The page on the Active Round in Combat breifly discussed the basics of attacking. Here we will go into more detail in just how you attack and deal damage. The way you attack and deal damage depends really on the method of which you attack. The attack method is melee, bow, throw, projectile, or magic. 

Melee Attacking

Melee attacking is any form of attack in which you hit a target physically, but didn't do so by throwing something at the target or shooting the target. This can be done so by attacking with your hands, feet, or any weapon you hold in your hands.

Melee attacks will always add your character's Melee power to the damage. If you are unarmed, this is really the only damage you will do to the target, unless you use a skill of course. If you are armed, this is as simple as: 

When using a melee attack, the melee power will always be the first value in your attack. 

If you use a skill when you do a melee attack it would be:

If the skill also increased your melee power you'd add that value to your melee power for the attack. 

If you roll at or below your Critical Hit value, you would add Melee Power in again:

Throwing Attacks

Throwing attacks is when you attack a target by throwing something at that target. The method of attacking is the same as melee attacking, except you would use throw power instead of melee power. 

If you roll at or below your Critical Hit value, you would add Throw Power in again:

The difference between melee attacking and throwing attacks is that with a throwing attack, you need to use Aim. If you do not meet your Aim stat score, you miss your target.

Projectile Attack with Bow & Arrow

This is where you shoot a projectile at your target using a bow. The method of attacking is the same as melee attacking, except you would use bow power instead of melee power. You would also have two weapon attack values instead of one.

If you roll at or below your Critical Hit value, you would add Bow Power in again:

Guns & Crossbows

Guns and Crossbows, and other similar weapons, do not rely on the wielder's strength. Therefore, you do not get to add any melee, bow, or throw power into the attack. Instead, it will be two weapon damages.

However, if you make a successful luck check, you can make a critical hit with these weapons too. Doing so allows you to use the projectile weapon's attack value (gun or crossbow for example) twice.

001 Critical Hits

Rolling a 001 in the ultimate critical success. For skills and spells this typically means that the effect is doubled and the character points gained is doubled. However, rolling a 001 for a critical hit can mean even more.

• Deathblow Chance: A 001 on a critical hit gives you the chance of instantly killing the target. You would roll a 1d6. If a 6 is rolled, that target is instantly killed by your hit. Even if the target is fully defending and blocking, this hit will kill the target. 
• Epic Casting: if the 001 critical hit is with a spell, it would either instantly kill or fully restore the target - depending on if the spell is damaging or healing. You would roll a 1d6. If a 6 is rolled, the target is instantly killed or restored fully. This spell will kill the target, even if the target is immune or has 100% magic protection against that element. 
• Double Crit: If a 6 isn't rolled, the hit is considered a double crit. In this instance, you will add your melee, throw, bow, or magic power twice. With a normal crit, you are only adding it once. For example, with a double crit melee attack:

Critical Failure of a Critical Hit

This is when you roll a 100 when attempting to do a critical hit. If it is just a check for the critical hit bonus, rolling this means you do no damage at all. If it is a skill being used or spell being cast, then the rules for critical mishaps will apply instead. 

Power

All weapons and attacks make use of the Power stat to use. Power is simply a stat that shows your ability to use a weapon or attack.

Power is your character's offensive ability. More precisely, it is the energy you put into your physical attacks. Each time you physically attack, a small part of your character's power is used. The amount used depends on the attack or weapon used. If you use less, you will be less effective in your attack. If you use more, your attack will deal more damage. Should your character’s Power reach zero (0), your character is unable to attack until it is restored. Power recovers at 1% of full power per round, or 10% per hour.

Weapons all have a power cost. Unarmed Attacks do not have a default power cost. That does not mean that hitting someone with your hand won't cost power however, because each attack also has a power cost.

A basic attack with 1 hand cost 1 Power. This means if you use both hands you are using 2 Power. This can be negated with skills that allow use of 2 hands at the same time such as dual wielding or 2-Handed Proficiency. With those skills it will be simply 1 power for the basic attack despite using both hands.

Each additional skill that increases the damage of your attack also increases the power cost of the attack by 1. So for example if you are using the following skills in your attack: +1d10 Damage, Increased Critical, and Extra Strike; you will increase your power cost by 3, making your basic attack cost at least 4 Power. However, the levels of the skill do not increase the power cost of the attack, just the skill itself. Skills such as Attack Proficiency and Weapon Proficiency do not increase the power cost. The skill has to add an actual increase on damage, critical chance, or extra attack to increase the power cost.

Therefore if you were using a sword that already has a 1 power cost, you would spend 5 Power with that attack chain.

Unarmed Combat is a little different only in the fact that it does not add a weapon power cost unless you are using some glove or gauntlet that actually has a power cost. However you still have the power cost of your basic attack and the attack increasing skills. Chi skills do not increase your power cost.

Using Less Power

Using the required power cost grants you the full damage of the attack. However you can use less power in your attack. This can be beneficial if you do not have a lot of power or if you want to harm but not kill the target.

For every 1 power less that required, you will decrease the total damage of the attack by 10%. So if you use 10 less power, you will do no damage. You may however still do any skill effects such as daze the target.

Using less power also reduces your hit chance. This is because you are not able to fully commit to the attack. Every 1 less power used than required reduces your hit chance for that attack by 5.

Using More Power

You can use more power to cause more damage in your attack. This can be useful if you are wanting to more quickly get rid of the enemy. This could be your final chance as well that can turn the tables in your favor. You can also do this in an aided attack adding more damage to your friend's attack.

Every time you increase the power cost by 50% you increase the total damage of the attack by 50%. Therefore if the power cost was 5 but you spent 8 power, you will do x 1.5 more damage. If you spent 10 power you will do x 2 more damage. If you spent 20 more power, x 3 more damage and so on.

However this also decreases your hit chance just a little. This is because you are focusing so much more power you are not as sure with your hit. Each increase of 50% decreases your hit chance by 2.