Combat Actions

Combat actions are the things you do during your turn in combat. There are four types of actions, each taking up a different span of time. With combat actions you do things like move to different locations, attack opponents and use skills.

Action Types

During their turn, characters can perform actions. There are four types:

• Standard You can have one standard action during your turn.
• Free You can take as many free actions as you like. But you can not use the same free action more then once during the same turn.
• Ongoing An ongoing action is a standard action that ends your turn. If you do an ongoing action, you receive a consistency penalty of two on all defensive rolls until the start of your next turn.
• Upcoming An upcoming action is a free action that ends your turn, and is continued as a standard action in your next turn. An upcoming action can be interrupted if you are attacked, if you receive an effect, or if you use a skill. If this happens, the upcoming action is cancelled. You do not lose the standard action of your next turn when this happens. If your upcoming action was not interrupted, you can decide to cancel the action at the start of your next turn.

Some actions can occur simultaneously. You can only use one simultaneous action per turn.

List of combat actions

The following is a list of the combat actions you can take during your turn. For some of these actions a more complete description is available in this and the next chapter.

Attack and defence related actions

• Weapon attack Standard:
  Make an attack roll for the weapon you wield. If you wield one weapon in each hand, you can make an attack with both weapons. See Weapon attack.
• Use a skill -:
  The action type depends on the skill you use. Some skills can not be used as a combat action. Make sure the skill prerequisite is met before using the skill. You can only use or prepare for the use of one skill at a time.
• Brawl attack Standard:
  Use your brawl ability to make an attack on an opponent to grab them or do 1 HP damage. See Brawl attack.
• Charge Ongoing:
  Use the Move action to go to a different square and make a melee weapon attack or brawl attack against an opponent in that square. You can not charge across a border if it has a challenge requirement.
• Guard Free:
  Block an opponent from moving to a different square or attacking an ally. See Guarding.

Movement related actions

• Move Standard:
  Go to a different location. This might require a passing challenge requirements. Or leave a combat cluster, while remaining in the same square.
• Run Ongoing:
  Go to a different location which does not require passing a challenge requirement. Until the start of your next turn, you can not be charged from the location you ran away from. Two characters running after each other starts a chase.
• Climb Ongoing:
  Your character moves one height up or down. Anything other then stairs or a ladder will likely have a challenge requirement. If you fail the challenge requirement you fall. Unless you reach the top or bottom of what you are climbing, you are in a climbing position. You must have at least one free hand to climb.
• Jump down Free:
  You jump from a higher position to a lower position in the same square. See Environment about falling damage.
• Drop prone Free:
  Your character is now in a prone position.
• Crawl Upcoming:
  While prone, move to another square. You enter the other location as part of the standard action during the next turn. You can only use crawl if you have been in the same square from the start of your turn. Because of this you can only crawl once every two turns. You can not crawl to a square if there is a challenge requirement to pass.
• Hide Free:
  You move somewhere in your location to a place where you have concealment against opponents you wish to hide from. Roll survival to become hidden. This becomes the challenge requirement perception checks have to overcome. You can not hide from an opponent if you were in the same combat cluster at the start of your turn, or from opponents who attacked you with a ranged attack during their last turn. You can not hide while you are in a combat cluster.
• Dodge Standard: If you know a ranged attack is coming, you can ready your dodge defence. If you do this, you receive a potential bonus of two to your dodging roll.

Item related actions

• Draw a weapon or ammunition Standard:
  Draw a weapon or ammunition you carry. The item must be easily accessible. If not, use Draw an item instead. This combat action can be done simultaneous with a move action (but not a charge).
• Put a weapon or ammunition away Standard:
  Sheath or put away your weapon, and store your ammunition in a place where it is easily accessible for you to draw. This combat action can be done simultaneous with a move action (but not a charge).
• Drop item(s) Free:
  Drop any number of items your character holds in their hand.
• Get an item Ongoing:
  Take an item from your pouch, beg or any other place it is stored. Or pick an item off the ground, off a table or any other place it may lay in your location.
• Hide or conceal an item Ongoing:
  Conceal or hide an item you hold, so that an opponent can not see it.
• Swap items Free:
  Move an item (such as a weapon) from one hand to the other, or swap the item from one hand with the item in the other hand.

Other actions

• Taking a breather Ongoing or upcoming:
  Reduce your fatigue by two. Fatigue can not be lower then the base fatigue.
• Observation Free:
  You can do one of three things:
  • Roll perception on a square to spot anything or anyone that might be hidden there. If you are in the same location, you gain a bonus of two to potential. If the location borders your location you have a bonus of one to potential.
  • Roll perception on a character to see if they carry a hidden item.
  • Roll insight on an opponent to gage their willingness to fight (or surrender).
• Speak Free:
  You can speak a few sentences to whomever is near you, giving them instructions, negotiating with them or threatening them. The GM might require you to roll a sociability based ability.

Weapon attack

There are two types of weapon attacks, melee attacks and ranged attacks. Which type of attack you can do depends on the weapon your character is wielding. You can make an attack roll for every weapon you wield while making the weapon attack action. You can only attack one target per action. At the end of every character's turn, they must roll their next defence. Because it would be obvious to your character how good your opponents are currently defending themselves, you can ask how high a character's defence roll is, before choosing the target of your attack.

How many weapons you can wield depends on the weapon. Characters have a sword hand and an off-hand. Some weapons require both hands to wield it. Other weapons can only be wielded in the sword hand, or in either hand. One and a half handers can be used either in your sword hand, or with both hands. In the medieval armoury module, examples are given of how this might work. Other themes or settings might work different.

Brawl attack

With a brawl attack you attempt to punch, kick or grab an opponent. If a brawl attack hits, the target receives either a hit 1 or bind effect. You must decided which effect before rolling. To do a brawl attack, roll the brawl ability. You need one free hand to do the bind effect. Just as for weapon attack, you can ask your opponent's defence before choosing a target. If the attack was equal to the defence, or was one less then the defence, the attack can be considered a 'hit', but it wasn't strong enough to effect hit points.

Attacking an opponent who wields a melee weapon with a brawl attack is very dangerous. In order to make a brawl attack you must get close to your opponent. The only way to do this is to get past his or her weapon by dodging an attack. If in his last turn your opponent made a melee weapon attack against you, which you successfully dodged, you can roll the brawl attack.

If your opponent did not make a melee weapon attack against you in his turn, or you didn't dodge the attack, doing a brawl attack gives the opponent the opportunity to make a melee weapon attack against you, as if they had readied that action. If you do not dodge the weapon attack, you can not roll the brawl ability and the brawl attack fails. The provoked attack does not change the initiative order.

If you have an opponent grabbed using bind, you can not make any defensive rolls. You can choose to release the bind at any time. The body part you bind is the one you roll for with the brawl challenge. If you have an opponent grabbed, you can stop any of their actions that require a physical dice challenge, by rolling the brawl ability. The result of your brawl roll counts as a challenge requirement for the action. If your opponent passes the challenge requirement, the bind effect is lost. In addition, the bind effect also ends if you receive an effect, or if the character you have grabbed successfully attacks you.

Targeting a body part

The D6 that is included in every attack roll, determines what body part is hit with the attack. This influenced where characters receives their injury and how they are effected. The following table shows what body part is hit based on the result of the die:

Rather then simply attacking an opponent wherever you can hit them, you can target a body part for your attack. Targeting a specific body part has a consistency penalty of two to the attack roll.