The Active Round

The Active Round is when you can act. This is portion of the round when you can move, attack, use skills, spells, and items. The active round lasts until you have completed your movements.

1) Actions

While in the Active Round, you make make use of the following combat actions: Attack, Support, Move, and Magic. You only get to do one of each per active round in combat. That means, you get to attack once, do one supportive action like drink a potion or reload, move once, and use or start casting one magic spell.

During your active round, you can do the following:

• Attack: You can attack once. This attack can be a simple attack or an offensive skill. This could be a simple attack with no skill use, or it could be one entire attack skill chain. Once you have performed an attack action, you cannot attack again that round.
• Move: You can move once during your active round. The distance you can move is based on your character's battle movement rate. Once you have moved, you cannot move again that round. If you have not used all of your movement rate and have stopped to attack, you still cannot move to complete your movement rate. Simply getting up if you have fallen or been knocked down counts as a movement, as does turning without moving. Once you have stopped moving your movement action is done for that round.
• Support: You can make one support action per round. This might be to use a potion, change equipment, or use a supportive skill. Once you have performed a support action, you cannot perform another one that round.
• Magic: You can cast one spell per round. If you wish to cast a spell that takes longer than your character can cast in a round do to casting speed, you start the spell but do not perform it until the required casting speed has been reached. Basically, if you wish to use a spell that takes 2 casting speed to cast, but you only have a runic casting speed of 1, it will take you two rounds to do said spell, whereas if you had a runic speed of 2 you can perform that spell immediately.

You may choose to wait until the end of the round to act or wait until a person with a slower initiative than you. However once you choose to act, any actions you do not preform are wasted.

2) Attacking

Attacking is simply the act of attacking an enemy target with your weapon. You need to be within range and declare that you are attacking the enemy target  and roll your Hit Chance. If the hit is greater than the target's Evade, they you declare the damage that you will do to the target. It will be up to the target to defend. This is your attack action, and you cannot preform another one until the next round.
 

The damage you do is depending upon the weapon you use. For example, if you are using a hand-held weapon, you would add your melee power to your weapon’s damage value and that would be the total damage you will deal to your enemy target. If it is a bow and arrow then you would add bow power to the weapon’s combined damage value (bow damage value plus arrow damage value) to determine how much damage you are going to do to the enemy target. If it is a thrown weapon, you add your throw power to the weapon’s damage value and that would be the total damage. For other kinds of weapons such as guns and crossbows, you would simply give their damage values because you would not have any strength based damage value to add to the weapon’s damage value.

• Melee Power: This is used with any hand-held weapons. It is also used if you are punching, kicking, head butting, or any attack using your full strength.
• Throw Power: This is used when you throw something.
• Bow Power: This is used when you use a bow and arrow.
• Guns do not use strength therefore they use none of these.

There are also dual wielding and two-handed weapons which can give you a bonus to your attack.

• Dual Wielding: You are using two weapons at the same time with one attack. You need to have the dual wielding ability for the weapons you wish to dual wield to do this.

• 2-Handed Weapons: Wielding a 2-Handed weapon allows you to apply Melee Power twice. Therefore your attack would be Melee Power + Melee Power + Weapon Damage.

Finally there's hand dominance. If you are right handed but attack with your left hand, you only get to add 1/2 your melee power, or throw power if throwing. Bow's must be used with your dominate hand so they never have this penalty. You might use your weaker hand if your dominate hand is being restrained or is injured. You cannot dual wield without the dual wielding skill.

That is the very basics of attacking.

3) Criticals

There are three types of criticals: critical success, critical failure, and critical hits.

Critical Success: Critical Success applies when using a skill or a spell and you roll a 001. Critical Successes double the point value effect of the skill or spell and double your success rate of skill points.

Critical Failure: Critical Failure applies when using a skill or a spell and you roll a 100. Critical Failure causes you to lose double your success rate worth of points from your skill or spell. If the skill or spell is an offensive or healing skill or spell, it could potentially do something more. To determine this, roll a 1d6.

