[RoS] Caer Beriss Adventurer's Guild Practice Field

[Lacco]

Welcome to the Caer Beriss Adventurer's Guild Practice Field!

OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?486349-RoS-Curious-Expedition-OOC&p=20727901#post20727901)

How to start:
State your interest in fighting by writing a short intro (how you enter the practice field - and if you go to the "archery range" - ranged practice, "small arena" - one-on-one combat or "large arena" - group combat). Select your opponent/s. You will be informed when your fight begins.

Large arena will be closed until everyone passes at least one small combat.

Here you can try out the combat without "endangering" your PCs in game. Nothing here transfers to the IC - nor wounds, neither gained equipment.

Feel free to try anything out (even different weapons, builds, etc.). Of course, start with the one you have to make yourself comfortable with your fighting style.

Beginners - follow the steps below!

It's important that you learn the combat procedure (initiative in the beginning of combat, aggressor states his intents, defender states his intents, dice are rolled, damage is determined, initiative is determined, aggressor states his intent and ad nausium or ad deathsium... :smallsmile:). Please, don't skip to the fancy manuevers before you learn to "walk"...

Rolling here will occur in plain view - no need to hide it in spoilers. Just separate the OOC part from IC part with [HR ][/HR ], 'k?

Each of you can try out several opponents. I will add more as you defeat the former. So feel free to select opponent (or two if you want to die more quickly) - and we'll start.

The players that don't want to fight can bet on the outcome or cheer for the warriors :smallbiggrin:


bag of hay
the lost peasant with a sling and staff
farmboy who holds the sword for the first time
spear-wielding hunter
drunk pirate with a cutlass
a sword-and-board soldier
the above-average fencer



Current matches:

Combat lineup:


Step 1: Combat Preparations
For beginners - we will start easy. Do step 1, wait for response, then step 2. Additional manuevers and other things will be explained on the way. Experienced players may jump right into the fight.

1. Check your CP. This is your combat pool - the number of d10 dice you have for both one round. It "refreshes" at the start of a round and you spend it for your actions. Dice can not be "spared" for next round.

2. Each melee round is divided into two exchanges. Think of the exchange as one action. Usually - you get one attack-your opponent defends, the opponent gets one attack-you defend. End of round. Refresh dice.

3. State/Throw Initiative! It's a wonderful thing.
Take one white and one red dice. Imagine, that the red dice means attack, the white defence. Now hide them from everyone in your hand and select one - red if you want to attack, white if you want to defend yourself.
When I say "throw" we both throw the dice which we selected.
If we both throw white, we circle each other. We wait. No one attacks.
If one of us throws red and the other white - the red one has initiative and attacks. The white one defends.
Red-red means, we both attack. That can get messy, quick.

Since we are not at one table, you will "throw" your dice here. I promise not to cheat - what would the fun be there?

Initiative is resolved this way only if we begin the combat or if there was a pause in combat. During combat the initiative shifts based on the tactics and rolls. We'll get there.

And one info - you don't have to roll the dice. It's just statement (I attack/I defend) of your action, hidden from the opponent.

Step 1 is over. Now - select your opponent...enter the arena...and INITIATIVE!

Step 2: First attack, first defence

You have CP at ready, you know the initiative.

If you are aggressor, you state intentions first. If defender, wait for aggressor's intentions - you react on his action. If you both threw red, well... there is a nice cementery behind the guild... :smallsmile:

Now the aggressor (the one who threw RED) states his intention in the form of

used offensive manuever
attack zone (if applicable)
dice used for the manuever


The defender (the one who threw WHITE) then states his intention, usually in the form of defensive manuever and allocated dice.

Basic offensive manuevers are cut (uses cut ATN), thrust (uses thrust ATN) and for blunt/mass weapons also strike ATN.
For cuts and strikes, if you want, you can strengthen your attack by spending an additional 1 dice for +1 to damage.
Usually you should pick the lower TN and choose attack based on the weapon you use (usually it's of no use cutting opponent with a rapier - only if you want to humiliate him).

The attack zones - since both fighters move for the whole time, it's hard to pinpoint exact place you hit. So below are the zones (usually you don't need to state which one you attack directly - a "overhead slash"/"diagonal strike"/"lunge at his chest" is enough for me to understand; but for this simulator, state the exact zone to the OOC spoiler) and the places you can hit.

Strike/cut zones

overhead (vertical) - shoulders, chest, head
diagonal - upper body
horizontal - from torso to thighs
arms - arms. Really.
from below (vertical) - legs, squishy parts, underbelly, belly
upper legs - the area around thighs
low legs - from knee below,


Thrust zones
head - head and neck
arms - arms. Really.
chest - torso and abdomen
abdomen - exactly what it says on the tin and below (again the squishy parts)
upper legs - the area around thighs
low legs - from knee below,

Yes, this RPG lets you kick people in the balls - and it hurts.

State what amount of dice do you allocate from your CP to the attack and wait for the opponent to select his defence.
Remember, if you don't plan to kill him by the first blow, there will be a second exchange - if you are left without dice and he has some, you have given him free ticket to wound you - and in this system, often the first wound wins the match.



Per attack
Thrusts (and punches) to the head: -1 CP (= you have to pay additional die to do this attack)
Thrusts to lower legs: -2 CP
Thrusts to the arms/hands: -1 CP
Cuts (and swings) to the lower legs: +1 CP against shield defence (=you get additional die for this attack)
Cuts/swings to the arms/hands: +1 CP

Per round (modify pool at the beginning of round)
Higher footing: +2 CP
Visibility - Near-darkness (dusk): -1 CP
Visibility - Night (with moonlight): reduce CP by -1/4
Visibility - Pitch darkness: reduce CP by -1/2

Weapon length (per attack)
Length steps: Hand-Short-Medium-Long-Very long-Extremely long
Length disadvantage for attack - each step: -1 CP
When shorter weapon hits, the person moves to "ideal" length
If the short weapon has advantage, the opponent gets -1 CP per step for attack and defence!

Botches (fumbles)
If you roll two or more "1s" on dice and no successes, you fumble. Usually - your weapon gets stuck, breaks, gets dropped.
On next exchange, you reduce your combat pool by 1/2 of dice you invested on attack.
E.g. you roll 10 dice. No successes, two 1s. Next exchange you lose 5 dice.

Fatigue
You can fight for (ENx2 - CP penalty for armour) rounds without fatiguing yourself.
After that you lose 1 CP per this number of rounds.

E.g. Character's armour penalty is -2 and EN 4. He can fight for 6 rounds, then loses 1 CP at beginning of his 7th round, 13th round, 19th...



For the defender:
Basic defensive manuevers are:

full evasion - you try to run away, get out of harm's way. You roll against DTN of 4 (very good), but you can not use it in exchange after you attacked.
partial evasion - you try to dodge the opponent's attack and stay close enough. You roll against DTN of 7. If you win the exchange (he misses), you can pay 2 dice from CP to get initiative.
duck & weave - you try to find optimal attack position after you dodge. You roll against DTN of 9 (very dangerous), but if you win, you are at your ideal length and the opponent is considered to have botched the roll (he additionally loses 1/2 of his invested dice)
parry - you try to parry with your weapon. Assign CP dice to defence and roll against DTN of your weapon. If you win the exchange, you automatically have initiative.
block - the same as parry, however you block with you shield - and use the DTN of shield.


Consider the amount of dice your opponent invested when choosing yours - it's always safer to defend with more, attack with less - only if you are sure that he has unwieldy weapon or you think you can withstand the punishment.
You do not have to select a zone you cover, however:

you are able to parry only one attack per round with one weapon (you can still parry second one by the off-hand weapon or by your hand)
using evade/dodge/duck&weave you dodge all attacks that are directed at you at that round
you are not able to parry an arrow, however you can try blocking it with the shield (there is a slight increase in DTN for that)


As soon as the opponent allocates his dice to his attack, you can state your defensive manuever and amount of dice.


And then we roll.

Step 3: Add more options and killy stuff!

When you are already sure about the basic manuevers, test the manuevers below in the arena as your next step!

Additional manuevers:

Offensive

Feint is an offensive manuever, which consists of changing of attack direction before the attack connects in effort to evade the defender's defence entirely.
It's one of the first "tricks" of fencers and swordsmen.

Procedure:
You state attack normally ("I swing downwards at his head for 4 dice).
You let defender to state his defence ("I parry with 4 dice")
You declare FEINT, change the direction of attack ("FEINT! I swing horizontally") pay the activation price (1 if the second hit zone is near, 2 if on opposite side of body) and you can add dice into your hand, at price of 1 die per 1 added (e.g. I want to add 3 dice to the attack and so I remove another 3 dice).

The result? You use 11 dice of your CP and roll 7 for attack against opponent's 4. The opponent can not change his defence at the moment.

There are two types:
Feint & cut - you swing and change into different swing.
Feint & thrust - you swing and change into a thrust; rapier proficiency is the only one that can use the "feint thrust, change to thrust" manuever. It still has to land on different zone.

Every time you repeat a feint - state the same original attack and changed attack - the activation cost rises by 1.


Beat is an offensive manuever, which consists of aggressive attack aimed on opponent's weapon or shield at the beginning of combat - it serves to remove the weapon/shield temporarily from combat.
Beat can be used only in first exchange of the first round (at the beginning of combat) or after a break in combat (still, only in first exchange).

Procedure:
You state that you use beat normally, paying the activation cost (usually 1 die) and allocating dice from CP.
You let defender to state his defence.

If you win, the weapon/shield is beaten aside and can not be used in defence on the following exchange. Additionally, every net success means a "shock" of 2 dice for opponent.

Another advantage: beat halves the range penalties coming from opponent's longer weapon.
The result? You use e.g. 6 dice of your CP + 1 die for activation cost to attack opponent's shield and roll e.g. 3 successes. Your opponent gets only 1 success. He loses 4 dice and can not use shield to defend, usually leading to higher DTN.


Bind and strike is an offensive manuever, which consists of pinning the weapon of the opponent with your off-hand weapon or shield, before launching your own attack.
It is very similar to the block open & strike manuever, however, it takes dice from the opponent.

Procedure:
You state attack with off-hand weapon ("I bind his weapon with my shield for 4 dice").
You let defender to state his defence ("I parry with 4 dice")
You roll against your DTN.

If you get net successes, you remove the same amount of CP from your opponent's dice pool for next exchange.

The result? You use 6 dice of your CP and roll 3 successes for against opponent's 1. The opponent loses 2 dice from his next exchange.


Simultaneous block & strike uses both hands - either two weapons or a weapon and shield. It is a maneuver that allows you to block opponent's attack and simultaneously launch an attack of your own - thus being ideal for Red/Red situations.

Procedure:
You state use of this maneuver.
Pay activation cost.
Divide CP between offense and defense - take into account that one must be half of the other (e.g. 6:3, 4:2, 2:1...)
You let defender to state his maneuver and roll.

The biggest advantage is that if your opponent attacks and has a two-handed weapon, he usually has no way to defend against your attack...

Defensive

Counter is a defensive manuever, which uses the force of the attacker against him.
It has activation cost (usually 2 dice), which needs to be paid if you want to execute the manuever.
Dice are normally allocated to defence. However, if you succeed (=your successes > opponent's successes), you gain for the next attack bonus dice equal to opponent's successes on the attack (=you use the force of his attack against him).

However, since there are many types of counters, you need to roll for the exact result.



Roll (d10, normal)
Effect
Roll (d6, rapier & half-sword)


1
Swing at lower legs



2
Swing at upper legs



3
Horizontal swing
1


4
Diagonal swing



5
Vertical swing



6
Pommel to face
2


7
Thrust to face
3


8
Thrust to body
4


9
Grapple
5


10
Disarm
6




It's quite handy manuever, especially for attackers who spend many dice in first round ("overextend themselves").


This is a defensive manuever, which consists of pinning the weapon of the opponent with your off-hand weapon or shield, before launching your own attack.
It is very similar to the bind & strike manuever, however, it provides dice to you.

Procedure:
You state attack with off-hand weapon ("I block open his weapon with my shield for 4 dice").
You let defender to state his defence ("I parry with 4 dice")
You roll against the DTN of your shield.

If you get net successes, you receive the same amount of CP for next exchange.

The result? You use 6 dice of your CP and roll 3 successes for against opponent's 1. You get 2 dice from his next exchange.

Bodily harm

Of course, there is the possibility of immediate death, but if you survive the wound, here are the things you have to deal with.

Negative effects of wounds come in three "flavours".

This one is what kills you slowly - and it can kill you even if you survive the fight.

When you receive a wound, you can get a value of blood loss. These are cumulative. You have to check your bleeding every round in combat and every circa 60 seconds out of it (more often if you carry out tiring actions).

Each round you have to roll HT against the TN equal to your cumulative blood loss. If you manage to get at least one success, no harm occurs for the moment.
If you don't succeed, you temporarily lower your HT by 1.
If your HT is 1, your CP and all dice pools are halved.
If your HT is 0, you bled out and are dead.

Try to patch yourself up. One First aid skill check can lower your bleeding by (net successes x2) blood loss points.

