Swords, Slings, and Arrows

This chapter describes the rules for physical combat.

Offense and Damage

Attacks are trait rolls like any other. Damage is determined by the attacker's Brawn and weapon, the mox of the attack roll, and the defender's Protection.

The basic formula goes like this: roll the attacker's Offense and subtract the target's defense to get the mox. Defense is either Dodge or Parry - in most cases, the character will use whichever is higher. If the mox is greater than or equal to zero, the attack hits.

To get the damage, add the mox of the attack roll to the attacker's Brawn and weapon and subtract the victim's Protection. The result is the number of the wounds inflicted. If the victim has Fortune remaining, he may burn some at this time to negate the wounds he would have taken.

A character is not required to use his full strength or weapon value when attacking - he may use the hilt of a dagger or flat of a sword blade to decrease the damage if desired.

Stealth

Surprise attacks can be ugly. If an attacker manages to ambush his target via stealth or guile, the victim does not get the benefit of his Dodge or Parry. The attacker rolls his Offense versus a challenge level of 4. Add this to the challenge number for the range, if any.

Combat Maneuvers

Strike

A strike is a direct attack. It can be done with melee weapons, thrown weapons, missile weapons, or bare hands. Roll Offense vs Defense and determine damage as given above.

If a strike succeeds in inflicting wounds, the attacker may declare that he wishes to disarm, trip, or otherwise affect the opponent in any way less offensive than wounding. Fortune protects against this possibility as well.

Grapple

Initiating a grapple takes one action. To grab an opponent, make a Warrior attack roll versus the target's defense. If successful, the attacker restrains the target. The mox of this roll is used for later damage calculations.

The target's weight is added to the attacker's encumbrance for purposes of movement and trait rolls. A strong character may be able to pick up an enemy and run while a weaker one is limited to a maximum of one space per round, dragging his enemy along.

Once an attacker has successfully grappled a target, he may use subsequent actions to do damage using the mox of the initial grappling roll. Squeezing or choking the restrained victim does damage based on the attacker's Brawn plus the grapple's mox.

The attacker can use elements of the environment as weapons. Slamming or throwing an opponent into a solid floor or wall can be worth anywhere from +1 to +3 depending on the hardness of the material (a wooden floor should hurt less than a stone one). Slamming an opponent into a sharp corner might give an extra +3 on top of this. The exact bonuses for any situation are up to The Adversary.

Slamming or throwing an opponent ends the grapple. If the attacker is aiming his victim at something in particular (a bed of spikes, another enemy) he may need to make an attack roll. Throwing an opponent off a great height is a good way to end a fight.

Upon reaching his initiative, a grappled character may use an action to escape by rolling Brawn or Warrior against the Offense of the grappler plus 7. The Attacker's Offense at this point is based on Brawn or Warrior, whichever is highest. An attempt to escape does no damage to the opponent. If successful, the character breaks free of the fracas.

The grappler may fall prone as a free action. This takes him and his grappled victim to the ground. Should the grapple end, both characters will have to expend an action to get up.

A grab can also be used to disarm an opponent. If this type of grab is successful, the attacker manages to wrench an object out of an opponent's grasp.

The Adversary may wish to give bonuses to a grappler if his mass if greater than his opponents'. The more massive combatant should receive a +3 to grappling rolls for each doubling of mass between he and his opponents, with an additional +1 or +2 if the more massive character is somewhere halfway to the next doubling.

Logic trumps game mechanics, of course. Even if a master wrestler is able to out-wrangle a giant monster despite the mass bonuses, he is still not going to be able to move the thing very far. He will not be able to slam it into the ground for damage bonuses or toss it off a cliff. At best, he can cling to it as it moves around, ignoring him.

The extra mass rule can also be used when multiple characters are trying to work together to pin a single character. Simply add all of the masses together and give the bonus to the character with the best Offense.

Aim and Attack

Spend one action to aim carefully, then attack. Gives +3 to hit.

Haymaker

Spend both actions to lay the smack down on an opponent with a melee attack. Gives +10 damage on a successful hit.

Defense

There are two ways to defend: dodge or parry.

Whether a character is dodging or parrying is usually not important, in game terms - the character may use whichever is better. It only matters when one type of defense is possible, but not the other.

To dodge is to evade an attack with speed (by moving out of the way). Dodging requires no particular equipment and is useful against any attack. The only requirement for a dodge is that there be room to move out of harm's way. There may be rare occasions where a character could use a block to evade harm, but not a dodge (a hail of arrows, perhaps).

To parry is to deflect an attack with force and skill. Not every attack can be parried. In a gritty game, The Adversary may assign a penalties to warriors who try to block axes and arrows with a dagger or siege engines with a shield. In a cinematic game, he may assign a bonus for the same foolishness.

Characters can also choose to block attacks aimed at a friend, so long as that friend is not more than a few steps away. Each one of these "assisted blocks" count as an action, however.

Adventurers may expend one action for +3 to Dodge and Parry for the round, or both actions for a +6.

Area attacks

Most attacks are directed at a single individual. The attacker aims, fires, and hits or misses based on his offensive trait and the defensive trait of his target.

Some attacks, however, are directed not at a person, but at a place. To hit a particular area, an attacker need only roll greater than 4 plus the ranged challenge level.

If a character is hit by an area attack that covers more than one space, he may attempt an Athlete roll to dodge out of the way. The challenge level is based on how far the victim must move to get out of the affected area - 5 per space moved.

This assumes that the attack was directed at the general area, not the individual - area attacks directed at an individual are resolved as normal attacks, but with bonuses to the attack roll for the size of the area.

Animals and Mounted Combat

Animals are characters just like any other. They have traits, damage metrics, and natural weapons. They often have better Brawn and movement rates than humans.

Mounts allow characters to move much faster than they can on their own two feet. Movement rules are the same for mounted characters as running characters, except that horses can move twice as fast as human beings and can haul much more gear without being slowed.

Animals are controlled by The Adversary, even those on the side of the player. If a Ranger has spent time training an animal, then it should obey his commands in most cases. Combat is a chaotic environment, however; it may be necessary to roll Ranger to make creatures obey. It helps if the animal has been specifically trained for fighting.

If a character is hit by an attack while mounted, he must make a Ranger roll to keep his seat. The challenge level should be equal to the amount of damage done by the attack before Protection is applied.

Note that a mount can be attacked as easily as its rider.