Hi,

there are a lot of discussions, if the ClawPOMB combination is overpowered. I read the discussions on tffb and some of the blog entries here on FUMBBL. Most people just say, that ClawPOMB is way too hard to handle.
So let's take a closer look and (I try to) summon up some of the things said in all those threads about this topic.

What is the problem?
Certain teams (mostly Chaos) are allowed to gain mutations and strength as a skill. Therefor they can gain ClawPOMB when they have reached the 31 SPP border. After that, they can make AV- on 7+, using MB and PO on this and the eventual following injury roll. This significantly increases the probability of a casuality! I haven't calculated, but I heard it's around 50% (to perhaps KO or injure the player). That isn't important at this point, it's quite high ;-).
The result of all this is, the coaches play a lot of Chaos and the probability of playing against Chaos increases. This is annoying for some coaches, who just want to have fun and play nice little games.

Thoughts on ClawPOMB:
As already told in a tffb thread on this, the alternatives discussed to change one of the skills aren't better than the original skills. Although many coaches think, that the real problem is the PO skill, while many think that Claw+MB in combination are quite OK the way they are. I do not want to write something on „if LRB4-PO was better than LRB6-PO“. This doesn't really matter for me as the designers made their decisions on how to define the skills pretty wisely and the process took a long time (finally, i am going to post the link ;-) http://www.talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=32476 )
So here are my 2 cents on the skill combination. Three skills - that is what this combination makes so powerful. I refer to Chaos, as the other teams do not have any advantages in getting the combination. Not regarding the Minotaur, the Chaos team must invest 3 skill rolls in getting the combination. A player can at most have 6 skills, while as an average maximum the 5 skill boundary could be regarded (as you need 100 SPP in addition to get the last one). So you usually get only 2 additional skills on a player with the combination. There a lot of skills possible Block, Tackle, Multiple Block, Juggernaut, Grab or Jump Up on a double skill roll. The list is certainly too long for the 2 skills left. So you have to reduce the ability of the player on a certain course of action.

This leads to the possibilities on how to work against such a team. Always keep in mind, that I really support the changes in LRB6 and I want to give hints on how to work with those teams instead of changing the ruleset, which in my eyes is the worst thing that could happen.

Why is changing the ruleset bad?
Regarding your home tabletop league and FUMBBL, there are big differences in the way, the people build their teams. in Box your opponent is randomized (somehow), so you do not have a choice who you are playing. In Ranked you might perhaps never accept a challenge that you have to play in Box. That is, why certain skill combos occur much more often in specific environments like Box. Changing the rulset that works with Box would bring other great problems for other leagues. You can never tell, what influences a change in the rules makes for those special environments and there will always be problems somewhere.

What can I do against the skill combination?
MB:
At first you can't do much against MB. MB is a great skill and there is not much to do against it. ;-) But keep in mind, that 90% of the players on a roster have to take MB as a skill. While Dwarf take it by default at least on the second skill, they bring along the skill basics (Block, Tackle...) to not rely on the skill - it's a bonus. A Chaos Warrior does not have Block nor Tackle. Taking MB without these skills makes him a higher risk when taking a Block or Blitz action. So I won't say more about MB, you all know and respect it, i am sure ;-)
Claw:
Claw reduces AV to 7. Have you ever thought playing a AV7 team? Amas and Norse are just the obvious ones. Elf, WE, Khemri, Vampire, Goblin, Underworld, Fling, Skaven or Undead with Skeletons offer a lot more variety. All these teams have one thing in common. Most of the players the team has, take a sh... about Claw. Against those teams Claw is a redundant skill. Imagine for two weeks, that all new teams on Box would be Norse or Amas or ... - the Chaos players would explode! They took all the Claw and now there are so few players with AV8+. For me this is an very obvious answer to parts of the problem.
Most of the teams above have an additional advantage. Most of them bring along skills, that the Chaos team doesn't have or can't cancel, like Block, Dodge or Thick Skull. So not only the Claw is wasted, you have one skill in advance, which increases your options.
PO:
The ruleset punishes us with the PO skill and gives us two powerful weapons against it. A PO player has to stand right next to the player he knocked down after the block, to use the PO skill. So there are 2 things, that make PO weak:
- The player has to follow up, which can be cancelt by Fend. Remember the player invested three (3!!!) skills in the combination, he usually won't take Grab for the remaining ones.
- A player that uses PO lies on the ground afterwards. A player that is prone can be kicked (and should be, every time he uses the skill). So DP is the skill of choice. If you foul the first three times your opponent uses the PO skill, he will think of using that skill as default for the course of the game. Yes, DP is weaker than in LRB4, but you have to remind, that your opponent took 3 skills to just block and lie on the ground, while it only takes 1 skill to kick his a... Even if you're seen by the ref, it usually takes one skill and therefor not much TV while the gain of the foul could be a game winner.

The biggest problem with the handling of PO is, that a lot of coaches rely on their strategy they used in LRB4. First skill Block and so on. You have to think that over!
A player can't gain 7 skills but only 6 and if you are going to play against a lot of ClawPOMB, you know, that Fend is worth taking. Take Block and you can be blocked again, taking Wrestle instead knocks your opponent down, too, so that he's not able to block the next round.

The ruleset offers so many different options to handle the situation. It is just that you have to recognize them!
Always keep in mind: BloodBowl is just a game and you should have fun playing the game. If you do not have fun playing a certain race, try another one, if your skill choices don't fit your style, try different ones.

Greets,
gan