Regeneration of Health Pool/Hit Points Health regenerates at a rate of the character’s Health attribute modifier in points per eight hours of rest (minimum of 1). Thus, a Health attribute modifier of 3 means that the character regenerates 3 points per eight hours of rest.
Non-Lethal or Temporary Damage Non-Lethal or Temporary damage is harm received by non-lethal means such as blunt force or soft tissue damage. This can be summed up with the phrase, “I don’t want to kill him, just hurt him.” Simple hand-to-hand combat is an example of temporary damage. It is still reduced from the character’s Health Pool. 2/3rd of that damage, however, is healed when the character rests for 8 hours. The remaining 1/3rd of the damage is healed normally (Health attribute modifier, minimum of 1, per eight hours of rest.
Example: Regis was in a fight with a cloaked figure. Regis received 9 points of temporary damage during the fight. His Health Pool is 12. After resting for 8 hours, 6 of the 9 points are healed. The remaining 3 points of damage are healed at a rage of his Health attribute modifier (1) per 8 hours of rest. For Regis, that is 23 hours.
Core Health, Character Death and Core Damage
All characters are unconscious when the character’s Health Pool is reduced to zero. The life essence of the character is called “Core Health”, which is the Health attribute. All damage that exceeds the character’s Health Pool is applied to the character’s Core Health. The character can recover Core Health at a rate of 1 point per 24 hours.
The character is “stable” if, even though unconscious, the Core Health is positive. Once the character receives damage in excess of the character’s core health, the character is then deemed unstable and loses 1 point of Core Health per round. CHARACTER DEATH OCCURS WHEN THE CORE HEALTH IS REDUCED TO ITS NEGATIVE. The character will continue to lose 1 point of Core Health per round until death OR first aid is applied to stabilize the character.
The Art of Breaking
There comes a time when a character simply must break something. This is most commonly seen when breaking through doors. While Warriors have access to the Bash Door skill, nonWarriors do not and must rely on Physical Strength. This is similar to performing an unlearned skill. In this situation, the Narrator assigns a difficulty and the character performs an attribute check. In the event that the breaking is also covered as a skill (like Bash Door), the Narrator determines the difficulty target number and adds 30. As with all unlearned skills, an automatic failure occurs if the sum total needed is higher than 30.
Equipment, Encumbrance, and Fatigue
Fatigue becomes a factor when the character attempts to carry more than the standard weight allowance. However, a character is physically unable to carry more than twice the standard weight allowance.
A character’s Physical Strength and size determines his standard weight allowance. Tiny characters can carry their Physical strength in pounds. Small characters can carry 8 times their Physical Strength in pounds. Medium characters can carry 10 times their Physical Strength in pounds. Large characters can carry 30 times their Physical Strength in pounds. Huge characters can carry 60 times their Physical Strength in pounds.
A character loses 1 point of Health for every 10 minutes when over his/her standard weight. This is called fatigue. The character is physically exhausted and falls unconscious once his Health attribute reaches 0. The character will need to rest 1 hour for every point of Health lost. A fatigued character receives a 1 point penalty per Health point lost on all rolls.
Example: Leevant is carrying a log weighing 160 pounds and does so for 20 minutes. In combination with his equipment, this extra weight puts him over his standard weight allowances. For fatigue purposes, his Health is reduced by 2 points. All action rolls are made with a -2 penalty. This penalty persists until he has rested for two hours.
COMBAT
Game play is generally informal, much like a conversation or a group effort to tell a story. Combat, however, departs from a free-flowing story to a structured order of operations. It starts once an offensive action is taken. From that point until the combat is resolved, time is calculated in rounds. All characters/creatures roll for initiative to determine the order in which action takes place. The Narrator will progress through the initiative order, high to low, and players may act when their initiative is reached. Combat (and the initiative order) ends when all hostilities cease.
All characters can perform one action per round. This is generally described as one strike or swinging of the sword in hopes of h arming the opponent. Only characters who have purchased certain combat skills are allowed to perform more than one strike in a round (Two Weapon, Second Attack, Third Attack, and so on).
