Me and Kosta are going to war as Aleksei and Branko, but we like eachother so we talked about it ahead of time and these are the rules. This thread is also going to track the progress of the war, because that's neat.
Rules for conduct:
Rules for combat:
If you're interested in participating on either side, message either me (inquisition) or Kosta (reaching hand) on Discord.
Rules for conduct:
These rules govern the ongoing dispute between The Inquisition of Saint Jacqueline, and The Reaching Hand. The war is not fought for any particular resource or territory, but a purely ideological conflict for the glory of their respective gods and institutions.
Combat should always be arranged ahead of time, unless both sides explicitly consent to a sudden ambush. Characters that flee the battlefield should be allowed to flee when reasonable.
When combat takes place in one of the side's territories, it is assumed that the winning side occupies the land for a period of time. If the owner of that land is fine with it, they can occupy it indefinitely. Otherwise, the occupiers stay only for a few days and deface the territory in some way (purifying a shrine, stealing a trophy, etc).
- If a character is incapcitated in combat, they are assumed to be wounded. They are then captured by the other side, not typically killed unless extreme circumstances arise or the player chooses to have their character die.
- Wounded characters can be held for at most one week OOC unless the player wants to be held longer for whatever reason. Within that week, they need to be released. Either following a ransom, in exchange for a hostage on the enemy side, or otherwise.
- While imprisoned, characters can be made into a Vyre; forced into a possession; turned into a Sunblessed if already a Vyre; or, given a neat scar. A character should only be made to suffer one of these things at a time, unless the player actively wants to get really messed up for whatever reason.
- Equipment (either atken from a hsotage or found on the battlefield) should be ransomed back to the other side for equipment that side has captured, for a reasonable amount of money, or a hostage if the exchange rate of person vs equipment is reasonable. Equipment also should not be held for more than a week unless the character it was taken from is fine with it.
Combat should always be arranged ahead of time, unless both sides explicitly consent to a sudden ambush. Characters that flee the battlefield should be allowed to flee when reasonable.
When combat takes place in one of the side's territories, it is assumed that the winning side occupies the land for a period of time. If the owner of that land is fine with it, they can occupy it indefinitely. Otherwise, the occupiers stay only for a few days and deface the territory in some way (purifying a shrine, stealing a trophy, etc).
Rules for combat:
Combat
As blocks and meters are an interchangeable system of measurement, these rules will use ‘meters’ whenever referring to the range of things. If ever a fraction results from a roll, always round down. Ties result in a clash where no damage is taken but the actions are used. Initiative is determined contextually, all members of a side act concurrently with eachother instead of on an individual basis.
Actions
When a character does something on their team’s round, it takes some amount of actions. A character has only three actions to use on their turn. If a character wants to perform an action conditionally (i.e., “I’ll shoot him when he pokes his head out of cover”) then that takes an amount of actions equal to how much it would cost to do it right then. If the trigger never activates, those actions are wasted.
Melee Combat
There are four categories of melee weapon length, denoted in meters. Small (1m), intermediate (2m), long (3m), and pike (4m+). If a character tries to use a weapon within half of its effective range, they do so at disadvantage. A character can only attack if their target is within range of their wielded weapon.
A character will provoke attacks of opportunity for any of these reasons. A given character can only attempt an attack of opportunity once of their side’s round.
Beside for attacks of opportunity, a character can only be struck in melee by another character attempting to do so on the attacker’s turn. The attacking character makes their relevant check (i.e., body+melee for using a melee weapon). A character has three responses to this.
Ranged Combat
A character cannot parry someone outside of their effective range. They can only attempt to dodge, block, or trust in the efficacy of their armor. Beside for throwing weapons, it is assumed the effective range of ranged weapons will not be exceeded in a normal skirmish context. All handheld ranged weapons gain additional damage equal to the amount of turns it takes to reload them.
Flanking
Any attack originating outside of a character’s field of view counts as flanking. A flanking attack cannot be reacted against. A character’s backside counts as out of their field of view, and if a character is wearing a visored helmet, attacking from the side also counts as a flank.
Artillery
Scorpions take six actions (two turns) to reload. Ballistae take twelve actions (four turns) to reload, and must be manned by two people. Artillery any heavier is impractical to use within the confines of a skirmish. Masterwork siege weapons halve the time it takes to load. Artillery deals additional damage equal to the base amount of actions it takes to reload the weapon. Siege engines are a mind+ranged ability to use. When used on active combatants (as opposed to fortifications or static formations) scorpions roll at disadvantage and ballistae two steps of disadvantage.
Mounted Combat
Fighting on horseback doubles the rider’s movement speed. It also gives those attacking the horse or rider from the ground with long weapons a step of advantage. Charges made over unfavorable but not impassable terrain (uphill, across uneven ground) make the handling check at disadvantage.
