Combat
Turn Order
At the beginning of combat, all players roll Precision/Awareness at difficulty 4, and the Game Master makes the same roll once for all enemies. All players record their results rolled - this becomes your Initiative for the combat. Highest initiative takes the first turn, then going down the list until the end of the round has been reached and the cycle repeats. Ties are broken by whoever has the higher Awareness skill, then by higher Precision attribute, then by roll-off on a single six-sided dice.
Players are highly encouraged to take turns simultaneously. Initiative order should only be used between players when their actions work against each other.
In practice, this may look something like the following example. Imagine a battle with heroes A, B, and C, against a team of villains. Heroes A and B rolled a higher initiative than the villains, but hero C rolled lower. So, heroes A and B would move immediately, followed by the villains. Then hero C moves, but because the turn would end after his move and immediately wrap around to A and B, all three heroes act at the same time. Then the villains act, then the heroes, and so on.
Essentially, having a higher initiative than the enemy gives you a sort-of "bonus turn" at the beginning of combat, followed by heroes and villains taking turns.
Ambushes
If one party has completely surprised the other, the surprising party may select an initiative order for the fight - likely placing themselves at the top of the initiative. Additionally, all members of the surprising party may freely move up to their base movement speed during the first round of combat without spending any action points.
The Battle Map
Combat in Archsoul requires a battle map to function properly. A hex-based grid is recommended, but a square grid can work as well. Each space on the battle map is 2 meters across (roughly 6 feet).
Every character should have a representative mini on the map. Whether this is an actual sculpted miniature or just some paper scraps, all that matters is that it is easy to tell which way the character is facing.
The direction your character is facing is used to address flanking, shields, counterattacks, polearms, and much more. In gameplay, this is represented as two "arcs," your Front Arc, projected from the front half of your character, and your Back Arc, projected from the back half of your character. Attacks from enemies inside your front arc are considered to target your front arc, and attacks from enemies in your back arc are considered to target your back arc. Attacks from large monsters that occupy both your front and back arcs are considered to target your front arc.
Here is a visual of how the arcs look. Squares represent the front arc, circles represent the back arc, and the central rectangle represents the character.
On a hex grid:
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
○ ○ ○ ◘ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
On a square grid:
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
○ ○ ◘ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
-OR-
○ ■ ■ ■ ■
○ ○ ■ ■ ■
○ ○ ◘ ■ ■
○ ○ ○ ○ ■
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
At any point between actions on your turn, you may freely rotate your mini. However, you cannot rotate your mini outside of your turn.
Attacking
An attack is any course of action that is harmful to or resisted by a target. Attacks can be made with swords, fists, and crossbows, of course, but they can also be made with vehicles, furniture, bites, bombs, and magic. Different types of attacks are rolled in different ways, but they generally follow the same general structure: first, an Attack Roll is made. This determines whether the attack hits or misses - it usually aims to surpass either the opponent's defense or a defensive roll made by the opponent. Then, if the attack matches or exceeds the target's resistance, a Damage Roll is made to determine how much damage the opponent takes. Typically, this reduces the opponent's current hit points.
The following table summarizes the most common types of attacks, and more detailed descriptions will follow.
| Attack Type | Attack Roll | Resisted By | Damage Roll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unarmed | Precision/Primitive Attacks | Defense | Athletics/Unarmed damage |
| Melee Weapon | Precision/Melee Weapons | Defense | Athletics/Weapon Mastery/Base weapon damage |
| Ranged Weapon | Precision/Ranged Weapons | Defense, Shield bonus | Weapon Mastery/Base weapon damage |
| Thrown Weapon | Precision/Primitive Attacks or Athletics/Primitive Attacks | Defense, Shield bonus | Athletics/Weapon Mastery/Base weapon damage |
| Elemental | Soulpower/Soul Casting or Precision/Ranged Weapons | Defense, Shield bonus | Soulpower/Evocation or Base weapon damage |
| Soul | Soulpower/Soul Casting | Soulpower/Resolve roll | Effects vary |
Unarmed
Unarmed attacks are performed by attacking with a part of your body or with a weapon that conforms to your body like a gauntlet or claws. These may only be performed against targets in adjacent spaces and are treated the same as melee weapon attacks for the purposes of maneuvers, except where specifically noted. The default mode of attack for an unarmed strike is a simple punch - anything else increases the difficulty of the attack roll by 1. The damage roll is increased by 1 if you are wearing metal armor on the limb you are attacking with, usually a gauntlet.
Several restrictions can be overcome by the Unarmed Combat specialization.
