Basic Combat | Special Combat Situations
Basic CombatCombat starts whenever two characters or NPCs are engaged in any activities that the GM feels needs to be resolved in detail (generally when they are attacking each other).
Combat is divided into action segments called Rounds. A Combat Round is two seconds of time. Within that two seconds, each character may preform two actions. Actions include: Attacking, Defending, Spell Casting, Skills, Movement or anything else that needs doing. Generally, talking does not take an action, unless it is an involved conversation, or such.
Movement
During Combat, a character may move up to 1/2 their Move score (rounding down) in hexes (meters) and still take an action. If they choose to move more than 1/2 their Move score (up to their full Move score), they may not act that round.Wits and Action Sequence
Each character acts in turn dependent on their Wits. The character with the highest Wits value goes first, then the next highest, etc... If their is a tie, it may be broken with the role of any die, or the GM may simply determine that dependent on the action a character is performing, one will accomplish his first. If a character wishes, he may choose to hold his action when it is his turn, and act at any point after that in the round. The GM will determine if he can interrupt the actions of others, when he does decide to act.Attacking
A character who wishes to attack another character simply roles a Skill Test for the weapon or attack they are performing. If they are attacking, they announce the target and their action. The target must announce if they intend to make a Defensive action against the attack at this time (may only be done if the target can see the attack). The attacker then simply Tests against the relevant skill (adjusted for any modifiers the GM assess dependent on the situation). If they succeed in their Skill Test, (and the target's Defensive action failed) then they hit the target. They role damage for their weapon, plus their base damage die. Any Protection value that the target's armor has is subtracted from the damage total. After this, the remaining damage is subtracted from the target's Current Health.A Note on Damage: Because it is possible to kill a person with a single well-directed blow (whether knife, karate chop, or what-have-you), all normal physical damage uses the "role-up" rule. When the die is rolled, if the maximum value for that die comes up, then the die is re-rolled and the new result added to the old result. Therefore, it is possible to kill a man with a single blow (doesn't happen too frequently, but keep it in mind next time you rush into combat). (Example: Lief is wielding a short sword =1D8 damage and has a Strength of 12 = 1D6 base damage. When he hits, he rolls both of them. He rolls a 5 on the D8 and a 6 on the D6, so he rolls the D6 again and rolls a 3. Therefore his damage total is a 5 + 6 + 3 = 14).
A Note on Ranged Attacks: Ranged Attacks do not add the user's base damage to the attack. The damage is rolled as listed and no base damage is added. The Roll-Up Rule still applies. Also, if an Extraordinary Success is rolled, the weapon dmage die (dice) is simply rolled twice.
Defending
A character who has already attacked that round may only perform a Basic Defense action. When Defending, a character may attempt to block any single blow directed against himself that he can see. Alternately, if a character does not wish to attack at all this round, but wishes to prevent himself from being attacked they may elect to perform a Total Defense. When Totally Defending, the character may attempt to block up to three blows directed at him that he can see. He may only attempt a Defense against each individual attack once. Alternately he may defend himself against a single attack at +3 to his defensive skill. In either case, as the blow is being announced but before the die is rolled to see whether the blow lands or not, the character must declare that he is Defending against the blow. When rolling to Defend, he roles at 1/2 his weapon skill, if he is Parrying, or against 1/2 his Shield skill, if he is Blocking. Or he may roll against 1/2 his Move or 1/2 his Acrobatics Skill, if he is Dodging. He must choose one kind of Defense to make. In each case, the Defense score of the Defender's armor is added to the relevant skill before Testing against it. Note, that most Axes, Hammers, and other top heavy weapons are -2 to Parry or unable to Parry if they have been used to attack with because they are awkward to move rapidly and fluidly (GM will determine if this is true).Example: Farthan the Fearsome is being attacked by a Jotan. The Jotan strikes at Farthan and before the GM rolls to hit, Farthan declares that he will Block the attack (using his Shield). Farthan's Shield skill is 15, he has a Small Shield (Defense 2) and he is wearing chainmail (Defense 2). Therefore, his Block skill is (15 x 1/2 = 7 (rounded down) + 2 (for Chainmail) + 2(for Small Shield) =) 11. Farthan Tests against his Block skill and rolls a 7. He succeeds. The GM then Tests the Jotan Brawling skill and succeeds. The GM rolls damage for the Jotan. He then tells Farthan that as the Jotan swings his mighty fist at Farthan, Farthan raises his shield and catches the blow on his Shield, sparring himself the damage but badly denting his shield in the process.
