Tarnished Tale - User contributions [en-ca]

Hit Points

2024-04-05T00:55:01Z

Zadammac: /* Maximum HP */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Hardiness]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Hardiness).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Hardiness score (not the Hardiness Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower. As a general rule, players do not "spend" HP, as much as certain effects (recovering HP and taking damage) will raise or lower the current HP total.

A note on the roleplaying implications of hit points: It should be up to the player unless the plot is being driven how badly injured their character is as long as they remain above 2 HP. That said, players are encouraged to play their characters as though they have been injured, commensurate with how proportionally low their HP is getting.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Hardiness [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your Hardiness for an Hardiness Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Some [[traits]] and other effects may "double" this recover, which is also referred to as "natural healing". In the case of the Hit Points pool, doubling the recovery means to add an extra die to each HP recovery roll (2d4, 2d6). Doubled recovery has no impact on Hard/Extreme/Critical recovery, which will always be no more than half of your maximum hitpoints. These doublings stack in the same way.

Imagine an example situation where the player has a heritage trait that doubles HP recovery. They are also experiencing High Quality Rest, which is doubling their recovery rate for all pools. Since they are doing a recovery that is doubled twice, then on the HP recovery rolls themselves they should use 3 of the relevant dice.

This doubling effect is *not* the same as having boon or bane on the Hardiness check or Current HP check that governs the healing process. Those checks still occur as normal unless an effect specifically calls it out.

Sponge (skill)

2024-04-05T00:30:11Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stock Skill}} {{Stub}} '''Sponge''' is a Stock Skill built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default Combat rules or the Variant: Tactical Grid Combat rules, Sponge is one of the skills used to respond to Attacks. A successful sponge check is required to take advantage of the '''Damage Reduction (DR)''' property of a piece of armour when worn. Certain armour items may require you to have a minimum sponge score in order..."

{{Stock Skill}}

{{Stub}}

'''Sponge''' is a [[Stock Skill]] built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default [[Combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Grid Combat]] rules, Sponge is one of the skills used to respond [[Attacking | to Attacks]]. A successful sponge check is required to take advantage of the '''Damage Reduction (DR)''' property of a piece of [[armour]] when worn. Certain armour items may require you to have a minimum sponge score in order to wear them without penalty (this is known as proficiency).

In some settings where armour is culturally significant or the [[Facilitator]] or [[Setting Developer]] has determined a single armour use skill is insufficient, sponge may be replaced by additional skills that function in largely the same manner.

'''Use Untrained''': Yes

'''Base Score''': Hardiness Score * 1.5 (Rounding Up)

'''Maximum Score''': 99

In its stock variety, this skill confers no [[Traits]]. However, your setting may have modified this.

Initiative (Skill)

2024-04-05T00:24:56Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stock Skill}} {{Stub}} '''Initiative''' is a Stock Skill built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default Combat rules or the Variant: Tactical Grid Combat rules, Initiative is used to resolve character turn order, and in the Tactical Grid System is used to test if a character can make an Attack of Opportunity. Initiative has other uses wherever it is necessary to determine which of two players can act first if all other elements in a situ..."

{{Stock Skill}}

{{Stub}}

'''Initiative''' is a [[Stock Skill]] built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default [[Combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Grid Combat]] rules, Initiative is used to resolve character turn order, and in the Tactical Grid System is used to test if a character can make an Attack of Opportunity. Initiative has other uses wherever it is necessary to determine which of two players can act first if all other elements in a situation are equal.

'''Use Untrained''': Yes

'''Base Score''': Intuition (not Agility Check) * 2

'''Maximum Score''': 75

In its stock variety, this skill confers no [[Traits]]. However, your setting may have modified this.

Combat

2024-04-05T00:19:22Z

Zadammac:

{{Work In Progress}}

'''Combat''' is a core mechanic in many roleplaying games. Depending on your [[setting]] and the sort of gameplay your group prefers, you may wind up in combat during the run of a Tarnished Tale adventure, as well.

Like much the rest of the rule set, Combat is modular and subject to modification. You are encouraged to discuss which rules for combat you will use (and possibly, if using multiple styles, when you will use them) with your play group, bearing in mind the importance of [[Rule Zero]]. While many TTRPG players will be more familiar with systems that use a Tactical Grid for combat in a manner similar to strategy RPGs like Front Mission or Tactics Ogre, this is actually the variant combat rule in Tarnished Tale. The default method of combat is focused more on '''Narrative-Driven Combat'''. This is to facilitate the financial and temporal [[accessibility]] of play, by avoiding the requirement for just-starting-out hobbyists to provide tactical grids and miniatures or tokens in order to adjudicate combat.

== Before Combat: Surprise and Maneuvers ==
As the veteran TTRPG player knows, there is a bit of a grey area between the parts of the game that can be said to be in and out of combat, and this problem only gets worse when considering a narrative-driven combat mechanic. There is doubtless a period in any combat where one party to the encounter means harm to the other party, but the other party isn't aware of it yet - either because the aggressor is hiding their motives or because the aggressor is physically hidden from their intended victim. During this twilight phase of combat, there are two important considerations: Surprise and Maneuver. A combat which is fully begun (i.e., past the surprise and maneuver phase) is said to be "joined".

'''Surprise''' in the context of combat is a kind of special initiative, or half-round of combat. As long as the targeted party is unable to observe the movements of the aggressor or fails an observation-related skill [[check]] as determined by the [[facilitator]] (for example, a skill intended to read the motives of the other party), the aggressor can be said to possess surprise. When combat begins, any characters who have surprise may participate in a special '''round''' of combat prior to setting initiative (if there are characters with surprise on both sides of a conflict, use the initiative rules to determine turn order). During this special surprise round, each character may take one or fewer actions. After the conclusion of a surprise round, if there are still surviving characters on ''both'' sides of the combat, combat is unambiguously joined.

'''Maneuver''' in the context of "unjoined" combat is a formal recognition of the combat phase having begun, but only *sort of*. A meanuevers round begins when the entirety of one party (the targeted party) is unaware of the presence of the entirety of the other party (the aggressor party), but the aggressor party is aware of the presence of at least one member of the targeted party. So long as they aggressor party remains entirely hidden from all members of the targeted party and no combat actions have been taken, the aggressor party can be said to be ''maneuvering''. Initiative is taken and actions are resolved in turn order across both parties without combat actually having been joined. This allows the aggressor party to set up an especially effective surprise round or to initiate the retreat rules (see below) before actually firing a shot, so to speak. If combat becomes joined - through executing a surprise round or because the targeted party becomes aware of the aggressor party - reroll initiative and resolve combat as normal.

The surprise and maneuver phases both exist in the context of both 'vanilla' combat and the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] combat rule variant, but might not exist in all combat types. They also might not always occur, at facilitator fiat. For example, if a combat was obvious before all parties to the combat arrived, there may be neither a surprise nor maneuver round. Reinforcements arriving part way through a combat may not always get surprise either, and instead the full initiative table should be recalculated. Finally, both player characters and non-player characters are capable of executing on surprise or maneuver as the situation warrants.

== Entering Combat: Initiative ==
Once combat is called, the [[Facilitator]] should call for initiative. During the process of initiative, all characters are effectively competing to create a laddered ranking of who is the most ready for fighting. However, executing contested [[skill checks]] in every combination of characters present for a combat with a larger party on either side is prohibitively time consuming. Initiative therefore works in the following way under the vanilla combat system:

# '''All characters roll [[Initiative (Skill) | Initiative]] checks.
#* Characters who succeed on this check get their full Intuition score as their Initiative Score for this combat.
#* Characters who fail on this check get one-half their Intuition score (rounded down) as their Initiative Score for this combat.
# The facilitator ranks all characters from highest to lowest initiative score.
#* In case of a tie, the characters who tied roll a [[skill contest]] for Initiative, with the winner ranking higher than the loser.

This final ranking is taken as the "turn order" for the combat. This turn order is static for the remainder of combat unless a significant factor causes it to change. Changes to the initiative order may be forced by:
* The sudden arrival of additional forces on either side of a conflict, or even the arrival of a 'third' faction;
* A major narrative event that causes combat to briefly stop, such as a distant explosion that catches the attention of all sides.

These are naturally just examples that arrived from play-testing and your group may find other reasons to reroll the initiative order.

== Resolving Combat ==
Once initiative is settled, combat follows a linear flow, with turns taken so that players are never said to have been disadvantaged in terms of "screen time". A full narrative beginning at the first character in initiative order through to the final action taken by the last character in initiative order is said to be a round. All of the actions taken by a player during their place in the initiative order is said to be that player's turn. Every player can perform up to two ''actions'' in such a turn by default.

=== Rounds ===
A round begins with the first action of the first character in the initiative order, and ends with the final action of the last character in the initiative order. For narrative purposes, a full round takes roughly 12 seconds to complete, meaning there are five rounds in a minute of combat under the narrative rules. Of course, as this is narrative combat, there is fuzziness in the length of a round, and the [[Facilitator]] may fudge the amount of time that has passed during a combat as suits the overall narrative.

=== Turns ===
A character's turn is said to begin when they are asked what they wish to do (or, for NPCs, at the end of the previous player character or NPCs turn) and is said to end when the effects of their final action are resolved. A turn is effectively the same length as a round, despite initiative order. Initiative order places priority on '''whose turn it is to speak''' as well as whose actions are resolved in what order, but characters are not standing around simply waiting for their turn. For example, an attacking werewolf who is shot down prior to his turn may still have been charging for their attack as part of that turn, but was simply killed before they could execute on their desired actions.

A common effect shorthand is "until their next turn". This means the spell is in effect until the next time the character begins a turn, even if that means the effect is activated and then immediately deactivated. Characters should therefore think accordingly when choosing targets.

=== Actions ===
A character has two actions available to them during any one turn of combat, which they can use in a variety of ways:
* [[Movement (Vanilla Combat Rules) | Movement]] to obtain an advantageous position, which includes interacting with world objects.
* [[Attacking (Vanilla Combat Rules) | Attacking]] using a combat skill in hopes of reducing another character's [[Hit Points]].
* Certain Ability [[Traits]] may consume one or more actions to execute.

A character may also ''reserve action''. When doing so, they keep over one or more of their actions until a certain precondition is meant. "I reserve an action to shoot the monster when it enters my line of sight", for example, or "I reserve an action to cut the bridge if the enemy attempts to cross it". If the precondition is not met before their next turn, it is lost. Sometimes the price of vigilance is inaction.

== Ending Combat: Incapacity, Death, and Retreat ==
Combat continues indefinitely until any of the following conditions are met:
* All of the engaged members on one side or the other are incapacitated or killed. This usually happens when they are reduced to zero hit points, otherwise killed, or in rare cases when circumstances are contrived such that they cannot physically engage in combat any longer.
* An attempt is made to surrender, at which point combat is halted until a surrender is settled, or.
* A party attempts a retreat.

Under a retreat, use the [[Modular Rules: Chases | Chase Mechanics]] to determine if one party can escape the other and give them the slip, unless some circumstance of the combat allows an immediate retreat, at [[Facilitator]] fiat. For example, the Big Bad Evil Guy may have had a secret, self-sealing escape hatch that they dive down with an action and seal with the other, preventing the party from following them. Alternatively, perhaps the party executed an instant retreat by demolishing the tunnel the scarab-people were using to attack their camp, preventing the enemy party from reaching them.

== Variant Combat Rules ==
* [[Variant: Tactical Combat]]
* [[Variant: Duel System]]

Variant: Tactical Combat

2024-04-05T00:19:01Z

Zadammac:

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the "second interval", which is twice the first value (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one other character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee'', and unless otherwise indicated in the weapon description, or otherwise obviated by a trait or ability, imposes one bane on the ranged attack.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
* A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
* A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
* A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
* A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
{{Disputed}}

The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Covert Movement (Skill)]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Dodge (Skill)

2024-04-05T00:16:25Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stock Skill}} {{Stub}} '''Dodge''' is a Stock Skill built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default Combat rules or the Variant: Tactical Grid Combat rules, Dodge is one of the skills used to respond to Attacks. It can also be called for to resolve situations such as traps or other hazards where a test is needed to determine if a character can remove itself from danger immediately. '''Use Untrained''': Yes '''Base Sc..."

{{Stock Skill}}

{{Stub}}

'''Dodge''' is a [[Stock Skill]] built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default [[Combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Grid Combat]] rules, Dodge is one of the skills used to respond [[Attacking | to Attacks]]. It can also be called for to resolve situations such as traps or other hazards where a test is needed to determine if a [[character]] can remove itself from danger immediately.

'''Use Untrained''': Yes

'''Base Score''': Agility Score (not Agility Check) * 1.5 (Rounding Up)

'''Maximum Score''': 99

In its stock variety, the block skill confers no [[Traits]]. However, your setting may have modified this.

Block (skill)

2024-04-05T00:14:40Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stock Skill}} {{Stub}} '''Block''' is a Stock Skill built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default Combat rules or the Variant: Tactical Grid Combat rules, Block is one of the skills used to respond to Attacks. '''Use Untrained''': Yes '''Base Score''': Agility Score (not Agility Check) * 1.5 (Rounding Up) '''Maximum Score''': 99 In its stock variety, the block skill confers no Traits. However, your setting may ha..."

{{Stock Skill}}

{{Stub}}

'''Block''' is a [[Stock Skill]] built into the Tarnished Tale rules itself. If using the default [[Combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Grid Combat]] rules, Block is one of the skills used to respond [[Attacking | to Attacks]].

'''Use Untrained''': Yes

'''Base Score''': Agility Score (not Agility Check) * 1.5 (Rounding Up)

'''Maximum Score''': 99

In its stock variety, the block skill confers no [[Traits]]. However, your setting may have modified this.

Unless otherwise overridden by a trait (or equipment property) or a [[Facilitator]] ruling, the Block skill may not be used against ranged attacks.

Variant: Tactical Combat

2024-04-05T00:00:01Z

Zadammac: /* Visibility and Stealth */

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the "second interval", which is twice the first value (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one other character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee'', and unless otherwise indicated in the weapon description, or otherwise obviated by a trait or ability, imposes one bane on the ranged attack.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
* A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
* A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
* A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
* A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
{{Disputed}}

The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Skill: Covert Movement]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Variant: Tactical Combat

2024-04-04T23:33:42Z

Zadammac: /* Attacks of Opportunity */

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the "second interval", which is twice the first value (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one other character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee'', and unless otherwise indicated in the weapon description, or otherwise obviated by a trait or ability, imposes one bane on the ranged attack.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
* A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
* A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
* A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
* A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Skill: Covert Movement]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Variant: Tactical Combat

2024-04-04T23:32:52Z

Zadammac: /* Ranged Combat */

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the "second interval", which is twice the first value (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one other character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee'', and unless otherwise indicated in the weapon description, or otherwise obviated by a trait or ability, imposes one bane on the ranged attack.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
- A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
- A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
- A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
- A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Skill: Covert Movement]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Variant: Tactical Combat

2024-04-04T23:32:33Z

Zadammac: /* Ranged Combat */

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the "second interval", which is twice the first value (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one other character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee'', and unless otherwise indicated in the weapon description, imposes one bane on the ranged attack.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
- A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
- A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
- A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
- A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Skill: Covert Movement]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Rule Zero

2024-02-20T14:19:46Z

Zadammac:

The central point of the Tarnished Tale RPG system, or its "Rule Zero", can be stated as the following:

<blockquote>The purpose of the game is for the players to work toogether to have the most fun possible, as they collectively define it.</blockquote>

This is intended to emphasize a variety of salient and important parts about TTRPG play in general, namely that:
* No one player (including the [[Facilitator]]) is "in charge" of a session, episode, chapter, or campaign;
* Wherever possible, effort should be maximized such that all players participating in the game feel included in it, and;
* In accordance with all other [[accessibility]] guidance, no players should ever feel excluded (unless they have been excluded from the game for safety reasons).

Accessibility

2024-02-20T14:18:33Z

Zadammac:

{{Stub}}

'''Accessibility''' is an important concept in the design of Tarnished Tale as an RPG engine. This goes beyond the usual understanding of accessibility as being "features which make something useable by persons with disabilities", and into the deeper core of making the game as broadly playable as possible.

