Combat

Hexagonal grid
Each hexagon is 5' from one face to its opposite. Characters cannot stand on an incomplete hexagon. Maps will be supplied when necessary for combat.

Phases and Initiative
Since combat in the Valoria Campaign is phase-based rather than turn-based, initiative is understood differently. As GM I will tabulate the average initiative score for the players versus the NPCs at the start of combat, and the side that has the higher average will be deemed to have the initiative for the first six rounds of combat and every five rounds thereafter. Initiative is calculated by rolling D20 + Wisdom modifier. Wisdom is an ability to covers intuition, senses and perception, so it makes more sense that someone with high wisdom would be more prepared to jump into combat after getting a 'funny feeling' than someone who simply has good reflexes.

There are two phases in this system. First, there is the planning phase where players  announce how they want to move and act when they think of it rather than waiting for their turn. This means that players can declare their intentions in any order or discuss strategy as a group since their individual initiative scores as irrelevant. Second, there is the action phase that begins after all player decisions have been made. PC and NPC decisions will be resolved simultaneously in this phase with priority given to actions as follows in the chart below.

If players win the initiative, the NPCs' will reveal their movements and actions to the players. Players receive a tactical advantage by knowing what the NPCs will do, which will allow the players to counter and exploit the NPCs. If the players lose the initiative, the players will announce their moves and actions for the upcoming phase, and the NPCs will have the opportunity to counter and exploit the players.

Why phases and not individual turns?
There are a few reasons.

First, phases allow players to collaborate in a group strategy. You may have situations where a player chooses to try and crack a safe, so another player volunteers to defend his fellow player if any foes go to attack him. In the following phase the defending player will intercept any opponent that tries to attack the safe-cracking player. This isn't something that translates well in individual turn-based play.

Second, it speeds up combat. Players do not have to wait for their turn to state their decision. Instead the first responding player can declare he will do this or that, and the following players can build upon that initial decision or suggest alternatives. To speed up decision making, players can set up conditionals. For example, Player A may state that he will attack Opponent X if Players B and C attack Opponents Y and Z or that he will flee If Players B and C decide to flee as well. Another example will have Player A state that he will try to prevent Opponent X from performing a Coup de Grace on Player B, but will simply attack Opponent X if he elects any other action. The phase will begin after the last responding player has declared his decision.

Third, phases allow for more realistic combat scenarios due to the fact that all character decisions are resolved simultaneously during the six-second round. Weapon speeds become important in deciding who strikes first. The difference in reach between weapons is realized as a song and dance as the 5' step becomes meaningless since both characters would get to take the 5' step at the same time. Attacks of opportunity are rendered obsolete.

