Combat

Combat begins with each combatant rolling 1d20 and adding their Speed to the roll to determine their place in the order of Initiative. During combat, you and your allies will attack your enemies until one side is defeated, flees, or surrenders or some outside force acts upon the battlefield to cease combat.

Attacking

There are three basic types of attacks a character can make: 
  • Melee: an attack against an adjacent enemy. While you can swing almost anything around as a melee weapon, melee attacks are made most effectively with melee weapons or while unarmed. Your basic melee aptitude is tied to your Brawn.
  • Ranged: an attack against a distant enemy. Ranged attacks can only be made using ranged weapons like a bow, firearm, or throwing knife. Your basic ranged aptitude is tied to your Skill.
  • Spellcraft: those with magical ability may use Focals like wands or magical tomes to launch arcane energy at enemies. Spell attacks can only be made using Focals. Your basic Spellcraft aptitude is tied to your Intellect.
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​To attack an enemy, simply get within striking range and roll Melee, Range, or Spellcraft (depending on the type of attack you are making) plus any bonuses you have to this kind of attack.

Defending

Every attack will target one of two defenses: 
  • Defense: a creature's ability to defend against tangible, oncoming attacks via armor, toughness, and/or agility. Attacks that target Defense are physical or tangible in nature. Suffice to say, most attacks target Defense.
  • Save: a creature's ability to resist attacks that are intangible or magical in nature using willpower, luck, and spiritual resilience. Attacks that target Save are uncommon and of a magical or supernatural nature.

When attacked, the defender may either take the hit or use a Reaction to roll either Defense or Save (whichever the attack targets) plus any bonuses you have to this kind of attack.
Every Bump the Defender rolls negates a Bump the Attacker rolled.
If the attack is reduced to 0 (or fewer) Bumps, it's a Miss.
If the attack has at least 1 Bump remaining, it's a Hit.
If at least one Bump gets through, the attacker rolls their Damage Dice and subtracts the total damage rolled from the target's Hit Points.
Sun and Qin are sparring in the courtyard. Sun comes at Qin with a spinning kick, rolling his Melee for a total of 3 Bumps. Qin raises his guard, rolling Defense for a total of 1 Bump. 2 Bumps get through, making this a hit.

Qin's kick uses 1d6 as a damage dice. Since 2 Bumps got through, Qin rolls 1d6 (he rolls a 4) and adds his bonus damage of +2.
This results in 6 Damage (roll 4 damage + 2 bonus damage = 6 damage in total)

Damage Types, Resistance, and Vulnerability

There are ten types of Damage which creatures may be resistant or vulnerable to:
Physical Damage comes from cuts, stabs, arrow wounds, blunt-force trauma, and other instances where the body is damaged by some physical force. Physical damage is by far the most common type of damage characters will encounter.
Bio Damage comes from things that are innately harmful to living creatures like poison, disease, and radiation. Bio Damage tends to linger after being dealt, inflicting ongoing damage and weakening the victim until purged.
Cold Damage comes from ice, elemental cold, and sudden, extremely low temperatures which can freeze moisture in the body, causing cells to rupture and physical processes to shut down. 
Fire Damage comes from an extreme rise in temperature and roasts organic matter in a flash of heat. Fires, lava, and even prolonged heat from the sun can inflict Fire Damage on a living creature.
Mystic Damage comes from sources connected to The Mystery; forces which cannot be explained by natural laws or traced to terrestrial phenomena. Such damage is notoriously difficult to guard against.
Acid Damage comes from corrosive substances like certain chemicals and the venom of some creatures. Acid is highly dangerous and can burn through materials like wood, flesh, and even metal in a matter of minutes.
Chaos Damage comes from entropy, decay, and death; the cosmic forces of darkness and unlife which strive to snuff the light of life out from the universe. 

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Electric Damage comes from a sudden surge of electrical energy through the body which will both short-circuit the nervous system and cook organs from the inside out.
Holy Damage comes from the gods, who pronounce their judgment upon the wicked with divine fire, searing both the body and soul. Servants of the gods often wield this power against their enemies.
Psionic Damage comes from sources connected to Outside, to beings beyond the scope of the Mortal mind whose dark dreams permeate and undergird reality and whose mad machinations Mortal beings cannot hope to resist.
​For each point of Resistance a creature has, it takes 1d6 less Damage when hit by this type of damage. Even if Resistance reduces the actual damage taken to 0 (or a negative number), the attack is still considered a Hit.

Kiral attacks a golem with his longsword and hits, dealing a total of 12 Physical Damage to the creature. However, the golem has 3 Physical Resistance. It rolls 3d6 for a total of 9, reducing the incoming damage from Kiral's attack from 12 to merely 3 (12-9=3).
For each point of Vulnerability a creature has, it takes an extra 1d6 Damage when hit by this type of damage.

Kiral notices the golem's damage Resistance and decides to change tactics. He fires off a blast of arcane energy and hits, dealing 8 points of Mystic Damage. This particular golem has 2 Mystic Vulnerability, so it rolls 2d6 for a total of 10. Because of the golem's Vulnerability, the total damage from Kiral's attack increases from 8 to 18 (8+10=18).

Additional & Bonus Damage

Many abilities will allow you to deal extra damage to an enemy. This damage will either be pre-typed or it will be added damage on top of another type.

If the damage source does not specify what type of damage this extra damage is, assume it has the same type as the attack or effect it's attached to. For example, if a weapon which normally deals Physical damage makes the attack and a special power grants 1d6 bonus damage, assume the bonus damage is also Physical if the power doesn't specify.

​If there is no damage source attached to the bonus damage, the GM may assign it a type based on what the power does or looks like.

Line of Sight

Before an attack can be made, a combatant must of Line of Sight to their target. Line of Sight (L0S for short) indicates that the intended target is at least partially visible and can be effectively targeted. If Line of Sight cannot be drawn, direct attacks cannot target the creature (they may still be affected by attacks and effects that target everything in an area they happen to find themselves in, however). 

Creatures that are Hidden, Invisible, or fully behind cover cannot have Line of Sight drawn to them. Unless the target is Hidden, Invisible, or somehow obscured from your senses, you'll always have Line of Sight with melee attacks.
To determine Line of Sight, simply draw an imaginary line from the center of your space to the center of the target's space.

If you intersect no obstacles, you have perfect Line of Sight.

If you intersect an obstacle but more than half of the target's body is still visible, they have Cover. Cover means: 
  • You have Disadvantage on attacks versus the target
  • The target has Advantage on defenses versus those it has Cover from
  • Common sources of Cover include: 
    • Carriage/Wagon
    • Dense fog or smoke
    • Furniture, debris
    • Thick foliage
    • Pillar
    • Human shield

If you intersect a wall or major obstacle and more than half of the target's body is not visible, you don't have Line of Sight to them and can't target them. Common things that totally block Line of Sight include: 
  • Total darkness
  • Large trees
  • Solid walls