Combat In Geomancy

From LiMaWiki

Usually the first thing players want to know is how combat is utilized in my game system. I have taken advantage of most gaming systems out there (Rifts, D&D, White Wolf) and took, what I thought, were the best things about that combat system and created a newer, fresher, choice able, battle system. I wanted players to feel more than just a hack-and-slash combat system, a system made of choices that could either make or break everything. I wanted character to have the freedom of performing tasks instead of just rolling dice, damage, rolling dice, dodge…

Combat in geomancy is defined as a problem or conflict that characters face. This can be as simple as a fight against a Orc or more complex such as a group dealing with a trap in a dungeon. In order to initiate combat, the characters or DM must declare it.

[edit] Initiative

When confronted with any conflict (not just a monster, but even a trap, or a avalanche), the DM will request all to roll an initiative (turn order for the characters). To figure out your character’s initiative for that battle/conflict, you simply roll a 1d20 and add in your character’s Improved Initiative skill.

Ex: Lacey’s character has a Improved Initiative of +3. When she rolls initiative, she rolls a 1d20. She rolled a 14. She then adds in her skill of +3 to the total to give her a initiative of 17.

There will be a problem of “same initiatives” in which two or more characters have the same number. It doesn’t matter who goes first, all the attacks are “performed at the same time” and all the effects that normally would affect characters on their turn, don’t take effect till next turn.

Ex: Randy has a 15 for initiative, as well as a Orc and Derrick. It doesn’t matter who goes first, so the DM tells randy to perform his attack. He swings a sword and does11 points of damage to the orc. The DM then has derrick go and he does 13 points of damage to the same Orc. Then the orc would go, and attack randy for 4 points of damage. Although the orc only had 10 HP (he would have been killed on Randy’s hit) he still gets a turn because they all tied on initiative.

This isn’t the only example, lets say a spell causes an explosion that pushes character’s back, although damage would still be calculated, those who tied with the spell caster in initiative would still get to go as if the “push back” hasn’t affected them yet. This is the same with poisons, paralysis, sleep, and other status effects that would either immobilize or otherwise hinder the tied player from performing an action that can currently be played.

[edit] Combat Moves

Once initiative is decided, turn order is performed, the higher the initiative, the sooner your character will be able to attack. When it is your character’s turn, there are a couple of different things your character can do: Nothing, Strike, Parry, Dodge, or Simo-Strike. While you are being attacked, you have some defensive measures you can take, they are Parry and Dodge.

Disabled/Nothing
When a character chooses this action, they take the hit and damage from an opponent’s attack. Character’s who do nothing are either subdued or incapacitated in some way (such as being tied up or paralyzed). When striking an opponent who does nothing, all the attacker has to do is roll higher than a 1 (this must still be rolled even if the attacker has bonuses that would put the initial base higher than a 1).

[edit] Offensive Moves

Strike is the common move done by characters. This involves striking with a weapon, casting a spell, using a potion or item, or even using a skill. There are 10 moves a character can perform while striking as well as using an Item or potion.

Bull Rush
The character pushes his whole body force and weapon into a target. If the opponent fails a STR DC 10 + character's weapon skill, the opponent is knocked down and becomes prone.

Cast Spell
The character can cast a spell he knows. Rules for this are listed under the Spell Introduction section.

Charge
The character can charge an opponent head on (can only charge a target who is in line with the character) and smash them to the ground hard. This can be performed with any melee weapon. The character can charge a target up to their SPD attribute. When approached, the character bashes the weapon or full body force into the opponent who must then make a AGI DC 10 + the character's weapon skill. If the opponent fails they are knocked prone. If the opponent makes a save they can perform a automatic trip against the target with a +5 to do so.

Disarm
Disarming can only be done on a character up to one class size larger. A medium sized character could only disarm a opponent up to Large size or smaller. To perform a disarm, a character rolls to strike normally and the opponent can dodge or parry the attack. If successful, the defender's weapon rolls 5' away in a random direction (roll a 1d8). Picking up the weapon and readying it again requires a full turn.

Full Concentration Stance
The character is able to centralize his focus into spells, special abilities, and magical attacks. While in full concentration, the character is able to reduce all his CAST DC’s by -6. The backlash is that a character cannot strike physically, dodge, or parry that round. The character can move very quickly before the beginning of his turn but only up to his SPD. The warrior ability Concentration Stance, will give the character an additional -1 to the CAST DC per level. The stance lasts until the beginning of the character’s next turn when he can either choose to switch the stance, continue in the same stance, or choose none of them.

Full Offensive Stance
The character performs all out attacking abilities and strikes against opponents. While in a full offensive stance, the character gains a +3 to strike and a +3 to damage with physical weapons (this includes bows but does not include magical weapons, spells, or damage). However, the character cannot dodge or cast spells that round but he can parry with his normal bonuses. He can move at the beginning of his turn, but he cannot run, he can only move his SPD. The warrior ability, Offensive Stance, will give a character a +1 to strike and damage per level. The stance lasts until the beginning of the character’s next turn when he can either choose to switch the stance, continue in the same stance, or choose none of them.

