Gieden, Combat Wrap-Up

A few more notes on Combat...

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What if my weapon isn’t on the Weapons Chart?
The bad news is, it’s impossible to cover every single damaging object known to man on one chart. The good news is, that’s not really necessary. It’s easy enough for a Game Master to approximate weapons by looking up the information on a similar weapon and then modifying it (or not) however seems appropriate. For instance, if Tommy is using a crowbar, the Game Master may choose to use the statistics given for a bat, or they may modify those statistics slightly to represent the crowbar’s shorter length and harder material. See “Here’s what makes for a good combat scene” below for more information on ‘realism’.

How do I calculate 1/3 box of damage? Basically, you’ll just round down to the nearest full box. If a weapon or a fist does 1/3 box of damage, then it takes 3 successes to give the target one box of damage. Less than three successes does no damage. Four successes would give you a total of 1 1/3 boxes of damage, so you’d round it down; the opponent would take one box of damage. Six successes would damage the opponent by 2 boxes, as would 7 or 8, but 9 successes would produce 3 boxes of damage.

How far can I move before attacking? A general rule of thumb is that you can move 10’ and still attack that round, or 20’ while dodging. However, certain situations, such as rough terrain, may alter that number at the Game Master's discretion.

What ranges do my weapons have? Magic can reach anyone within line of sight. A longbow can fire arrows almost 100’ semi-accurately. Pikes or javelins can range up to about 20’ long before getting unwieldy. To get past something like that, a character must spend a round or two dodging and getting close enough to attack. For melee weapons and fists, however, a good rule of thumb is “if you can reach them, they can reach you.”

Learning a New Weapon: Just because you can use one kind of sword doesn’t mean that you can use any sword. After your initial character creation, if you want to learn to use a new type of weapon, you can; however, for the first few sessions after you acquire your new weapon, you will only roll as many dice as you have dots in the applicable Statistic for that weapon. After you have used the weapon for a while, the Game Master will allow you to use the applicable Statistic and Skill, though you may have to work at it for a while before you get your full number of dots.

For example, if you normally used a rapier, you would look on the weapons chart under “sword” and see that the applicable Statistic is Dexterity and the applicable Skill is Melee. A katana is also a sword, but if your character only knows rapier and tries to use a katana, then they only get to count the number of dots they have in Dexterity until they became familiar with the weapon. As they become familiar with a katana, the Game Master will allow you to use more and more of your Skill rating. Optionally, the Game Master may simplify things by allowing the full Skill rating after an initial “learning” period.

Here’s what makes for a good combat scene:

*A sense of urgency. Roll dice as necessary, but keep the scene moving. If a player is wasting time deliberating their next move, remind them that the combat is continuing and they must act now. If this causes a rash decision, chalk it up to the heat of battle.

* A sense of timing. The clash of swords and cries of battle happen in an instant. Bandaging, studying, or covering large distances takes longer. Try to be realistic, and not to ‘pause’ the action while a character does a long and involved action just because it’s their ‘turn’.

* A sense of reality. Some weapons hurt more than others, some are easier to dodge, and some are easier to wield. The chart above is meant to approximate that. However, it’s possible to slice a throat with a tiny knife or to barely graze someone with a gunshot. Because of this wide variation, the charts (or Game Master’s approximations) do not have to be perfect to convey reality. Simply describe the attack in a way consistent with the damage done; for example: if a crossbow bolt does only one box of damage, the Game Master may describe it hitting the outside edge of the character’s shoulder. If it did 7 boxes, then it may have hit a throat or an eye. If a character sneaks up on a sleeping opponent and slices their throat, it would be silly to make them roll to hit, or to give their opponent a chance to dodge--and it's possible that the player wouldn't have to roll damage, either.

