some player might powergame beyond optimization, don't punish such a player, he has a power fantasy, that's not a crime. Still I would recommend to control a bit the STAT distribution, because having either 2 or 8 in STATs is not probable at all IRL, that's a legal abuse of the system, it's more a D&D build with dump Ability than a true character. Else let him do what he wants if it's compliant with the lore, the rules, and his character background.>>

BTW, without being a munchkin, it's easy to build a very good solo with high resilience, high offensive and high Evasion.

• REF8 - DEX8 - MOVE6 - BODY6 - WILL8 - INT6 - EMP8 - TECH4 - COOL4 - LUCK4 : that's not min-maxed, just optimized, we can do better. Still that will do the job for a combat optimized character.

• high "resistances": Perception 12, Evasion 14, Brawling 14, Concentration 14, Resist T&D 14 (16 with toxin binders), and Cybertech 4 (yeah he has a weakness, but money can help you here).

• high offensive: Brawling 14, Handgun 14 and Shoulder arms 14.

• He is combat capable at every range possible with high effectiveness for each range (not the highest because he doesn't have any x2 skills, still it works fine.)

• He can use concealed weapons and obvious 2handed weapons.

• First IP will go into Evasion, and soon you have an Evasion 16 character to handle.

The other team members might not be even capable to dodge bullets (which is perfectly viable). 

Conclusion

Most of the time, let him shine, he paid a high price for it. In creation points, IP and money. His character is dedicated to combat. He shouldn't bump into high level solo at every supermarket he goes. That's not fun or fair.

 Why am I not homebrewing Evasion and bullet dodging ? Because the intend behind the combat is not realism, it's a John Wick combat style. With a touch of John Woo. And my players love that. Who am I to take away their fun ? I have tools to challenge them, until I hit a wall, I'm not going to homebrew Evasion. It's a matter of taste. There is nothing wrong to use or not use RAW Evasion.