Orlav
Nomad Warrior
Characteristics: STR14, CON14, DEX16, SIZ12, INT14, POW9, CHA12
CA 3, DM +1d2, SR +13 (armour penalty included), Move 8m, MP: 9
Skills: Athletics 60, Brawn 40, Culture (Orlanthi) 58, Dance 28, Drive 30, Evade 50, Evaluate 26, First Aid 40, Influence 40, Insight 30, Language (Theyalan) 76, Lore (Hendrikiland) 64, Lore (Tactics) 30, Perception 40, Persistence 40, Resilience 70, Ride 65, Sing 21, Sleight 28, Stealth 40, Survival 33, Swim 30, Track 30, Unarmed 40
Atk:
Dagger 40 (Dagger, 1d4+1+1d2; S, S, Bleed, Impale, 6/ 8 ),
Bow 70 (Recurve Bow, 1d8+1d2, 175m, Load 1, H, Impale, 4/ 8 ),
Spear & Shield 70 (Shortspear, 1d8+1+1d2, M/L, Impale, 4/5 & Heater Shield 1d4+1d2, L/S, 6/12)
Hit Points: 6 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 5 / 5 / 6
Armour: Hard Leather Helm, Ringmail Hauberk, Soft Leather Sleeves; 2 AP on Head, 1 AP on each arm, 3 AP on Chest and Abdomen, Armour Penalty -2
Common Magic (60): Bladesharp 3, Heal 1, Multimissile 2,
Equipment: Dagger, Shortspear, Heater Shield, Recurve Bow, 20 Arrows (bodkin), Horse (combat trained)
Orlav’s horse
STR25, CON17, DEX10, SIZ25, INT4, POW11, CHA –
CA 2, DM +1d10, SR +7, Move 16m, MP 11
Athletics 75, Brawn 60, Persistence 43, Resilience 61, Survival 20
Kick 40 (1d6+1d10, M/M)
Hit Points: 9 / 9 / 10 / 10 / 9 / 9 / 9
Armour: Skin 2AP
Robasart the Black
Barbarian Warrior
Characteristics: STR13, CON10, DEX14, SIZ15, INT15, POW9, CHA10
CA 3, DM +1d2, SR +11 (armour penalty included), Move 8m, MP9
Skills: Athletics 60, Brawn 70, Craft (Weaponsmith) 40, Culture (Orlanthi) 60, Dance 24, Drive 40, Evade 50, Evaluate 25, First Aid 30, Influence 20, Insight 30, Language (Theyalan) 75, Lore (Hendrikiland) 60, Lore (Tactics) 30, Perception 30, Persistence 32, Resilience 75, Ride 35, Sing 19, Sleight 24, Stealth 40, Survival 30, Swim 30, Unarmed 50
Atk:
Dagger 30 (Dagger, 1d4+1+1d2; S, S, Bleed, Impale, 6/ 8 ),
Axe and Shield 77 (Battleaxe 1d6+1+1d2, M/M, Bleed, 4/ 8 & Heater Shield 1d4+1d2, L/S, 6/12),
2H Axe 75 (Battleaxe 1d8+1+1d2, M/M, Bleed, Sunder, 4/ 8 )
Bow 40 (Longbow, 1d8+1d2, 175m, Load 1, H, Impale, 4/7)
Hit Points: 5 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 4 / 4 / 5
Armour: Scale Mail Hauberk, Hard Leather Vambraces, Hard leather Greaves, Scale Mail Helm (4 AP on Head, Abdomen and Chest, 2 AP on legs and arms, -4 armour penalty)
Common Magic 55: Bladesharp 2, Fanaticism, Strength 2
Equipment: Dagger, Battleaxe, Heater Shield, Longbow, 10 Arrows (bodkin)
Robasart the Black, a warrior of the Burning Men clan, is chasing a group of raiders, who stole several cows of his clan. Longbow in hand he jogs up a steep hill and falls down on all four when he reaches the top, so he can see but not be seen himself. He creeps the last couple of feet and observes a lone rider in the small valley below (Perception roll 33, but the GM rules that it is actually easy to spot the rider at about 150m distance in the otherwise empty valley).
Orlav, a nomadic raider of the Running Deer clan, sits astride his horse with his recurve bow in his hands in the valley below. His brothers in arms have already continued with the stolen cows and he stayed behind to watch out for potential followers. His Perception roll is 37 (opposed by Robasart’s Stealth roll of 92). Orlav can see the Burning Men warrior and combat initiates.
Both warriors roll for initiative. Orlav gets 22, Robasart gets 13.
First Combat Round
Despite a strong wind blowing (-10% to ranged attacks), Orlav readies an arrow (1stCA).