This is the immediate shock after a wound.

When you get shock, you decrease your current CP by the value of the shock. If you simultaneously attack and get a wound, it at first lowers the invested CP, then the reserve.
If the shock is higher than amount of CP you currently have, it overflows to the next round.

After that, it's gone.


After shock is gone, pain enters the game. Pain is the long-term issue of wounds. Each point of pain removes equal number of CP dice each round and lowers also your other rolls (exceptions are e.g. blood loss rolls).

If you have more pain points than CP, you can only lie on the ground, bleed (if applicable) and whine/cry/grunt.

Pain heals after a time. Each week you get to roll your HT with positive modifiers for healthcare and negative for environment/activity. Each success removes one point of pain.

Yes, it takes loooong time to heal - and there are no "potions of healing".

Initiative issues

The initiative flows back and forth during the fight, and sometimes it's hard to decide who has it.

To make it easier, I have prepared what I think is easy way how to deduce it:


Are you starting a fight, both fighters aware of each other or was there a short break in the fight? Roll initiative.
Are you starting a fight and one of you is surprised? Initiative is with the "unsurprised" party.
Did you attack successfully in last exchange? You have the initiative.
Did you make a successful defensive manuever (other than evasion) in last exchange? You have the initiative.
Did you make a successful full evasion in last exchange? Roll initiative.
Did you make a successful partial evasion in last exchange and paid 2 dice to get initiative? You have the initiative.
Did you make a successful partial evasion in last exchange and did not pay additional 2 dice to get initiative? Your opponent keeps initiative.
Was the roll (both offensive/defensive) a tie? Initiative stays unchanged.


If you don't have the initiative and want to attack, your attack will land second (if you don't steal initiative).
If you have RED-RED situation, you both have initiative and which hit lands first is decided by a roll of REF at TN equal to ATN of your weapon. In case of ties, this is resolved by looking at REF (higher wins), WIT (higher wins). If these both are the same, both hit at the same time (usually resulting in doublekill).

Stealing initiative

Normally, if you attack instead of defending (it's not possible to do it the other way around) your attack will definitely land second and you open up to your foe's attack, in this case, you wait for your enemy to commit to an attack and then launch your own, trying to beat him in his speed.

For this you need to pay an activation cost based on your proficiency with weapon:
Proficiency 0-4 = AC +5
Proficiency 5-9 = AC +4
Proficiency 10+ = AC 3+

Now each of combatants may add dice from their remaining dice pool to their REFlex attribute.

Whose blow lands first is then decided by rolling REF against ATN of the weapon.

Ranged Combat

Ranged combat runs on turns, as opposed to exchanges.
Yes, while you nock the arrow and shoot, several rounds may come to pass.

Let's start:
Each ranged weapon has a "prep time" attribute. This is how long it takes (in rounds) to prepare the weapon.
For bow this is usually 2-4 rounds:

2 rounds to pick an arrow from quiver (or 0 rounds if you have it in hand)
1 round to nock the arrow
1 round to draw and begin aiming

Until this point your MP (missile pool) was 0.
At the start of next round you gain into your MP an amount of dice equal to Proficiency. You now decide, whether you want to continue aiming or shoot.
If you aim, each round spent aiming will give you dice equal to your AIM attribute, up to your maximum MP.
If you shoot, you take all dice from your MP and roll them.

It is possible to reduce the preparation time - it usually costs an amount of MP dice and requires a REF roll, parameters of which are given by the weapon. It may be done only once and it reduces the prep time by 1.

Your dice pool may be modified by:

range (point-blank +1, short 0, medium -1, long -3, extreme -5; beyond extreme -10 or not possible)
target movement
your movement
lightning conditions
wind/poor weather


Hit location is determined randomly (by roll of 2d6). You can choose to concentrate and place your shot more precisely to the point where you want it - by setting dice aside (not using them for the shot). Each die provides a modifier of +1 or -1, depending on where you hit (i.e. GM will tell you where you can move it). Maximum amount of dice you can use for this depends on your AIM attribute.




Further options to be explored in combat:

...crossed-out options were already written down...

Stances (neutral, defensive, offensive, charging, advanced)
Terrain rolls (evading multiple opponents, difficult fighting conditions, movement in combat including pushing & luring opponents)
Skills in combat (style analysis, acrobacy, body language)
Favouring (defensive) - preparing for enemy's attack
Advanced manuevers - single weapon (beat, disarm, hook, stop-short, toss, expulsion, evasive attack)
Advanced manuevers - double weapon/weapon & shield (bind & strike, simultaneous block&strike)

I will slowly post these here.

Let's start with...

Basic Stances
At the beginning of combat or after a break in combat you can compose yourself and select a stance.
Basic stance is neutral (something like the Plow) - it doesn't give you any specific advantages but it doesn't hinder your actions. If you don't state your stance, I will assume this one.
Aggressive stances - these provide +2 dice at beginning of round that can be spent on offensive maneuvers, however, increase activation cost of all defensive manuevers by 2.
Defensive stances - provide +2 dice at beginning of round that can be spent on defensive maneuvers, but increase activation cost of all offensive maneuvers by 2.
Charge is considered an offensive stance...

The benefits and drawbacks of stances are gone at the end of the first round. They last only for the first round of the combat - during combat, when the blades are flashing, there is no time to pick a stance.
However, if there is a pause in combat (after full evasion...), you can select a stance...

The character with lower REF selects the stance first (giving chance to the "quicker" one to adapt his stance and tactics).

Terrain rolls
If you are fighting in the arena, which is flat, without any hindrances or terrain unevenness, you usually can ignore the terrain.
However it is not always so. You can fight on ice-covered lakes, tight spaces, have to move among trees in forests, and even fight against several opponents.
For these, there are terrain rolls.

Terrain rolls is a catch-all title for all actions that happen within the combat not covered by maneuvers. Usually by terrain rolls you:

attempt to overcome difficult fighting conditions (e.g. footing, space)
attempt to select your opponent for a round from multiple opponents
force movement beyond the standard movement in combat
attempt to hold the line or do anything that is not covered by rules for manuevers (e.g. retrieve weapon, jump on the table, etc.)


Difficult fighting conditions
Your PCs will notice that they are fighting on ice, or slippery cathedral roof in rain, or in small, cramped space. Thus the GM will tell you what roll you need to pass each round.
The target number is set by GM (usually following guidelines on p. 53 of Flower of Battle) and your actions (attacker moves as hurried, defender as normal - and thus has lower TN).
You have to allocate dice from your CP to overcome these conditions. If you fail to do so, it is assumed that you allocated 0 = failed the roll, usually landing on ground/losing 1/2 of your CP for the duration of the round.
These rolls are usually done at the beginning of the round.

Multiple opponents
Fighting 2 or even 3 opponents is a risky matter even for experienced warriors due to the fact, that you need to split your dice pool to deal with the multiple opponents. If you however have some space for moving around, you can confuse them and make them get in each other's way so that you face only one or, in the worse case, two of them.
Against 2 opponents the TN is 6 (or 7 if you "sprint", giving you more fatigue)
Against 3 opponents and more TN is 8 (or 6 if you sprint).
Usually no more than 3 opponents can attack you at one round (only if long reach weapons are used...or ranged combat). Trained opponents may oppose the terrain rolls.

Pressing opponents
Usually you move back and forth during combat - the specific amount of movement can be checked by comparing the MO of both opponents. This is usually not necessary, but in case you want to get your opponent into disadvantageous terrain, there is an opportunity for pressing & luring.
To press opponent, make a terrain roll (usually opposed) with any amount of CP. The TN is 3 while attacking and 4 while defending. Net successes of combat roll determine how far in feet the combatants move during the exchange. Successes in pressing terrain roll then add to whichever side rolled them.
Example: A soldier swung his blade at Kate (6 dice), who attempted to block a soldier's strike with her shield (4 dice). Soldier got 2 successes, Kate got 3 successes. They moved 1 feet forward, as the initiative switched. If the soldier invested 3 dice to press her and got 2 successes, they would have moved 1 foot backwards (from Kate's point of view). Now if they fought on a battlement, and Kate was 3 feet from the end of battlement...

Other kinds of movement
The fencer lost his weapon due to wounded arm. How can he retrieve it? Terrain roll, TN 7.
A team-member is throwing you his sheated sword so you can fight back, while dodging the enemy? Terrain roll, TN 8, limited by your REF attribute.
You want to jump on the table so you gain a height advantage? Terrain roll, TN is equal to acrobacy skill.
You want to swing on the chandelier...? Ok, you got my drift.

[Battlemage]

Belenor arrives at the practice fields with the customary unhurried movements of an elf. He knows where he wants to go and heads straight to the small arena. Once there he spots his intended partner for today's practice bout, a young man in rustic clothes who holds his sword with slightly clumsy hands.

Once the match is set up, he steps calmy onto the grounds of the arena, and draws the blade at his side in an elegant and controlled motion. He gives his enemy a salute with the blade and settles into a combat stance.

I'm going to try my hand here, I want to learn the combat system! I'll start off easy (hopefully), in single combat with the farmboy holding the sword.

I'm using my bastard sword in two hands. My CP should be 14 (REF 7 and Prof 7). I throw a white dice for initiative!

[Lacco]

His foe watches him, eyes filled with dread. However, he grips the handle of his sword tighter and stands into a stance. His movements are unsure, his stance reminds Belenor of a youngling duck, but still - the boy has a sword...

...and he decides to use it, jumping forward and swinging it wildly from the above - it's a slow, clumsy and quite predictable strike, but could be still deadly if it lands.



RED die!

Farmboy attacks with vertical overhead cut for 6 dice. Belenor's action?

[Battlemage]

Belenor falls back onto his training, not letting the unguided aggression of the young farmer disrupt his plans. He makes a small side-step and angles his sword downward and to the side as he brings it up too meet the attack, aiming to deflect his foe's blade by letting it slide along his own into empty air.

Belenor parries with 10 dice. [roll0] DTN 6

Edit: Looks like I'm going to die against a farmboy. Thanks, dice. :smallbiggrin:

[Lacco]

Belenor arrives at the practice fields with the customary unhurried movements of an elf. He knows where he wants to go and heads straight to the small arena. Once there he spots his intended partner for today's practice bout, a young man in rustic clothes who holds his sword with slightly clumsy hands.

Once the match is set up, he steps calmy onto the grounds of the arena, and draws the blade at his side in an elegant and controlled motion. He gives his enemy a salute with the blade and settles into a combat stance.

His foe watches him, eyes filled with dread. However, he grips the handle of his sword tighter and stands into a stance. His movements are unsure, his stance reminds Belenor of a youngling duck, but still - the boy has a sword...

...and he decides to use it, jumping forward and swinging it wildly from the above - it's a slow, clumsy and quite predictable strike, but could be still deadly if it lands.

Belenor falls back onto his training, not letting the unguided aggression of the young farmer disrupt his plans. He makes a small side-step and angles his sword downward and to the side as he brings it up too meet the attack, aiming to deflect his foe's blade by letting it slide along his own into empty air.


Maybe it was the sun in his eyes, or the fact he did not consider the farmboy a threat, but the side-step was just a bit too short - and Belenor felt as the boy's sword caught him in the arm. The flash of pain only woke him up... and just in time, because the boy swung the blade wide, like a scythe. Belenor's reflexes took over...



Farmboy's cut: [roll0] TN 7 = 3 successes
Belenor's parry: 2 successes
1 net success for Farmboy.
Hit location (rolled in Frontier roller; came up 6) = shoulder
Damage: 5 ST + 1 for weapon
Damage resist: 6
Level 0 damage: scratch!
Lucky you...

Round 1, exchange 2:
The Farmboy retains initiative (his blow connected and you failed to parry) and continues attacking! This time he goes for horizontal cut for hefty 1 die.
Belenor's action?

[Battlemage]

Belenor frowns, more because of the disappointment in himself than the pain of the shallow cut his foe had inflicted. His weak parade had stopped him from turning the flow of combat around like he'd planned, and he found himself on the defensive, pressed bis opponent's advance. He gives a little ground, his footwork carrying him back a step to get into a better position to deflect the blow, as his blade goes into an angled position at his side.

Couple questions here:
1) This is this round's last exchange, right? So there's no point in keeping any more dice back?
2) Is the farm boy using a long or medium range sword? If medium he closed range now if I understood correctly.
3) Not related to this action, but does a 0 net success attack hit (if he had rolled 2 successes in his last attack for example)?

So assuming he is at long range like me, Belenor will simply parry with his remaining 4 dice.

If he's at medium range Belenor will spend 1 CP die and make a REF/TN 6 roll to switch into half-sword (medium range) and then parry with the remaining 3 dice.

I'll leave the rolling to you since I don't know the correct situation.

[Lacco]

There was a loud clang as the swords hit each other. Belenor waited for farmboy's sword to connect with his, to be able to displace it - and with a quick flick of his wrist he pushed it down over his head. The boy didn't expect his sword to pass above and Belenor had only to push slightly and the boy fell to the ground...