• Rolling a 1: If you roll a 1 on the 1d6 roll, you somehow still manage to preform the skill or spell as intended. This is considered a lucky break because despite how badly you failed, it still worked.
• Rolling a 6: Rolling a 6 on a 1d6 is the worst possible fail. Typically this means that the skill or spell did opposite of what you intended. Maybe you meant to heal your friend with Essence Bolt, but instead you injured your friend more. Maybe you tried to cast Earthen Angers at an enemy but instead cast it at an ally or yourself. Maybe you tried to do a 2-Hit Combo, but you failed so bad you hurt yourself in the process. Obviously the effects can vary with the situation and depend upon the GM to decide what happens here.
• Rolling a 2 - 5: Any roll besides a 1 or a 6 is simply a fail.

Critical Hits: A critical hit is where you do more than normal damage against a target. You would refer to either your character's Critical Hit % or Critical Magic %. If the attack is a physical attack, you would refer to Critical Hit %. If the attack is a magical attack, you would refer to Critical Magic %. If you succeed at making either, the damage your character dealt is increased by doubling the appropriate attack power (melee, bow, or throw power). 

The way you check for a Critical Hit % or Critical Magic % depends on what your character is doing. If your character is not using any skill or spell and is just hitting the enemy with a weapon you would roll the percentile dice with your attack. If your roll is equal to or below your character's Critical Hit %, you perform a critical hit. Otherwise it is a normal hit. So if your character's Critical Hit % is 20 and you roll a 21, it is a normal hit, but if you rolled a 20 (or lower) it is a critical hit.

If your character is using a skill or a spell though you do not need to make a separate roll to check for a critical hit. Instead, if your character's successful roll to use the skill or spell is also below or equal to your character's Critical Hit % (or Critical Magic % if a spell is being used), you automatically do a critical hit.

4) The View Cone

When you attack you can only attack to your front, unless you are using a skill that states otherwise. Therefore you will need to have some way of identifying the front of your character’s identifier on the battle map. Not only can you attack only to your front, but also if you attack another target to their back sides or out of their view range that lessens their ability to evade or defend against your attack. The following illustration should help you understand the different sides of a character as seen on a battle map.

View Cone Example

The red cones represent the view fields if the character is looking straight to the front. It does not represent the view distances. Any block or hex that is identified as a front block or hex would be where that character could attack and have normal defense and evade chances if attacked from there. Unless the character has a skill that allows the character to attack to the sides or behind, that character will only be able to attack to the front.

5) Dealing With Hidden and Covered Targets

If you cannot see an enemy, you cannot attack that enemy - unless of course you are using Blind Shot. Instead, you must first make a perception check to spot the enemy that is hiding, applying any penalties that may exist, which the GM will tell you about.

If the enemy is hidden behind an obstacle, the enemy is considered covered. You would first have to be on the same side of the obstacle as the enemy is. If the enemy is also hiding you will need to then make your perception checks. You simply cannot hit an enemy beyond or through an obstacle unless you are using an area of effect skill or spell that goes beyond the obstacle, which is up to GM discretion.

6) Using Skills and Spells

Using Skills and Spells is another action you can make during the active round. For the most part, this is pretty straight forward. You simply use the skill or spell by making the mastery check, and the describe what the skill or spell does. Some skills or spells will do damage, some will cause status effects, some will heal, and some will benefit you or your allies. You will need to spend the action costs and stat point costs, whether you are successful or not at using the skill or spell, and yes you can use minor elemental manipulations.

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of a spell or skill is the skill's area’s of effect. If a skill lists its area of effect as one by one (1 x 1) space around the user, you would count out one space from your identifier, all around your identifier, and the skill or spell would only affect those in the radius of the skill or spell.

1x1 Space Area of Effect Example

As this example shows, even enemy targets can be in your radius of effect. If the skill affects all targets within the area of effect, then all targets will be affected, ally, enemy, and even you. If the skill is beneficial, the enemy will get that benefit. If the skill is harmful, your allies, and possibly even you, will get harmed. Sometimes however the skill will specifically say it only affects allies or enemies, so you need to understand the skill carefully and take a look at all who will be affected, before using the skill.

If the area of effect is larger than 1x1 space around the user, you simply count out more spaces outward. Here is an example of an area of effect that is 2x2 space around the user.

2x2 Space Area of Effect Example

The green highlight shows the original example of 1x1 space around the user. The purple highlight shows the radius expanded by 1 for 2x2 space around the user. More targets are potentially effected in this example because the area of effect for this skill is larger.