Combat Structure

 * 1) Determine if combat is decided by an open declaration of combat between parties or an attempted ambush by one party on another.
 * 2) The Obstacle of an ambush is determined by the ambushing party leader's Tactics Skill and relevant environmental factors. To foil the ambush, the ambushed character with the highest Perception rolls his ability and needs to come up with a number of successes equal to or greater than the obstacle. For example, the NPCs have set an ambush on the PCs. The NPC's leader has Tactics 2 and has hid soldiers behind columns. The GM deems that the hidden soldiers add +1 Ob, which means the Ambush Obstacle is set at 3. The PCs have a character with 5 Perception. This character rolls 5D, and lands 1, 3, 5, 4, 5, 6--four successes, which means one bonus success! The ambush fails.
 * 3) *If the ambush succeeds, then the ambushing party gets:
 * 4) **one free movement/missile phase
 * 5) **combat Initiative
 * 6) *If the ambush fails, then proceed to 3.
 * 7) Initiative
 * 8) *To determine Initiative, roll a Tactics Versus Test between the two parties. Ties are in favour of the defender. If calculating a failed ambush scenario, then all bonus successes are applied to this Versus Test. The PCs has negated the ambush, but Combat Initiative remains undecided. The NPC leader has a Tactics score of 2 and a PC character has a tactics score of 4. The NPC rolls 2D and the PC rolls 4D+1 Bonus Success. The NPC rolls 5, 6 and the PC rolls 1, 3, 3, 5, and 5. The scores are tied...but wait! The PC has a bonus success to be applied, so Initiative is clearly won by the PCs.
 * 9) Round One, Initial Movement Phase:
 * 10) *Two actions can be taken in the initial movement phase.
 * 11) *There are four choices available in the movement phase: Move, Declare Engagement, Fire Prepared Projectile, and Free Action (e.g. change weapon). A character can choose to Sprint by selecting Move twice and move at four times the speed.
 * 12) *The party with initiative moves their characters and declares combat engagements if they so wish.
 * 13) *The party without initiative may only take actions characters if their characters have not been engaged in combat.
 * 14) Round One, Initial Action phase:
 * 15) *If a character is not engaged in combat, then he or she can choose to reload his or her projectile weapon. A bow takes one round to reload. An empty crossbow/arquebus takes two rounds to reload.
 * 16) *First, characters with Initiative announce their Attacking Maneuver and dedicate X number of Dice from their Combat Pool.
 * 17) *Second, characters without Initiative announce their Defending Maneuver and dedicate X number of Dice from their Combat Pool. Resolve the Versus Test. If the defending character generates as many or more successes than the attacking character, then he or she receives no damage. All attacking bonus successes add +1 to Damage Inflicted.
 * 18) *Third, characters without Initiative announce their Attacking Maneuver and dedicate remaining Y number of Dice from their Combat Pool.
 * 19) *Fourth, characters with Initiative announce their Defending Maneuver and dedicate remaining Y number of Dice from their Combat Pool. Resolve the Versus Test. If the defending character generates as many or more successes than the attacking character, then he or she receives no damage. All attacking bonus successes add +1 to Damage Inflicted.
 * 20) Subsequent rounds planning phase:
 * 21) Subsequent rounds action phase:
 * 22) *Ranged actions are resolved
 * 23) *Melee combat actions are resolved
 * 24) *Characters cannot move outside of opponent's weapon range if engaged in combat
 * 25) *Characters can move outside of opponent's weapon range if they successfully exit combat engagement (i.e. withdraw) from their opponent
 * 1) *Characters can move outside of opponent's weapon range if they successfully exit combat engagement (i.e. withdraw) from their opponent

Actions
An action's type essentially tells you how long the action takes to perform (within the framework of the 12-second combat round) and how movement is treated. There are six types of actions: standard actions, move actions, full-round actions, swift actions, immediate actions, and free actions.

In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action. You can also perform one swift action and one or more free actions. You can always take a move action in place of a standard action.

In some situations (such as in a surprise round), you may be limited to taking only a single move action or standard action.

Stunts! (Improvised Actions)
What do you do if you want to try an action in combat that isn't described in actions or skills such as "swing from a chandelier to kick someone in the head and knock him or her over?" Well, you use this system!

The Stunts! system is a user-defined system that works on three measures: failure, partial success, and success. Players can do this if they roll a critical, and players can extend their critical range from a natural 19-20 all the way up to 11-20. Extending a critical range also extends the fumble range by the same amount, so a critical success of 11-20 has a critical failure of 1-10. If you roll neither a critical success nor a critical failure, then you have a partial success. Partial successes allow the stunt to succeed with a penalty applied to the player as per the GM's discretions.

For example, I could choose to do the stunt described at the start. I set my critical hit at 15-20 putting my critical failure at 1-6, but I roll a 12. As a result my character does swing from a chandelier, but mistimes the kick and falls to the ground alongside the opponent, making me and the target both prone for the next round.

The priority of Stunts! is determined at the GM's discretion.

Priority
Priority resolves the event sequence of a given action phase. The lower priority the action, the later in the phase it occurs. If characters are unable to resolve a higher-priority action due to distance, then character movement is performed followed by those scheduled actions that were unable to be performed.

Movement
Credit to Charles Taylor of Spells & Steel.