Farmboy's horizontal cut: [roll0] TN 7 = a fumble! Falls to ground, loses 1/2 dice.
Belenor's parry:[roll1] TN 6 = 3 successes
Hit location (if applicable):[roll2]

1) Yes, second exchange ends round, new round and new dice come up next :smallsmile:. There is only one benefit in keeping some dice back - can you guess? Quite an advanced tactic, useful for skilled players/characters.
2) Longsword held in one hand. He's that dumb. If it were medium, he would have closed range.
3) It would be a "near miss", the situation would have been unchanged - he would have kept initiative as Belenor's parry wouldn't be successful to gain initiative. In case of medium weapon thought the near miss is better - it wouldn't change length.

Round 2, exchange 1: New round, new dice. Belenor has initiative: your action?

[Battlemage]

The boy's overly hasty attack has turned the tide against him. Belenor steps in to follow the momentum of the fall and thrusts his blade downward at his foe's chest in a decisive attack.

[HR]I assume for purposes of player practice these fights go to the death? Since in-story I don't see Belenor murdering a farm boy in a practice fight without having a reason for it. :smallwink:

Belenor attacks with a thrust to the chest for 9 dice!
[roll0] ATN 6, Damage ST+2 (additional +1 if hard armor is present)
[roll1]

3 successes on the attack
Edit: Wait, I shouldn't have rolled before the opponent decides on his defense. Sorry!


1) Yes, second exchange ends round, new round and new dice come up next :smallsmile:. There is only one benefit in keeping some dice back - can you guess? Quite an advanced tactic, useful for skilled players/characters.

Only thing I can guess off-hand is a feint if you're attacking on the last exchange of the round. But since Belenor was defending he couldn't have done that. Also, I'm not sure how effectve a feint would be in the second exchange, since the defender likely uses all his remaining dice for the defense in any case.


Seeing all these off-hand maneuvers, I think I might try a dual weapon or weapon+ shield setup later, to see how that feels.

[Lacco]

The boy tries to scramble to his feet, swinging wide with his sword to beat away Belenor's blade. He hits his blade, but Belenor pushes it down, into the boy's chest.

He tries to scream, but the scream ends as a gurgle, as Belenor's sword punctures his lung, which immediately starts filling with blood. The boy curls into a fetal position and coughs blood...



Parry for 4 dice.
Belenor's attack: 3 successes
Farmboy's parry [roll0] TN 7 = 2 successes
Damage: 6+2+1 for net success
Resist: TO 5
Level 4 wound to chest.
BL: 19 (this is the TN he should roll against each round to not "bleed to death")
S: 13 (dice lost immediately)
P 13-WP (dice lost each round - this is the thing you need to heal).

This has nothing to do with the IC - feel free to try out anything. I'm surprised though he would miss opportunity to teach the d'hoine a lesson :smallbiggrin:.
And no problem with you rolling beforehand, but if you do that, you don't get to do a feint manuever :smallsmile:.

Feint makes no sense if you attack on second exchange for the exact reason you stated. The thing I was talking about was "pool scamming". Imagine, that we fight for 4 rounds, and each round I use exactly 12 dice. 4 for attack, 8 for defence. Round five comes up. I use 12 dice in first exchange to attack... how much will you defend with?

Dual weapon feels perfect - if you have ambidextrity. Sword & shield is very powerful combo... want me to show you?

This duel is finished - he has no dice left. Feel free to finish him off.

[Battlemage]

Belenor calmly bends down and tears a piece of the boys shirt off. Straightening his posture, he stands above his fallen foe and uses the cloth to carefully clean his blade of the blood that stains it. He starts talking in a low and almost disinterested voice, as if he were making conversation at a dinner party, not standing next to a dying man.

"Your first mistake, boy, was not respecting the blade you wield. You picked up a weapon, but you did not honor it enough to find out how to even hold it correctly. A sword is more than a piece of metal, and it will treat you the same way you treat it. You betrayed your weapon, and it betrayed you."

He pauses for a moment and holds his sword out with his arm extended, catching the reflection of the sunlight to see if any stains remained on the surface of the steel.

"Your second mistake, boy, and an even graver one, was challenging one of the Aen Seidhe. Know your place in the world, or the world will harshly remind you of it. Your fate is the result of your own actions. Should you survive this, which I doubt, you will have learned a valuable lesson. Keep it in mind."

Belenor sheats his blade, turns around, and leaves the arena with calm steps, sparing the curled up young man no further glance. Inside, he was furious with himself for allowing an imbecile like that to cut him.

I feel mean after writing that. I hope that boy did something evil to deserve this. :smalleek:


This has nothing to do with the IC - feel free to try out anything. I'm surprised though he would miss opportunity to teach the d'hoine a lesson :smallbiggrin:.
Belenor's arrogant, but not overconfident. Finish your opponent first, then hold your arrogant monologue, or you end up like the Red Viper in Game of Thrones, if you've seen that. :smallwink:

Edit: Alright, I've settled on a new setup to try out with sword + short sword and ambidexterity. Feels very elvish, I'll try it in a new post.

[Eplov]

Walking along a forest path looking for interesting herbs, animals, and insects, Jerri notices a grassy clearing containing an angry peasant wielding a staff. Clearly up to no good, Jerri creeps closer to investigate, unslinging his old gnomish longbow and nocking an arrow.

The peasant with a staff and sling looks like trouble to me, so he's going down! My understanding is that Lacco is running dice, so I will let you decide if I am sneaking/hidden or not. Assuming Jerri gets close enough to get a clear shot without being noticed he will hold his shot and get a full aimed version, to see how effective it is on poor defenseless peasants. ;)

How long does it take to "quick draw" a weapon? Jerri has snake reflexes, so it should be quick. I want to know so he has time to pull his sword if his target tries to close.

Edit: Pertinent Info:

Camouflage - 6
Sneak - 6
Agility -7
Wit - 6
AIM - 6

Bow - 6
Cut & Thrust - 3

[Eplov]

In another time and place, Jerri decides to test his martial prowess.

Entering the arena, Jerri watches the potential combatants with interest. Still unsure of his skill, he picks out a target he hopes he can best. Striding up to the much taller (if feeble looking) farm boy, Jerri acidly says,

Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries! En guard!

He then draws his notched short sword like lightning and looks for a place to bury it in the fool's lanky flesh!

I hope this doesn't get confusing, but Lacco and I tend to post at radically different times so I wanted to get two bouts going at once. That way I can die twice as fast! ;)

[Battlemage]

The clamor in the inn suddenly falls quiet as the patrons grasp the seriousness of the situation. Belenor had simply wanted to eat in peace. Of course, one of the drunken d'hoine in this hovel had not been able to reign in his base nature and had made himself busy insulting Belenor's race and parentage.

This could not be tolerated. Belenor quietly sets his eating knife down on the table, wipes his mouth with what seems to be deliberate slowness, and calmly stands up from his chair, facing the drunkard. The crowd had cleared away space in the middle of the room and now circles them to form an impromptu arena. His foe, a rough-looking seaman, bared cutlass in hand, is swaying slightly, still hurling curses at him.

Belenor frowns in distaste and draws his blades, one with each hand. Dropping into an aggressive stance he prepares himself to teach this salty dog a lesson.

"I will cut that disgusting tongue out of your mouth, d'hoine!"

Alright I did a small rework to try out a different setup. Challenging the drunken pirate with the cutlass. Using Cut& Thrust Proficiency at 8 with an arming sword in the right hand and a short sword in the left, and the Ambidexterity gift (what does that do exactly?).

I'm going to be trying some risky stuff here. Might get me killed, but this is for the purposes of learning. :smallwink:

CP: 15. Belenor takes an aggressive stance and throws a RED die!

[Lacco]

Jerri

The angry staff-wielding peasant is known for beating up small kids, elderly people and puppies (clearly a sign of evil person!), so Jerri decided to teach him a lesson. However, he found him beating up an old lady, so the lesson will be a last one...!

Standing at almost 40 yards from the peasant he unslings his bow and starts pulling an arrow from his quiver.



OOC: Round 1, pulling arrow. Will be finished next round.

He is hiding at 40 yards, which means at medium range (-1 die), so it's up to you if you want to sneak up closer (roll AGI/sneak; which means roll AGI dice through rollv command and compare them to your sneak skill as TN; each die equal to your sneak or higher is a success, you need at least one success per MO meters you want to sneak closer in this case = decide how much you want to come closer and roll)

Each MO meters mean 1 round.

In this case, you can roll.

Quickdraw is a manuever which takes 1 exchange in combat and allows you to attack immediately if you are successful.
Drawing a weapon takes full round normally. Dropping bow & drawing a weapon is exactly the same, but if you want to put your bow on your back, it will take another round.



Jerri, take 2

In another time and place, Jerri decides to test his martial prowess.

Farmboy's eyes go out of focus and he asks "En gu-what?". But he understands the thing about hamsters as an insult - and while he remembers his father smelling of beer all the time, he draws his sword.



OOC: Ok, no problem. But only this time.

Initiative?



Belenor

After hearing the challenge, pirate's smile widened a bit, showing a set of golden teeth. He finished his cup in just one downing and stepped up to meet his opponent, a bit wobbly on his unsteady legs, while drawing a short cutlass from his belt.

OOC: Did you know the drunken pirate was one of the more-feared enemies in my first arena thread? :smallsmile:.

Ambidextrity lets you use two weapons without penalties. That's all it does. But that's enough - usually you get a penalty for using your off-hand to attack (even with a shield bash).

The drunk pirate drinks throws WHITE!

Your action?

[Battlemage]

Belenor springs forward and snakes out with the short blade in his left hand, attempting to force the pirate's cutlass aside and open a hole in his defense.

I'm going to be trying various maneuvers to see how they play out. Attacking with the Beat maneuver here, using the short sword in my left hand. I'm putting 10 dice into the attack, +2 for agressive stance, -0 for range (-1 halfed and rounded down due to beat maneuver) = 12 dice, ATN 5.

[Lacco]

Belenor's blade met the pirate's cutlass with a ringing sound, but his beat was easily deflected, and the pirate quickly turned in his wrist to attempt to make Belenor lose his arming sword...



Beat counts as swing manuever, so the ATN will be 7 in this case.

Pirate responds with a hefty 10-dice counter.

Belenor's beat: [roll0] = 3 successes
Pirate's counter: [roll1] = 5 successes
Counter (if applicable) [roll2] = disarm

Pirate gains 3 dice to his next attack, which will be a disarm for 2 dice (he puts 1 die in, gets 3 from counter, activation cost 1 for attack, 1 for range).

Round 1, exchange 2: Belenor's defence?

[Battlemage]

Belenor's mouth draws into a grim line as the pirate counters his attack and goes for an attempt to disarm him in response. He sees two options to react. Ignore the maneuver, possibly give up his sword if he could not hold onto it, and try to deal a decisive injury with his left blade while his foe is occupied. Or try and parry the cutlass in an attempt to turn the momentum in his favor.

I went according to the example in the core book, where the fighter has the same ATN for his Beat that he has for his follow-up thrust attack (using a short sword), which is why I assumed it used the better ATN. If that doesn't work I'd use the arming sword for the maneuver, of course. I'll roll with it for this fight though, since the outcome doesn't matter.

So, reading the disarm section in FoB, I can simply ignore his disarm attempt on my arming sword and let it happen, using my action to attack with my short sword from the other hand instead. In that case I do that and thrust with my short sword to the chest for 4 dice (remaining 5 dice -1 range), ATN 5.

If that doesn't work for whatever reason, Belenor simply parries with the arming sword for 5 dice, DTN 6.

Edit: Also the system seems to really like giving me below average rolls.
My rolls so far:
10 dice, TN 6 = 2 successes (average 5)
9 dice, TN 6 = 3 successes (average 4.5)
12 dice TN 7 = 3 successes (average 4.8)
I hope that trend doesn't continue in the actual game. :smallbiggrin:

[Battlemage]

I thought you were the unluckiest person ever until I noticed you rolled d6s. You need to roll d10s. :smallbiggrin:

[Eplov]

Well that was disappointing. How do I add to the post how many successes and the like while having it keep the rolls? When I click edit the dice contract to "roll" or something. Next bout.
Being the one to pick this battle, Jerri takes the offensive, lunging forward to impale the lanky lad!
Red die.

[Eplov]

I thought you were the unluckiest person ever until I noticed you rolled d6s. You need to roll d10s. :smallbiggrin:
LOL, I din't notice that. :)

[Battlemage]

Just edit them normally and don't touch the 'roll' part.

Edit: You can't edit rolls. You can only edit in non-rolling stuff.

[Eplov]

Jerri decided he was close enough. Pulling back the string and letting out a breath he aims for center mass and, feeling the slight quiver in the bow, lets loose.
2 rounds to get ready to shoot, one more for aim.
Proficiency + Aim = 12 dice -1 for range = 11. ATN=7.
[roll0] = 4 Successes.

Damage = STR +1 + Successes

[Eplov]

Just edit them normally and don't touch the 'roll' part.

