The role of individual combat in the adventure is to be part of the story, not to be a war game. Here we are concerned with personal combat between single opponents.
Combat occurs within scenes. There is no special timing system here. The character having the fastest single action in terms of time determines the length of the scene. This does, of course, mean that some characters may have to wait more than one scene to complete an action. For example, a character who can attack every second will force a scene length of one second so long as they are engaged with a single target.
Combat within a scene follows this structure: Everyone able to act within the scene declares what they are doing. Note that a character may act a number of times within a scene equal to their Speed Factor. They may not attack more often than is possible for them, but they may embellish their attack in a number of ways equal to their remaining actions.Each embellishment modifies your attack in some way, you aim at a specific point, you can use a skill that might not otherwise be allowable, or you can state that you aim carefully (gaining a +1 to hit).
Let us say that you have a character and want to use a high level of Acrobatics in combat to get a better result. You might declare, "I strike at the target," or you can say (assuming a Speed Factor of three), "I leap over a tree root and strike at my target, aiming for the head." By using embellishments you are able to aim and leap over the tree root allowing you to use the character's Acrobatics score to modify the attack, any strike will be in the head, and you gain a +1 to hit for carefully aiming. Aiming for a specific body part requires an embellishment.
Each character acting within a scene does so simultaneously. As with any scene, there is a chance for people to stop what they are already doing and respond. See the previous chapter for details about this.
Central to any combat action is the procedure for determining if a target has been hit, and if so what damage occurs. Here is how it works:
The remainder is the damage applied to the area of the opponent. The grades of damage for weapons are: Light (+0 to all striking damage done), Medium (+5 to all striking damage done), Heavy (+10 to all striking damage done), Extreme (+20 to all striking damage done), Great (+40 to all striking damage done), and Tremendous (+60 to all striking damage done).
50% of the damage done to an opponent turns into Pain. If the damage is only 1, then Pain 1 is the only result.
Pain: Pain prevents a character from being able to perform any abilities. Pain is a condition that accumulates as if the score were basic pips. Pain is reduced by one pip per scene.
Each point of the remaining damage becomes a Light Hit.
2 Light Hits become a Serious Hit.
2 Serious Hits become a Major Hit
2 Major Hits become a Catastrophic Hit
There are two kinds of Light Hits: Bleeding and Damage
Light Bleeding (b): This condition indicates that a severe wound is draining the blood from the character. Light Bleeding accumulates as if it were basic pips. The character must fail a roll based on this condition or gain a pip in Shock (b) and lose 1 PF temporarily. A bleeding roll is made for each scene. If the character goes below -2 PF they will die immediately due to blood loss. If the character moves, they will leave a small blood trail (this will require Tracking or some similar roll to follow the trail). The Light bleeding will be reduced by one pip per scene. PF lost is recovered at a rate of pip per day. Once per day, the character must fail a Light Bleeding roll, or gain a pip in Infection.
Shock (b) : The character is unaware of their surroundings and will frequently not feel pain; they are confused and somewhat sick (subtract the level of shock from all ability rolls). At this point a Shock roll must be made, if successful the character goes unconscious for a minute. After the third period of unconsciousness the character must make another check, if this fails then the unconsciousness lasts for 1d10 minutes.
Light Damage (b): This condition indicates that the character has sustained physical damage that detriments ability attempts: Limbs, Joints, and Thorax hits effect any PF or MA-based ability, Head hits effect all ability attempts. This accumulates as though each occurance were a basic pip. Light Damage is reduced by one pip per day. There are two additional effects to be determined. A successful roll against the Light damage results in a pip of Scarred. If the Light Damage occurs in the Head, then a roll is also made, if it is successful then the character is unconscious for a scene.
Scarred (b): The character has sustained a wound or injury which has left a visible scar.
Infection (b): The character has sustained an infection which is poisoning the character. This condition accumulates as basic pips. The level of infection is reduced by one per day. The level of infection reduces all ability attempts by its level. Once per day that character must fail a roll at -10 or die from the infection.
There are three kinds of Serious Hits: Bleeding, Damage, and Afflicted (choosing either PF or MA).
Serious Bleeding (b): This condition indicates that a severe wound is draining the blood from the character. Serious Bleeding accumulates as if it were basic pips. The character must fail a roll based on this condition, modified by any Light Bleeding or gain a pip in Shock (b) and lose 1 PF temporarily. Serious bleeding has a +5 modifier. Major bleeding has a +10 modifier. Catastrophic bleeding has a +20 modifier. Ignore Light bleeding while this condition lasts. A bleeding roll is made for each scene. If the character goes below -2 PF they will die immediately due to blood loss. If the character moves, they will leave a small blood trail (this will require Tracking or some similar roll at + 5 to follow the trail). The Serious bleeding will be reduced by one pip per scene. PF lost is recovered at a rate of pip per day. Once per day, the character must fail a Serious Bleeding roll at +5, or gain a pip in Infection.