Melee Weapon
Melee weapon attacks are any attack with a hand-held implement, be it a well crafted sword or a broken table leg. Attack and damage rolls with improvised or broken weapons have increased difficulty.
Ranged Weapon
Ranged weapon attacks are made using projectile weapons, such as guns or bows.
Attacks made outside of your weapon's accurate range, but within your weapon's maximum range, have the difficulty of the attack roll increased by 1.
Thrown Weapon
Thrown weapon attacks are any attack that involves throwing an object at a target. If a thrown weapon is particularly cumbersome (usually if it requires two hands to throw) it uses Athletics to hit instead of Precision. In such cases, the difficulty of the attack roll is also increased by 1.
Attacks made outside of your weapon's accurate range, but within your weapon's maximum range, have the difficulty of the attack roll increased by 1.
Thrown weapon attacks are treated the same as ranged weapon attacks for the purposes of defense.
Elemental
Elemental attacks refer to the usage of soul magic or special technology to strike an enemy with fire, electricity, pressurized water, or similar. These attacks usually allow targets to benefit from the ranged protection of shields, but sometimes they can bypass the need to make an attack roll altogether.
Regular weapons that have elemental properties, such as flaming arrows, are generally not considered elemental attacks.
Soul
Soul attacks directly affect a target's equipment, mind, body, or soul. This can include altering a target's mind with Domination, harming an opponent's soul with Rending, electrifying an opponent's equipment with Evocation, or moving an opponent's body with Telekinesis.
Armor Advantages
Most weapons (and some types of magic) are listed as "strong against" or "weak against" certain types of armor. When an attack is made against a target wearing a type of armor that the attacking weapon is strong against, the difficulty of the attack roll is reduced by 1. If the attacking weapon is weak against the target's armor, the difficulty of the attack roll is increased by 1.
This advantage does not apply to damage rolls unless your weapon has the Armor Piercing property.
Certain types of creatures are always considered armored - the type of armor they are counted as wearing should be given in the creature's description as their ATE (Armor Type Equivalent).
Area of Effect Attacks
Some attacks, such as explosives, can attack an entire area rather than a single target. These attacks will make a single attack roll against everything within the attack's area, with every individual target defending separately. All targets hit are then affected by the same damage roll or the same negative effect.
Areas of effect are usually given in terms of radius. A radius of 2 meters will hit one space and all spaces adjacent to it. A radius of 4 meters will hit all of the spaces that a 2 meter radius would hit, as well as all spaces immediately adjacent to that area. This pattern continues for larger areas. See the picture on the right.
If different targets within the area of effect have different difficulties to hit (if one target in the area has a Shield Bonus, for example), simply make one dice roll to attack and recount it for each difficulty level needed.
The Action Economy
On your turn in combat, you may use up to three action points to control your character. Below is a list of what you can spend your action points on each turn:
Move
1 AP
Move up to a number of spaces equal to your move speed, or 3 by default. This movement may trigger reactive attacks from opponents. During this movement, you are considered to be facing in the direction you are moving.
If you use this action three times in one round, you may move twice as far.
Slow Move
1 AP
Move one space. This movement may trigger reactive attacks from opponents. You may face any direction during this movement.
Draw Simple Item
1 AP
Draw a one-handed item held in a scabbard, pouch, or bandolier, or pick an item up from the ground.
*This includes spears wielded as two-handed weapons
Draw Awkward Item
2 AP Draw a two-handed weapon, equip a shield, pull an item from a backpack, or retrieve an item from a hard to reach spot (such as under a table). The two actions need to be consecutive, but do not need to be on the same turn.
Attack
2 AP
Attack with a weapon or your hands. Make an attack roll against an opponent in range using your precision attribute and a relevant attack skill. The difficulty of this roll defaults to 4, but can be modified by armor and other factors. If the result of the roll is greater than the opponent's relevant defense stat, you successfully hit and may roll for damage based on your weapon used. Most melee weapons add athletics to damage.
Throw an Item
1 AP
Throw an item you are holding, such as a rock, grenade, or spear. Attempting to hit a target requires a precision/primitive attack roll, although very heavy items (usually those that require two hands to throw) may require athletics/primitive attack. The difficulty of this roll defaults to 4, but can be modified by armor and other factors. If the result of the roll is greater than the target's relevant defense stat, you successfully hit. A roll of 0 means the item lands in a random adjacent space. Thrown weapon attacks add athletics to damage and trigger reactive attacks.
