Lone Wolf Fists: Time to GET WRECKED, SON

Ah combat rules. I think you’ve all seen some version of these before. This is the punchier, more organized version.

I feel like this would be an awesome place to wax poetic about like, usability of rules or tactical pacing or something.

I’m not going to: instead, enjoy these awesome wallpapers for Fist of the North Star, accompanied by some kickass tunes

Combat

Intro and flowchart

Now you’ve reached the good part: kicking ass and taking names 

Fighting is the ultimate arbiter in the World of Ashes and Ghosts; philosophy and reason are as fragile bone before the iron hammer of violence. The greatest warriors are the masters of the world’s smoldering remains.

Combat follows the same steps as an Action Scene. Characters may Attack to injure or kill their foes and Defend against their foe’s strikes.

Attacks have their own sequence of steps

1. The attacker selects a Set with which to attack

2. The defender chooses a set with which to defend

3. Subtract defense set from attacking set: 0 or Negative results successfully defend. Positive results are damage

4. Defender “buys down” damage to 0, or is vanquished (beaten unconscious or killed)

Defenders have several options for absorbing damage, including their mystical Aura and any Health from their Health Boxes. These are fully explained below. (p.XX)

Combat Rounds

Below is the full breakdown of how the steps of a round manifest in combat.

The inciting event which begins battle is any person deciding to use violence to achieve their goals. Insults, threats, posturing, and similar saber-rattling can all exist within the confines of a Real-Time scene. Combat only begins when at least one character crosses that line between threat and violence.

Start of the Round

When any character decides to use violence, this triggers the start of a round of combat. There’s no “I attack before they know what’s hit them!”; if you try to attack, everybody present gets to join. The process of combat contains all the sneak-attacking and similar strategies; you can’t bypass it.

Characters don’t have to join the fight; they can be spectators. This could leave them defenseless in the face of an attack if somebody wants to draw them in, however, so it isn’t advised!

We’ll refer to characters participating in the conflict as combatants. When someone launches an attack at someone else, we’ll call them the attacker, and the poor sap getting attacked as the defender.

Imbalance decision

Next, any combatants with Imbalances have a tough choice to make. 

For each Imbalance, they must decide if they’ll take its Mechanical Penalty (which will reduce one of Effort Pool, Focus Slots, or available Chakra this turn) or its Dramatic Penalty (Which will limit what their actions can do).

Imbalances are described fully in their own section (p.XX) but for now it’s important to know when they manifest in combat. 

Roll Effort

Every combatant rolls and organizes their Effort Pool. There are a few notable things to point out here:

• Even ambushed or “unaware” characters get to roll. Why? Because they’re badasses and they can react to total surprise with a nuclear roundhouse kick. Even 1-Effort die wielding schlubs might muster a desperate defense at the last second, so everybody gets to roll

• Combatants might be rolling less dice because of their Imbalances. Aren’t you glad we made them decide if that happens before they rolled?

Initiative Bid

Starting with the GM and working clockwise, every combatant may submit a bid for Initiative out of their Effort Dice. 

Why bidding? Because going first is a gigantic advantage. It allows you to effectively “flip” all a foe’s dice from attacks into a defense, giving you control of the rhythm of this combat round and putting them on the defense.

After everybody has bid, they can try to out-bid one another. This start with the GM and goes clockwise again. This process continues until everybody has submitted their final bids.

When you bid again, you replace your initial bid with your new bid. You must bid higher than your previous bid; you can’t submit lower bids. 

Only your highest and final bid is “spent” out of your Effort. 

Once the Initiative Order is established, players take their turns in that order this round. 

If the combat continues into future rounds, then new bids will determine the order in which players act in those rounds.

Changing Initiative: Character can voluntarily lower their Initiative to any number lower than their total. This can be done at the end of any player’s turn, before any other turn begins.

Turns

During their turn, players will doubtless want to bring the pain to their enemies. There are a few new ways they can use their Effort Dice and actions to do exactly this. 

First, just to be clear: the Effort Pool otherwise works normally. You can take one action with a single die (including an attack if you’re so inclined) and further actions are provided exclusively by Bonus Actions which require sets of a minimum of Rank 2 (these may also be attacks).

In addition to this single 1-die action and any bonus actions, combatants may take a single rank 0 action. They might:

Move with Agility: They can move up to an adjacent Battlefield

Hide with Senses: They can benefit from any available cover 

Leverage their strength to move or lift things: They can move up to 50 lbs./25 kilos

Or any other action covered by Rank-0 in the Effect Charts

Attacks, Defense and Damage

Here’s how to launch an attack and defend yourself when somebody attacks you.

