Close Combat

1. Choose Target

First, the combatant must decide whom to attack.

2. Attack

A combatant within attack distance can make a close combat attack. To attack an opponent in close combat, roll 1D20 against your attack stat. If the result is lower than or equal to your attack stat, your attack hits the opponent.

Determine Attack Distance

Attack distance is the distance within which two combatants may engage in close combat—generally, this is two yards. If you are farther than two yards away from your opponent, you’re not close enough to engage in melee or hand-to-hand combat. Attack distance determines if you can attack your enemy or try to escape. If you aren’t within attack distance, you can no longer attack your opponent, but you can run away. Also, attack distance is important for attacks of opportunity.

Close Combat Weapon Reach

All close combat weapons have a rating for reach. Reach depends on the length of the weapon and gives certain advantages and disadvantages. Close combat weapons have one of these reach categories: short, medium, and long.

Short-Reach Weapons

Advantage: Short-reach weapons suffer no penalty on attack and defense in cramped spaces.

Disadvantage: When fighting against a mediumreach weapon, the combatant suffers a penalty of 2 for attacks. When fighting against a longreach weapon, the combatant suffers a penalty of 4 for attacks.

Medium-Reach Weapon

Advantage: Medium-reach weapons suffer lower penalties in cramped spaces than do longreach weapons. Short-reach weapons suffer a penalty when fighting against medium-reach weapons.

Disadvantage: When fighting against a long-reach weapon, the combatant suffers a penalty of 2 for attacks. In cramped spaces, the combatant suffers a penalty of 4 for attacks and parries.

Long-Reach Weapon

Advantage: Short- and medium-reach weapons suffer penalties against long-reach weapons.

Disadvantage: In cramped spaces, the combatant suffers a penalty of 8 for attacks and parries.

Comparison of Close Combat Weapon Reaches

Versus Short  Medium         Long

Short  no disadvantage         -2 AT for short           -4 AT for short

Medium -2 AT for short       no disadvantage         -2 AT for medium

Long   -4 AT for short           -2 AT for medium      no disadvantage

Critical Successes

If the confirmation roll is successful, the attack has the following effects.

• Halve the target’s defense stat against the attack
• The attack inflicts double damage (roll damage and double the result before subtracting PRO)

If the confirmation roll fails, the following happens

• Halve the target’s defense stat against the attack

Botches

If the confirmation roll is successful, the following happens.

• simple failure

If the confirmation roll fails, the following happens.

• The hero suffers 1D6+2 DP (ignoring PRO).

3. Defense

If you know what’s good for you, you won’t want to get hit with sharp objects. For defense, combatants can parry or dodge. Each type of defense has its advantages and disadvantages.

• Parry (PA): A hero can try to prevent taking damage from a hit in close combat by parrying the attack. To do so, make a check with 1D20 against your Parry stat. If your result is lower than or equal to your Parry, you divert the blow and take no damage.

If you have a shield, you can use it to parry an opponent’s successful attack. This is a normal Parry check, but the shield grants a bonus to your Parry stat (your parry with a shield will usually be higher than your parry with a weapon).

• Dodge (DO): Sometimes you need to jump to the side rather than parry an attack. To do this, you still roll 1D20 but use Dodge instead. If your result is lower than or equal to your Dodge stat, you dodge the attack and avoid taking damage.

 It is not possible to make more than one defense check against a single attack. It is possible, however, to defend against different attacks made by different enemies in the same combat round. Performing more than one defense per combat round becomes increasingly difficult. Your first defense in a combat round doesn’t suffer a penalty, but each additional defense suffers a cumulative penalty of 3. This means that your second defense suffers a penalty of 3, your third suffers a penalty of 6, your fourth suffers a penalty of 9, and so on. Once the next combat round starts, these modifiers reset to zero, and your first defense in the new round doesn’t suffer a penalty. If penalties cause a defense stat to drop to 0 or less, you cannot perform that type of defense again during that round. If you have another defense option that hasn’t been modified to 0 or less in this fashion, you can use that defense instead. Penalties for multiple defenses in a combat round apply to all types of defense. It doesn’t matter if penalties stem from close combat or ranged combat attacks. Note that only characters with Fate Points  can make more than one defense per round, as described above, even if they currently don’t have any FtP available. Others normally get only one defense per combat round, but might be able to make more due to special abilities, spells, or liturgical chants.

