Combat Rules

Setting Up Combat
The combat sequence begins with the Game Master placing the player characters and enemies on a hexagon grid, along with any terrain features.

The Order of Combat
Combat is made up of Rounds that contain every player’s turn.

The first turn in the round is a player of the party’s choice, followed by an enemy of the Game Master’s choice. Both sides continue to alternate turns until every player and enemy has taken one turn. If there are more characters on one team, then the remainder of those characters make their turns at the end. When every character has had a turn, the round ends and the next round begins with a player’s turn. A round represents roughly 6 seconds of time.

Ambush
In the event that the enemy has set up an ambush that went undetected by the players, then rather than a player taking the first turn as normal, an enemy does so instead.

Turns in Combat
A Character’s turn consists of an Action, Move, a number of Free Actions, and Recover at the end. Characters also have a Reaction, which could take place at any point in the Round as long as the right conditions are met.

Action
The Action makes up the most significant part of a turn. A player’s Action could consist of a Standard Attack or interacting with something in the environment, such as picking a lock in the heat of combat or knocking over a bookshelf. Most commonly though, the Action is used for an Ability that requires an Action to use.
 * Standard Attack: Make a standard attack as described in the next section.
 * Interact with Environment
 * Use an Action Ability

Move
A Move is how your character maneuvers on the battlefield. Your character may be able to use an Ability which requires a Move. Movement, even movement gained from a Move Ability unless otherwise stated, can be broken up throughout your turn. For example if your speed was 4, you could move 2 spaces, use your Action, then move 2 more spaces after.
 * Move: Move a number of spaces up to your speed.
 * Crawl: While Prone, move a number of spaces up to half your speed rounding up.
 * Stand Up: While Prone, use your Move to stand up, ending the Prone condition.


 * Use a Move Ability

Free Actions
Free Actions represent actions that are quick and only take a moment to perform. You may take as many Free Actions as you would like on your Turn, but you may only perform each type of Free Action once.
 * Action Surge: Expend one Action Surge to do one of a variety of things. Action Surges are further described in the next Section


 * Speak: Say something out loud during your turn, such as in an attempt to negotiate with the enemy.
 * Switch Loadouts: Swap your current Loadout with a different one you have on your person.
 * Grab or drop a Weapon, Shield, or Item: Pick up an item from the floor or from an ally, or drop something on the ground or place it onto a table.
 * Drop Prone: Place the Prone Condition onto yourself.
 * Open or Close a Door: This could also be used to open or close a chest.
 * Use a Free Action Ability: Some abilities call for the use of a Free Action. You may only use one Free Action Ability per turn, and you may only use it once.

Recover
As the very last part of your turn, you Recover. The Recover is a mandatory activity at the end of each turn that represents the wearing off of spells and injuries that are hampering your combat ability. It consists of three steps:  
 * 1) Remove 1 Affliction Point of your choice.
 * 2) Remove 1 Point from each Condition.
 * 3) Roll an Ongoing Damage Check.

Reactions
Reactions can be used out of turn, however you only have one Reaction per Round, and Reaction Abilities have specific rules as to when you can use your Reaction.
 * Use a Reaction Ability: Also known as an Opportunity Action.
 * Opportunity Attack: A basic opportunity Action described in the next Section.

General Actions
For a list of actions all characters can take, check out General Actions

Critical Hit and Critical Range
A Critical Hit doubles your damage, or in the case of a healing ability, doubles your healing. When rolling a Critical hit, simply calculate your damage normally and multiply by two.

Typically, only a natural 20 is a critical hit, as in your critical range is 20. Certain customisations can make your character have a larger Crit Range. For example, if your character has a weapon with a +2 Crit Range, that means your Crit Range is now 18-20, or two numbers larger.

Surprising the Enemy
Stealth is run narratively, if the GM determines that the entire party manages to surprise the enemy before combat, then the first player to make their turn has advantage on all attack rolls on their first turn. The party may also benefit from the lack of formation an unprepared enemy might be in.

Afflictions
An Affliction can change a character’s capabilities in specific ways. Afflictions are typically inflicted by abilities, with the ability defining how long the Affliction will last or the circumstances to remove it. All Afflictions are harmful, whereas Conditions are beneficial, which are covered in the next section. Click here for a full list of Afflictions.

Conditions
Conditions are similar to Afflictions in that they are kept track of using points. However, during a Recover, each Condition loses one point. Click here for a full list of Conditions.

Prone
Prone is similar to an affliction, but it isn’t tracked along with the rest of the afflictions. In order to get out of prone, a character must use their move action to stand up. Until they do, they suffer from the following disadvantages.
 * A prone character can only take the Crawl or Stand Up Move Actions.
 * The character has disadvantage on all Attack Rolls.
 * Melee attacks made against the creature have Advantage.

Forced Movement
Many Abilities may force it’s target to move. Forced Movement follows some general rules that may be altered by the ability it was performed by.

Terminology:
Pull: When you move a character, every space must be nearer to you.