Robasart stands up (1stCA).
Orlav tries to cast Multimissile 1 (2ndCA). He rolls 74 and fails, deducting 1 MP
At this point the nomad has an arrow ready in his bow. Do you need to have a hand free to cast common magic ? I think only sorcery needs free hands.
Robasart readies an arrow (2ndCA).
Orlav lets loose his arrow, Robasart doesn’t flinch (does not declare an evade). Orlav rolls 89 (3rdCA) and misses.
Robasart shoots at the nomad’s horse (3rdCA, he’s at +10% due to the horse’s size) and rolls 18 and hits the horse’s chest (the GM had determined that the horse will not evade by itself and that Orlav was too busy with his own shot). Robasart may select a combat manoeuvre and selects impale. He rolls 9 and 6 for damage and so does 7 damage to the nomad’s horse. It has 3 HP remaining but an arrow is imbedded in its chest, so it suffers -10% to all skills.
Second Combat Round
Orlav spurs his horse forward (it moves 16m) and tries again to cast Multimissile 1 (1stCA). The GM asks for a ride test to see how steady Orlav controls his horse in order to determine whether the difficulty of casting should be modified. Orlav’s ride roll is 59, a success, so no modification to the casting roll. Orlav rolls 16 and succeeds in casting Multimissile 1. He deducts 1 from his remaining MP.
As Orlav has no arrow in hand, it is assumed that Multimissile can also be cast on the bow
Robasart moves 8m down the hill and readies another arrow (1stCA).
Orlav readies an arrow (2ndCA).
Robasart shoots at the horse (2ndCA). His total modifier is -10 (strong wind) +10 (horse’s size) -10 (horse moved 16m since his last CA).
Actually, that is a bit weird. The horse moves 16m during the whole combat round and not really since the last CA of Robasart. I think I’d rule something more like “since your last attack” or something like that rather than “since your last CA”
The GM now allows Orlav to evade, if he wishes to. Orlav decides to use his ride skill to allow his horse to evade. His riding roll is 45, so his horse may use his riding skill for evasion rather than its own basic value (2x DEX, i.e. 20%). This costs Orlav’s 3rd CA.
The text says that the the rider may use his ride skill or combat style to defend his horse, but that makes really only sense in close combat. Or a shield combat style. In this case, however, the shield or Orlav is not ready, so instead, I sort of allow the use of evasion. But finding an argument why the rider’s evade skill should be allowed makes no sense to me either. That’s why I decided to use ride for an evasion. The rider is yanking at the reins to makes his horse evade the arrow.
Robasart rolls 89 and misses. As Orlav gets no advantage from a successful evade (i.e. no combat manoeuvre will give an advantage, since it’s still only ranged combat), he skips his horse’s evasion roll.
Robasart succeeds with a perception roll and thus clearly sees the magical missile readied on the bow of the nomad and thus decides to run 40m down the hill (3rdCA – sprint)
The perception is clearly house-ruling here. Effects are supposed to be immediately noticeable within Magnitude meters range. Even so, surely a second arrow can be noticed
Third Combat Round
The combatants are now roughly 85m distant from each other.
Orlav shoots at Robasart who decides to evade. His total modifier is -10 (strong wind) -20 (Robasart sprinted 40m) = -30. Orlav rolls 10 (for the normal arrow) and 18 (for the magical arrow). Robasart makes only a single evasion roll and gets 16. He thus dodges the magical arrow, but the normal arrow hits him in the abdomen for a total of 2 damage (both succeed with a normal success so no combat manoeuvre gained, damage roll of 6 minus 4AP due to Robasart’s scalemail hauberk).
I wonder about that multimissile. Is it actually an arrow, i.e. does it get the same combat manoeuvre options as the original weapon ? Would a multimissiled arrow be capable to impale and need to be removed or otherwise cause -10% skill penalty ?
Robasart drops his bow and tries to cast Bladesharp 2 on the battleaxe at his side (2ndCA, his first was used for the evasion).
Orlav drops his bow and readies his shortspear (2ndCA), his horse moves 16m.
Robasart uses his last CA to complete the casting and rolls 30, success. He deducts 2 MP and will be at +10% and +2 damage with his battleaxe.
Orlav charges Robasart, the GM rules that he will reach the Burning Men warrior next combat round and additionally allows Orlav to ready his shield… the horse does all the movement after all (3rdCA).
Fourth Combat Round
Robasart is still unarmed when the nomad reaches him, so he naturally selects to evade.