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Combat Modifiers

The system outlined in this chapter is all well and good, but sometimes things aren’t so simple. What happens if one of the combatants is wearing an armor that’s not on the chart? Or if they’re hiding in a bunker and you can only see their eyes? What if the guy hitting you with his fists happens to be the next Bruce Lee? Game Masters, relax. With judicious use of a few modifiers, all these situations and more can be resolved quickly and easily, and your players will never even see you sweat.

In the case of armor, the defender is either harder to hit or must be hit harder--or both. Basically, the attacker is going to have a little more difficulty hitting the target, and when they do hit, there's a chance that less damage will be done. This can be approximated by raising the Hit Difficulty of anyone who attacks them and/or giving them more boxes of damage. The chart above gives a guideline for handling armor. If a character’s armor type is not listed, try to determine what category is most similar to what they are using and modify it if necessary. Keep in mind, though, that magic is normally not affected by armor, so the higher Hit Difficulty and extra health box will do no good if the attacker is using magic (without special GM dispensation).

If the defenders are in extreme cover, they are hard to hit (of course). Raise the Hit Difficulty from one to three points to simulate the difficulty of hitting the small part of the target that is visible.

If the defender is prone, drunk, or stunned, lower the Hit Difficulty accordingly.

For an extremely skilled opponent, treat them as if they have the Advantage known as Combat Mastery.

If your character comes across or creates an incredibly damaging weapon, bump the damage accordingly, but you should not allow a weapon to do more than 2 1/2 boxes of damage per success. Beyond that, weapons tend to get over-powered to the point of absurdity. Remember, too, that sometimes incredibly damaging weapons are large and unwieldy, causing them to have a lower HD, a higher DD, or to do slightly less damage than they otherwise would.

Basically, the Weapons Chart works well for straightforward encounters and is an excellent starting place for complex ones. What this means for the Game Master is that when a player says, “Ok, I take my axe and swing it at him…” the Game Master can reference the chart and either say, “Roll Dexterity and Melee against a difficulty of six” or, “All right, but that armor’s pretty thick. Roll Dexterity and Melee against a difficulty of eight”. Remember, real life is flexible, and as a Game Master, it’s Ok if you are, too. Try for accuracy, try for consistency, but if you slip up now and then, well, life’s like that.

The two most common combat modifiers are exhaustion (which is mentioned in detail above), and injury. When a person is injured, they mark off sections of their hour-glass, also known as Health Boxes. There are ten sections, or boxes. Once a person takes a certain level of damage, they suffer penalties. The penalties are detailed on the right side of the hour-glass.
There is a space at the bottom of the character sheet where a player may jot down their modifiers. It is the PLAYER’S responsibility to keep up with their exhaustion and injury modifiers, and the Game Master’s responsibility to keep up with the ‘special case’ type modifiers.

(NOTE: There is a special Cheat Sheet for Game Masters, so that they can keep up with all modifiers for all players. I will give this sheet next time.)

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Combat summary:

*At the beginning of a combat scene, each character determines their Initiative by adding together the number of dots they have in Perception and Reflexes, rolling a D10, and adding the result to their total.

*Whomever has the highest total goes first, second highest goes second, ect.

* To attack, add the number of dots in the applicable Stat and Skill. Roll that many dice. For every die that shows a number equal to or above the Hit Difficulty of the weapon (plus any additions granted by the opponent's armor), the attacker has scored one success.

* The opponent may dodge or parry. To dodge, add the number of dots in Dexterity and Dodge. Roll that many dice. For every die that shows a number equal to or above the weapon’s Dodge Difficulty, one success is removed from the attacker’s successes. To parry, the player rolls the same dice they would to attack. If they score more successes than their attacker, then the blow was parried and does no damage. Otherwise, they take full damage.

*The Dodge and Parry dice available to a character may be split amongst multiple attacks, if necessary.

*Damage is calculated by multiplying the weapon’s Damage by the remaining number of successes.