In general we have the following principles as a result:
* No gameplay rule should require a player to have a specific physical or mental ability. Care should be paid when designing rules to make them as accessible as possible. Nobody should have to physically lift a large mass or pick a lock to resolve checks directly related to those, if they do not want to or are not physically able to do so.
* Rules should be as straightforward and consistent as possible.
* Players should be understanding and accommodating toward the various skillsets and comfort levels of other players as is humanly possible. This is partly expressed as an extension of [[Rule Zero]].
** For example, Facilitators should make the effort to make themselves aware of specific no-go subjects from other players and avoid their use in scenario design; this is the broader TTRPG concept of '''Lines and Veils''' (establishing hard and soft limits for content)
** Players should also be accommodating of new players. Berating each other for "not knowing the rules" or other supposed infractions is expressly forbidden. The rules lawyer has a place at the Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder table, but not at the Tarnished Tale table.
** Players at tables who are recording and broadcasting their games are encouraged to make those broadcasts as accessible as possible. Closed captioning and descriptive audio in particular are strongly encouraged for use.
*** Regardless of the relevant local legal framework no gameplay session, or the preamble/postgame conversations related to a Tarnished Tale game, shall ever be recorded or broadcast without the express, informed consent of all parties involved.
* No gameplay mechanic should be prohibitively expensive. While profiting from Tarnished Tale is not strictly forbidden, nobody should create a rule (except possibly as a variant rule) that expects players to have access to expensive equipment. There is no need to specify a radiological hardware random number generator to resolve a contest when dice work just as well.
** This rule does not forbid the publication of supplementary materials on a for-pay model; it is perfectly valid to charge for your custom setting book.

Accessibility

2024-02-20T14:17:45Z

Zadammac:

Accessibility

2024-02-20T14:16:14Z

Zadammac:

{{Stub}}

'''Accessibility''' is an important concept in the design of Tarnished Tale as an RPG engine. This goes beyond the usual understanding of accessibility as being "features which make something useable by persons with disabilities", and into the deeper core of making the game as broadly playable as possible.

In general we have the following principles as a result:
* No gameplay rule should require a player to have a specific physical or mental ability. Care should be paid when designing rules to make them as accessible as possible. Nobody should have to physically lift a large mass or pick a lock to resolve checks directly related to those, if they do not want to or are not physically able to do so.
* Rules should be as straightforward and consistent as possible.
* Players should be understanding and accommodating toward the various skillsets and comfort levels of other players as is humanly possible. This is partly expressed as an extension of [[Rule Zero]].
** For example, Facilitators should make the effort to make themselves aware of specific no-go subjects from other players and avoid their use in scenario design; this is the broader TTRPG concept of '''Lines and Veils''' (establishing hard and soft limits for content)
** Players should also be accommodating of new players. Berating each other for "not knowing the rules" or other supposed infractions is expressly forbidden. The rules lawyer has a place at the Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder table, but not at the Tarnished Tale table.
** Players at tables who are recording and broadcasting their games are encouraged to make those broadcasts as accessible as possible. Closed captioning and descriptive audio in particular are strongly encouraged for use.
* No gameplay mechanic should be prohibitively expensive. While profiting from Tarnished Tale is not strictly forbidden, nobody should create a rule (except possibly as a variant rule) that expects players to have access to expensive equipment. There is no need to specify a radiological hardware random number generator to resolve a contest when dice work just as well.

Attacking

2023-10-20T15:45:31Z

Zadammac: /* Sponge Checks */

{{Work in Progress}}

Whether using the ordinary [[combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules, resolving attacks is done in more or less the same way (tactical combat does add some complexity in terms of computing boons and banes).

Attacking is fundamentally a skill contest between an Attacking character and one or more defending characters.

== Step 1. Declare an Attack ==
A character who wishes to attack does one three things:
* Attacks, using these rules.
* (Optional Rule) Attacks, using the [[spellcasting]] rules from the magic module.
* (Optional Rule) Under [[Variant: Tactical Combat]], uses a [[Combat Maneuver]].

All three of these attack types have attack-like properties which will reference these basic rules. An attack is declared by stating your intention to attack a character. You always attack with the weapon(s) you have ''equipped''. See the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules.

An attacker has two options for their attack:
* Fight normally, or;
* Called shot (Tactical - ranged only);
* Fight defensively (Tactical - melee only).

When fighting defensively, until the start of their next turn, a player has traded a bane on their checks to hit (see below) in exchange for a boon against checks made to react to attacks against them. Called shots are a little more complicated, and are discussed further down the page.

== Step 2. Declare a Defense ==
A defending character has some options for how best to deal with the incoming attack, some of which may or may not be allowed given the circumstances. Be sure to carefully read the rules for your combat variant, weapon type, skill type and so on.

* [[Dodge (skill)]] - By selecting dodge as their response skill, if succeeding on the Attack Contest (step 3), the character may avoid taking damage at all.
* [[Block (skill)]] - By selecting block as their response skill, a character may use a weapon or item to reduce incoming damage by a certain amount if they win the contest.
* [[Sponge (skill)]] - By selecting sponge as their response skill, a character instantly fails the attack contest, but may receive the benefit of their worn [[armor]], if any.
* By choosing to '''Counter Attack''' using the weapon skill for their own equipped weapon, a character who wins the attack contest receives damage from their opponent, but lands a hit on the target as well, dealing their normal weapon damage to the attacker. With the appropriate traits, a counter attack may be made in the form of a combat maneuver, or permit a special effect to the counter. See the stock [[Parry (trait)]], an ability trait that causes the winning defender in a counter attack to take no damage from the incoming attack as well as dealing damage normally for a counter attack.

Optionally, certain traits may grant other benefits to these options or whole new options for combat response.

== Step 3. Attack Contest ==
At the start of an attack contest, once both characters have chosen their attack method or defense method, calculate the total boons and banes each player receives according to their situation. The players then execute a [[skill contest]] for their respective skills, with the following special notes:
* If the attacking or counter-attacking character ever make a critical threat on any of their checks as part of their contest, they will deal damage to the other character regardless of the outcome of the contest otherwise. If the defender is counter-attacking, make all three rolls of the contest even if the attacking character threatens or confirms a critical threat. A confirmed critical made as part of an attack contest using a weapon skill is a '''Critical Hit'''.
* If the defending character threatens a critical for a dodge, block, or sponge contest, that counts as two successes. If they confirm the critical, they win the contest outright.
* A character who critically fails a dodge is knocked prone.
* A character who critically fails a block or sponge is knocked one cell backwards, if physically possible.
* Any character who critically fails an attack or counter-attack must succeed on a subsequent weapon roll immediately or be disarmed.

If the attacking character has won the attack contest or was opposed by a counter attack, they are said to have ''hit'' the target. If not, the attack is either missed or deadlocked.

=== Sponge Checks ===
<blockquote>Facilitator's note: Optionally some settings might break sponge out into multiple armour skills. The principal is the same.</blockquote>

Winning a sponge contest is somewhat different to winning other contests. Amour has a damage reduction rating as well as hit points, similar to a player character's hitpoints. When non-critically hit as a part of a sponge contest where you have won the contest:
* Reduce the incoming damage by the damage reduction, and;
* Reduce the armour's hitpoints by the result, down to a minimum of 0 armour hp.
* Apply any remaining incoming damage (if greater than 0) to your own hitpoints.

You may only reduce damage using armour by as many hit points are left in the armour. Armour at 0 hp is said to be broken and can no longer be used to sponge or reduce damage, but any other penalties or effects from the armour still apply.

Critical hit damage is not sponged by armour even if you won the sponge contest. By definition, a critical hit is critical because it managed to find a critical portion of your anatomy.

Confirming a critical sponge roll as part of the attack contest reduces the damage suffered by you and your armour by half, after applying the normal damage reduction.

Sponge example: Tony the Gate Guardsman has 7 HP and is Wearing Armor with DR 3 and 7 HP of its own. In the distance, Big Angry Amy fires her crossbow at Tony, who has the option to trust his chainmail armour accordingly. Since he wins the sponge contest, Amy still rolls damage, and in her case totals up 8 damage. Tony's armour reduces the incoming damage by 3 to 5 HP, which lowers his armour to 2 HP. In a subsequent turn, Bigger Angrier Amanda emerges from the bushes and wins an attack contest with her hand axe, dealing 15 damage. Tony's armour reduces this to 12 HP. His armour is reduced to 0 HP, leaving 10 points of damage he must himself absorb. This reduces him to 0 HP (by way of the [[hit points]] rules), leaving him dying on the ground.

== Step 4. Compute Damage ==
Parties who are damaged as part of a combat contest take damage equal to the result of the die roll indicated on the weapon's equipment entry, plus any bonus damage from traits or the [[melee bonus damage]] rules.

Parties who are damaged by a '''critical hit''' as a result of the attack contest take the result of the die roll, multiplied by the weapon's '''critical multiplier''', and any associated bonus damage from traits.

Attacking

2023-10-20T15:38:42Z

Zadammac: /* Step 3. Attack Contest */

{{Work in Progress}}

Whether using the ordinary [[combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules, resolving attacks is done in more or less the same way (tactical combat does add some complexity in terms of computing boons and banes).

Attacking is fundamentally a skill contest between an Attacking character and one or more defending characters.

== Step 1. Declare an Attack ==
A character who wishes to attack does one three things:
* Attacks, using these rules.
* (Optional Rule) Attacks, using the [[spellcasting]] rules from the magic module.
* (Optional Rule) Under [[Variant: Tactical Combat]], uses a [[Combat Maneuver]].

All three of these attack types have attack-like properties which will reference these basic rules. An attack is declared by stating your intention to attack a character. You always attack with the weapon(s) you have ''equipped''. See the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules.

An attacker has two options for their attack:
* Fight normally, or;
* Called shot (Tactical - ranged only);
* Fight defensively (Tactical - melee only).

When fighting defensively, until the start of their next turn, a player has traded a bane on their checks to hit (see below) in exchange for a boon against checks made to react to attacks against them. Called shots are a little more complicated, and are discussed further down the page.

== Step 2. Declare a Defense ==
A defending character has some options for how best to deal with the incoming attack, some of which may or may not be allowed given the circumstances. Be sure to carefully read the rules for your combat variant, weapon type, skill type and so on.

* [[Dodge (skill)]] - By selecting dodge as their response skill, if succeeding on the Attack Contest (step 3), the character may avoid taking damage at all.
* [[Block (skill)]] - By selecting block as their response skill, a character may use a weapon or item to reduce incoming damage by a certain amount if they win the contest.
* [[Sponge (skill)]] - By selecting sponge as their response skill, a character instantly fails the attack contest, but may receive the benefit of their worn [[armor]], if any.
* By choosing to '''Counter Attack''' using the weapon skill for their own equipped weapon, a character who wins the attack contest receives damage from their opponent, but lands a hit on the target as well, dealing their normal weapon damage to the attacker. With the appropriate traits, a counter attack may be made in the form of a combat maneuver, or permit a special effect to the counter. See the stock [[Parry (trait)]], an ability trait that causes the winning defender in a counter attack to take no damage from the incoming attack as well as dealing damage normally for a counter attack.

Optionally, certain traits may grant other benefits to these options or whole new options for combat response.

== Step 3. Attack Contest ==
At the start of an attack contest, once both characters have chosen their attack method or defense method, calculate the total boons and banes each player receives according to their situation. The players then execute a [[skill contest]] for their respective skills, with the following special notes:
* If the attacking or counter-attacking character ever make a critical threat on any of their checks as part of their contest, they will deal damage to the other character regardless of the outcome of the contest otherwise. If the defender is counter-attacking, make all three rolls of the contest even if the attacking character threatens or confirms a critical threat. A confirmed critical made as part of an attack contest using a weapon skill is a '''Critical Hit'''.
* If the defending character threatens a critical for a dodge, block, or sponge contest, that counts as two successes. If they confirm the critical, they win the contest outright.
* A character who critically fails a dodge is knocked prone.
* A character who critically fails a block or sponge is knocked one cell backwards, if physically possible.
* Any character who critically fails an attack or counter-attack must succeed on a subsequent weapon roll immediately or be disarmed.

If the attacking character has won the attack contest or was opposed by a counter attack, they are said to have ''hit'' the target. If not, the attack is either missed or deadlocked.

=== Sponge Checks ===
<blockquote>Facilitator's note: Optionally some settings might break sponge out into multiple armour skills. The principal is the same.</blockquote>

Winning a sponge contest is somewhat different to winning other contests. Amour has a damage reduction rating as well as hit points, similar to a player character's hitpoints. When non-critically hit as a part of a sponge contest where you have won the contest:
- Reduce the incoming damage by the damage reduction, and;
- Reduce the armours hitpoints by the lesser of the damage reduction or the total attack damage, then;
- Apply the reduced incoming damage (if greater than 0) to your own hitpoints.

You may only reduce damage using armour by as many hit points are left in the armour. Armour at 0 hp is said to be broken and can no longer be used to sponge or reduce damage, but any other penalties or effects from the armour still apply.

== Step 4. Compute Damage ==
Parties who are damaged as part of a combat contest take damage equal to the result of the die roll indicated on the weapon's equipment entry, plus any bonus damage from traits or the [[melee bonus damage]] rules.

Parties who are damaged by a '''critical hit''' as a result of the attack contest take the result of the die roll, multiplied by the weapon's '''critical multiplier''', and any associated bonus damage from traits.

Attacking

2023-10-20T15:33:30Z

Zadammac: /* Step 3. Attack Contest */

{{Work in Progress}}

Whether using the ordinary [[combat]] rules or the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules, resolving attacks is done in more or less the same way (tactical combat does add some complexity in terms of computing boons and banes).

Attacking is fundamentally a skill contest between an Attacking character and one or more defending characters.

== Step 1. Declare an Attack ==
A character who wishes to attack does one three things:
* Attacks, using these rules.
* (Optional Rule) Attacks, using the [[spellcasting]] rules from the magic module.
* (Optional Rule) Under [[Variant: Tactical Combat]], uses a [[Combat Maneuver]].

All three of these attack types have attack-like properties which will reference these basic rules. An attack is declared by stating your intention to attack a character. You always attack with the weapon(s) you have ''equipped''. See the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] rules.

An attacker has two options for their attack:
* Fight normally, or;
* Called shot (Tactical - ranged only);
* Fight defensively (Tactical - melee only).

When fighting defensively, until the start of their next turn, a player has traded a bane on their checks to hit (see below) in exchange for a boon against checks made to react to attacks against them. Called shots are a little more complicated, and are discussed further down the page.

== Step 2. Declare a Defense ==
A defending character has some options for how best to deal with the incoming attack, some of which may or may not be allowed given the circumstances. Be sure to carefully read the rules for your combat variant, weapon type, skill type and so on.

* [[Dodge (skill)]] - By selecting dodge as their response skill, if succeeding on the Attack Contest (step 3), the character may avoid taking damage at all.
* [[Block (skill)]] - By selecting block as their response skill, a character may use a weapon or item to reduce incoming damage by a certain amount if they win the contest.
* [[Sponge (skill)]] - By selecting sponge as their response skill, a character instantly fails the attack contest, but may receive the benefit of their worn [[armor]], if any.
* By choosing to '''Counter Attack''' using the weapon skill for their own equipped weapon, a character who wins the attack contest receives damage from their opponent, but lands a hit on the target as well, dealing their normal weapon damage to the attacker. With the appropriate traits, a counter attack may be made in the form of a combat maneuver, or permit a special effect to the counter. See the stock [[Parry (trait)]], an ability trait that causes the winning defender in a counter attack to take no damage from the incoming attack as well as dealing damage normally for a counter attack.

Optionally, certain traits may grant other benefits to these options or whole new options for combat response.

== Step 3. Attack Contest ==
At the start of an attack contest, once both characters have chosen their attack method or defense method, calculate the total boons and banes each player receives according to their situation. The players then execute a [[skill contest]] for their respective skills, with the following special notes:
* If the attacking or counter-attacking character ever make a critical threat on any of their checks as part of their contest, they will deal damage to the other character regardless of the outcome of the contest otherwise. If the defender is counter-attacking, make all three rolls of the contest even if the attacking character threatens or confirms a critical threat. A confirmed critical made as part of an attack contest using a weapon skill is a '''Critical Hit'''.
* If the defending character threatens a critical for a dodge, block, or sponge contest, that counts as two successes. If they confirm the critical, they win the contest outright.
* A character who critically fails a dodge is knocked prone.
* A character who critically fails a block or sponge is knocked one cell backwards, if physically possible.
* Any character who critically fails an attack or counter-attack must succeed on a subsequent weapon roll immediately or be disarmed.

If the attacking character has won the attack contest or was opposed by a counter attack, they are said to have ''hit'' the target. If not, the attack is either missed or deadlocked.

== Step 4. Compute Damage ==
Parties who are damaged as part of a combat contest take damage equal to the result of the die roll indicated on the weapon's equipment entry, plus any bonus damage from traits or the [[melee bonus damage]] rules.

Parties who are damaged by a '''critical hit''' as a result of the attack contest take the result of the die roll, multiplied by the weapon's '''critical multiplier''', and any associated bonus damage from traits.

