1e Combat

This page discusses the combat rules of Drunken Dwarves 1e.

Combat structure
Every battle starts by determining the Initiative order. This means that all combatants make a Mind check (d20 + Mind), and the result is their Initiative score for the duration of the battle. Those Initiative scores then determine the turn order, with the combatant with the highest Initiative getting their turn first. If two combatants have the same Initiative, the one with the highest Mind goes first.

A battle consists of multiple rounds, each of which represents about ten seconds. Each round, every combatant gets a turn, during which they can move around, use an Action and use a Minor Action. Additionally, each combatant gets a Reaction, which they can use to take certain actions outside of their turn.

Movement
In combat, characters are assumed to be constantly moving around, circling their enemies and darting back and forth to make attacks. However, they do not necessarily leave their general area. Only actively leaving your position to go somewhere else is, in mechanical terms, called "moving".

Every turn, you can move a distance up to your Speed stat in metres. Rather than measuring the exact distance you cover, the GM usually arbitrates roughly how much time it takes to reach your target. Movement does not need to be self-contained. You could, for example, move 5 metres towards an enemy, attack them, then move another 5 metres towards another target.

It is often important to know whether creatures are in melee range of each other. Generally speaking, two creatures are in melee range if they are no more than two metres away from each other.

Actions
An Action can be spent to do almost anything physically possible. Below is a list of common actions you can take.

Attack You can spend an Action to make one attack or maneuver, though some circumstances (such as dual wielding) might allow more.

Defend You can spend an Action to actively defend yourself, causing all attacks against you to take Disadvantage until your next turn.

Sprint You can spend an Action to double your Speed for one turn.

Disengage You can spend an Action to make sure that you can withdraw safely from an engagement. Until the end of your turn, you do not provoke reactive attacks (see Reactions) from leaving an opponent's melee range.

Hide If you are concealed (see "Visibility") or have cover to hide behind, you can spend an Action to hide from your opponents. You make a stealth check (d20 + Agility). The result of this check becomes your "Detection DC" until the start of your next turn. You then compare your Detection DC to the Alertness (10 + Mind) of the creatures you are hiding from. Any creature whose Alertness you surpass becomes unaware of your location. As long as you remain in stealth, you repeat this process at the start of each of your turns.

After the first successful stealth check, you can move out of concealment, but must begin and end your turn concealed, else your stealth automatically ends. Stealth automatically ends after making an attack. See "Visibility" below for the benefits of stealth.

Search You can spend an Action to actively search for hidden objects or creatures. You make a Mind check, exposing all hidden entities within reasonable range that you equal or exceed the DC of. For hidden objects, the DC is determined by the DM. For creatures using stealth, the DC is their Detection DC.

Ready an Action You can spend an Action to ready an Action. You specify a condition and an action. If, between your current turn and the start of your next, the condition is fulfilled, you execute the action. Example: “If an enemy approaches me, I make a melee attack against them.” This allows you to act outside of your turn. If the condition does not occur, the Action is wasted. If the condition occurs multiple times, you only get to act on it once.

Minor Actions
Simple actions that take little effort are Minor Actions. This includes switching weapons, grabbing an item off the ground or handing an item to someone. You can always substitute an Action for a Minor Action.

Reactions
Your reaction allows you to take certain actions outside of your turn, though it is only usable when certain conditions are met. By default, the only Reaction you can take is a Reactive Attack, but certain character options allow you to use it in different ways.

Reactive Attacks When a creature retreats from melee combat without the necessary caution, they will momentarily leave themselves open to attack. When a creature leaves your melee range, they provoke a Reactive Attack from you. This means that you can spend your Reaction to make a melee attack against them. Forced movement (such as being pushed) does not provoke Reactive Attacks. At the DM's discretion, certain other actions that require dropping your guard may also provoke reactive attacks. Reactive attacks can be avoided by taking the Disengage Action.

Any condition that causes you to take Disadvantage on melee attacks, including being unarmed, renders you unable to make Reactive Attacks. As usual, if you are dual-wielding, you can make two attacks at a -2 penalty as a single Reaction. Instead of attacking normally, you can also choose to make a single Maneuver as a Reactive Attack.

Attacks
When you make an attack, you roll a d20 and add your Agility. If the result equals or exceeds the target’s Defence, your attack succeeds and you deal damage according to your weapon type and Brawn stat (see 1e Equipment). The damage you deal is subtracted from the target's HP.

Melee attacks can only be made against targets within melee range.

Ranged attacks can be made at a distance, but suffer from certain penalties. They have two values: short range and max range. Short range is the distance at which it can attack normally. Attacking targets beyond short range causes Disadvantage on the attack roll. Attacking beyond max range is impossible. Range numbers are given on the 1e Equipment page. Additionally, you take Disadvantage on ranged attacks if you are within melee range of an enemy, whether they are the target of the attack or not.