*Once everyone has taken an action, the ‘round’ is over. If the number of rounds is equal to or has exceeded twice the number of dots in someone’s Physical Stamina Stat, then that person must roll a number of dice equal to the dots they have in Physical Stamina, vs. 6. If they succeed, they are fine, if not, then they get a 1 point penalty for every following round until they get to rest. This is cumulative.

* Everyone must now determine Initiative again.

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Next time: the Game Master's Cheat Sheet. See you then. ^.^

Gieden, Combat Charts

It's impossible to list every conceivable way for a character to take damage, but here are the weapons and armor charts, meant as a general guideline for Game Masters to use when determining the difficulty of wielding or dodging a weapon and the damage done. Note that the damage rating is per success, and that a low hit difficulty--especially when combined with a high dodge difficulty--is a major factor in the number of successes a given character is likely to achieve.

From the original text:
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Weapons Chart

Part One: Standard Weapons

Type------Stat/Skill-----Hit Difficulty---Dodge Difficulty----Damage

Fist-----Strength/Brawl--------6----------------6-------------------1/3
Small knife--Dexterity/Melee--6---------------6-------------------1/2
Thrown knife--Dex/Melee------7--------------5-------------------1/2
Dagger--------Dex/Melee-------6---------------6--------------------1
Staff/Bat-----Dex/Melee---------5---------------6--------------------1
Bow/Sling-----Strength/Bow----7---------------7--------------------1
Crossbow------Strength/Bow----6---------------7--------------------1
Sword-----------Dex/Melee-------6---------------6----------------1 1/2
Axe--------------Dex/Melee-------6---------------6---------------1 1/2

Part Two: Artifacts

Type----Stat/Skill-----Hit Difficulty-----DodgeDifficulty---Damage
Stun Gun--Dexterity/Brawl----6------------------6------------STUN
Light Pistol--Dex/Lost Tech--6------------------8------------1 1/2
Pistol--------Dex/Lost Tech----7------------------8--------------2
Rifle---------Dex/Lost Tech----6------------------8--------------2
Automatic-----Dex/Lost Tech--5------------------8------------2 1/2
Magical Artifice--Dex/Lost Tech--5 to 8--------5 to 8------1/3 to 2
***Game Master’s determination

Part Three: Magic

Type------------Rank----Hit Difficulty---Dodge Difficulty-----Damage
Pure Magic----As Noted--------7----------------10-----------As Noted
Destructive------1&2----------6-----------------7-----------As Noted
Destructive------3------------5-----------------9--------------1/2
Destructive (ball)--4---------6-----------------7---------------1
Destructive(bubble)-4---------5-----------------9--------------1/2
Destructive (ball)--5---------6-----------------7---------------2
Destructive (bubble)5---------5-----------------9---------------1
Fury-----------------1------------6-----------------7---------------1
Fury-----------------2------------6-----------------7--------------1 1/2
Fury-----------------3------------5-----------------9----5’, 1--10’, 1/2
Fury-----------------4------------5-----------------9----10’, 1--15’, 1/2
Fury-----------------5------------7-----------------9---------------2
Elemental-----------1-----------6------------------8---------------1/3
Elemental (fire)----4-----------7------------------6----------------1
Elemental (air)-----4-----------5------------------8---------------1/2
Elemental (water)---4-----------6------------------6---------------1/2
Elemental (earth)---4-----------5------------------6---------------1/2

