Combat

Although this section deals primarily with combat between armed and armoured opponents the basics of initiative also apply to spell combat and general actions.

The fight

For convenience fights are turn based, during each turn each party member gets to perform one action, these combat turns are called rounds and last 10 seconds. Combat with weapons is a series of manoeuvres, feints, thrusts and parries. The spectacle is very different depending upon whether the opponents are evenly matched or not.

Between two equal opponents the outcome will often be decided by who gets tired and makes the first slip allowing an effective strike in. During this period there will have been many strikes to the body which are only partially blocked or with little force due to the location or angle of strike sliding off the armour, these cause minor cuts and bruises which are accepted as part of battle and heal quickly. All these strikes fatigue the defender just a little bit more until eventually the parry is missed and a killing blow is made. Of course there is always the chance that a telling blow may be made before the combatants are fatigued due to a surprise move by the attacker or bad judgement by the defender.

With two unequal opponents the story is very different. It doesn't really matter how skilled each side is, the battle tends to be short and swift. Stamina plays little part in the outcome, instead the superior skill and greater aggressiveness finds, or more likely creates, an opening in the defences which provides the opportunity for a quick kill. This is as true for a 5th level attacking a 1st as it is for a 10th attacking a 5th.

Armour of course plays a part in this. A minor hit to an armoured person will not cause them any damage, in fact a heavily armoured person is likely to use their armour to block a blow in order to draw the opponent forward and open up holes in their defence for a killing blow. Armour absorbs damage from a hit, the better the armour the more it absorbs. A knight in full plate could safely ignore a knife wielding attacker unless he gave them enough time to slip the knife between the plates. This is unlikely to happen in a normal combat situation.

Generally a hit causes stamina loss only, however if a killing blow is made then wounds will be lost as well. Any hit where more than 10 damage is done after all absorbtion will cause wounds one tenth of the damage to be taken as wounds.

Strength

Makes it easier to hit by crashing through opponents blocks
Gives more damage when you hit
Makes blocking opponents attacks easier

Dexterity

Makes it easier to hit by avoiding opponents blocks
Makes blocking / avoiding opponents attacks easier

Initiative

Combat takes place over a number of rounds. each round is 10 seconds long, during which period each combatant gets the opportunity to make a strike, manoeuvre of perform some other action. At the beginning of each combat round an initiative die is rolled for each party character and one general roll for the opposition to determine the order of events each round. If individuals of the opposition have modifiers to their initiative they will apply those modifiers for themselves only.

The round is divided into 10 segments of 1 second long;

The initiative die roll is

This gives the segment in which the characters make their strike, low initiative going first. Anything lower than 1 counts as zero, anything higher than 10 counts as 11. Characters with the same initiative act according to reach, longer weapons striking first, similar weapons strike simultaneously.

The round will start after 2 minutes (real time) preparation time regardless of whether declarations have been made or not. The DM may delay this period if he has a number of creatures to dictate actions for, though this should not exceed 2 minutes per creature.

If an initiative roll indicates their attack opportunity occurs before they have reached combat range then the chance is lost.

Characters move at 5' per segmet near combat as they are keeping an eye out for dangers.

Attack skill

You roll to strike an opponent and then if you hit (>=l their defence) you roll to see how much damage has been caused. Damage is absorbed by protective armour. any damage that gets through armour causes bruising or cuts depending upon the weapon type.

Your attack skill is the skill in the weapon. Each weapon has two (2) attributes associated with it, strength and dexterity, weapons need dexterity to accurately place blows and strength to wield effectively.

Some melee weapons are easier to manipulate than others, this is considered in their speed. The ranged weapon equivalent is accuracy, Some are simply better than others.

Round down at the end of all calculations.

Melee weapon

To hit skill = Weapon Skill + STR x modifier + DEX x modifier + weapon bonus + size

e.g.

Arming sword is cut and thrust weapon so has a multiplier of 0.5 x Strength and 0.5 x Dexterity

	Strength (2)	x0.5	=1
	Dexterity (1)	x0.5	=0.5
	Total		=1.5

Ranged weapon

To hit skill = Weapon Skill + DEX + weapon accuracy.