Plans
There are six ways you could plan to move in a tactical situation:

Close distance with opponent(s)

 * A careful attempt to get into range (either melee range or missile range, as appropriate)
 * See section on "Reach" in Resolving Combat
 * Being faster than your opponent makes this easier to achieve

Open distance with opponent(s)

 * A careful attempt to create distance, usually by falling back, and includes fleeing
 * See section on "Reach" in Resolving Combat
 * Being faster than your opponent makes this easier to achieve

Maintain distance with opponent(s)

 * A careful attempt to keep the distance between you and your opponent the same, usually by circling (perhaps so a ranged attacker will stay out of melee)

Defend

 * Defend a specify zone whereby you attack or intercept any intruding opponent (defend a fallen comrade, or someone picking a lock, etc.)
 * The Defend! manoeuvre is a natural companion to this

Make for an objective

 * Head to a specific place (get the gem off the pedestal, go to a fallen comrade to administer first aid, etc.)

Modes
The ways you can go about each of those movements are:

First round
If there is an ambush or surprise round where there is 30' distance or more between parties, then the attacking side can use ranged weapons (if applicable) and then move. The defending side can respond with use a ranged attack if and only if a crossbow has been readied in advance. The attacking side has priority in ranged weapon attacks. If a defending character passes a successful anticipation check, however, then he or she can choose to move, perform a swift action, and then perform a standard action..

If there is an ambush or surprise round where there is less than 30' distance between parties, then the ambushing side can use ranged weapons or melee weapons and move half the normal distance. The defending side can respond with a ranged attack if and only if a crossbow has been readied in advance or with a melee attack if and only if a melee weapon has been readied in advance. The attacking side has priority in ranged weapon attacks and melee weapon attacks despite weapon priority. Reach-based weapon mechanics are bypassed. If a defending character passes a successful anticipation check, however, then he or she can choose to move, perform a swift action, and then perform a standard action.

If there is no ambush or surprise round, then combat proceeds as per normal. Engagement When opponents begin attacking each other, they are considered engaged. Engaged opponents cannot switch targets or move away from each other without giving up a free attack to his or her opponent.

Combat
 Both sides have their actions resolved simultaneously in a phase-based system. Attack priority is given to ranged weapons (when sides need to close distance) then 10' long reach melee weapon users (LMW) then finally 5' long reach short melee weapon users (SMW).

Range

 * Ranged weapon attacks are always resolved before melee weapon attacks as priority attacks.
 * Ranged weapons have priority as follows: the arquebus as fastest fire, followed by the crossbow, followed by the drawn bow.
 * A character cannot use a ranged weapon when in the threat range of an opponent during the planning phase.

Reach

 * Same reach melee weapons (range vs range, LMW vs LMW, or SMW vs SMW) have combat resolve simultaneously (i.e. both attackers get attack rolls regardless of whether a received blow would incapacitate or kill them). Combatants with the same reach can choose to tie up the weapon of their opponent, but successfully doing so prevents either character from scoring a blow.
 * e.g. Two swordsman (5' reach) engage in combat. Their attacks are rolled simultaneously, which means that both are capable of injuring the other for that phase of combat.
 * LMWs get a prioritised attack against SMWs if the SMW tries to close the gap on the LMW, i.e. moves to become adajent or 5' away from the LMW. If the LMW successfully strikes the SMW, then the SMW does not close the gap and remains or gets stopped 10' away from the LMW.  If the LMW misses the SMW or is attacking another character, then the SMW closes the distance i.e. becomes adjacent to the LMW, regardless of whether his attack lands.
 * e.g. A swordsman and a spearman move to engage in combat.  The spearman will have his attack land with priority, which means that a successful attack will prevent an incoming attack from the swordsman and maintain the gap.
 * If a SMW closes the gap on a LMW, then attack priority becomes determined by the characters' weapon speed. Typically this means that the SMW will have a speed advantage on the LMW when adjacent.
 * If there is a free space behind him, an LMW can choose to use the Establish Distance/Withdraw manoeuvre in combat with a SMW. The LMW takes defensive actions that round and cannot attack. The next round will re-establish the LMW's priority attack over the SMW noted above.
 * e.g. A swordsman and a spearman are engaged in combat. The spearman chooses to re-establish distance and receives a +4 AC bonus that round while the swordsman is still able to attack. In the following round the spearman will have a priority attack over the swordsman due to the combat range.
 * Tying up two long melee weapon users allows a short melee weapon user to enter short melee combat range without requiring he dodge a blow.