Part Four: Miscellaneous

Type----------Stat/Skill-----------Damage--------------Special Considerations

Mild Poison-Int/Herbalism(Harm)-1/3 per round for 1-5 rounds--
-----------------------------------------------------------Easiest/cheapest poison
Poison------Int/Herbalism(Harm)-1/2 per round for 1-5 rounds--
-----------------------------------------------------------Harder to acquire
Deadly Poison(A)-Int/Herb.(Harm)-1 per round for 1-5 rounds--
----------------------------------------------------------Illegal/Hard to acquire
Deadly Poison(B)-Int/Herb.(Harm)-1/2 per round for 1-10 rounds--
----------------------------------------------------------Illegal/Hard to acquire
Contact Poison--Int/Herb.(Harm)--1/3 per round for 1-10 rounds--
-------------Illegal/Hard to acquire/only poison that does not need to be ingested or entered into bloodstream
Fire------------N/A----------------2 boxes per round-------disfigures quickly
Water-----------N/A-------------None until after 5 min. Then death
Earth-----------N/A-------------1 or more (crushing), possible death by suffocation
Falling--less than 10 ft-0--/--10-20ft-1--/--20-30ft-3--/--30-40ft,5--/
--greater than 40ft,death
***Acrobatics may lessen dmg.

Part Five: Armor
Type-------------Add to hit difficulty---Extra Damage Box?.....Penalties
Very Light---------------0-----------------------1...................None
(cloth, fur)
Light--------------------1-----------------------0.....................None
(supple leather or small shield)
Medium-------------------1-----------------------1...................None
(boiled leather)
Heavy--------------------2----------------------1......-1 to physicality
(Brig, Scale)
Super Heavy--------------2---------------------2.......-1 to physicality
(Full Plate w/shield)
**Extra damage boxes are added to the top of the hourglass, above the “Hurt”
level of damage.
~ Note: the weapons and armor listed here are meant as general categories~

Gieden, An Overview of Combat

The bottom left of the Gieden character sheet has a sword and a shield; this is where you mark down your weapons and armor. The hourglass at the bottom right is a measure of your health.

The combat system in Gieden is meant to function believably without getting weighed down by too many rules...so rather than beginning with hard and fast numbers, I'm going to begin this section with some common questions.

From the original text:

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Who goes first? In most situations, who acts first will rely on three things: the character’s perceptions, their reflexes, and luck. In game terms, this is called the Initiative, and it means that the players will add together the number of dots they have in perception and reflexes, then roll a D10 and add that number to their total. Whomever has the highest total has the first Initiative and will act first, the next highest will go next, and so on. There are some situations, however, where this is not the case. If characters are ambushed, for instance, one or more of the attackers may automatically get to go first. The players can’t attack characters that they don’t know are there, so until an attacker shows itself, no rolls are made.

What options do the players have? The players have as many options as they have imagination. They may use magic, attack with weapons, attack with their fists, run, use an artifact, hide, or whatever reasonable alternatives they may come up with. The basic rule of thumb is that whatever action the character takes, it must either take only a moment to do, or they must remain busy at that task for the rest of the round. For instance, swinging a sword (or dodging one, for that matter) only takes an instant, but if a character chose to sit down and examine an ancient artifact, then it could be assumed that they would be studying it for at least as long as it takes to finish a combat round.

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An overview of the combat system:

How does it work? To attack, the player will add the number of dots in the applicable Stat to the number of dots they have in the applicable Skill. The Weapons Chart will tell which Stat and Skill apply to your weapon, but for most weapons, you will roll Dexterity+Melee. To attack with your bare hands, you will roll Strength+Fist Fight.

You then roll that number of D10s against a target number, which also comes from the Weapons Chart--your weapon's "Hit Difficulty". This is a measure of how hard it is to hit a moving opponent with the weapon in question. Every D10 that shows a number higher than the weapon's Hit Difficulty (HD) is considered one "success".

Successes can be cancelled out by armor, or by the opposing character parrying or dodging. Any character who is attacked and is not pinned down can attempt to dodge.

To dodge, the player will add the number of dots they have in Dexterity and in Dodge, then roll that many dice against the weapon's "Dodge Difficulty" (also on the weapons chart). For every die that shows a number equal to or greater than the weapons Dodge Difficulty (DD), the attacker loses one success against the dodger.

For instance: Nathan rolls 4 successes to hit Donovan’s character.

If Donovan attempts to dodge and rolls 2 successes, then Donovan’s character is only damaged as if Nathan had hit with 2 successes. If Donovan rolls 3 successes, then Nathan is only left with 1, and if Donovan rolls 4 or more successes, then he dodged the attack entirely and takes no damage.