Damage changes level at different ranges, the further away the lower the damage (the weapon has slowed).

Hit Location

Roll 1d10 to determine where you hit

Location	Roll
Head	10
Shoulder & upper arms	9
Upper torso	7-8
Lower Torso	4-6
Thighs	2-3
Lower arms / Shins	1

The effect of wounds at a given location is discussed underArmour

Creatures other than standard humanoids may well always attack specific areas of the body according to the creature. Thus rats always attack the lower leg ; flying and tall creatures (>8 feet) tend to avoid the legs, small humanoids (<=4 feet) generally go for the upper legs. Any modifiers for attacking other areas will be dependent upon the specific creature. Only intelligent creatures will choose to attack specific areas, others will simply go for what is easiest to hit.

Modifiers

One or two hands

Weapons which may be used with more than 1 hand gain damage and when used with 1½ or 2 hands. This bonus applies to all weapons hands even if they must be used with 2 hands. If they may be used with either 1 or more hands they are faster with more hands so also get a bonus to hit.

Hands	Damage bonus	To Hit bonus
1½	+d3	+1
2	d3 / +d6	+1

The damage bonus is weapon dependant.

If a weapon can only be used with 2 hands it does not get the "To hit" bonus as it is already calculated.

Aiming / Positioning

The attack system is designed to provide the best compromise between attack and defence. In some circumstances characters may be finding it difficult to hit in which case they may improve their chances by careful aiming (ranged) or setting up a position to attack (melee) in the next round.

Aiming / setting up position

• Miss a round
• +3 to attack

Touch attacks

Priests, wizards and monsters often make touch attacks either to implant a claw in someone's belly or to flow healing forces into a friend.

Multiple Attackers

If multiple creatures attack another one then they make life much simpler as the defender can't watch all of them all the time.

Each character gains +1 attack skill for each attacker (including himself).

Multiple Attacks

Remember that if you perform multiple actions you suffer a skill penalty and your parry skill is based on your attack skill so every extra attack not only suffers -3 to each attack but also -3 to your parry skill.

See the Using Skills section

Flying opponents

If your opponent is flying and capable of staying out of range then your only melee attack opportunity comes when they decide to close the range and attack you. Their parry defence has been adjusted to account for this reduced window of opportunity.

Missiles

At greater than short range missiles cannot be thrown or fired with a flat trajectory. At medium range they need 1/3 height of the range and at long range they need 1/2 the height.

Missile accuracy

Some missile weapons are inherently more accurate than others as they enable a warrior to line up a target before firing. In addition missile weapons have different flight characteristics; a javelin will fly more true than a club. Each missile weapon therefore has a to hit modifier to take account of these factors.

Missile weapons are simply aimed at a man sized object which has a difficulty of 12+ size modifier at short range with a penalty at different distances.

When firing at range the difficulty increases rapidly (by the inverse square law). In addition with hurled weapons applying greater force means that you lose the fine motor control of you muscles reducing your accuracy even further (for simplicity this is not modelled for different ranges but included in the general negative to hit bonus for hurled weapons).

If firing at a packed group rather than an individual it's always counted as short range.

Missile fire into combat

Missile fire into combat is dangerous for both fighting parties . Friendly characters will only fire when the opponent is significantly taller than their friend or they are standing to one side.

The opponent gains a defence bonus of "2 + cover %" according to the percentage covered by the friend.

If the opponent is missed by the bonus to the defence then the friend has been hit for a random amount of damage of 1 to weapon damage rating

Misses

Missiles which miss their mark have to land somewhere. Missiles up to medium range are thrown with force and are travelling in more or less a horizontal direction, at long range however they are lobbed or arced and are travelling at about 45 degrees. Therefore if the missile misses, the final impact point will depend upon the flight arc.

Most missile misses are assumed to have gone sailing harmlessly overhead, stuck in a shield or bounced harmlessly away, however flasks of oil or gas have to land somewhere (though they may not break).

The distance missed by is the amount the skill check failed by multiplied by the miss distance.

The direction missed by is rolled randomly (d12 or arrow die).