Attacking

2023-10-20T15:29:47Z

Zadammac: /* Step 2. Declare a Defense */

Attacking

2023-10-20T15:27:17Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Work in Progress}} Whether using the ordinary combat rules or the Variant: Tactical Combat rules, resolving attacks is done in more or less the same way (tactical combat does add some complexity in terms of computing boons and banes). Attacking is fundamentally a skill contest between an Attacking character and one or more defending characters. == Step 1. Declare an Attack == A character who wishes to attack does one three things: * Attacks, using these rule..."

Variant: Tactical Combat

2023-10-20T15:05:12Z

Zadammac:

{{Work In Progress}}

The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same [[combat | action rules]] as regular combat, as well as familiar concepts like [[Attacking]] and [[Initiative]], but largely overhauls the movement rules, and places greater emphasis on things like [[cover]] and situational awareness.

== The Tactical Grid ==
The core of the Tactical Combat variant rules is concerned with the Tactical Grid. Combats using the tactical combat ruleset must necessarily be resolved using a map drawn upon an underlying grid, with the grid being used to represent the positions and orientations of creatures, characters, and objects in the area, as well as to work out the distances between them and ranges of effects.

In order to better resolve questions of what objects are ''adjacent'' to each other and to simplify the rules for computing diagonal distances, tactical combat relies on a Hexagonal map-grid. [[Variant: Square Tactical Grids]] discusses the changes needed to these rules to make the game playable on a square grid. Determining adjacency is as simple as determining if two cells on the grid share an edge; if they do, the characters or objects in those squares are said to be adjacent.

For the purposes of compatibility with existing commercial offerings for character miniatures, and ease of adoption by new players who are experienced in other TTRPG combat systems, each cell of the Tactical Grid is said to represent a 5-foot distance - this scale is largely arbitrary, and any convention can be used at the table so long as all players agree on it. Diagonals distance is therefore taken by figuring out the minimum number of hexagonal cells that much be traversed between the center of Cell A and the center of Cell B, and multiplying by the 5-foot scale. This is where an example image would go, if I had one.

Traversal from cell to cell always happens across an edge.

== Movement on the Tactical Grid ==
Under the [[Combat]] rules, [[Movement (Ordinary Combat Rules)]] is almost as simple as declaring a movement. In Tactical combat, the players all have one shared theatre to draw on which represents the position of all objects and characters involved in the combat, and so, a bit more thought is needed.

Characters necessarily have a [[speed]], which is the distance they can move in a single movement [[combat | action]]. If using the 5-foot-per-cell convention, this speed divided by 5 is the number of hex cells they can traverse in a single movement action. Absent [[traits]] or other special abilities that say otherwise, a character may not attack or perform other actions on the move. A movement action begins when they make to leave the cell they are in, and ends when they reach their destination cell. As with narrative combat, a player can take their movement action before or after their other action, spend both their actions that turn on movement, or even reserve a movement action ("if the orc starts to move toward me, I will run away").

=== Moving through Terrain Types ===
Each cell on the map represents some kind of terrain, whether it's a linoleum hallway, a rough stone corridor, a grassy field, or a mire. Where feasible, the [[Facilitator]] should ensure that the terrain in each cell is somehow clearly indicated so that the players clearly understand what is being represented.

Some terrain is considered ''Difficult Terrain'' - sucking mud, the rubble of a demolished partition wall, knee-high shrubs. This is terrain which a character could conceivably wade through, scrabble over, or carefully pick their way across. Difficult Terrain effectively costs double to move through; crossing a 5-foot-cell of shin-deep, heavy mud costs you the same amount of "movement time" as running down 10 feet of hardwood floor. Depending on the type of difficult terrain, there may be other difficulties. See '''Terrain Effects''', further down this page, for more information.

Some other terrain is considered impassible. A wall is a kind of terrain, and so is a deep pit. Impassible terrain cannot be moved through without the use of a [[skill]] or [[ability]] to bypass it. A facilitator and a player should work out amongst themselves appropriate solutions to such a problem, as the potential number of combinations of "impassible terrain type" and "imagined solutions" is too large a space to rule them all definitively here.

=== Moving Past an Enemy ===
There are situations when a character must move past, or even through, a space in which an enemy character is standing. Perhaps the PCs are occupying the two spaces that represent the town gate, and here come the barbarians. Perhaps the players think they can shake the lawmen chasing them, but only if they round the corner near where that Lagosi tough is standing.

A character may enter a space that is adjacent to an enemy character without penalty. When attempting to leave that space, however, they may provoke an '''Attack of Opportunity''', described below.

A player may not normally move into a space occupied by an enemy. They may, however, attempt an ability or [[combat maneuver]] to bypass such an obstacle, where appropriate.

=== Three Dimensional Movement ===
The tactical grid is two dimensional (albeit, technically, having three axes). That is to say, ''height'' is not natively represented on the hex grid. For most tactical purposes, minor variations in terms of uneven or sloped ground is not sufficient to be worthy of note. However, situationally, two characters might find themselves in combat with one another from very different altitudes. Perhaps one character is standing atop a high tower and in a position to sharpshoot against another, or the party is encamped on a ridge and spies enemies in the valley below. In these situations, the [[Facilitator]] needs to make appropriate judgement calls about reach and range. The height difference may constitute impassible terrain (in either direction), and may possibly also count as a form of cover.

Characters which can fly are not explicitly covered by this rule, either.

== Terrain and Obstacles ==
=== Terrain Effects ===
As discussed above in movement, there are fundamentally three kinds of terrain: normal, difficult, and impassible. Normal terrain is terrain which bears no special consideration. Difficult Terrain may be traversed, but costs double the movement distance to move through. Impassible terrain may not be passed through at all, willingly.

However, some terrain has additional effects. Here are some common varieties of such effect:
* ''Slippery terrain'', such as an oil-slicked portion of deck plating, requires the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] check or fall prone, ending their movement.
* ''Mired terrain'', like deep mud, may require the character to make an appropriate [[Agility]] or related skill check to avoid becoming stuck, ending their movement prematurely and keeping them there until they pass such a check.
* Some terrain has a ''damage'' associated with it. This damage may be expressed in terms of passing/stationary (such as 1d4/1d6), which represents damage done to the character for passing through or stopping in that cell. [[Facilitators]] are strongly encouraged to make this sort of penalty obvious before springing it on the player. There are rules for handling [[traps]] if you need actual surprise damage.

Ending movement in '''Difficult Terrain''' imposes a penalty of one bane on [[Dodge]] rolls made as part of resolving [[attacking | attacks]], though other responses to being attacked remain available to the character.

=== Cover ===
Some difficult or impassible terrain, or even other objects, constitute cover. These are chiefly those objects which are large enough to hide behind, or are so large as to obstruct a player from view completely. There are two varieties of cover: partial and total.

'''Partial Cover''' is cover which a character may reasonably hide behind, but which is not large enough in and of itself to fully obscure a character from view naturally. The wall of a shoulder-high trench, a car, a low stone well, and an upturned table are all examples of partial cover. In order to qualify as cover, the obstacle must be of sufficient strength to reasonably withstand at least one strike of the enemy's weapon or combat effect - unrolling a tube of bristol board and diving behind it is not meaningfully cover. A character who has ended combat standing adjacent to an object that is '''partial cover''' imposes a bane against the attack roll of any character attempting any ranged attack which would pass through the space occupied by the cover, and has one boon on their [[Dodge]] roll as part of resolving that attack. If that character ends their movement adjacent to partial cover, and has an action left, they may spend that action ''taking cover''. If they succeed on a dodge roll when taking cover, the object counts as '''total cover''' until the start of their next turn.

'''Total Cover''' is cover which a character would be entirely obscured by simply by being adjacent to it - a shed wall, large truck, fallen redwood, or so on. A character who has stopped in a cell which is adjacent to the cell the total cover object is in may not be targeted by ranged attacks which must pass through that cover's cell.

The durability of cover is important to consider. See the section on [[combat maneuver| combat maneuvers]] for details on the '''Target Inanimate Object''' action, through which it may be possible to destroy cover.

=== Traps ===
[[Traps]] are a special sort of hazardous terrain which are not immediately obvious, at least in this context. See that section for rules on handling trapped terrain.

== Attacking ==
The aim of movement on the tactical combat grid is to either remove oneself from a position where they may be attacked, or position oneself to better attack your enemies; though Tactical Combat does have an unjoined "maneuver" phase much like narrative combat, in which two or more parties might be attempting to move past each other on the grid.

While the rolls for [[Attacking]] are largely the same as for the main narrative [[Combat]] rules, there are special considerations to be made considering topics of '''melee''' vs '''ranged''' combat handling. Tactical combat also introduces a mechanic for handling '''Attacks of Opportunity'''

=== Melee Combat ===
A character who is unarmed, or who is armed with a [[weapon]] that has the '''melee''' property, or is taking an action with the '''touch''' range property, is attempting a melee attack. That character, and their target, are said to be "in melee", and remain so until the two move apart from each other, or one loses consciousness, or surrenders. Resolving a melee attack requires the usual rolls. Melee is a very basic type of attack with few special rules.

If a weapon has '''melee''' and '''reach''' for properties, attacks made with that melee weapon are considered melee attacks, out to its full reach distance. Characters armed with such a weapon also impose attacks of opportunity for adjacency as though those cells were adjacent to their own.

=== Ranged Combat ===
A character who is making an attack with a weapon with a '''range''' property other than '''touch''' is making a ranged attack. Ranged attacks require some additional consideration. As further detailed in the [[weapon]] rules, a range property has two values, such as 60/180ft. The smaller of these two values is called the ''interval''. Ranged attacks are made with no penalty out to the interval distance, then one bane to the attack role out to the second interval (in this case, 120ft), then a second bane to the attack roll out to the ''maximum distance'', which is the second value. Ranged attacks require hard [[Dodge]] roll from the target if they are made from inside the first interval distance, and very hard if made outside that distance. In order to be entitled to a dodge roll against a ranged attack, the target character must not be in melee and must be aware of the attacking character.

A character who uses a ranged attack at a character who is 'in melee' has two options. The first is to take a bane to the hit, but guarantee that in the event of a miss, no other target is struck. The second is to run the risk that if they miss by less than 1/2 of their relevant skill score for the attack, they strike one of the other characters involved in the melee. If there is more than one character involved in melee, the [[Facilitator]] should use their discretion to determine who is struck.

There may be other considerations to ranged combat specific to the [[weapon]] being used. A character armed with a ranged weapon threatens no cells for the purpose of determining Attacks of Opportunity, but gains access to the [[Overwatch (Combat Maneuver)]] action automatically. Attempting a ranged attack against an adjacent character places you and that character ''in melee''.

=== Offensive Use of Skills, Traits, and Abilities ===
Some skills constitute the basis of [[Combat Maneuvers]], which are special actions that, while not being attacks, may resemble attacks. These combat maneuvers are special applications of skills that do not require you have trained those skills in order to use them; actions such as grappling a target, tripping them, or disarming them. Combat maneuvers count at attacks (usually melee attacks) for the purposes of triggering attacks of opportunity (namely, they don't).

Other offensive uses of skills and traits are not Combat Maneuvers. These include things like casting a spell (in settings that support this) through the appropriate skill, activating a piece of nearby machinery, and so on. As a general rule, these activities '''do''' trigger attacks of opportunity unless some other ruling or trait says otherwise.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
An attack of opportunity is a special attack made outside of the normal action economy and initiative order against a target who has exposed themselves to their enemy through some risky action, provided that enemy can seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These tend to happen in special cases as noted above, when certain actions take place inside a threatened cell.

These opportunities include, but are not strictly limited to:
- A character exiting a threatened cell into a non-threatened cell;
- A character failing to defensively draw a weapon while standing in a threatened cell;
- A character attempting to use a skill in a way that provokes an attack of opportunity inside a cell, and;
- A character attempting to use an item that is not a weapon inside a threatened cell.

A character equipped with and currently wielding a weapon with the 'melee' property threatens all adjacent cells. If that weapon also has a 'reach' property, all cells in range of that reach property are also threatened. A character only threatens cells if they are not otherwise 'in melee', with the exception that they always threaten the other characters in melee with them. If Alice, and Bob are in a melee with each other and Bob attempts to break away by leaving his cell, Alice might be able to get her attack of opportunity. However, if they stay in combat and Charlie attempts to slip past them, neither Alice nor Bob get to make an attack of opportunity - they are too busy trying to kill each other.

A character who is threatening squares could be called the Threatener, and a character who raises an opportunity for an Attack of Opportunity could be called the target. Any time an attack of opportunity arises, pause all other actions to resolve it. The Threatener must succeed on an [[Initiative]] check. If they do, they may make one attack roll as normal against the target. No other penalty is imposed beyond the damage and effects of the attack.

Unless otherwise stated, this must be a normal weapon attack; if the player wants to use a Combat Manuever as an attack of opportunity, they would have to have a trait that allows them to do so.

There is no limit to the number of Attacks of Opportunity a character may attempt in a turn, though each occasion only raises one opportunity, and each opportunity must be met with a successful Initiative check to actually get to make the attack.

=== Facing, and Flanking===
Characters in Tactical Combat have a property known as '''facing''', which is the edge of the hexagonal cell they occupy that they are considered to be facing toward at the end of their turn. Changing your facing is a free action taken at the end of your turn, independent of your movement or attack actions. Facing is a small, but important detail.

A character's facing gives them bonuses or penalties to certain skill checks:
* [[Dodge Checks]] made in response to being attacked;
* Any observation-related skill check as pertains to combat situational awareness, at [[Facilitator]] fiat.

If the defending character is being attacked by or viewing a character that is directly in front of them (can be targeted by a line passing through the cell on the other side of the edge they are facing, the defending character gets 1 boon to the dodge roll or other skill check. If the character attacking or being observed is directly behind the player using a similar rule, the character has 2 banes to the roll. Using a similar line rule, if the character attacking is attacking from the cell immediately clockwise or counter clockwise of directly behind the player, the defending character only recieves 1 bane. There is no bane, or boon, for a character clockwise or counterclockwise directly in front of the fender. A character can use the [[attack]] option to '''counter attack''' players which are in the arc of the cell directly in front of, or clockwise or counterclockwise of that cell, provided they can reach the attacking player. See the attack resolution rules for more information.

Successfully executing a dodge action means that your facing immediately changes to the facing of the character attacking you, regardless of whether or not you are then subsequently hit by their attack.

Characters may also be flanked. A character is considered flanked when the following conditions are true:
* The defending character is ''in melee'';
* The attacking character is performing a melee attack;
* The attacking character is allied to at least one other character who is ''in melee'' with the defending character, and;
* A non-curved line may be drawn from one edge of the attacking character's cell to the edge of their allied in-melee character's cell, such that the line passes through the defending character's cell.

In practice this means that a character is flanked where they are facing their immediate opponent, and another character is attacking them from any of the cells where they would have had a penalty. A character so flanked normally receives one additional bane to their dodge rolls (to the usual maximum of 2 banes). A character who has been flanked in combat in the previous turn may not execute overwatch actions unless they have a trait to the contrary.

=== Switching and Drawing Weapons ===
The weapon a character is currently holding is said to be the weapon they have ''equipped'', even if they have several weapons in their inventory:
* The paladin Oleander Jonquil in the Wisteria setting is holding a war-glaive and has a throwing axe tucked into his belt. He is therefore equipped with the war-glaive.
* The outlaw Jack Lagos has already pulled his skinning knife, but he's tempted to reach for his six-shooter. He's therefore equipped with the knife.

A player may wield as many weapons as they care to, so long as they have sufficient hands to do so. Some weapons may require two or more hands to equip. In some exotic settings, some weapons may be equipped without being held in hand per se.

If a character wants to switch weapons, they must first free up their hands if they do not have a hand free, and have two options:
* They may hastily sheathe the existing weapon, if they have such a sheath, as a movement action.
* They may drop the weapon as a free action, consuming no actions to do so. The weapon lies in their current cell. Stooping to retrieve such a weapon is a full movement action on its own.

After a character has the necessary hands free, they may then attempt to draw the weapon in question:
* Unless stated otherwise in the weapon description, a character who is moving up to their full speed in their movement action may draw a weapon as part of that action with no penalty.
* A character standing still can attempt to draw a weapon as a free action by succeeding on a skill check with the skill that governs the use of that weapon, as shown in the weapon description. The player must declare their intention to do this prior to making the check. If the player fails the check, they have the option of either dropping the weapon as a fumble (which is the result of a critical failure of this check) and keeping their action, or taking a movement action just to draw the weapon.

A character who attempts to draw a weapon in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity unless they succeed on a hard skill check with the relevant weapon. They gain a boon to this check if the threatening character is already in melee. This only applies if the character is drawing a weapon while stationary. A character who has drawn a weapon in motion incurs no attack of opportunity for doing so but may incur such attacks as a result of their movement as normal.