Damage is calculated by multiplying the number of successes that remain after armor, dodging, and parrying attempts by the weapon’s damage rating.

If a player takes damage, they mark off that many sections from the hourglass on their character sheet. Once their damage becomes substantial, they begin get penalties to their rolls. The numbers on the right hand side of the hour-glass show the applicable penalties.

What about armor? Armor raises the Hit Difficulty for your attacker and, in most cases, adds more health levels to your character. Basically, it takes a better, more accurate hit to do damage despite the armor, and even then, the armor will take the brunt of the damage--at least for the first few hits.

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Can a character dodge multiple attacks in the same round? If a player suspects that they will be attacked multiple times in a single round, then they have the option of attempting a Skilled Dodge. This is done by first adding together the total number of dots they have in Dexterity and Dodge, and then declaring how many of those dots will be used for each dodge.

For instance: Tommy’s character is being attacked by three archers. Tommy tells the Game Master that he will attempt a Skilled Dodge, and then adds together the number of dots he has in Dexterity (3) and in Dodge (also 3). This gives him 6 dice. The Game Master tells Tommy that the first arrow misses him, so Tommy doesn’t have to roll a dodge. The second arrow, though, will hit with four successes if Tommy doesn’t dodge well. Tommy decides to roll five of his six dice, and he scores three successes, greatly reducing the damage he would have taken. The last arrow is on its way, and now Tommy only has one die left to roll…

Can a Character Attack Multiple Times in a Round? Yes. A character may attack up to three times in a single round if they choose to do so. First, they would count the number of dice they would normally be allowed to use when attacking. Then, they would choose how many of those dice to use for each attack. For instance, someone using a sword would add up the number of dots they had in Dexterity and Melee. Let’s say they have 6 dice to roll. Now, if they wish to attack twice in a round, they could roll 3 dice for each attack, roll 5 dice for one attack and 1 for the other, or divide it any other way they saw fit.

Can a Character Block or Parry? Yes. If a person is using a weapon similar to the one they are being attacked with, or if they have the Strong Advantage: Expert Parry (see the section on Advantages and Disadvantages), then they may parry. This is done by rolling the dice just as if they were attacking. If their number of successes is equal to or greater than the attacker’s successes, then they have blocked the attack. Otherwise, they missed their block, and they take full damage. Parrying must be done instead of dodging or instead of attacking.

Can I Parry Multiple Attacks? Yes. Count the number of dice you would normally use to parry. Now decide how many of those dice to roll for each parry. This works almost exactly like a Skilled Dodge, however, a parry is all or nothing. You block, or you don’t. If the attacker ends up with even one extra success, then the blocker receives the full damage--a parry does not cancel out any successes unless it cancels out all the successes. Be very careful when attempting to parry multiple attacks.

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Using a Two-Weapon Style: Some characters may wish to use two weapons at once, such as twin scimitars or a short sword and dagger combination. In this case, the character cannot use their hands during the battle for anything other than wielding their weapons. The advantage of using two weapons is that it grants the user one free parry; instead of a parry taking the place of either a dodge or an attack, the player may choose to dodge, parry, and attack all in the same round, parry twice and then attack, or parry three times without having to split their dice pool.

Using a Two-Handed Weapon: Using a larger-than-normal melee weapon, such as a claymore or a massive axe, requires the use of two hands and allows the user to do more damage than usual. Anytime the user of such a weapon successfully hits an opponent, the weapon does an extra ½ box to full box of damage. There are three things to keep in mind when using this rule. First, an opponent who successfully dodges or parries the attack takes no damage. Second, the extra damage is added one time, not once per success. And third, this does not stack with Combat Mastery. Combat Mastery takes precedence over the two-handed weapon damage.

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Next time, I'll give the weapons chart. See you then. ;)