Shield Bash
A character can bash a target's face in with a shield other than an Aegis or Tower. The character must make a normal attack with their Shield and if successful, the defender must make a CON DC 10 + attacker's shield fighting skill. If the defender fails, they are stunned for 1 round after the strike. Damage is based off of the shield damage plus NDAM (M).

Simo-Strike
Also called Simultaneous Strike. This allows a character to take the hit from a character, but also attack in return. To perform this move, a character rolls a 1d20 and adds in her weapon modifier to the total. If this number beats the attackers, two things happen. The first is that the attacker rolls damage for hitting the defender and the defender rolls damage for hitting the attacker. Damage is applied at the same time. Failure to perform this move means just the attacker rolls damage.

Slam Attack
Much like Shield Bash except it can only be done with two-handed swords. The DC is STR based (STR DC 10) plus the character's weapon skill in two handed swords. The damage is cut in half (rounded down).

Striking
To strike normally, with one weapon, you roll a 1d20 and add in your Attack Bonus for the weapon. The defender would have to roll a parry or dodge in order to avoid some damage or all the damage. For Off-Hand strikes (strikes with your secondary weapon) will find it difficult to do without Two Weapon Fighting. When striking with a Off-Hand weapon, they do so with their Two Weapon fighting skill. Those who do not have this skill strike with a -10. However, character's cannot add in their Two Weapon skill any higher than the weapon skill they are using.

Trip
Tripping can only be done on a character up to one class sizes larger. A medium sized character could only trip a opponent up to Large size or smaller. A character rolls to strike normally and the opponent can dodge or parry the attack. If successful, the opponent falls flat onto the ground and becomes prone. If the target is running or charging, the attacker gains a +5 to the trip attempt.

[edit] Defensive Moves

Dodge
Dodging is much more difficult than parrying, but if successful, completely avoids all damage. In order to perform a dodge, a character must have an open 5’ square adjacent to him. When dodging, the character rolls a 1d20 and adds in his AGI “Skill” bonus (his “Skill” sub-stat) to the total. If his number beats the attacker, the character completely dodges the attack but is moved 5’ to an open adjacent square.

Dodging a spell is different. Spells cannot be dodged in the normal sense. Spells must be overcome. Because of their nature, spells will go wherever the caster tells it to go. If a caster says “hit that orc” while creating a spell, the magic WILL hit. It is up to the Orc to save himself against it with a roll. Saves allow characters to avoid partial damage. Status Saves are a separate roll. If a spell has both a Save and a Status Save, the first Save is rolled then the status save.

Full Defensive Stance
The character hunkers down physically to help boost his defense against physical attacks. While in full defense, the character gains a +3 DEF and a +3 to parry for the round. The drawback is that the character cannot strike or move (including dodging and casting) for that round. The warrior ability Defensive Stance will give a character a +1 to DEF and parry per level.

Full Reflexive Stance
Becoming light on his toes, the character is able to dodge and react quickly to attacks better. While in full reflexive stance, the character gains a +6 to dodge for that round. However, the character cannot strike or cast spells that round nor can he parry. The character can only move once at the beginning of his turn and can only move his SPD. The warrior ability Reflexive Stance will give the character a +1 to dodge per level.

Parry
This is the easiest form of blocking an attack, but it doesn’t render the character completely void of damage. It doesn’t take much movement to block, but the attacker will still do some damage to you; just a lot less. When rolling to parry, the defender rolls a 1d20 and adds in her weapon modifier to the total roll. If this number beats the attacker’s roll, they successfully parry. The attacker will still roll damage for his weapon but divides the total by two. The defender then applies any defense they have to reduce the number even further. The total damage dealt by the weapon (BEFORE applying defenses) is taken from the ST of the armor hit. More on this in Structure System. If the character successfully parries with a shield, the character adds in his AC for his shield and his armor AC and he still only suffers half damage. If he fails a parry with his shield he only applies his shield AC.

[edit] Movement

Before attacking, a character may move up to his SPD and still perform a offensive action. This is called a move action. On 5'x5' squares the SPD is rounded down to the nearest 5 or 0. The character can also make a full sprint towards something. A character can run up to their RUN attribute however this takes up a full round action.

[edit] Multiple Attacks

All characters can perform one move per round. But there are exceptions to this rule. There are special abilities that increase your turns per round and there is one more option. After you perform your attack, you can opt to perform a multiple attack. In this situation, the character must beat a AGI DC10. This means the character rolls a 1d20 and adds in her AGI “Skill” bonus to the total. If this number beats a 10, the character can perform another action! The best part is that after the next attack, the character can opt another multiple attack, except the AGI DC is increased by +10 to 20. Now the character must beat a 20 in order to get another attack. This increases by +10 until the character misses the DC. But do not worry, if a character fails the DC nothing happens and the next player goes. Nothing bad happens for failing the DC so take it always! However, the character can only take an additional attack unless the previous attack hits the intended opponent. This is also, not an additional turn, the character cannot move or cast spells. It is simply an additional strike with a primary weapon.