Attacking

The attacker selects a Set to attack with. Both the Rank and the Facing are important.

They can bolster this Set with Techniques which have the Offensive or Versatile keywords. 

Additionally, Weapons can modify attacks: this is covered in the Weapons section (p.XX)

Defending

The defender now chooses how they defend. They can let the attack slam into them if they like, but that’s usually a terrible idea given any other option. 

Generally, they will wish to select a Set of their own to defend against the attack.

They can bolster this Set with Techniques which bear the Defensive or Versatile keywords.

Damage

Subtract the defender’s total Defense (Rank and Facing) from the attacker’s total Attack.

• A 0 or Negative result is a successful defense. The attack has been rendered harmless by the defense

• A Positive result is a successful attack and damages the defender

Whatever positive result remains is taken by the defender as Damage. They must reduce it to 0 by “buying it down” with either Aura or Health. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, they are Vanquished (and killed, at the attacker’s option!)

Aura, Health, and Imbalances

Aura is possessed by characters of Degree 1 or higher. It is a mystic barrier of protective Prana that surrounds these powerful warrior, warping destiny in their favor and warding off harm. As they grow more powerful, their Aura increases in strength as well. Truly epic masters are nearly invincible.

Defenders may reduce incoming damage with their Aura. For every point of Aura they spend, Damage is reduced by 1.

Aura doesn’t replenish until characters are able to rest and recuperate from battle. This makes it a resource which must be used frugally to reduce damage. 

Characters also have Health Boxes representing their inborn vitality and ability to shrug off injury. As they become more powerful, their bodies are battened on Prana, and so they get additional Health Boxes.

Each Health box contains 10 Health. Health can be spent to reduce incoming damage in exactly the same way as Aura.

However, whenever a Health Box is depleted of Health, the defender becomes injured; this either creates a Rank 1 Physical Imbalance or increases an existing one by 1 Rank.

The attacker chooses the specifics of the Imbalance. Full rules on Imbalances are found in their respective section (p.XX)

Awakening Slumbering Chakra

Although the full rules for Chakra are provided elsewhere (p.XX), using Chakra in combat so strategically critical that I’m describing it here to keep it in the forefront of your mind.

Characters can Awaken their Slumbering Chakra on their turn. This require a Spirit Action of Rank 2 or higher.

The Rank of the Spirit Action used to Awaken them becomes their temporary Recovery for the rest of the combat. Their Pool becomes their Recovery times 5 (So a Recovery of 2 creates a Pool of 10, a Recovery of 3 becomes a Pool of 15, etc.)

Chakra Awaken empty, but during the Recovery step, they fill with Prana equal to the Facing of the set used to Awaken them. For example, if you Awakened your Chakra with a total of 26, they would have a Recovery of 2, a Pool of 10, and fill with 6 Prana during the Recovery step.

Recovery

Characters recover their magical energy, Prana, in this step. 

Every Chakra has a Recovery: this is how many Prana it generates for it’s Pool. The Pool is the total reservoir of mystical power it offers a character.

Newly-Awakened Chakra don’t add any Prana from their Recovery in the round they Awaken. 

Instead, they add Prana equal to the Facing of the set used to Awaken them.

Note that’s much easier to spend Prana than to recover it. Characters must shepherd their mystical power carefully, or else they may find themselves tapped out of magical power when they need it the most.

End of Round

The round closes out. This is when any round-long effects expire. 

This is also when combatants can end the combat if they so choose. If, at the end of a round, no character present continues to try using violence, then combat ends.

Even one remaining violent character can drag everybody into another round of combat. But, if a mutual peace is decided, this is when the fighting ends.

 

Weapons

When using a weapon, characters gain a bonus to a single Action representing the unique edge it grants them. 

These advantages enhance actions, similar to Techniques. However, except for Unarmed strikes, they may not create Bonus actions.

The advantage offered by a weapon can be accessed freely once per round. Additionally, it can be used to enhance additional actions if Prana is spent at the listed Cost.

The advantages and the types of weapons which grant them are listed below.

