Combat

Combat Step By Step

1.        Check for surprise

2.        Roll for Grit

3.        Roll for Initiative

4.        Take turns until combat ends.

Check for Surprise

When combat begins, the Referee checks for surprise. All parties to the combat make a Wisdom check using the highest score from each party.

Any group that fails this save is surprised, losing their first turns in combat.

Sometimes a group is using stealth. A group using stealth makes a Dexterity check using the lowest score from the group. The degree of success is the obstacle for the other groups’ Wisdom saves.

Roll for Grit

All parties that are not surprised roll their Grit die and record the result in their Grit points. Any surprised parties roll Grit at the beginning of the next round.

Roll for Initiative

To determine the order of turns, the players roll initiative. Each player makes a Dexterity check. The players who succeed go before the monsters. The players who fail go after the monsters.

Taking Turns

On each combatant’s turn, they may take two actions. When it is not their turn, they may take a reaction by spending a Grit point. Combatants continue taking turns until one side surrenders or is eviscerated.

Actions

×           Attack (Melee, Melee (Pole), Missile)

×           Move (Walk, Run, Shift)

×           Cast a Spell

×           Use an Item

×           Search the Area

×           Hide

×           Improvise (any action not on this list)

Free Actions

There are some things a character can do without an action such as drawing a sword, wielding a shield, shouting orders, insulting their opponents, or any other minor action. Your character can do as many of these things as the Referee will allow in a turn.

Reactions

When it is not your turn, you can make a reaction by spending a Grit point. There are three common reactions that every character can take:

×           Dodge

×           Block

×           Opportunity Attack

You can improvise reactions by negotiating with the Referee.

Dodge and Block

When you Dodge, make a Dexterity check. Add the DoS to your Armor score against this attack. 

When you Block, make a Strength check. Add the DoS to your Armor score against this attack.

If a Dodge or Block raises your armor to an amount greater than or equal to the attacker’s attribute score, it is a Slip or a Parry, respectively.

When you Slip, move one unit and attack with advantage against your opponent. 

When you Parry, attack with advantage against your opponent and push them one unit away from you.

You cannot Slip or Parry a Missile attack. You cannot Parry a Melee (Pole) attack.

Opportunity Attack

Unless they were previously hidden, when an opponent moves out of melee range with you, you may make an attack against them by spending a Grit point.

Unless they were previously hidden, if an opponent moves out of cover into your line of sight, you may make an attack against them by spending a Grit point.

Damage

When an attack roll is made, the DoS is the damage for the attack.

Criticals

Whenever a character gains a Wound from a critical hit (att.) or rolls a critical fumble (20), roll on the appropriate table. (the critical hit and fumble tables are not yet complete)

Armor

An unarmored combatant has an Armor score of 0. Light Armor has Armor score 1, Medium Armor has 2, and Heavy Armor has 4. When you Dodge or Block, you are adding the DoS to your Armor score.

Firing into Melee

When firing a missile into melee combat, you cannot be certain that you will hit your target. The Referee rolls a die that best matches the number of participants in the melee to randomly determine which one you hit.

Casting in Combat

When casting spells in combat, you can be interrupted by damage. Whenever you take damage while casting a spell or concentrating on a spell, make a spellcasting check in addition to your Wound check with the damage dealt for the obstacle. If you fail, you lose the spell. This counts as a spell failure.

Wounds

Whenever you take damage, make a Constitution check. The damage is the obstacle. If you fail, you gain a Wound. If you succeed, you lose Grit points equal to the damage.

If you take damage and you have no Grit points, you automatically gain a Wound.

When you reach your wound limit, you die.

Adrenaline

Whenever you gain a Wound, you gain an adrenaline point. When each round starts, you gain Grit points equal to your adrenaline points.

Massive Damage

Each wound is worth an amount of damage equal to your Constitution score. If you take damage equal to your Constitution score, you automatically gain a wound.

Any damage that is taken more than your Constitution score is either checked against with a Wound check or causes further automatic Wounds.

For example, if your character’s Constitution score is 18 and they take 40 damage, they will gain two Wounds automatically and make a Constitution check with 4 (40 – 18 – 18) as the obstacle.

Actions Explained

Move

Walk

You move up to your speed in units.

Run

You move up to double your speed in units. Opportunity Attacks made against you have advantage.

Shift

You move up to half your speed in units. Opportunity Attacks made against you have disadvantage.

Attack

Attack, Melee

You attack one target within one unit of you. Strength check. Requires a melee weapon (includes fists).

Attack, Melee (Pole)

You attack one target within 2 units of you. Strength check. Requires a pole weapon.

Attack, Missile

You attack one target that is at least three units away from you. Dexterity check. If the target is more than your Dexterity in units away, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. If they are more than double your Dexterity in units away, you automatically fail.

Cast a Spell

You cast one spell from your list of prepared spells. Refer to the spellcasting rules.

Use an Item

With this action you can drink a potion, light a torch, pull a lever, etc. The referee may require an attribute check.

Help an Ally

You may assist a nearby ally, giving them advantage on the task that you helped them with.

Hide

Make a Dexterity check in cover to attempt to hide. You cannot hide when you are in line of sight of an opponent.

Improvising Actions

If your character wants to do something not covered by the action list, negotiate with the Referee to create an action that will satisfy what your character wants to do. This is usually no more complicated than proposing what you want to do and the referee saying “yes” or “yes, but…”.

Combat’s Aftermath

Combat has consequences. Listed here are rules for what happens when combat ends.

Injuries

When combat ends, you lose all adrenaline points and gain an Injury per the Injury Generation Table for each adrenaline point you lost.

Bandaging

If your character has any new Wounds at the end of a combat, they must spend 1 Turn bandaging. If they do not, they have disadvantage on all Wound checks until bandaging is completed.

Disposal of Bodies

Unless you want your character to leave obvious traces and likely be hated by all people, you need to dispose of the bodies they leave behind. It takes 1 Turn to dispose of 10 bodies.

Healing

Each wound takes one full day of rest to heal. The time an injury takes to heal is described by its duration (hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years), given on the injury generation table. Characters make a Constitution check each time the duration passes. If they succeed three times, the injury is healed. If they fail three times, the injury becomes permanent.