A rider on horseback can use the charge action. Charging uses all three actions in a turn, but allows the rider to charge in a straight line at a single opponent. The rider is able to make one melee attack against the opponent, and they add their body+handling check to the result of their melee attack as a bonus.
A horse is liable to panic and flee from exhaustion and pain before dying on the spot. A horse begins with ten rounds of tolerance before panic overcomes it, and whenever it is dealt damage the number is reduced by an amount equal to the damage dealt. It also reduces by one at the end of each round. If a horse is in barding, its maximum movement speed per action reduces to 16 (light barding, 1 damage reduction) and 12 (heavy barding, 2 damage reduction).
If a rider elects to charge a character with a pike who has prepared an action to counter the charge, the pikeman is given two steps of advantage versus the rider and the rider is not allowed to add their handling result as a bonus.
Armor
Armor is divided into layers. Innermost (gambeson); flexible (mail); inflexible (plate); and, outermost (surcoats/cloaks/whatever). For each layer of armor a character wears, they gain 1 damage reduction against all incoming damage. A character doesn’t need to have layers in order (e.g., they can wear plate over a gambeson without mail) and this has no impact on its efficacy. Shields larger than a buckler reduce damage received from ranged weapons by 2, and gain a step of advantage on parry and evasion checks if they are using a one-handed or smaller weapon in their primary hand. Tower shields provide immunity from ranged attacks.
Exhaustion
Every character has an exhaustion threshold, starting at 10, and when it reaches 0 that character is exhausted. Exhaustion reduces a character’s move speed by half and makes them take disadvantage on all Body checks. Exhaustion is removed when a character has rested for a few minutes outside of combat.
At the end of every side’s round, exhaustion ticks down for all characters on that side. For each layer of armor a character is wearing, their exhaustion threshold reduces by 1. For intermediate shields (larger than a buckler, smaller than a tower shield) they reduce their threshold by 1. For tower shields, reduce the threshold by 2. If a character is completely unarmored beside for a buckler, they ignore the exhaustion system. Armored characters who only use one action in a turn do not reduce their exhaustion threshold at the end of the round.
Other ways to exhaust oneself include:
Frenzy
Vyres have access to a state of frenzy that is tied to their health. As a Vyre loses health through combat, they grow progressively more ravenous as they lose blood. When at 3 or less hit points, Vyres lose track of who is an enemy and who is an ally, and will attack the nearest person in a wild frenzy. Vyres may use 1 action to on their turn to feed on the blood of any incapacitated person, to heal themselves 1 hit point.
Health
Characters start with 5 hit points. For every point of Fortitude, the total increases by 1. If a character reaches 0 hit points, they are incapacitated for the remainder of the combat. A character at 0 or less hit points can be resuscitated. When attempting to resuscitate a character, make a mind+medicine roll. For each success, the character’s hit points increase by 1 up to their max.
If a character is wounded but alive, they have no enemies immediately adjacent to them or their healer, and that character takes no actions on that round (including reactions until the start of their next turn) that character can be healed an amount equal to the healer’s mind+medicine result.
Materials, Special Abilities, Spells, Special Equipment
Materials
Fire Iron. In its refined form, fire iron deals 1 additional damage to enthralled vyres, and 2 additional damage to consumed vyres. It deals 1 less damage on non-Vyre targets, as it partially cauterizes wounds.
Machanite. Machanite increases the damage reduction of worn armor or shields by 1.
Irrut. Irrut causes all wooden weapons made of it to deal 1 more damage. Masterwork deals 2 more.
Glimmersteel. All points of damage caused by glimmersteel require 2 successes to heal instead of 1. If masterworked, glimmersteel weapons cause a bleeding status effect, dealing 1 damage at the end of each round until a healer sees to the victim.
Blooded Silver. Blooded Silver acts as glimmersteel against cursed or undead targets.
Archblossom. Ranged weapons made of archblossom are always able to attempt a hit on a target at no disadvantage, even if they are at extreme range or behind partial cover. Full cover still protects them.
Drakodo. Drakodo negates the effects of fire iron.
Chokevine. Chokevine increases the damage reduction of fabric armor by 1.
Garulf. The wearer is immune to being flanked, and flanking has no effect on them.
Special Abilities
Bloodscales. Vyre of the Grey line may willingly take 2 points of damage in exchange for increasing their natural damage reduction by 1 for the remainder of combat.
Biter Durability. Biters naturally have 1 point of damage reduction, but only move at 8 meters/action.
Spells
All Healing Spells. Healing spells add a number of successes to a mind+medicine check equal to their cost in spell points.
Special Equipment
Traps. If a character is in the vicinity of a trap, they may make a mind+awareness check to notice it against the trap layer’s mind+survival check. The mind+survival check is rolled ahead of time and known only to the two dm’s, as is the location of the trap.
