Combat is important to tackle as solving problems with violence is humanity’s go-to, but it doesn’t need to be a rampage to the death.
Four key concepts to Mythras Combat:
Combat can be very deadly, no hero is invincible.
Combat can end before death, surrender and capture is more likely.
Combat is abstract and tactical at once, maneuvers and complex ebb-and-flow are present even without a strict movement or grid.
Combat is exciting, with the nuances of a flashy melee and the back-and-forth of turning tides.
Combat can be a grueling and gritty affair or a cinematic duel of fates, and is designed to support anything from grim realism to mythological encounters.
Glossary of Terms:
Combat Style = Skill at fighting with a specific group of weapons.
Combat Round = Time segment of five seconds each.
Combat Action = Single act taken during a turn, usually by spending an Action Point.
Weapon Size & Reach = Difficulty to parry a weapon, and its engagement range.
Engagement = The space where a combatant can hit or be hit.
Special Effects = Maneuvers used by gaining the upper hand.
Combat Styles
Each style is a “package” of multiple weapons, related by culture, career, or martial styling.
No need to learn individual weapons or archetypes.
Styles can be as granular or broad as the campaign or table wishes, ranging from something specific like Greek Hoplite (Spear, Big Shield, Javelin) to just Western Knight (Bladed Weapons, Blunt Weapons, Shields).
Bunch of notes about weapons in styles, mainly GM-focused.
Styles usually have one or more Traits, granting specific bonuses and mechanical advantages, reflecting unique cultural or professional touches.
There are rules for using untrained weapons (those not covered by a known Combat Style), based on how different it is from a known/trained weapon.
Combat Rounds
Combat is tracked blow-by-blow, with fights taking place over five-second combat rounds.
Just like reality combat is often fast and decisive, with most resolving in three rounds or less, or taking place over multiple back-to-back combats as parties regroup and re-engage.
Well-matched engagements or sequences of mooks can go longer, becoming tense affairs as each whittles away at each other looking for that critical opening or crippling blow.
More Glossary of terms:
Cycle = A single “cycle” (of potentially multiple) within a Combat Round. Cycles loop until everyone is out of actions.
Initiative = Order of Turns within a Cycle.
Turn = Point at which combatant gets to declare a single action and resolve it.
Initiative
Standard initiative system you’ve seen before, rolled at the start of a combat and stays static unless forced to change.
There are actually a good amount of ways to do that last part, via Special Effects or Actions, or by temporarily disengaging entirely.
Initiative = 1d10 + a combatant’s Initiative Bonus. Tied scores act concurrently (that should be fun).
Equipment incurs a penalty based on the ENC of all armor worn.
Cycles and Turns
With initiative established, combatants now take turns acting, limited by their Action Points.
Actions can be either Proactive or Reactive, listed below.
The Cycle ends once everyone has taken their turn, going in initiative order.
If any character has Action Points remaining then a new Cycle starts.
Otherwise, the current Round ends and a new one starts.
How often a Character can act is dependent on their pool of Action Points, which refresh as the start of every round.
This means there is a variable action economy that can be very powerful.
Unless otherwise specified any Combat Action (besides Free Actions) cost a single Action Point. This includes defensive actions like Parrying.
Some actions may take several turns to complete, with each turn requiring spending of an Action Point.
Proactive Actions
These are actions where the character is the instigator/attacker. A character can attempt one on their Turn by spending an Action Point. If they choose nothing they use Dither as the default.
Attack = strike or shoot.
Brace = take a stance to resist certain incoming attacks or Special Effects.
Cast Magic = start the process of big magic time.
Change Range (Engaged Only) = move in on an opponent to engage or bounce away. Movement while engaged, effectively.
Delay = save your point for a Reactive Action later. If you don’t use the point by your next turn (in the next cycle) you lose the point.
Dither = do nothing meaningful.
Hold Magic = save your completed casting for later.
Mount = get on the horse. Or off, I guess.
Move (Unengaged Only) = move some distance while not engaged, generally used to either move up into engagement, or to perform some dramatic action within a combat.
Outmaneuver = try to be so evasive that people can’t attack you.
Ready Weapon = drawing, sheathing, and reloading. Possibly a multi-turn action.
Regain Footing = get back up. Contested if engaged.
Struggle = get free of certain effects, like grapples or pins.
Reactive Actions
These are actions that can be used at any time as a response to some imminent threat.
Counter Spell = counterspell. Fizzling a spell negates the entire thing, including AoEs or multi-target spells.
Evade = duck out of the way. Left prone in most situations, which means you’ll spend your next turn using Regain Footing.
