Tactics

AX.GHW.04.01.05

The Tactics Talent covers operational planning, threat engagement strategy, environmental exploitation, team coordination, and situational assessment under pressure. Wit + Tactics for planning and analysis; Speed + Tactics for fast decision-making in fluid situations.

Core Talent: A character with Tactics and no Focus is a competent field operator; they can plan operations, coordinate team movement, assess tactical situations, and respond effectively under pressure across multiple contexts.

Focus: Ambush

Scope: Setting and springing traps, preparation of ambush sites, exploitation of terrain for attack advantage, delaying and channeling enemy movement, surprise attack initiation.

Mechanical Effects:

+1D to Tactics rolls involving ambush setup, trap placement, and surprise attack initiation
Characters acting on the character's tactical instructions in an ambush gain +1D to their first action (the trap setup bonus applies to the whole team, not just the Tactics character)
With 2D+ in this Focus: when the character initiates a prepared ambush (they had at least one scene to set up), all enemies in the kill zone must succeed on Notice vs Threshold 3 (rather than the character's Stealth result) to avoid being caught completely flat-footed, losing their first-round action

Practical Notes: Ambush Focus favors groups that approach encounters through preparation. A team with an Ambush specialist changes the default encounter dynamic from reactive to proactive.

Focus: Monster Hunting

Scope: Tactical engagement against supernatural threats specifically, approach routes that minimize threat awareness, exploitation of supernatural vulnerability windows, engagement timing relative to threat behavioral patterns, kill-zone construction against specific entity types.

Mechanical Effects:

+1D to Tactics rolls involving engagement planning against supernatural threats
The character can identify the optimal tactical approach for a specific threat category once they know what they're facing (Wit + Tactics vs Threshold 2, free if they already have Lore knowledge of that category). The identified approach gives the team +1D to their first engagement action.
With 2D+ in this Focus: the character can assess a threat's current behavioral state, whether it's actively hunting, resting, feeding, or protecting something, from indirect observation (tracks, environmental disturbance, pattern of recent activity). This intelligence directly informs timing and approach decisions.

Practical Notes: The engagement optimization ability is the primary draw; it converts tactical knowledge into a concrete mechanical bonus for the team's opening action, which is when the tactical advantage is most valuable.

Focus: Exorcism Coordination

Scope: Managing complex exorcism and banishment operations as a team effort, coordinating the practitioner performing the exorcism with characters managing the physical situation, timing interventions to protect the practitioner, managing hostile host bodies without lethal force.

Mechanical Effects:

+1D to Tactics rolls involving exorcism and banishment operation coordination
When the character coordinates a ritual exorcism (the character directs the operation rather than performing the ritual themselves), the performing practitioner gains +1D to their exorcism roll
With 2D+ in this Focus: the character can maintain the tactical situation (keeping the host restrained and the team positioned) while the practitioner works, even if conditions become chaotic. Any penalties to the exorcism roll from combat conditions (Possessed Operative resisting, entity-assisted defense) are reduced by 1 before the roll is made.

Practical Notes: This Focus specifically addresses the challenge of exorcism as a team operation: the Mediumship or Sacred Fire character needs time and stability to perform the exorcism; the Tactics character creates that stability.

Focus: Trap Setting

Scope: Constructing physical and material traps for supernatural threats, salt circles and barriers as deliberate containment, cold iron restraint rigs, trigger-activated dispersal systems (salt shots, UV floods, fire traps), site preparation for specific threat engagement.

Mechanical Effects:

+1D to Tactics rolls involving trap construction and site preparation
Traps constructed by the character have their activation Threshold increased by 1 (they are better hidden and better triggered, a salt circle disruption attempt is Threshold 3 instead of 2; a restraint rig requires a higher Body Save to escape)
With 2D+ in this Focus: the character can construct improvised traps from available materials without a roll for standard configurations (salt barriers, rowan wards, standard restraint rigs). Novel configurations (a specific trap for an unusual threat type not in the standard playbook) still require a Wit + Tactics roll vs Threshold 2–3.

Practical Notes: The most preparation-intensive Focus in the catalog. Characters with Trap Setting build the pre-encounter infrastructure that makes difficult fights possible; it pairs with Ambush to create an operation-planning character with strong environment control.

Focus: Leadership

Scope: Team coordination under pressure, morale management during extended operations, command decision-making in fluid situations, managing panicked or overwhelmed civilians.

Mechanical Effects:

+1D to Tactics rolls involving team coordination and command decisions
Once per scene, the character may issue a directive that grants one allied character +1D to their next action (the directive clarifies the tactical situation just enough to give them the edge). This is a Free Action.
With 2D+ in this Focus: when a character in the team is affected by a fear or morale condition (Shaken, Dread from a Banshee's Wail, Veil Fracture cognitive effects), the Leadership character may attempt to steady them as a Free Action (Wit + Tactics vs Threshold 2, success clears the condition one round early or reduces its effect).

Practical Notes: Leadership Focus is most valuable in large teams or in scenarios where individual characters are likely to face conditions that impair them. It trades the Tactics character's action efficiency for team-wide resilience.