=== Special Conditions ===
{{Work in Progress}}

Some combat maneuvers and other actions in combat may result in a character having special conditions applied to them which have an ongoing effect turn-over-turn, such as falling prone, becoming paralyzed, and so on.

== Visibility and Stealth ==
The tactical combat system concerns itself in part with what individual characters can see on the grid. Players are encouraged to consider these options carefully, in spite of the fact that they, as omniscient giants standing well above the field of battle, can see things their characters necessarily can't. This is especially relevant in actual tabletop play with physical maps and tokens, and is discussed more in the below section on Fog of War.

When one character is in a situation where they are unable to successfully observe another character, the unobserved character is said to have '''stealth'''. Stealth relationships can become very complex very quickly, but the rules that govern them are quite simple. Characters may also be considered to have Stealth in certain other situations, such as when they are successfully disguised as members of the opposite faction.

=== Adverse Conditions ===
Certain battlefield conditions globally affect awareness and observation. These include, but are not limited to:
* Adverse weather such as heavy rain or fog which may increase the difficulty of observation skill checks made past certain distances at the facilitator's discretion.
* The noise of heavy combat may be sufficient to drown out sounds, increasing the difficulty or adding banes to the necessary observation checks, again at facilitator fiat.
* A character may have a '''Special Condition''' (see above) which limits their observational abilities.
* Visual checks are harder for characters who are in the dark if they cannot naturally see in such conditions by means of a specialist trait.

=== Stealth and Maneuvering ===
Characters who have stealth can maintain stealth in one of two ways:
- Remaining in a position where they have '''total cover''' from all members of the opposing faction.
- Succeeding on stealth-related skill checks (see the stock [[Skill: Covert Movement]]) taken as contests to the observation skill checks of characters who have line of sight to them (characters whose line of sight would not be obscured by an object granting total cover). Depending on battlefield conditions, one or more of the characters in such a contest may have boons or banes associated with them.

Further, a character who ends their turn in total cover is said to be Obscured. Such a character who then succeeds on stealth-related skill checks when they next move out of that total cover are said to have re-obtained Stealth until someone manages to observe them. This can be countered by a character reading an action to observe them as they leave the cover.

Beginning or ending a turn behind partial cover grants a bane to any observing character's observation checks made against a stealthy character's movements. Stealth checks to mover through or stop in open areas (areas without cover and areas that are not difficult terrain) are Hard skill checks for the character attempting to maintain stealth. Moving less than half your normal distance lowers this by one difficulty to a normal skill check (or an easy skill check if moving across or ending on difficult terrain or behind partial cover).

=== Stealth and Attacking ===
A character who manages to reach a suitable position may attack another character from stealth. If the attack is a melee attack, they lose stealth by doing so. If the attack is a ranged attack, and the weapon does not have the '''beam''' property, the attacking character can make an appropriate stealth-related skill opposed by the observation checks of all nearby enemy characters, and if fully successful on all of them, may retain stealth after having done so.

Attacks made from stealth are Sneak Attacks. By default, Sneak Attacks cannot be dodged and can only be reacted against using the other attack response options. Some defending characters may have traits that make them immune to *this property* of sneak attacks by explicitly stating they may dodge them. Some attacking characters or weapon types may have special traits that grant bonus damage when an attack is a Sneak Attack. Even if characters are entitled to dodge a sneak attack, the attacking character executing a sneak attack gains one boon to their attack roll.

Losing stealth as a result of an attack is resolved after resolving the outcome of an attack; that is, an attack initiated from the state of having stealth is *always* a sneak attack, even if the character loses the status of stealth as a result of having attacked. For this reason, it's important to resolve the maneuvering portion of stealth first if necessary.

=== Fog of War and Situational Awareness ===
<blockquote>Facilitator note: It is very difficult to resolve fog of war on a physical tabletop without the full participation of all players.</blockquote>

The Tactical Combat ruleset pays homage to Fog of War. Facilitators running the game through a digital tabletop solution are encouraged to use that solution's actual fog of war features to fully obscure unobserved non-player characters from view. However, since some groups might conceivably play in person, there are also "conditions" of Fog of War which tie into situational awareness, whether or not a token can be seen on the map.

==== Unawares ====
A character is said to be "unaware" of another character if:
* The observing character fails their skill check to expose a character who has stealth.
* The observing character's line of sight toward an observed character passes through total cover.

Characters who are not aware of a character should behave as if that character is not there. An attacking character not being aware of a defending character does not grant any benefit to the defending character if they are in the range of an Area of Effect attack.

==== Flat-Footed ====
A character who has entered combat is considered flat-footed if:
- Their turn in the initiative order has not arisen yet, and;
- There was no surprise phase.

Characters attacked during a surprise phase are always flat-footed.

A flat-footed character may take no defensive action when attacked other than the '''Sponge''' response.

==== Forewarned ====
When a character observes a character, either with stealth or one who is obscured with fog of war, they are assumed to be able to warn their allies to their presence at their descretion. Characters so armed have automatic awareness of characters thus warned-of if the "observed" character does not have stealth. If a character did have stealth when their presence is forewarned of, the observing characters have a boon to attempt to spot them until the next time the stealthed character moves.

Variant: Tactical Combat

2023-10-19T20:04:58Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Work In Progress}} The '''Tactical Combat''' Variant Ruleset upgrades the combat system from being largely narrative-driven to using a visual map-and-tokens system to represent player characters and other entities in the space of the world. This allows for a more granular and complex style of combat, which is highly desirable in games where combat is a primary focus. Tactical combat uses the same action rules as regular combat, as well as familiar concept..."

Combat

2023-07-27T13:31:21Z

Zadammac: /* Actions */

{{Work In Progress}}

'''Combat''' is a core mechanic in many roleplaying games. Depending on your [[setting]] and the sort of gameplay your group prefers, you may wind up in combat during the run of a Tarnished Tale adventure, as well.

Like much the rest of the rule set, Combat is modular and subject to modification. You are encouraged to discuss which rules for combat you will use (and possibly, if using multiple styles, when you will use them) with your play group, bearing in mind the importance of [[Rule Zero]]. While many TTRPG players will be more familiar with systems that use a Tactical Grid for combat in a manner similar to strategy RPGs like Front Mission or Tactics Ogre, this is actually the variant combat rule in Tarnished Tale. The default method of combat is focused more on '''Narrative-Driven Combat'''. This is to facilitate the financial and temporal [[accessibility]] of play, by avoiding the requirement for just-starting-out hobbyists to provide tactical grids and miniatures or tokens in order to adjudicate combat.

== Before Combat: Surprise and Maneuvers ==
As the veteran TTRPG player knows, there is a bit of a grey area between the parts of the game that can be said to be in and out of combat, and this problem only gets worse when considering a narrative-driven combat mechanic. There is doubtless a period in any combat where one party to the encounter means harm to the other party, but the other party isn't aware of it yet - either because the aggressor is hiding their motives or because the aggressor is physically hidden from their intended victim. During this twilight phase of combat, there are two important considerations: Surprise and Maneuver. A combat which is fully begun (i.e., past the surprise and maneuver phase) is said to be "joined".

'''Surprise''' in the context of combat is a kind of special initiative, or half-round of combat. As long as the targeted party is unable to observe the movements of the aggressor or fails an observation-related skill [[check]] as determined by the [[facilitator]] (for example, a skill intended to read the motives of the other party), the aggressor can be said to possess surprise. When combat begins, any characters who have surprise may participate in a special '''round''' of combat prior to setting initiative (if there are characters with surprise on both sides of a conflict, use the initiative rules to determine turn order). During this special surprise round, each character may take one or fewer actions. After the conclusion of a surprise round, if there are still surviving characters on ''both'' sides of the combat, combat is unambiguously joined.

'''Maneuver''' in the context of "unjoined" combat is a formal recognition of the combat phase having begun, but only *sort of*. A meanuevers round begins when the entirety of one party (the targeted party) is unaware of the presence of the entirety of the other party (the aggressor party), but the aggressor party is aware of the presence of at least one member of the targeted party. So long as they aggressor party remains entirely hidden from all members of the targeted party and no combat actions have been taken, the aggressor party can be said to be ''maneuvering''. Initiative is taken and actions are resolved in turn order across both parties without combat actually having been joined. This allows the aggressor party to set up an especially effective surprise round or to initiate the retreat rules (see below) before actually firing a shot, so to speak. If combat becomes joined - through executing a surprise round or because the targeted party becomes aware of the aggressor party - reroll initiative and resolve combat as normal.

The surprise and maneuver phases both exist in the context of both 'vanilla' combat and the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] combat rule variant, but might not exist in all combat types. They also might not always occur, at facilitator fiat. For example, if a combat was obvious before all parties to the combat arrived, there may be neither a surprise nor maneuver round. Reinforcements arriving part way through a combat may not always get surprise either, and instead the full initiative table should be recalculated. Finally, both player characters and non-player characters are capable of executing on surprise or maneuver as the situation warrants.

== Entering Combat: Initiative ==
Once combat is called, the [[Facilitator]] should call for initiative. During the process of initiative, all characters are effectively competing to create a laddered ranking of who is the most ready for fighting. However, executing contested [[skill checks]] in every combination of characters present for a combat with a larger party on either side is prohibitively time consuming. Initiative therefore works in the following way under the vanilla combat system:

# '''All characters roll [[Skill: Initiative | Initiative]] checks.
#* Characters who succeed on this check get their full Intuition score as their Initiative Score for this combat.
#* Characters who fail on this check get one-half their Intuition score (rounded down) as their Initiative Score for this combat.
# The facilitator ranks all characters from highest to lowest initiative score.
#* In case of a tie, the characters who tied roll a [[skill contest]] for Initiative, with the winner ranking higher than the loser.

This final ranking is taken as the "turn order" for the combat. This turn order is static for the remainder of combat unless a significant factor causes it to change. Changes to the initiative order may be forced by:
* The sudden arrival of additional forces on either side of a conflict, or even the arrival of a 'third' faction;
* A major narrative event that causes combat to briefly stop, such as a distant explosion that catches the attention of all sides.

These are naturally just examples that arrived from play-testing and your group may find other reasons to reroll the initiative order.

== Resolving Combat ==
Once initiative is settled, combat follows a linear flow, with turns taken so that players are never said to have been disadvantaged in terms of "screen time". A full narrative beginning at the first character in initiative order through to the final action taken by the last character in initiative order is said to be a round. All of the actions taken by a player during their place in the initiative order is said to be that player's turn. Every player can perform up to two ''actions'' in such a turn by default.

=== Rounds ===
A round begins with the first action of the first character in the initiative order, and ends with the final action of the last character in the initiative order. For narrative purposes, a full round takes roughly 12 seconds to complete, meaning there are five rounds in a minute of combat under the narrative rules. Of course, as this is narrative combat, there is fuzziness in the length of a round, and the [[Facilitator]] may fudge the amount of time that has passed during a combat as suits the overall narrative.

=== Turns ===
A character's turn is said to begin when they are asked what they wish to do (or, for NPCs, at the end of the previous player character or NPCs turn) and is said to end when the effects of their final action are resolved. A turn is effectively the same length as a round, despite initiative order. Initiative order places priority on '''whose turn it is to speak''' as well as whose actions are resolved in what order, but characters are not standing around simply waiting for their turn. For example, an attacking werewolf who is shot down prior to his turn may still have been charging for their attack as part of that turn, but was simply killed before they could execute on their desired actions.

A common effect shorthand is "until their next turn". This means the spell is in effect until the next time the character begins a turn, even if that means the effect is activated and then immediately deactivated. Characters should therefore think accordingly when choosing targets.

=== Actions ===
A character has two actions available to them during any one turn of combat, which they can use in a variety of ways:
* [[Movement (Vanilla Combat Rules) | Movement]] to obtain an advantageous position, which includes interacting with world objects.
* [[Attacking (Vanilla Combat Rules) | Attacking]] using a combat skill in hopes of reducing another character's [[Hit Points]].
* Certain Ability [[Traits]] may consume one or more actions to execute.

A character may also ''reserve action''. When doing so, they keep over one or more of their actions until a certain precondition is meant. "I reserve an action to shoot the monster when it enters my line of sight", for example, or "I reserve an action to cut the bridge if the enemy attempts to cross it". If the precondition is not met before their next turn, it is lost. Sometimes the price of vigilance is inaction.

== Ending Combat: Incapacity, Death, and Retreat ==
Combat continues indefinitely until any of the following conditions are met:
* All of the engaged members on one side or the other are incapacitated or killed. This usually happens when they are reduced to zero hit points, otherwise killed, or in rare cases when circumstances are contrived such that they cannot physically engage in combat any longer.
* An attempt is made to surrender, at which point combat is halted until a surrender is settled, or.
* A party attempts a retreat.

Under a retreat, use the [[Modular Rules: Chases | Chase Mechanics]] to determine if one party can escape the other and give them the slip, unless some circumstance of the combat allows an immediate retreat, at [[Facilitator]] fiat. For example, the Big Bad Evil Guy may have had a secret, self-sealing escape hatch that they dive down with an action and seal with the other, preventing the party from following them. Alternatively, perhaps the party executed an instant retreat by demolishing the tunnel the scarab-people were using to attack their camp, preventing the enemy party from reaching them.

== Variant Combat Rules ==
* [[Variant: Tactical Combat]]
* [[Variant: Duel System]]

Accessibility

2023-07-27T13:17:19Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} '''Accessibility''' is an important concept in the design of Tarnished Tale as an RPG engine. This goes beyond the usual understanding of accessibility as being "features which make something useable by persons with disabilities", and into the deeper core of making the game as broadly playable as possible. In general we have the following principles as a result: * No gameplay rule should require a player to have a specific physical or mental ability. Care shou..."

{{Stub}}

'''Accessibility''' is an important concept in the design of Tarnished Tale as an RPG engine. This goes beyond the usual understanding of accessibility as being "features which make something useable by persons with disabilities", and into the deeper core of making the game as broadly playable as possible.

In general we have the following principles as a result:
* No gameplay rule should require a player to have a specific physical or mental ability. Care should be paid when designing rules to make them as accessible as possible. Nobody should have to physically lift a large mass or pick a lock to resolve checks directly related to those, if they do not want to or are not physically able to do so.
* Rules should be as straightforward and consistent as possible.
* Players should be understanding and accommodating toward the various skillsets and comfort levels of other players as is humanly possible. This is partly expressed as an extension of [[Rule Zero]].
** For example, Facilitators should make the effort to make themselves aware of specific no-go subjects from other players and avoid their use in scenario design.
** Players should also be accommodating of new players. Berating each other for "not knowing the rules" or other supposed infractions is expressly forbidden. The rules lawyer has a place at the Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder table, but not at the Tarnished Tale table.
** Players at tables who are recording and broadcasting their games are encouraged to make those broadcasts as accessible as possible. Closed captioning and descriptive audio in particular are strongly encouraged for use.
* No gameplay mechanic should be prohibitively expensive. While profiting from Tarnished Tale is not strictly forbidden, nobody should create a rule (except possibly as a variant rule) that expects players to have access to expensive equipment. There is no need to specify a radiological hardware random number generator to resolve a contest when dice work just as well.

Howl Basin

2023-07-27T13:08:49Z

Zadammac: Created page with "#REDIRECT [https://howl-basin.zadammac.ca]"

#REDIRECT [https://howl-basin.zadammac.ca]

Combat

2023-07-27T13:05:06Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Work In Progress}} '''Combat''' is a core mechanic in many roleplaying games. Depending on your setting and the sort of gameplay your group prefers, you may wind up in combat during the run of a Tarnished Tale adventure, as well. Like much the rest of the rule set, Combat is modular and subject to modification. You are encouraged to discuss which rules for combat you will use (and possibly, if using multiple styles, when you will use them) with your play group, b..."

{{Work In Progress}}

'''Combat''' is a core mechanic in many roleplaying games. Depending on your [[setting]] and the sort of gameplay your group prefers, you may wind up in combat during the run of a Tarnished Tale adventure, as well.

Like much the rest of the rule set, Combat is modular and subject to modification. You are encouraged to discuss which rules for combat you will use (and possibly, if using multiple styles, when you will use them) with your play group, bearing in mind the importance of [[Rule Zero]]. While many TTRPG players will be more familiar with systems that use a Tactical Grid for combat in a manner similar to strategy RPGs like Front Mission or Tactics Ogre, this is actually the variant combat rule in Tarnished Tale. The default method of combat is focused more on '''Narrative-Driven Combat'''. This is to facilitate the financial and temporal [[accessibility]] of play, by avoiding the requirement for just-starting-out hobbyists to provide tactical grids and miniatures or tokens in order to adjudicate combat.

