Combat

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Characters are going to come into conflict with others at some point. Sometimes this will result in combat.

Basic Rules

  1. A combat round has 3 phases: Pre-combat, Combat, Post-combat.
  2. Declare Pre-combat abilities: Players may activate abilities which can be used during the Pre-combat phase.
  3. Combat: Players roll a skill which they are able to use during combat, either the Martial skill or a skill for which the character has a trait stating it can be used for combat, such as Arcane Blast for Spellcasting. The default TN is 10. A PC who meets or exceeds the TN passes the combat with no other consequences, a PC who rolls below the TN takes 10 hp damage per point below the TN. This means a PC rolling an 8 on a combat roll will take 20 hp of damage if the TN is 10.
  4. Use Post-combat abilities: Players are able to declare the use of Post-combat abilities during this phase.

Rounds

Most combats against NPCs only takes one round to resolve, this is meant to keep combat quick and focus on character roleplay rather than having to write a dozen different ways to perform one's most common attacks over and over. Combat against large enemy forces or a particularly powerful opponent may take more than one round. If a combat can not be resolved in three rounds or less, it is likely what the PCs are going up against is too powerful for the resources the PCs have at their disposal. An example of something too big for PCs to wholly defeat is a mercenary company with only a few people, but a round of combat may be enough to buy the PCs an opening so they can flee or execute a plan which required going through a small part of that force.

Most of the time, a round represents a few minutes of fighting, but the length of a round is intentionally somewhat vague, depending more on the narrative's needs than a specific amount of time.

Combat Between PCs

  1. Combat proceeds according to the basic rules unless otherwise noted.
  2. All PCs will roll a combat ability. The default TN is 10.
  3. If one side has more PCs on it than the other, the side which is outnumbered has +2 to their TN needed to hit per PC by which they are outnumbered. That is to say if there is 1 PC going up against 3 PCs, the side with 3 PCs will roll against a TN of 10 while the side with 1 PC will roll against a TN of 14 (10+2+2). It should be noted this means while an outnumbered PC is at a disadvantage, that PC is still reasonably likely to damage the other side.
  4. When a PC drops to 0 hp, they are not yet dead. To kill a PC, another PC must use the Lethal Intent ability of Inner Focus. Regardless of any other factors, if Lethal Intent is not used the PC at 0 hp survives, somehow. How this occurs may take a variety of forms but they will survive the situation (so no simply capturing them with the intent to render them helpless and using Lethal Intent later).

Town Guard Rules

Town guard, militia, angry mobs, and so on represent NPCs who respond to PCs inflicting violence or otherwise causing trouble in a settled area the locals would feel a need to object to. For the purpose of these rules, they are included when town guard are mentioned.

  1. Under normal circumstances after the third round of combat, PCs will have the chance to leave or otherwise escape. After this the town guard will be present. Should the number of rounds before the town guard arrives be anything other than three, the PCs should be told at the beginning of the situation.
  2. If PCs are in conflict with each other and still present after given an opportunity to escape after the third round, the town guard will aim to stop the fight.
  3. The town guard arrives in sufficient numbers and force to contend with the abilities of PCs. The intention is once they arrive the PCs do not try to defeat them, but try to escape from them. For example a PC may need a fourth round to accomplish a goal, they will have to contend with the town guard for a round while doing this but can escape after that rather than try to defeat them.
  4. All PCs still in combat after the town guard arrive need to roll against a TN of 14 to avoid taking combat damage from the town guard. This is a high TN, it is intentional.
  5. After each round after the town guard arrives PCs will have the opportunity to escape or flee again.
  6. Attempts to leave, escape, or flee the town guard starting from the end of the first round (so if a PC fights in the third round and then escapes they qualify for this as well) can trigger a chase sequence with the town guard, depending on how much trouble the PCs were causing and how much priority the town guard has on capturing or killing the PCs. Chase sequences will be at lower TNs, often a TN of 8-10, to represent how evading the town guard is far easier than fighting them directly.
  7. While town guard can be killed or restrained with massive damage spells such as Gravity and Barrage, it should be noted these are truly massive spells which have a huge impact on any civilized area. Those who are caught using these spells to escape town guard can often expect far more severe repercussions in the long term.
  8. Should in the rare case a PC survive three rounds against the town guard, the town guard can be considered fully defeated. This will almost certainly have serious consequences for a settlement. It should be noted, however, that this does not mean all of the town guard were killed. Before a fight with town guard gets to this point a couple members of the town guard will leave to report to someone with the ability to bring more force to bear. While the consequences for PCs may not be immediate, defeating a town guard to this degree will make them outlaws in the region they are in.