Combat System

The Combat System will be the last thing in development, the hope is that the game will be playable as a SIM until this system is ready. There should be plenty of exploring, working, crafting and socializing before this feature is done.

Combat Features

• Grid Based Layout
• Initiative Turn-Based
• Flanking
• Distance (Arrows, Spells)
• Field of View
• Area of Effect Spells
• Coverage & Concealment
• Quest Maps / Instances

Combat

Combat is cyclical; everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle of rounds. Combat follows this sequence:

1. When combat begins, all combatants roll initiative.
2. Determine which characters are aware of their opponents. These characters can act during a surprise round. If all the characters are aware of their opponents, proceed with normal rounds.
3. After the surprise round (if any), all combatants are ready to begin the first normal round of combat.
4. Combatants act in initiative order (highest to lowest).
5. When everyone has had a turn, the next round begins with the combatant with the highest initiative, and steps 3 and 4 repeat until combat ends.

Combat Round

• A round normally allows each character involved in a combat situation to act.
• Each round’s activity begins with the character with the highest initiative result and then proceeds in order. When a character’s turn comes up in the initiative sequence, that character performs his entire round’s worth of actions. There are some exceptions.
• When the rules refer to a “full round”, they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.

Initiative

At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative check. An initiative check is a Dexterity check. Each character applies his or her Dexterity modifier to the roll, as well as other modifiers from feats, spells, and other effects. Characters act in order, counting down from the highest result to the lowest. In every round that follows, the characters act in the same order (unless a character takes an action that results in his or her initiative changing).

• Flat-Footed
• Inaction

Surprise

When a combat starts, if you are not aware of your opponents and they are aware of you, you’re surprised.

• Determining Awareness
  • Sometimes all the combatants on a side are aware of their opponents, sometimes none are, and sometimes only some of them are.
  • Sometimes a few combatants on each side are aware and the other combatants on each side are unaware.

Determining awareness may call for Perception checks or other checks.

• The Surprise Round

1. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin.
2. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round.
3. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.

• Unaware Combatants

1. Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle don’t get to act in the surprise round.
2. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Actions

Action Types
An action’s type essentially tells you how long the action takes to perform (within the framework of the combat round) and how movement is treated.
There are six types of actions:

1. Standard
2. Move
3. Full-round
4. Swift
5. Immediate
6. Free

In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action. You can also perform one swift action and one or more free actions. You can always take a move action in place of a standard action.