Combat

Many adventures use combat as a primary, or at least secondary means of resolving conflict. This section details how characters do combat with swords or words in Swords of Infinity.

Rounds and Turns

Combat is broken down into rounds and turns, with each participant in combat getting two actions per turn, and a round becoming complete after all participants have had a turn. This phased approach to keeping order during conflict is referred to as Tactical Time, and is a useful tool for whenever Storytellers need their players to pay special attention to the order of events or to simulate limited time in the story. Most importantly it is used whenever combat takes place.

Initiative

Initiative is the order in which combat participants take their turns, and figuring out everyone's initiative score is always the first step when using Tactical Time. When Tactical Time begins, all players should roll a Dexterity limited Power roll (increased by any specialization in Initiative) and the Storyteller should make a similar roll for every non-player participant in the combat encounter. All of these numbers should then be recorded in descending order, with the highest number going first.

Actions

All participants in combat start out with two actions that they can use to perform any major activity and a minor action that they can use for quick things like dropping a held item or speaking. Some combat conditions can affect the number of actions a participant gets, and will be explored later. Examples of each sort of action can be found in the table below.

Action Type	Example Actions
Full Action	Attacking, Casting a Spell, Moving, Using an Item, Picking up an Item
Minor Action	Speaking, Dropping a Held Item, Making an Awareness Skill Check to Notice Something

Buying Additional Actions

Sometimes two actions in a turn just aren't enough. Combat participants can take additional actions beyond two at the cost of a -10 penalty for every additional action taken. This penalty stacks will all other penalties and lasts until the beginning of that same participant's turn.

Attacking

Combat usually involves physically attacking opponents, and in Swords of Infinity this requires choosing a target, rolling a success check to hit the target, and then optionally rolling a power check to determine the damage. Attacks are resolved according to the following steps, and typically cost one action (it is possible for attacks to cost two actions, and this will be explored later).

1. The player declares a Damage Target for the attack
2. The player rolls a success check to see if the attack hits
3. If the player's attack hits, the opponent gets a chance to defend
4. If the opponent does not successfully defend, the player rolls a power check to determine damage.

Damage Targets

Swords of Infinity differs from some other role-playing games in that it tracks damage in multiple places, referred to as Damage Targets. On a human opponent the damage targets are, predictably, the head, two legs, the torso, and two arms. Damage Targets for monsters are going to depend on their composition, and may include wings, tails, extra heads, etc. For most attacks the aggressor chooses one of these targets to attempt to hit.

Hitting

Hitting a target requires a Dexterity based success check. To make this check, simply take the attacking character's Dexterity score, add any weapon skill specialization score and any modifier for the weight of the weapon being used, and roll a d%. If the result of the roll is less than the sum of these scores then the attack hits and the attacker's opponent must defend.

Critical Hits

A critical success on a hit check results in one of the following additional special outcomes that can be selected by the player or the Storyteller.

• The attack can only be defended by a critical defense, even if the defensive roll is lower.
• The attack does full damage
• The attack causes a narrative effect that lasts for one round.

Damage

If an attack successfully hits it usually does damage, unless it is one of the special techniques described later in this section. In either case, however, the power of the attack has to be determined and this is done using a Power Check. To make a Power Check roll a d% and compare it to the Strength Score of the attacking character, plus any Strength based Skill Specializations that tie into dealing damage and any damage bonus granted by the weight and type of the weapon. The damage dealt (or power of the technique) is either the result of the roll or the sum of these scores, whichever is lower.

Defending

Whenever a combat participant is successfully attacked they get a chance to defend themselves unless special circumstances would prevent it (e.g. the attacker has snuck up on the defender, or the defender is restrained). Defenders have two options for protecting themselves from physical damage, blocking and dodging, and resist the effects of special techniques like a disarm or pin with physical resistance. Some characters are going to be better at defending themselves by dodging, while others are more effective blockers, and it is up to the player to decide which method is the best for the situation.

Blocking

Blocking involves interposing a weapon, limb, or shield into the path of an incoming attack.

Physical Resistance

Highest of S or D + V

Taking Damage

Consequences of Damage

Damage Thresholds

• Damage past vitality = wounded
• Damage double vitality = disabled

Wounded

• -10 penalty for each wound

Disabled

• -1 action for each disabled