Conflict is a very broad term for the intersection of opposing goals. Yes, it’s often reflected as flashing swords, sizzling spells and plain old kill the opposition. Role-playing games have to emulate the chaos of battle and establish ground rules for resolving it with or without the pretend bloodshed. There is such a thing as social conflict, involving debate, negotiation and persuasion but that’s a nuance we may explore much later.

Combat is often the most complex part of RPG mechanics with large page counts dedicated to the general sequence of action, specific actions, attack modes, defense methods, inflicting damage and recovering from injury. Then there’s inflicted conditions, tactical positioning and all manner of other complications.

I will attempt to present a set of fairly basic combat mechanics.

I purposefully left Damage and Health out of this post because that’s one of the parts with which we previously struggled. I want to work through those two details more deliberately as a separate post.

Surprise Round (if applicable) 

This is for when the conflict is completely unexpected or properly hidden.

  • Each character rolls Wit + Notice
  • Threshold of 3 or the Ambushers Stealth Talent value

Success means the character can take actions as normal

Initiative 

This option provides a base 33% chance of ‘winning’ initiative to all players.

  • All Players roll 1D6.
  • Five and above takes actions at the Top of the Turn.
  • Four and lower take actions at the Bottom of the Turn.

Holding your action in this option allows you to shift to the opposite sequence for a single turn.

Examples:

  1. Player rolls Bottom of the initiative. They can Hold their action and take action at the Top of the NEXT turn. The following turn they reset to the Bottom.
  2. Player rolls Top of the initiative. They can Hold their action till the Bottom cycle of the same Turn. The following Turn they rest to the Top.

GM controlled creatures and characters always go between Top and Bottom.

Action Economy 

During your Turn you can take the following actions.

  • ONE Primary Action per Turn
  • ONE Minor Action per Turn
  • Unlimited Free Actions per Turn

Repeat 

Start at the top of the initiative cycle and continue until combat is resolved.

Making Attacks 

  • Melee Attack: Roll Body + Strike vs. target’s Defense
  • Ranged Attack: Roll Speed + Precision vs. target’s Defense
  • Damage: Equal to the total successes rolled.

Critical Hit: Exploding Wild Die and you successfully hit, double the Damage.

Critical Failure: Imploding Wild Die AND you miss the attack, trigger a complication

Potential Complications

  • Drop your weapon (requires an action to pick up)
  • Slip/Trip and Fall prone (requires half movement to stand)
  • Hit ally if one is adjacent (deal damage normally)
  • Weapon jams/breaks (minor repair needed)

Defense 

A character’s Defense is the number of successes required to hit them.

Defense Calculation 

  • Speed (+/- Armor)
  • Unarmored, dodging, tumbling, aware of attacker, etc

Armor 

Armor increases Defense by a flat value based on weight.

  • Light +1
  • Medium +2
  • Heavy +3

Armor Penalties 

Armor impacts a character’s mobility. It’s heavy, bulky, awkward and uncomfortable.

A character’s Speed Attribute for Defense is reduced by the Armor Value, reflecting a reliance on armor over mobility to defend yourself.

The armor value reduces the Attribute + Talent Dice Pool for movement and mystical actions like athletics, acrobatics and casting spells. Some Professions mitigate this impact through perks and abilities.

Shields 

Shields provides the benefit of partial cover to the wielder.

  • Bulwark – While standing adjacent to an ally who is also wielding a shield, your partial cover becomes full cover.
  • Shield Bash – Use your shield as a weapon to strike an opponent. This eliminates any defensive benefits provided by the shield.

Medium and Large shields require 1 hand to operate effectively. Characters cannot use a heavy, great or two-handed weapon while using a shield.

Combat Actions

  • Attack: Make a Strike or Precision attack roll
  • Cast/Activate: Use a special ability, spell, or device (timing may vary)
  • Dash: Double your movement this turn, no other action
  • Defend: Gain +2 Defense until your next turn
  • Help: Give an ally advantage on their next check
  • Ready/Hold: Prepare an action triggered by a specific condition or take your action at the end of a Turn
  • Use Item: Apply medicine, drink potion, activate device

Move Actions:

  • Move: Travel up to your speed (30 feet/6 squares normally)
  • Stand: Get up from prone (costs half movement)
  • Mount/Dismount: Get on or off a vehicle or mount (costs half movement)

Reactions:

  • Opportunity Attack: Attack an enemy that moves away from you in melee
  • Save vs Effect: Resist or avoid spell effects, traps or other unexpected dangers
  • Triggered Ability: Some special abilities can be used as reactions

Combat Conditions

  • Prone: -2 to melee attacks, ranged attacks against you have disadvantage, melee attacks against you have advantage
  • Restrained: Cannot move, disadvantage on attacks, advantage for attackers
  • Stunned: Cannot take actions or reactions, automatically fail defense rolls
  • Blinded: Cannot see, disadvantage on attacks, advantage for attackers
  • Frightened: Disadvantage on all checks while source of fear is visible
  • Exhausted: Disadvantage on all checks, movement halved (recovered by full rest)

Cover & Positioning

  • Partial Cover: +2 Defense (half behind object)
  • Full Cover: Cannot be targeted (completely behind object)
  • High Ground: +1 to ranged attacks from elevated position
  • Flanking: If you and an ally are on opposite sides of enemy, both gain advantage on melee attacks

That’s my quick and dirty version of Combat mechanics. Without the Health and Damage rules there’s really no teeth yet so we will cover those in the next post.