On the proper initiative order, the player states that his action is to attack. The target number is determined and the player rolls 3d8 to succeed or fail in the attack. If it is a successful hit, then damage is calculated and reduced from the target’s Health Pool.
With the action completed, the character is unable to act or react further in the round. When all actions are taken within the round, that round is finished and a new round (a new set of actions) begins.
Introduction to Weapon Group Skills
Weapon Group skills are the basic skills for combat. In order to use a weapon, a character must have some working knowledge of it. Weapon Groups that are considered general skills (available to all classes) are One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Swords, Short Blades, Axes, Two-Handed Axes, One-Handed Blunt, Two-Handed Blunt, Pole Weapons, Whips and Segmented Weapons, and Small Weapons.
When a character spends skill points in a Weapon Group, the character must identify which group is being purchased. It is possible for characters to use weapons for which they have no skill. Using an unlearned weapon skill is considered performing an unlearned skill. A successful attack from an unlearned weapon skill, however, causes 1/4th of the weapon’s damage value (DV). Just as with any unlearned skill, the attack automatically fails if the target number needed for success is greater than 30.
Weapon Groups (WG) and Combat Skills
Weapon Groups are the groups of weapons a character has skill to use. Combat skills are skills that can be used within Weapon Groups tied to that particular group. A character must first know how to use the weapon before he/she can perform combat skills. Also, some com- bat skills are tied to other combat skills which, as always, require the same Weapon Group.
Weapon Groups are the springboard for other Combat skills. These Combat skills include: Second Attack, Third Attack, Spin Attack, and Two Weapon. Characters must learn the Combat skills before performing them. A character also must have skill in a Weapon Group before he may spend skill points in other related combat skills. Thus, a character cannot attack with two weapons unless that character has the Two-Weapon skill.
Example: Leevant has focused all of his combat skills around the use of Weapon Group: One-Handed Blades. During his studies, Leevant also trained to fight with two weapons. Following the skill rank requirements listed within the specific skill and spending the re- quired amount of skill points, his combat skills are as follows:
WG: One-handed Blade, Skill Rank 20
Second Attack: One-Handed Blade, skill rank 18 Third Attack: One-Handed Blade, skill rank 16
WG: One-Handed Blade, Two Weapon, skill rank 17
Second Attack: Two Weapon, One-Handed Blade, skill rank 15 Third Attack: Two Weapon, One-Handed Blade, skill rank 13.
A Successful Attack
A successful attack occurs when the character succeeds on an attack skill roll. The target number needed for a successful attack is reached by the following process.
Step One: The Narrator determines the base target number/difficulty. Determining the base target number is situational. What are the conditions like, what is going on around the combatants, is there anything effecting the character(s)? Here are some guidelines:
Target Number 9: Easy. This is the standard fight. Combatants are on even footing with clear vision and nothing effecting the character.
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Target Number 15: Average. Combatants are on uneven footing, loose gravel, rocky terrain, or slippery ground.
Target Number 21: Difficult. The attacker’s vision is blurred or that the ground is deep mud (about six to eight inches deep).
Target Number 27: Hard. The attacker is disoriented or dizzy.
Target Number 36: Heroic. The attacker is blind.
Target Number 48: The attacker is blind, knee deep in mud, and in an ice storm. Step Two: Once the base target number is determined, all relevant modifiers are applied. Combat is a skill. The defender’s Agility modifier, armor, defense skill, all play a role in increasing the target difficulty. On the other side, the attacker’s skill is subtracted from the difficulty along with any other combat modifiers.
Example: Leevant is in combat with Zoaz. Leevant’s weapon skill is 7 (base points spent for skill rank plus 2 from his Agility modifier). Zoaz’s defense skill is 2. In addition, his armor gives him a defense of 2, and he has a +2 modifier from his Agility attribute. This gives Zoaz a total defense of 6. The combat is occurring indoors and on even ground. Thus, the Narrator determines that the base target number is 9 (easy). Leevant would need to roll an 8 or more to have a successful strike (base difficulty of 9 – Leevant’s attack skill of 7 + Zoaz’s defense of 6 = 8).