Missiles lobbed at a character that miss will land 4' beyond the target + the miss distance (in a random direction)

Hitting specific locations

In general combat between two humanoids fighting with weapons the natural target is the chest area so this is where most protection is generally worn, however some opportunties occur to strike other areas, this is reflected in the location roll on a strike.

It is possible to aim for specific locations and therefore attack weakly protected areas of the opponent. however a skill modifier is applied is dependent upon the area aimed at. The deductions may seem quite severe but then remember that you are opting to not attack a target which presents itself if it is the wrong location. This could well preclude 90% of the body.

Location	Melee Modifier	Missile modifier
Head	-10	-15
Shoulder & upper arms	-3	-10
Upper torso	-4	-8
Lower Torso	-3	-6
Thighs	-2	-8
Lower arms / Shins	-4	-10

Defence

Defence - Melee

In melee a character may either parry a blow, dodge it or be so aggressive that the other creature is always on the defensive. Parrying uses the weapon or shield to block the attacks as the character advances whereas dodging uses athletic ability to get out of the way and the character generally moves backwards. Creatures make opportunistic attacks or ignore the defenders parying either through lack of intelligence or in the belief that their attack is so devestating that the defender will be more concerned with their own safety than attacking.

Fighters will generally use the parry ability and rogues and mages the dodge ability. It is not possible to use both skills at the same time.

The base armour is the armour covering your torso.

Parry ( Attack is the best defence)

The best form af defence is attack. The stronger your attack the less chance the opponent has to create an opening of their own.

The parry skill is a combination of other skills which are learned as the character advances in weapon training. Parrying requires a weapon (or chair leg or something to put in the way of the swinging lump of steel coming towards your head, not your arm unless you want it cut off).

A charater's defence skill (parry) is

Base armour + weapon skill + Alert + Shield + size + 1/2(STR + DEX + weapon bonus )

Dodging instead of parrying

If you do not have a weapon (weapon/shield/chair leg) to threaten or block the opponent with but want to stay within range, perhaps to pummel or make a touch attack you dodge instead, avoiding blows by twisting and turning, In this case you may use your dodge skill instead of your "To Hit" and alertness but suffer a -2 penalty to your defence if you don't have a shield or a substantial weapon (short sword size or larger) to help deflect the blows.

Base armour + Dodge skill + Alert + Shield + size + DEX

Not attacking

Sometimes you may not want to attack but just try to defend yourself without retreating (you are at the edge of a lava pool and have nowhere to go.) In this case you get a bonus to your parry roll.

Whichever defence used method you gain +2

Ranged defence

Anything at a range is easier to miss with a throw than when striking directly, however you may not use any parrying ability instead the characters only defence is size, movement and hiding behind stuff (such as shields). Otherwise the chance to hit depends upon their distance. Most propelled weapons also have a natural bonus due to the speed and ability to hold and aim, this is taken into account in the weapons bonus to hit.

The defence value is given in the missile accuracy table

Note that shields use the ranged shield modifier, not the melee modifier. This is purely dependent upon shield size (i.e. whether you can fit behind it) and not any training.

12 + shield (ranged) + speed + size + range

Scarper

If you are trying to get out of the way and stay out of the way (turn tail and scarper) you

• gain an initiative of 1
• Use the defence +2 for not attacking.

Cover & concealment

A bonus of +1 is give to the defence for each 20% of cover

Cover type	% covered	Bonus
Buckler	10	+1
Med Shield	40	+2
Wall	60	+3
Large Shield	75	+4
Arrow Slit	>95	+10

 

Concealment is where the target is harder to identify but there is little or no hard stuff in the way to stop missiles for example bushes or other undergrowth. Once spotted concealment typically equates to 20% cover

Size Effects

Small creatures although naturally harder to hit have to come into your reach before you come into theirs and thus open theselves up to attack large creatures are conversely harder to hit as their reach is greater so you try to stay out of their way. Of course under a certain size little creatures scurry around nimbly and become harder to hit again.

To avoid overcomplication the defence of all creatures is based on a medium attacker which is calculated into their defence ability. The defending character gains a defence adjustment based upon their size.