Special Combat SituationsAiming
If a character wishes to spend their action Aiming, they get a +1 bonus to their Attack Skill when they Test against it. The bonus only applies to the next immediate attack they make (the character cannot aim at a target for a round, Defend himself, and then attack with a bonus. The first action after aiming must be an attack for the bonus to count). For each consecutive action (up to a maximum of 5 actions or 2 1/2 rounds total) that they spend Aiming, they gain a +1 to their Skill when they Test against it (therefore the maximum bonus is a +5 to the attack). This may be done for a Ranged, Melee, or Unarmed Skill. Note that if the character is Stunned, Knockedback, or stops to do anything other than attack, they lose any bonus they have accumulated as their concentration is broken.Example: Jokkler has a Sling skill of 12. He spends 2 1/2 rounds aiming at a target. As his second action for the third round he whirls his sling and lets fly. Because he spent the 5 actions aiming, he has a +1 for each action he spent; therefore a +5 to his Sling Skill for this attack. His effective skill is 17. He Tests against it, rolls a 14, and succeeds only because he spent that time Aiming.
Called Shot
A character may wish to strike at a specific spot on a foe instead of just their general body or torso. If this is the case, they may make a Called Shot. The smaller or more difficult it is to hit the target area, the greater the negative modifier to the Attacker's skill. However, this often corresponds to a more damaging or deadly effect if the target area is hit. See the Table Below.
Body Part Modifier to Attack Skill Arm/Leg -2 Vitals -3 Groin -4 Head -5 Hand/Foot -6 Neck -8 Heart -10 Charge
If a character is separated from a target by 5 meters or more (15 feet or more) then they may Charge their opponent. When they Charge, they rush at the opponent and pile the full force of inertia into their blow. Doing this has two effects. One, their blow is less accurate, so they have a -2 to their Attack Skill. However, the effect of inertia adds to the damage they do, so that they roll an additional Base Damage die instead of just one (if they have a 1D6 Base Damage die, they role 2D6 if they Charge). Also, if their blow causes the opponent to be Knocked back, the opponent has a -5 to their Strength to keep their feet. A character may charge an opponent from a great distance (requiring several rounds to meet them) or may be able to close a short distance and attack within the same round if they can close the distance in one action (i.e. the separating distance is equal to 1/2 their Move score or less)Example: Vartok is 18 feet from a snarling Orc warrior. Screaming a War cry he Charges across the intervening distance toward his foe. Vartok has a Move of 12, so can move up to 6 meters or about 18 feet (1/2 his Move) with one action, leaving him one action to attack with. He covers the distance and swings his Broadsword at the beast. His Broadsword skill is 14, but -2 for the Charge; so his Effective Skill is 12. He Tests it and rolls an 11, so he succeeds. He rolls damage for his attack. His Base Damage is 1D6 and the Broadsword does 1D10. To this he adds another Base Damage die because of the Charge for a total of 2D6 + 1D10 Damage. He rolls a total of 15 damage and strikes the Orc a terrible blow.
Critical Strikes
If a character rolls a Critical Success on an Attack Roll, any Protection from Armor is automatically ignored and the blow may not be defended against in any fashion (except magickal at the GM's discretion). This is because the blow was either so powerful or so proficient that it broke through or slipped through the opponent's armor and found a vulnerable spot. Additionally, if the blow was an Extraordinary Success, then the Attacker roles an additional Base Damage die (if their Base Damage was 1D6, then they roll 2D6; if they were also charging at the time, then they roll 3D6).