Combat takes place during ten-second “rounds” that give each character a chance to do something, whether it be attack with a weapon, run away, cast a spell, use a spirit, or use some other ability.
A character may be surprised if they were unaware of an impending attack. If their characters were unaware of the attack, the players must make a Perception roll. If the characters were aware of their attackers, there is a bonus of four to this roll. If the characters were sleeping, there is a penalty of six to this roll.
Surprised characters are unable to act during the first round of surprise. In subsequent rounds, they are at a penalty of two to defense and three to any success rolls. While surprised, characters may not initiate complex actions such as casting spells, calling spirits, using psychic powers, or any of the special conflict maneuvers.
Surprised combatants must make either a Willpower or Fortitude roll to ‘snap out’ of surprise. This roll is made at the beginning of each round after the first round, and applies to that round.
If surprised combatants are removed from the conflict for two or more rounds, they are no longer surprised.
There is no order to what happens in conflict. Everything happens at once. To make things easier, however, the Adventure Guide will show how all of the non-player characters are moving. Then the players will move their characters and perform their actions. Finally, the Adventure Guide will determine the actions of non-player characters (on both sides of the conflict). After both sides act, the Guide will also check for unconsciousness and death if any non-player characters gained injuries.
Note that in some cases, the Guide will need to apply NPC actions to PC actions, such as when an NPC casts a Sleepfall spell.
Each round, every conscious character gets a chance to attempt one action. Often this action is hitting an opponent with a weapon. A character can attack any target who comes within their movement, in feet, at any time during the round.
The attack roll is made against an 11: the roll must be 11 or less on d20 to successfully attack. The attacker’s attack bonus increases and the target’s defense reduces the number needed. The target’s agility modifies defense as a major contributor.
Characters fighting within hand or extended weapon reach of their opponents are in close combat. If characters must fire or throw missiles to attack their opponents, they are in ranged combat.
Each weapon does a different amount of damage: roll the dice listed for that weapon to determine the damage the weapon causes. Damage is subtracted from the target’s survival.
Firing into close combat is as if the target had strong cover if there are two to four combatants, and full cover if there are five or more combatants, including the target.
If the target is in close combat with an individual or individuals, and if the attack would have hit one or more of those individuals, those individuals it would have hit must make an Evasion roll or take the same amount of damage the target did. The attacker may choose to make a called shot to avoid this. On a successful called shot, only the target takes damage.
On a miss, a random adjacent opponent of the target must make an Evasion roll, with their Defense as a bonus, to avoid being hit.
Some weapons or attacks require multiple actions. Some creatures and archetypes may attack more than once per round.
When an attack requires multiple actions, such as loading, arming, and firing an arquebus (three actions), the attack will normally require that many rounds to use. The actions need not be done immediately following each other, however: a character might load their arquebus at the beginning of the day, fill the pan with powder when combat is imminent, and then only require one action to actually use the weapon the first time. In later rounds, the character might load the weapon, use their sword to fight off a monster, and then later load the pan with powder and fire.
Attacks which require more than one action to perform gain one “free” action per use when outside of close combat. The arquebus above would require only two actions to use if the character using it were not engaged in close combat. Most of the time, if the character has no need to worry about being attacked or hit, the character is not engaged in close combat.
When a combatant attacks more than once per round, each attack must be rolled for.
Some of these special conflict situations will apply only to one opponent. If so, then any bonuses which the maneuver or situation gives to the attacker must be applied only to that opponent.
If an attacker is aware of but unable to see their target, the attacker has an attack penalty of 3 in close combat, and an attack penalty of 6 for ranged combat.
A “called shot” can be made to a specific location on a target, with an attack penalty of 3. The target’s defense includes armor, even if the armor is not worn on the specific location. Called shots do damage as normal, and, like normal attacks, do standard “survival point damage”. A successful called shot does not necessarily mean that the target is wounded at the called location, it merely means that this was the location that needed to be protected. In certain circumstances, the target may be required to make an Evasion or Fortitude roll to avoid special effects. For example, if the target is carrying a potion, and a called shot to the hand is successful, the target will be required to make an Evasion roll or drop the potion. Evasion is called for if the target is trying to avoid the effect by dodging, Fortitude if the target is trying to avoid the effect simply by being big and strong.
