Combat Rules

## Initiative

Initiative determines the order of battle. When a battle begins, all combatants roll 1d10 + **Initiative** skill. Combatants act from highest to lowest.

Combatants can freely delay their initiative to later in the fight, they then use the initiative they decided to act on instead of their normal initiative for the remainder of the combat.

Remember that a natural 1 gives -5 to the total and a natural 10 gives +5.

## Surprise

If an opponent is surprised they still roll initiative but automatically lose initiative to combatants who are not surprised. Any surprised combatants will act only after all unsurprised combatants have acted.

## Opposed Initiative

Some combat or non combat situations might call for an opposed **Initiative** Check, such as to grab an item, pull a level or open/close a door the fastest. This follows the guidelines put forward for any opposed skill checks and does not reuse a prior rolled initiative if it occurs during combat.

## Your Turn

Combat operates in a turn based fashion. After everyone has acted, one turn has passed. Each turn, a player has one **Major Action**, which is an attack, use of Skill Gem, using a flask on an ally etc and one **Minor Action**, which is using a flask on yourself, getting an item from your backpack, using a skill, or something else within that scope. You can sacrifice your Major for 2 Minors (for 3 total), this allows you to use your flask 3 times by using 3 minors in one turn, or allow you to use 3 **Perception** Checks to look for a stealthed opponent.

**Separate** from these, is your movement. You **always get your movement** regardless of other actions unless you're stunned,chilled, ect. You can use your movement to move to other Zones, or wherever you wish. If you are engaged (see the Engaged mechanic) by enemies in your Zone, then it's an opposed **Maneuver** check to see if they stop your movement. If they do successfully stop your movement, you cannot move any more this turn.

If you take no Major action on your turn, you can add +4 per tier to **Maneuver** and **Athletics** checks.

You can take your actions in any order you wish, and may take your actions at any point during the course of your movement. This allows ranged characters to easily pop in and out of cover to take a shot, or a melee opponent with increased **Speed** to engage in hit-and-run tactics.

The assumption is that your character is always running as fast as they can in combat. There is no ‘run’ or ‘double move’ action, you’re already always moving as fast as you can.

It takes a Major action to change weapons or items during combat.

**Speed** is a numerical rating that represents how fast your character is. The **Speed** of a normal human is 6, so an effect that increases your **Speed** by 3 would effectively increase your overall **Speed** by 50%.

If your **Speed** is reduced to 0, you may only stagger or crawl at a very slow pace, unable to leave your Zone.

In the case of a protracted foot race between 2 characters of equal **Speed**, make opposed **Athletics** checks for long distance or **Maneuver** for short distance.

If you attack with a ranged attack of any kind (even one that targets your own Zone), reduce your **Speed** by 2 for that turn.

## Engaged

**The design purpose for the Engaged mechanic is to keep melee meaningful, and provide tactical options to not only help your ranged allies, but interfere with enemy ranged combatants. It should be a problem for a bow user or spell caster if someone is waving a sword in their face. This gives the ability for melee to control Zones and the movement between them, by getting in the way physically, and threatening with feints and attacks.**

Whenever a player or monster hits a target with a melee attack, they automatically Engage their target (unless the player specifically doesn’t want to). While a target is Engaged, they can only attack enemies in the Zone they occupy (even with ranged attacks and spells). In addition they cannot leave the Zone they are currently Engaged in.
Ways to break Engagement:

* Kill all enemies Engaging you.
* Use **Maneuver** or **Athletics** to break Engagement.
* Stun, freeze, shock or burn enemies, making them unable to Engage you.

A character may make an opposed **Maneuver** or **Athletics** check to successfully break Engaged. Success allows the character to move and act freely, failure forces them to remain Engaged and only attack enemies in their Zone.

If a target is **burned**, **shocked**, **stunned** or **chilled** they lose all targets they were Engaging and are unable to Engage targets while the effect lasts.
An opponent that attempts to keep an enemy in a Zone may use **Athletics** or **Maneuver** to prevent an enemy from leaving a Zone.

*For example: Donatello, a mutant turtle skilled in the use of a 2 handed staff, hits his dreaded enemy Shredder on the head. Shredder is now Engaged. Shredder’s player wants to target an enemy at a distance named Leonardo, however, because he’s Engaged he can only target enemies in the Zone he occupies. He decides to try breaking engagement by running away from Donatello and getting some space before shooting Leonardo. Both Shredder and Donatello roll opposed **Maneuver**. Donatello beats Shredder on this roll. Shredder cannot target Leonardo, nor leave the Zone he is currently in, so he decides to try fry Donatello with his Death Beam. Shredder rolls his Death Beam attack against Donatello’s armour, doing damage normally to Donatello.*
*Later, all four turtles are attacking Shredder. Shredder wants to escape, but he must break Engaged with the four turtles (if it is a group of monsters, you can roll once for the whole group of monsters) if he wants to successfully leave the Zone he is in. If Shredder fails to break Engagement, the turtles successfully block his attempts to break free, and he will be forced to fight.*
## Lucky and Unlucky

Some effects cause a die roll to be Lucky or Unlucky. When a die roll is Lucky, roll twice and take the higher result. When a die roll is Unlucky, roll twice and take the lower result. Lucky and Unlucky rolls cannot stack, and if a Lucky roll is made Unlucky by a skill, effect or keystone both effects are cancelled and the roll is made normally.