Combat & Tiers

When encountering a monster, or some bandits on the road ... or in other circumstances, you might be forced into combat. Sometimes a monster can ambush you, getting a free action against you, sometimes you might find a trail and be the one having the advantage, but often enough, both parties begin combat at the same time.

Initiative is rolled when combat begins. Initiative is a simple 1D20+<WITS> roll, and the higher the roll, the more alert a character is, acting sooner, rather than later. Should two rolls be the same, then the characters act at the same time - which could, in a worst case, lead to a double K.O.

## Tiers

The various participants are placed on the Battle Board. This is not a 2D-Board like a Chess-Board, but rather very one-dimensional:

```
[ 3] - Bushes
[ 2] -
[ 1] - Spider
[ 0] -
[-1] - Blake (A character)

```

The numbers at the front are a representation of Tiers. Some Weapons have a range of 0 Tiers, and Blake would need to move closer to the Spider to do actual damage. Other Weapons have a range of 2-9, that means that Blake could hit the Spider, but if it moved to Tier [0], that Weapon would be useless.

Each Tier has 5 Altitudes, though instead of numbers these are presented as (from order of lowest to highest): Subterranean (Sub), Underground (Und), Ground (), Hover (Hov) and Flight (Fly).  Unless any on the battleboard access the extra altitudes there is no need to note them. Moving altitude follows the same rules as normal movement, however in order to access Hov and Fly you must be Airborne and to access Und and Sub you must be Burrowing. These Positions will be noted in the Battle Board in Brackets behind the Player's Name.

You could, basically, imagine the battle in a Side-View:

```

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With B for Blake and S for Spider

```

## Combat

In Combat, Players have a Standard Action, a Bonus Action and Free Actions.

A Standard Action would be either to

* Move (1 Tier, unless they have an ability or trait that changes this),
* Attack,
* Initiate a Grapple,
* Cast a Spell, or
* Speak in Character (up to 20 Words).

A Bonus Action would be either to

* Use a readied Consumable (need to be in a Pouch or Bandolier),
* Speak in Character (up to 20 Words),
* Draw a readied Weapon, or
* use an Ability that explicitly states the use of a Bonus Action.

A Free Action would be to Speak in Character (up to 5 Words) - like barking a quick order.

A character also gets one Reaction, that is they can't react to two enemies in the same turn, but they can react to one of them. Some abilities state that they will work on a reaction, like casting a Counter Spell while the enemy is casting an attack spell.

Abilities and Spells will sometimes state they last for as long as Concentration is kept. Concentration is kept when the following criteria are met:

* A Standard Action is spent for every turn you wish to keep the ability/spell up
* Any cost per turn is paid.
* You do not take damage from any source.
* You are not forcibly moved in any way.
* You keep line of sight on your target.

### Grapple

This skill will be used to initiate a grapple with another target, when the attacker initiates a grapple the defender chooses to either meet the challenge or attempt to push them off.

#### Meet the Challenge

When the roll off is made, whomever rolls the highest is considered to be the ‘Grappler’, and the other the ‘Grappled’. The Grappler can disengage the Grappled at any point, but the Grappled must succeed in a roll off of the Grappler’s Athletics check vs the Grappled’s Athletics check to become the Grappler instead. They may then disengage as stated above. Or they can attempt to use an Escape Artist check against their Athletics to instantly escape and disengage.

#### Push Off

When the attempt is made, the defender may choose to use Acrobatics to avoid the attempt.

### Standard Attack

First declare your target. So long as they are in range you roll to hit (1D20+<DEX>). If your roll exceeds the target's PD, you hit and roll the damage dice that your weapon indicates, adding <STR> to the damage. Unless otherwise stated, should at least one of the dice land on the highest value possible, one dice cascades - that means it is rolled again, and the number added to the rest of the damage (See Universal Damage Rules).

### Move on the Battleboard

Unless otherwise stated, you move 1 Tier on the Battleboard in either direction. If you must travel through a tier that is inhabited by another combatant, you must contest their Push Check with your own Push or Acrobatics Check to proceed. If you fail, you end your turn on their tier.

### Cast a Spell/Use an Ability

You must have target(s) for the ability or spell you wish to use, and the resource to use to cast it. You then follow the description of the ability or spell. Damaging spells will need to roll their magic to hit (1D20+<INT>), and the roll has to exceed the target's MD. Damage is then rolled according to the Spells' listed damage, with the same cascading rule applied as for the Standard Attack.

## Damage Types

All Damage contains Realm and Type to dictate how it interacts with the target. Realm is the ‘flavour’ of the strike, and can be from any of the Realms of Power or simply just ‘Mundane’. The Realm can increase or decrease the effectiveness against specific targets, for instance certain spiritual enemies may well only be able to be hit by spells or Piety Realm weapons.
Damage type is dictated by the nature of the weapon, (typically spells do not use Damage type, but a Realm only), and are classified as ‘Slash’, ‘Pierce’ and ‘Blunt’ along with their magnitude.

Some of the many effects you may find in the world can also only be done by certain damage types, so having a variety of weapons available for different circumstances is the preparation of a true adventurer!

### Slash

Slashing damage is cuts from blades and hatchets. It is best to be used against flesh, so the less armoured your target is the better. Because of this Slashing is often seen as the most damaging of the three Physical damage types, but against armoured targets it tends to be sketchy in its effectiveness. The extra damage so long as the weapon does not hit armour points is noted next to the Damage type.

### Blunt

Blunt damage is impact from war hammers and maces. It is effective against armour, and as such you will find it has an easier time hitting those in armour than the other damage types do. Because of this it does not damage as much as the other two, and is often seen as the niche damage type. The amount of PD that the weapon ignores is noted next to the Damage type.

### Pierce

Pierce damage is done primarily by ranged weaponry, but some swords or daggers are also capable of it. Piercing is seen as the middle ground between Slash and Blunt, but moreover it is used to get around DR effects. Piercing damage is good against armour and other effects that reduce the damage done by physical means. The amount of DR it ignores when it hits is noted next to the damage type.

Damage will be presented as such: 20 [Mundane] Slashing 5 or 30 Fire [Blunt] 3.

## Universal Damage Rules

When you roll for damage and roll the maximum value on any one die, you may roll that die again and add the result to the damage pool. This is known as Cascading dice, and you may not do it more than once per attack.
When a character reaches 0 health, they fall unconscious. Every turn they are unconscious they lose 1 additional health, when they reach half their maximum health (rounded down) in the negatives, they die.

## Defense

A character's defense is more or less automatic, and dependent on their Stats, as well as their armour, and whether they're using a shield or not.

The Physical Defense (PD) is determined like this:

PD = Armour's PD + Modifiers

The armour may then reduce the amount of damage received (Physical Damage Reduction PDR), reducing first the Armour's Armour Point Value APV, and then the character's HP. If the Armour's APV hits 0, it is considered broken, and any protection as well as bonuses it grants to the character, are lost - until it is repaired or replaced.

In case of broken armour, the character has still his or her Natural PD:

Nat. PD = 5 + <DEX> + Modifiers.

In case of Magical Defense (MD), unless the armour comes with it's own MD, the MD is determined by

MD = <AFI> + Modifiers.

Some Traits or Armours may specify Magic Damage Reduction (MDR), which is substracted from any damage received.