Speed

 * Same speed weapons (slow vs slow, normal vs normal, fast vs fast, very fast vs very fast) have combat resolve simultaneously (i.e. both attackers get attack rolls regardless of whether a received would incapacitate or kill them).
 * A faster melee weapon will have attack priority over a slower melee weapon.
 * e.g. A swordsman and a maceman are engaged in combat. The swordsman will have his attack land with priority, which means that an incapacitating attack will prevent an incoming attack from the maceman.
 * e.g. A swordsman and a halberdier are engaged in combat, which means that the halberdier has already had his reach priority attack on the swordsman executed in a previous round. The swordsman will have his attack land with priority, which means that an incapacitating attack will prevent an incoming attack from the maceman.

Combat Manoeuvres
Disarm, trip, and other combat manoeuvres that affect opponent actions are treated as standard actions.

Defend! (Higher of Dex or Wis)

 * Defend!  is used to hold one or more enemies at bay by focusing on defending their blows rather than trying to inflict damage.
 * Defend! is a one-time per phase check of d20 roll + higher between wisdom modifier or dexterity bonus + armour bonus + base defence bonus checked against each opponent's attack rolls (d20 roll + ability modifier + base attack bonus + group attack bonus).
 * Opponents' attack rolls must be equal to or exceed the higher of the two of the defending character's Armour Class or Defend! roll, whichever one is higher. (e.g. an attack roll of 17 would beat the defending character's AC of 16, but fail because Defend! rolled to 18)
 * If the defending character is using a LMW and is defending against opponents with SMWs, the SMW is assumed to have closed the gap for his or her attack if he or she beats the Defend! roll.

Disarm (Dex)

 * Disarming an opponent means that the opponent drops his or her targeted weapon.
 * Disarming is a d20 roll + dexterity modifier + circumstance modifier checked against the opponent's Reflex save.
 * Circumstance modifiers are:
 * Tied up: +2
 * The disarming character gets a +2 in the check if he or she has tied up the opponent's weapon in the previous round, but the opponent gets the same advantage;
 * Free hand: +2
 * Off-handed weapon or shield: 0
 * Off-handed weapons or held bucklers are automatically dropped on a disarm attempt
 * Strapped shields are not automatically dropped
 * Two-handed weapon: 0, requires weapons are tied up
 * Striking the hand: -4
 * Opponent has Mighty Grip: -2
 * A standard action is required by the opponent to pick up the primary weapon again. Since weapons are used to direct the flow of combat, an unarmed opponent has a -4 AC modifier.
 * A disarmed character using an offhand weapon now treats that weapon as his or her primary weapon.
 * Disarming an opponent completes as a priority action following a successful roll. The reach of a weapon is not treated as relevant to the success of a disarming, but the reach is relevant to the result of a failed disarming.
 * e.g. Swordsmen A and B are engaged in combat. One goes to disarm while the other attacks. If A's disarm is successful, then B's attack is not completed. If A's disarm is unsuccessful, then B's attack is completed.
 * e.g. Swordsmen A and B are engaged in combat. Both go to disarm each other. If both A and B have successful disarmings, then both A and B lose their weapons.
 * e.g. A Swordsman and a Spearman are not engaged in combat yet. The Spearman engages with a priority attack due to reach, but the Swordsman has elected to disarm. If the disarming is successful, the disarming is assumed to have superseded the attack.
 * e.g. A Swordsman and a Spearman are not engaged in combat yet. The Spearman engages with a priority attack due to reach, but the Swordsman has elected to disarm. If the disarming fails, the spearman's attack is completed and the swordsman has not closed the gap in combat.