Caltrops. If a horse walks over caltrops, the horse immediately panics. If a person moves over caltrops, their move speed is cut in half and they take a point of damage every round they move until they spend an action removing the caltrop. A bag of caltrops can only cover one square meter.
As blocks and meters are an interchangeable system of measurement, these rules will use ‘meters’ whenever referring to the range of things. If ever a fraction results from a roll, always round down. Ties result in a clash where no damage is taken but the actions are used. Initiative is determined contextually, all members of a side act concurrently with eachother instead of on an individual basis.
Actions
When a character does something on their team’s round, it takes some amount of actions. A character has only three actions to use on their turn. If a character wants to perform an action conditionally (i.e., “I’ll shoot him when he pokes his head out of cover”) then that takes an amount of actions equal to how much it would cost to do it right then. If the trigger never activates, those actions are wasted.
- Moving 10 meters takes 1 action; moving 5m stealthily takes 1 action.
- Attacking takes 2 actions, as does casting a spell.
- Unsheathing a weapon takes 1 action.
- Removing a stowed item takes 2 actions.
- Healing a character takes 2 actions.
- A character can take one free movement of 1m on their turn without provoking an attack of opportunity, representing a single stride for the sake of footwork.
- If a character is knocked prone (such as after being dismounted) it takes 2 actions to stand up.
Melee Combat
There are four categories of melee weapon length, denoted in meters. Small (1m), intermediate (2m), long (3m), and pike (4m+). If a character tries to use a weapon within half of its effective range, they do so at disadvantage. A character can only attack if their target is within range of their wielded weapon.
A character will provoke attacks of opportunity for any of these reasons. A given character can only attempt an attack of opportunity once of their side’s round.
- Moving through an enemy’s threatened space.
- Attempting to heal another character.
- Using a ranged weapon.
- Attempting to pick up a downed enemy.
Beside for attacks of opportunity, a character can only be struck in melee by another character attempting to do so on the attacker’s turn. The attacking character makes their relevant check (i.e., body+melee for using a melee weapon). A character has three responses to this.
- Block, only available to characters with shields. This is a body+melee check opposed to the attacker, and the result of the shield check is subtracted from the attack for damage.
- Parry, which may lead into a riposte if the attacker’s weapon is within range of the defender. A parry with succeeds or fails, blocking all damage if the dice are in their favor or receiving all of it. A riposte is where the defender attempts to strike their attack back in the same fashion. If they fail the riposte, they take the difference in the result as additional damage.
- Evasion, which functions like block. A body+evasion check which subtracts from the attacker’s attack roll.
Ranged Combat
A character cannot parry someone outside of their effective range. They can only attempt to dodge, block, or trust in the efficacy of their armor. Beside for throwing weapons, it is assumed the effective range of ranged weapons will not be exceeded in a normal skirmish context. All handheld ranged weapons gain additional damage equal to the amount of turns it takes to reload them.
- Light crossbows take one actions to reload.
- Heavy crossbows take two actions to reload.
- Small thrown weapons (i.e., daggers or stones) are assumed to have a range of 15 meters.
- Large thrown weapons (i.e., javelins) are assumed to have a range of 30 meters.
Flanking
Any attack originating outside of a character’s field of view counts as flanking. A flanking attack cannot be reacted against. A character’s backside counts as out of their field of view, and if a character is wearing a visored helmet, attacking from the side also counts as a flank.
Artillery
Scorpions take six actions (two turns) to reload. Ballistae take twelve actions (four turns) to reload, and must be manned by two people. Artillery any heavier is impractical to use within the confines of a skirmish. Masterwork siege weapons halve the time it takes to load. Artillery deals additional damage equal to the base amount of actions it takes to reload the weapon. Siege engines are a mind+ranged ability to use. When used on active combatants (as opposed to fortifications or static formations) scorpions roll at disadvantage and ballistae two steps of disadvantage.
Mounted Combat
Fighting on horseback doubles the rider’s movement speed. It also gives those attacking the horse or rider from the ground with long weapons a step of advantage. Charges made over unfavorable but not impassable terrain (uphill, across uneven ground) make the handling check at disadvantage.
A rider on horseback can use the charge action. Charging uses all three actions in a turn, but allows the rider to charge in a straight line at a single opponent. The rider is able to make one melee attack against the opponent, and they add their body+handling check to the result of their melee attack as a bonus.
A horse is liable to panic and flee from exhaustion and pain before dying on the spot. A horse begins with ten rounds of tolerance before panic overcomes it, and whenever it is dealt damage the number is reduced by an amount equal to the damage dealt. It also reduces by one at the end of each round. If a horse is in barding, its maximum movement speed per action reduces to 16 (light barding, 1 damage reduction) and 12 (heavy barding, 2 damage reduction).