Approx Size	Melee / Width	Ranged / Dodge
Miniscule	>= +1	+5
Tiny	-1	+3
Small	-2	+2
Short	-1	+1
Medium	0	0
Big	+1	-1
Huge	+2	-2
Enormous	+3	-3
Giant	+4	-4
Titan	+5	-5

The size melee bonus also applies to the width needed to wield the weapon, each +1 adding a foot. Note that tiny and miniscule creatures use a modifier of -2 feet.

Damage

When a hit is scored the damage a location roll is made to determine if they are wearing armour where you hit. The armour absorbs some portion of the damage and any excess is subtracted from the targets stamina and wound points.

The damage is

1. Roll all the dice indicated
2. Pick the die with the highest value as the damage
3. If two different die sets are indicated (e.g. 2d12 + 2d4), then pick the highest from each set and add them together.
4. Add strength bonus

e.g.

An viking axe used at skill level 3 does d8/d4 damage

A hero point causes either :

1. Double damage
2. Automatic hit (unless aiming for a specific location).
3. +10 to hit

After all damage absorbtion and other effects are calculated every 5th point is taken as a wound point not a stamina point.

Critical Locations

Some creatures are particularly vulnerable in specific critical locations. Humanoids are potentially stunned on head strikes. Other creatures unless otherwise noted suffer double damage.

Critical Roll

Rolling a double 8 is counted as a critical and automatically causes maximum damage. A critical roll on a critical location causes double damximum damage.

Fumble

On a fumble you save on a d10 < fighting level. If you fail then a critial event occurs that benefits the opponent. Alternatively something specific to the scene may occur.

Special Damage

Creatures that cause special damage such as spider poison only do so if they penetrate your armour.

Unarmed Combat

Unarmed combat includes the arts of both brawling and martial arts. Some techniques may be used in either and some only when performing the highly trained martial arts.

Brawling

Brawling is the unsophisticated form of unarmed combat where antagonists use whichever techniques comes to hand, this includes left hook, elbow smash and throwing people against the wall ot thropugh the window. Brawling is (generally) only used where both participents are unarmed.

When brawling you are not yet in close combat then any armed defender gets to

• Strike first
• All hits cause wound points directly.
• May use their normal defence roll (if desired)

(Note that random event may enable the combatents to end up at close quaters range)

Martial artists are trained in the quick attack so suffers no penalties against armed opponents. It also includes locks and holds groin strike, arm lock, neck twist and strangle holds.

Attack types

Knockdown (No damage) (Dexterity / Constitution)

This is an attempt to knock the opponent over by charging at them preferably unawares. Characters need to be running at at least 3x normal speed to have any effect.

Many large creatures will do an overbearing check without realising it in addition to their weapon roll. If a giant hits with a club then the charecter struck is probably flying across the room.

Charge opponent (you have to run or sprint)
If you hit (Brawl vs Dodge) then the damage effect is on the stun table using an opposed roll depending upon your speed & bulk (sort of)

• Run = >10’ (+2)
• Sprint = >20’ (+4)

Brawl+Con+Height diff (3”) + speed
Loser takes difference as stun effect but there is no KO result
If equal both are dazed

Pummelling (Dexterity)

This includes chops, punches kicks and other high impact attacks

• Damage = D2 + Strength (Martial artists damage rises with levels as a normal weapon)
• You can't pummel against metal armour.

Grappling (Dexterity)

Grappling includes takedowns, pins, locks, chokes, throws and escapes. Once a hold is on you may wriggle around to try and improve it. It is more about causing pain and disabling somenone than causing damage, Only the throws cause damage, though locks may break limbs and chokes may render an opponent unconscious.

Grappling is always an opposed action agaist the others brawling roll. If both parties are grappling then they automatically end up in at least a hold. You choose you attack type

Holds

You end up in a mutual standing hold. This is the default if nothing else is successful.

 

Throw (+3)

Throw someone to the ground, against the wall, over the table...

Damage = D2 + stun save

Count as bludgeon for armour

 

Takedown (+3) Martial Artist only

Get someone from a standing to pinned position on the floor. +1 to your attacks

 

Locks (+5) Martial Artist only4

Cause D4 SP each round. Roll once and keep the same damage each round. Will submit when all SP are lost.

The opponent may only make an escape roll.

 

Improve Lock (+4) Martial Artist only

Reroll the damage for a lock. With a successful attack take the higher value.