A shortspear has a longer reach, so Orlav attacks Robasart with a roll of 19. Robasart’s evasion roll is 13. Both succeed normally, so neither gains a combat manoeuvre, but since evasion is an opposed roll, the attack hits. Orlav’s damage modifier is increased by one step due to his charge (i.e. +1d4). But since he was able to brace the spear he may choose his horse’s damage modifier (i.e. +1d10).
Or do you actually apply the charging damage modifier of the horse? That would be a whopping +2d6 !
He hits Robasart’s left arm (remember, he rolls 1d10+10 not 1d20 !) for a total of 6 damage (roll of 1 for the shortspear and 6 for the damage modifier minus Robasart’s 2 AP due to his hard leather vambraces). Robasart is at -2 in his left arm, a serious wound. For the next 2 CAs (rolled a 2 on 1d3) he may not attack and he must make an opposed resilience test versus Orlav’s original attack roll of 19. With a roll of 56 he succeeds, so he may still use the arm. Also, since the damage roll of 8 is less than his size there is no knock-back.
Then it’s the horse’s turn as medium reach of its kick attack is better than Robasart’s touch reach from his unarmed combat. The GM rules that the same evade roll is used, since it’s really a combined attack. So Robasart’s evade roll stays at 19. The damage modifier of a horse increases to +2d6 upon a charge (two steps). Orlav rolls for the kick attack, applying the -10% due to the arrow in his horse’s chest and rolls 11. Robasart wins the opposed roll and jumps out of the way and the horse continues its sprint for another 10m.
Since this was a charge, the combat round actually ends as all participants were only allowed to use a single combat action.
That “single CA during a charge” for all participants is a bit hard to grasp. The main issue I have with this is, that the charger could have used his previous CAs of this combat round for other things and then charge. Of course, you could rule that the charge always happens in the next round. Still, I do see the point why the defendant can only act once versus the charger, but it appears a bit awkward that he can do nothing else. A single CA for the defender is really not much use. It must be noted that standing firm implies that the defender may not even parry (if he wants to strike at the charger), since that would use his ingle available CA. In this particular case, I guess I would rule that Robasart was able to act before the impact, for example like drawing his axe… having that axe in hand, Robasart might have been better advised to strand his ground, especially when considering that his evade is far worse than his parrying skill ?
Also, for evasion I do not apply the -20% for defending against a mounted foe.
Also, I don’t know whether my interpretation of the application of the single evade versus both attacks is correct.
Fifth Combat Round
Due to the charge the GM rules that a new initiative roll is required.
Orlav rolls 17, Robasart rolls 18 and the horse rolls 16
Orlav has 4 CAs available due to his shield.
As Robasart may not attack the next two CAs because of the serious wound suffered last round, he readies his battleaxe (1stCA) and grips it with both hands.
Orlav turns his horse and attacks his foe with the shortspear (1stCA), which Robasart tries to parry (though at -20% as his foe is mounted). Orlav rolls 92, a miss, and Robasart follows through with his parry (2ndCA) and rolls 40, thus gaining a combat manoeuvre. Since he received his serious wound, Robasart has used two CAs (readying his weapon and parrying), so he could actually riposte. But this would use his last CA and leave him open for the horse’s attack, so he strikes at the nomad’s spear, rolling a total of 11 damage (7 +1 from the two-handed battleaxe, 1 from his damage modifier and 2 from his bladesharp spell). Deducting the shortspear’s AP of 4, it takes 7 damage which is more than its 5 hit points. The spear is split in half by the warrior’s mighty blow.
The horse kicks at Robasart who opts to parry, thus using his last CA. The horse rolls 24 and hits, whereas Robasart rolls 40. Neither gains a manoeuvre and since both weapons are medium sized all damage (Orlav didn’t even roll for it) is blocked. Robasart has no CAs left, but Orlav has 3 CAs left and his horse 1 !
Actually Orlav no longer has two weapons in hand. Or, to be more precise, two effective weapons, since his spear is broken. As this is not very clear, I stick to allowing the bonus CA from the second weapon. Orlav coukld use the the broken shaft as an improvised weapon after all
Orlav strikes at his foe with his shield (2ndCA) and rolls 17, allowing him to hit the defenceless barbarian and even gain a manoeuvre. He chooses to strike Robasart’s left arm again and rolls for damage, a 3. Robasart’s left arm is down to -3 in his left arm.
The horse kicks again, but misses with a roll of 49.
Orlav strikes again with his shield (3rdCA), but misses with 83.
Orlav strikes again with his shield (4thCA), and hits with 63. Again, he gains a manoeuvre and chooses again the left arm, and rolls 5 damage, bringing his foe’s arm down to -5, utterly shattering his opponent’s arm. Robasart drops prone and as his opposed resilience roll versus 63 fails (he rolls 48 ), he faints.