Interrupt (Delaying Only) = take your delayed turn. Get to step in after the opponent declares their action, and if the declaration no longer makes sense afterwards they lose the Action Point.
Parry = play defense. Sometimes important if you like not being stabbed.
Free Actions
These are actions that can be performed at any time during the Combat Round, and cost no point to perform.
Assess Situation (Unengaged Only) = make a Perception check to notice changes in the battle.
Drop Weapon = drop your weapon.
Signal (Unengaged) = gesturing or signaling if free if you’re not in the midst of things.
Speak = usual rules, speaking is free as long as you keep it brief and believable.
Use Luck Point = luck is free, supposedly.
Ward Location = protect the jewels. Allows you to passively cover one or more Hit Location by dedicating one of your weapons (like a shield).
Weapon Size and Reach
Weapons have a bunch of stats, but two are specifically important to call out.
Size is used to determine the weapon’s ability to deal and parry damage. Goes from Small to Enormous.
Reach affects whether an opponent is within striking range. Goes from Touch to Very Long.
Both are largely abstracted to help keep combat smoother, with size being a mixture of mass, leverage, and stability, while reach being a measure of length and ability to hold a zone of control.
How Combat Works
Fighting is a blow-by-blow affair, as stated before. This means that any offensive action is given a chance to be resisted (an active defense system).
This provides a generic philosophy for clashing in any way, whether strikes smashing, arrows soaring, or monsters munching.
Close Combat (melee) is resolved as following:
Attacker spends an Action point, rolls their Combat Style, notes the grade of success.
If Defender can and wants to, they spend an Action Point to Parry, roll their Combat Style, notes the grade of success. If they don’t they are considered to have rolled a failure.
Compare the two according to the Differential Roll rules above.
Any difference grants the advantaged combatant one or more Special Effects.
If the Attacker rolled a success or critical, they roll damage, apply their DM, and roll a hit location.
If the Defender achieved a success or critical, they reduce damage according to relative size of the weapons involved.
Note that the Special Effects granted do not depend on actually doing damage.
Damage reduction is a simple comparison of the two weapons clashing:
Parrying with a weapon equal or greater than the attacker’s stops all damage.
Parrying with one size less stops half the damage.
Parrying with two or more sizes less stops no damage. No tiny daggers parrying Greataxes.
You can still parry even if the Attacker rolls a miss. This gives you the potential to get one or more special effects that may turn the tide.
Special Effects
This is one of the keystone features of the systems, representing the special techniques and maneuvers that most games ignore or lock behind feats.
These are obtained as the result of Differential Rolls (such as attacking or evading), granting a Special Effect for each point of advantage.
They must be selected before the Damage and Hit Locations (steps above) are rolled.
Some are offensively-minded, some are defensive in nature, and others are a mixed bag or more flexible.
If a Combatant gains more than one Special Effect (such as a Crit vs Fail or Success vs Fumble) they may be mixed and matched, or even stacked if applicable (combatant may choose the same Effect twice).
This list can be daunting and confusing, and is an easy source of choice paralysis during. Rest assured there are tools to help guide players, as well as smaller lists to help on-road new players over time.
Accidental Injury (Defender) = play reverse uno, makes attacker hurt himself as well.
Arise (Defender) = can immediately get back to their feet.
Bash (Attacker) = big shove knockback. Potentially trips.
Bleed (Attacker) = cut deep and aim well. If attack breaks through armor and deals damage, forces an Endurance roll. If successful defender loses a level of Fatigue every round until staunched, possibly dying otherwise.
Blind Opponent (Defender) = POCKET SAND. Attacker makes an opposed roll, if they fail they are Blinded for 1d3 turns.
Bypass Armor (Attacker, Critical) = find the line. Ignores natural or worn armor (choose one, mainly just for monsters).
Choose Location (Attacker) = go for the head. Skip rolling Hit Location and just pick. If using ranged weapons this is (usually) only for Critical results.
Circumvent Parry (Attacker, Critical) = parry this casual. Ignore an otherwise successful parry.
Close Range (Any) = scuttle scuttle. Move engagement in to the range favored by the shorter weapon.
Compel Surrender (Any, Disadvantaged Opponent) = nah I’d win. Opponent makes an opposed Willpower roll, if they fail they give up.
Damage Weapon (Any) = go for the steel. Deal damage directly to opponent’s weapon, possibly breaking it.
Disarm Opponent (Any) = that’s mine now. Force an opposed Style roll, if they lose the weapon flies out of their hands. Difficulty adjusts based on relative size of the two weapons.
Drop Foe (Attacker, Ranged) = big blow. Requires a minor wound, forces an Opposed Endurance roll, and if they fail they become immediately incapacitated.
