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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 6399221" data-attributes="member: 6685730">Combat Rules, rough draft!Just dug this one up - let's dust it off a bit.  The big idea here is that attacks are free, but a maneuver contest is required to see if you can avoid enemy clutches for the round...CombatThe focus of a game of Amulet is frantic racing through a dungeon, destroying lots of monsters as characters go.  This section discusses the fundamental combat rules you’ll need to get through the dungeon.  Many of these rules represent slight variations of Modos RPG rules, while some are unique to Amulet.  This section starts with the fundamental rules you’ll need to get fights going, then discusses the general shape of combat rounds.  This is followed by a section on tactics – ways to make combat more interesting.  Next are some ideas for running the game outside of combat, and the last section contains guidance for the GM and players taking GM roles.FundamentalsThese are the actual game mechanics required to run combat in Amulet, used to form the larger concepts of combat rounds and tactics.SCORES – Each character, including monsters and swarms, has some scores that represent or influence what he can do in the game.    Health – this is a measurement of a character’s distance from death.  Swarms that lose health slowly see their constituent monsters drop.  Monsters that run out of health disappear shortly after dying.  Fallen heroes, however, can soon stand up, shake off their wounds,  and keep fighting – if they have a guardian angel (extra token).  Health is equivalent to Max Damage minus Physical Damage, from the core rules.    Armor – this is always stated as a take-half result of one’s armor protection.  When a PC takes damage, he subtracts this amount from each die of damage, or multiplies armor by the number of attacks he takes, and subtracts the result from total damage.  Monsters do not have armor because their toughness is represented by Health alone.    Magic – a composite score representing magic skill, metaphysical ability, and magic-related perks.  Characters use the Magic score to create magical bursts of power upon quaffing a magic potion.  When they do so, they roll the Magic die six times to find the total damage inflicted on monsters and swarms.    Melee – characters use this score when in direct contact with enemies.  It represents the fight (melee) skill and the weapon’s damage die.    Shot – this is the damage done by the character’s weapon when he flings it from his hand.  As soon as one shot lands, the character’s weapon is ready to be flung again.  It represents the fight (missile) skill and the weapon’s damage die.    Speed – this score primarily represents a character’s ability to move effectively through a melee.  In core rules terms, speed includes a character’s physical bonus, movement skill, and movement-related perks.  The number given is the bonus that a character uses on movement contests.CONTESTS – characters roll a contest whenever the outcome of an event is in doubt.  Each side (the GM rolls for all non-players, even if a monster isn’t opposing the PC) rolls 1d20, adds its bonus, and the higher result finds more success.  Amulet uses contests to determine when PCs come into contact with monsters (or get swarmed), to determine which PCs find secret doors, for escaping traps, and to see if PCs can outrun monsters, but many more uses are possible.  Remember that a contest isn’t necessary if an action would be easy for a PC.TAKE HALF – to save time, the GM should skip rolling a die and just use half of the highest result on the die whenever it makes sense.  This goes for contests, damage, and any non-dungeon-generation rolls.  Players are welcome to take half as well, but if the GM’s contest bonus is close (within one or two points) to a PC’s contest bonus, the GM should roll when a player takes half.DAMAGE – this is an abstract concept, because it doesn’t directly measure the marks made on a surface; it serves mostly to reduce health.  Damage is caused by melee attacks, shots, potions, the countdown, and other physical sources of damage included by the GM.MOVEMENT – also called maneuver, this is not measured in feet or relative position.  Movement is measured in units – the same way that room size is measured.  Each successful movement action taken by a character moves him one unit, represented by the sides of grid boxes or their diagonals from corner to corner.SWARMED – few fates in Amulet are worse than getting swarmed (surrounded).  Most monster swarms move ceaselessly to surround the PCs.  When a character is swarmed, he cannot maneuver – he must reduce the swarm’s health until it can no longer swarm him, or hope that his friends can do so.  Swarmed characters cannot use Shot attacks; they must use melee only.Combat RoundsA round in Amulet gives each character a chance to act.  The following are the features of combat rounds, and their variations from the core rules.ACTIONS – a combat round includes one to three actions per character.  If several different types of actions are taking place, one action per round allows the GM to carefully adjudicate all outcomes.  But sometimes characters are just trying to damage a swarm, and the swarm is attacking back.  For these types of rounds, the GM can combine three actions by each character, and allow three actions – three shots or melee attacks – at a time.  PCs can roll all their dice at the same time, and the GM simply goes around the table, collecting everyone’s results.INITIATIVE – Amulet allows all characters to act at the same time, and focuses attention on the actions of the heroes, so rolling initiative is not necessary.  PCs determine the success of monster efforts by making movement contests against them.  Think of monster presence in a room as a static feature, and the actions of the PCs determine their success.ATTACKING – If aggressive monsters are in a room, a PC can attack them simply by rolling his melee die.  This costs one action, and the die roll determines the damage that the monster takes.  If he wants to use shots, he’ll need to succeed on a movement contest (adding his Speed bonus, but not requiring an action) against the monster’s movement contest for each round spent shooting.  Defensive monsters, however, try to avoid melee.  Shot attacks on them require only a Shot die roll to determine damage.  To use Melee, a movement contest is required once per round.  Using a potion takes one action, and does not require a contest.DEFENDING – As in core rules, armor protection automatically applies against damage (see Armor).  Sometimes characters want to avoid specific monsters, like Wraiths or Mini-Bosses, so a movement contest is required each round to stay out of that creature’s reach, if it chooses to attack a particular PC.  A movement contest is also required to avoid monster shots.  Success indicates that all shots were avoided, and failure indicates that all shot attacks targeting a particular PC succeeded.MANEUVER – crossing rooms generally takes one action per unit crossed.  If that room has monsters or a swarm in it, a character must make contests to determine whether each movement action succeeds.  A successful character can choose to shoot (Shot) or attack (Melee) as he goes, but a character failing his movement contest faces certain consequences.  If the opposing contest succeeds by 4 or more, the character has run directly into a monster or swarm, and must take one melee attack from a monster, or two melee attacks from a swarm.  If the opposing contest succeeds by 8 or more, the PC has been swarmed, and must use his melee score or potions to fight his way out.</blockquote>

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