of URSA
A combat round is 10 seconds. In this time you can do several things....I will use the term "Number of Actions" to cover ALL that can be done. Suppose a fighter can attack 3 times in a round. In URSA, this is 3 actions. The fighter is experienced and fast enough to do three actions. Say: Draw a weapon(1st action), then throws the dagger in his hand(2nd action), then moves the half the max distance and attacks(3rd action). Things that effect the number of actions per round is: Dexterity; Weapon Training; Experience(level); Situation(Dm fudge factor).
You can gain or lose actions depending on the actions of others. If your character is hit for severe damage, you may loose all your actions while a 'weak' hit won't affect you at all. Magical or other means can actually increase ones actions...but this is rare.
Initiatives are basically speed. Things that can increase or decrease this are:Dexterity, Weapon Training, Weapon Type, Experience, Magic(both spell and weapon) and the Situation...yes the Dm Fudge factor. Some examples of this famous 'Fudge Factor' are:
Sir Browen is fighting with Lord Agry during the Battle of the Faiths. Sir Browen decides to parry the next attack, control Lord Agry's blade and slam him in the chest with a shield rush. Initiatives are rolled: lets say Browen wins...Lord Agry's attack is successfully parried(beating Agry's initiative) and then attacks(using a D20 roll now.) Since Browen's initiative was successful I would grant +1(or more) to attack, or maybe even say an AUTOMATIC hit, because of the situation.
An armor class of 10 is natural human skin. This is with normal everyday clothes.
Armor Class: 0 .. 1 ... 2 .... 3 ... 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7 .... 8 .. 9 .. 10
D20 to Hit: .. 20 . 19 . 18 . 17 .16 . 15 . 14 . 13 . 12 . 11 . 10
A role of a 20 ALWAYS does damage. A roll of 10 always hits the person..it does not mean damage. The ONLY exception to this is if DEX is being used at the time. This will lower the AC of the character, those advoiding the attack(hopefully).
EX: You throw a dagger at a knight in full armor. You roll a 10. The dagger slams into the steel skin but falls without even scratching the armor. CAUSE: dagger might have rotated wrong, didn't snap wrist on release and so on... but the blade STILL hit the target. No damage.
NOTE: These rolls are natural roles. Factors which can increase the 'chance to hit' or D20 is: Strength; Training; Experience; and again...Situation.
Also...This is where my house rules differ from the PHB some more. My version of 'THACO' does not get better as your level increases. My explanation of this: Take Plate Armor. It stays Plate Armor no matter how old-good-or experienced the character gets. It still requires a 19 or 20 to hit on the D20. The attack against Plate Armor can be increase with: They Type of weapon used(rapier v. Plate or Mace v. Plate), skill of attacker, Proficiency, and so on.
Rules on Aiming:
An aimed shot depends on several things. The quality of equipment being used, the skill of the shooter, size of the target and so on. Here are the rules for aiming in URSA.
If the character does NOT have the proficiency in the weapon (say the bow) then aiming is very hard. -1 to the attack(this is add TO the penalty for not having the proficiency)
If the character has the proficiency, then there is no penalty. With a +2 rating of the weapon, an aiming bonus of +1 is given. This increase up to +3 aim bonus for Master.
For the size of target the human chest is the base: A target 1 foot by 2 foot. As the target gets smaller...ie: a gnome's chest, a small animal, the heart, hand and so on...the penalty gets larger. As the target gets bigger...say a giants heart, a larger bonus applies.
For missile weapons, distance also affect the speed and chance to hit. Below is the chart I use to determine accuracy with ANY projectile weapon:(***This is for the bow and arrow. Dagger-Axe-and other handheld missiles have a shorter range but same idea.***)
Distance: 0-10feet... 11-20ft... 21-50ft 51-100ft... 101-200ft... 201-300ft ... 300 ft
Speed(D6) -2 ............ -2 .......... -1 .......... 0 ........... 1 ............... 2 .............. 3
Accuracy(D20) 3 ........ 2 .......... 1 ............. 0 .......... -1 .............. -2 ............ -3
EX: Dwarf is fighting its hated enemy a goblin. The dwarf looses his hammer and draws a hand ax from his belt and continues to fight. One round he throws the hammer at the goblin. FUDGE FACTOR: Hand ax already armed--no penalty to D6.... 3 to attack because of range.
The above charts are printed out on a piece of paper for a quick reference for me when I DM on paper. I also have a drawing of a human with these numbers on the body parts. If you just "Shoot an arrow at him", I roll a D12 to determine which body part you hit. You make a called shot, or aimed with a range weapon...then you just go to that body part.
1) The Head Roll a D4: 1-2:Graze shot 1/2DMG. 3: Solid hit full DMG 5 4:Death
1) The Neck roll D4 1:graze 1/2dmg 2-3:full DMG 10per round-blood loss 4:death in D4 rounds(suffocation)
60% to hit the head, 40% the neck if a 1 is rolled.
2) Right Arm 4 DMG per round, blood loss.
3) Left Arm 4 DMG per round, blood loss.
4) Right Torso/side/shoulder 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
5) Right Torso/side/stomach 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
6) Left torso/side/shoulder 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
7) Left torso/side/stomach 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
8) Center Chest/back/heart 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
9) Center Chest/back/stomach 6 per round blood loss--chance at critical hit.
10) Right Leg 5 dmg per round-blood loss
11) Left Leg 5 dmg per round-blood loss
12) Critical Hit re-roll for place:severity depends on place
See the NUMBERS page
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