Edit: You can't edit rolls. You can only edit in non-rolling stuff.
Yeah, I'm getting there. I tried replacing the first roll with the correct one and it got mad at me. :(

Anyway, started over and used the correct die!

[Lacco]

Belenor

Belenor decided to let the pirate take command of his arming sword in favour of a quick stab right between his ribs with the shortsword. He felt the blade enter pirate's chest, scrape against his rib, and he brought it out quickly, red with blood.



Pirate's disarm [roll0] TN6 = 1 success
Belenor's thrust to chest [roll1] TN5 = 3 successes
Hit location (if applicable): [roll2] = chest
3 net successes for Belenor
Damage: 6 + 3
Resist: 5 TO + 2 AV (leather vest)
Level 2 chest wound
BL 4
S 4
P 6-WP

New round, new dice!
Round 2, exchange 1: Belenor has the initiative and is at his short-sword optimal range.
Your action?

Belenor's knockdown (if disarm succeeds, dice will be removed from the right side): [roll3] TN8 = quite enough, you keep the sword.

I know the example, however, the beat manuever is normally a swing - against the foible/weak part of enemy's sword with your forte/strong part. Basically - houseruled :smallsmile:.

Yes, you can ignore the disarm attempt and just stab the guy - normally you don't do that because if he manages to disarm you, you don't have anything to stab him with :smallbiggrin:.

To the dice roller - I usually roll abysmally. So I didn't notice that... :smallbiggrin:



Jerri

The boy stands there, his eyes wide with fear, awaiting the attack with sword raised and held in one hand...



WHITE die. Your attack?

Jerri 2

The man moved to hit the granny just as Jerri released his arrow, however Jerri counted on him moving and the arrow hit him into hip. A scream of pain shook the trees at the meadow and startled few rabbits.

The peasant, one hand on his bleeding hip, another on a quarterstaff, turned around to see who attacked him...



I wanted to make you go side-by-side with your second fight (round-by-round) just so you know how slowly the time passes for archers.

But ok, you'll find out in game :smallsmile:.

Peasant's reflexive action [roll4] TN9 = 2 successes
That means 2 net successes for Jerri
Hit location: [roll5] = (I rolled 8 for 2d6 zone roll = pelvic region) hip!
Damage: 6+2
Damage resist: TO 5
Level 3 piercing damage to hip
Blood Loss 3
Shock 5
Pain: 9-WP

Round 5?

[Battlemage]

Belenor's frown turns into a slightly triumphant smile as his blade is covered with the pirate's blood. Not a lethal wound yet, but an opportunity to seize. "In Asyga's name, you will die today!" he hisses as he tries to push his advantage with another thrust of the short sword, this time aiming for his opponent's thighs.

Belenor attacks with a thrust with his short sword, aiming for the upper legs, with 11 dice, ATN 5, Damage ST.


I know the example, however, the beat manuever is normally a swing - against the foible/weak part of enemy's sword with your forte/strong part. Basically - houseruled :smallsmile:
Yeah, it makes sense. I can't really see "thrusting" a weapon to the side. Does the bind-and-strike maneuver also use swing only? Another question about the bind-and-strike maneuver, it says it uses the off-hand weapon, but Belenor is ambidextrous and doesn't really have an "off" hand. Can he use either hand for maneuvers like that? Would make sense at least.

[Lacco]

Belenor

The pirate clenched his teeth in attempt to overcome pain for a moment. Instead of retreating and defending, he quickly slashed his cutlass against Belenor's arms...



The pirate launches a 3-die cut againts arms (adding +1 die to the attack pool) and adds power to the cut (1 die = +1 damage).

Stealing initiative!

Activation cost 4 dice.

Adding 1 die to his REFlex for purposes of quicker attack.

Will Belenor add additional dice to his REFlex?



Bind & strike should also use swing. "Off-hand" means usually the one with shield or secondary weapon - for Belenor, both hands are primary, so he can use either.

[Battlemage]

Instead of defending, the pirate fearlessly takes the offense and strikes out against Belenor's hands, hoping to cause the elf to drop his weapon before his thrust can land. There is no time to make plans or change actions, only to rely on his speed and reflexes to hopefully strike first.

I assume the winner of the contest, whose attack strikes first, gets initiative on the next exchange (assuming both fighters are alive and have dice left, which seems unlikely)?

I think if I manage to land my attack first the shock has a good chance of stopping his, so the only way through seems forward. :smallsmile:

Belenor adds 3 dice to his REF for the contest. He rolls 10 dice against TN 5.
[roll0] 7 successes
Well, there's the repayment on the luck. ;)

[Lacco]

Belenor

Belenor's powerful thrust shattered pirate's knee. Pirate fell to the ground, still cursing the elf, voice strained with pain.



It basically boils down to the fact, that the first strike takes "shock" away from the other one's dice.

And while this tactic of overspending is good for less powerful enemies, beware - it's quite dangerous against more efficient/skilled enemies. You are leaving yourself open to attacks. And most dangerous would be if I rolled exactly the same amount of successes = we would hit at the same time, which means that both would take damage. For me - no problem, there are lots of NPCs. For Belenor...

Due to my ability to botch rolls I have rerolled these in rolling thread. Results are quite interesting :smallsmile:

Pirate's reflex [roll0] TN 6 = 3 successes, Belenor hits first

Belenor's thrust: [roll1] TN 5
Pirate's cut: [roll2] TN 6

Belenor's thrust: (11d10)[5][4][1][8][6][5][9][6][6][10][1](61) TN 5 = 8 successes
Pirate's cut: (3d10)[1][3][3](7) TN 6 = no successes

Belenor's hit zone: [roll3] = 1 = knee
Pirate's hit zone: [roll4]

Level 5 knee wound
BL 6
Shock 9
Pain 11-WP

Second exchange?

[Battlemage]

Hoping to finally silence the pirate's incessant cursing, Belenor follows up with another thrust, though it is weak from having put all his energy into the previous attack.

Short sword thrust to the upper legs again with the remaining 1 die.
[roll0] ATN 5


And while this tactic of overspending is good for less powerful enemies, beware - it's quite dangerous against more efficient/skilled enemies. You are leaving yourself open to attacks. And most dangerous would be if I rolled exactly the same amount of successes = we would hit at the same time, which means that both would take damage. For me - no problem, there are lots of NPCs. For Belenor...
Well I used this many dice because I assumed his pool was relatively small due to shock, and I wanted to finish the fight while he had this disadvantage (next round would have only been pain, and with a good WIL he might not have lost dice there). But I'll be a lot more careful in the actual game, I'm just getting used to the system here and trying stuff.


And most dangerous would be if I rolled exactly the same amount of successes = we would hit at the same time, which means that both would take damage.
Isn't the REFlex stat compared first in case of equal die result, with thrusts getting +1 for this comparison, and hihger REF attacks first? The book has it like that at least.


A question about weapons: Can you only use the rapier with a dagger or buckler in the offhand? I'm thinking combining rapier with a small round shield would give a good combination of offense and defense.

[Penelomeeg]

Tsara calmly and steadily walks into the arena stepping into her proper place, a dark brow raised as she views her opponent. With a smirk on her face she places her feet in proper stance for quick, evasive movement and swings her rapier in each direction diagnal before placing it in front of herself in a guarded motion.

Shall we?



Since everyone is beating up farm boys I'll go with the spear Hunter, fortune favors the bold (and probably stupid in this case).

Tsara rolls the white dice to start off defensively and has a CP of 11 with 5 reflex and 6 prof in a rapier

[Eplov]

*Jerri in the Field:*

Seeing that his shot distracted the dastardly peasant from his abusive intent, Jerri shouts in a high pitched yet carrying voice,

"Run away, good woman! I will deal with this cur!"

Now rushing, Jerri tries to draw, nock, and pull his next arrow in a rush.



Rushing his draw with TN 7:
[roll0]=3 successes


*Jerri in the Arena:*

Needing to get inside the Yokel's reach and use those long arms and that long sword against him, Jerri attempts to beat the long sword out of the way and close in.


I'd like to use 5 of my nine dice for this. I know reach penalties are halved for a beat, but shorts words aren't great at swinging so I'm not sure how this is going to work out.

Hm, looking at the ATN for a swing I'm in trouble. Even with range penalties halved I'm at -1 (-3/2 rounded down) and -1 die for the beat with an ATN of 7 for a swing. I think I should try using more dice if I want this to work. He's probably not that skilled, but neither is Jerri. Let's switch it to 6 dice and pray he gets some shock and can't stab me or something. This could end very badly.

4d10

[Eplov]

Apparently you can't add a roll to an existing post.

Beat TN 7:
[roll0]=2 successes.

Phew! I was really worried about a fumble. :)

[Battlemage]

Beat has an activation cost of 0 in Cut & Thrust, not 1, so you should have one more die.

[Eplov]

Thanks!
[roll0]

No more successes, but appreciated all the same. :)

[Eplov]

I'm beginning to think I should just stick to stabbing people since the ATN for beating is so much higher. Is there a way around that?
Hmm, was just re-reading the beat section in the book and it requires a proficiency level of 4, where Jerri has 3. So I could add another die to make it legal (and loose one from ranged) or just stick to poking folks. It says the style is frequently used with a buckler which sounds good to me. I like all of the versatility involved in cut and thrust so I'd like to make that work.

[Battlemage]

There's also other kinds of swords, of various ranges, that are usable with cut&thrust and more weighted toward the cutting part. We just use the most common kinds at the start. You aren't restricted to thrusting forever, but for the shortsword it's usually the best option. An ATN of 5 is really rare and is the short sword's big strength.

[Lacco]

Belenor

From then on, it was simple - the pirate had no chance and the elf quickly dispatched him.



The last attack would put him just at 0 dice, which means he'll just lie in pain. So coup-de-gracé :smallbiggrin: to speed it up.

As for reflex, you are correct. I tend to simplify it a bit, but normally it works like that.

Rapier & dagger is good combination. Especially rapier & main gauche (parrying dagger). However, rapier & small round shield were not usually used together - mainly because the "off hand" shield would be heavier than the main hand weapon.

For beginning character I'd go with cut & thrust sword or sidesword. I especially like sideswords...

One thing to bear in mind - there will not be only humans in game. Rapier is great weapon against humans... not so much for monsters/undead.



Tsara

The hunter just nods at her challenge and readies his spear. He slowly approaches her, the weapon at ready. When he gets to a correct measure, he starts to circle around her, watching her carefully, looking for an opening...



White die. They circle each other warily.

New round, new dice. Initiative?



*Jerri in the Field:*

Not only the woman, but also the man starts to run away. Well, hobble away.



He moves at very slow pace due to his MO being reduced almost nothing. So after 3 rounds (2 to pull out an arrow, 1 to nock) he draws... and he's at 50 meters.

You start refreshing dice.



*Jerri in the Arena:*

The boy tries to evade Jerri's sword - and he manages to do it, just not enough to escape the little guy.



Full evasion for 3 dice.

Jerri's beat: 2 successes
Peasantboy's full evade: [roll0] TN 4 = 2 successes
0 net successes
Jerri retains initiative.
Hit location (if applicable): [roll1]

Round 1, exchange 2: Jerri's action?


I think I should try using more dice if I want this to work. He's probably not that skilled, but neither is Jerri. Let's switch it to 6 dice and pray he gets some shock and can't stab me or something. This could end very badly

Well, shouldn't fall into the trap of giving too much dice for attacks. Defence is crucial in this game.

And you should never roll before I do. Mostly because I should never know if you plan to launch a feint - but also it makes manuevers such as this one up there too easy to do.

Also, this is good way how to work against overspender-type of attacker. Just full-evade with enough dice - if you have higher EN than him, he'll get tired soon. If not and you get a tie, you have spent less dice than him. It can be exploited and it's quite dangerous tactic, but if used wisely...

Shortsword is a good option for c&t style, but a bit limiting. The best option would be the cut & thrust sword - which gives very good offensive and defensive capabilities. I personally am a large fan of schiavonnas... ATNs 7, DTN 6, damage ST+1 for both attacks. Well-rounded sword, ideal for defensive swordplay.

[Battlemage]

Belenor looks down at the dead pirate for a moment and gives him a respectful salute. The man had been rude and distasteful, but he'd died a warriors death, blade in hand. When he had been in a desperate situation, he had taken the offensive and tried a daring gambit that might have saved him against a lesser opponent. It deserved the recognition of a fellow bladeslinger.

"Rest honorably, warrior. May you gain access to the Fields of Steel and Fire, and fight at Asyga's side for eternity to come."

He lets his gaze rest on the other human patrons for a meaningful second.

"Consider this a valuable lesson about respect. The Aen Seidhe have lost enough to the crudeness of your kind. We will not tolerate any more."

He turns and walks out of the inn without another glance at the body.

That'll be enough practice fights for me for now, so you can use your time on helping the others do their fights. :smallsmile: Thanks for going through everything, it's fun! Looking forward to applying everyting in the game.