Rescue (Con)

 * Rescuing an ally means that a character can choose to redirect an opponent's melee attack from an ally within his or her weapon's reach to his or her self, i.e. become the target of an opponent's attack in place of an ally. Combat then resolves between the rescuer and the opponent. The rescued character is moved to another space and performs his or her originally selected action.
 * Rescue is a check of d20 roll + Fortitude save bonus + constitution modifier + base defence bonus checked against your opponent's attack roll (d20 + ability modifier + base attack bonus).
 * A successful check is equal to or greater than your opponent's attack roll, and the opponent's attack roll must be equal to or greater than the rescuer's AC to hit. Both the successful rescuer and the rescued character receive a -2 to their attack roll for that phase. An unsuccessful check allows the opponent to attack his or her original target, and the failed rescuer foregoes any further actions and receives a -4 AC penalty for the remainder of the phase.
 * Melee range is taken into account for rescuing. A 10' melee weapon intercepting a 5' melee weapon will place the former in close combat range with the latter. A 5' melee weapon intercepting a 10' melee weapon will place the former at range and needing to close distance to attack. Combat resolves normally.


 * ​ e.g. Player A and Player B are standing 5' apart. Opponent X attacks Player B, but Player A chooses to intercept Opponent X's attack. Player A successfully rescues Player B, and combat is resolved simultaneously with Player A and Opponent X instead.
 * e.g. Player A and Player B are standing 5' apart. Opponent X attacks Player B with a 10' reach weapon, but Player A chose to rescue Player B. Player A successfully rescues Player B, but Player A must avoid Opponent X's attack to close the gap and attack him or her.
 * If the rescuer is targeted by another opponent when he or she elects to rescue a character, then the opponent targetting the rescuer gets a +4 to his or her attack roll against the rescuer.

Reorienting combat (Wis)

 * Reorienting combat means that a character is manipulating where he and an opponent are standing. The character and his opponent can swap positions or be reoriented in 5' in any direction. This means that a character can manipulate an opponent with a reach weapon to being unable to re-establish distance due to being backed against a wall, or to expose him to an attack from behind by an ally. At the same time, a character with a reach weapon can elect to reorient combat to escape being pinned against a wall.
 * Reorienting combat is a d20 roll + wisdom modifier + base attack bonus rolled against an opponent's Senses skill + base defence bonus.
 * e.g. To coordinate this in the phase planning, Player A would declare that he is reorienting his opponent's back to face Player B.  Player B would declare that he will attack the same opponent. A successful reorienting roll would give Player B a priority attack from behind, after which the attack rolls for Player A and the opponent would occur. An unsuccessful reorienting roll would not give Player B a priority attack from behind, and instead a group attack bonus that would be resolved simultaneously as the rolls for Player A and the opponent.
 * Reorienting combat is an attack that doubles as a combat maneuver. One die is rolled for the maneuver and another is rolled for the attack. These dice are rolled independently and success or failure of one roll does not affect the other roll. The reorienting character suffers a -2 to AC and a -4 to Attack Roll due to the complications in manipulating an opponent's footwork to a desired location.
 * Both combatants can elect to reorient combat against each other. If both rolls are failed or successful, then combatants remain in the same position.

Tripping (Dex)

 * Tripping an opponent results in your opponent laying prone on the ground. The manoeuvre is performed with your body, a 10' reach weapon, or with the hook of your 10' reach weapon if applicable. Tripping an opponent completes as a priority action following a successful roll.
 * Tripping is a check of d20 roll + dexterity modifier + base attack bonus + circumstance (-2 if 5' reach, 0 if 10' reach, +2 if hook) opposed to the opponent's Reflex saving throw + base defence bonus.
 * Successfully rolling this manoeuvre results in your opponent laying prone on the ground. A move action is required by the opponent to stand up again and gives the attacker a free attack, and a successful attack prevents the prone target from successfully standing up.