Free Actions
0 AP
The following actions require no action points, but are still limited to your turn:
- Dropping a held item
- Turning in place
- Dropping to the ground
Reactive Attack
Special
If an opponent performs certain actions while: a) within reach of one of your melee attacks, and b) within your front arc, you may attempt to interrupt the action with a melee attack or special maneuver without spending action points. The following actions can trigger reactive attacks:
- Making a ranged attack with a thrown or projectile weapon
- Moving out of a space that is within your melee range and your front arc (once per target per attacker per turn)
- Standing up from a prone position
- Picking an item up from the ground
- Drawing an item from a backpack
- Attacking with soul magic or performing some rituals
The attack happens before the triggering action is performed, and it has a chance of preventing the action from happening at all. When struck by a reactive attack, the target must make an Endurance/Resolve roll with difficulty 3. If this roll does not exceed the damage dealt by the reactive attack, the action is prevented.
Maneuvers
Maneuvers are non-standard actions that can be made in combat. Keep in mind that this list is not definitive - in other words, you are allowed to try whatever you want. If you can think of some clever strike to catch an opponent off guard or if you can use your surroundings in an interesting way not covered in this list, by all means you should try it. Game masters should encourage this sort of out-of-the-box thinking and be ready to improvise new rolls on the fly.
Special Attacks
These maneuvers function very similarly to regular weapon attacks.
Quick Attack
1 AP
Perform an attack with a one-handed weapon that you have not yet made an attack with this round. The difficulty of the damage roll for this attack is increased by 1.
If you are attacking with a non-light weapon, the difficulty of the attack roll increases by 1.
If you are wielding a non-light weapon in your other hand, the difficulty of the attack roll increases by 1.
After performing a Quick Attack, you cannot make any other attacks (except for Reactive Attacks) for the remainder of your turn.
Reckless Attack
3 AP
Perform a strong attack with a melee weapon. This increases the difficulty of the attack roll by 2, but decreases the difficulty of the damage roll by 1.
Attack Modifiers
These maneuvers can modify other weapon attacks, including reactive attacks and any maneuvers from the Special Attacks category above.
Feint
Trick an opponent with a false attack or similar misdirection. First, declare a type of attack you will perform with the feint. Then, roll Precision/Confusion or Precision/Acting difficulty 5 with the opponent rolling Intellect/Read Emotions difficulty 4 to defend. If you exceed your opponent's roll, you may rotate the opponent in any direction and then immediately attempt the declared attack against the opponent. If you do not exceed the opponent's roll, the feint fails and the declared attack automatically misses.
Attempting this maneuver against a creature without human-like anatomy increases the difficulty of the roll by 1. It also cannot be used against creatures with animal-like intelligence. This maneuver may be used in conjuction with the Shatter or Knockdown maneuvers.
Sneak Attack
This attack must be made against a target that is caught unaware. While this typically involves sneaking up behind an opponent, it can also be done with a concealed weapon and a straight face. The attack requires spending at least three consecutive actions (though they do not have to be on the same turn) studying your opponent before you make the strike. The attack performed afterwards has the difficulty of any damage rolls decreased by 1. Sneak attacks made with a melee weapon cannot critically miss.
In order for a ranged attack to qualify as a sneak attack, it must be made within the accurate range of the weapon.
You cannot perform a sneak attack against an opponent with unfamiliar anatomy. You must have at least 5 ranks in the Engineering skill to sneak attack golems, at least 5 ranks in the Survival skill to sneak attack hostile plants.
Knockdown
You may declare an attack as a knockdown attempt before making the attack roll. If the attack hits, your opponent rolls Athletics/Resolve difficulty 3. If your damage roll surpasses the result of your opponent's roll, the opponent is knocked to the ground. The damage your attack would have done is ignored, regardless of whether you successfully knocked down your opponent or not.
You may attempt a knockdown with a ranged weapon, but the difficulties of your attack and damage rolls are increased by 1.
Shatter
Make an attack against an object carried by an opponent. Instead of using a defense value against your attack roll, the opponent makes a weapon attack roll with the targeted item. Whoever rolls higher may deal damage to the opponent's weapon or item, being sure to account for hardness. On a tie, neither item is damaged.
Your opponent may drop the targeted item instead of making an attack roll to prevent it from being targeted, unless the item is a shield.
You may attempt to shatter with an unarmed attack or a ranged weapon, but the difficulties of your attack and damage rolls are increased by 1.
Weapons that are strong or weak against plate armor apply that adjustment while shattering a shield.
Cleave
Make an area attack with a melee weapon that is not light or semi-light. You may select up to 2 adjacent spaces that are within your weapon's range and make an area of effect melee weapon attack against those spaces. The difficulties of the attack and damage rolls are increased by 1.
This maneuver cannot be applied to reactive attacks.
