Combat

Combat Procedure

combat is procedural and follows a step by step format. the combat procedure is described below.

Step 1: Surprise

the first step of combat is determining surprise. those who are unaware of enemies at the start of combat are surprised in the first round. this is typically determined before combat actually starts, such as when a party is ambushed, or ambushes a group of monsters. it can also occur if monsters are encountered during exploration.

surprised creatures still roll their Initiative at the start of combat to determine their Base Initiative Score, but do not get to act in that round. see the Surprised condition in Conditions below.

Step 2: Initiative

at the beginning of combat, all creatures roll for Initiative. to roll for Initiative, roll a d12 and subtract your Agility modifier (bonuses are subtracted, and penalties are added. i.e. a creature with a +2 Agility modifier rolls 1d12-2 for their Initiative, while a creature with a -1 Agility modifier rolls 1d12+1). this is the character's Base Initiative Score.

at the beginning of each round, all creatures in combat (except those who are Surprised) declare their actions and determine their Round Initiative for that round. a creature's Round Initiative is their Base Initiative plus their action modifier. then, creatures take turns resolving their actions in turn order from lowest Initiative to highest Initiative. any creatures who have a tie for Initiative in that round resolve their actions simultaneously.

the Referee may elect to have some monsters share a single Initiative roll at the start of combat. for example, if the party encounters a group of monsters consisting of a Hobgoblin Witch, a Bugbear Scoundrel, 4 Hobgoblin Warriors, and 2 Wolves, the Referee might decide that the 4 Warriors share their Initiative roll, and the 2 Wolves share an Initiative roll. this can simplify the Initiative step when some monsters have identical statblocks.

if at any point during combat, new combatants enter play, they immediately roll Initiative and (if they are not Surprised) may declare actions. if any creature has an Initiative for the round that has already passed, that creature acts during the next round with an addition -12 modifier to their Initiative that round in addition to declaring their action for that round. for example, a Ghoul wanders into an ongoing combat in the middle of a round. the Ghoul rolls for Initiative and gets a Base Initiative Score of 8. deciding to attack the nearest creature, the Ghoul uses its claws and adds a +0 modifier to its Initiative, acting on an Initiative of 8 for the round. however, the round is currently on Initiative 13, meaning the Ghoul has missed its opportunity to attack. instead, the round continues until its conclusion, and then the Ghouls acts in the next round at Initiative -4, in addition to acting again with its Initiative of 8, thereby getting to attack the same creature twice in one round! the round after that (and the rest of the combat), the Ghoul just acts once on Initiative of 8 plus modifier for its declared action.

Step 3: Declare Actions

as mentioned above in Step 2, every round each creature declares their actions before the round is resolved. there are many ways to handle this step. the Referee is the final arbiter of the rules and may decide on their own how this step will be handled, or they may work it out ahead of time with the other Players. whatever method is used, it is advised to remain consistent every combat.

some tables may take turns declaring actions in a round-robin style, either starting to the Referee's left and continuing clockwise, or starting at the Referee's right and continuing counterclockwise. others may take turns declaring actions from highest Agility score to lowest Agility score (or alternatively from lowest Initiative modifier to highest Initiative modifier). still others may decide to write down their declared actions and then reveal them simultaneously. however you decide, remember to be consistent every combat.

different actions have different Initiative modifiers which are applied to the creature's Base Initiative Score for that round. each round is resolved by resolving the combatants' actions in order from lowest Initiative to highest Initiative, with tied results resolving simultaneously. this can sometimes result in double-KO rounds where two creatures kill or disable each other at the same time.

a list of combat actions and their modifiers to Initiative are as follows:

• attack with a weapon (+ weapon speed)
• cast a spell (+ spell speed)
• use a consumable item (+6 unless otherwise stated)
• throw an item (+2 unless otherwise stated)
• full-defense (-1)
• defensively attack (+ weapon speed +1)

Spell Speed is typically equal to a spell's casting TN minus 10, unless otherwise stated.

when using the Full-Defense action, a character adds +4 to their Defense score, and if they are attacked they may make a Reposte as a Reaction. however, a character using Full-Defense can only move up to half their speed that round.

a character using the Defensive Attack action does not provoke a Reposte when entering a creature's threat range. a character may use Defensive Attack even if they do not actually attack. in this case, treat the weapon speed as 0, for a total Initiative modifier of +1.