Tying Up (Str)

 * Tying Up means a character with the same melee reach as an opponent to lock up weapons and prevent both characters from dealing damage that round. A successfull roll is equal to or greater than the opponent's attack roll. A failed check allows the opponent to continue his or her specified action and the attempting character foregoes dealing any damage that round.
 * Tying Up is a check of d20 roll + strength modifier + base attack bonus checked against the opponent's d20 roll + strength modifier + base defence bonus.
 * Tying Up allows a character to tie up an attack from an opponent directed at an ally within 5' of the character. A successful roll supersedes the opponent's attack roll. A failed roll allows the opponent to attack the target of his choice normally, and penalizes the attempting character a -4 to AC modifier.
 * e.g. Swordsman A and Halberdier B side-by-side in combat against Spearman C. Swordsman A chooses to attack, Halberdier B chooses to tie up Spearman C, and Spearman C chooses to attack Swordsman A. On a successful roll, Halberdier B will tie up the weapon of Spearman C and allow Swordsman A to close distance and attack in 5' range without having to evade a blow. On a failed roll, Halberdier B will suffer a -4 AC modifier for that phase. Since Spearman C chose to attack Swordsman A, Swordsman A now needs to evade a blow from Spearman C in order to close distance and attack in 5' range.
 * note: Halberdier B in the phase initiative can set up the conditional 'if Spearman C attacks me, attack back; if Spearman C attacks Swordsman A, tie up Spearman C's weapon instead'

Critical Hits & Misses
Critical hits are achieved when a player rolls a 20, and your critical range can be increased through the purchase of relevant feats. Critical hit damage is always twice the maximum damage of the used weapon.

Critical misses are achieved when a player rolls a 1. Characters who critically miss on attacks become disarmed or have their weapon backfire, and characters who critically miss on their specified combat maneouvres have maneouvre-related failures.

Combat Disposition
Dispositions allow you to approach standard combat in different ways that affect your chance to hit, defensive capabilities, and damage dealt. Each disposition can scale positively up to your relevant ability modifier, and so someone with a +4 modifier could choose a disposition of +1, +2, +3, or +4. A zero or negative modifier in an ability prevents a character from accessing the disposition.

Dispositions only affect standard 5' or 10' melee attacks, not ranged attacks or combat manoeuvres.

Balanced

 * A balanced disposition gives no bonuses to your attack roll, AC, or damage.

Defensive (Dex)

 * +1 AC, -1 Attack Roll / modifier

Offensive (Wis)

 * -1 AC, +1 Attack Roll / modifier

Brutal (Str)

 * -1 AC, -1 Attack Roll, +1 Damage Dealt / modifier

Dodging and Movement Speed
A character's movement can grant him an advantage in combat if he has higher movement than his opponent. Since movement corresponds with fleetness of foot and encumbrance, it follows that a person unencumbered would have a better ability to dodge attacks due to less weight being negotiated by the dodging person. Every 5' of difference in movement speed grants the person with a higher movement speed a +1 dodging bonus to his AC.


 * e.g. Swordsmen A and B are engaged in combat. Swordsman A is unencumbered and has 30' movement. Swordsman B is encumbered and has 20' movement. Consequently Swordsman A has a +2 dodging bonus to his AC when facing attacks from Swordsman B.

Attacking as a Group
Group attacks can be performed when two or more characters attack a single opponent. The Fibonacci sequence, starting at 2, is used to calculate attack bonuses for the characters. This means that two characters attacking will each get +2 on their attack roll, three characters attacking will get +3 on their attack rolls, four characters +5, five characters +8, and so forth.

Damage Effects
Hit points are a nebulous concept. This campaign assumes that hit points are some combination of a player's physical grit, amount of stamina, and ability to sustain injuries. Combat State is a measure of how capable a character remains in combat. The fewer hit points a character has, the more difficult it becomes to move or perform actions.

Damage Recovery
There are two ways to heal during combat.

Recoveries
Through sheer grit and willpower, a character can overcome his or her current condition. Characters are only allowed to use one successful recovery per episode of combat, but maybe attempt recoveries as many times as possible until he or she achieves that success. Recovery is a one-time d20 check + Will save + Constitution modifier checked against a DC of 15. It is not affected by your state, so no penalties are applied to it. A character recovers hit points based upon his or her level and hit die. For example, a level 2 character with a hit die of 8 will roll a 2d8 to determine how many hit points will be recovered.

