Caveat: these rule are taken, almost verbatim, from Stormbringer 5th Edition. Yes, in places they have been tweaked by experience, preference and necessary flavour, but this does amount to plagarism. Just so we're all aware of that fact. Now, on with the mayhem.
Combat occurs in rounds, roughly eight to twelve seconds long. Characters act in the order of their DEX stat, possibly modified by their choice of actions. It is possible to wait until later in the round, but this should be mentioned in your statement of intent at the beginning of the round. The round progresses in the following manner:
| Statement of intent: the players declare what they intend their character to do in this combat round. |
| Magic: magic initiated the round before takes effect now; see the chapter on Magic for more. |
| Actions: character actions occur in order of DEX rank. That is, the character with the highest modified DEX (see 'Actions in a round' below for possible modifiers) acts first in the round, followed by the next highest, and so on. |
| Resolution: take account of what has happened in the round just gone, and prepare for the next. |
Actions in a round: actions available to a PC depend on whether they are engaged or disengaged/not engaged. An engaged character is one who is fighting hand-to-hand; and unengaged character is one who is NOT fighting hand-to-hand. With that in mind, these are the types of actions available within a combat round:
| 1. Move, if not engaged: a character may move to engage another character (see '3. Move to engage' below), but if he moves more than half his movement, then that character must wait until the next turn to take another action. |
| 2. Perform a non-combat action, if not engaged: if not attacking or defending in a hand-to-hand fight, then the character may attempt a skill, use an item, or do nothing at all. |
| 3. Move to engage: a character move half or less his normal movement and still have time to attack and defend after moving; subtract 5 from DEX for determining when the character can attack. This can also be used to move and take an action. |
| 4. Disengage from combat: a character's player may declare at the beginning of the round that the character is attempting to disengage from combat. To do so, the character may make no attacks, and must successfully Dodge all attacks aimed at them. If the dodge or Dodges succeed, then the character has successfully disengaged from melee, and has the option of running away without being attacked next turn. If the characters that have just been disengaged from wish to pursue, they must take appropriate actions at the beginning of the next round. If, on the other hand, one of the Dodges fail, then the character is still engaged. |
| 5. Attack: the character attacks as appropriate, with a melee weapon if in hand-to-hand combat, or with a missile weapon otherwise. Attacking things is discussed in more detail below. |
| 6. Draw, pick up, or sheath a weapon: such actions take 5 DEX ranks each. They can be performed while moving, fighting, etc. For example: Lenfrig is rushing into the melee his companions are already engaged in. His DEX is 13. He moves to engage, dropping his DEX, for initiative purposes, to 8. While he is moving, he also draws his trusty broadsword, subtracting another 5, meaning that when Lenfrig finally does attack, he does so on DEX 3. |
| 7. Parry or dodge:a parry is a motion that attempts to block a blow, Parries are usually made with a shield or weapon, but a brawler may attempt block a punch with his arm. A dodge is a motion of the body to evade a blow or other movment. A dodge may be attempted at any time within a combat round, so long as the character can move; a parry may be attempted at any time within a combat round, so long as the character has something to parry with. Each time a Parry or Dodge is attempted during a round, whether successful or not, the chance of success for a further parry or dodge is reduced by a cumulative 30%. |
| 8. Riposte: this action can only occur if the character is using two weapons or a weapon and a shield. No more than once per round per combatant, a critical parry alllows the character to make a riposte with a weapon (or shield) that didn't parry. The riposte is a free attack that does not count against DEX rank - it occurs in the same DEX rank as the parry. This free attack can be parried or dodged as normal. |
| Attacking & Parrying | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Parry | Result |
| Critical | Critical | Defender blocks attack, no result. |
| Critical | Success | Attack hits hard enough to do normal damage, armour protects normally; if parrying with a weapon, not a shield, the weapon takes 4 point of damage. |
| Critical | Failure, Fumble | Attack does double damage, armour protects normally; if the defender also Fumbled, roll on the Fumble table. |
| Success | Critical | Parry succeeds; attacker's weapon takes 2 points of damage if it is not a shield. |
| Success | Success | Defender blocks attack, no result. |
| Success | Failure, Fumble | Attack succeeds, doing normal damage; if the defender also Fumbled, roll on the Fumble table. |
| Failure | - | No damage, no effect; play continues. |
| Fumble | - | Attacker rolls on Fumble table. |