Just had another thought. Since all shields do right now is give you a little extra armour and add 1 AP to your attacks, the simplest "fix", is just to remove the 1 AP cost from all shields.
This means that one-handed simply means you can (and should) use a shield (for a little bit of bonus armour and probably some kind of bonus stat for special shields).
Maybe Larian tried this and thought it was too unbalanced, but I feel like the only viable way to play one-handed right now is simply to unequip your shield.
Are any stat bonuses a shield gives really going to be worth 1 AP on every attack you make?
I can see why they did it because there should be a tactical advantage to use one hand no shield as opposed to one hand with shield. Although an extra AP cost per attack is a bit too high the price. That's why I suggested a talent to remove the extra AP cost on the first page.
That seems quite complicated.
- By "next turn only" do you mean "next turn only for each use" or "next turn only, once-per-battle-only"? EDIT: Source point requirement, so that's pretty much only a once-per-battle thing.
I meant it causes the fighter's initiative to change for the very next turn after the skill is used (and only for the very next turn). So the turn order will revert back to be computed using the fighter's natural initiative for all other turns afterwards unless the skill is used again.
- What's to stop that character from using his new first-turn initiative and sudden 6 AP to instead attack any enemy he feels like and killing them instead of the target enemy? If nothing, then it doesn't seem like this needs to target an enemy at all, but move the user to before any enemies move (since everyone will use this to move before the fastest enemy in range).
You are right, it doesn't stop the fighter from using his 6 AP to kill anyone he wants. The ability is meant to provide turn order flexibility not to restrict the fighter into attacking a specific target. However, I made targeting an enemy a requirement to allow two things:
1. Provide some restrictions on who you can interdict (and therefore exactly when you move the next turn) because there's also a range limit.
2. Allow you to not necessarily move first, but rather move after certain characters such as party members that happens to have an enemy that moves right after him. This is to give players the ability to construct combos with multiple party members without using delay turns.
- If a fighter is using this ability, it already implies that most enemies in the turn move before his allies, and many may have already moved. So how likely is it that an enemy will be able to use their own Interdect to cancel the fighters, since if he's using it, he's likely moving after the enemies have already acted in that turn.
I don't believe it implies that most enemies in the turn move before his allies. This ability is perfectly viable even if the enemies don't move before your allies -> the key is to change turn order and provide combo opportunity or assassination opportunity at key moments. For example, it's better to make your fighter move later than your mage if said mage can buff him into a maniac or get rid of key target's physical armor first. Also, like I said, delay turn mind games. I don't expect the AI is going to take to it too well any time soon but people should figure out nice tricks with it in the arena.
- The shield requirement seems to serve no function except to ensure that the fighter has to spend 2 AP to do weak attacks.
That's right. It's mainly for flavor and balance. Think of it like just as an enemy is about to attack or move your fighter interrupts him with a quick shield bash/throw powered by source and goes berserk before the enemy recovers.
Edit: also forgot to mention, since this is one of those skills that only shows its powers in a turn OUTSIDE the current turn, the easiest counter to it is to focus fire the user and CC or straight up kill him. The fact that it requires a shield plays into the "tank" archetype where a character with high defensive stats draws fire from the enemy without actually using a skill like taunt to force it. A mental taunt directly on your opponent's mind if you will.