Combat System

To regulate how combat works and keep everyone on the same page, we use an Action-Based combat system. What this means is that you have a set allotment of actions you can perform in a turn (because nobody is The Flash and can do everything in one second) during combat and certain things take actions to do. To keep it brief, what does cost an action to do:

• Attacking: Performing some kind of mundane attack with your weapon in hand, or your hand if it is your weapon. The Attack action is considered one attack, so even if you write "he performed a flurry of blows", it's only going to count as a single attack if you use 1 Attack action. The Attack action inflicts your Attack Damage on your opponent.
• Using an Ability: Whether you use Magic or Martial abilities, to activate one costs 1 Action in addition to the ability's cost.
• Defending: Protecting yourself against an Attack or Ability. This can be describe as blocking your enemy's swing, or dodge-rolling out of the way of a fireball. Unless specified in the Ability description, defending completely negates a single Attack or Ability. You must defend against Attacks/Abilities in order, so if you are only going to defend once in a turn you have to defend against the first effect used by the enemy.
• Using an Item: Pulling something out of your satchel and actually using it takes time. Each one item takes one action to use, so you cannot use multiple items with a single action.
• Activate a Skill: Some skills involve actually performing an act (such as the Rogue's Concealment skill) and are not merely passive bonuses. If a skill is one that requires you to do something (this should be a common sense thing), then unless it specifically states that it does not take an action to use, it will take one of your actions for the turn.
• Commanding Low Tier Allies: Tier 1 Companions and Summons require their 'master' to use 1 Action in order to command them to do something. For the purposes of high level summon spells that summon multiple Tier 1 allies; all summons conjured by the same casting of the spell count as one unit for the purposes of issuing orders (so if a spell summons 4 Tier 1 Skeletons, you use 1 action to command those four skeletons; if you cast the same spell twice, each group of 4 requires a separate action to command). However, they all perform the same action. Special: NPC Bosses that use summoned allies may ignore this rule and follow standard mob rules for their summons (see Quest Rules for details).
• Other Situational Actions: Things like pulling a lever to open a door, holding a closing door open for your allies, pinning someone down, etc. all take one action to perform. This is a little more common sense-based than the rest, but if you plan on doing something that has an impact on what is going on and it takes effort to do, it probably costs an action.

What does not cost an action to do:

• Talking: While it doesn't make as much sense to hold an in-depth conversation during combat, this is a forum and we are telling a story so dialogue will inevitably happen. We're not gonna penalize you for talking with your opponent or your allies during combat, but do try to be reasonable about it.
• Dramatic Exposition: You only get this one if you're being a villain. Villains always have time for dramatic exposition about things no matter the circumstances.
• Drawing your weapon: It usually doesn't take much to draw your weapon. They're kind of designed to be able to be drawn quickly in most circumstances.
• Movement: It does not cost an action to move, as it is assumed that in normal circumstances there is some way to close distance with your opponent. If special circumstances apply, use common sense on whether you can move up to your enemy or not.
• Non-intensive actions: Things like snapping your fingers, mouthing words without saying them, and other little stuff like that. If it isn't very effort-intensive to do you don't need to take an action to do it.

Without some means of providing extra Actions, all characters have 2 Actions per turn to do with what they see fit.


To go along with this system, as I'm sure (if you've been reading things) you've noticed, there's a lot of talk of damage and health and armor. There is a very simple stat system that we use to measure one's ability to keep going in a fight, and how hard they hit.

• Health: A basic representation of how much fight you still have in you. Every character starts out with 50 health, and your health increases by 10 for each additional Tier in any class you have, not counting the one you start with. So, for example, a new character has 50 health. If they improve their starting class from Tier 1 to Tier 2, they now have 60 Health. Alternatively, if they become Tier 1 in a different class, they still increase to 60 health because they became Tier 1 in a class that wasn't their starting class.
• Damage: Damage is basically "how hard do you hit them". Damage is slightly more tricky than Health because there's a couple different kinds. There is flat damage, where an effect reads "X damage" where X is a number, but then there is also something called Attack Damage. Attack Damage is a number representing how much damage your Attack action does, and this plays into a lot of Martial abilities and skills. Attack Damage is the result of adding your Weapon Damage and any other Attack Damage bonuses you might have. All damage bonuses are additive, so if two sources increase your Attack Damage by 2, they net increase it by 4.
• Armor: Armor is a basic representation of how much protection you have on you. All characters are considered to have 0 armor inherently, but it can be acquired to give yourself protection. When you are hit with any effect that inflicts Attack Damage to you, subtract your Armor from the damage taken. Yes, that means Armor does not protect against magic. However, with enough armor you can completely negate weak attacks against you. Some abilities also offer Armor Penetration, which basically allows your attack to ignore a certain amount of an opponent's armor when determining how much damage you deal. If the opponent has no armor, then armor penetration does nothing.