If a rider elects to charge a character with a pike who has prepared an action to counter the charge, the pikeman is given two steps of advantage versus the rider and the rider is not allowed to add their handling result as a bonus.
Armor
Armor is divided into layers. Innermost (gambeson); flexible (mail); inflexible (plate); and, outermost (surcoats/cloaks/whatever). For each layer of armor a character wears, they gain 1 damage reduction against all incoming damage. A character doesn’t need to have layers in order (e.g., they can wear plate over a gambeson without mail) and this has no impact on its efficacy. Shields larger than a buckler reduce damage received from ranged weapons by 2, and gain a step of advantage on parry and evasion checks if they are using a one-handed or smaller weapon in their primary hand. Tower shields provide immunity from ranged attacks.
Exhaustion
Every character has an exhaustion threshold, starting at 10, and when it reaches 0 that character is exhausted. Exhaustion reduces a character’s move speed by half and makes them take disadvantage on all Body checks. Exhaustion is removed when a character has rested for a few minutes outside of combat.
At the end of every side’s round, exhaustion ticks down for all characters on that side. For each layer of armor a character is wearing, their exhaustion threshold reduces by 1. For intermediate shields (larger than a buckler, smaller than a tower shield) they reduce their threshold by 1. For tower shields, reduce the threshold by 2. If a character is completely unarmored beside for a buckler, they ignore the exhaustion system. Armored characters who only use one action in a turn do not reduce their exhaustion threshold at the end of the round.
Other ways to exhaust oneself include:
- Moving more than 10m uphill in a turn costs 1 point of exhaustion.
- Dragging a character more than 10m costs 1 point of exhaustion.
Frenzy
Vyres have access to a state of frenzy that is tied to their health. As a Vyre loses health through combat, they grow progressively more ravenous as they lose blood. When at 3 or less hit points, Vyres lose track of who is an enemy and who is an ally, and will attack the nearest person in a wild frenzy. Vyres may use 1 action to on their turn to feed on the blood of any incapacitated person, to heal themselves 1 hit point.
Health
Characters start with 5 hit points. For every point of Fortitude, the total increases by 1. If a character reaches 0 hit points, they are incapacitated for the remainder of the combat. A character at 0 or less hit points can be resuscitated. When attempting to resuscitate a character, make a mind+medicine roll. For each success, the character’s hit points increase by 1 up to their max.
If a character is wounded but alive, they have no enemies immediately adjacent to them or their healer, and that character takes no actions on that round (including reactions until the start of their next turn) that character can be healed an amount equal to the healer’s mind+medicine result.
Materials, Special Abilities, Spells, Special Equipment
Materials
Fire Iron. In its refined form, fire iron deals 1 additional damage to enthralled vyres, and 2 additional damage to consumed vyres. It deals 1 less damage on non-Vyre targets, as it partially cauterizes wounds.
Machanite. Machanite increases the damage reduction of worn armor or shields by 1.
Irrut. Irrut causes all wooden weapons made of it to deal 1 more damage. Masterwork deals 2 more.
Glimmersteel. All points of damage caused by glimmersteel require 2 successes to heal instead of 1. If masterworked, glimmersteel weapons cause a bleeding status effect, dealing 1 damage at the end of each round until a healer sees to the victim.
Blooded Silver. Blooded Silver acts as glimmersteel against cursed or undead targets.
Archblossom. Ranged weapons made of archblossom are always able to attempt a hit on a target at no disadvantage, even if they are at extreme range or behind partial cover. Full cover still protects them.
Drakodo. Drakodo negates the effects of fire iron.
Chokevine. Chokevine increases the damage reduction of fabric armor by 1.
Garulf. The wearer is immune to being flanked, and flanking has no effect on them.
Special Abilities
Bloodscales. Vyre of the Grey line may willingly take 2 points of damage in exchange for increasing their natural damage reduction by 1 for the remainder of combat.
Biter Durability. Biters naturally have 1 point of damage reduction, but only move at 8 meters/action.
Spells
All Healing Spells. Healing spells add a number of successes to a mind+medicine check equal to their cost in spell points.
Special Equipment
Traps. If a character is in the vicinity of a trap, they may make a mind+awareness check to notice it against the trap layer’s mind+survival check. The mind+survival check is rolled ahead of time and known only to the two dm’s, as is the location of the trap.
Caltrops. If a horse walks over caltrops, the horse immediately panics. If a person moves over caltrops, their move speed is cut in half and they take a point of damage every round they move until they spend an action removing the caltrop. A bag of caltrops can only cover one square meter.
If you're interested in participating on either side, message either me (inquisition) or Kosta (reaching hand) on Discord.
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