Part 6: Adventuring ☰
Combat begins when the PCs and a group of hostile creatures and/or NPCs abandon diplomacy and decide to settle their problems with violence, though that is not to say things cannot still be settled peacefully if a great enough effort is made. This chapter details the general flow and order of events in combat, as well as laying down a few general rules that should help things flow more smoothly.
At the start of combat, the order in which each combatant acts must be determined. To do so, record each fighter's AGI or DEX score (their choice), and place them in descending order (i.e. the highest at the top and the lowest at the bottom); creatures who tie decide between themselves who goes first. Then at the start of each round, the actor with the highest initiative takes their turn, then the next-highest, and so on until everyone has taken their turn. If combat has not resolved after the last participant has acted, then start over again at the top of the list, descending through it again until combat is over. If the party is facing a large number of hostiles, enemies may be grouped together and act on the same turn to make combat logistically simpler – in this case, roughly estimate the average AGI/DEX of the group and use that.
Creatures who join combat after it starts take their turns after the end of the current round.
At the start of combat, the GM determines who, if anyone, is surprised. Surprised creatures are placed in the initiative order as normal, however they do not partake in the first round of combat and attacks against them during this time have advantage.
When combat starts, it is important to determine where everyone is placed on the battlefield, if that hasn’t been done already. If playing using a grid or some sort of map, this part should be trivial. If there is no such grid or the party has chosen to go the Theater of the Mind route, then the GM will, for the most part, determine where everyone on the battlefield is, with the help of the players and their chosen marching order or previously stated positions.
Once initiative and surprise have been determined and the combatants’ positions established, combat begins in earnest. Every round of combat lasts 3 seconds, and each creature’s turn describes what they are doing during that 3 seconds using their actions and reaction. Pay attention as each combatant takes their turn, so that when your turn comes around, you can utilize it to its fullest potential.
Most of the time, attacking with a given weapon uses up a single action, though some weapons require the use of more than one; the number of actions you have on each of your turns is determined by your DEX score. Generally, there are two forms of attacks a character can make: attacking in melee and attacking at range.
Attacking in Melee. A creature is considered engaged in melee combat they are within the range of >1 of an opponent's equipped melee weapons. Most melee weapons, unless they have the Short or Long property, have a range of 2m. Melee attacks are reduced by a creature’s M-DEF score.
Attacking at Range. A ranged weapon’s standard range and long range are listed next to their ammunition. If an attack is made in the weapon’s standard range, the attack is made as normal. If the attack is made in the weapon’s long range or against a prone target, then it has disadvantage. For Archery weapons, firing while prone also grants disadvantage, whereas with Firearm weapons, firing while prone grants advantage. Lastly, ranged attacks made in melee range with two-handed weapons have disadvantage, but such attacks with one-handed weapons do not. Ranged attacks are always reduced by a creature’s R-DEF score.
When a creature wields two Small or Medium melee weapons at once (Polearm weapons cannot be dual-wielded), their Armor score is increased by their proficiency with whichever one of those weapons they are more proficient with. For example, if a character with 3 proficiency in Medium weapons and 1 proficiency in Small were to wield a rapier in one hand and a stiletto in the other, their Armor score would increase by 3. In the case of dual-wielding Large weapons, the character must be Big or bigger and be able to wield each weapon one-handed (to wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, a character's STR score must be >1 + the STR requirement of the weapon).
The character loses this bonus if they become unable to use their arms (such as by being restrained or paralyzed) or if they wear armor that grants disadvantage on DEX checks, including Medium or Large shields.
Should you so desire, you may choose to target a creature's limbs or other appendages in an attempt to cripple or sever said appendage or otherwise render it useless. When doing this, make an attack against the targeted appendage with disadvantage; the targeted appendage is then disabled for a number of seconds equal to the amount of final damage dealt. If that amount is >15, the attacker can decide if they want to cripple or sever the targeted appendage. The effects for each limb being disabled are detailed below, with the effects of a limb being crippled or severed described below that.
The effects of each type of appendage being disabled are detailed here:
Hand/Arm. The affected creature is unable to hold anything that requires two hands and has disadvantage on
STR and DEX checks that require the use of their injured limb.
