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Players Guide
The World
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Rules /
CombatThe World of Teara Adan Using alternating combat turns, each combat round consists of two actions: the fighter with the higher initiative attacks while the other defends, then the second combatant attacks while the first defends. With multiple characters involved in combat, the GM runs the combat in initiative order, even if fighters from both sides are interspersed throughout the combat turn. Gaining initiative is an Opposed action using Situational rolls modified by Agility. A gift such as Combat Reflexes can grant a +1 to initiative. Surprise may grant a bonus to the roll, or give automatic initiative. Initiative can be rolled once for each battle or once each round. Perhaps a character could trade skill for initiative: attack hastily (+1 to initiative that round) but be slightly off balance because of it (-1 to attack and defend that round). Each attack is an Opposed Action: the attacker's Offensive skill (Sword, Melee Weapon, Martial Art, etc.) against a defender's Defensive skill (Shield, Parry, Dodge, Duck, etc.). Using these rules, a Defensive parry skill may simply equal the weapon skill, or it may be a separate skill that must be bought independently of an Offensive skill. The GM must tell the players at character creation which method she is using - or allow them extra levels on the fly to adjust their defensive abilities. Some weapons, such as an Axe, are poor parrying weapons. Players should ask the GM at character creation if a weapon may be used to parry and still be used to attack without penalty in the next turn - and give their characters decent Shield or Dodge skills to compensate for poor parrying weapons. All-out offensive and defensive tactics can be used. A character forfeits his attack for a round if he chooses All-out defense, and is at -2 on his defense on his opponent's next turn if choosing All-out offense - or perhaps gets no defense at all! The default defense for animals depends on their type: carnivores will usually have a Defense value one level less than their Offense, while this is reversed for most prey species. A minimum result of Poor is needed to hit a (roughly) equal-sized opponent. That is, a human needs to score a Poor blow (and still win the Opposed action) in order to hit another human. If both opponents roll worse than Poor, the round is a standoff. If one opponent is significantly bigger than the other (of a different Scale, at least), he needs a Mediocre or even Fair result to hit his smaller foe, while even a Terrible result will allow the small fighter to hit the larger. (Of course, such a blow must still win the Opposed action.) Extremely small targets, such as a pixie, may require a Good or even a Great result. Examples include humans fighting giants, or very large or small animals. If the result is a relative degree other than 0, and the minimum level needed to score a hit is achieved or surpassed, the winner checks to see if he hit hard enough to damage the loser. In general, the better the hit (the greater the relative degree), the greater the likelihood of damage. If one combatant is unable to fight in a given round (possibly because he's unaware of the attacker, or because of a critical result in the previous round, the combat may become an Unopposed Action for the attacker, usually with a Poor Difficulty Level. If a character can defend himself in some way, such as using a shield, it is still an Opposed Action. Some situations call for one side or the other's trait level to be modified. Here are some examples: A fighter who is Hurt is at -1, while one who is Very Hurt is at -2.
Offensive/Defensive Tactics This optional rule, used with simultaneous combat rounds, allows more tactical flavor to combat at a small expense of complexity. This option replaces the All-out attack and defense options listed above, and allows for both combatants to be injured in the same combat round. Before each round, a fighter may choose to be in a normal posture, an offensive posture or defensive posture. An offensive or defensive stance increases combat skill in one aspect of combat (offense or defense), and decrease the same skill by an equal amount for the other aspect of combat. There are five basic options: +2 to Offense, -2 to Defense PCs vs. NPCs If a PC is fighting an NPC the GM can treat combat as an Unopposed action by assuming the NPC will always get a result equal to her trait level. In this case, the PC will have to tie the NPC's trait level to have a stand-off round, and beat the NPC's trait in order to inflict damage. This option stresses the player characters' abilities by disallowing fluke rolls by NPCs. Ranged Combat Ranged combat may or may not be an Opposed action. If the target is unaware of the assault, the attacker makes an Unopposed action roll to see if he hits his target. The GM sets the Difficulty Level based on distance, lighting, cover, etc. Do not modify the attacker's skill for range, partial cover, or other circumstances - that's included in the Difficulty Level. Equipment such as a laser sighting scope can modify the attacker's skill, though. If the defender is aware of the attack it is an Opposed action: the attacker's ranged weapon skill against the defender's defensive trait. (A Difficulty Level for range, lighting, etc., is still set by the GM, and is the minimum rolled degree needed to hit.) A defensive roll should be made against a Dodge skill, or Agility attribute, or something similar. If the ranged weapon is thrown, there is no modifier to the defense roll. However, a propelled weapon, such as a bow, gun, or beam weapon, is much harder to avoid. In this case, reduce the defender's trait by -2 or -3. Obviously, the defender isn't trying to dodge a bullet, but dodging the presumed path of a bullet when an attacker points a gun at him. Of course, the defender may decline to dodge, but shoot back instead. In this case, the action is Unopposed - making the Difficulty Level is all that is needed to hit. The GM may make such actions simultaneous. The to-hit roll The attacker's to-hit roll is based on the character's weapon skill + any tactics + any situational modifiers This is compared to the defender's defense roll which is based on the character's active defense (shield skill, dodge skill, perry skill or Agility) + any tactics + any situational modifiers Using the guidelines above, if the GM determines that the attacker has scored a hit damage is rolled. Damage Roll The defenders passive defense, armor worn + stamina rank + situational modifiers absorbs any initial calculated damage prior to the damage roll. Teara Adan uses a random damage roll. This simulates random factors that can occur and allow a poor combatant to win a fight against a more skilled adversary. To determine damage the attacker rolls Four Fudge Dice and adds to the result the damage code of his weapon + the relative degree + strength bonus if using a melee weapon + any situational modifiers. The following limitations are imposed to prevent "wild results".
Wound Levels Combat damage to a character can be described as being at one of seven stages of severity. The stages are: Undamaged:
no wounds at all. The character is not necessarily healthy - he may be sick, for example. But he doesn't have a combat wound that's recent enough to be bothering him. The damage tract and amount of damage is determined by the character's Stamina and Willpower based on the following two charts. Stamina determins the amount of damage in the tract:
Willpower determines the number of boxes/dots in each tract:
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