Extended Combat Segment

THE COMBAT SEGMENTS
The rules for combat are presented from the Combat section. In this page, the onset and flow of a combat is set.

Determine Initiative
Usually determined by the events leading up to the combat or by the characters’ actions, the nature of a combat encounter dictates whether the companions will resolve their attacks before or after their opponents. This will have repercussions on how opening volleys will be handled, and influences how hard it will be for them to exploit their position in an advantageous way

The Company is Defending
This is probably the most common combat situation faced by adventurers. Both the company and its opposition are aware of the coming battle, and are armed and ready.

Defending companions will hold the initiative and may easily manoeuvre to profit from an advantageous terrain feature, like a hill or a ruin if outside, or a narrow passageway or room.

The Company is Attacking
A rarer occurrence, this could involve player-heroes trying to free captured prisoners, or trying to get hold of a prized possession. As in the previous instance, both the company and its enemies are armed and ready. The company’s enemy is holding the initiative, and the heroes will find it more difficult to make use of advantageous terrain features.

Uncertain Situation
When the setup of a combat encounter doesn’t let the Loremaster determine clearly who is the attacker and who’s defending, an opposed roll between the highest Battle ratings in the opposing sides may be required to sort things out.

The side that wins the opposed roll is considered to be fighting as if defending (and thus holding the initiative and profiting from advantageous terrain features).

Resolving Opening Volleys
The descriptions of the different combat types given above show situations where the sides involved in the confrontation are separated by a short distance, allowing for the brief exchange of volleys using ranged weapons.

The precise circumstances of the combat encounter should let the Loremaster judge how many volleys to allow (if any at all). - normally, all combatants are entitled to one single volley using a bow or a thrown weapon (a spear). If the two sides are separated by a greater distance, then the Loremaster might allow characters using a bow to let loose more than one volley with their weapon.

The difficulty of all volleys is equal to TN 12, plus the Parry rating of the target, modified by a shield if one is carried by the target.

If a target is aware of an incoming ranged attack (a warrior advancing to join a confrontation definitely would be) a shield doubles its modifier, as the carrier deftly protects himself.

Unless there are reasons not to do so, the exchange is considered to take place simultaneously, and so its effects are applied to player-heroes and their opponents at the same time.

Assign Combat Advantages
The location of a battle, the weather conditions affecting it and the time of the day are all elements that may be exploited by heroes to their advantage: a tree trunk may help in blocking an incoming blow, a boulder may be used to attack the enemies from a vantage point, and kicking a fire may raise a cloud of sparks able to temporarily blind an enemy.

Before combat at close quarters is joined, all players may make a roll of Battle to determine if their characters spot features of the battleground that may be exploited to gain an edge over their foes.

The difficulty of the roll depends on the type of combat, as a group of companions is probably in a better position to gain an advantage when making a stand in a defensible position than when charging headlong its adversaries.


 * If the company successfully ambushed the enemy,the roll is made against an easy difficulty (TN 12).


 * If the company is defending, the roll is made against a moderate difficulty (TN 14).


 * If the company is attacking, the roll is made against a severe difficulty (TN 18).

Based on the quality of the result, every successful Battle roll grants a hero a number of bonus Success dice to use in Combat.

Each ordinary success grants one Success die, a great success grants two dice, while an extraordinary success grants three dice.

Exploiting Combat Advantages
Heroes may spend one bonus Success die to add it to any one of their rolls made during the ensuing confrontation (to boost an attack roll for example) or he may give it to another hero to spend it on one of his own rolls (the hero who receives the die must spend it immediately when his turn to act comes). A player may only spend one die per turn.

Players are free to describe the advantage granted by a free Success die in any way they see fit, but should conform to the description of the battleground given previously by the Loremaster

SURPRISE ATTACKS
It can happen that the group of player-heroes is caught by surprise by a foe that successfully waylaid the company, perhaps because of a carefully plotted ruse, or that the company succeeds in springing a trap upon unsuspecting enemies. In all cases, the Loremaster should consider the circumstances, and first decide whether a test should be required to resolve the situation or not; for example, a planned ambush made against completely unaware enemies without individuals on watch can let the opposition attack automatically with the benefit of complete surprise.

Being Ambushed
When the company is being ambushed, the Loremaster should call for a test of Awareness from all players. Other plausible choices for the test can be the Battle skill (representing a soldier’s preparation) or Hunting when in the wild (especially if the ambush is being attempted by a wild creature). The Target Number for the action can be set at 14, or the Loremaster can select a difficulty from the Being Ambushed table. A companion who fails the test has been completely caught off-guard by the sudden aggression and is surprised.

A surprised companion doesn’t get to roll Battle to gain Combat advantages (see Combat Advantages above) and is not allowed to make opening volley rolls. When a companion overcomes the test, he has noticed that something is going on and is ready when all hell breaks loose. If he rolled a superior level of success he has been able to warn other companions.