 

Escape (+4/+2)

Extricate youself from a hold / pin / lock, +2 if opponent is changing their attack (i.e. pin to lock or improve lock).

Standing an escape will seperate the opponents.

On the ground an escape will reverse the roles so the defender is now the pinning attacker.

Holds go last in an attack round but are held from one round to the next and cause the same damage each round unless the opponent makes an escape roll.

Grappled people may still grapple or pummel back. Unlike sports competitions you may freely elbow an opponent in the face or knee them in the vitals.

Once grappled the opponent can no longer use any weapon larger than a dagger as they are too close. If they are so armed it is best to specifically grapple the weapon arm.

Other factors

Movement

During combat characters are assumed to be moving as quick as reasonable possible whilst keeping a look out for what is happening on the battlefield, which results in a speed of approximately 5' per second (or sepment). When moving into battle the strike will occur on the segment given by the initiative roll + the time taken to move into melee If the total is greater than 10, no attack occurs that round.

e.g. A character moves 20 feet into melee taking 4 segments to do so. They roll a 6 initiative: Their attack will therefore be on the

4 + 6 = 10th segment.

If they had rolled a 7 then they would hit in the 11th segment. This means they do not get an attack this round and roll normal initiative next round.

Overruns

It is possible for creatures to force themselves past others by charging at them. The chance depends upon the mass ratio of the creatures. Generally the creatures with the largest momentum will survive the encounter. In the case of many smaller creatures the mass of half the group is used; imagine a pack of dogs pouring down a corridor. It is highly unlikely that even a hero would still be standing at the end.

To stay standing the defender must make a strength roll against the attackers momentum. The attacker modifies this by their momentum calculated as . Each mph or 1 foot height advantage (50% mass advantage) increases the difficulty by 2. The defender bracing decreases the chance by 3.

Creatures lower than knee height cannot overrun a braced character; however they may swarm past.

Knockouts and stunning

Stunning

Bludgeon/chop strikes to the head may stun a cretaure. They are stunned unless an Endurance save Stunned characters get better by 1 place each round (all KO degrade to Knockdown).

Difficulty = 10+SP suffered.

Roll	Effect	Game Effect	Duration
Unlucky	Dazed	-2 on all skills	1 round
Bad	Stunned	-4 on all skills	1 round
Dreadful	Knockdown	-6 on all skills
Appalling	Knocked out	KO then stunned 1 round	KO for 1 round then knockdown
Catastrophic	Knocked out	KO then stunned 1 round	5 minutes

A sword pommel is too unwieldy to knock out a person.

Forcing opponents back

Creatures are only forced back during melee when it is deliberately attempted. The attacker makes a manoeuvre roll against the opponents attack level, for every point over the defender is forced back by 1', for every failure level the attacker loses one from their armour class.

Surprise

If characters are surprised the opponent automatically gain a free attack for each failure level.

Attacks are +2 to hit and +1 damage per failure level.

Each suprise attack reduces the failure level by 1 place

Surprise is a standard (12) Spot saving throw with a bonuses depending on the general level of alertness of the party and ambushers stealth bonus level ( Dex + Covert vs 9).

State of alert	Bonus	Typical situation
Expecting something	0	e.g. dungoneering
Guard duty	-1	first three hours then -2 per additional hour
Normal travel	-2	e.g. horses between places
Totally unexpected	-4	e.g. towns, safe areas

Each character rolls individually. A surprise attack occupies one standard round so if one character is surprised and another not then the unsuprised character may engage the enemy preventing them from getting the free attack on the surprised one however ambushers gain an iniative of 1 plus distance moved. Each attack requires 1 segment and any that are move into the next round are lost.

Cavalry

See the Mounted Combat skill

Evading

Evading a foe by moving past requires a manouver check of 12. If you fail they get a automatic hit and stop you.

Pop-up missile shots

If popping up from cover to take a shot this is three actions, manouver, spot and shoot. Spot difficulty is a 9, failure indicates there was no foe close enough to where you were looking for you to react to. The advantage is that only enemies waiting for you to pop up at that location may target you. They can fire irrespective of initiative.