Damage
Damage from a successful attack is directly affected by the quality of the strike. Attacks that are successful by exactly what was needed reduces the weapon’s damage by 5. One point of damage is added per point of success. Thus, a successful attack by 15 points would have a damage increase of 10 points.
Example: L eevant needed to roll a sum total of 8 to successfully strike Zoaz. Leevant rolls a 2, 6, and 8. Because Leevant’s weapon skill is higher than 5, he can reroll the 8 and add it to his sum total. He does so and rolls a 6. This makes Leevant’s total roll of 22 (2 + 6 + 8 + 6) which succeeds the target number needed by 14. His weapon’s base damage is 10 and is of average quality (0 additional points of damage from the weapon’s quality), and his Physical Strength gives him a +2 to damage. A successful strike by 14 points adjusts the damage by 9 points for a total of 21 points of damage (base weapon damage of 10 + weapon quality of 0 + Physical Strength modifier +2 + skill success bonus of 9 = 21).
Taking Damage and Armor
Damage: Weapon damage is based on the weapon size and type. There are two weapon types: blunt and everything else. While it may seem logical to break weapon types down to specifics, like slicing or piercing weapons), those who are trained with piercing weapons can inflict as much damage as those trained to use slashing weapons. It seems irrelevant to know the type of weapon when the character receives 8 points of damage. Those who know how to use the weapon know how to find weaknesses in armor by exploiting joints or other openings.
All weapons have a Damage Value (DV). This is the base damage that weapon inflicts. Damage is modified by how well the attacker strikes the target. Bad strikes deal less damage than good strikes. Weapon quality and ability modifiers can also increase (or decrease) the weapons DV. Regardless, a successful attack will always do a minimum of 1 point of damage unless the target is wearing armor.
Armor: Armor has to effects in combat. First, it makes it harder for the opponent to strike the target. The attacker has to find a weak spot in the armor or some sort of gap. Second, and sometimes more important, is that armor reduces the amount of damage taken. Armor is rated by AR (armor rating). Thus, a set of armor that as an AR of 2 increases the target difficulty by 2 points and reduces all damage done by 2. Note that this can reduce damage received to 0.
Example: Leevant’s strike did 21 points of damage. Zoaz’s armor has an AR of 2. Instead of taking 21 points of damage, Zoaz in turn receives only 19 points of damage. The Blunt Factor
Blunt weapons can have a drastic effect in combat. While most weapons focus energy at a specific point (spear tip, sword edge), blunt weapons transfer massive amounts of energy over a larger area. Because the damage is not as focused, blunt weapons general do less damage. What they lose as initial damage they gain on efficiency. The purpose of armor is to make it harder for an opponent to have a successful strike. This is represented by adding points to the character’s defense. Blunt weapons can negate a good portion of armor by reducing the armor’s effectiveness by 5 points. Armor that would normally give an armor rating of 7 would be reduced to 2. This effects both the defense (making it easier to hit the target) and the damage the armor can absorb.
While it is true that certain armor was developed in history to provide protection from certain weapons, fighting tactics did change to match the armor provided. In Soterion, we assume that the advantage of armor over various types of weapons is negated by the skill it takes to use the weapon.
Rounds and Turns
Rounds last eight seconds. Eight rounds make up one turn. Some actions may take more than one round to complete. Rounds and Turns are used to order progress through combat. Characters can perform 1 action and 2 simple actions in a round. Actions are attacking, moving six steps or more, performing a skill that can be completed in eight seconds, or sprinting. Simple actions are look left, look right, look up, look down, turn, take a step.
Initiative
Initiative is the order in which all characters involved with the combat act. This process gives structure on when a character acts, who may act first or last, how long it takes for cer- tain effects to occur, or how long that effect will last. Initiative is determined by rolling 1d8 and adding the character’s Cognizance attribute bonus. (Regis has a Cognizance attribute of 15. His total initiative roll would be 1d8+1). Initiative is rolled once at the beginning of combat only and remains in effect until the combat is resolved.