== Before Combat: Surprise and Maneuvers ==
As the veteran TTRPG player knows, there is a bit of a grey area between the parts of the game that can be said to be in and out of combat, and this problem only gets worse when considering a narrative-driven combat mechanic. There is doubtless a period in any combat where one party to the encounter means harm to the other party, but the other party isn't aware of it yet - either because the aggressor is hiding their motives or because the aggressor is physically hidden from their intended victim. During this twilight phase of combat, there are two important considerations: Surprise and Maneuver. A combat which is fully begun (i.e., past the surprise and maneuver phase) is said to be "joined".

'''Surprise''' in the context of combat is a kind of special initiative, or half-round of combat. As long as the targeted party is unable to observe the movements of the aggressor or fails an observation-related skill [[check]] as determined by the [[facilitator]] (for example, a skill intended to read the motives of the other party), the aggressor can be said to possess surprise. When combat begins, any characters who have surprise may participate in a special '''round''' of combat prior to setting initiative (if there are characters with surprise on both sides of a conflict, use the initiative rules to determine turn order). During this special surprise round, each character may take one or fewer actions. After the conclusion of a surprise round, if there are still surviving characters on ''both'' sides of the combat, combat is unambiguously joined.

'''Maneuver''' in the context of "unjoined" combat is a formal recognition of the combat phase having begun, but only *sort of*. A meanuevers round begins when the entirety of one party (the targeted party) is unaware of the presence of the entirety of the other party (the aggressor party), but the aggressor party is aware of the presence of at least one member of the targeted party. So long as they aggressor party remains entirely hidden from all members of the targeted party and no combat actions have been taken, the aggressor party can be said to be ''maneuvering''. Initiative is taken and actions are resolved in turn order across both parties without combat actually having been joined. This allows the aggressor party to set up an especially effective surprise round or to initiate the retreat rules (see below) before actually firing a shot, so to speak. If combat becomes joined - through executing a surprise round or because the targeted party becomes aware of the aggressor party - reroll initiative and resolve combat as normal.

The surprise and maneuver phases both exist in the context of both 'vanilla' combat and the [[Variant: Tactical Combat]] combat rule variant, but might not exist in all combat types. They also might not always occur, at facilitator fiat. For example, if a combat was obvious before all parties to the combat arrived, there may be neither a surprise nor maneuver round. Reinforcements arriving part way through a combat may not always get surprise either, and instead the full initiative table should be recalculated. Finally, both player characters and non-player characters are capable of executing on surprise or maneuver as the situation warrants.

== Entering Combat: Initiative ==
Once combat is called, the [[Facilitator]] should call for initiative. During the process of initiative, all characters are effectively competing to create a laddered ranking of who is the most ready for fighting. However, executing contested [[skill checks]] in every combination of characters present for a combat with a larger party on either side is prohibitively time consuming. Initiative therefore works in the following way under the vanilla combat system:

# '''All characters roll [[Skill: Initiative | Initiative]] checks.
#* Characters who succeed on this check get their full Intuition score as their Initiative Score for this combat.
#* Characters who fail on this check get one-half their Intuition score (rounded down) as their Initiative Score for this combat.
# The facilitator ranks all characters from highest to lowest initiative score.
#* In case of a tie, the characters who tied roll a [[skill contest]] for Initiative, with the winner ranking higher than the loser.

This final ranking is taken as the "turn order" for the combat. This turn order is static for the remainder of combat unless a significant factor causes it to change. Changes to the initiative order may be forced by:
* The sudden arrival of additional forces on either side of a conflict, or even the arrival of a 'third' faction;
* A major narrative event that causes combat to briefly stop, such as a distant explosion that catches the attention of all sides.

These are naturally just examples that arrived from play-testing and your group may find other reasons to reroll the initiative order.

== Resolving Combat ==
Once initiative is settled, combat follows a linear flow, with turns taken so that players are never said to have been disadvantaged in terms of "screen time". A full narrative beginning at the first character in initiative order through to the final action taken by the last character in initiative order is said to be a round. All of the actions taken by a player during their place in the initiative order is said to be that player's turn. Every player can perform up to two ''actions'' in such a turn by default.

=== Rounds ===
A round begins with the first action of the first character in the initiative order, and ends with the final action of the last character in the initiative order. For narrative purposes, a full round takes roughly 12 seconds to complete, meaning there are five rounds in a minute of combat under the narrative rules. Of course, as this is narrative combat, there is fuzziness in the length of a round, and the [[Facilitator]] may fudge the amount of time that has passed during a combat as suits the overall narrative.

=== Turns ===
A character's turn is said to begin when they are asked what they wish to do (or, for NPCs, at the end of the previous player character or NPCs turn) and is said to end when the effects of their final action are resolved. A turn is effectively the same length as a round, despite initiative order. Initiative order places priority on '''whose turn it is to speak''' as well as whose actions are resolved in what order, but characters are not standing around simply waiting for their turn. For example, an attacking werewolf who is shot down prior to his turn may still have been charging for their attack as part of that turn, but was simply killed before they could execute on their desired actions.

A common effect shorthand is "until their next turn". This means the spell is in effect until the next time the character begins a turn, even if that means the effect is activated and then immediately deactivated. Characters should therefore think accordingly when choosing targets.

=== Actions ===
A character has two actions available to them during any one turn of combat, which they can use in a variety of ways:
* [[Movement (Vanilla Combat Rules)]] | Movement]] to obtain an advantageous position, which includes interacting with world objects.
* [[Attacking (Vanilla Combat Rules)) | Attacking]] using a combat skill in hopes of reducing another character's [[Hit Points]].
* Certain Ability [[Traits]] may consume one or more actions to execute.

A character may also ''reserve action''. When doing so, they keep over one or more of their actions until a certain precondition is meant. "I reserve an action to shoot the monster when it enters my line of sight", for example, or "I reserve an action to cut the bridge if the enemy attempts to cross it". If the precondition is not met before their next turn, it is lost. Sometimes the price of vigilance is inaction.

== Ending Combat: Incapacity, Death, and Retreat ==
Combat continues indefinitely until any of the following conditions are met:
* All of the engaged members on one side or the other are incapacitated or killed. This usually happens when they are reduced to zero hit points, otherwise killed, or in rare cases when circumstances are contrived such that they cannot physically engage in combat any longer.
* An attempt is made to surrender, at which point combat is halted until a surrender is settled, or.
* A party attempts a retreat.

Under a retreat, use the [[Modular Rules: Chases | Chase Mechanics]] to determine if one party can escape the other and give them the slip, unless some circumstance of the combat allows an immediate retreat, at [[Facilitator]] fiat. For example, the Big Bad Evil Guy may have had a secret, self-sealing escape hatch that they dive down with an action and seal with the other, preventing the party from following them. Alternatively, perhaps the party executed an instant retreat by demolishing the tunnel the scarab-people were using to attack their camp, preventing the enemy party from reaching them.

== Variant Combat Rules ==
* [[Variant: Tactical Combat]]
* [[Variant: Duel System]]

Settings

2023-07-27T12:10:14Z

Zadammac: Created page with "Category: Glossary A '''setting''' is the full worldbuilding treatment used by a group that is playing Tarnished Tale. Settings may be obtained from public or commercial sources, or even designed from whole cloth by the play group, and can be modified as suits the needs of the group in accordance with Rule Zero. The primary setting designed around Tarnished Tale and used as its play-testing testbed is the Furry Alt-Western Setting called "Howl Basin". Work..."

[[Category: Glossary]]

A '''setting''' is the full worldbuilding treatment used by a group that is playing Tarnished Tale. Settings may be obtained from public or commercial sources, or even designed from whole cloth by the play group, and can be modified as suits the needs of the group in accordance with [[Rule Zero]].

The primary setting designed around Tarnished Tale and used as its play-testing testbed is the Furry Alt-Western Setting called "[[Howl Basin]]". Work is also being done for the more traditional High Fantasy setting [[Wisteria]] to make it more playable under the Tarnished Tale ruleset.

Settings include important lore and worldbuilding information as well as setting-specific rules modules, like their own lists of playable [[Heritages]] and [[Occupations]] for character creation, setting specific skills (Especially where magic is concerned), and so on. A player who focuses on the creation of settings is known as a [[Setting Developer]].

Aptitudes

2023-07-27T12:07:09Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''Aptitudes''' are a score all characters have in the Tarnished Tale system. They represent the realized potential a character had in seven areas of capability at the time of character creation. The Aptitudes a character possessed remain available as "brute skills" and inform various other properties the character has. The Seven Aptitudes are, briefly: * Strength, representing raw physical strength; * Agility, representing finesse and fine motor control; *..."

'''Aptitudes''' are a score all [[characters]] have in the Tarnished Tale system. They represent the realized potential a character had in seven areas of capability at the time of character creation. The Aptitudes a character possessed remain available as "brute skills" and inform various other properties the character has.

The Seven Aptitudes are, briefly:
* [[Strength]], representing raw physical strength;
* [[Agility]], representing finesse and fine motor control;
* [[Hardiness]], representing ''physical'' endurance and capacity;
* [[Analysis]], representing the mental capacity for study, inspection, inference, and the general application of "hard" logic;
* [[Presence]], representing the mental capacity for "taking up" social space;
* [[Intuition]], representing the mental capacity for leaps of logic, emotional intelligence, hunches, and the appearance of wisdom, and;
* [[Willpower]], representing the mental capacity for emotional stability, endurance, and tolerance.

Each aptitude has two values: its actual value (called the Aptitude Score), and that value multiplied by 5 (called the Aptitude Check). This is to facilitate the use of aptitudes in [[checks]].

[[Category: Gameplay Mechanics]] [[Category: Glossary]]

Rule Zero

2023-07-26T14:59:49Z

Zadammac: Created page with "The central point of the Tarnished Tale RPG system, or its "Rule Zero", can be stated as the following: <blockquote>The purpose of the game is for the players to work toogether to have the most fun possible, as they collectively define it.</blockquote> This is intended to emphasize a variety of salient and important parts about TTRPG play in general, namely that: * No one player (including the Facilitator, is "in charge" of a session, episode, chapter, or campaign;..."

The central point of the Tarnished Tale RPG system, or its "Rule Zero", can be stated as the following:

<blockquote>The purpose of the game is for the players to work toogether to have the most fun possible, as they collectively define it.</blockquote>

This is intended to emphasize a variety of salient and important parts about TTRPG play in general, namely that:
* No one player (including the [[Facilitator]], is "in charge" of a session, episode, chapter, or campaign;
* Wherever possible, effort should be maximized such that all players participating in the game feel included in it, and;
* In accordance with all other [[accessibility]] guidance, no players should ever feel excluded (unless they have been excluded from the game for safety reasons).

Skills

2023-03-07T14:12:15Z

Zadammac: /* Boon and Bane */

'''Skills''' are the primary mechanical representation of specific character capabilities. In a sense, almost every element of the game can be expressed either as a Skill-based operation or by way of analogy to such things. The most common of these mechanics are ''skill checks''.

A skill is essentially a score on your character sheet that expresses your degree of competency at a certain subset of knowledge or expertise; the higher the number, the better at that capability you are.

== Using Skills ==
A skill is chiefly used through the use of a '''skill check''', or sometimes a '''skill contest'''. These operations involve rolling d% dice to determine whether you have succeeded or failed at using a skill and also govern opportunities for advancing or improving your score in a skill.

These are not the only ways skills can be used. Your [[setting]] may have adopted extra [[modules]] of rules which define, essentially, special contests for handling specific situations. Also, Combat, while essentially a Skill Contest, has its own special rules.

=== Skill Checks ===
The process for making a skill check is simple on its surface. Simply roll '''d%''' and compare the result to your score. Counting double-0s as a score of '''100''', if the result of your roll is less than your score at the relevant skill, you may consider this a success.

The [[Facilitator]] and the player making the check should work together to determine which skill is relevant for a check in any situation where it seems unclear or arguable. For example, depending on the skills available in your setting, there may be more than one skill that touches on the same subject. Computer Use could potentially substitute for "Electrical Engineering" in a situation where the electronic being examined is itself a computer, for example. This allows some flexibility in situations where there may be close-equivalents between skills for a given scenario. The best rule here is to say that "'''when in doubt, go with what makes sense'''". Just because a scenario writer didn't predict the argument that mechanical engineering could be useful when attempting to do auto repair doesn't mean the two skills don't arguably overlap to some degree on the practical end.

==== Boon and Bane ====
Some traits, abilities, or situations will grant "boon" or "bane", sometimes as a quantity, to a skill check. In short, the quantity is a number of extra dice (if none stated, the quantity is 1) to roll during a skill check, representing the low (ones) digit of the resulting score. Boons and banes cancel out in the same way that adding positive and negative integers can cancel out.

Let's use the following rather complex example to handle that description:
<blockquote>Jane Whittaker is a Lagos outlaw in the [[Howl Basin]] setting. She's a Comer Lagos, meaning she has an automatic boon on a social skill. She's attempting to convince her husband, Jack, to take her side in a mining conflict. Since they have a very good relationship and Jack is used to taking his wife's advice, she has two additional boons on Diplomacy checks, according to the description for that skill as implemented in the Howl Basin setting. However, because the mining conflict is liable to become dangerous, and Jack values his skin, this also grants her a bane on the same check.</blockquote>

This can be expressed as "1 Boon (Comer Lagos) + 2 Boons (Excellent Relationship) + 1 Bane (Life-Threatening Request) = 2 Boons".

After rolling the resulting number of extra 10s dice in your skill check, apply the following rule:
* If the dice were boons, take the '''lowest result'''
* If the dice were banes, take the '''highest result'''

In this way, boons improve your odds of a lower result (making you more likely to succeed) and banes improve your odds of a higher result (making you more likely to fail).

==== Difficulty Modifiers ====
In addition to boons and banes, Facilitators, Setting Developers, and Adventure Developers have another tool in their toolbox for modifying the way that players interact with the world using their skills: Difficulty Modifier. In general, the difficulty modifier should be used when the target of the skill is an object or other inanimate difficulty, and boons/banes or skill contests should be used when the encounter is direct competition between two or more characters.

Difficulty modifiers act against the character's relevant skill score, raising or lowering it in a set manner for the purpose of that single check. Simply multiply their skill score by the factor listed below before making the roll.

{|
|+ Difficulty Modifiers
|-
!Modifier !! Factor !! Example
|-
|Extreme || 1/8 || Driving over the designed speed of a roadway in rainy weather at night near the maximum speed of the vehicle.
|-
|Very Hard || 1/4 || Branson put a quality lock on the door that Millie is attempting to break into instead of a bog-standard one.
|-
|Hard || 1/2 || Having almost, but not really exactly, the right tools to perform a crafting task.
|-
|Easy || 1.5 || Breaking the encryption of a coded message of which a large portion of the plaintext is already known.
|-
|Very Easy || 2 ||
|}

If something is so easy as to be considered trivial, don't require players to make a check to do it. Also avoid asking for skill checks when there are no stakes for failure. In a setting where driving is a relevant skill, running routine errands in your own personal automobile does not require a skill check. Avoiding a collision, on the other hand, very well should.

==== Criticality of Success and Failure ====
A result of 5 or fewer or 95 or greater implies what is known as '''critical threat''' on the skill check that results in it.

If the result is 5 or fewer (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a success regardless of other modifiers on the check. A second check is then made, and if successful, this is a '''critical success'''. Whether by luck or by great familiarity with the skill in question, the player has had remarkable success with their behaviour.

If the result is 95 or greater (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a failure result regardless of other modifiers on the check. After accounting for difficulty modifiers, '''if the character's score in the skill exceeds 70%'', they may roll again. If this second roll is also a failure, they have now failed critically. In spite of their prowess, their actions have made the issue in question effectively unredeemable.

During the confirmation check for a critical result, do not apply the under-5-over-95 rule.

Some scenarios, or skills, may call out specific consequences for critical success or critical failure. In cases where these don't fit or aren't present, the [[Facilitator]] should come up with an engaging consequence to apply. Perhaps a necessary tool breaks on a critical failure, or critical success on a noteworthy task leads to a bonus for the character from their employer.

=== Skill Contests ===
When not otherwise avoidable, a Skill Contest can be used to resolve a conflict between two characters. While conceptually similar, this is difficult from the somewhat more structured [[combat]] ruleset.

It is up to the characters involved (through the facilitator) to decide which skills are relevant to the contest. In many cases, both characters will likely use the same skill to settle a skill contest; for example, two people engaged in a battle of wits over a game of chess might both be making opposing Chess skill-checks against each other. In other cases, it may not be appropriate to handle this way. Say an investigator is attempting to interrogate a suspect. In this case, the investigator might want to use a social skill like psychology while the suspect would probably be better off using a social skill like Bluff. Either option is okay, as long as the parties involved in the contest understand the logic of the comparison. For an example, using an Appraise skill check to undermine the effectiveness of a hacker's Computer Use skill check probably doesn't make sense except under especially contrived circumstances. Note that this can also be used with aptitude. A person attempting to hold a door against another who is attempting to force it are probably in a contest of Strength.