Sleep

When waking characters from sleep to fight it requires 1/2 round of shaking or a loud noise.

1. Round 1 Waking up - Foe auto hits double damage
2. Round 2 Rising - Foe gets +1d8 to their attack
3. Round 3 Defend - Foe attacks nornmally
4. Round 4+ Normal combat

Spoiling attacks

Most actions require only a single segment to complete. however some such as spells or prayers last for several segments. If a character is in the midst of a multi segment action they may be interrupted and the action spoiled by a successful strike.

Single segment actions may not be normally interrupted as the action will be completed before the attacker could react. This is true even if the character was waiting for a spell, as the total time for of recognition, reaction and flight will always be over 1 second. The only way to spoil a single segment attack is for your initiatives to occur on the same segment. (For simplicity we ignore any flight times here)

Multi segment actions may be spoilt depending upon the distance and readiness of the attacker. The attacker may either be concentrating upon and waiting for the target to start something or has not acted yet during the round. In either case the action must be long enough for a missile to reach them. (We do not ignore flight time here).

If you are not concentrating then a perception roll must be made to notice the movements of the caster. For each segment that the action is performed the perception roll difficulty reduces by one. The perception takes one segment to perform and may be performed each segment until the action is over. Attacks which take a considerable amount of time, such as loading and drawing a bow delay the time of impact accordingly.

Whatever the missile used the flight time takes 1 segment per range unit ignoring point blank

Morale

All NPCs and creatures have morale. Characters determine their own morale, they generally know when to run (that the ones which are still alive). Morale is rolled on 2d10. Each NPC will have their own morale however if their master or leader is present it will be modified by their leadership ability.

Morale will only fail when it looks like the characters side may lose the battle. Morale checks are made in the following circumstances.

• Obviously heavily outgunned after an initial clash
• 50% casualties
• 75% casualties
• Leader killed (-3 on die roll)

When morale fails the amount of failure determines the actions of the characters

Fail by	Action
Unlucky	Disengage and retreat running
Bad	Panic drop weapons in hands and run
Appalling	Throw down weapons and plead for mercy / berserk attack if no escape
Catastrophic	Berserk - will attack anyone in their path of retreat with weapon in hand.

Critical events

Critical events are random events that occur due to the fog of battle. Each round a critical event will may happen when a character has the same initiative as the opposition. The effects are applied to one side the other (rolled randomly ) or both.

The events are (d30):

No.	Event	Description	Affects
1	Armour trouble	Small - Medium helm knocked off	1 character
2	"	Shield damaged ( -1 Def) (New shield required)	1 character
3	"	Shield dropped	1 character
4	"	Armour dented ( -1 Defence)(10% repair cost)	1 character
5	Weapon trouble	Weapon dropped, disarmed.	1 character
6	"	Weapon tangled, string broke.	1 character
7	"	Weapon stuck in opponent	1 character
8	Battlefield damage	Something broken, table / chair
9	"	"
10	Battlefield shifts	5-10 feet in random direction	Local area
11	Close quarters	May enter unarmed combat	Pair of combatents
12	Switch positions	Characters switch positions by 180 degrees	Pair of combatents
13	Item dropped	Drop an item/ has it cut free	1 character
14	Item damaged	Something on belt or backpack hit	1 character
15	Knock down	Spend next round getting up (-5 Def)	1 character
16	Lucky break	+d6 to defence & saves	1 character
17	Lucky opening	+d6 to hit	1 character
18	Really lucky opening	+d10 to hit	1 character
19	Retreat	1 party retreats by 10'	1 party
20	Strike 2	Another strike attempt	1 character
21	Ether flow	+/- d6 to a spell casting attempt	1 character
22	Stymied	No hero points this or next round	Pair of characters
23	Hero point	Additional hero point (must be used this round)	1 party
24	Clash	Both combatents hit	Pair of combatents
25	Befuddled	If attacked; no skill action next round	1 character
26	Wild opening	Both combatents critical(hit for double damage)	Pair of combatents
27	Shield clash	Both combatents miss	Pair of combatents
28	Mount trouble	Rears - Hard skill attempt to stay on.	1 mount
29	"	Bolts - Average skill attempt to stay on.	1 mount
30	Nothing happens