Serious Damage (b): This condition indicates that the character has sustained physical damage that detriments ability attempts: Limbs, Joints, and Thorax hits effect any PF or MA-based ability, Head hits effect all ability attempts. This accumulates as though each occurance were a basic pip. Any light damage is added to this detriment. Serious Damage is reduced by one pip per day, and is reduced before any Light Damage. There are two additional effects to be determined. A successful roll against the Serious Damage, at +5, results in a pip of Scarred. If the Serious Damage occurs in the Head, then a roll is also made at +5, if it is successful then the character is unconscious for a scene.
Afflicted PF (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A serious hit results in one basic pip.
Afflicted MA (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A serious hit results in one basic pip.
There are three kinds of Serious Hits: Bleeding, Damage, and Afflicted (choosing either PF or MA).
Major Bleeding (d): This condition indicates that a severe wound is draining the blood from the character. Major Bleeding accumulates as if it were difficult pips. The character must fail a roll based on this condition, modified by any Serious or Light Bleeding or gain two pips in Shock (b) and lose 1 PF temporarily. Serious bleeding has a +10 modifier. Ignore Light and Serious Bleeding while this condition lasts. A bleeding roll is made for each scene. If the character goes below -2 PF they will die immediately due to blood loss. If the character moves, they will leave a blood trail. The Major Bleeding will be reduced by one-half pip per scene. PF lost is recovered at a rate of pip per day. Once per day, the character must fail a Major Bleeding roll at +10, or gain a pip in Infection.
Major Damage (d): This condition indicates that the character has sustained physical damage that detriments ability attempts: Limbs, Joints, and Thorax hits effect any PF or MA-based ability, Head hits effect all ability attempts. This accumulates as though each occurance were a difficult pip. Any light or serious damage is added to this detriment. Major Damage is reduced by one-half pip per day, and is reduced before any Serious or Light Damage. There are two additional effects to be determined. A successful roll against the Major Damage, at +10, results in two pips of Scarred. If the Major Damage occurs in the Head, then a roll is also made at +10, if it is successful then the character is unconscious for a scene.
Afflicted PF (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A major hit results in two basic pips.
Afflicted MA (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A major hit results in two basic pips.
There are four kinds of Catastrophic Hits: Bleeding, Damage, Afflicted (choosing either PF or MA), and Destroyed.
Catastrophic Bleeding (d): This condition indicates that a severe wound is draining the blood from the character. Catastrophic Bleeding accumulates as if it were difficult pips. The character must fail a roll based on this condition, modified by any Major, Serious, or Light Bleeding or gain four pips in Shock (b) and lose 1 PF temporarily. Catastrophic bleeding has a +20 modifier. Ignore Light, Serious, and Major Bleeding while this condition lasts. A bleeding roll is made for each scene. If the character goes below -2 PF they will die immediately due to blood loss. If the character moves, they will leave a blood trail. The Catastrophic Bleeding will be reduced by one-third pip per scene. PF lost is recovered at a rate of pip per day. Once per day, the character must fail a Catastrophic Bleeding roll at +20, or gain a pip in Infection.
Catastrophic Damage (d): This condition indicates that the character has sustained physical damage that detriments ability attempts: Limbs, Joints, and Thorax hits effect any PF or MA-based ability, Head hits effect all ability attempts. This accumulates as though each occurance were an extreme pip. Any light, serious, or major damage is added to this detriment. Catastrophic Damage is reduced by one-third pip per day, and is reduced before any Major, Serious, or Light Damage. There are two additional effects to be determined. A successful roll against the Catastrophic Damage, at +20, results in four pips of Scarred. If the Catastrophic Damage occurs in the Head, then a roll is also made at +20, if it is successful then the character is unconscious for a scene.
Afflicted PF (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A catastrophic hit results in four basic pips.
Afflicted MA (b): The character suffers a permanent detriment equal to the level of the affliction on any PF-based skill attempt. A catastrophic hit results in four basic pips.
Destroyed (e): The character has taken so much damage that a part of their body is severed, crushed, or torn out. If this a limb or joint hit, then that part is gone and may never be used again; PF and MA are reduced by one full level each. If this is a thorax or head hit, death results.