A skill contest is '''best of three, sudden death'''. Both parties to the contest produce three skill checks at normal difficulty (applying any relevant boons or banes) and keep a total of the number of successes they get; the individual with the most successes winning the contest. In a contest, a critical result counts for 2. In the event of a tie, each character makes one skill check at a time until a hand arises in which one character has succeeded and another has failed. The winner is the one who achieves the final success.

=== Skill Advancement ===
By [[Facilitator]] fiat, a character can earn an "advancement tick" against a specific skill. This is usually granted under one of the following conditions:
* At a critical success
* At the success against a Hard, Very Hard, or Extreme difficulty challenge
* At winning a Skill Contest
* For achieving a noteworthy or memorable success at a pivotal moment in the scenario.

At [[intermissions]] or other downtime (again at Facilitator discretion), characters with advancement ticks may do Skill Advancement. To do skill advancement:
# Erase one advancement tick from the relevant skill
# Roll a skill check against that skill
# If failure, increase your score in the skill by 1d10 (if score was under 50%) or 1d6.
# If successful, increase your score in the skill by 1.
# Note the advancement tick as a tick under [[Landmark Advancement]].
# Continue until all ticks are "spent" in this way.

This process ensures that skills grow in a nuanced way based on their overall mastery.

Note that skills cannot raise to a score greater than 99 unless specifically called out in that skill's description.

== Understanding a Skill Description ==
For ease of transition from setting to setting, Setting Developers are encouraged to build their skill descriptions to include the following basic elements.

=== Trained vs Untrained Usage ===
A skill description should include clearly whether that skill can be used trained or untrained. This is a distinction between the character's ability to take a specific action and the applicability of the skill. A skill is trained when a character has invested at least one skill point (during [[character creation]] or [[landmark advancement]], or if otherwise awarded by the Facilitator) into that skill, or has caused that skill to grow above its base score through skill advancement.

If a skill can be used untrained, a character can always use that skill's base score in a situation when the check is called for that skill.

If a skill cannot be used untrained, a character must make an alternative check when attempting to do something that would require that check, usually by taking the aptitude check for the aptitude that forms the skill's base score, or by applying another skill that's relevant to the situation.

Successful use of an untrained skill or succeeding on an aptitude test in place of a trained skill is an automatic advancement tick for the relevant skill. This is to emulate the natural process of learning, which starts from relative ignorance and proceeds to mastery as far as a person is willing to chase it.

=== Skill Usages ===
Setting developers should include a list of example usages of the skill, above and beyond a dictionary definition of what the skill's name might mean. This is to help Players, Facilitators, and Scenario Writers determine the appropriate intended usages of a skill and to inspire players to make use of skills they themselves might otherwise not have much experience with in their day to day lives.

=== Base and Maximum Scores ===
All skills have a Base Score and some skills might have maximum scores.

A skill's '''Base Score''' is the starting score a character would have in that skill by some arbitrary point in their physiological and neurological development assuming they invested no effort in developing it. For most skills, this is usually expressed as a multiplier times an [[aptitude]] score. For example, the '''Library Use''' general-purpose skill might have a starting base value equal to 1.5 x [[Analysis]], representing the fact that even without specific knowledge of how libraries work and what research methods provide the best results, fundamentally your ability to find information hinges on your powers of deduction and analysis.

A skill might also have a maximum score, usually '''99'''. (This is because a roll of 100/double-zero is ALWAYS a failure). This is intended to represent that the basic aptitudes of a person have a limit no matter how hard you push them. It is generally assumed unless stated otherwise that 99 is the highest score possible in a skill unless otherwise stated (or it is explicitly stated that there is no limit).

Limitless skill growth should be restricted to skills where it is conceivable that you will never truly master them and that there is always meaningful improvement to be made. Chiefly, if used at all, it's recommended to only be used for magic or combat skills as a way to balance increasing scales of character power against one another.

Character generation

2023-03-06T20:01:58Z

Zadammac: /* Step Two: Apply Heritage Modifiers to Base Aptitudes, Create Aptitude Scores */

'''Character Creation''' is a Player's step-one for participating in Tarnished Tale, whether the group is doing a one-shot adventure or a longer series of scenarios strung together into a coherent campaign. This page describes the full character creation process, which is suitable for the creation of Player Characters and major NPCs. For minor NPCs, it is likely better to use an abbreviated creation process or work from existing characters as much as humanly possible.

[[Facilitators]] should work with their players through Character Creation to ensure players have all the tools and materials they need in order to get character creation done, including that they have access to any setting-related information that they require.

Throughout this guide, in order to help make the process clearer, we're including a worked example of character creation. In this example, we're going to make reference to [[Howl Basin]], which is developed explicitly to be a test setting for Tarnished Tale.

=== Step Zero: Character Concept and Research ===
Before you can create a character, you need to know who you're trying to create. This can be simple as a coarse idea relevant to your setting and scenario to something as involved as a recurring character you frequently use in a variety of settings that you now need to adapt.

At this time, you also need to review any [[heritages]], as well as the [[backgrounds]] and [[occupations]] available in your setting to get an idea for the direction you're going to want to take.

<blockquote>We're going to be creating Jack Whittacker, a fairly architypical gunslinger-type character from the Howl Basin test scenarios series. He's a Jack Lagos, so it's a good time to read up on the Lagos and the other heritages they most frequently interact with to get some inspiration.

Since we're making a gunslinger, it's also a good time to listen to some Colter Wall and binge a few classic Western movies.</blockquote>

=== Step One: Generate Base Aptitudes ===
[[Balancing base aptitudes]] is a matter of taste, and of all the character creation rules it is the area where we most expect to see house rules and variants become popular.

The '''standard rolls''' method of base aptitude generation is based on the knowledge that every point of an attribute score makes it 5% more likely that the character would succeed on a raw check bounded by that attribute. We also know that it's nice to bound these scores somewhere between, say, 8-14 for starting characters.

The standard rolls method is to do the following:
# Generate a score by rolling 3d6 and recording the result.
# Do this a total of seven times, so that you have 7 randomly-generated numbers.
# Assign each resulting score to the aptitude of your choice.

<blockquote>The facilitator in our game wants to use standard roll methodology, so Jack's player rolls for his scores and gets 14, 16, 10, 12, 11, 8, and 11. Because our player has a bit of experience in the Howl Basin setting and knows what skills they want, he assigns them in that same order to Willpower, Agility, Strength, Hardiness, Analysis, Presence, and Inuition.</blockquote>

=== Step Two: Apply Heritage Modifiers to Base Aptitudes, Create Aptitude Scores ===
If playing in a game that uses Heritage rules, and if using a heritage, apply those modifiers now.

<blockquote>Jack is a Lagos, and at the time of writing the Howl Basin setting gives Lagos +2 to intuition (to represent their heightened physical senses) and removes one point each from Strength and Hardiness (given that they are physically smaller and frailer than many other species in the Basin). Jack now records his aptitudes as well as the "aptitude check", which is simply 5 times the score.

'''Jack Whittacker, Lagosi Outlaw'''

St 9 (45) Ag 16 (80) Ha 9 (40) An 12 (60) Pr 8 (40) In 13 (65) Wi 14 (70)</blockquote>

=== Step Three: Select a Background ===
All characters have a [[Background]] which defines a few of their starting characteristics. They apply an adjustment to the wealth from the character's [[Occupation]] and help determine skill points.

Record the skill points gained from Background seperately as "Background Skill Points". This isn't a permanent feature of the character, so you can record it on scrap paper for now.

=== Step Four: Select an Occupation ===
All characters also have an [[occupation]] which defines more of their starting characteristics. Make a note of starting wealth and record it in consideration of the starting wealth modifier from Background. Also make note of which skills are occupation skills. Finally, compute your occupational skill pool based on the occupation description and record it alongside the background skill points.

=== Step Five: Spend on Skills ===
At this point, you now have two pools of skill points. One, your occupation skill points, is probably the largest, but you can only spend these points on skills marked as occupation skills. Your other pool, background skills, can be spent on anything. You can either use these to further raise the scores of your occupation skills or to fill out other skills you feel would be useful but aren't entitled to as part of your occupation. You must spend your full skill points pool.

A point from the skill pool can be spent to increase a skill's score by 1 above the base score. At this time, it'll also be helpful to record your score for any skills that have formulaic base scores but which can be used untrained.

=== Step Six: Recording Traits and Abilities ===
At this point, it's a good time to write down any traits you may have through your heritage. Additionally, you may select any one other trait available in your setting as long as you meet its prerequistes.

If you qualify for any abilities (which will be specific to your setting), record those now too. These qualifications are usually explicitly called out either in the ability description or, in some cases, in the explanation of the skill that governs your use of those abilities.

=== Step Seven: Compute Pools ===
If you have any pools, compute their base scores now. All characters have the mandatory [[hit points]] pool. Depending on your skills, abilities, traits, and setting, you may be entitled to additional pools that you should also now compute.

=== Step Eight: Purchase starting equipment ===
This process is highly specific to each individual setting because it depends so heavily on wealth. Your facilitator will work with you (possibly involving notes from the setting developer, if using a pre-created setting) to explain the wealth system in use in that setting and any ground rules for starting equipment beyond straight purchase.

Character generation

2023-03-06T19:54:11Z

Zadammac:

'''Character Creation''' is a Player's step-one for participating in Tarnished Tale, whether the group is doing a one-shot adventure or a longer series of scenarios strung together into a coherent campaign. This page describes the full character creation process, which is suitable for the creation of Player Characters and major NPCs. For minor NPCs, it is likely better to use an abbreviated creation process or work from existing characters as much as humanly possible.

[[Facilitators]] should work with their players through Character Creation to ensure players have all the tools and materials they need in order to get character creation done, including that they have access to any setting-related information that they require.

Throughout this guide, in order to help make the process clearer, we're including a worked example of character creation. In this example, we're going to make reference to [[Howl Basin]], which is developed explicitly to be a test setting for Tarnished Tale.

=== Step Zero: Character Concept and Research ===
Before you can create a character, you need to know who you're trying to create. This can be simple as a coarse idea relevant to your setting and scenario to something as involved as a recurring character you frequently use in a variety of settings that you now need to adapt.

At this time, you also need to review any [[heritages]], as well as the [[backgrounds]] and [[occupations]] available in your setting to get an idea for the direction you're going to want to take.

<blockquote>We're going to be creating Jack Whittacker, a fairly architypical gunslinger-type character from the Howl Basin test scenarios series. He's a Jack Lagos, so it's a good time to read up on the Lagos and the other heritages they most frequently interact with to get some inspiration.

Since we're making a gunslinger, it's also a good time to listen to some Colter Wall and binge a few classic Western movies.</blockquote>

=== Step One: Generate Base Aptitudes ===
[[Balancing base aptitudes]] is a matter of taste, and of all the character creation rules it is the area where we most expect to see house rules and variants become popular.

The '''standard rolls''' method of base aptitude generation is based on the knowledge that every point of an attribute score makes it 5% more likely that the character would succeed on a raw check bounded by that attribute. We also know that it's nice to bound these scores somewhere between, say, 8-14 for starting characters.

The standard rolls method is to do the following:
# Generate a score by rolling 3d6 and recording the result.
# Do this a total of seven times, so that you have 7 randomly-generated numbers.
# Assign each resulting score to the aptitude of your choice.

<blockquote>The facilitator in our game wants to use standard roll methodology, so Jack's player rolls for his scores and gets 14, 16, 10, 12, 11, 8, and 11. Because our player has a bit of experience in the Howl Basin setting and knows what skills they want, he assigns them in that same order to Willpower, Agility, Strength, Hardiness, Analysis, Presence, and Inuition.</blockquote>

=== Step Two: Apply Heritage Modifiers to Base Aptitudes, Create Aptitude Scores ===
If playing in a game that uses Heritage rules, and if using a heritage, apply those modifiers now.

<blockquote>Jack is a Lagos, and at the time of writing the Howl Basin setting gives Lagos +2 to intuition (to represent their heightened physical senses) and removes one point each from Strength and Hardiness. Jack now records his aptitudes as well as the "aptitude check", which is simply 5 times the score.

'''Jack Whittacker, Lagosi Outlaw'''

St 9 (45) Ag 16 (80) Ha 9 (40) An 12 (60) Pr 8 (40) In 13 (65) Wi 14 (70)</blockquote>

=== Step Three: Select a Background ===
All characters have a [[Background]] which defines a few of their starting characteristics. They apply an adjustment to the wealth from the character's [[Occupation]] and help determine skill points.

Record the skill points gained from Background seperately as "Background Skill Points". This isn't a permanent feature of the character, so you can record it on scrap paper for now.

=== Step Four: Select an Occupation ===
All characters also have an [[occupation]] which defines more of their starting characteristics. Make a note of starting wealth and record it in consideration of the starting wealth modifier from Background. Also make note of which skills are occupation skills. Finally, compute your occupational skill pool based on the occupation description and record it alongside the background skill points.

=== Step Five: Spend on Skills ===
At this point, you now have two pools of skill points. One, your occupation skill points, is probably the largest, but you can only spend these points on skills marked as occupation skills. Your other pool, background skills, can be spent on anything. You can either use these to further raise the scores of your occupation skills or to fill out other skills you feel would be useful but aren't entitled to as part of your occupation. You must spend your full skill points pool.

A point from the skill pool can be spent to increase a skill's score by 1 above the base score. At this time, it'll also be helpful to record your score for any skills that have formulaic base scores but which can be used untrained.

=== Step Six: Recording Traits and Abilities ===
At this point, it's a good time to write down any traits you may have through your heritage. Additionally, you may select any one other trait available in your setting as long as you meet its prerequistes.

If you qualify for any abilities (which will be specific to your setting), record those now too. These qualifications are usually explicitly called out either in the ability description or, in some cases, in the explanation of the skill that governs your use of those abilities.

=== Step Seven: Compute Pools ===
If you have any pools, compute their base scores now. All characters have the mandatory [[hit points]] pool. Depending on your skills, abilities, traits, and setting, you may be entitled to additional pools that you should also now compute.

=== Step Eight: Purchase starting equipment ===
This process is highly specific to each individual setting because it depends so heavily on wealth. Your facilitator will work with you (possibly involving notes from the setting developer, if using a pre-created setting) to explain the wealth system in use in that setting and any ground rules for starting equipment beyond straight purchase.

Character generation

2023-03-06T19:52:44Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''Character Creation''' is a Player's step-one for participating in Tarnished Tale, whether the group is doing a one-shot adventure or a longer series of scenarios strung together into a coherent campaign. This page describes the full character creation process, which is suitable for the creation of Player Characters and major NPCs. For minor NPCs, it is likely better to use an abbreviated creation process or work from existing characters as much as humanly possible. [..."

'''Character Creation''' is a Player's step-one for participating in Tarnished Tale, whether the group is doing a one-shot adventure or a longer series of scenarios strung together into a coherent campaign. This page describes the full character creation process, which is suitable for the creation of Player Characters and major NPCs. For minor NPCs, it is likely better to use an abbreviated creation process or work from existing characters as much as humanly possible.

[[Facilitators]] should work with their players through Character Creation to ensure players have all the tools and materials they need in order to get character creation done, including that they have access to any setting-related information that they require.

Throughout this guide, in order to help make the process clearer, we're including a worked example of character creation. In this example, we're going to make reference to [[Howl Basin]], which is developed explicitly to be a test setting for Tarnished Tale.

=== Step Zero: Character Concept and Research ===
Before you can create a character, you need to know who you're trying to create. This can be simple as a coarse idea relevant to your setting and scenario to something as involved as a recurring character you frequently use in a variety of settings that you now need to adapt.

At this time, you also need to review any [[heritages]], as well as the [[backgrounds]] and [[occupations]] available in your setting to get an idea for the direction you're going to want to take.

<blockquote>We're going to be creating Jack Whittacker, a fairly architypical gunslinger-type character from the Howl Basin test scenarios series. He's a Jack Lagos, so it's a good time to read up on the Lagos and the other heritages they most frequently interact with to get some inspiration.

Since we're making a gunslinger, it's also a good time to listen to some Colter Wall and binge a few classic Western movies.</blockquote>

=== Step One: Generate Base Aptitudes ===
[[Balancing base aptitudes]] is a matter of taste, and of all the character creation rules it is the area where we most expect to see house rules and variants become popular.

The '''standard rolls''' method of base aptitude generation is based on the knowledge that every point of an attribute score makes it 5% more likely that the character would succeed on a raw check bounded by that attribute. We also know that it's nice to bound these scores somewhere between, say, 8-14 for starting characters.