Each character in play rolls initiative separately. The characters may then act in order from highest initiative to lowest. In the event of a tied initiative number, the character’s Agility modifier determines who in the tie may act first. If the Agility modifier is identical as well, then both actions are considered to occur simultaneously.
Holding the Initiative
There may be times when a character has a high initiative but wants to react rather than act. This is broken down into two categories: Anticipating the Act and Responding to the Act.
Anticipating the Act: Here the character waits for a specific occurrence in order to act before the occurrence. This must be strictly defined to the Narrator in terms of a specific target, specific action, and/or specific term. An example of this term is “I will fire my arrow if the target reaches for a weapon.” When this occurs, the player may take the “held” action before the target may perform his/her action. At this point, the character is focused on the specific occurrence and may be oblivious to his/her surroundings. Once the specific occurrence has happened, the character may act normally the next round as determined by the initiative roll.
Responding to the Act: This can also be referred to as Holding Initiative. Here, the character with a higher initiative is waiting for anything to happen that he/she may respond to. This is a general term and is a wait and see attitude. While the character is not able to prevent an act (like Anticipating the Act) the character will be able to respond to the act the next initiative count. This is useful in situations where the character doesn’t want to make the first move. A character may hold his actions for as long as he/she chooses to. Once the character determines to act, the character may act normally the next round as determined by the initiative roll.
Affecting Initiative
Certain situations or circumstances can have a direct impact on a character’s initiative. These circumstances may take the character off guard, possibly disheartening the character, or cause him/her to delay actions.
Surprise: Surprise occurs when combat begins suddenly and unexpectedly. A surprised character’s initiative is a natural 1d8 roll without modifiers. The character’s initiative modifiers may be applied at the beginning of the next combat turn (8 rounds).
Momentum
Shift: At some point within the turn (8 rounds), a character with the Momentum Shift skill can use an action to roll this skill. A successful Momentum Shift increases the character’s initiative by 1 point for the next turn. Only one Momentum Shift skill roll can be made per turn. In effect, a character who has an initiative of 1, over a span of 8 turns an d8 successful skill rolls, can turn gain momentum and increase his initiative to 9.
Demoralization: Demoralization occurs when the character is facing odds that seem hopeless or when facing a creature that invokes fear. Let’s face it, there are some creatures in Soterion that are terrifying. To determine if a character is demoralized, a Cognizance attribute check is made against a target number of 27. The sum total needed is adjusted down for the character’s level. (A first level character with a cognizance of 15 would need a sum total of 11 on 3d8 to avoid Demoralization.
This roll can be modified by a situational/creature modifier assessed by the Narrator. If suc - cessful, the character remains unaffected. If unsuccessful, both the character’s initiative and all skill rolls are reduced by 1 point. A Demoralization roll generally occurs at the beginning of the turn, while a second roll is not made until the beginning of the next turn. Subsequent Demoralization rolls can occur in the same turn if there is a substantial change in circumstances that would warrant it. Note: Yaarma are immune to Demoralization.
Example: Leevant is fighting against a hoard of bandits. Within the first turn, the Narra- tor has Leevant roll for Demoralization. He succeeds the roll and is unaffected. During the course of the turn, he sees another 20 bandits burst out of a building and head his way. The situation has turned grim. Even though we are still in the same turn, the Narrator determines that a second Demoralization roll should occur and assesses a 10 point modifier for that roll.
Surrounding the Character
There are four zones that surround a character in combat: front left, front, front right, and rear. At any given time, the character can be surrounded by 4 opponents equal or close to the size of the character. The attacker in the rear zone receives the benefits of attacking from be- hind. Common sense should rule when it comes to the zones and differing sized characters/ creatures. 4 Raphad, being 25 feet tall, in no way could surround a medium sized creature in the 4 zones. By the same token, 20 Nepsah, being six inches tall, could.
Bridge Worlds: Soterion Page 13
