Combat Sytem Basics

Combat

Combat is a great source of dramatic conflict and exciting action. Every Attribute and almost any skill can mean the difference between victory and defeat, but certain skills play a larger role than others.

Time

Combat is broken down into segments of time called rounds. Each round of combat represents an arbitrary amount of time that may vary between settings or even between scenes. In a high-powered wuxia epic a single combat round might represent less than a second of lightning fast exchanges or several hours of epic balletic fencing between skilled xia swordsmen. Regardless of its length, a round is a round and limits the number of actions a character can take at one time. The entire combat is one scene regardless of the number of rounds it takes. Each round, a character decides how many actions they will attempt and then rolls for them. Performing more than one action incurs a Multiple Action Penalty of -1D to all actions for each action after the first. That means a character who attempts two actions will have a -1D penalty to both, three actions will have a -2D penalty to each, four actions will have a -3D penalty to all of them, and so on. The most common combat actions involve using the Fighting, Shooting, or Athletics skills to attack or maneuver into advantageous positions, but other skills can also prove useful to the creative combatant.

Space and Movement

The space in which a combat scene takes place is measured in Areas. Each Area represents an arbitrary zone of action appropriate to the scale of the conflict. In an epic battle between four-color cosmic superheroes, an Area might be a city block; in a gritty life and death struggle between petty thieves in a dark fantasy world, an Area might be a narrow alley or a single room; and, in a battle between attack ships off the shoulder of Orion, an Area could be sectors of space measuring thousands of kilometers across. Regardless of the scale, the system works the same way.

[This system is remarkably similar to Zones in Fate but I first thought of it a couple years ago and only got around to reading a copy of Fate a few months ago. My original idea was to do "mapping" in the form of a flow chart instead of precise grids: this room is connected to that room which has a window to the garden, etc.]

As a combat scene progresses, the areas may change. How quickly a character may change positions is based on a movement skill roll. In most cases, a character would make an Athletics roll to determine the number of contiguous Areas they can move through in one round (i.e. with one success, they can move to the next Area). Some Areas may count as more than one for the purposes of some forms of movement (e.g. an old factory floor covered in oil and rusted debris might require two successes per Area to move through on foot, while an active wind tunnel might require more successes to move through while flying). Obstacles between Areas may require a minimum number of successes in order to pass. For example: climbing over a wall or jumping across a gap would simply require more Athletics successes to move but squeezing through a narrow opening might require a Finesse roll and running a gauntlet of armed opponents would require a Fighting roll.

For example: Jason, Molly, and Raph are in possession of a locked iron-bound book that contains a diary and travel log of an explorer who recently died of a terrible fever after returning from a long voyage. In his final feverish ranting, he claimed to have been to an island where the natives used sapphires as a common decoration because their island was strewn with them. If this is true and the diary can be decoded, the country or trading company that can lay claim to that island will be incredibly wealthy. The three companions stole it from the Estuary Trading Company, the dead explorer's former employer, and are hiding out in a seedy inn near the docks while they wait to hear from a contact who can help them sell it off to the highest bidder. Captain Tagget from ETC arrives at the inn with a squad of rough muscle and spots Jason while he's getting a tray of food from the innkeeper in the common room. Jason throws a bowl of hot chowder at the ETC men and runs down the hall into the room where Molly and Raph are sitting. In the beginning of the combat scene, there are only two defined Areas: a room and the hallway outside. A brute bashes down the door and Jason and Molly have drawn blades and decide to block the doorway to hold off the ETC goons while Raph tries to pry open the boarded up rear window that opens on the alley behind the inn. Because a melee has developed around the doorway between the two previously defined areas (and those involved are no longer free to roam about the room or the hallway), “the doorway” is now defined as a separate Area. This means that any ranged attacks between the room and the hallway (such as Captain Tagget attempting a pistol shot at Raph) would be more difficult because of the melee blocking the doorway. Anyone who wants to move from the room to the hallway would need to get past the characters fighting in the doorway but until they go into the area of the doorway, they will be out of melee reach of the characters fighting there. If the melee in the doorway ends and the cluster of characters there breaks up, “the doorway” will cease to be a separate area and movement between the room and the hallway will be much easier. Any goons that want to force their way past Molly and Jason will have to make a roll opposed by their Fighting checks. Once Raph has pried a board or two loose from the window, he will have to make a Finesse roll to squeeze through the opening. The alley outside will be another Area.

Seizing the Initiative

Actions within a round are resolved in whichever order makes appropriate sense. If it is necessary to know which of two actions occurs first (such as when two characters try to hit each other in the same round), then the action that rolls more successes is considered to be first. If a character is desperate to act first, they may attempt to Seize the Initiative which is an action using the lower of the character's Finesse or Will. Seizing the Initiative is considered an action and incurs the Multiple Action Penalty, but successes on this attribute roll are added to the character's first action in the round for purposes of determining its speed (only). This results in a faster but less accurate action.

Melee Attacks

Melee attacks (using hand-held weapons like swords, knives, spears, etc. or bare hands) are performed with the Fighting skill. The difficulty is based on the Defense rating of the target. Defense is a static value equal to the rating in the target's Fighting skill. Talents (such as a swordsman with a Talent for parrying) and equipment (such as a shield) may also alter a character's Defense value.