One last question, I'll just ask it here so I don't have multiple posts: The elf race states it gives you two proficiency points for cut&thrust or archery. Is it limited to these proficiencies or could I put them in a different proficiency as well (since some elves maybe train in weapons less typical for their race)? I'm not a hundred percent settled on my proficiency choices yet, and that is also a factor to keep in mind.

[Penelomeeg]

Tsara eyes the hunter warily keeping her focus on positioning her body and watching his movements. She narrows her vision holding her ground and waiting for his reaction placing the blade in front of her body and planting her back foot in the ground


Tsara will stand her ground with the white dice having a CP of 11 and using a rapier in one hand.

[Eplov]

*Jerri in the Field*
Jerri pauses a moment to check his aim, lets out a breath, and looses his arrow at the fleeing man.


12 dice - 2 for range -2 for rush - 2 for movement = 6 MP left for shot
ATN = 7
[roll0] = 4 successes!



*Jerri in the Arena:*


With the narrow miss of his beat attempt, Jerri bides his time and waits for his next opportunity to strike.


I only have 3 dice left, and trying to strike will eat up 2 of them due to reach. The only other thing I think he would do would be throw dirt in his face or something to distract him, but I don't know how to model that. Also, that would be something he does at the start of a new round, so that he has his full CP (minus the distraction) to stab with. As far as a different weapon, the scimitar looks very appealing, having a good mix of attack and defense, but it is too long for him to use effectively. What would a gnomish scimitar look like in terms of stats?

Also, I would like a description of acrobatics in combat, since I think that will be his niche assuming it works the way I'm imagining it. My thought is cartwheeling and tumbling craziness to get past someone's defense in an unexpected way.

Hmm, full dodge in the book brings the combat to a standstill, re-establishing attacker and defender. Does that mean this is the next exchange already?

[Lacco]

Tsara

The hunter also stopped, and then, his body tensed and he lunged forward, thrusting with his spear at her waist.


R2E1:
Red die!
4-dice thrust against her belly
Tsara's action?



Jerri
The arrow hit the man in...
...let's say behind. It went right through.
The scream will haunt Jerri in his nightmares for few months...and he came closer and finished the peasant rather quickly, since he has met fate that every man fears...


Archery: wait wait - it's round 3, you just nocked. You get proficiency dice in this round, not your full missile pool. You can aim to get full MP or shoot directly.
I'll assume you aimed for one round in this case. In game, you go round-by-round.
Hit zone: [roll0] = groin area
Hit location: [roll1] = groin again!
Damage: 6+4 net successes
Resist: TO 5
Level 5 damage: ouch. Ouch ouch. Let's call it "total shish-kabob from behind".
BL: 15
Shock: all
Pain: all
May lose conscience.

Arena: Will wait for your reply, as the situation is rather dire for you. He has 6 dice - and that could get ugly.
Throw dirt (if you have it in hand) can be used with "Toss" manuever. You roll against TN 6, your opponent may defend (but may not attack) - he loses one die per net success. Rather weak, but in this case could save your life - he can not attack on the exchange you use toss (if he is the defender).
Stop short is the "dirtless" equivalent. I'd go for that. Otherwise... he'll attack, you'll defend.
Gnomish scimitar would have the same stats as normal scimitar, but would get -1 length. Otherwise cutlass can be used as scimitar by your character.
Full evasion brings the combat to standstill, so you have a break in fight and you roll initiative again. But there is one condition - it has to be "successful" full evasion (=at least 1 net success).
It's next exchange, but not next round.


@Battlemage - we can continue the practice after everybody is finished. Or you can assist with fights - as NPC.
As to the race - no sell :smallsmile:. Some elves train in weapons less typical, yes. That's what proficiency priorities are for. But this is the general training for all elves. It's c&t or archery, or both.

[Penelomeeg]

Tsara attempts to side step the spear, and knocked the hilt of her glad beneath the pole of the spear to parry his attack and gain the advantage.



Tsara uses 6 dice to parry ...let the dice fly high!

[roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5]

Target Number: 8
Successes: 3

[Lacco]

Tsara

Tsara's solid parry rang in the air, as she threatened the hunter with the point of her rapier presented against his chest. She followed up with an attack against the hunter, who moved into defensive...



Hunter's belly thrust: [roll0] TN 6 = 1 success
Tsara's parry: 3 successes
Hit location: [roll1]
3 net successes for Tsara!
Tsara gains initiative. R2E2: your action?

To make it easier, use the xd10 function. It will show each die result individually.

[Battlemage]

@Battlemage - we can continue the practice after everybody is finished. Or you can assist with fights - as NPC.
As to the race - no sell :smallsmile:. Some elves train in weapons less typical, yes. That's what proficiency priorities are for. But this is the general training for all elves. It's c&t or archery, or both.

Sure, works for me. With that I know enough and have finalized my character sheet in the OOC. I will no longer make changes and tweaks.

I'll gladly assist and pilot an NPC for some fights. More practice is always better.

[Lacco]

Sure, works for me. With that I know enough and have finalized my character sheet in the OOC. I will no longer make changes and tweaks.

I'll gladly assist and pilot an NPC for some fights. More practice is always better.

Ok, once someone posts interest, I'll assign you as the enemy :smallbiggrin:. And send you the stats (if you want, make your own NPCs, it's not a problem for me).

[Penelomeeg]

Tsara seeing her opening, quickly takes a step closer andlunges forward with her rapier aiming a thrust at their chest.



Tsars uses 5 die to attack

[roll0]

TN 5

[Lacco]

The hunter swings the spear in a wide circle, attempting to parry the thrust. Tsara's blade gets caught by the haft and pushed quickly aside.

The hunter jumps forward, swinging the spear in a diagonal motion...



7-die parry
Tsara's attack: 2 successes
Parry [roll0] TN 7 = 3 successes
1 net success for Hunter
Hit location (if applicable): [roll1]

New round, new dice. Hunter has the initiative.

He attacks with 3-dice diagonal swing. Tsara's defence?

[Penelomeeg]

Tsara slides out of the way of the attack and manuevers her feet to half circle around him and step back in his space for an opportune opening.



Tsara ducks and weaves with 7 dice

[roll0]

Successes: 2

[Eplov]

*Jerri in the Field*

After slitting the cruel man's throat Jerri knelt down beside his twice-punctured body, gently placing two copper coins in the man's eyes to aid in his crossing to the next life. Jerri gently murmurs, "May you redeem your heinous actions in your next life."

After allowing a few minutes for the man's spirit to leave if it was going, he carefully removed his arrows from the corpse, checked for breaks, cleaned them and his dagger off, and stood. Jerri felt ambiguous over the encounter, the man was clearly in the wrong, but death was such a final solution. Shaking his head to clear away the dour thoughts, he returned to the forest and what mysteries it may hold.
I described him taking the extra second to aim, but didn't explicitly say so. I will make sure to do so in the future.
*Jerri in the Arena*

Sensing the desperation of his situation and suspecting the poor mental facilities of the fool, Jerri attempts to stop short and psych his opponent out.
The description in the book says I don't need to burn CP to use it, so I'm leaving it as is in case I need to try to dodge with those. My WIL is 4, so I assume I'm rolling 4 dice at TN=the opponent's Per.

[roll0]=Probably 3 successes unless he is really observant.

[JNAProductions]

So how exactly do I figure out CP?

[Eplov]

So how exactly do I figure out CP?
Normally your CP would be reflex + your melee weapon proficiency. Remember that reflex is Agi plus WIT divided by 2. I don't think magic affects this at all, so looking at your CS you have a reflex of 2 and no weapon proficiency. I'm gettin a CP of 2. Moral of the story is don't get into melee, I guess.

Edit: keep in mind the farmboy with a long sword has a CP of 10, and he was two steps up from a bag of hay.

[Lacco]

Tsara

The hunter pulls back the spear in the middle of his swing and switches to a thrust at Tsara's chest! Surprised by the switch, she was barely able to parry the spear - and it was too close for comfort.


Feint!
Activation cost 1
Hunter changes to a thrust to torso and adds 1 die to attack (removing 1 additional die from his CP).

Hunter's thrust = [roll0] TN 6 = 2 successes
Tsara's duck&weave = 2 successes
0 net successes = hunter keeps initiative and follows up with a 4-die thrust to upper legs.

Tsara's response?



*Jerri in the Arena*

The boy flinched and swung his sword around - expecting a powerful attack. It would have been comical if lives weren't at stake...



You don't need to burn CP to use it, but you can increase his TN by spending it.
Since this is second exchange of the round, no need to save CP - he can not take initiative if you state you use stop short and he is defending.
So I will assume you used the 4 CP to increase his TN to 11.
Your TN was 4, so 3 successes.
His reflex/TN11 = [roll1] TN 11 = 0 successes
Farmboy loses 3 dice from his next round CP.

New round, new dice. Jerri has initiative. Your action?



@JNAProductions - Eplov stated it correctly. Since you have no weapon proficiency and quite low REF stat, you should aim to stay out of harm's way.

My suggestion: test witchfire on bag of hay and then - let's do a group combat (or at least a duo - you and a melee fighter against opponents).

[Nebula]

Hey, can I join the fun? I think I'll start with the weak peasant with the sling and staff...
...the exact same weapons my guy has...
My pride is hurt, but meh :D

Now for the intro:

Spatz walks into the small arena, taking in the view, and then promptly bumps into someone. Spatz starts to apologize profusely "Oh! Sorry friend, I didn't..." but then he is cut off by the sound of a wooden staff whizzing through the air. Spatz just manages to dodge the strike, and a few more which follow after...

"I'm sorry, but you are making me do this..."
Spatz's previously calm face tenses, bunching up the scars on his face as sinks into his fighting stance...

[Battlemage]

Tsara uses 5 die to attack

(5d10)[2][8][4][1][5](20)

TN 5

Oh yeah, Penelomeeg, you chose a heavy rapier, which has a thrust ATN of 6. If you want the standard 5 you gotta choose a different drawback for the poor quality.


@Nebula You might want to consider choosing lower damage instead of imprecise on your sling. It's going to be hard to hit things with an ATN of 8.

[Lacco]

@Nebula: Would you mind if Battlemage took over my part as trainer for this fight?

@Battlemage: Would you mind taking over my part as trainer for the fight with Nebula's character?

Basically, I'm trying to decrease my workload here to be able to prep as much as possible for later.

[Battlemage]

Sure. I'll try my best and get back to you if a situation comes up that I don't know how to handle. Bring on the quarterstaff duel of the century!

[Eplov]

Pleased with the success of his fake-out, Jerri laughs out loud, "Aha!" then darts forward and slashes across at the farm boy's body.

I'm not sure how many steps shorter my short sword is from the farm boy's long sword. I think the weapons are one step, and being small is another. If that is the case, Jerri slashes toward the farm boy's side with 4 dice-2=2. Not great, but I don't want to run out of dice. If long sword to short was two steps then make it 5 dice, I really don't want to fumble. :smallannoyed:

[Battlemage]

Short to long is two steps (short-medium-long), which would make it three in your case. You're effectively fighting with a dagger (hand range). Might be worth considering going with a sidesword or cut&thrust sword after all (medium normally and short for you). It's also better at parrying.

On the other hand, Jerri is our primary archer anyway and he shoudn't really get involved in melee combat with long weapons anyway, baring extreme cases. The reach advantage is hard to overcome without having a large dice advantage over your opponent. Once you're within his reach, he's screwed of course, but getting there isn't easy. Considering we are a party of six, with Jerri and Ahriman usually building the backline, the scenario shouldn't come up much.

[Eplov]

I know I *shouldn't* get into melee, but I also know it will inevitably happen. :)

The cut and thrust seems like a good alternative, and is still a reasonable length for Jerri. I just don't want it to get in the way of his roguish activities, so anything too long just gets silly. I have been considering swapping over to rapier instead, as it is light and still Jerri friendly. I will honestly be dodging far more frequently than parrying, so the increased DTN isn't really a big deal. Even the lightest of armor messes with rogue skills in this, which seems reasonable, so my only realistic option is to not get hit in the first place. ;)

Edit: Actually, I'm definitely swapping over to rapier. I will finish this combat with short sword using cut & thrust, but am going to update the proficiency/item on my CS. What defect does a rapier get? I know Lacco mentioned them at some point, but I'm not sure which thread to look through.

[Battlemage]

If you want something that isn't too long and doesn't get in the way, rapier certainly isn't the right choice, it's really long. You won't be able to quickdraw it. It's a strong weapon for offense, and good at defense against light weapons, but bad at defense against heavy weapons. You might consider a smallsword/epee, which is basically the medium length version of a rapier and thus can be quickdrawn. Weapon stats are taken from the Flower of Battle book by the way, some comments of yours made me think you're working with core book weapon stats.

The defects are on page 5 of the recruitment thread.

[Lacco]

@Nebula & Battlemage: feel free to start. I have sent the stats to battlemage, so he'll handle your first fight.

Jerri

Farmboy parries weakly, still in a bit of a shocked state.



Parry for 3 dice.
Jerri's attack: [roll0] TN 7 = 1 success
Farmboy's parry: [roll1] TN 6 = 1 success
No net successes = Jerri keeps initiative.
2nd exchange. Your action?