The same rules apply if you are using a skill that has an area of effect but you can target the skill on another target, presumably an enemy target. Instead of counting outward from your identifier, you would count outward from the target’s identifier. Of course some area of effect skills may be able to be targeted around allies and not enemy targets or yourself.

Placed Radius Area of Effect Example

Some skills can be placed and even have a range as to how far the center of the skill’s area of effect can be placed. For example, if a skill has a range of 5 space and an area of effect of 1x1 space, then you would count out five spaces from you to place the center of the skill, and 1 space away from the center of the skill around the center.

Some skills or spells do not really have an area of effect but only work in a straight line or affect every target in a straight line. This is a straight line of all connecting spaces from your identifier going in the direction that you are facing. The straight line cannot skip over any spaces and cannot bulge, and must be in a perfect straight line. Here is an illustration of a straight line effect from one possible direction.

Straight Line Effect Example

As illustrated by this example, a straight line effect spell or skill will only be able to make diagonal lines on a hex grid battle map with only making horizontal or vertical lines on a square grid battle map. It is important to understand that a straight line effect has to be able to effect all hexes or squares in a straight line in order to work properly.

7) Movement

Another activity you can take part in during your active round is movement. For the most part, movement is rather simple. You can move once during your active round. The distance you can move is based on your character's battle movement rate. Once you have moved, you cannot move again that round. If you have not used all of your movement rate and have stopped to attack, you still cannot move to complete your movement rate. Once you have stopped moving your movement action is done for that round.

Simple yes? You simply move your character's battle movement rate to the location on the battle map you want to go. But there are a few special situations that you should know about.

7.1) Sprinting

Typically, you can only move your character's battle movement rate during your character's active round. But what if you need to get somewhere in a hurry? You can sprint. Sprinting is a short run which allows your character to travel farther than he or she normally would during your active round. Every character can sprint. You simply need to spend the energy to do so. Sprinting allows you to move at double your character's battle movement rate at a cost of 5 EP per use.

7.2) Crawling

Imagine, if you will, a battlefield with obstacles that you can duck behind to hide from those pesky silver imps and their deadly accurate crossbows. Now what if you wanted to try to move while remaining low enough to still be covered by the obstacle? You can do so by crawling. Crawling allows you to move at half your battle movement rate while remaining low to the ground.

7.3) Flying

Some races are blessed with the ability of flight and some spells also grant this ability. Flying is incredibly useful as in most cases it allows you to move across the battlefield at three times your battle movement rate spending only a small amount of EP. However, flying might not always be possible in every battle. Before you try to fly, you need to make sure with the GM that the environment will allow your character to fly. In order to make use of the flying movement bonus, your character must be able to fly over most obstacles. However, if your character can't fly, that doesn't mean that you can't make use of your wings to aide in movement. Maybe you can also glide, or at least use your wings to give a small movement bonus? Check with your GM, surely he or she will be able to work with you to help make the best use of your character's unique ability.

7.4) Obstacles

Battlefields are rarely empty, sparse plains. Oftentimes they are filled with all kinds of obstacles such as water, debris, stairs, pit holes, trees, and so forth. Sometimes you may need to climb to deal with the obstacle. Other times you may need to swim. Finally, some obstacles cannot be surpassed. When dealing with obstacles that require climbing or swimming, refer to the rules for such in the general gameplay rules section.

8) Support Actions

Support Actions is another type of activity that you can make during your active round. You can make one support movement per round. This might be to use a potion, change equipment, or use a support skill. Support skills will cost support actions. Once you have performed a support action, you cannot perform another one that round.

As far as using items is concerned, a support action covers both getting the potion and drinking the potion, all in one action.

If you are wanting to use a potion on an ally, you need to be one space away from that ally and facing that ally. If you are farther away, you will need to either move or to throw using your attack action. If you throw a potion, every target in the path or next to the path of the thrown item can make a free react check to catch the item, including the intended target. The first person in the path to catch the item gets the item. If no one succeeds to catch the item, it is considered a wasted item. 

It also is considered a support action to change your equipment. You can change as much equipment as you want during that support action but once you stop you cannot chance any more equipment until the next round.

You do need to use support actions to reload your projectile weapons unless the projectile weapon declares that you do not.

9) Extra Topics in Active Round