Defensive Maneuvers
These maneuvers are special stances that remain active until the beginning of your next turn.
Hold Firm
2 AP
Until your next turn, attacks against your back arc are treated as if they were attacking your front arc.
Shield Intercept
1 AP
Until your next turn, any projectile that has to be fired through your space to strike a target behind you has the difficulty of its attack roll increased by 1. This maneuver may only be performed if you have a shield.
This ability does not differentiate between ally attacks and enemy attacks. A friendly archer standing behind you would take a penalty for firing past you.
Soul Shield
3 AP
Expand your soul over one willing target in an adjacent square. Until your next turn, the target may choose to use your defensive stats instead of its own when attacked by any effect that allows a Soulpower defensive roll.
This maneuver is considered soul magic.
Mounted Maneuvers
These maneuvers may only be used while mounted, usually on a horse or a vehicle.
Charge
3 AP
Move up to 6 times your mount's base speed in a straight line and then perform a melee attack with a Flail or a Lance. The dice pool for the damage roll of this attack is increased by the base movement speed of your mount. You must move at least 3 spaces in order to use this maneuver.
Reactive attacks made against you during this movement by a weapon with the Polearm property also gain the same boost to damage. If any reactive attack interrupts your action, you are immediately dismounted and knocked down.
Trample
0 AP, see below
Attempt to move through an opponent's space as part of a regular move action or a charge. The opponent may choose to avoid you and let you pass, or the opponent may try to stop you. If the opponent tries to stop you, you immediately trigger a reactive attack from the opponent, even if the opponent has already made a reactive attack against your movement this round. If the attack hits, your movement is stopped. If the attack misses, your mount may roll its trample damage against the opponent as you pass.
This maneuver only works against targets that are smaller than your mount. You cannot end your turn in your opponent's space.
Grappling
Though technically just one maneuver -- Grab -- grappling is an entire subset of combat with its own unique set of combat actions.
Grab
2 AP
Attempting to start a grapple triggers a reactive attack from the person you are trying to grapple. To begin the grapple, roll an unarmed attack with an empty hand. The opponent may defend with either an unarmed attack roll of their own or an Athletics/Agility roll. On a successful hit, you and your opponent become grappled and you gain control of the grapple.
Being Grappled
While grappled, any actions you attempt must overcome the force grappling you. While grappled, you may not attack with a weapon, perform a ritual that requires movement, or perform a regular move action. You also do not have a front arc while grappled, meaning you cannot make reactive attacks or benefit from using a shield or polearm. All other actions require a successful grapple roll to attempt. Any action that would cause your character to move causes all targets grappling you to move as well.
Grapple Rolls
A "grapple roll" is shorthand for either an unarmed attack roll or an Athletics/Agility roll. The difficulty of these rolls may increase or decrease based on the size of the opponent. Succeeding on a grapple roll causes you to gain control of the grapple.
Gaining Control
At any given point, one participant in a grapple has control of the grapple. In the case of a tie during a grapple roll, the person in control wins the tie. Having control is also required to initiate certain actions.
Attack
1 AP
Make opposed grapple rolls with your target. On a success, you deal your unarmed damage to the opponent. If you are wielding a weapon with the Close Combat property, you may deal damage with that weapon instead.
Escape
2 AP
Make opposed grapple rolls with your target. On a success, you are no longer grappled.
If you are knocked down, you instead stand up, but are still grappled.
Steal
1 AP
Requires Control
Make opposed grapple rolls with your target. On a success, you may take a single item from the target's hand or an easily accessible place on the body, such as a bandolier or scabbard.
Takedown
1 AP
Requires Control
Make opposed grapple rolls with your target. On a success, you and your opponent are both knocked down and you move into your opponent's space.
Throw
2 AP
Requires Control
Make opposed grapple checks with your target. On a success, you deal your unarmed damage to the opponent and may either throw the opponent or knock the opponent down. The grapple immediately ends.
Miscellaneous
This section provides rulings on corner cases and gives guidelines on how to interpret certain specific situations.
Time
While not exact, each round represents approximately 3 seconds of time. That means each action is roughly 1 second of time.
Falling Time
Falling does not require an action - in most reasonable cases, the amount of time it takes to fall does not matter in combat. By the time you have fallen for 3 full seconds, the 45 meters of fall damage will likely be fatal and the question rendered irrelevant.
Jumping
As an alternative to walking or running, a character may freely jump as part of regular movement. This can be used to bypass certain dangers, but comes with special checks and penalties:
- A jumping character can only move in a straight line along the battle map.
- You may jump a distance in meters equal to your Athletics attribute plus half your Conditioning skill, or one-third this amount straight up.
