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CombatBackup

Simplified Tactical Resolution System for Waylights

by: Dee, Riley, Kay

Relevant stats:

• Any form of melee combat. Relevant skill is added to lowest of Strength and Speed.
• Any form of ranged combat. Relevant skill is added to lowest of Instinct and Focus.
• Threshold. This acts as a divider for the damage.
• Weapon power. This is added onto the relevant skill. A weapon may grant other benefits, such as reach.
• Timing, to decide the order of non-simultaneous action.

Two temporary stats must be tracked during a combat scene:

• Damage, to represent how much the character got hurt;
• Wounds, to represent how likely the character is to be able and willing to keep fighting.

Sequence:

• Whoever has the best timing goes first. If it's a tie, whoever had an intention of catching the other group by surprise goes first. If it's a tie, the PCs go first. This is followed throughout.
• A character can perform TWO actions during their turn. Valid actions are Move, Split Move, Fight, Change weapon, Use an item, Use a skill (mundane or psi). If the Move action is not used, a character can still ttake a simple step, moving by 1 while performing other actions.
  • MOVE: A character moves up to their move value.
  • SPLIT MOVE: A character moves up to half their move value (round down). This leaves them able to take a step after they perform their other action.
  • FIGHT: Engage an enemy, shoot a launcher, or dodge, take cover or assume a defensive stance.
  • USE AN ITEM: Reload a launcher, Replace the clip on a launcher, Get something out of a backpack, etc. Note that "swapping weapons", such as dropping an empty launcher and unsheathing a blade, is a single action if both weapons are readily accessible.
  • USE A SKILL: Activate a psi ability, trigger a trap, jump over an obstacle, glance at a map to figure out where to run towards, etc.

For example, moving twice represents dashing forward; replacing the clip or refilling the hopper of a pneumatic launcher requires a full turn (Replace clip and Reload launcher); the vast majority of launchers can be fired on the move, or fired and reloaded, but not both; and so on. Obviously, the action should be described with a minimum of narrative!

Attack and Defense:

Combat is simultaneous, subject to timing: both combatants decide how many dice to allocate to attack and defense. This can represent aggressive vs. defensive fighting stance, time spent aiming vs. time spent hunkering down, and so on.

• Unless there are modifiers from gear or psi, 4 dice are rolled.
• If a character is attacking twice in a turn, 3 dice are rolled. This applies to dual-wielding, attacking with a self reloading launcher, delivering a flurry of blows, and so on.
• When defending against a ranged attack, the defender may also forgo rolling one or more die to move by 1, to represent diving for cover or even countercharging.

• The initiator declares a target and their own dice allocation;
• the target declares their allocation;
• dice are rolled. Bonuses from skills and weapons are added to each die, and likewise penalties are subtracted from each die.

Damage resolution:

Whoever has the best timing has their attack (or move) resolved first. If it's a tie, the actions are exactly simultaneous.

The first character's attack roll has the opponent's defense roll subtracted from it; if defense beats attack, nothing happens. If attack beats defense, the remainder is given as damage to the defender.

The total damage accrued by the defender is divided by the defender's threshold. The defender takes that many wounds, and has a global penalty to all dice matching the result.

This process is repeated in reverse, using the appropriate rolls, for the second character; if the characters' timing is different, it is possible that the second (slower) character's rolls are revised downwards due to the global penalty, or even for the slower character to be out of the fight.

Endgame:

Fights to the death in Waylights are comparatively rare: a character will "take a dive", or simply be knocked out, when their wounds reach a certain value. A character that is KO may be killed as a full turn action, used to deliver a coup de grace or a carefully aimed shot in an exposed vital spot. Lasting wounds are resolved narratively, but it's a safe bet that anything serious will require medical attention beyond healing crystals. On that note, a healing crystal or healing psi ability is just the thing to reduce the effect of wounds for the duration of a fight -- on the flip side, some military or mercenary outfits will use psi to dampen pain response before a fight or enhance armors, effectively granting higher threshold.

Psi Tension:

When a roll succeeds by SMALL measure, it means that the character has experienced a moment of flow -- facing a challenging situation and yet overcoming it. This generates psionic "voltage", or tension, which can be used to power psi abilities, get a second wind, or other effects. If a roll succeeds by 3 or less, the difference between 3 and the success value is added to the character's tension -- if a defense attempt just succeeds, the defender gains 3 tension; if an attack attempt succeeds by 1, the attacker gains 2 tension; and so on. (Defending oneself is instinctively more rewarding than striking a blow).

• 1 point of tension can be used to reduce one's damage by 1.
• 3 points of tension can be used to boost an attribute by 1 for the duration of the fight.
• 5 points of tension can be used (upon appropriate contact or hit) to damage an opponent's item enough that it is unusable for the rest of the fight -- this represent a disarm, or the smashing of a shield. This can be contested by the opponent by spending tension on a 1:1 basis to nullify this.
• 10 points of tension can take the place of a refined crystal for the purpose of activating a psi power (if any are available). Psi-null characters, and only they, may not use this option, but can instead contest a nearby character doing so, as above.

Equipment:

The intention is to keep equipment stats simple.

• Weapons grant a bonus to damage dealt; they may give a bonus to attack rolls. Launchers or thrown items allow for ranged combat; some melee weapons may grant reach; some weapons may have armor piercing capability, negating all or part of the armor bonus. Weapons such as sprayers or blasters may also cause various effects to the target.
• Armor gives additional threshold, and may give a bonus to defense rolls against melee or ranged attacks.
• Shields and cover give a bonus to defense rolls, but in case of a hit, that bonus is removed from the defense result.
• Healing crystals or healing psi can be used to reduce the effect of wounds -- this reduction is, however, temporary in nature and does not provide a substitute for after-action medical care (whether traditional or psionic).