Whenever you make an attack roll, there is a chance that the die lands on a 1 or a 20. If it lands on a 1, the attack is an automatic miss. This is called a critical miss. If it lands on a 20, it is an automatic hit, and you deal double damage. This is called a critical hit.

Maneuvers
Sometimes you want to try something against an enemy that is not a regular attack. This can be many things, from trying to disarm them, to putting a bucket on their head so they cannot see. Offensive actions you take against an enemy that are not regular attacks are called Maneuvers. These are mechanically considered 'attacks', so that, unless mentioned otherwise, any rules or effects that modify attacks also apply to Maneuvers.

Maneuvers are resolved similar to attacks, but they usually oppose the target's Poise instead of their Defence, and the stat that you add to your roll varies. Below are some common Maneuvers, with the first line stating what to roll for them. If a player wants to attempt something not listed here, the GM arbitrates how to resolve it.

Disarm To disarm someone, make an Agility check against the target's Poise. On success, the target drops an item they are holding. The item falls on the ground near the target's feet. If you have any free hands, you can pick up the object as a Minor Action. The defender has +5 Poise against disarm attempts if the item is held in two hands.

Grapple To grapple someone, make a Brawn check against the target's Poise. You need at least one free hand to initiate a grapple, and can choose to use both hands to get Advantage on the check. Any hand used for grappling is unusable as long as the grapple lasts. On success, both you and the target become unable to move without using the Push maneuver to push/drag the other along. The target can also use their Action to attempt to escape, making a Brawn or Agility check against your Poise. On success, the grapple ends. You, the grappler, can automatically end the grapple during your turn, no action required.

If you already have someone grappled, you can spend an Action to restrain them. You make another Brawn check against their Poise. On success, both you and the target gain the Restrained condition (see below). This lasts until the grapple ends or until you decide to revert to grappling the target normally (no action required).

Push To push someone, make a Brawn check against the target's Poise. On success, the target is pushed up to 5 metres away from you. For every 10 points by which you surpass their Poise, you can push them 5 additional metres.

Trip To trip someone, make a Brawn or Agility check against the target's Poise. On success, the target is knocked Prone (see Conditions below). Creatures with more than two legs have +5 Poise against trip attempts.

Saving throws
Whereas most actions require the user to make a check to determine success, spells (and some other effects) function on a saving throw instead. A saving throw is when the target of an effect makes a check to resist the effect. Whenever a saving throw is required, it is always described in the description of the effect in question, along the lines of “The target must pass a DC 15 Mind save or…”. A saving throw is more commonly referred to as a save.

Visibility
When it comes to visibility, this system deals with two important conditions: concealed and hidden. Both these conditions are subjective, so a creature could be concealed to one opponent but fully visible to another.

A concealed creature is difficult to perceive, but its location is still known. For the sake of simplicity, the system assumes that the location of a concealed creature is always apparent, e.g. by their outline in the dark or their footsteps if magically invisible. Total invisibility thus does not exist. Attacks made by concealed creatures have Advantage, and attacks against them have Disadvantage.

A hidden creature’s presence or location is unknown to others. This can only be achieved through a successful stealth check. Hidden creatures have double Advantage on attacks, but they stop being hidden immediately after making an attack.

Damage types
All damage dealt has a type. The possible damage types are physical, fire, frost, lightning and poison. Any damage without a stated element is physical. Physical damage is subject to DR (see 1e Stats), but the other damage types are not. Certain creatures are vulnerable, resistant or immune to certain elements. Vulnerable creatures take 1.5x damage, resistant ones half and immune ones none at all.

Conditions
There are various conditions you can be in that will make fighting effectively more difficult. The common ones are listed below. Conditions do not stack with themselves.

Blinded A Blinded creature cannot see properly. They treat all other creatures as concealed, but are still aware of their general surroundings.

Prone A Prone creature is lying on the ground. They move at half speed, take Disadvantage on attacks and physical checks, and provide Advantage to attacks made against them. Getting up from prone costs 5 metres of movement.

Restrained A Restrained creature moves at half speed, takes Disadvantage on attacks and physical checks, and provides Advantage to attacks made against them.

Slowed A Slowed creature moves at half speed, and cannot take Reactions.

Stunned A Stunned creature can do nothing but move at half speed during their turn, and cannot take Reactions. They provide Advantage to attacks made against them.

Taunted A Taunted creature takes Disadvantage on offensive actions against anyone except the creature that applied the Taunted condition to them. Offensive actions include Attacks, Maneuvers, damage-dealing spells and spells that apply harmful conditions. AOE or multi-target attacks/spells are unhindered as long as the creature that applied the Taunt is one of the targets.

Wounded A Wounded creature has taken a debilitating injury. They take Disadvantage on physical checks, including attacks.