Gnomish rapier = smallsword.
Stats: 1h, M, ATN 9 cut, 5 thrust, defence 9 (6 for light & thrusting weapons), damage ST-4 cut, ST+1 thrust. Draw cut modifier is +1.

Possible flaws:
- brittle blade/fragile (may break on impact - if you roll more 1s than successes, it will get cracked, twice to break it)
- unwieldy (decreases your EN by 1 for purposes of fatigue calculation)
- unbalanced (+1 to primary ATN)

[Eplov]

If you want something that isn't too long and doesn't get in the way, rapier certainly isn't the right choice, it's really long. You won't be able to quickdraw it. It's a strong weapon for offense, and good at defense against light weapons, but bad at defense against heavy weapons. You might consider a smallsword/epee, which is basically the medium length version of a rapier and thus can be quickdrawn. Weapon stats are taken from the Flower of Battle book by the way, some comments of yours made me think you're working with core book weapon stats.

The defects are on page 5 of the recruitment thread.


Well, yes, yes I was using the wrong book. Arg. In the book I was looking at a rapier was medium, not long. Epee sounds like a good alternative, though. I know it is bad at defense against heavy stuff, but like I said before I would just dodge rather than attempt to parry in that situation.

[Battlemage]

@Nebula I'm going to put the the peasant's opening move in a spoiler below. You decide Spatz's opening move for initiative and then you can open my spoiler and see what your opponent chose to do. You must decide if you want to throw a RED die for attack or a WHITE die for defense. This determines how the fight opens.

The rough young peasant does not not hesitate and goes on the offensive with more enthusiasm than skill. His face is red and he seems slightly drunk.

"You think you're better than me? Pushing the simple folk around? Ima teach you some manners!" he shouts angrily.

The peasant throws a RED die for initiative

[Nebula]

I throw a WHITE dice.

Spatz stays silent and stares at his opponent with an unflinching gaze, as he keeps his distance, looking for an opening...

[Battlemage]

The peasant growls and thrusts aggressively at Spatz's chest with his staff in a spear-like move.

The peasent thrusts at Spatz chest for 4 dice! Spatz's reaction?

[Nebula]

Spatz sees that the peasant is about to strike and goes to parry the attack (with 6 dice).

It says I have to roll against my weapons DTN, right? How would I calculate that?

[Battlemage]

The peasant's thrust is wild but uncontrolled, and Spatz easily bats his opponent's weapon aside with his own staff. With the effective parry, the momentum of the fight swings into the young hermit's favor.

Peasant thrust: [roll0] ATN 6 = 1 success
Spatz parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 5 successes!
Hit location (if applicable): [roll2]

The parry is (very) successful with 4 net successes. With the successful defense the initiative switches over and Spatz has initiative. What will he do?

Your weapon's DTN (defensive target number) is part of the weapon stats. Your quarterstaff's DTN is 6. That means every die that rolls a 6 or above when parrying is a success. In this case I'm rolling your parry as well as the peasant's attack for faster progress, since a pbp game goes faster the more back-and-forth steps you eliminate. In the game Laco will often roll for us to speed things up.

[Nebula]

Second exchange now eh?

Spatz goes for a hooking blow towards the peasant's arm.

4 dice (-1 for the hook, +1 for the arm, so still 4)

EDIT: almost forgot to thank you for doing all the dice rolling and practicing stuff, so thanks! :)

[Battlemage]

The peasant, still unbalanced from his failed attack, scrambles to try and parry Spatz' maneuver. Spatz manages to catch the peasant's arm with his staff, but the man can barely manage to keep hold of his weapon. The momentum stays in Spatz's favor.

The peasant tries to parry with his remaining 3 dice.

Spatz hook: [roll0] ATN 6 (Hook is a thrust based maneuver, so the quarterstaff's thrust ATN of 6 comes into play) = 4 successes
Peasant parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 3 successes
Peasant Knockdown roll (if applicable): [roll2] TN 8 (net successes are removed from the right)

Spatz has 1 net success. The peasant must make a KD (knockdown) roll with a TN (target number) of 8 to keep hold of his weapon. Every net success from Spatz' attack takes away one die from this roll. The 1 net success thus takes away the right-most die from the above Knockdown roll. The peasant still manages 1 success, which is barely enough to keep hold of his weapon. Since the attack landed, the momentum stays in Spatz' favor and he keeps initiative.

The first round concludes. The first exchange of the second round starts, all dice pools are refreshed. Spatz has initiative, what does he do?

Some notes on the hook maneuver: This is a bit of a mess, you chose the only maneuver where things aren't 100% clear for me, since the description in the book doesn't cover this case. :smallbiggrin:

Firstly, I don't think you can actually hook with a quarterstaff, as your weapon needs some kind of spike or other extension to catch the opponent's limb with (like a halberd or axe head). At least according to the description of the maneuver. But Laco will make a decision on that. For practice purposes, we will continue as if staffs could hook, can't hurt to know how it works. Spatz might pick up a halberd at some point. :smallwink:

Furthermore, the effects of the hook maneuver are only described when hooking legs, not arms. I'm going with my gut here and assuming that a hook to the arms/hands can disarm the enemy, with the same rules as trying to knock him down when hooking a leg. This is kinda weird because it strongly overlaps with the disarm maneuver. Still, I'm going forward with my interpretation and letting Laco make a ruling on the correctness of everything later.

As an aside, since this is the second exchange of this round, and dice pools will reset in the next round, I don't see much of a reason to hold any dice back here. You could have put 5 dice into the attack.


EDIT: almost forgot to thank you for doing all the dice rolling and practicing stuff, so thanks! :)

No problem at all! It's fun for me too, and I also need the practice (the system is quite new to me as well). :smallsmile:

[Nebula]

Ah, thanks for the tip on the dice, and now since I think about it, I know you can hook with a quarter-staff in real life, but it isn't that easy... so I probably won't use that move for the rest of the encounter. As for the halberd, I suppose we'll see in the future ;)

Now then:

Spatz, seeing his advantageous position, goes to thrust his staff into the peasants neck...

6 -1(head/neck) = 5 dice (6 invested)

[Lacco]

Clarification for hooking/disarming:

Hooking works also with quarterstaff, albeit a bit differently than with halberds/axes, where you actually "hook" with the axe beard. With quarterstaff it's more about using it as a lever - you thrust and use your legs/arms to push the other one down.

It's not an aimed manuever - you just try to "hook" the opponent, not his arms/legs/body. So the +1 for arms wouldn't work - however, since you had additional dice, the result would be the same in this case.

And it can't be used to disarm the opponent - it's used to make him fall down.
If you want to disarm the opponent, use the disarm manuever.

[Nebula]

Thanks for the clarification Lacco! I will keep that in mind from now on.

[Battlemage]

The peasant, seeing Spatz' staff head right for his face, tries to bring up his own weapon to defend himself. Be it luck or some measure of unexpected skill, he manages to deflect the blow.

Taking the opportunity of the shifted momentum, the peasant swings his staff in a crude arc toward Spatz' hands!

The peasant tries to parry with 6 dice.
Spatz thrust: [roll0] ATN 6 = 1 success (In your case, since you chose a brittle quarterstaff and rolled more 1s than successes, your weapon would crack. If it happens again, it would break completely.)
Peasant parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 3 successes
Hit location (if applicable) [roll2]

Second exchange of the round. The peasant has initiative. He attacks with a swing toward Spatz' hands for 2 dice (1 put in, 1 from location). Spatz reaction?

Thanks for the clarifications, Laco. I guess in the end the maneuver was still executed correctly rule-wise, except that he would have fallen down if his KD roll had been unsuccessful, not lost his weapon. Good learning experience, now we know how this stuff works!

[Lacco]

@Battlemage: just one small thing - it's not a fumble if there are any successes. You fumble only if you fail the roll & get at least two 1s.
However, the staff cracks (more ones than successes).
Thanks for the clarifications, Laco. I guess in the end the maneuver was still executed correctly rule-wise, except that he would have fallen down if his KD roll had been unsuccessful, not lost his weapon. Good learning experience, now we know how this stuff works![/HR][/QUOTE]
And in Riddle: always round down.

[Battlemage]

Ah okay. I got that wrong. I'll edit it above.

[Lacco]

No problem - we are learning and that's the point. I had to look up the rule just to be sure, since there was one game where I applied it wrong (for 2 years)... :smallsmile:

[Eplov]

Pleased with the success of his fake-out, Jerri laughs out loud, "Aha!" then darts forward and slashes across at the farm boy's body.

I'm not sure how many steps shorter my short sword is from the farm boy's long sword. I think the weapons are one step, and being small is another. If that is the case, Jerri slashes toward the farm boy's side with 4 dice-2=2. Not great, but I don't want to run out of dice. If long sword to short was two steps then make it 5 dice, I really don't want to fumble. :smallannoyed:

Jerri's life is still hanging in the balance! This would be 2 die swing, by the way.


This was planned as a feint, so if you could add two more dice (3-1) to the attack (now 8 dice in here...) for four dice thrust to abdomen I guess. I can't seem to find the chart or list for what targets subtract or add to your CP. If there's one that adds to his thrust go for that.
Math check: 5-3=2+3-1=4, leaving him with 1 die to dodge with. Eep!

[Nebula]

Spatz tries to duck past the attack without getting too far away from the peasant, seeming somewhat surprised...

5 dice (partial evasion)

[Battlemage]

You have 6 dice left if I got it right, there's not much point in not spending them all (since it's the second exchange of the round and dice will reset afterward). One thing to note is, with partial evasion you don't automatically gain inititiave upon a successful defense like it goes with a parry. You need to spend 2 dice from your pool to do that. If you do not spend 2 dice to attain initiative, the peasant will keep it even if you successfully evade his strike.

So you can decide to evade with 6 dice, evade with 4 dice and buy initiative with 2, or just parry with 6.

[Nebula]

Thanks for the clarification! I believe I only have 5 dice left (out of my total 11), as I spent a dice in order to target the head plus the 5 dice which where rolled in order to see if it hit.

Just checking, Spatz can't evade after having just attacked on the last exchange, yes?



If he can evade, he will do so with the remaining 5 dice.

If he can't, he will parry instead with the remaining 5 dice.

[Lacco]

@Penelomeeg: we have an unfinished business :smallsmile:. See quote below.

Tsara

The hunter pulls back the spear in the middle of his swing and switches to a thrust at Tsara's chest! Surprised by the switch, she was barely able to parry the spear - and it was too close for comfort.


Feint!
Activation cost 1
Hunter changes to a thrust to torso and adds 1 die to attack (removing 1 additional die from his CP).

Hunter's thrust = [roll0] TN 6 = 2 successes
Tsara's duck&weave = 2 successes
0 net successes = hunter keeps initiative and follows up with a 4-die thrust to upper legs.

Tsara's response?

@Eplov: See my response - first post of page 3 of this thread :smallsmile:

So, if you want to add 2 dice to the attack, it will cost you additional 3 dice (1 for activation costs for feint, 2 dice for adding 2 to the attack).
Attacking with 4 die-thrust to body, spent 9 dice. Correct?
Melee CP modifiers are in first or second post of this thread, check under spoilers.

As for feints, if you want to use these, no need to put them inside spoilers. Just state it as your further action, roll the additional dice - and I'll edit my reply.



Jerri

Jerri

Farmboy parries weakly, still in a bit of a shocked state. Jerri pulled the blade back in the last moment, circling it around the farmboy's longsword and thrusting. He felt the blade enter farmboy's body and heard his pained gasp. When he returned from the lunge, he saw blood on the tip of his shortsword.

OOC: Parry for 3 dice.
Jerri's attack: (2d10)[3][10](13) TN 7 5= 1 success
Farmboy's parry: (3d10)[1][2][9](12) TN 6 = 1 success
No net successes = Jerri keeps initiative.
2nd exchange. Your action?
Feint!
Jerri adds 2 dice to the attack and switches to thrust to abdomen.
Jerri's feint to thrust additional dice: [roll0] TN 5 = 1 success
1 net success!
Hit location: [roll1] = lower abdomen
Damage: ST 5 + 1 (weapon) + 1 net success
Damage resist: 5 TO
Level 2 piercing damage to abdomen.
BL 6
S 4
P 6-WP

Jerri has initiative. No dice (if my calculations are correct) mean the boy gets free attack in second exchange- with his 2 remaining dice (4 dice lost due to shock, 3 for the parry).

Or we can assume you'd have kept at least 2 dice (not adding the second die to feint)...?



@Nebula: only full evasion is disallowed if you attacked in previous exchange. You can still use partial evasion (TN 7, if you want to take initiative after successful dodge, you need to pay 2 die activation cost) or duck & weave (TN 9, opponent is considered to fumble his attack if successful). I'd go for the parry if I were you - quarterstaff has DTN of 6, and parries take initiative automatically if you succeed.

[Nebula]

Thanks Lacco!

Spatz goes to parry (5 dice).