Called shots are handled first in a round, and can affect other actions during that round.
A called shot can disrupt complex actions such as casting spells, manifesting spirits, or reloading crossbows. The target must make an Evasion roll to complete the action. If a spell or spirit manifestation is disrupted, verve is not lost, nor is the spell or spirit used up.
Called shots can distract an attacker using thrown or propelled weapons. The arrow or other missile automatically misses (as normal) unless the target of the called shot makes an Evasion roll, in which case it proceeds as normal.
The reaction against the disrupting effects of a called shot is at a penalty of the damage done by the called shot. If the character is moving at combat speed (whether they’re using that movement or not), they gain a bonus of their movement on the reaction roll. Remember that sorcerors and prophets have reduced movement when casting spells and calling spirits.
A called shot that kills or knocks unconscious may do so before the opponent has the chance to fight back during that round. If the opponent loses an Agility contest against the person making the called shot, the opponent falls before making their attack.
A successful called shot also allows “carried” attacks, such as poisons, to take effect. Unless otherwise specified, all carried attacks require a called shot. Carried attacks have their own reaction roll.
|
Cover |
Warriors |
Non-Warriors |
|
Weak Cover |
+1 Defense |
No bonus |
|
Strong Cover |
+2 Defense |
+1 Defense |
|
Full Cover |
+3 Defense |
+2 Defense |
In ranged combat, combatants will often try to hide behind obstacles to avoid being hit by their opponents’ missiles. Cover can be weak, strong, and full. Weak cover covers a significant portion of the character, about 50%, but also leaves a significant portion open to attack. Strong cover covers 85% or more of the character, and full cover blocks all of the character from attack. Behind full cover, a non-combatant can usually hide with no possibility of getting hit, but if a character is trying to attack (especially with missile weapons of their own), or trying to move in a way that brings them partially in the open, then even being behind full cover will afford opponents the possibility of hitting.
Warriors are better at making use of cover than non-warriors. However, if a warrior does not themself engage in the conflict, but instead “leads” their comrades, they may grant the warrior cover bonus to up to level companions. Successfully granting this bonus requires a Perception roll by the warrior’s player.
If a character is attacking from the higher end of a reasonable slope or while mounted on a horse-like animal (and fighting medium-sized opponents), or while attacking from above, the player may choose a bonus of 1 to attack or a bonus of 1 to defense.
Immobilizing an opponent involves grabbing their arms and/or legs. The combatant trying to immobilize their opponent has a penalty of two to their defense.
A called shot is required to immobilize an opponent, and the opponent is allowed an Evasion roll to avoid immobilization. This roll has a bonus of two for every general size level larger they are than the character trying to immobilize them. A Large target would gain a bonus of 4 to the Evasion roll if a small character is trying to immobilize it, for example.
If the Evasion roll is failed, the attacker may attempt to hold the target immobile. Both the attacker and the target make Fortitude rolls, once per round. The larger of the two gains a bonus of 4 to this roll for every general size difference. If both succeed or both fail, neither may do anything. If the target succeeds but the immobilizer fails, the target has broken the hold, and does an automatically successful attack on their opponent. If the target fails and the immobilizer succeeds, the target is immobilized and may not attack with the immobilized limbs; the opponent may continue the contest to break free, but their Fortitude rolls are at a penalty of three.
Allies of the immobilizer may tie up an immobilized target. The immobilizer may also attack, as attacking an immobilized target (although this removes the penalty of three for breaking the hold if the attack is with a weapon).
Attempts to break free are made on the defender’s actions.
Normally, it takes one action to draw a weapon. A character can attempt to draw and use an available weapon in the same round. An Evasion roll is required to do so successfully. On a successful roll, the character attacks as normal. On an unsuccessful roll, the character acts as if surprised, which must be thrown off as normal.
