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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeavenShallBurn" data-source="post: 3480142" data-attributes="member: 39593">Combat Mechanics Part 1This is the first part of the combat mechanics, but it's still open to change.  anything red is basically experimental and I'm not sure about implementing.  First among them is taking a page from Guardians of Order and removing the automatic success/failure of 1&20 on a dice roll.  The second is to change Saves to a static value rather than a roll, mostly because I tried it to increase the speed of combat on NPCs and it seemed to work.This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.COMBAT I (BASICS)HOW COMBAT WORKSCombat is both linear and cyclical; it proceeds from one tick to another in sequence with characters acting on a particular tick and waiting the number of ticks determined by their action time before they may act again. Combat follows this sequence:1. Each combatant starts out flat-footed. Once a combatant acts, he or she is no longer flat-footed.2. Determine which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, those characters may not join battle until aware. The combatants who are aware of the opponents can roll to join battle with an Initiative Check. The highest Initiative acts on tick 0 and all other characters subtract their Initiative from it to find their Flat-Footed Time in ticks(to a maximum of 6).  Combat proceeds from one tick to the next with each character acting as their Flat-Footed Time expires at which point they are no longer Flat-Footed.3. Combatants who have acted wait the number of ticks appropriate to their action time before acting again but are no longer Flat-Footed unless a new circumstance causes this to occur.4. When all combatants acting on a tick have completed their actions move to the next tick.5. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until combat ends.COMBAT STATISTICSThis section summarizes the statistics that determine success in combat, and then details how to useATTACK ROLLAn attack roll represents your attempt to strike your opponent on your turn in a round. When you make an attack roll, you roll a d20 and add your attack bonus. (Other modifiers may also apply to this roll.) If your result equals or beats the target’s Defense, you hit and deal damage.Automatic Misses and Hits: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit.ATTACK BONUSYour attack bonus with a melee weapon is:Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + size modifierWith a ranged weapon, your attack bonus is:Base attack bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier + range penaltyTable: Size ModifiersColossal           –8Gargantuan      –4Huge               –2Large              –1Medium           +0Small              +1Tiny               +2Diminutive       +4Fine               +8DAMAGEWhen your attack succeeds, you deal damage. The type of weapon used determines the amount of damage you deal. Effects that modify weapon damage apply to the natural physical attack forms of creatures.Damage reduces a target’s current hit points.Minimum Damage: If penalties reduce the damage result to less than 1, a hit still deals 1 point of damage.Strength Bonus: When you hit with a melee or thrown weapon, including a sling, add your Strength modifier to the damage result. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies on attacks made with a bow that is not a composite bow.Wielding a Weapon Two-Handed: When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus. However, you don’t get this higher Strength bonus when using a light weapon with two hands.Multiplying Damage: Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results. Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage.Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.Ability Damage: Certain creatures and magical effects can cause temporary ability damage (a reduction to an ability score).DEFENSEYour Defense (DEF) represents how hard it is for opponents to land a solid, damaging blow on you. It’s the attack roll result that an opponent needs to achieve to hit you. Your DEF is equal to the following: 10 + class defense bonus + shield bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifierNote that armor limits your Dexterity bonus, so if you’re wearing armor, you might not be able to apply your whole Dexterity bonus to your DEF.Sometimes you can’t use your Dexterity bonus (if you have one). If you can’t react to a blow, you can’t use your Dexterity bonus to DEF. (If you don’t have a Dexterity bonus, nothing happens.)Other Modifiers: Many other factors modify your DEF.Deflection Bonus: Magical deflection effects ward off attacks and improve your DEF.Dodge Bonuses: Some other DEF bonuses represent actively avoiding blows. These bonuses are called dodge bonuses. Any situation that denies you your Dexterity bonus also denies you dodge bonuses. (Wearing armor, however, does not limit these bonuses the way it limits a Dexterity bonus to DEF.) Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other.Touch Attacks: Some attacks disregard armor, including shields. In these cases, the attacker makes a touch attack roll (either ranged or melee). When you are the target of a touch attack, your DEF doesn’t include any shield bonus. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) apply normally.HIT POINTSWhen your hit point total reaches your Con bonus you're fatigued.  At 0, you’re disabled. When it reaches –Constitution, you’re dying. When it gets to -2xConstitution, you’re dead.SPEEDTactically your speed is the measure of how far you can move in one tick at a swift marching pace.  It is the fastest you can move in combat while incurring no midifiers to attack and defense.  Movement is an immediate action which may be performed on any tick.  Moving does not prevent attacking in any tick where you may act in whatever combination you prefer.  Though moving faster than your speed imposes both penalties and bonuses to attack and defense.  Speed depends primarily upon your race but can be modified by other factors.SAVING THROWSGenerally, when you are subject to an unusual or magical attack, you get a saving throw to avoid or reduce the effect. A saving throw is calculated similarly to Defense.  It is a static number composed of base 10 added to a modifier based on class, level and an ability score.  Your saving throw is 10+base save bonus + ability modifier. Saving Throw Types: The three different kinds of saving throws are Fortitude, Reflex, and Will:Fortitude: These saves measure your ability to stand up to physical punishment or attacks against your vitality and health. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws. Reflex: These saves test your ability to dodge area attacks. Apply your Dexterity modifier to your Reflex saving throws. Will: These saves reflect your resistance to mental influence as well as many magical effects. Apply your Wisdom modifier to your Will saving throws.Saving Throw Difficulty Class: The DC for a save is determined by the attack itself.Automatic Failures and Successes: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on a saving throw is always a failure (and may cause damage to exposed items; see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw). A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a success.INITIATIVEInitiative Checks: At the start of a battle, each aware combatant must make an Initiative check to join battle. An initiative check is a modified Reflex save.  Like an attack roll, an initiative check is a d20 roll plus a bonus based on your class, level, and an ability score. Your initiative check modifier is: Reflex save-10. All characters joining battle at the beginning roll for initiative.  The highest initiative check wins and acts on tick 0, all others subtract their initiative from the winner and the difference is the length of their Flat-Footed Time in ticks.  Those joining an ongoing combat make initiative checks against the higest initiative and wait a number of ticks from the time they roll initiative equal to their Flat-Footed Time before their first turn.Flat-Footed Time: The number of ticks a character must wait before their first turn in a combat, during this time they are flat-footed.Flat-Footed: At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act, you are flat-footed. You can’t use your Dexterity bonus to DEF (if any) while flat-footed. Furies(Barbarians) and Thieves(rogues) have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which allows them to avoid losing their Dexterity bonus to AC due to being flat-footed.A flat-footed character can’t make attacks of opportunity.SURPRISEWhen a combat starts, if you are not aware of your opponents and they are aware of you, you’re surprised.Determining AwarenessSometimes 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 Listen checks, Spot checks, or other checks.  Unaware combatants may not roll initiative to join combat until aware and are considered flat-footed.</blockquote>

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