Foot/Leg. If the affected creature does not have a prosthetic, their AGI is reduced to 1 (or 0 if their AGI was
already <1); if they have a makeshift prosthetic, such as a peg leg, their AGI is reduced by 1. Additionally, they have
disadvantage on STR and AGI checks that require the use of their injured limb.
Tail. The tail goes totally limp and becomes useless.
Wing. If > half of the affected creature's wings become crippled, they cannot fly; otherwise, their
flying speed is reduced by 25% for every wing that becomes crippled.
If an appendage becomes crippled, it remains that way until the crippled creature either A) receives arcane healing that restores >10% of their Maximum Health or B) a DR 18 Medicine Kit check is successfully performed on the appendage, after which the creature must rest until their Health is restored to full. If option A or the first part of option B is not applied within 24 hours, the wound will become infected and/or will not heal properly and become permanently disabled depending on the exact circumstances and your GM's discretion.
If an appendage is severed, that creature immediately gains the External Bleeding lingering injury, and for it to be reattached requires a successful DR 25 Medicine Kit check; a Partial Success on this check will stop the bleeding, however there is a 50% chance the wound will become infected and another 50% chance that that limb will become permanently crippled unless that creature receives specialized arcane healing, such as the Restore the Body spell.
For every additional combatant beyond 1 engaging a creature in melee combat, all combatants attacking that creature gain an additional +2 bonus to their attacks. For example, if 2 Goblins were to gang up on a Human, each Goblin would gain +2 to each of their attacks; if a third Goblin were to join them, all 3 would have a +4 bonus. Combatants targeting the flanked creature with a ranged weapon benefit from this bonus, but they do not count towards the number of foes flanking the target creature.
When targeting a creature with a ranged weapon, for every 1 meter above/below their target that the attacking creature is, they gain a +/-.5 bonus/penalty to their attack, to a maximum of +/-3. For example, if a Kobold were to target a creature 3 meters below them with their bow, their attack would benefit from a +1.5 bonus; alternatively, if they were to target a creature 4 meters above them, their attack would suffer a -2 penalty.
If a character deals enough damage to a creature with a melee attack to reduce the target to 0 Health, the leftover damage from the attack is allowed to apply to an adjacent creature of the player’s choice without requiring the character to make another attack.
Part 1, Chapter 8 details the categorization of differently sized creatures and quantifies the amount of space each size category occupies in combat. When attempting to navigate or move through a friendly creature’s space, you can do so freely if it allows you to, however you cannot occupy that creature's space, meaning that you cannot end your turn there, and if you are placed there by being moved involuntarily, it is shunted into the nearest unoccupied space. If the creature is hostile or will otherwise not allow you to move through its space, you must make a STR or AGI check contested against the other creature’s STR check.
Falling. When a creature falls, for every 3m it is in free fall, it takes an amount of physical damage that varies depending on its Size, to a maximum of 190 damage dice. If they land on a damage-dealing surface, such as spikes in the bottom of a pit, they take damage from whatever they land on in addition to their fall damage. Should they land on another creature, both creatures take the fall damage. For relatively small distances, it can be assumed that a creature falls the given distance instantaneously at the end of their next turn, and they can use their reaction and/or their turn to try to find a way to slow or mitigate their fall. For distances of >30m, assume the creature falls 30m/sec.
Additionally, whenever a creature falls, they must make an AGI check to avoid landing prone, with the DR for this check being equal to triple the number of meters they fell, e.g. a fall of 10 meters has a DR of 30. For sufficiently small or large distances, a check almost certainly does not need to be made. For example, a creature with an AGI of 4 falling 3 meters does not need to make a check, as even with disadvantage, it would be nearly impossible for them to fail; on the other hand, it is utterly impossible for almost any creature to avoid landing prone after falling 30 meters. This does not reduce the damage taken from falling in any way.