[Eplov]

Wow, I completely missed your response. By my count Jerri has one die left to dodge with (plus any successful acrobatic dice). The farm boy should take 5(STR)+1(success)-toughness and armor. Even if he doesn't do any damage he has scored a hit so now the farm boy is at -3 CP due to being inside his reach!

[Lacco]

Wow, I completely missed your response. By my count Jerri has one die left to dodge with (plus any successful acrobatic dice). The farm boy should take 5(STR)+1(success)-toughness and armor. Even if he doesn't do any damage he has scored a hit so now the farm boy is at -3 CP due to being inside his reach!

Ah, I took the damage listing from your charsheet :smallsmile:. So he's not even having S4, but S3 due to light laceration.

It seems you forgot about activation cost for feints - it's usually 1, if not more (if the feint is more complicated or you use the same one again in one combat).

Yes, he's at -3 CP - but your weapon is at "hand" reach, correct?

That means my standard response to this type of reach. It's called "pommel to the face" :smallsmile:. Reach: H, ATN 6, DMG ST-1 blunt.

[Battlemage]

The peasant's wild strike is off target and does not even come close to hitting Spatz. The momentum swings into the hermit's favor.

Peasant swing: [roll0] ATN 7 = 0 successes
Spatz parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 3 successes
Hit location if applicable: [roll2]

Round 3, exchange 1. Dice pools are refreshed, Spatz has initiative. What does he do?

[Eplov]

Ah, I took the damage listing from your charsheet :smallsmile:. So he's not even having S4, but S3 due to light laceration.

It seems you forgot about activation cost for feints - it's usually 1, if not more (if the feint is more complicated or you use the same one again in one combat).

Yes, he's at -3 CP - but your weapon is at "hand" reach, correct?

That means my standard response to this type of reach. It's called "pommel to the face" :smallsmile:. Reach: H, ATN 6, DMG ST-1 blunt.

No, the feint cost was included. Initial attack was 5-3=2 dice. Feint addition was 3-1=2 dice. That's still 8 out of nine cp.
Jerri is keeping that last die for dodging, so I'm going to roll that now since it was implied that the farm boy is going to try whacking Jerri with the butt of his sword.
Jerry attempts to spring out of the way in an acrobatic tumble.


Acrobatics check: -2 dice for duck & weave. TN=6
[roll0]=1 success
Rather than be forced to split this into two posts I'm rolling his duck and weave as if those five dice were all successes. We will ignore any dice that shouldn't be used starting from the rightmost and moving in.
Duck&Weave TN 9
[roll1]=1 success

Well that could've gone better...

I may need to consider improving both my CP and my acrobatics skill if I want this to work. Also, now that I think about it, my description of his dodge doesn't match the type I wanted. How would you describe an acrobatic duck and weave?

[Nebula]

Spatz sees the opening and goes for another thrust into the peasant's face, this time with a little more caution...



6 dice invested, one is used to invest in aiming for the head, so 5 will be rolled. Also just checking, neither Spatz or the peasant have actually done any damage to each other, haven't they?

[Battlemage]

The peasant tries to parry the thrust, and manages to avoid it more by luck than any actual skill. The movement leaves him unbalanced and Spatz can keep up the attack.

Peasant parries with 5 dice.

Spatz thrust: [roll0] ATN 6 = 2 successes
Peasant parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 2 successes
Hit location (if applicable): [roll2]

Equal successes = near miss. The attack does not hit, but initiative does not change since the parry wasn't actually successful (had any net successes). Spatz retains intiative.

Round 3, exchange 2: Spatz has initiative. What will he do? (This is a good spot to decide the fight. Spatz has initiative for the second time in a row and the peasant doesn't have many dice left).

Nope, no injuries/effects on either fighter yet. But if this fight would continue without wounds for a few rounds more, fatigue would start to set in and eventually give the person with the higher endurance and the lower encumbrance from armor/shield/carried items an advantage. This way long stalemates can eventually break by the combatants getting tired).

[Nebula]

Spatz steps slightly to his left, and proceeds to swing down onto the peasants right arm with all the strength he can muster, hoping he can further open up the peasant to more attacks...



Swinging = TN 7, Dice invested 5 +1(for aiming for the arm), 6 dice will be rolled

[Battlemage]

The peasant abandons any thought of retaliation and throws himself backward in desperation with a forceful movement, trying to dodge the strike and create distance to Spatz. He is a little bit too slow, and the hermit's staff catches him across the hands in a glancing blow. The peasant flinches in fear and anger but isn't much worse for wear and keeps his grip on his weapon.

Peasant tries a Full Evasion with his remaining 2 dice.

Spatz strike: [roll0] ATN 7 = 2 successes
Peasant full evasion: [roll1] DTN 4 = 0 successes
Hit Location (if applicable): [roll2]

Spatz attack hits with 2 net sucesses

Damage: Spatz ST (3) + 2 net successes = 5 - opponent's TO (5) = Level 0 wound (just a scratch). You need at least a level 1 wound for any real effects.

Round 4, exchange 1: All dice pools refresh, Spatz retains initiative. His action?

Note: At round 6 (END x 2) Spatz will take a fatigue point which will cost him 1 die from his CP.

As an option: Spatz could try to decide the fight by being a bit more risky and trying a manevuer (maybe a feint or stop short).

[Nebula]

Spatz sees the reaction on the peasants face and deliberately swings down onto the same arm again (with 5 dice plus the extra one for aiming for the arm, so 6 rolled). TN 7


FEINT! Spatz changes the swing of his blow and directs it right towards the peasant's face!



Original blow: 6 (5 invested)
Feint: -1 roll(activation cost) -1 roll(aiming for the head) +6(dice added) -3(feint penalty)

total invested: 11
total rolled: 7

that is how it works, right?

[Battlemage]

The peasant, fearful of his hands being hit again, tries to parry the strike.

The peasant parries with 4 dice.

[Battlemage]

The peasant is surprised by the feint and his defense is weak. Spatz' staff catches him knocks the peasant's weapon out of his hands and goes on to catch the man in the face, leaving a bruised eye and a bloody nose.

The peasant holds a hand to his head, wiping the blood from his nose, and growls through his fingers: "Aughh, you bastard!" Then he realizes he is now weaponless against Spatz' quarterstaff and suddenly seems a lot more scared than angry.

"I... I didn't mean nothing... honestly..."

You can't target a swing to the face, only a thrust. I will assume an overhead swing instead, which is likely to land on the head if it hits. No zone modifier for that.

After your initial attack you have 6 dice left (11 originally, 5 used for initial attack). You need 1 of those for the feint activation cost. That leaves 5 dice. For every one of these dice that you want to add to the attack, you need to spend an additional die (basically you pay 2 dice for every die you want to add to the feint attack). So you can add 2 more dice to the attack, leaving you with 1 die for the second exchange. That gives you a final attack of 8 dice.

Spatz swing: [roll0] ATN 7 = 3 successes
Peasant parry: [roll1] DTN 6 = 0 successes, two 1s = fumble! The peasant drops his weapon.
Hit location (if applicable): [roll2] = lower head, face

Damage: 3 + 3 - 5 = Level 1 wound to the face.

Knockout roll at +3: rolled here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20780779&postcount=7) Peasant manages to not fall unconcious.

Nice attack! Spatz' relatively low strength and the peasant's sturdiness make it only a light wound, though.

Round 4 exchange 2: The peasant lost his remaining dice due to the shock from the wound and his fumble, and he is unarmed now. Spatz has initiative. What does he do?

Edit: Alright, that took me a while to apply all the rules. Should be good to read and react now.

[Nebula]

Spatz spent all his dice doing that attack... so nothing?

[Battlemage]

You should have 1 die left, see my calculation above. But since a 1 success hit can't hurt him, I recommend the stop short maneuver to potentially steal some dice from him next round.

Edit: I realized the stop short maneuver hasn't been posted in the original post yet, I put it into a spoiler below:

This maneuver consists of leaping or stomping at an opponent and then halting suddenly to throw your opponent off guard. The maneuver's cost is variable. Roll a contest of the attacker's WP against the defender's Reflex. The attacker's TN is equal to his opponent's Per. The defender's TN is equal to 7 plus the number of dice that the attacker spent in executing the maneuver. This counts as an attack. If the defender wins, then he may take initiative normally. If the attacker wins, then his opponent loses a number of dice from his CP equal to the attacker's margin of success. This maneuver is really only effective once. Every additional attempt (whether the first was successful or not) cumulatively costs 1 extra CP die to the attacker.

[Nebula]

I suppose he uses stop short using the remaining 1 dice...

His WP (will power) is 3, so yeah, let's see how this goes...



Spatz starts making another movement towards his opponent, with his staff swinging wide, but stops short.

[Lacco]

@Battlemage: a fumble could also mean that he falls down from the hit. In the game, if the hit warrants a KO roll, I'd assume he failed it.

@Nebula: to overcome his TO, try adding power to your swings (can't be done with thrusts) - you put away one die to gain +1 damage. It works well if you can hit, but can't go through his TO.
Also, stop short is in this case a good choice even if you have low WP. He can't make you lose dice through this manuever. This is the "safe" way.
If you have 1 die left, you could try hitting his arms. You get +1 die for that, which you can use to add power to the swing. The worst that can happen there is a fumble (you roll 1).

@Penelomeeg: it seems we have lost each other's tracks. Do you want to continue the fight?

[Nebula]

Oh, I had completely forgot about spending dice to add damage to attacks! Thanks Lacco :)

Yeah, I think I might still try the stop short maneuver, just to see how things would work out.

[Battlemage]

Spatz stomps toward the unarmed peasant, who shrinks back and tries to doge out of the way, but stops abruptly to successfully throw his opponent off-balance.

Spatz performs a stop short maneuver with 1 die invested.
Spatz WP roll: [roll0] TN 3 = 3 successes
Peasant REF roll: [roll1] TN 8 = 1 success
2 net successes for Spatz. The peasant loses 2 CP dice.

Round 5, Exchange 1: Spatz has initiative. What does he do? The peasant is weakened by the successful stop short and some overflow from last turn's wound/fumbling penalties.

[Eplov]

No, the feint cost was included. Initial attack was 5-3=2 dice. Feint addition was 3-1=2 dice. That's still 8 out of nine cp.
Jerri is keeping that last die for dodging, so I'm going to roll that now since it was implied that the farm boy is going to try whacking Jerri with the butt of his sword.
Jerry attempts to spring out of the way in an acrobatic tumble.


Acrobatics check: -2 dice for duck & weave. TN=6
[roll0]=1 success
Rather than be forced to split this into two posts I'm rolling his duck and weave as if those five dice were all successes. We will ignore any dice that shouldn't be used starting from the rightmost and moving in.
Duck&Weave TN 9
[roll1]=1 success

Well that could've gone better...

I may need to consider improving both my CP and my acrobatics skill if I want this to work. Also, now that I think about it, my description of his dodge doesn't match the type I wanted. How would you describe an acrobatic duck and weave?

As it turns out, I didn't read the cost for feint close enough. I read it a spy the cost (1) and add dice. What it really says is pay the cost (1) and pay twice the dice. So all I could've afforded was one extra attack die at the cost of two. Not sure if that alters things dramatically or not, but now we're using the same rules, so that may help. :)

[Lacco]

As it turns out, I didn't read the cost for feint close enough. I read it a spy the cost (1) and add dice. What it really says is pay the cost (1) and pay twice the dice. So all I could've afforded was one extra attack die at the cost of two. Not sure if that alters things dramatically or not, but now we're using the same rules, so that may help. :)

Yeah, that's what I was surprised about. And no, it does not alter things dramatically - not in this match.
So, to get moving on - let's assume you passed the duck & weave. I don't feel the need to go and re-work last few rounds.

As to the description...



Jerri launched himself forward, ducking under the farmboy's blade, landed into a roll and jumped up, next to farmboy's side, ready to strike. The boy had barely time to turn around to face next attack of the nimble halfling...



New round, new dice. Due to success in duck & weave, you move into your ideal length, the boy loses 1 additional die (he is assumed to additionally lose 1/2 of dice he invested into attack as "fumble", he invested 2 dice in total).
Jerri has initiative. Your attack?

[Eplov]

Jerri, sizing up his bleeding and disoriented opponent, decides this farce has gone on long enough. Jerri stabs forward toward the luckless youth's midsection in what will most likely be a killing blow. 8 dice thrust. Eep!

[Nebula]

Spatz swings down on the peasant's head, committing himself to the attack almost completely...



Spatz spends 2 dice (1 for the head, another for extra damage) and rolls 6 to attack (8 dice used total?), the TN is 7.

[Battlemage]

Unarmed, the peasant tries to throw himself out of the way to find an opportunity to run from the fight. He barely manages to avoid the blow, but cannot create enough distance to get away.

You can't target the head with a swing, like I wrote above, only with a thrust. I'll assume an overhead swing again, which does not cost a die (leaving you with 7 for the attack) and has a high chance of landing on the head.

The peasant tries a full evasion with 3 dice.

Spatz swing: [roll0] TN 7 = 3 successes
Peasant full evasion: [roll1] TN 4 = 3 successes

Near miss. Spatz keeps initiative.