[edit] Dual Casting

Casters can utilize a type of dual cast on their turn. For most characters, they will be able to only cast one spell on their turn, this takes a standard action. The reason being is because there's a lot that goes into casting a spell such as somatic, audio, and possibly material components. However, a mage can partially get around this with the help of additional PE and type of spell. After the mage has cast a spell, they can initiate a Dual Cast. This second spell affects targets after the effects of the first spell (such as knockback, poison, curing). But the mage can only cast single target spells (such as bolt). The mage cannot use this dual cast to use spells that affect multiple targets, radius, cone, or line effects. Secondly, the spell also costs 50% more (rounded down to the nearest 5 or 0).

[edit] Called Shots

Other than just striking, a character may opt for a “called shot” to disable an opponent rather than just killing him. To do this, a character must make the call prior to rolling to strike. To hit the arms of a target (left or right, doesn’t matter) the character has a –8 to his total roll to do so. The legs are a –6. The head has a –10. When rolling damage, the attacker would roll as normal but all damage is negated against a called shot. Instead, for every 10 points of damage (rounded down) made against a called shot, the duration of the effects lasts 1 minute. If the attack is successful the opponent suffers a massive negative for the duration.

Arms
When a character’s arms are disabled it causes them to not be able to use it proficiently and suffers half penalty on anything requiring arms such as striking, parrying, or performing a skill.

Ex: Krystle’s character has just had her arm disabled. She normally has a bonus of 5 to perform a skill, but now she can only perform at a +2 (rounded down).

Legs
When a character’s legs are disabled it causes their SPD sub-stat to be reduced by ¾.

Ex: Chrissi’s legs are disabled. She normally has a SPD of 30 but now only moves at a rate of 7 (rounded down).

Head
When a character’s head is disabled, they become blind, deaf, or dumb, have their SPD reduced by ¾, half penalties, and cannot use any spells or special abilities.

[edit] Critical Hits

Critical hits are when a attacker strikes a defender exceptionally well and does extra damage. Critical hits usually involve a sword piercing through a weak spot in armor, or striking a vein in a arm. When critical hits are scored the damage for the weapon is doubled.

To score a critical hit, a character must roll a natural 20 on a 1d20 when striking. The nice thing about criticals is that when the attacker rolls a 20, not only does he do double damage, but he also gets an extra 1 SP and the defender cannot attack back via dodge, parry or simo-strikes! Basically, the defender takes the hit, he cannot dodge. That’s how exceptional critical hits are. It doesn’t matter if the defender has a +50 to dodge or parry, if the attacker rolls a natural 20 there’s nothing the defender can do about it.

One special ability in particular, Sever (warrior skill), will reduce this threat range from a 20 to a 19-20. Meaning the rules of critical hits apply when the warrior rolls a 19 to strike the oponent. However, when sever is used, they cannot use any special ability or skill, they can only attack.

Ex: Joe rolls to strike a Gnome. He rolls to attack and gets a natural 20. His weapon normally does 1d6 points of damage. The DM awards him +1 SP and tells the character to roll damage. He rolls a 4. Since he scored a critical hit, he now does 8 points of damage (4*2=8) to the gnome.

Critical hits also apply for skills and casting too. When a 20 is rolled for a skill, the character performs the task exceptionally well. However, if the DC for the task is above 20 the bonuses that he has for that skill must either meet or beat the DC if the 20 is rolled.

Ex: Derrick has a Airship, pilot skill of 4. If the DM were to assign a task for a DC of 25, the character would not get the option to perform a critical hit if a 20 is rolled because his skill only allows him to do a task up to 24. However the DM would still award him a bonus +1 SP for rolling a 20.

Casting works just like skills and striking, if the character rolls a 20 to cast the spell, the spell does double damage (just double damage, not double anything else). However, if the CAST DC is higher than 20 with the bonuses of the character (like for skills) the character doesn’t stand a chance of scoring a critical hit. The character would still be awarded +1 SP for rolling a 20.

[edit] Critical Failures

Like critical hits, critical failures is when a character performs a task and fails miserably at it. So miserable in fact, that drastic things can happen to the character or a fellow party member. Critical failures are things players wish to avoid at all costs and it is times like these when having a few extra SP to reroll a roll is very important.

A critical failure happens when a 1 is rolled on a 1d20 to cast a spell, strike, parry, dodge, or use a skill. When a 1 is rolled in any of these circumstances, drastic things fall upon the character. All things depend up to the DM as to what happens to the character or someone else near them. Some good examples are as follows:

Striking (When a 1 is rolled…..)
- The weapon the character is holding slips out of his hands and falls 10’ away in a random direction.
- The weapon breaks in half.
- The weapon bends, making it do half the amount of damage.
- The weapon flies out of the character’s hands and hits a random person (if applicable) up to 10’ away.

Casting (When a 1 is rolled…)
- Roll once on the spell failure table.

Dodging/Parrying
- The character gets hit with the full force of the attack (full damage from weapon).
- The character gets struck in a weak spot (critical hit)
- The character trips and falls
- The character’s weapon breaks (parry)

Skill
- The task is done horribly

These are just a few examples, leave it up to the DM as to what happens.

Additional Rules can be found by clicking on the link.