Balanced: Such as swords; these perfectly honed killing instruments are the kings of weapons, coveted and feared by warriors. Offense Rank +1. Cost 6

Reflexive: Sai, Staff, and shield are used primarily for defense, rather than attack. Defense Rank +1. Cost 4

Flexible: Chains and other entangling weapons, like nets; used to grab and entrap foes. Grab Rank +1. Cost 5

Reach: Spears and similar strategic weapons, used by skilled combatants to control the flow of battle. Initiative +1d10. Cost 3

Heavy: Hammers and other massive, blunt objects used to crush bones and pulverize the foe; they are exceedingly easy to use, able to rely on both size and momentum. +1d10 Damage, adds to every attack at no cost. Cost 0 

Ranged: Such as guns or bows, used to strike at a distance. Attack adjacent zone/ any visible target. Cost 0/6

Subtle: Throwing Needles and other quiet, easily concealed and innocuous weaponry; they are nearly harmless on their own, but often coated in deadly poison. Foe may only Defend with Senses, retain hidden when attacking. Max damage 1, but often coated in poison. Cost 0

Unarmed: Strikes with fists, feet, elbows, even the forehead; the most fundamental weapons, able to attack freely and often in a flurry of blows. May Attack with a set of Rank 1 twice per turn. Cost 4

Improvised: A suitable substitute for the improvised weapon must be used (such as a parasol for a spear). It gains the abilities of the mimicked weapon but costs either 1 Effort Die (of any Facing) or 3 Prana every time it is used.

Note that uses of the Power Skill to “improvise” massive objects as weapons are not governed by this rule; they are covered under the purview of that skill and have no additional surcharge.

Legendary Weapons

Some rare, unique weapons have powerful advantages. In addition to the powers listed above, such artifacts confer unique benefits to their wielders.

Sometimes this takes the form of unique Techniques which the weapon grants to its possessor. Some such weapons possess a sophisticated AI or the Kharmic impression of another’s soul, and hence have a personality, desires and will of their own.

The specific details of such extraordinary weaponry are listed within their descriptions.

Armor

Armor reduces all Damage from incoming attacks according to its rating. The amount absorbed and the types of armor which offer this protection are listed below.

Armor Chart

1 Leather, Ceramic

2 Chainmail or Scale, Tac-gear

3 Advanced Tac-Gear, Space-age Armor

Greater armor undoubtedly exists; like legendary weaponry, each set is unique and confers one-of-a-kind powers to its wearer. 

Edge Cases, Exceptions, and other odds and ends

Here are some additional things which can happen during combat

Sneak Attacks

Senses can be used to hide and launch sneak attacks, as described under the Senses skill (p.XX)

Grabs and Throws

Rather than dealing damage, a successful attack may be used to Grab a foe. 

A held character’s movement is dictated by the holding character. Generally, they are held still or thrown (as with the Power skill p.XX). They can instead be dragged along as the grappling character moves. It’s also possible to hold a foe’s head under water to drown them, among other creative uses of a held foe.

Holds may be Sustained: the rank of the original attack must be overcome by the held character to escape.

An attack against either character in a hold that exceeds the hold value may break it and send both characters sprawling, at the attacker’s discretion. This means that a character can smash a friend out of an enemy’s hands, like hitting a baseball from a tee. Their friend would have to contend with the damage from the strike, however!

If multiple characters grab one another, then only use the highest result rolled for the sustained action. Characters that voluntarily entered the hold may do so at any time, while those who were drug in against their will must break the action as usual.

Being Vanquished and Death

The standard outcome of losing all your Health is being beaten messily unconscious, to recover at some later time: we call this being Vanquished. Characters might not be satisfied with this outcome; sometimes, they’re out for blood.

Death is a big deal, even in the burned-out grave of the world. It has its own special mechanic; the dreaded Death Token.

Characters don’t die in most circumstances where they’re injured or beaten. However, when the Death Token is present in a scene, all bets are off. Every danger becomes more dangerous, every risk riskier.

To introduce the Death Token, one of the following conditions must be met:

1. The GM must, at the beginning of a round, declare that Death is a possibility for the characters

2. One of the Players must declare, on vanquishing an adversary, that they are killing them. This specifically includes vanquishing characters normally, then slaying them later while they’re still helpless and unconscious

3. At any point, a player proposes an action that the GM specifies will kill them (just put that token up there to show them how serious you are!)

In this way, only through GM warning or player bloodthirst can characters risk permanent death

If Death is introduced to a Scene, then it remains an outcome until the Scene ends.  While the option for Death persists, any character that Vanquishes another may kill them.

In general, this rule exists to encourage players to take risks with their characters without wagering their lives, and to spare foes rather than kill them (the better to foster rivalries and encourage deeper relationships with villains).