Ranged Attacks

Ranged attacks are usually made using the Shooting skill (for projectile weapons like guns or bows) or Athletics (for thrown weapons like knives, spears, or rocks). The difficulty is equal to the number of Areas between the attacker and the target, including the Areas both are in. For example, the difficulty to hit a target in an adjacent Area is 2 (one for the shooter's Area and one for the target's Area) and the difficulty to hit a target two Areas away would be 3. The exception to this rule is when shooting at a target within the same Area: in this case, the defender is close enough to duck and dodge the attack so ranged attacks within the same Area are opposed by the target's Defense rating if the target is aware of the attack. Making a ranged attack against a target in the same Area that doesn't see the attack coming has a difficulty of 1.

Complications

Combat can be a very complex and frustrating affair that rarely works as smoothly as it does in training. Rain or wind can make ranged attacks more difficult. Slippery or uneven ground can make movement or melee attacks more difficult. Fighting while in a narrow passage or being grappled can make it very difficult to bring a weapon to bear. These kinds of complications are represented by a -1D penalty to the affected actions. Another common complication is limited range of visibility, which can be caused by darkness, fog, snow, wind-blown sand, or simply fighting in an area with many obstacles and walls (like most indoor locations) that limit line of sight. Limited visibility is represented by setting a maximum range for perception or ranged attacks.

Grappling

[In progress]

Damage

The damage of a melee attack is equal to a character's Might attribute (+1D for using a weapon). The damage of a ranged attack varies according to the type of weapon: thrown objects or muscle-powered missile weapons (like slings and bows) do damage like melee weapons (the character's Might +1D) while weapons independent of the user's strength (like guns or crossbows) have their own damage code. The damage roll can be boosted by Advantage from the attack roll, but damage rolls are not considered to be actions by the character and do not incur the Multiple Action Penalty (it may help to remember this point by thinking of “Damage” as the weapon's action instead of the character's). The difficulty of the damage roll is the target's Toughness. Toughness is a static value equal to the target's Might attribute and can be boosted by Talents or Equipment. Basic success on a damage roll causes the target to be Stunned and additional successes cause wounds. If the target is already Stunned, the damage successes go straight to wounds. Major characters such as PCs and important NPCs can be wounded multiple times before being put out of action but minor characters are more easily dispatched and put out of action with a single wound.

Stunned

The lowest level of damage that a character can take is called “Stunned”. A character who is stunned is in pain, shocked, physically off-balance or just quite mentally unprepared to act or react well. A character can be Stunned by a damaging attack or by a social or mental action used against them that distracts them or otherwise interferes with their defenses in combat (See “Maneuvers” and “Duels of Wits”). While a character is Stunned, they have a -1D penalty to all actions and they cannot attempt to move from their current Area. A Stunned character remains Stunned until one of the following conditions are met:

• The character makes an Attribute roll to recover (this roll is subject to penalties including the -1D for being Stunned). Any Attribute can be used if the player can justify it with a description of how they are overcoming the Stun. A character might use Might to shake off physical blows through sheer toughness and bulk. A dedicated character might use Will to take a deep breath, shake their head, and grit their teeth through the pain. A martial artist might use Finesse to perform a quick series of sweeping blocks, shadowboxing punches, or shifts in stance to refocus their mind and regain their balance. A very Cunning character might reassess their situation and realize they can improve their position by shifting their weight to favor their other leg, grabbing a piece of scenery for additional support, or other tactical adjustment. Some Attributes are inappropriate for certain situations (e.g. it doesn't make much sense to use Might to “walk it off” when Stunned by a Social skill) so the GM and other players may veto some rolls.
• The character spends a Drama point to automatically recover
• The character spends an undisturbed round performing no actions: the character must do nothing but gather their wits and recover their balance while not being subjected to any further Stunning or damaging attacks
• The scene ends: The Stunned condition is automatically eliminated after each scene when the characters have a chance to catch their breath.

Wounds

Although characters can recover from the Stunned condition during combat, wounds generally remain until healed. The rate of natural healing will vary between settings and the level of medical care. Each level of injury imposes a -1D penalty to all actions. When a character is Mortally Wounded, they are in danger of dying. This level of danger can vary according to the setting:

• Gritty: Major characters are incapacitated by being mortally wounded and any additional wounds will kill them. They may make a Will roll each round to remain conscious but cannot perform any strenuous actions. Until they benefit from a successful Healing roll to stabilize them, they must make a Might roll each round or die. Minor characters are killed by wounds.
• Cinematic: A mortally wounded major character can make a Might or Will roll or spend a Drama point to force themselves to keep going. Any further wounds will incapacitate them and they will die at the end of the scene if they are not stabilized either by making a Might roll or benefiting from a successful Healing roll. Minor characters are incapacitated by wounds and will die if not stabilized at the end of the scene.
• Epic: Major characters are not incapacitated by Mortal Wounds and can automatically stabilize themselves by making a Might or Will roll or spending a Drama point. Any further wounds will not kill them if they can stabilize again. A tough or stubborn major character can survive incredible hardships that would kill a normal person many times over. Minor characters in an Epic setting tend to be treated the same as in Gritty settings and are cut down like dry grass by the major characters.