See Also: Initiative, Round, Critical Hits, Critical Blunders, Damage, Encumbrance, Free Attack
Melee is combat, close in with weapons or without. Standing toe to toe to with your enemy and settling it. It involves Martial Skills (See Skills Martial). The more skill levels you have, the more likely you are to succeed in melee, and the more often you can attack/defend per round.
Each skill is based on an Attribute. This attribute is the basis for the skill check. Most are based on Dexterity, Reflex or Strength.
The skill level in each weapon equals the number of actions for that weapon in a round. However the maximum number of actions is the character's skill level in Basic Melee (Skills Martial). If the character's skill level is higher then the basic level, they still get the bonus for success, but not the additional actions.
Unless stated otherwise in the skills description, the check is determined by the base attribute value, plus 5 points for each skill level. For example, if you had an Dexterity of 50, Blades Level 3. The character would have to roll below (50+3*5)=65 for the attack/defend to succeed.
The number of actions a character can make is determined by first the skill level in the weapon being used and second the skill level in Basic Melee. The skill level in Basic Melee determines the number of melee actions the character can make per round. The skill level in a particular weapon, determines how many melee actions the character can make with that weapon. The maximum number of melee actions is the skill level in Basic Melee no matter the skill level in the weapon. The character can not take more melee actions with a weapon then they have skill level in that weapon.
For example: A character has Basic Melee Level 4 and Blades level 2. While the character can make up to 4 Melee actions, they can only make 2 actions with the blade.
Skill level 1 has one action. Skill level 2 has two actions and so on. There is a maximum of 10 actions. Skill levels beyond 10 only improve the chance to hit or defend, you can NOT have more then 10 actions in a round. See Round for how actions' are used in the round.
If the character has no melee skill(s) they still have 1 melee action.
Your chance to hit is based on your skill level in the weapon, and the attribute that weapon is based on. Your base chance to hit is the skill value. You get a bonus of 5 per skill level.
For example if a player has:
The blow could land in any one of the 10 zones Character Attributes. The attacker roles 2d10 Misc to determine a hit. If the value of the role is less then the chance to hit, the player hits. Where that hit occurs is determined by the second digit in the role. So if the attack role was 25 and a hit. The hit would land on zone 5.
For example:
You can make as many attacks per round as you have skill levels. The number of attacks is subject to the restrictions described in actions above. The attacks can be made at any time during the round and different types of actions can be conducted in different seconds without penalty.
For example a character has:
You can bump a hit to another zone on the defender. The shift of the bump is determined by the skill level in that weapon by the attacker. The attacker can shift the zone 1 place per every level of skill. In other words skill level 1 can bump 1 place, skill level 2 can bump 2 places and so on.For example a character has:
In combat using a hand held weapon each character gets a damage bonus from Strength. This bonus is based on 10% of the Strength Attribute. The 10% represents the maximum bonus. The effect of the bonus is determined by rolling 1d10. If that roll is equal to or below 10% of the Strength attribute then that roll is added to the weapon's damage roll. To determine the total damage of a hit you roll two times, first for the weapon, second for the strength bonus.
For example a character has:
When the Strength bonus is greater then 10 points, roll 1d10 for each 10 points of Damage Bonus from Strength. For example, Strength 150, Damage Bonus 15, roll 1d10 for the first 10 points and 1d10 for the next 5 points.
When using a melee weapon you can defend yourself by attempting to parry a successful attack. Each attempt to parry an attack is an action and reduces the number of actions that a character may make with that weapon by 1. If the defender has already used all their actions with that weapon he can NOT attempt to parry. Your chance to parry is the same as your chance to hit. A parry is successful if the skill check is below the character's skill value. A parried attack does no damage.
For example a character has:
You may make as many attempts to parry as you have actions remaining with your current melee weapon. You may only make one parry attempt per second.
In the same way an attacker can bump where a blow lands. Similarly the defender can do the same. No actions are required for the defender to bump a successful attack. No skill check is required to perform the bump. The defender can shift the blow 1 zone for every skill level in the weapon they are using. Skill level 1 can bump 1 place, skill level 2 can bump 2 places and so on.
For example a player has:
Bumping is a useful defense especially if the character has a shield. Often the blow can be shifted to the shield hand and use the shield's DR, in addition to armor's DR. The most important aspect of bumping is the sequence: first the attacker bumps, second the defender bumps the blow. This gives the defender a significant advantage even if they are out of attacks. The defender can bump, multiple attacks in the same second. The defender can not bump when surprised or when subject to a Free Attack.
Any character gains a Free Attack if a foe moves into a threatened area or through a threatened area in combat. See Free Attack. The character making use of the Free Attack uses an action. If the character has no actions remaining, they can not make a free attack. If the character has already acted in the second where the free attack occurs, they can not make the free attack.
A character who performs a combined action costs one melee action with the weapon used. The character can move 5% of their movement and perform an attack/defend action. The Attack/Defend action is performed at 1/2 skill value with no bump.
A character who draws a weapon in combat costs 1 action for that weapon and the character can't perform any other action that second.
A character who drops a weapon in combat, can also perform another action in the same second, draw weapon, movement etc.
A character can pick up a discarded or dropped weapon in combat. It costs 1 action with that weapon and character must make a skill check to perform the action efficiently. If the skill check fails, the character retrieves the weapon but their initiative is reset to act last in the round.
A character can decide to stow, or sheathe a weapon while in combat. It costs 1 action with in the weapon being stowed and no other action can be performed in the same second. If the character is in a threatened space, the opponent can make a Free Attack. If the character has no actions remaining they can drop (See above) but can not stow the weapon until next round.
Here the character has a few options, by combining actions described above. They can drop the current weapon and draw a new weapon as an action, or they can stow a weapon and draw another weapon, but this method takes two seconds and costs 2 actions (one from the weapon stowed and one from the weapon drawn).
Page Last Updated: 2008-04-09 07:35:37