Myths and Legends Combat pt. 2

In the interest of saving time and word count, as well as avoiding retreading old ground, if you haven't read the first combat post going over the fundamentals of combat, please go read it first.

Before jumping into the list of extra actions, let us begin with a combat-adjacent rule. Executions. Many systems like Dungeons and Dragons don't separate attacks based on the situations that they're made in, however I felt for Myths and Legends that this was a feature that needed to be given its own attention. The rule to perform an execution is as follows. Any attack made against a creature that can reasonably be considered defenseless will automatically kill the creature with no need for rolls to be made. Automatic exceptions to the execution rule apply to any creature which can never be considered defenseless, such as any creature with natural armor, creatures with large enough health pools, or creatures that are significantly larger than their attacker. As more details of creatures outside of player characters are developed, these exceptions will be refined to prevent confusion between players and gamekeepers.

Extra actions are, as the name implies, a list of actions that can be taken either in addition to the standard actions during your turn or even on other combatants' turns. Many of these actions are tied closely to skills found on the player character sheets. Since these are still heavily a work in progress, I have chosen not to discuss the roots of the actions until I am able to discuss character creation as a whole.

To begin discussing the extra actions, the simplest point is with the spell Deny. The only spell cast as an extra action, this is used on any other creature's turn to try to prevent a spell from being cast. The difficulty score for Deny is not set in stone as it is for all other spells, and is dependent on the result of the spellcasting roll made for the spell trying to be denied. When successfully cast, the opposing spell fizzles out and the initial caster takes a minimal backlash consequence selected at random by the gamekeeper. This spell is not specific to any type of spellcaster and is automatically known by all spellcasters.

Similar to Deny but for threats of a physical nature opposed to mystical, is Block. Blocking is done when you are the direct target of an attack and can only be done by characters using shields or who are trained in weapon blocking. The block roll must match or exceed the attacker's roll to hit, in which case it will prevent the attack from rolling damage, with certain exceptions depending on the weapon used.

Dodging is another defensive opportunity which does not have the same limitations as blocking. Dodge rolls use the training and natural bonuses from the Agility skill. The dodge roll must be made either as soon as the attack is announced or, at the absolute latest, before damage is rolled from the result of an attack. If the dodge rolls is successful, the attack roll is made unfavorably.

Continuing with the defensive trend, the Hide action is very similar to its original cousin from Dungeons and Dragons, with a little more liberty in its usage. Hiding uses the training and natural bonuses of the Stealth skill, and requires the person hiding to be at least partially concealed from all enemies. This can be used to try to force combatants to use an extra action to attempt to contest the hiding individual with a spot roll, which will be discussed next, or to lose sight of them entirely until stealth is broken due to an attack or a successful spot check reveals them. Unlike in Dungeons and Dragons, you do not have to sacrifice an attack or spell to try to hide. It can be done at any point during the active creature’s turn.

Spotting is of course, the counter action for a creature trying to hide, however it has a multitude of other uses. It can be tied to either the perception skill or the sense skill for its training and natural bonuses, depending on the information the user is wanting to glean. It can be used on the active creature’s turn or on any other creature's turn, and is used to try to determine something in one's environment. Examples can be trying to find a hiding creature, trying to determine a specific identifying mark on an enemy, or trying to locate an environmental advantage.

A Strike is a type of attack used on any other creature's turn. The opportunity to strike activates when a creature attempts to leave the melee threat range of yourself or an ally. Unlike a regular attack, a strike attack can only be made with one equipped weapon, instead of all and cannot be dodged or blocked.

The opposing answer to a strike, and the last of the basic Extra Actions available to all creatures, is to Evade. Evasion is the direct equivalent of dodging for strikes and must be declared and rolled when attempting to leave the melee threat range of any enemy. Since one movement can potentially trigger multiple Strikes, the one Evade roll applies to all attempted Strike rolls made.

These are simply the basics for extra actions, and more may be added directly to different player characters through the means of character advancement. As I continue to work on a proper character sheet, more skills and potentially more extra actions will be added. For now, this concludes the rules for all combat in the Myths and Legends system.