Drowning & Suffocating. When a creature is drowning or suffocating, if it is taken by surprise, it has a number of seconds equal to 6 times its Fortitude score (minimum 3) until it runs out of breath and goes unconscious; if it manages to properly hold its breath, it has a number of minutes equal to its Fortitude score (minimum 30 seconds) until it goes unconscious. If it goes unconscious while drowning/suffocating, it has a number of minutes equal to its CON score (minimum 1) until its brain shuts down and it dies; during this time, for each minute that passes, its INT score is permanently reduced by .5.
Burning. A creature or object that has been lit on fire takes 1d6 burn damage reduced only by their Natural Armor at the start and end of each of their turns until the flame is put out or they die.
There are two kinds of cover in I&A: partial cover, which refers to any cover that covers at least half of the defending creature's body, and total cover, which applies when a creature's body is completely covered and unreachable by another creature or weapon. When a creature is behind partial cover, all attacks against them have disadvantage, and when in total cover, they cannot be targeted by attacks at all.
If a creature is using another as cover, the attacker first rolls their attack against their target with disadvantage like they normally would; if they deal no final damage, then they must roll their attack again, this time without disadvantage and against the creature being used as cover.
When fighting underwater, non-aquatic creatures’ attacks have disadvantage and they have a swimming speed (in m/s) equal to their Swim proficiency + their STR score, divided by 2 (e.g. a Swim proficiency of 3 + a STR score of 2.5 is 5.5, divided by 2 is 2.75m/s). While underwater, a typical creature can hold their breath for a number of minutes equal to their CON score (minimum 30 seconds). Hammerlocks, blunderbusses, firelances, and flamethrowers cannot fire underwater.
Though this need not always be the case, combat in I&A usually falls into one of five categories: Chase, Control, Last Team Standing, Survival, or Very Important Target (VIT). If you feel that your combat encounters are starting to become a bit dull, perhaps consider that the reason for this is that the objective is always the same, and simply needs a bit of variety in order to spice things up and make encounters interesting again.
Chase. Chases are a relatively unique form of combat and are covered here.
Control. The objective of a Control-based encounter is for one party to obtain and/or maintain their grasp on a specific area or object, such as a room or building, for as long as that thing is being threatened.
For example, say the party is entrusted with guarding a large and expensive machine, one that requires a certain amount of time for it to perform a desired function. If it is interrupted during its task, it will break, or otherwise cease to perform as desired. The thing being controlled here is the machine, as it must be defended until its work is complete.
Last Team Standing. Probably the most common combat objective, as well as the easiest to implement, Last Team Standing simply wages one group of participants against the other, and whichever team is still standing at the end is the victor.
An example would be a band of adventurers assaulting a nest of giant spiders; the adventurers’ goal is to kill the spiders, while the spiders wish to eliminate the adventurers and defend their home.
Survival. Somewhat similar to Last Team Standing, Survival sees one group try to survive as long as they can against an overwhelming hostile force, dealing with enemy blades and attrition in equal measures. To avoid having combats such as these become too boring or drag on for too long, it is advised that the GM have some sort of event planned to occur after a few rounds of combat have passed, allowing the plot to move forward and to keep the encounter from dragging on, either into (seeming) infinity or until the PCs all die.
One such instance of this is the PCs find themselves in the middle of a warzone, with hordes of Orks assaulting a sizable Sentient settlement. The first few rounds see the PCs out on the battlefield outside the settlement walls, keeping the Orks at bay while the townspeople have time to fortify their defenses, or evacuate, or say their final prayers – whichever the GM decides. Suddenly, an Ork warchief arrives on the battlefield, relatively huge and looming over everything in sight. Now the PCs have a new target and a new goal: end the battle by killing or capturing the Ork warchief. This new development would also turn this combat into the next and final type of combat, Very Important Target.
Very Important Target (VIT). Last but not least is VIT combat, wherein a person or object is designated more important than the other actors in play, and must be eliminated or obtained by one or more parties in order for combat to end.
As an example, say a group of assassins wishes to eliminate an important noble, and to do this, they must get past her bodyguards. If this situation comes to blows, the assassins’ objective is just to eliminate the noble, and everything aside from that is secondary. Once their task is complete, they are free to leave, assuming they have no other necessary objectives.