Step 4: Monster Morale Check

at the end of each round, check to see if the monsters need to roll for morale. a monster must make a morale check if:

• it has taken more than half its Wound Points in a single hit.
• the monster(s) are outnumbered (this can include other monsters that are hostile to it).
• the monster is the target of an Intimidation check (in this case the Morale check is opposing the Intimidation check).

a morale check is a 3d6 roll plus the monster's Insight modifier plus its HD plus the number of allies the creature has. the TN for a morale check is 11 plus the number of opponents the creature is facing (or an opposing Intimidation check result). a monster automatically fails its morale check if the outcome is obvious to the monster.

Step 5: Ending Combat

a combat ends if all creatures stop fighting. this can be because all the monsters were defeated or ran away, or because the party was defeated or ran away, or because combat was interrupted. perhaps the party captured one or more of the monsters as prisoners, or vice versa. whatever the reason that the fighting stopped, once combat ends the Initiative is wiped and exploration is resumed.

Combat Stats

certain character or monster stats are important for combat. this includes Stress and Wound Points, Defense and Armour, Speed, certain Skills, Talents and Class Features, and Initiative.

Stress

a character or monster has HD, which help determine its Stress. typically a creature has maximum Stress for each HD or level modified by its Strength modifier. for example, a Leonin has 2d8 HD as a Fiend, plus any HD from class levels. a Leonin 3rd-level Hunter with a Strength modifier of +3 would have 5d8+15 maximum Stress (an average of 41 Stress).

Stress represents a creature's stamina and vital energy, especially during combat. when a creature takes damage from an attack, that damage first lowers the creature's current Stress (unless otherwise stated, or the damage was from a critical hit). when the creature runs out of Stress, any further damage lowers their current Wound Points instead.

a creature may also spend Stress as a resource, typically to active certain Traits, Class Features, Talents, or other abilities it may have. any creature may spend Stress in place of Mana on a 1:1 basis.

Wound Points

a character or monster has maximum Wound Points equal to its Strength score plus any modifiers (such as bonuses from traits or Talents). this number usually does not increase with level or HD the way Stress does. it represents the physical bodily damage threshhold of a creature.

when a creature takes damage to their Wound Points, their current Wound Points are reduced by that amount. each such instance of damage should be marked as an injury including its damage type and the amount of damage taken in that injury.

when a creature's current Wound Points reaches 0, the creature is Incapacitated. an Incapacitated creature is conscious and can talk or yell. but any strenuous activity is risky. the Incapacitated creature can crawl at a rate of 1 yard per turn, and any other action it takes causes it to take 1 Wound Point of damage.

a creature with Wound points below 0 is Dying. a Dying creature continues to function as an Incapacitated creature, but can only take 1 action of any kind on its turn, and cannot both move and take an action. this is as opposed to a creature normally being able to take 1 each of a Standard Action, Free Action, and Reaction. a Dying creature also automatically takes 1 Wound Point of damage at the end of every round. if a creature's current Wound Points reaches the negative value of their Strength Score, they die (i.e. a creature with a Strength of 15 reaches -15 Wound Points, it dies).

a Dying or Incapacitated creature can be stabilized with a Heal check at a TN of 10 + the highest damage value of wounds it has. a Stabilized creature can move at half its movement speed per round and can take up to 1 action without taking damage. however, it takes 1 Wound Point damage for every action beyond the first it takes in a round.

Defense

a creature has a Defense score equal to 10 plus its Agility modifier plus its Defense bonus. some Traits, Class Features, Talents, equipment, or other sources may grant addition modifiers to a creature's Defense.

Defense represents a creature's ability to dodge, evade, deflect, parry, or block incoming attacks. any attack must equal or exceed a creature's Defense score to hit it. most pieces of armour grant a bonus to Defense and/or Armour when worn.

Armour

a creature's Armour score is the sum of Armour Bonuses from equipment or other sources it has. Armour reduces the damage taken from each hit of an attack.