Round 5, Exchange 2: Spatz has initiative.

(The fight is pretty much over. The peasant is unarmed and won't ever be able to hit Spatz. He's just focusing on survival now.)

@Laco: Is there a tactic against someone who is just using full evasion all the time?

[Lacco]

@Laco: Is there a tactic against someone who is just using full evasion all the time?

Yup. Using skills - ridicule is perfect tool for this. If you fail your WP roll and he scores high enough, you'll be required to overspend & attack. Intimidate can make him surrender (although in this case he would have most probably surrendered as soon as he lost the weapon) or flee. Or - if you are sure he uses all his dice, then just getting the most probable strike off can work.

In this case, a hook for all dice except 1 may be a good choice - getting him to the ground to make him lose dice & ability to easily evade.



Jerri

A whimper of pain escaped the boy's lips as he collapsed at Jerri's feet, his sword falling from his limp hands.

The combat was over.

OOC: Rolled in the roll-thread.

J-thrust: (8d10)[10][5][5][4][3][10][6][10](53) TN 5
Fb-parry: (3d10)[5][5][10](20) TN 7
Hit location (1d6)[5](5)

[JNAProductions]

Right... Give me something big, dumb, and stuffed full of hay. I need to burn.

[Nebula]

Sorry, I forgot, I'll make sure I'll remember in the future Battlemage.

So could Spatz use persuasion to convince the peasant to stand down mid-battle?

EDIT: or let him run away?

[Battlemage]

Yeah sure. The peasant has realized he's not going to win this and is looking for an out. You can use persuasion to convince him that you aren't going to kill him if he stops fighting, or intimidate to scare him into giving up. In this case you can probably just step back and he'd likely run away because he's a bully who has realized he picked the wrong target.

[Nebula]

Spatz steps closer to his opponent's staff, and silently stares at the peasant, waiting for him to back off...


Spatz's face relaxes as he sees the peasant flee from him, but it doesn't return to the care-free gaze he had brought into the arena. Spatz looks around at the place, and shakes his head, and promptly starts to stride out of the building, using his staff as a walking stick.

[Lacco]

Ahriman

The bag of hay looked unassuming as it hung on the chain, slowly rocking back and forth as the breeze played with it. Some snickering was heard from the side, as the other combatants watched the frail, thin, but tall figure clad in heavy robes enter the arena and walk towards the bag.

Few straws already pierced the bag, as if they were trying to get out...

OOC:
Round 1, exchange 1: initiative!
Your action?
The bag of hay throws WHITE die! :smallwink:

Basically, in combat the spellcasting actions take one full round. If you want to cast more than one spell, you have to split the pool between two exchanges (e.g. one to ward = defend, one to use witchfire = attack).

If you are going to use witchfire, please state inside the attack description what will the final result look like. If you don't, I'll do it, so don't worry if you forget.

[JNAProductions]

Ahriman narrows his eyes in concentration, focusing his magic through his hands.

Right... So my CP is irrelevant (though it's at 2) as it takes the whole round. I think I know how to cast magic, so let me try:

[roll0] For casting
[roll1] For containing

Ahriman throws his hands out, beams of purple-black eldritch energy piercing through the bag.

Ahriman throws his hands out, and a sputter of sparks go out from them, causing no harm.

Ahriman throws his hands out, then lets out a shriek of pain, grabbing his head as it splits with terrible pain.

[Lacco]

Ahriman

Ahriman throws his hands out and beams of purple-black eldritch energy pierce through the bag, burning through cleanly, leaving only blackened edges.

His mind clear, he was able to control the eldritch energies and bend them to his will, however, his cautiousness resulted in too weak attack to impress all the bystanders. However, there was no laughter as they all turned to the sack.

The beams made several coin-sized openings at the area where a chest would normally be. While the beams were able to burn through the sack, Ahriman noticed that they barely scorched the wooden beam behind them.

Time for another try...

Well, that was one unlucky roll. If you didn't have 5 in spellcasting, it would be a fumble (and most probably your robe would catch on fire.

Why only using 6 dice from pool of 11?

Results: 1 net success from casting = damage rating of the beams = 1 and your proficiency with them = 1

Ahriman's aim: 2
Aim + proficiency = 3

Distance: short, no penalty

Ranged attack: [roll0] TN 6
Damage: 1 (from casting) + net successes
Hit zone: [roll1] (if applicable) - around chest (if I remember correctly)
Hit location: [roll2] - under ribs
Damage resistance: AV 0, TO 0, double damage rating from fire
Level 4 damage
Normal enemy with average TO and without armour would be only lightly burned, without any penalties.

[JNAProductions]

I HAVE ELEVEN DICE? HOLY CRAP!

Edit: Also, is a d6 or a d10?

Ahriman grins and grits his teeth, readying a second blast.

[roll0] Casting
[roll1] Containment

[Lacco]

Ahriman

Yes, 11 dice. You forgot to add your mystery rating to the power.

Total SP = power + rating of the mystery you are using (e.g. Witchfire).

And it's d10.

Want me to roll for you?

[JNAProductions]

No, I'll learn.

[roll0] Casting
[rolv]6d10[/rollv] Containment

[JNAProductions]

I done goofed.

[roll0]

[Lacco]

Ahriman

The second blast was more focused, however it hit only the lower left tip of the bag.

The effect was larger - the whole lower left part of the bag was vaporized and the remaining straws fell out...

Results: again 1 net success from casting = damage rating of the beams = 1 and your proficiency with them = 1
2 successes on containment. No effect.

Ahriman's aim: 2
Aim + proficiency = 3

Distance: short, no penalty

Ranged attack: [roll0] TN 6
Damage: 1 (from casting) + 3 net successes
Hit zone: [roll1] (if applicable) = "lower leg"
Hit location: [roll2] = "shin"
Damage resistance: AV 0, TO 0, double damage rating from fire
Level 5 damage

However, you would still only blacken the leather armour on average opponent.
The issue is low aim, and relatively small power (due to low rolls).
I'd allow you to spend 1 die to "power" the blast - decreasing your pool, but increasing the damage.

[JNAProductions]

Ahriman grits his teeth and focuses his energy for a third (and hopefully final) time, pouring all his energy into a blast.

[roll0] Casting
[roll1] Containment

And spending one die to power it.

[Lacco]

Ahriman

In last moment Ahriman changed his target - and focused the beams on the farmer with stick.

The beam is thicker this time and a hint of otherworldly tendrils shows around its edges, which seemed to envelop the farmer.

There was a loud scream as the tendrils and beam bore into farmer's arm, and when the smoke cleared, he was standing there with his arm badly burnt - but the burns were blistering, as if produced by acid...

He immediately took up his staff and charged Ahriman...



I changed the target, so we can see what happens... :smallsmile:

Casting: 3 successes
Containment: 3 successes
Ahriman's aim: 2
Aim + proficiency = 5

Distance: short, no penalty

Ranged attack: [roll0] TN 6
Damage: 3 (from casting) + 1 for additional power + 2 net successes
Hit zone: [roll1] (if applicable) = arm
Hit location: [roll2] = upper arm
Damage resistance: AV 4
Level 2 damage to arm.
Shock: 5
Pain: 8-WP
Blood loss: none

One thing to clarify:
If you say you conjure beams, I would assume "piercing" damage.
However, I''ll take the better values from either piercing or "generic" (e.g. fire, acid) damage.
You can state you are using different types of damage, based on description and tradition of Ahriman's magic.

Now, Round 1, exchange 1: the farmer takes his staff and charges Ahriman. He'll be able to attack in second exchange.
It's point-blank (+1 to aim) distance, so you have one more spell to fire off before you have to defend yourself.

[JNAProductions]

Ahriman grins fiercely, his mind swirling with eldritch energy and grim satisfaction. Slowly, though, he comes to his senses, realizing he just assaulted a man, and the grin fades, replaced with a stoic expression.

Don't do that in game. But let's see how dead this guy is.

[Lacco]

Don't do that in game. But let's see how dead this guy is.

Rest assured, in-game I would never do that. However, aiming at a sack won't tell you much about how deadly you are - it's good for basic practice, but this will be better. And he's not dead, so prepare your magics :smallwink:.

[JNAProductions]

Seeing the farmer, rather than being dead, is merely injured and ticked-off, Ahriman decides to fire off another blast to teach the uppity farmer a lesson.

I would NOT do this in game. Ahriman might not be nice, but he's no murderer. But for combat practice... FIRE THE LASERS!

As for damage type, what's generally the best damage type?

[roll0] Casting
[roll1] Containment
One die spent to power it up.

[Lacco]

As Ahriman spread his arms and whispered the incantation, the tendrils reached out again, and stopped the farmer's charge, when they bore inside his chest.

His scream was terrifying, and the wounds on his chest looked as if made by a white-hot poker - there was a black smoke coming from inside, followed by small, black trickles of blood.

The farmer fell to his knees, but then stood up, with the last bits of his will, wracked by enormous pain...

I agree - and I would not expect you to attack farmers in game. However, you need also real combat practice.
Just for curiosity - want to spend Morale reroll on this one? In this case I would also advice - if he gets too close, Ahriman will get into trouble. So think about rearranging the dice differently. Few points of taint will not be so bad for Ahriman's health as, for example, a crushed skull.

Casting: 2 successes
Containment: 2 successes
Ahriman's aim: 2
Aim + proficiency = 4

Distance: point blank (+1 die, rolled in rolling thread, came up as "1")

Ranged attack: [roll0] TN 6 = 2 successes
Damage: 2 (from casting) + 1 for additional power + 2 net successes
Hit zone: [roll1] = chest
Hit location: [roll2] = chest
Damage resistance: AV 4
Level 1 damage to chest.
S = 9-WP
P = 5-WP

As to the damage...
Cutting and piercing are quite similar - some armours will respond better to piercing damage, some to cutting. Cutting have - in general - better effect for level 4-5 wounds (decapitations, large wounds) and higher blood loss, where piercing have usually better effect in level 2-3 wounds (but overall are quite deadly if you hit torso/head).
You can also use "blunt" - the "battering ram" effect. That has high chances of knocking down and knocking out people.
"Generic" damage (fire/acid/cold/whatever) is fairly good for pain/shock values, but almost no or no blood loss at all.

Round 2: due to the shock he lost all his dice. But now it's new round - and he has still one die left.

[JNAProductions]

Morale reroll? How do those work?

If it's a reroll fo the existing dice, then
[roll0]
[roll1]

If I can choose to rearrange the dice, then Imma stick ALL 10 IN CASTING! GOING IN DEEP! LET'S SEE WHAT TAINT DOES TO ME!

And I think I'll do Piercing damage. by default.

[Lacco]

Ahriman

The power of the spell made most of the present people close their eyes. The fires in braziers around the arena sputtered and went off for a moment - as Ahriman focused his powers and harnessed the eldritch energies...

The beam was now thick as a column, and the tendrils were the size of man's fist. When it bore through the farmer's chest, it left a hole inside it and even cracked the wall behind him.

He fell to the ground, immediately dead.

The other onlookers tried to avoid Ahriman's eyes, when he looked at them. They shone with yellowish, sickening glare, and his whole body emitted a whisps of strange smoke - it seemed to be thicker, blacker than tar, and disappeared after few seconds of floating around him.

Morale rerolls allow you to reroll all failed dice. So you keep your successes, but you reroll every other die. It also "open ends" all 10s you roll (they count as success and you roll them again).
You spend your morale on those.

Since the previous spell stopped his approach, you have another chance. So, 10d10 it is...and if you don't mind, I'll use the roll you produced.

Casting: (5d10)[8][9][4][2][8](31) (5d10)[6][4][7][9][1](27) +1 for power. 6 successes
Containment: none.

Ahriman's aim: 2
Aim + proficiency = 8

Distance: point blank (+1 die, rolled in rolling thread, came up as "1")

Ranged attack: [roll0] TN 6 = 2 successes
Damage: 6 (from casting) + 1 for additional power + 2 net successes
Hit zone: [roll1] = torso
Hit location: [roll2] = chest
Damage resistance: AV 4
Level 5 damage to chest.
Instant death.

Ahriman gets 6 points of taint.
Your Sorcery pool decreases by 3 due to taint.
Your Social interactions (the positive ones) are at -2 penalty.
If you already had more than HT taint (in your case 2), and acquired so much, it would "backlash" in some way.

[Eplov]

I'm pretty sure I heard Ahriman shout "Hadouken!"

Also, I thought if you didn't contain the energies you got artificially aged. Are we using some other system?

[Lank]

Gunnar enters the arena only to hear boos and shouting. Apparently he wasn't very popular among the arena spectators. He didn't really care. As far as he was concerned they were all just one crime away from funding his next meal. Gunnar drew his warhammer and shield. Ready to face his opponent.

The Sword and Board Warrior would surely prove to be a tough opponent. Gunnar was going to have to make his hits count and try get around the shield.

His opponent entered the arena and got a much better reception among the crowd. He must have been a regular to the arena.

So I will face the Sword and Board. Using my warhammer and shield for now.