First Aid and other healing skills can be used to treat emergency wounds. The level of success can be used to buy off wound conditions beginning with bleeding, then pain, then other (non-permanent) conditions. Destroyed limbs may not be repaired but can be fixed only through the use of powers or by the use of prosthetic replacements. Prosthetics require the construction of the limb out of some material and a healing skill roll to replace the limb. It is important to note that the victim's own Health skill, if they have it, can act as a modifier for healing.
As alluded to above, power can be used to heal wounds too. The above modifiers apply to all healing attempts using power (psychic, magical, mystical, or religious). A successful roll allows the result to buy off any adverse conditions.
Up to now I have not discussed the idea of game scale in combat because it can be a complication. There are times when you will want, or need, to fight something really big; or it might want to fight you. Rather than deal with rediculous numbers we simply change scales. The scale is determined by the units you use to measure things. If a creature is 20 centimeters long, it is small-scale; if it is 3 meters long it is normal-scale; if it is 15 meters long it is medium-scale; etc. Tremendous damage on one scale is the equivalent of Light damage on the next higher scale.Recall teh Tremendous damage is 60 damage. If a Normal-scale being were to swat a fly for 1 damage, it would do 120 damage to the fly, (60 for Small Scale, and another 60 for Very Small Scale). If a medium-scale dragon does 6 damage to a normal-scale human, the human takes 66 damage (60 for Medium Scale and 6 from the damage done).
| Game Scale | Size | Weight |
| Very Small | 1 cm | 1 gm |
| Small | 10 cm | 100 gm |
| Normal | 1 m | 10 kg |
| Medium | 10 m | 1000 kg |
| Large | 100 m | 1000 tonnes |
| Huge | 1000 m | 100 kt |
| Grand | 10 km | 10 Mt |
Also a smaller scale hitting a larger scale incurs the same protection as noted above. A normal scale being hitting a medium scale being is forced to overcome a 60 point protection due to size alone.
Continuing the example from last chapter, we have Bunzeekhared noticing Gefrinak looking around. He decides to confront Gefrinak to see what he's doing. The GM rules that it will take ten minutes for Bunzeekhared to have a chance of intercepting Gefrinak. Secretly he determines that Gefrinak will have a chance to spot Bunzeekhared in five minutes. So the next scene will last five minutes.
The GM checks to see if Gefrinak spots Bunzeekhared coming to intercept him. Gefrinak has a reaction modifier of +3 because he is slowly moving and searching. The GM rolls and succeeds. Gefrinak decides to ambush Bunzeekhared. The GM rules that this will take five minutes, and there is a chance that Bunzeekhared will see it.
The next scene is five minutes long, and Bunzeekhared fails to notice Gefrinak. Since Bunzeekhared is being ambushed the GM determines that Gefrinak gets the first action. He steps out from behind a tree to hit Bunzeekhared from behind. Looking at Gefrinak's character sheet the GM announces, "The figure you saw earlier moves from behind a tree quietly and attacks Bunzeekhared from behind. He can do this because he has a Speed Factor of 2 (allowing him to both sneak and attack). The roll is based on Gefrinak's skill in Club at 4, and he is modifying with Stealth and Concealment of 3 to prevent himself from being observed, and Sprinting of 2 to cover the distance fast. This is a total of 9, +10 due to surprise, and -4 because both targets are moving slowly. This is a new total of 15." He rolls the d10, the result is a 2 for a 13 success. The player of Bunzeekhared points out that the GM failed to note where the attack was aimed at so the GM rolls for hit location, a 9—thorax hit. The club does medium damage and Gefrinak has a damage capacity of 3. The damage done is 13 (due to the level of success) + 5 (medium damage) + 3 (Gefrinak's damage capacity), for a total of 21. Since Bunzeekhared is unaware of the attack he cannot dodge or take defensive action, he relies on his leather armor to protect him; this is medium armor (10 protection) and his own damage capacity of 3 for a total of 13 protection. Bunzeekhared's player rolls a d10 and gets a 6. The damage is reduced by 19. This means that 2 points of damage passed through the armor and into Bunzeekhared. This results in Pain 1 and a Light Hit. The GM decides this is Light Bleeding 1. Bunzeekhared's player notes, "Pain Capacity of 2 modified by PF 1 and Endurance of 1, for a total of 4 less 3 for the wound is a 1." The roll is a 7, so his character is unable to act for a scene due to the pain. It does not look good for Bunzeekhared, as he is now unable to act while Gefrinak beats him at will. He must also fail a Light Bleeding roll of 1, the roll is a 3 so he manages to avoid losing enought blood to lost a PF.
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