Speed

a creature's Speed is how much space it can move in a single round of combat. a creature can move any number of times in a round, but can only move up to a total distance equal to its speed in a single round.

Initiative

a creature's Initiative is how quickly it can react to danger. Initiative is rolled at the beginning of combat or when entering an ongoing combat. a character rolls a d12 and subtracts their Agility modifier. they may also apply further modifiers to this initial Initiative roll depending on certain Traits, Class Features, Talents, or so on. this result is the creature's Base Initiative for that combat. each round, the creature declares their action in combat and modifies this Base Initiative to get their Initiative score for that round. the Base Initiative does not change during the whole combat (unless some effect alters it), but from round to round the creature's initiative is adjusted for the actions it takes.

Conditions

there are a variety of different conditions that can affect creatures during combat. the different conditions and their effects are listed below:

TBA

Critical Hits and Injuries

Critical Hits are severe strikes that can be very deadly or permanently injurious. when an attack scores a critical hit, it multiplies the damage dealt according to the weapon attack critical multiplier. some weapon attacks have a critical multiplier of x2, some have a multiplier of x3, and some have a multiplier of x4. in addition, all the weapon damage is dealt to the opponent's Wound Points even if the struck opponent has Stress remaining. it effectively bypasses the opponent's Stress. whenever a creature is hit by a Critical Hit there is a chance that the creature receives a Combat Injury.

Combat Injuries

when a creature is struck by a Critical Hit, there is chance of Combat Damage. the Referee rolls a d%. if the result is equal to or lower than the damage dealt by the Critical Hit, the creature struck receives a Combat Injury. the Referee then rolls on the Combat Injury table that corresponds with the type of damage the Critical Hit attack did. if there was more than one damage type, the player whose character made the attack chooses which damage type table to roll on (the Referee chooses in the case of monsters or NPCs).

d20	Blunt Combat Injuries	Description
1	Crushed Foot	-5 to Balance checks.
2	Broken Shin	1d8 Agility damage. move at half speed.
3	Shattered Kneecap	1d12 Agility damage. prone until healed.
4	Broken Femur	1d10 Agility damage.
5	Shattered Hip	4d4 Agility damage.
6	Broken Rib	2d4 Strength damage. take only 1 action per 2 turns.
7	Broken Collarbone	3d4 Strength damage
8	Crushed Shoulder (roll d4. 1 or 2 is the main hand arm. 3 or 4 is the offhand arm.)	2d8 Strength and Dexterity Damage. can't attack with that arm.
9	Broken Upper Arm (roll d4. 1 or 2 is the main hand arm. 3 or 4 is the offhand arm.)	1d10 Strength damage. can't attack with that arm.
10	Shattered Elbow (roll d4. 1 or 2 is the main hand arm. 3 or 4 is the offhand arm.)	1d12 Dexterity damage. can't attack with that arm.
11	Broken Forearm (roll d4. 1 or 2 is the main hand arm. 3 or 4 is the offhand arm.)	1d10 Strength and Dexterity damage. can't hold anything in that arm.
12	Shattered Hand (roll d4. 1 or 2 is the main hand. 3 or 4 is the offhand.)	4d4 Dexterity damage. can't hold anything in that hand or use that hand.
13	Broken Finger	1d8 Dexterity damage.
14	Broken Neck	paralyzed from the neck down.
15	Crushed Windpipe	can't speak or breath. risk of suffocation.
16	Broken Jaw	can't speak or chew.
17	Broken Nose	can't smell. 1d10 Perception damage.
18	Eye Swollen Shut	blind in one eye. 2d8 Perception damage.
19	Cauliflower Ear	can't hear in one ear. 1d12 Perception damage.
20	Cracked Skull	1d8 Memory and Perception damage. concussed.

d	Piercing Combat Injuries	Description

d	Slashing Combat Injuries	Description

d	Chopping Combat Injuries	Description

d	Fire Combat Injuries	Description

d	Cold Combat Injuries	Description

d	Electric Combat Injuries	Description

d	Sonic Combat Injuries	Description

d	Acid Combat Injuries	Description

d	Holy Combat Injuries	Description

d	Unholy Combat Injuries	Description

Death And Dying

TBA.