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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaro" data-source="post: 4202736" data-attributes="member: 48965">Combat by RAW is kind of gritty, definitely more Sword and Sorcery than high fantasy.  In basic combat your height determines where you hit, while your width determines how quickly your attack goes off.  Your opponent can parry (useful to block an attack at someone else as well), dodge (only good for affecting an attack at you).  QUICK EXAMPLE: Thyrus and Malik square of, Thyrus has a 3 in Sense and Malik has a 5, so Thyrus declares what he is doing first and Malik declares afterwards, thus Malik can react to what Thyrus is doing better.  Malik is going to attack Thyrus and parry any blow from Thyrus(incurring a multi-action penalty of -1 die from the lower of his two relevant pools)...while Thyrus is going to attack without parrying or dodging.Malik has Body 3/ Coordination 2/ Weapon:Axe 4/ Parry 2Thyrus has Body 3/ Coordination 4/ Weapon:Sword 2/ Parry 3Malik rolls Body(3) + Parry(2) the lower of his relevant pools and subtracts one die for 4d10...Malik rolls a 8/8/8/5/5 Malik chooses to attk with his 2x5 set and parry with his 3x8  Thyrus rolls Coordination(4) + Weapon:Sword(2) for a total of 6d10Thyrus rolls a 2/2/2/6/6/6 since he is only performing one action he selects the 3x6 set for his attack.Since Malik's 3x8 is both wide enough(fast enough) and high enough(equal to or greater than 7) he is able to parry Thyrus attack.  Each die in Malik's set can subtract one from Thyrus's attack...so Malik sacrifices 2 of his 8's to subtract two of Thyrus's 6's...thus leaving Thyrus with no set and nullifying the attack.  Now Malik's 2x5 attack comes and since Thyrus (foolheartedly) performed no defense the attack succeeds automatically.  The hand axe he is using does width in killing damage...so with a height 5 and width 2 attack he delivers 2 points of killing damage to Thyrus's torso.  There are 2 types of damage...shock(which a character can shake off pretty easily once combat is over) and killing( which is...well...killing damage).This is a very basic combat with no martial path techniques, or maneuvers (such as aim, disarm, etc. used) but it gives a general overview. The magic system is ineteresting because there are first, 2 "levels" of casters.  Unattuned casters can practice magic of any school but can only learn spells of a limited power.  Attuned casters can only learn one type of magic but have access to it's most powerful spells.  There is technically a third type, but I'll explain that a little further below.So you could have a warrior or noble who dabbles in magic as an unattuned caster.  In order to become attuned to a particular type of magic, a character must go through a ritual.  If successful this ritual fundamentally changes the sorcerer and gives him access to more powerful magics at the expense of variety.  Usually attunement brings with it advantages and disadvantages...such as a Flame Dancer gaining immunity to heat damage, resistance to cold, sterility from the fire that has now become a part of them and their blood igniting when cut or grappled by someone after taking damage.However attunement doesn't always work the way it is supposed to thus resulting in some sorcerers who are imperfectly attuned.  They are still able to cast the higher powered spells of their magic type...but they have been fundamentally altered in a negative way to achieve this...such as an imperfectly attuned Flame Dancer who cannot control the heat now within his body.  He has less resistance to heat damage, suffers extra damage from cold, and does shock damage to those that come into skin to skin contact with him for more than a round...oh yeah and they are sterile.On a side note, nearly every spell requires "something" to cast...so even the most powerful sorcerer isn't unfallible or limitless in power.  Using the above example, a Flame Dancer must dance when casting spells and thus is limited by their dance skill and their endurance.So in essence you give up versatility and take a risk in order to be the type of sorcerer who can route armies.As far as homebrewing magic...well let me just say there is a whole chapter on the how's and why's of creating one's own magic.  There have also been numerous new types already released through the ransom supplements. Hey, I'm happy to answer questions...plus it's giving me a chance to really think through why I like this game so much.  It really is my biggest contender vs. D&D 4e right now.</blockquote>

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