Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
@Undrave
I think to have compelling martial combat regardless of rationing it is immensely helpful to have status effects that have a worthwhile impact but are not completely debilitating. It needs to be more than just trading hit points. Then you can have other things that key off those statuses. Basically you need to setup big moves. Another option is to have more potent attacks that inflict conditions on the user so a really big attack might leave you fatigued or lower your defenses or have special requirements.
Your second design reminds me a lot of the combat system in Exalted Third Edition which was inspired by Final Fantasy Dissidia. You have two types of attacks - withering attacks and decisive attacks. Withering attacks represent breaking down your opponents defenses and are more like glancing blows or getting them out of position. They lower your opponents Initiative and raise your Initiative. Things like armor, weapon damage, and the like matter for withering attacks. Decisive attacks represent those telling blows where you are overextending yourself. These attacks are the only ones that do lethal damage. This is based on your current Initiative. However if successful your Initiative resets to base which can make it easy to send you into Initiative Crash which is like bad. It's pretty much tailor made for Shonen anime fights.
I think to have compelling martial combat regardless of rationing it is immensely helpful to have status effects that have a worthwhile impact but are not completely debilitating. It needs to be more than just trading hit points. Then you can have other things that key off those statuses. Basically you need to setup big moves. Another option is to have more potent attacks that inflict conditions on the user so a really big attack might leave you fatigued or lower your defenses or have special requirements.
Your second design reminds me a lot of the combat system in Exalted Third Edition which was inspired by Final Fantasy Dissidia. You have two types of attacks - withering attacks and decisive attacks. Withering attacks represent breaking down your opponents defenses and are more like glancing blows or getting them out of position. They lower your opponents Initiative and raise your Initiative. Things like armor, weapon damage, and the like matter for withering attacks. Decisive attacks represent those telling blows where you are overextending yourself. These attacks are the only ones that do lethal damage. This is based on your current Initiative. However if successful your Initiative resets to base which can make it easy to send you into Initiative Crash which is like bad. It's pretty much tailor made for Shonen anime fights.