If you are reduced to 0 Health during a fight, you are considered unconscious and unable to keep fighting. It does not mean you are dead. What effect this may have on you ultimately depends on the context of the fight, but most of the time you're simply considered out of any future things that happen in that thread. Health is restored between threads, as it is assumed you were able to make it to some kind of healer or received some sort of help. Exceptions might happen during special events, so keep that in mind and don't Leeroy Jenkins everything. Doing something dumb may also violate your right to instant health restoration and not dying when you hit 0, so keep that in mind too.

Some effects can also inflict Status Conditions in addition to doing damage, or perhaps in place of doing damage. Status Conditions have a set duration and cause a certain effect on your character during that duration. All status conditions can be cured before their duration is up if you have access to the correct effect. Therefore, all descriptions below will state the effect and duration as well as any unusual ways to cure them beyond a "Cure status condition" effect. Multiple instances of the same Status Condition on the opponent do not stack, and there is a one round Immunity period after it is cured or wears off before it can be inflicted again. This is to prevent taking an effect that causes a particular status affliction and "locking down" your opponent and stopping them from doing anything.

• Blind: Unable to see anything, causing all Attacks and Abilities that do not target yourself to miss. Lasts 3 turns.
• Charm: Causes the victim to attack their allies and defend the one who inflicted this condition. Lasts 3 turns.
• Disarm: Unable to use the Attack action or any Martial abilities. Lasts 3 turns.
• Paralysis: Unable to take Actions, move, or do anything that takes motion. Lasts 1 turn.
• Poison: Inflicts 3 Damage per turn. Lasts 5 turns.
• Silence: Unable to speak or use Magic abilities. Lasts 3 turns.
• Sleep: Unable to take actions, move or do anything that takes motions. Cured if the victim receives damage from any source. Lasts 3 turns.
• Slow: Only able to take 1 action per turn. Lasts 3 turns.

While the status conditions have names, they are not limited to one aesthetic. Blind could be sand in the eye or a magic black cloud over the eyes, Poison could actually be poison or could be some other kind of effect that would cause one to continually take damage (Such as a vicious wound causing you to bleed more than usual). Paralysis could be magically binding you or being frozen. The name is more symbolic of its effect than its source.

Certain Phantasms may have Elemental Weaknesses or Resistances, such as a Fire elemental being weak to ice/water and resistant to fire. All characters are treated as elementally neutral by default, so they have no inherent resistance or weakness to any element. Phantasms with an Elemental weakness take 10 extra damage and those with an Elemental resistance will take 10 less damage. This is a flat increase or decrease and is unaffected by any kind of armor (if it comes from a melee weapon) or ability that prevents damage.

Rogues, Arcane Thieves, and certain Phantasms can also gain Concealment with the appropriate skill by taking an Action to use it. From a roleplaying perspective, this is simple: you cannot actually perceive the person with Concealment. However, in combat this requires a bit more defining of what this actually means. With that in mind, here a list of the pros and cons of Concealment.

Pros:

• You cannot be perceived by enemies or allies.
• You cannot be targeted by single-target effects (meaning anything that is not an "all enemies" effect).
• The first Attack or Ability you use from Concealment cannot be defended or prevented by any means other than entirely passive means (Such as Armor or Immunities).

Cons:

• Using an Attack or Ability breaks your Concealment (after the fact, to avoid contradicting the third point above).
• Skills that counter Concealment render the above benefits ineffective against that enemy.
• You can be targeted by an AOE effect if you are within its range (such as if an AOE is aimed at your allies and you are in their midst under Concealment). You are always considered within range of an AOE if an enemy is able to perceive you by countering Concealment and indicates your general location to their allies.

You cannot gain Concealment if you are actively engaged in some way with the people you are trying to hide from. This means entirely ending the combat or interaction and being capable of moving away to such a distance that you could reasonably conceal yourself from your target.


So a quick numbers/formulas reference:

• 2 Actions Per Turn by default
• Health = 50 + 10 Per Additional Tier in Classes beyond the 1st tier of your starter class + Skill Bonus to Health
• Damage = Whatever the ability says
• Attack Damage = Weapon Damage + Skill Bonuses to Attack Damage + Other Bonuses to Attack Damage
• Net Attack Damage = Attack Damage - Net Armor
• Net Armor = Armor - Armor Penetration