Push: when you move a character, every space must be directly farther away from you.

Shift: When you move a character, there is no restriction on the direction they can be moved.

Rules:

 * You can move your target less than the number of spaces allowed, but they must always be moved at least one space.
 * You can’t move your target vertically.
 * Forced movement does not provoke opportunity actions.
 * A character cannot be forced to move into a space that is already occupied by another character or large object, such as a boulder.
 * If forced movement would push a character over a precipice, cliff, pit, or otherwise significant drop in elevation, it can try to Catch Yourself.

Catch Yourself:
A character about to plummet a significant drop as a result of forced movement can attempt to catch themselves before falling.

The Character can Roll either a Strength or Dexterity Check with Disadvantage with a difficulty of 10. On a success, the character falls prone on the space before the precipice. Otherwise, the character falls and takes Fall Damage. 

Teleportation
Teleportation is a special kind of movement that some abilities allow you to perform. Teleportation is the act of disappearing from one location and instantly appearing at another.

Rules:

 * You cannot teleport into the same space that you were just occupying.
 * You cannot teleport into a space that does not have solid ground directly beneath you.
 * You cannot teleport into a space that is already occupied by another character or large object, such as a boulder
 * You can only teleport into a space that your character knows is unoccupied. For example, if you attempted to teleport 10 feet beneath you into a cave, but you never knew that there was actually a cave underneath you, the teleportation fails.
 * Teleportation does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Ongoing Damage (Poison)
Certain Abilities can inflict Ongoing Damage, which is a type of damage that remains on the character and can continue to damage them over multiple turns.

Abilities that inflict Ongoing Damage signify how strong the Ongoing damage is with a number, such as Poison (5) or Poison (1d6).

If a character has Ongoing Damage, then during the Recover activity, the player rolls a Constitution Check. Ongoing damage stacks, as in if the character has 4 Ongoing Damage and is hit by an ability that inflicts 3 Ongoing Damage, then the character will have 7 Ongoing Damage.
 * On a 1-10, the character takes damage equal to the value of Ongoing damage inflicted.
 * On an 11-15, the character does not take damage, but the Ongoing Damage value remains on the character
 * On a 16+, the character does not take damage and the Ongoing Damage is removed.

In addition, if a character is healed, they first clear any points of ongoing damage and then heal their character.

Battered
As combat wears on, combatants can take unexpected injuries that can alter your strategy.

The first time a character’s health decreases past half (round down) in combat, the Character becomes Battered. Roll on the below chart with a D20 to determine what unexpected injury will afflict the character.

For the purposes of certain abilities, a character remains Battered for the remainder of combat, even if their injury is healed. Additionally, a character only has to roll on the below chart and take an injury the first time their health decreases past half.

Bleeding Out
When your HP reaches 0, you are Bleeding Out, a state of near death where you may only take limited actions. Every time you drop to 0 Health and at the end of each turn that you are bleeding out, you must make a Death Roll.
 * You are still conscious.
 * You are Prone
 * The only Move you can take is Crawl.
 * The only Action you can take is Interact with Environment.
 * You cannot take Reactions
 * You can continue to use Free Actions.

To make a Death Roll, roll a D20, on a 10 or less, take one Death Mark as you inch closer to death. On an 11 or more, nothing happens. If you take three Death Marks, you will die.

Any attack made against you is with Advantage, and on a hit you do not take damage and instead receive a Death Mark. You continue to receive and be affected by afflictions as normal.

If you are stabilized, you no longer need to make Death Rolls, however your health stays at 0 and you are still Bleeding Out. If you take damage, you do not take a Death Mark, but you must make Death Rolls at the end of each turn again. If you are stabilized and combat ends, gain one health and you are no longer Bleeding Out.

If you are healed (your health increases above 0), you are no longer Bleeding Out. By default, the Death Marks you received don’t reset and are kept until the end of the session.

Damage Types
Damage types are the different ways your weapons do damage. Some enemies may have resistances to certain damage types, or maybe even weaknesses. This is a list of all of the potential damage types your character could have.

Physical
Crushing. Damage that smashes and pounds, leaving bones broken and armor dented. Typical damage type for weapons like maces, clubs, and hammers, as well as fists and kicks.

Piercing. Damage that stabs deep into flesh and soft tissue. Typical damage for weapons like daggers and arrows, as well as horns.

Slashing. Damage that slices open long wounds. Typically done by weapons like swords and axes, as well as claws.

Elemental
Fire. Damage from flames, lava, or intense heat

Ice. Damage from shards of ice or intense cold

Water. Damage from water, either in a brute hit or light splash

Lightning. Damage from electricity, lightning bolts, or sparks

Wind. Damage from wind or sound

Earth. Damage from rocks, dirt, and earth

Divine
Necrotic. Damage that rots away at the vitality of the enemy

Radiant. Damage from light or divine powers

Nature. Damage from vines and poisons

Magical
Arcane. Pure magical energy damage

Psychic. Damage from attacks on the mind or sanity