The sizes used for rules such as immobilizing an opponent are Fine, Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Gigantic, and Titanic.
There are three levels of non-defending opponents: covered, unaware, and immobilized. These bonuses do not combine with each other.
If one combatant can take aim at another combatant, and both combatants are not moving or are completely unaware of combat, the first combatant is said to have the second combatant “covered”. The first combatant can get a free attack against the second combatant at a bonus of four to attack and one to damage. If the “covered” combatant attacks before the “covering” combatant chooses to use their free attack, the covering combatant will still gain all bonuses. However, if the covered combatant beats the covering combatant in a Reaction contest the attack is not free. Each side can choose either Perception or Evasion as their reaction roll.
Only physical attacks can be used to cover an opponent. Spell, psychic, and spirit attacks cannot be used to cover a target.
There is an attack bonus of 10 against immobile targets: sleeping opponents or bound opponents.
Only immobile targets (sleeping or bound targets) may be subject to a killing blow. If the attacker makes a successful called shot to kill, the target takes half the damage (round up) as injury points; the rest go to survival points as normal.
Unaware, surprised, covered, or immobilized opponents may be subject to a knockout blow. The attacker must make a called shot. The target is allowed an Evasion roll. If the target is wearing any sort of head protection, there is a bonus of one to this roll. If the head protection provides a bonus to the target’s defense (magical or non-magical), this bonus also applies to the reaction. Creatures whose defense is from tough skin will usually gain this bonus to their roll.
If the reaction roll succeeds, the target takes damage as normal. If the reaction roll fails, the attack was a knockout blow: one point of the damage rolled goes to the target’s injury point total and the rest to the target’s survival points (as normal). The target runs the risk of unconsciousness and death as normal for gaining injury points.
Warriors may allot two combat bonus points to the knockout blow. Up to two points of the damage rolled add to the victim’s injuries.
Opponents who are unaware of the attack are easier to hit. There is an attack bonus of four against any defender who is unaware of the attacker’s location or is simply not defending against the attacker. Warriors can use that bonus to gain an extra attack against the unaware/non-defending opponent, assuming that the target is within combat reach.
There are four combatants in this example. Sam Stevens, a first level Thief, first level Warrior, played by Sarah Dent, is wearing leather armor and bears a long sword and a shield. Charlotte Kordé, a second level monk, played by John Greeley, is wearing leather armor and bears a dagger and a staff. Toromeen, a second level Warrior, played by Tony Barlow, is wearing chain mail and bears a battle axe.
|
Combatant |
Survival |
Verve |
Perception |
Willpower |
Fortitude |
Combat |
Attack |
Defense |
|
Sam Stevens |
6 |
15 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
+1 |
0 |
+4 |
|
Charlotte Kordé |
5 |
14 |
10 |
9 |
5 |
+1 |
0 |
+1 |
|
Toromeen |
7 |
17 |
5 |
7 |
11 |
+2 |
+2 |
+5 |
|
Yeti |
20 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
+4 |
0 |
+3 |
Combat begins when a Yeti surprises them in the snowy mountains outside Hightown in West Highland.
Each player rolls surprise for their character (d20). Surprise is a Perception roll with agility as a minor contributor. Sarah rolls 2. Sam Stevens’ Perception is 5, so Sam is not surprised. John rolls 18. Charlotte Kordé’s Perception is 10. Charlotte is surprised. Tony rolls 4. Toromeen’s Perception is 5, so Toromeen is not surprised.
The Yeti knowingly initiated combat. The Yeti is not surprised.
The Yeti has a defense of +3. Each of the players make their attacks.
Sam Stevens has an attack bonus is 1, so she needs a 9 or lower on d20 to hit. Sarah rolls 4. Sam is fighting with a long sword, which does d8 points of damage. Sarah rolls seven, a massive blow against the small hairy creature. The Yeti now only has 13 survival points.