- You cannot normally jump further than you could walk. For instance, if you have a movement speed of 3 and decide to walk one space forwards before jumping, your jump would not be able to go further than 2 spaces without spending an additional action point.
- When you land, you trigger reactive attacks as if you were moving out of the space you landed in.
Lifting, Throwing, and Improvised Weapons
Any object can theoretically be used as a weapon by someone crazy enough to try it. Improvised weapons should first be compared to existing weapons to see if there is one close enough. A pitchfork used in melee would be an improvised spear, or a plank of wood would be an improvised club. They would have all the normal attributes of those weapons, save for the regular improvised weapon penalty when used in melee.
In cases where there are no similarities, weapons generally have 1 base damage for every 10 pounds of weight, up to 50 pounds. Every 50 pounds thereafter adds 1 base damage. For instance, a 30 pound chair would have a base damage of 3, and the 200 pound person previously sitting in the chair would have a base damage of 8.
Some objects are so heavy that is impacts their ability to be used as weapons. Refer to the Lifting Strength column of the Athletics page. Find which row of the table the object's weight falls into, then subtract the Athletics value for that row from your own Athletics attribute. Then, refer to the following table:
| Athletics Difference | Difficulty | Accurate Throw Range | Attribute Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +2 | 2 meters | 1 |
| 2 | +1 | 4 meters | 3 |
| 3 | +1 | 6 meters | 5 |
| >4 | 0 | 8 meters | Full |
Difficulty applies to the difficulty of attack and damage rolls made using the object and stacks with the penalty for using an improvised weapon (+1 difficulty to attack and damage) and the penalty for throwing oversized objects (+1 difficulty to attack and the roll is made with Athletics instead of Precision).
Attribute Maximum prevents you from gaining the benefits of a high Athletics or Precision score. This applies to attack rolls, damage rolls, and throwing range with the object.
If the Athletics Difference is 0 or less, the object cannot be used as a weapon. This table should only be used for improvised weapons heavier than 10 pounds.
Critical Failure Tables
To give a more predictable and balanced experience, a Game Master may choose to roll one of the following tables when a character rolls a critical failure, rather than making up something on the fly. When a critical failure happens, roll a single die and consult the appropriate table.
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Weapon slips and drops at your feet |
| 2 | Weapon slips and lands at target's feet |
| 3 | Wrist sprains, difficulty of next attack increases by 1 |
| 4 | Fall off balance, decreasing your defense by 1 for one round |
| 5 | Leave yourself open, triggering a reactive attack from your target |
| 6 | Strike the ground, rolling normal damage against the weapon's HP |
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Barrel jams, requiring a full round to clear before reloading |
| 2 | Firearm smokes, difficulty of next attack increases by 1 |
| 3 | Firearm kicks, dealing 2 damage to you |
| 4 | Firearm flares up, dealing 4 damage to you |
| 5 | Firearm bursts, dealing 4 damage in a 2m radius, weapon requires repairs |
| 6 | Firearm explodes, dealing 6 damage in a 2m radius, weapon is destroyed |
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Weapon slips and falls at your feet |
| 2 | Random target adjacent to original target is hit instead |
| 3 | Random ally within 6m of the target is hit instead |
| 4 | Weapon snaps back, dealing 2 damage to you |
| 5 | Weapon grazes your eye, difficulty of next attack increases by 1 |
| 6 | String snaps, weapon requires repairs |
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Overextend, knocking yourself down |
| 2 | Ankle sprains, decreasing movement by 1 for one round |
| 3 | Elbow sprains, difficulty of next attack increases by 1 |
| 4 | Fall off balance, decreasing your defense by 1 for one round |
| 5 | Leave yourself open, triggering a reactive attack from your target |
| 6 | Hit incorrectly, rolling damage against yourself (maximum 5) |
| # | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Suffer 1 extra Drain |
| 2 | Suffer 2 extra Drain |
| 3 | Suffer 3 extra Drain |
| 4 | Light yourself on fire, dealing 4 damage to yourself |
| 5 | Shift 2m towards target (forwards if no applicable target) |
| 6 | Soul stumbles upon natural aetherial trap, lowering Soulpower by 1 |
Recovering Projectile Weapons
When a projectile or thrown object hits a target, it is assumed to drop to the ground in the target's space. When it misses, it drops to the ground at the end of its maximum range unless some obstacle stops it.
Firearm ammunition cannot be recovered. Arrows and crossbow bolts have a 1 in 6 chance of breaking, making them impossible to recover. This break chance may be waived at the GM's discretion to avoid the accounting hassle.