A character who obtained a great success on his roll can warn another character who failed his own roll, or two characters on an extraordinary success. A warned hero is considered to have succeeded in his own roll. If at least half the heroes in a company are not surprised (counting those who have been warned), then the fight is resolved as if the company was defending as far as the roll to assign combat advantages is concerned and holding the initiative.

If on the contrary more than half companions have failed their rolls and are surprised, the company will be considered as if attacking to assign combat advantages and the opponents will fight holding the initiative.

Ambushing Enemies
When it is the turn of the company to waylay its enemies, the Loremaster may treat it as a task and let his players choose their course of action. The skills listed below are probably the ones that best suit an ambush.


 * The Battle skill should be used when the situation involves larger groups, if the chosen place doesn’t offer obvious opportunities for triggering an ambush and only if there is sufficient time for careful planning.


 * The Hunting skill is most useful in the wild, in areas offering ample opportunities for hiding, and when the encounter wasn’t expected and didn’t let the ambushers prepare beforehand.


 * Stealth is usually used when the ambushers need to move to get close to their opponents, and in situations when remaining silent is most important, as for example could be the case when the action is taking place inside a building, or underground.

The Target Number for the task can be set as usual at 14, or the Loremaster can select a difficulty

All players participating in an ambush must succeed in their roll for the surprise attack to succeed and catch their opponents unprepared. A character who obtained a great success on his roll can assist another character who failed his own roll, or two characters on an extraordinary success. An assisted hero is considered to have succeeded in his own roll.

If the ambush attempt is successful, the attacking companions will fight automatically holding the initiative. Additionally, the surprised enemies won’t be able to make opening volleys using ranged weapons. If one or more companions fail their rolls, the enemies notice in time the presence of the company and the fight is resolved normally, with

CLOSE QUARTERS
When the onset has been resolved, the fight at close quarters begins. Before a combat round sequence is initiated, players choose a stance and engage the enemy.

Choose Stances
The Loremaster now assists the players as they select their stance, choosing among the four available options. Characters may attack using a ranged weapon after engaging only by choosing a rearward stance. Under most circumstances, for every character fighting in a rearward stance there must be two other characters fighting in a close combat stance (forward, open or defensive). Moreover, players are not allowed to choose a rearward stance for their characters if the total number of enemies is more than twice the number of characters in the company.

A particular situation, like fighting on a narrow ledge, a mountain path or another condition enabling fighters to make ranged attacks at greater ease might lead the Loremaster to allow more characters to assume a rearward position Engagement

When every player has determined the stance his hero will fight in, all combatants must engage one or more opponents.

More Enemies than Heroes
When the opposition outnumbers the company, during the Loremaster assigns an opponent of his choice to every companion in a close combat stance (heroes in rearward cannot be engaged). When all heroes have acted and been paired with one opponent, there will be a number of enemies left.

The Loremaster must determine what the enemies in excess do, choosing among


 * a) engage a hero who is already engaged, or


 * b) stand back, possibly to attack using a ranged weapon.

Usually, up to three human-sized creatures or two large creatures (such as trolls) can engage a given hero during the same combat round. Heroes engaged by multiple foes may choose freely which adversary to attack. Enemies that chose to stand back and use a ranged weapon may attack any hero involved in the fight.

For each additional creature a hero is engaged the creatures adds an extra dice on his success pool representing flanks and tactical advantage.

COMBAT ROUND SEQUENCE
A combat round is an abstract unit of time of about six to ten seconds, representing instants of intense fighting, the time needed for the fighters involved to exchange a series of blows. During each combat round, all combatants take their turn, the Company's side and the Loremaster side, one member at once until all have acted.

Movement
There are some situations where players do want to know how far someone can go in a round - for example, when two groups are standing 20 meters apart and one group wants to throw spears while the other wants to rush into melee.

The movements rates for a normal non impaired human are the following:


 * Walking 10 meters plus body - 1 per 3 points encumbrance


 * Hustling 20 meters plus body - 1 per 3 points encumbrance


 * Sprinting 30 meters plus body - 1 per 3 points encumbrance
 * Horseback, usually the movement is 50 meters.

Player Turns
When it is a company’s member turn to act, the player take her action in the order determined by their stances. Each player chooses an action for their character to perform. The action could be an attack, or a different action determined by the current turn of events, like rescuing a fallen comrade, sending out a warning, and so on.

Loremaster Turns
The Loremaster chooses the actions attempted by the company’s opponent, considering that normally creatures can only make close combat attacks against characters in forward, open or defensive stances, and can use a missile weapon only if they stood back and remained unengaged.

Use of markers.
Miniatures or markers aren't really needed but it would be a great prop for picturing the situation on the table,