[ooc] Combat and its many Styles

Kung Fu is fundamental in any Wuxia game. In this game, there are different styles of combat that the players must be aware of:

Artful Weapons and Kung Fu
Artful weapons and kung fu use the Melee skill.  These represent the application of finesse and speed in battle.  Typically, these are blades and other cutting edges.  Artful weapons allow Artful kung fu enhancement to attack and defense.  Against hand-to-hand weapons, apply the weapon's Strike as a modifier to the roll.  Against thrown and projectile weapons, artful defense suffers a -10 modifier and does not benefit from the Strike.

Brutal Weapons and Kung Fu
These use the Fight skill and represent the application of raw force.  Include fists, feet and most blunt weapons.  These allow Brutal kung fu enhancement to attack and defense.  Against hand-to-hand weapons, apply the weapon's Strike as a modifier to the roll.  Against thrown and projectile weapons, brutaldefense suffers a -10 modifier and does not benefit from the Strike.

Ranged Weapons and Kung Fu

These use the Ranged skill and depend on the application of insight, flow, keen senses and Wu Wei.  These include thrown and projectile weapons.  They allow Ranged kung fu enhancement to attack and defense.  In addition, you can enhance Ranged attacks with sharp weapons known as Ranged (Artful) weapons with Artful kung fu, or Ranged attacks with blunt weapons or Ranged (Brutal) weapons with Brutal kung fu.  Characters can use ranged weapons to defend against attacks.  Do not apply the weapon's Strike modifier for defense, instead apply a -15 modifier.  Usually it is better to just dodge.

Artful/Brutal Weapons

When weapons allow the use of both styles, you can use either Fight or Melee skill, and you can apply Artful kung fu, Brutal kung fu or a combination.

Mobility
Typically, all combatants are in motion.  Typical tactics include keeping distance from a group, closing in on someone, and similar motions.  Characters move 10 yards a round.  If you wish to move faster, an Athletics check is needed.  [20 yards/Moderate difficulty, 30y/Hard, 40y/Legendary].  You can only move once per round.

Initiative
At the beginning of each round, roll Initiative.  Highest acts first.  Characters can wait for someone else to act first, and if results in a loop, none act that round.

Weapon Speed
If the character has one or more weapons drawn, the weapon's Speed modifies the Initiative.  As always, pick only the best modifier.

ACTIONS
Each round, you are allowed one full action and two free actions.   Full round actions are actions that require your attention and effort.  Free actions are little things that do not need your focus, such as typical movement. Kung fu that allow additional full actions take them at the end of the initiative order.

Full Actions
Most skill rolls are full actions.  If the action depends on two or more skills, this is a "complex" action and you roll using the skill with the smaller set of dice.  (e.g. Carving a poem into a target's cheek is a Melee and Learning skill roll.  The Poem is a Moderate task, the calligraphy is a Moderate task as well, and hitting the opponent is basically a trivial task.  Therefore, using the lower of the two skills, you roll to target 20, or the defense roll whichever is higher.)

Free Actions
Skill rolls for unopposed Trivial tasks are free actions.  Conversation, throwing insults would be free actions.

OPPOSING ACTIONS
Defensive Actions
You can always defend against an attack.  You get one defense for any given attack.
You can use Dodge to oppose any physical attack.
You can also Block (using Fight if with your brutal weapon or hands or feet, or Melee if with artful weapons.)
Without the appropriate kung fu, blocking weapons with bare hands risks damage, usually 2 points per block, even if successful.

You can use Confidence skill to oppose any direct social attack.
You can also block social attacks with the skill used (resisting persuasion attempts with your own Persuade skill, etc)

Tactical Opposition
You can also spend a full action preparing some kind of opposition.  Until your next chance to act, you automatically oppose all relevant actions with the relevant skill.   An example of this is when bandits attack a village, you could declare that you want to parry any attack against a child standing near you.  Whenever that child is attacked, you can defend the child as if it were you attacked.  Modifiers apply when you try to oppose things that are more ambitious, but its perfectly in the genre to succeed.

HURTING PEOPLE
Damage works like a style roll.  If your attack minimally succeeds, you get to roll one die of damage.  For each full five points you succeed by, roll one more die.    (So if your attack scored a critical success which is succeeding by 10, roll three dice.)  The total damage done is the result of your roll plus the damage bonus of your weapon and kung fu, minus the result of the opposition (like armor or chi aura).

Most weapons add a modifier to your damage roll.  Barehanded attacks have a -5 modifier.  Long swords a +5.   Great swords a +15.  Terrible Weapons of the Gods can add +20 and more.

Armor imposes a negative modifier to the damage roll.  Light gives a -5 modifier, Medium a -10 and Heavy a -15 modifier.

Opposing Damage Rolls
You can oppose damage rolls by spending Chi Aura.  Each point gives one die with which to oppose the roll. This is the only free defense against damage.

Example:    Mong Duk attacks Meng Lo, rolling 45 to attack against Meng Lo's defense of 34.  Mong Duk is using a great sword, and Meng Lo is wearing medium armor.  Mong Duk therefore rolls 3 dice (his 45 is 11 more than the defense of 34) and this is to be modified by +15 (greatsword) and -10 (medium armor).    Mong Duk rolls a 23 and has a +5 remaining modifier, for a total of 28.  Not wanting to get hurt, Meng Lo spends a point of Chi Aura and rolls 15.  The total damage is 28-15 = 13 points of damage.

BEING HURT
Random Citizens typically have a Health of 5.  Fifth Rank fighters have a Health of 10.  Typically characters have Health equal to their total Chi Ratings.  (NPCs for simplicity sake have Health equal to +5/Rank, so a 4th Rank NPC has 15, a 3rd has 20 and so forth.

You can take up to five times your Health in damage before you die.
Each time you take your full Health in damage, you suffer progressively increasing impairment.

Healthy/Battered - At full health, or suffering some damage, but not equal to full Health.
Injured - Suffer Chi Flow Loss in one color.  -5 Penalty to Athetics to cover ground.
Wounded - Suffer Chi Flow Loss in another color.  -5 Penalty to all Actions.  -10 Penalty to Athletics to cover ground.
Staggering - Suffer Chi Flow Loss in a third color.  -10 Penalty in all actions.
Last Legs - Suffer Chi Flow Loss in a fourth color.  -10 in all actions, and -20 in Athletics to cover ground.
Dying - If you have any chi left, you're still conscious but Dying.  While Dying, you gain a +10 bonus to Genius and Presence rolls for a glorious one last speech.  But otherwise, you need help soon or you are gone for good.
If no chi, you are comatose and will die without medical help at the end of the scene.