The standard rolls method is to do the following:
# Generate a score by rolling 3d6 and recording the result.
# Do this a total of seven times, so that you have 7 randomly-generated numbers.
# Assign each resulting score to the aptitude of your choice.

<blockquote>The facilitator in our game wants to use standard roll methodology, so Jack's player rolls for his scores and gets 14, 16, 10, 12, 11, 8, and 11. Because our player has a bit of experience in the Howl Basin setting and knows what skills they want, he assigns them in that same order to Willpower, Agility, Strength, Hardiness, Analysis, Presence, and Inuition.</blockquote>

=== Step Two: Apply Heritage Modifiers to Base Aptitudes, Create Aptitude Scores ===
If playing in a game that uses Heritage rules, and if using a heritage, apply those modifiers now.

<blockquote>Jack is a Lagos, and at the time of writing the Howl Basin setting gives Lagos +2 to intuition (to represent their heightened physical senses) and removes one point each from Strength and Hardiness. Jack now records his aptitudes as well as the "aptitude check", which is simply 5 times the score.

'''Jack Whittacker, Lagosi Outlaw'''

St 9 (45) Ag 16 (80) Ha 9 (40) An 12 (60) Pr 8 (40) In 13 (65) Wi 14 (70)</blockquote>

=== Step Three: Select a Background ===
All characters have a [[Background]] which defines a few of their starting characteristics. They apply an adjustment to the wealth from the character's [[Occupation]] and help determine skill points.

Record the skill points gained from Background seperately as "Background Skill Points". This isn't a permanent feature of the character, so you can record it on scrap paper for now.

=== Step Four: Select an Occupation ===
All characters also have an [[occupation]] which defines more of their starting characteristics. Make a note of starting wealth and record it in consideration of the starting wealth modifier from Background. Also make note of which skills are occupation skills. Finally, compute your occupational skill pool based on the occupation description and record it alongside the background skill points.

=== Step Five: Spend on Skills ===
At this point, you now have two pools of skill points. One, your occupation skill points, is probably the largest, but you can only spend these points on skills marked as occupation skills. Your other pool, background skills, can be spent on anything. You can either use these to further raise the scores of your occupation skills or to fill out other skills you feel would be useful but aren't entitled to as part of your occupation. You must spend your full skill points pool.

A point from the skill pool can be spent to increase a skill's score by 1 above the base score. At this time, it'll also be helpful to record your score for any skills that have formulaic base scores but which can be used untrained.

=== Step Six: Recording Traits and Abilities ===
At this point, it's a good time to write down any traits you may have through your heritage. Additionally, you may select any one other trait available in your setting as long as you meet its prerequistes.

If you qualify for any abilities (which will be specific to your setting), record those now too. These qualifications are usually explicitly called out either in the ability description or, in some cases, in the explanation of the skill that governs your use of those abilities.

=== Step Seven: Compute Pools ===
If you have any pools, compute their base scores now. All characters have the mandatory [[hit points]] pool. Depending on your skills, abilities, traits, and setting, you may be entitled to additional pools that you should also now compute.

Character

2023-03-06T19:39:29Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Characters

#REDIRECT [[characters]]

Abilities

2023-03-06T18:23:09Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Glossary}} '''Abilities''' are effectively traits that grant players special actions. A perfect example of these are the spells obtained through Magic Skills. Unlike ordinary traits, Abilities are usually obtained through a special mechanic rather than simply being taken one at a time through landmark advancement. It's up to the setting developer to include a description of how to obtain the ability in the ability description."

{{Glossary}}

'''Abilities''' are effectively [[traits]] that grant players special actions. A perfect example of these are the spells obtained through [[Magic Skills]].

Unlike ordinary traits, Abilities are usually obtained through a special mechanic rather than simply being taken one at a time through landmark advancement. It's up to the setting developer to include a description of how to obtain the ability in the ability description.

Landmark advancement

2023-03-06T18:20:18Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''Landmark Advancement''' is the process by which a character advances in their capabilities through means other than simple growth of skills. This is largely reflected in the growth of other Pools such as Hit Points. == When to do Advancement == Landmark advancement is meant to take place during major intermissions in the narrative of an ongoing campaign. It's not appropriate for use in single-shot play session, but instead should be handled between scenar..."

'''Landmark Advancement''' is the process by which a character advances in their capabilities through means other than simple growth of [[skills]]. This is largely reflected in the growth of other [[Pools]] such as [[Hit Points]].

== When to do Advancement ==
Landmark advancement is meant to take place during major intermissions in the narrative of an ongoing campaign. It's not appropriate for use in single-shot play session, but instead should be handled between scenarios (or at least during key downtime interludes). A character becomes markedly more powerful during Landmark Advancement than they were prior to doing the advancement, so it is better to run this operation between scenarios rather than in the middle of one for gameplay balance reasons. It's also a major break in the narrative due to the required work.

Landmark Advancement thresholds are currently under development, but the general rule is that when a character reaches a given number of landmark advancement ticks they should do the landmark advancement operation at the next "good time". Alternative systems include ignoring landmark advancement ticks entirely and simply handing out landmark advancements at key breaks in the story, if that better suits the mood of the facilitator and players.

Because of the narrative pause rule, it's hypothetically possible (and especially possible for very new characters) to accumulate enough ticks to do landmark advancement more than once. When this happens, go through the full process in order each time. This is because each step ultimately impacts the step before it, which changes the way in which you qualify for particular things.

== How to Do Landmark Advancement ==
=== Update Hit Points ===
Every time you do landmark advancement, roll 1d8 and add the result to your Hit Points as the new base/maximum Hit Points score. Restore yourself to full hit points if your current hit point total is fewer than your base Hit Points cap.

=== Advance Other Pools ===
If your setting uses other pools and you are entitled to them through your existing traits, advance those pools as per their description.

=== Advance Aptitude ===
Select an aptitude. For that aptitude, make an aptitude check. If you fail the aptitude check, grow that aptitude by 1 point. You may attempt this only once per round of landmark advancement.

=== Gain Trait ===
Review the traits available in your setting. If you qualify for any, you make take one new trait each time you do landmark advancement.

Facilitators

2023-03-06T17:36:43Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Facilitator

#REDIRECT [[Facilitator]]

Skills

2023-03-06T17:35:04Z

Zadammac: /* Skill Advancement */

'''Skills''' are the primary mechanical representation of specific character capabilities. In a sense, almost every element of the game can be expressed either as a Skill-based operation or by way of analogy to such things. The most common of these mechanics are ''skill checks''.

A skill is essentially a score on your character sheet that expresses your degree of competency at a certain subset of knowledge or expertise; the higher the number, the better at that capability you are.

== Using Skills ==
A skill is chiefly used through the use of a '''skill check''', or sometimes a '''skill contest'''. These operations involve rolling d% dice to determine whether you have succeeded or failed at using a skill and also govern opportunities for advancing or improving your score in a skill.

These are not the only ways skills can be used. Your [[setting]] may have adopted extra [[modules]] of rules which define, essentially, special contests for handling specific situations. Also, Combat, while essentially a Skill Contest, has its own special rules.

=== Skill Checks ===
The process for making a skill check is simple on its surface. Simply roll '''d%''' and compare the result to your score. Counting double-0s as a score of '''100''', if the result of your roll is less than your score at the relevant skill, you may consider this a success.

The [[Facilitator]] and the player making the check should work together to determine which skill is relevant for a check in any situation where it seems unclear or arguable. For example, depending on the skills available in your setting, there may be more than one skill that touches on the same subject. Computer Use could potentially substitute for "Electrical Engineering" in a situation where the electronic being examined is itself a computer, for example. This allows some flexibility in situations where there may be close-equivalents between skills for a given scenario. The best rule here is to say that "'''when in doubt, go with what makes sense'''". Just because a scenario writer didn't predict the argument that mechanical engineering could be useful when attempting to do auto repair doesn't mean the two skills don't arguably overlap to some degree on the practical end.

==== Boon and Bane ====
Some traits, abilities, or situations will grant "boon" or "bane", sometimes as a quantity, to a skill check. In short, the quantity is a number of extra dice (if none stated, the quantity is 1) to roll during a skill check, representing the 10s digit of the resulting score. Boons and banes cancel out in the same way that adding positive and negative integers can cancel out.

Let's use the following rather complex example to handle that description:
<blockquote>Jane Whittaker is a Lagos outlaw in the [[Howl Basin]] setting. She's a Comer Lagos, meaning she has an automatic boon on a social skill. She's attempting to convince her husband, Jack, to take her side in a mining conflict. Since they have a very good relationship and Jack is used to taking his wife's advice, she has two additional boons on Diplomacy checks, according to the description for that skill as implemented in the Howl Basin setting. However, because the mining conflict is liable to become dangerous, and Jack values his skin, this also grants her a bane on the same check.</blockquote>

This can be expressed as "1 Boon (Comer Lagos) + 2 Boons (Excellent Relationship) + 1 Bane (Life-Threatening Request) = 2 Boons".

After rolling the resulting number of extra 10s dice in your skill check, apply the following rule:
* If the dice were boons, take the '''lowest result'''
* If the dice were banes, take the '''highest result'''

In this way, boons improve your odds of a lower result (making you more likely to succeed) and banes improve your odds of a higher result (making you more likely to fail).

==== Difficulty Modifiers ====
In addition to boons and banes, Facilitators, Setting Developers, and Adventure Developers have another tool in their toolbox for modifying the way that players interact with the world using their skills: Difficulty Modifier. In general, the difficulty modifier should be used when the target of the skill is an object or other inanimate difficulty, and boons/banes or skill contests should be used when the encounter is direct competition between two or more characters.

Difficulty modifiers act against the character's relevant skill score, raising or lowering it in a set manner for the purpose of that single check. Simply multiply their skill score by the factor listed below before making the roll.

{|
|+ Difficulty Modifiers
|-
!Modifier !! Factor !! Example
|-
|Extreme || 1/8 || Driving over the designed speed of a roadway in rainy weather at night near the maximum speed of the vehicle.
|-
|Very Hard || 1/4 || Branson put a quality lock on the door that Millie is attempting to break into instead of a bog-standard one.
|-
|Hard || 1/2 || Having almost, but not really exactly, the right tools to perform a crafting task.
|-
|Easy || 1.5 || Breaking the encryption of a coded message of which a large portion of the plaintext is already known.
|-
|Very Easy || 2 ||
|}

If something is so easy as to be considered trivial, don't require players to make a check to do it. Also avoid asking for skill checks when there are no stakes for failure. In a setting where driving is a relevant skill, running routine errands in your own personal automobile does not require a skill check. Avoiding a collision, on the other hand, very well should.

==== Criticality of Success and Failure ====
A result of 5 or fewer or 95 or greater implies what is known as '''critical threat''' on the skill check that results in it.

If the result is 5 or fewer (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a success regardless of other modifiers on the check. A second check is then made, and if successful, this is a '''critical success'''. Whether by luck or by great familiarity with the skill in question, the player has had remarkable success with their behaviour.

If the result is 95 or greater (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a failure result regardless of other modifiers on the check. After accounting for difficulty modifiers, '''if the character's score in the skill exceeds 70%'', they may roll again. If this second roll is also a failure, they have now failed critically. In spite of their prowess, their actions have made the issue in question effectively unredeemable.

During the confirmation check for a critical result, do not apply the under-5-over-95 rule.

Some scenarios, or skills, may call out specific consequences for critical success or critical failure. In cases where these don't fit or aren't present, the [[Facilitator]] should come up with an engaging consequence to apply. Perhaps a necessary tool breaks on a critical failure, or critical success on a noteworthy task leads to a bonus for the character from their employer.

=== Skill Contests ===
When not otherwise avoidable, a Skill Contest can be used to resolve a conflict between two characters. While conceptually similar, this is difficult from the somewhat more structured [[combat]] ruleset.

It is up to the characters involved (through the facilitator) to decide which skills are relevant to the contest. In many cases, both characters will likely use the same skill to settle a skill contest; for example, two people engaged in a battle of wits over a game of chess might both be making opposing Chess skill-checks against each other. In other cases, it may not be appropriate to handle this way. Say an investigator is attempting to interrogate a suspect. In this case, the investigator might want to use a social skill like psychology while the suspect would probably be better off using a social skill like Bluff. Either option is okay, as long as the parties involved in the contest understand the logic of the comparison. For an example, using an Appraise skill check to undermine the effectiveness of a hacker's Computer Use skill check probably doesn't make sense except under especially contrived circumstances. Note that this can also be used with aptitude. A person attempting to hold a door against another who is attempting to force it are probably in a contest of Strength.

A skill contest is '''best of three, sudden death'''. Both parties to the contest produce three skill checks at normal difficulty (applying any relevant boons or banes) and keep a total of the number of successes they get; the individual with the most successes winning the contest. In a contest, a critical result counts for 2. In the event of a tie, each character makes one skill check at a time until a hand arises in which one character has succeeded and another has failed. The winner is the one who achieves the final success.

=== Skill Advancement ===
By [[Facilitator]] fiat, a character can earn an "advancement tick" against a specific skill. This is usually granted under one of the following conditions:
* At a critical success
* At the success against a Hard, Very Hard, or Extreme difficulty challenge
* At winning a Skill Contest
* For achieving a noteworthy or memorable success at a pivotal moment in the scenario.

At [[intermissions]] or other downtime (again at Facilitator discretion), characters with advancement ticks may do Skill Advancement. To do skill advancement:
# Erase one advancement tick from the relevant skill
# Roll a skill check against that skill
# If failure, increase your score in the skill by 1d10 (if score was under 50%) or 1d6.
# If successful, increase your score in the skill by 1.
# Note the advancement tick as a tick under [[Landmark Advancement]].
# Continue until all ticks are "spent" in this way.

This process ensures that skills grow in a nuanced way based on their overall mastery.

Note that skills cannot raise to a score greater than 99 unless specifically called out in that skill's description.

== Understanding a Skill Description ==
For ease of transition from setting to setting, Setting Developers are encouraged to build their skill descriptions to include the following basic elements.

=== Trained vs Untrained Usage ===
A skill description should include clearly whether that skill can be used trained or untrained. This is a distinction between the character's ability to take a specific action and the applicability of the skill. A skill is trained when a character has invested at least one skill point (during [[character creation]] or [[landmark advancement]], or if otherwise awarded by the Facilitator) into that skill, or has caused that skill to grow above its base score through skill advancement.

If a skill can be used untrained, a character can always use that skill's base score in a situation when the check is called for that skill.

If a skill cannot be used untrained, a character must make an alternative check when attempting to do something that would require that check, usually by taking the aptitude check for the aptitude that forms the skill's base score, or by applying another skill that's relevant to the situation.

Successful use of an untrained skill or succeeding on an aptitude test in place of a trained skill is an automatic advancement tick for the relevant skill. This is to emulate the natural process of learning, which starts from relative ignorance and proceeds to mastery as far as a person is willing to chase it.

=== Skill Usages ===
Setting developers should include a list of example usages of the skill, above and beyond a dictionary definition of what the skill's name might mean. This is to help Players, Facilitators, and Scenario Writers determine the appropriate intended usages of a skill and to inspire players to make use of skills they themselves might otherwise not have much experience with in their day to day lives.

=== Base and Maximum Scores ===
All skills have a Base Score and some skills might have maximum scores.

A skill's '''Base Score''' is the starting score a character would have in that skill by some arbitrary point in their physiological and neurological development assuming they invested no effort in developing it. For most skills, this is usually expressed as a multiplier times an [[aptitude]] score. For example, the '''Library Use''' general-purpose skill might have a starting base value equal to 1.5 x [[Analysis]], representing the fact that even without specific knowledge of how libraries work and what research methods provide the best results, fundamentally your ability to find information hinges on your powers of deduction and analysis.

A skill might also have a maximum score, usually '''99'''. (This is because a roll of 100/double-zero is ALWAYS a failure). This is intended to represent that the basic aptitudes of a person have a limit no matter how hard you push them. It is generally assumed unless stated otherwise that 99 is the highest score possible in a skill unless otherwise stated (or it is explicitly stated that there is no limit).

Limitless skill growth should be restricted to skills where it is conceivable that you will never truly master them and that there is always meaningful improvement to be made. Chiefly, if used at all, it's recommended to only be used for magic or combat skills as a way to balance increasing scales of character power against one another.

Skill advancement

2023-03-06T17:34:11Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Skills#Skill Advancement

#REDIRECT [[Skills#Skill_Advancement]]

Skills

2023-03-06T17:27:35Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''Skills''' are the primary mechanical representation of specific character capabilities. In a sense, almost every element of the game can be expressed either as a Skill-based operation or by way of analogy to such things. The most common of these mechanics are ''skill checks''. A skill is essentially a score on your character sheet that expresses your degree of competency at a certain subset of knowledge or expertise; the higher the number, the better at that capabili..."