Parrying With Weapons and Shields

Parrying weapons and shields require the appropriate combat techniques, and can

be used in conjunction with a single close combat weapon (or even as a second weapon, in twoweapon combat). When using a parrying weapon or a shield in addition to your main weapon, add the Parry bonus of the parrying weapon or shield to your Parry value with the main weapon. If you use two parrying weapons or two shields (or a combination thereof) at the same time, apply only the highest bonus. Characters with the combat technique Shields double their Parry bonus when parrying with a shield instead of their main weapon. When defending with a shield, it’s important to decide whether you want to use the shield passively (adding its Parry to the base Parry stat of your main weapon), or actively, with the combat technique Shields, to receive double the shield’s Parry bonus.

Critical Success

If the confirmation roll is successful, the defense has the following effects:

• The defender can make an immediate attack of opportunity against the opponent.

If the confirmation roll fails, the defense has the following effects:

• The defense takes place the usual way

Botch

If the confirmation roll is successful, the following happens:

• Simple failure

If the confirmation roll fails, the following happens:

• The hero suffers 1D6+2 DP (ignoring PRO)

4. Damage

Every combatant wants to avoid wounds from the enemy, but sometimes the gods don’t extend their protective hands… or maybe the dice just hate the players. Either way, combatants suffer damage from their opponents’ weapons. All weapons have a rating for damage points, which is the damage they inflict with a successful hit. To determine damage, roll the dice indicated by the weapon or situation, subtract the enemy’s PRO from the result, and then subtract what’s left (if anything) from the target’s life points.

Two-Weapon Combat

Many warriors view combat with two weapons as a mark of great skill. Many Aventurian fighters who can fight with two weapons prefer to use two similar weapons, such as daggers or hatchets, while others choose weapons designed to be used in tandem, such as a fencing weapon and a main-gauche.

Two-Weapon Close Combat

Some beginning heroes expect to gain advantages from fighting with two close combat weapons. But two-weapon close combat isn’t easy and only a trained fighter can use it effectively.

• You cannot use weapons that must be wielded with two hands. Chain weapons cannot be used in both hands for two-weapon combat (but you can use a chain weapon with a shield).
• The hero can attack with both weapons in one action, but must make individual attack rolls with the appropriate combat techniques. The target can defend against these attacks in the usual way. Determine the damage points individually for each hit, accounting for PRO in the usual manner before reducing the target’s LP.
• Both attacks and all the two-weapon-wielding character’s defenses in the current combat round suffer a penalty of 2 (due to the technique’s difficult coordination and the additional weight), as long as the hero continues to attack with both weapons. Note that you don’t suffer the penalty if you attack with only one weapon during this combat round. Also, defenses with shields don’t suffer the penalty, but attacks with shields do. You can

 reduce this penalty with the special ability Two- Weapon Combat I-II.

• The weapon in your off hand suffers an additional penalty of 4 to Attack and Parry. You can negate this penalty with the advantage Ambidextrous. Defenses with shields don’t suffer the penalty, but attacks with shields do.
• You can attack with each weapon against different enemies so long as both are within attack distance.
• You can use only basic maneuvers as combat special abilities for both attacks.
• If you want to parry while fighting with two weapons, you choose which weapon to use for the parry. Parries suffer all penalties for two-weapon combat and use of the off hand.
• If you botch the first of your two attacks, you cannot make the second attack. The result of the second attack never affects the result of the first attack, even if the second attack is a botch.

Visibility

Seeing your target clearly in close or ranged combat is made more difficult by things such as thick foliage, fog, or darkness. Any conditions worse than unrestricted sight with good light are grouped into four Visibility Levels, each with its own penalties. These penalties can apply to other skill checks that rely heavily on vision. The GM has the final say.

Visibility Modifier

Level  Effect             Modifier

Level 1           Vision slightly impaired Light foliage, morning mist          -1 to RC, AT, anddefense

Level 2           Target’s shape can be seen Fog, moonlight  -2 to RC, AT, and defense

Level 3           Target’s shape can barely be seen Dense fog, starlight        -3 to RC, AT, and defense

Level 4           Target invisible Dense smoke, complete darkness   Halve AT; RC, defense only possible by rolling a 1 on 1D20

Size Category

Each creature fits into one of the following size categories: Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, and Huge. Depending on the enemy’s size, the hero may suffer attack penalties or limited defense options.

Size Category

Size Category            Example        Penalty

Tiny    Rat, toad, sparrow      -4 AT

Small  Fawn, goat, sheep      +/- 0 AT

Medium         Human, dwarf, donkey          +/- 0 AT

Large  Ogre, troll, cow          May only parry with shield, or dodge

Huge   Dragon, elephant, giant         May only dodge