Combat Examples

Included here are several different examples of typical combat exchanges intended to provide reference for how different situations might unfold.

Example: a successful attack with damage bonuses

A porcine with a two-handed war hammer (skill 16) declares a strong attack (+2) and rolls an 8, for a total of 26.
A defender with a hand axe (skill 14) an off-hand hand axe (skill 12) and chain armour (skill 16) has a few options:

The defender’s best chance is a dodge, and they roll a 10, yielding a total of 25 - not enough to win the Versus Challenge.
A war hammer does a devastating 2d6+2 damage with a strong attack.
The porcine rolls 13. Porcine do +1 to damage, and a 15 skill grants an additional +1. Total damage = 15.
The defender’s chain armour has a Protection of 4, so the defender takes 11 damage.

Example: a successful counterstrike

An attacker with a short sword (skill 14) declares a fast attack (+1) and rolls a 11, for a total of 26
A halfling defender chooses to counterstrike using their hand axe (skill 17)
The halfling rolls to block the fast attack with their hand axe, adjusted by -4 for the counterstrike (17+1-4=14)
The halfling rolls a 14 for a total of (14+14=28), winning the vsC and landing a counterstrike against the attacker.
The halfling defender rolls fast attack damage for a counterstrike with a hand axe (2d3)
The halfling rolls a total of 4, the halfling does +1 damage due to a 17 skill, but halfings do -1 damage, so damage is 4.
The attacker is unarmoured and so takes 4 damage.
If the halfling had lost the Challenge, the attacker would have done the maximum damage for a fast attack with a short sword (1d6+1=7).

Example: a surprise attack leading to a minor critical

A tauran attacker with a battle axe (skill 16) declares a strong attack (+1)
The opponent is unaware, so this is a 21 Challenge, and the tauran attacker gets +10 to hit with a melee weapon
The attacker rolls 14, for a total of (16+1+10+14=41), which is 36 or higher - so it's a Minor Critical.
On a Minor Critical, the weapon does its max damage, which is 15 for a battle axe +1 for being a tauran and +1 for a 16 skill for a total of 17.
The target is wearing Chain Armour, which has 4 Protection, but a Minor Critical bypasses all protection, so the target takes all 17 damage.

Example: a tied Versus Challenge while attacking blind

The player is fighting a Giant Spider in a pitch black room.
The player must roll a 21 Challenge using Alertness (12) at -5 in order to have a sense of where the Spider is.
The player rolls a 15 for a total of (15+12-5=22) meaning they hear the Spider and can attempt an attack at -6.
Player uses their Rapier (skill 16) and declares a fast attack (+2), and rolls a 13 for a total of (16+2+13-6=25).
The Giant Spider has the Vibration Sense perk, so has no penalty for the darkness. Its dodge is 17, and it rolls a 8 for a total of 25.
Tie goes to the player, so the player wins the vsC. They roll 3d3+1 and add one for their 16 skill, for a total of 8 damage against the Spider.
The Giant Spider's exoskeleton has a Protection of 4, so it takes 4 damage.

Example: a successful ready attack, a Minor Critical, and a failed 21 Challenge to remain conscious

A canis player with a short bow (skill 18) is being rushed by an enemy in chain armour (skill 12) who is 19 hexes away.
The enemy's sprint, using their Base Move of 7 as their basic action, and then again as their combat action, closes the gap to 5 hexes.
If the enemy was 1 hex closer, they would be inside Min Range for a short bow ready attack (4 hexes), preventing it.
The player readies their short bow as their basic action and fires as their combat action, rolling a 17 for a total of (18-1+17=34)
The enemy tries to dodge rolling a 9 for a total of (12-3+9=18). Player hits by 15 or more resulting in a Minor Critical.
The maximum damage for a short bow ready attack is 16, and the player gets +2 for their 18 skill, for a total of 20 damage, bypassing the enemy's 4 Protection.
The enemy has 16 Health, so is reduced to -4 and must roll a 21 Challenge using their Stability of 12 at a penalty of -4 to remain conscious.
The enemy rolls a 12 for a total of (12+12-4 = 20), failing their 21C using Stability and falling unconscious.

Example: a bulwark that prevents a critical, but still results in a hit and bleeding

A tauran with a medium shield (skill 17) and the Bulwark skill (15) declares his intention to Bulwark to protect a halfling companion in an adjacent hex.
The tauran rolls their Bulwark skill and gets a 12 for a total of 27, granting 7 additonal unpenalized blocks to protect himself and up to 4 adjacent allies
A bugaboo raider attacks the halfling using a strong attack with his battle axe (skill 18) and rolls an 18 for a total of 36.
The tauran chooses to attempt to block this attack, and rolls a 10, for an effective defense of (17+1+10=28). The block is unsuccessful.
The halfling can also defend and attempts to dodge using an Unarmoured skill of 12. They roll a 4, for a defense of (12+3+4=19).
The best defense roll is the one that counts. Even though the block fails, the result of 29 prevents what would otherwise have been a minor critical.
The bugaboo raider rolls 2d10 for damage for a total of 8 points. The unarmoured halfling has no Protection, reducing their health from 10 to only 2.
After taking more than half damage equal to more than half their Stability of 9 in a single hit, the halfling must roll a 21C using Stability or enter the bleeding state.
The halfling rolls a 9, for a result of 18, and is now bleeding. They must roll a 21C using Stability at the start of each turn or loss an additional point of health and stamina.