Toromeen has a combined combat and attack bonus of 4. He needs a 12 or less to hit the Yeti (11 minus 3 plus 4). Tony rolls 17 on d20, a pitiful score. He has no chance this round to sink his battle axe into the Yeti.
Charlotte has a +1 attack bonus, but because she is surprised she is at a penalty of 6 to attack. She would need a 3 or less to successfully hit the Yeti. John has Charlotte stand back and let the others handle things this round.
The Yeti, pained by Sam Stevens’ attack, roars and claws at the human. The Yeti has an attack bonus of 4, and Sam Stevens has a defense of 4 due to her leather armor, shield, and agility. If the Guide rolls 11 or less on d20, the Yeti successfully hits Sam. The Guide rolls 9. The Yeti’s claws do d6 points damage and the Guide rolls 1. The Yeti roars and claws Sam Stevens but she mostly rolls with the blow. Sam now has 14 verve points. The Yeti claws a second time (because Yeti get two attacks), and this time the Guide rolls 5 to attack. The Yeti claws at Sam Stevens again, this time for 6 points. Sam felt that one, and now has only 8 verve.
Charlotte might still be surprised. She needs to make a Fortitude or Willpower roll to shake off the surprise completely. John rolls 6. This is lower than Charlotte’s Willpower of 9. She is no longer surprised.
Tony rolls 13 on d20. Toromeen just barely fails to hit the Yeti.
Sarah rolls 14 on d20. Sam Stevens also fails to hit the Yeti.
John rolls 3 on d20. Charlotte Kordé needs a nine or lower, so Charlotte has successfully hit the Yeti with her dagger. Daggers do d4 points of damage. John rolls a 1. Charlotte Kordé pokes at the Yeti, and it now has 12 survival points.
The Guide rolls an 18 on d20. Sam Stevens successfully avoids the Yeti’s claws. The Guide gives the Yeti a fifty-fifty chance of attacking Charlotte Kordé with its second attack. The roll indicates that it continues to attack Sam Stevens. The Guide rolls a 20 on d20 for the Yeti’s attack. It fails to successfully attack again.
The Yeti is being attacked by three creatures. The Guide decides that the Yeti will continue to attack, but it will probably leave the next round if things don’t go its way. The Yeti is a strong and fierce creature, but it is not stupid. It is a better fighter than any of the player characters individually, but three against one mitigates that advantage (in ‘real life’, the Guide might not actually let all three characters engage a small creature in combat, especially when one of the characters is using a battle axe).
Tony rolls 16 on d20, and curses his dice. Toromeen fails to find an opening to hit the Yeti.
John rolls 10. Charlotte barely misses her opportunity to hurt the evil creature.
Sarah rolls 17 for Sam Stevens’ attack. Sam also fails to hit.
The Yeti roars at Sam Stevens and the Guide rolls 11. That’s exactly what the Yeti needs to hit Sam. The Guide rolls 4 on d6, so the Yeti claws Sam Stevens for 4 points. Sam now has 4 verve. She could be hurting soon. The Guide rolls 14 for the Yeti’s second attack. The second claw attack misses Sam Stevens as she deflects it with her shield.
The Yeti did well last round and its opponents seem unable to hit it. It decides to push the attack forward. Sam Stevens is tempted to withdraw from combat, but doesn’t want to leave Toromeen fighting the creature alone (Sam doesn’t have much faith in Charlotte Kordé’s fighting skills), so Sam remains in combat one more round.
Tony rolls 6 for Toromeen’s attack. His battle axe does d8 points damage, and Tony rolls 8. The dwarf’s 18 strength gives a bonus of 4, for a total of 12 points damage. The dwarf’s battle axe sinks deep into the Yeti’s side. The Yeti only has 12 survival left, which leaves it at zero.
The Yeti must immediately make a Health roll to remain conscious. The Yeti’s Fortitude is 6, its Health is 8, and its level is 4. The Guide must roll 6 or lower for the Yeti to remain conscious. The Guide rolls 3. The Yeti is conscious and decides to run away. The player characters choose to let it go.