'''Skills''' are the primary mechanical representation of specific character capabilities. In a sense, almost every element of the game can be expressed either as a Skill-based operation or by way of analogy to such things. The most common of these mechanics are ''skill checks''.

A skill is essentially a score on your character sheet that expresses your degree of competency at a certain subset of knowledge or expertise; the higher the number, the better at that capability you are.

== Using Skills ==
A skill is chiefly used through the use of a '''skill check''', or sometimes a '''skill contest'''. These operations involve rolling d% dice to determine whether you have succeeded or failed at using a skill and also govern opportunities for advancing or improving your score in a skill.

These are not the only ways skills can be used. Your [[setting]] may have adopted extra [[modules]] of rules which define, essentially, special contests for handling specific situations. Also, Combat, while essentially a Skill Contest, has its own special rules.

=== Skill Checks ===
The process for making a skill check is simple on its surface. Simply roll '''d%''' and compare the result to your score. Counting double-0s as a score of '''100''', if the result of your roll is less than your score at the relevant skill, you may consider this a success.

The [[Facilitator]] and the player making the check should work together to determine which skill is relevant for a check in any situation where it seems unclear or arguable. For example, depending on the skills available in your setting, there may be more than one skill that touches on the same subject. Computer Use could potentially substitute for "Electrical Engineering" in a situation where the electronic being examined is itself a computer, for example. This allows some flexibility in situations where there may be close-equivalents between skills for a given scenario. The best rule here is to say that "'''when in doubt, go with what makes sense'''". Just because a scenario writer didn't predict the argument that mechanical engineering could be useful when attempting to do auto repair doesn't mean the two skills don't arguably overlap to some degree on the practical end.

==== Boon and Bane ====
Some traits, abilities, or situations will grant "boon" or "bane", sometimes as a quantity, to a skill check. In short, the quantity is a number of extra dice (if none stated, the quantity is 1) to roll during a skill check, representing the 10s digit of the resulting score. Boons and banes cancel out in the same way that adding positive and negative integers can cancel out.

Let's use the following rather complex example to handle that description:
<blockquote>Jane Whittaker is a Lagos outlaw in the [[Howl Basin]] setting. She's a Comer Lagos, meaning she has an automatic boon on a social skill. She's attempting to convince her husband, Jack, to take her side in a mining conflict. Since they have a very good relationship and Jack is used to taking his wife's advice, she has two additional boons on Diplomacy checks, according to the description for that skill as implemented in the Howl Basin setting. However, because the mining conflict is liable to become dangerous, and Jack values his skin, this also grants her a bane on the same check.</blockquote>

This can be expressed as "1 Boon (Comer Lagos) + 2 Boons (Excellent Relationship) + 1 Bane (Life-Threatening Request) = 2 Boons".

After rolling the resulting number of extra 10s dice in your skill check, apply the following rule:
* If the dice were boons, take the '''lowest result'''
* If the dice were banes, take the '''highest result'''

In this way, boons improve your odds of a lower result (making you more likely to succeed) and banes improve your odds of a higher result (making you more likely to fail).

==== Difficulty Modifiers ====
In addition to boons and banes, Facilitators, Setting Developers, and Adventure Developers have another tool in their toolbox for modifying the way that players interact with the world using their skills: Difficulty Modifier. In general, the difficulty modifier should be used when the target of the skill is an object or other inanimate difficulty, and boons/banes or skill contests should be used when the encounter is direct competition between two or more characters.

Difficulty modifiers act against the character's relevant skill score, raising or lowering it in a set manner for the purpose of that single check. Simply multiply their skill score by the factor listed below before making the roll.

{|
|+ Difficulty Modifiers
|-
!Modifier !! Factor !! Example
|-
|Extreme || 1/8 || Driving over the designed speed of a roadway in rainy weather at night near the maximum speed of the vehicle.
|-
|Very Hard || 1/4 || Branson put a quality lock on the door that Millie is attempting to break into instead of a bog-standard one.
|-
|Hard || 1/2 || Having almost, but not really exactly, the right tools to perform a crafting task.
|-
|Easy || 1.5 || Breaking the encryption of a coded message of which a large portion of the plaintext is already known.
|-
|Very Easy || 2 ||
|}

If something is so easy as to be considered trivial, don't require players to make a check to do it. Also avoid asking for skill checks when there are no stakes for failure. In a setting where driving is a relevant skill, running routine errands in your own personal automobile does not require a skill check. Avoiding a collision, on the other hand, very well should.

==== Criticality of Success and Failure ====
A result of 5 or fewer or 95 or greater implies what is known as '''critical threat''' on the skill check that results in it.

If the result is 5 or fewer (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a success regardless of other modifiers on the check. A second check is then made, and if successful, this is a '''critical success'''. Whether by luck or by great familiarity with the skill in question, the player has had remarkable success with their behaviour.

If the result is 95 or greater (after accounting for boons and banes), this is automatically a failure result regardless of other modifiers on the check. After accounting for difficulty modifiers, '''if the character's score in the skill exceeds 70%'', they may roll again. If this second roll is also a failure, they have now failed critically. In spite of their prowess, their actions have made the issue in question effectively unredeemable.

During the confirmation check for a critical result, do not apply the under-5-over-95 rule.

Some scenarios, or skills, may call out specific consequences for critical success or critical failure. In cases where these don't fit or aren't present, the [[Facilitator]] should come up with an engaging consequence to apply. Perhaps a necessary tool breaks on a critical failure, or critical success on a noteworthy task leads to a bonus for the character from their employer.

=== Skill Contests ===
When not otherwise avoidable, a Skill Contest can be used to resolve a conflict between two characters. While conceptually similar, this is difficult from the somewhat more structured [[combat]] ruleset.

It is up to the characters involved (through the facilitator) to decide which skills are relevant to the contest. In many cases, both characters will likely use the same skill to settle a skill contest; for example, two people engaged in a battle of wits over a game of chess might both be making opposing Chess skill-checks against each other. In other cases, it may not be appropriate to handle this way. Say an investigator is attempting to interrogate a suspect. In this case, the investigator might want to use a social skill like psychology while the suspect would probably be better off using a social skill like Bluff. Either option is okay, as long as the parties involved in the contest understand the logic of the comparison. For an example, using an Appraise skill check to undermine the effectiveness of a hacker's Computer Use skill check probably doesn't make sense except under especially contrived circumstances. Note that this can also be used with aptitude. A person attempting to hold a door against another who is attempting to force it are probably in a contest of Strength.

A skill contest is '''best of three, sudden death'''. Both parties to the contest produce three skill checks at normal difficulty (applying any relevant boons or banes) and keep a total of the number of successes they get; the individual with the most successes winning the contest. In a contest, a critical result counts for 2. In the event of a tie, each character makes one skill check at a time until a hand arises in which one character has succeeded and another has failed. The winner is the one who achieves the final success.

=== Skill Advancement ===
By [[Facilitator]] fiat, a character can earn an "advancement tick" against a specific skill. This is usually granted under one of the following conditions:
* At a critical success
* At the success against a Hard, Very Hard, or Extreme difficulty challenge
* At winning a Skill Contest
* For achieving a noteworthy or memorable success at a pivotal moment in the scenario.

At [[intermissions]] or other downtime (again at Facilitator discretion), characters with advancement ticks may do Skill Advancement. To do skill advancement:
# Erase one advancement tick from the relevant skill
# Roll a skill check against that skill
# If failure, increase your score in the skill by 1d10 (if score was under 50%) or 1d6.
# If successful, increase your score in the skill by 1.
# Note the advancement tick as a tick under [[Landmark Advancement]].

This process ensures that skills grow in a nuanced way based on their overall mastery.

Note that skills cannot raise to a score greater than 99 unless specifically called out in that skill's description.

== Understanding a Skill Description ==
For ease of transition from setting to setting, Setting Developers are encouraged to build their skill descriptions to include the following basic elements.

=== Trained vs Untrained Usage ===
A skill description should include clearly whether that skill can be used trained or untrained. This is a distinction between the character's ability to take a specific action and the applicability of the skill. A skill is trained when a character has invested at least one skill point (during [[character creation]] or [[landmark advancement]], or if otherwise awarded by the Facilitator) into that skill, or has caused that skill to grow above its base score through skill advancement.

If a skill can be used untrained, a character can always use that skill's base score in a situation when the check is called for that skill.

If a skill cannot be used untrained, a character must make an alternative check when attempting to do something that would require that check, usually by taking the aptitude check for the aptitude that forms the skill's base score, or by applying another skill that's relevant to the situation.

Successful use of an untrained skill or succeeding on an aptitude test in place of a trained skill is an automatic advancement tick for the relevant skill. This is to emulate the natural process of learning, which starts from relative ignorance and proceeds to mastery as far as a person is willing to chase it.

=== Skill Usages ===
Setting developers should include a list of example usages of the skill, above and beyond a dictionary definition of what the skill's name might mean. This is to help Players, Facilitators, and Scenario Writers determine the appropriate intended usages of a skill and to inspire players to make use of skills they themselves might otherwise not have much experience with in their day to day lives.

=== Base and Maximum Scores ===
All skills have a Base Score and some skills might have maximum scores.

A skill's '''Base Score''' is the starting score a character would have in that skill by some arbitrary point in their physiological and neurological development assuming they invested no effort in developing it. For most skills, this is usually expressed as a multiplier times an [[aptitude]] score. For example, the '''Library Use''' general-purpose skill might have a starting base value equal to 1.5 x [[Analysis]], representing the fact that even without specific knowledge of how libraries work and what research methods provide the best results, fundamentally your ability to find information hinges on your powers of deduction and analysis.

A skill might also have a maximum score, usually '''99'''. (This is because a roll of 100/double-zero is ALWAYS a failure). This is intended to represent that the basic aptitudes of a person have a limit no matter how hard you push them. It is generally assumed unless stated otherwise that 99 is the highest score possible in a skill unless otherwise stated (or it is explicitly stated that there is no limit).

Limitless skill growth should be restricted to skills where it is conceivable that you will never truly master them and that there is always meaningful improvement to be made. Chiefly, if used at all, it's recommended to only be used for magic or combat skills as a way to balance increasing scales of character power against one another.

Magic

2023-03-06T15:02:08Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Systems of Magic

#REDIRECT [[Systems of Magic]]

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:47:12Z

Zadammac:

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Hardiness]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Hardiness).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower. As a general rule, players do not "spend" HP, as much as certain effects (recovering HP and taking damage) will raise or lower the current HP total.

A note on the roleplaying implications of hit points: It should be up to the player unless the plot is being driven how badly injured their character is as long as they remain above 2 HP. That said, players are encouraged to play their characters as though they have been injured, commensurate with how proportionally low their HP is getting.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Hardiness [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your Hardiness for an Hardiness Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Some [[traits]] and other effects may "double" this recover, which is also referred to as "natural healing". In the case of the Hit Points pool, doubling the recovery means to add an extra die to each HP recovery roll (2d4, 2d6). Doubled recovery has no impact on Hard/Extreme/Critical recovery, which will always be no more than half of your maximum hitpoints. These doublings stack in the same way.

Imagine an example situation where the player has a heritage trait that doubles HP recovery. They are also experiencing High Quality Rest, which is doubling their recovery rate for all pools. Since they are doing a recovery that is doubled twice, then on the HP recovery rolls themselves they should use 3 of the relevant dice.

This doubling effect is *not* the same as having boon or bane on the Hardiness check or Current HP check that governs the healing process. Those checks still occur as normal unless an effect specifically calls it out.

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:22:57Z

Zadammac: /* Current HP */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Hardiness]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Hardiness).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower. As a general rule, players do not "spend" HP, as much as certain effects (recovering HP and taking damage) will raise or lower the current HP total.

A note on the roleplaying implications of hit points: It should be up to the player unless the plot is being driven how badly injured their character is as long as they remain above 2 HP. That said, players are encouraged to play their characters as though they have been injured, commensurate with how proportionally low their HP is getting.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Hardiness [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your Hardiness for an Hardiness Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Some [[traits]] and other effects may "double" this recover, which is also referred to as "natural healing". In the case of the Hit Points pool, doubling the recovery means to add an extra die to each HP recovery roll (2d4, 2d6). Doubled recovery has no impact on Hard/Extreme/Critical recovery, which will always be no more than half of your maximum hitpoints.

Pool

2023-02-28T20:21:46Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Pools

#REDIRECT [[Pools]]

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:21:29Z

Zadammac:

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Hardiness]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Hardiness).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower.

A note on the roleplaying implications of hit points: It should be up to the player unless the plot is being driven how badly injured their character is as long as they remain above 2 HP. That said, players are encouraged to play their characters as though they have been injured, commensurate with how proportionally low their HP is getting.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Hardiness [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your Hardiness for an Hardiness Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Some [[traits]] and other effects may "double" this recover, which is also referred to as "natural healing". In the case of the Hit Points pool, doubling the recovery means to add an extra die to each HP recovery roll (2d4, 2d6). Doubled recovery has no impact on Hard/Extreme/Critical recovery, which will always be no more than half of your maximum hitpoints.

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:20:37Z

Zadammac: /* Recovery */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Endurance]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Endurance).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower.

A note on the roleplaying implications of hit points: It should be up to the player unless the plot is being driven how badly injured their character is as long as they remain above 2 HP. That said, players are encouraged to play their characters as though they have been injured, commensurate with how proportionally low their HP is getting.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Endurance [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your endurance for an Endurance Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Some [[traits]] and other effects may "double" this recover, which is also referred to as "natural healing". In the case of the Hit Points pool, doubling the recovery means to add an extra die to each HP recovery roll (2d4, 2d6). Doubled recovery has no impact on Hard/Extreme/Critical recovery, which will always be no more than half of your maximum hitpoints.

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:10:14Z

Zadammac:

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:07:55Z

Zadammac: /* Recovery */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Endurance]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Endurance).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d4 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Endurance [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your endurance for an Endurance Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:06:25Z

Zadammac: /* Recovery */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Endurance]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Endurance).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:

0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d3 HP.

1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Endurance [[check]].

2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your endurance for an Endurance Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP

3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.

Hit Points

2023-02-28T20:06:09Z

Zadammac: /* Recovery */

[[category: glossary]]

'''Hit Points''' (variant: hitpoints, HP) are a [[Pool]] derived from [[Endurance]] which are essential to [[characters]] in Tarnished Tale. Your pool of hitpoints, specifically the relation between your '''Current HP''' and your '''Max HP''', is the gameplay-mechanical representation of your current liveliness and available capacity to take additional physical punishment (thus HP's basis in Endurance).

The rules below describe '''Standard Hit Points'''. Your setting developer or [[facilitator]] may have implemented a variant hitpoint rule to change them.

{{Moving_Target}}

=== Maximum HP ===
Maximum HP is the ''Base Value'' of the Hit Points pool. On character creation, unless otherwise modified through [[traits]], it is equal to your Endurance score (not the Endurance Check).

Maximum HP is static and does not change except through [[magic]] effects acting on the character or through [[Landmark Advancement]].

=== Current HP ===
Current HP is simply the running total of a player's hit points pool. As a general rule, it never exceeds the maximum HP (but see the note below). In general, the exact value of current HP is unimportant, until it reaches 2 or lower.

==== Effects of Low HP ====
Between 2 and 0 hitpoints, a character has become [[Unconscious]]. They will remain in that state according to the rules for Unconsciousness, or until they have recovered HP to a score of 3 or higher.

At 0 hit points (or below), a character is [[Dying]]. Their HP score immediately rises to 0 (if it was negative) and stays at that state according the rules for Dying until they have either died or been stabilized.

==== Exceeding Maximum HP ====
It is not normally possible for your HP to exceed the Maximum HP value. However, some settings which implement [[magic]] may create effects that temporarily raise your current HP above the maximum value. When this happens, the extra points above your maximum HP can be considered "temporary hit points". When [[resting]] for the day, you will lose these temporary hitpoints, unless otherwise stated in the necessary magical effect.

=== Recovery ===
The Hit Points [[Pool]] recovers once per day while [[resting]], necessarily when resting for the day. This works in the following way:
0. If resting for a full week, make no checks; immediately restore 1d3 HP.
1. If resting for the day, restore 1 HP if you can succeed on an Endurance [[check]].
2. In either case, after applying step 0 and step 1 (whichever applies), treat your Current HP as your endurance for an Endurance Check (that is, multiply your current HP by 5 and check against it). If you succeed, immediately restore 1d6 HP
3. If (2) is a Hard or Extreme success or you rolled 01, immediately recover as many as half your maximum hitpoints, rounded down. A combination of luck and tenacity has allowed you to make a superhuman recovery.

Some skills and magic may also increase your current HP, such as [[First Aid]], [[Medicine]], or various healing magic.