Potions
Rare concotions exist that give its user a wave of adrenaline. Characters recover their full hit die in health, but the effect does not multiply or scale with character level. For example, a level 1 character and a level 4 character that both have a hit die of 8 will only recover 8 hit points when using this kind of concoction.

Coup de Grace and Incapacitation
When a character reaches 0 hit points or lower, he is deemed to be defeated and can no longer participate in combat. Defeated characters are unconscious. A character is deemed to be incapacitated when his hit points are reduced below 0 by a strike. Players with a positive constitution modifier are more resilient to incapacitation, and become incapacitated when a blow takes them to -1 hit points minus CON modifier. For example a character with 10 constitution has a modifier of 0, so becomes incapacitated at -1 hit points or lower. A character with 7 constitution has a modifier of -2, but still only becomes incapacitated at -1 hit points or lower. A character with 17 constitution has a modifier of +3, so becomes incapitated at -4 hit points or lower.


 * If a priority attack reduces a character to one hit point above incapacitation, then the character completes his attack roll for that phase before being defeated. (Note that a SMW cannot close distance on a LMW if hit, so a SMW cannot complete his attack roll even if not incapacitated in that circumstance.)


 * If a priority attack incapacitates a character, then the character is defeated and forfeits his standard action for that phase.


 * If an equal priority attack reduces a character to 0 hit points or less, then he will always complete his own attack regardless of incapacitation before being defeated.

The opponent that defeats you can choose to perform a coup de grace for the next phase, which is a standard action. Priority actions like a faster attack, disarm or tying up from an ally are able to prevent an opponent from completing a coup de grace. In the event that you are left alone, you will be deemed unconscious and wake up after 2d12-L hours...assuming you didn't suffer any wounds that required treatment.

Quick rests
Players are able to have a quick rest after a battle, but it'd be wise to check whether there are any major time constraints or threats nearby. Players roll a number of checks equal to their level that is a d20 + Fortitude Save Bonus + Treat Wounds checked against a DC of 10. For each roll that equals or beats this check, he or she recovers hit points equal to his or her hit die + constitution modifier.

For example, a level 3 character with a maximum hit points of 27 has a D8 with no Constitution modifier. The character currently has 5 hit points remaining. The character rolls three Fortitude Saves and gets an 8, 10, and 15. Since 10 and 15 equal or beat the check, the character recovers 16 hit points.

Quick rests cannot be used in succession.

Full rests
Players can have a full rest once a mission ends. All hit points are recovered, but the player may be waylaid by lasting wounds.

Lasting Wounds, Bleeding Out, Surgery, and Treatment
If a character has become incapacitated in combat, he or she may suffer a lasting wound or worse. The unconscious character checks a d20 + Fortitude Save Bonus + highest Treat Wounds skill modifier of any conscious party against a DC of 10 + medical equipment checked against a DC 10 + difference between negative hitpoints and incapacitation point.

For example, a character with a +2 constitution modifier becomes incapacitated at -2. If he or she has 4 hit points remaining and receives 10 damage, then he or she goes to -6 in hit points. The difference between -6 and the incapacitation point of -2 is -4, so the character has a modifier of -4 applied. The character has a Fortitude Save Bonus of 2, a party member has a +4 in Treat Wounds, and there is medical bandages that grant a consumable +1 bonus. This means that the character rolls a d20 -4 + 2 + 4 +1 checked against DC 10.

The character subtracts the DC from the results of his or her roll and consults the chart below. The character rolls a 1d6 to determine the outcome of his or her wound. If the treatment occurs during a Quick Rest, then the character is able to take his or her healing checks as covered above.

Bleeding Out
Some wounds have a chance of bleeding out, which means that character requires significant medical attention or surgery in order to survive.

Example Combat Structure
Party is walking down a corridor that opens up to a large, dimly lit room. A player asks the party to stop walking so that he can listen intently, which qualifies as a Senses check. He passes the DC and can tell that there is quiet shuffling in the next room, which indicates that there may be combat.

The party advances into the room, and the opponents are quickly identified. Both sides roll for their initiative by the GM tabulating the average of all of their scores. There are five party members at the corridor entrance, and there are six opponents divided into two squads on either side of the room.