Duck Back (Attacker, Ranged) = no thanks. Allows the shooter to duck into cover immediately without using Take Cover.
Enhance Parry (Defender, Critical) = goliath meet David. All damage is deflected regardless of weapon size.
Entangle (Attacker, Special) = spiderman trap. Use something like a whip or net to trap someone in a mess.
Flurry (Attacker, Unarmed) = ora ora. Make another attack immediately as normal.
Force Failure (Any, Opponent Fumbles) = nah you’d lose. Combines with other Special Effects that have Opposed Rolls, forcing them to automatically fail the roll.
Grip (Attacker, within Unarmed Reach) = get over here. Hold onto an opponent so they can’t change range or disengage.
Impale (Attacker, Special) = just a little poke. Requires an impaling weapon. This one’s complicated but basically skewer an opponent and give them penalties and bad times.
Kill Silently (Attacker, Special) nothing personnel kid. Requires a Style with the Assassination benefit, allows an attacker to surprise an opponent and possibly eliminate them in one go.
Marksman (Attacker, Ranged) = I meant the other leg. Allows a shooter to shift the rolled Hit Location to an adjacent part.
Maximize Damage (Attacker, Critical) = go big or go home. Replaces one of the weapon’s damage dice for its full value.
Open Range (Any) = shade away. Like Close Range, but favoring the longer weapon.
Overextend Opponent (Defender) = a step too far. Opponent cannot attack on their next turn.
Overpenetration (Attacker, Ranged) = line attacks are great. Allows a shooter to pierce multiple opponents in a line.
Pin Down (Attacker, Ranged?) = suppressing fire. Forces an Opposed Willpower roll, if they fail they hide behind cover and cannot return fire on their next turn.
Pin Weapon (Attacker, Critical) = no you don’t. Basically a fancy grip mixed with a Disarm. Costs an Action Point.
Prepare Counter (Defender) = you triggered my trap card. Write down a specific Special Effect in secret, if the opponent attempts to use that effect during the combat the defender gets to swap it with one of his own which automatically succeeds.
Press Advantage (Attacker) = never stop winning. Defender cannot attack on their next turn, forced to be on the backfoot.
Rapid Reload (Attacker, Ranged) = quick shot. Reduces the reload time for their next shot by one turn. Can stack.
Remise (Attacker, Special) = now you see me. On opponent’s next turn, attacker gets to attack with a Small weapon, and defender can only use a Reactive action.
Scar Foe (Attacker) = you ugly. Make an opponent disfigured because you’re a badass or something.
Select Target (Defender, Attacker Fumbles) = wrong guy. Pick another valid target adjacent to you, they suffer the attack instead which automatically hits, but grants no special effects.
Slip Free (Defender, Critical) = buttery smooth. Get out of jail free, automatically escape any Entangled, Gripped, or Pinned effects.
Stand Fast (Defender) = stand behind Braum. Avoids any Knockback effects of any damage received.
Stun Location (Attacker, Special) = bonk time. Requires a bludgeoning weapon. If the blow overcomes armor and injures, the defender makes an Opposed Endurance roll. If they fail the location is incapacitated for a bit.
Sunder (Attacker, Special) = rip and tear. Requires a sundering weapon. Damages or outright destroys the defender’s armor at that location.
Take Weapon (Attacker, Unarmed) = gimme that. Opponent makes an Opposed Style roll, if they lose the weapon is taken from them.
Trip Opponent (Any) = down you go. Opponent makes an Opposed Brawn/Evade/Acrobatics roll, if they fail they go prone. Quadrupeds have an easier time with this.
Weapon Malfunction (Defender, Special) = jammed again, huh. Attacker’s mechanical weapon malfunctions and is useless until repaired.
Withdraw (Defender) = yeah, I’m out. Defender gets to disengage automatically with that particular opponent.
Close Combat
Alright, we survived the Special Effects list, time for more details.
This section involves a bunch of specific rules or components involving melee combat.
Situational Modifiers
There are Situational Modifiers such as fighting while on unstable ground or attacking in confined quarters that can upgrade the difficulty grade of an attack.
When multiple Situations are present, the harshest one is applied, they do not stack.
Engagement
A character is considered Engaged if he is within melee weapon range of his opponent. Engagement is reflexive.
Once engaged, a character cannot freely leave the fight (outside of exceptions like Charging) until they break off engagement.
Charging
Method of moving quickly to increase the force and impact of an attack.
Charges have a few caveats:
Requires at least one full Round of movement at running or sprinting speed prior to contact.
Increases the Difficulty Grade of the attack by one step.
Increases the attacker’s DM by one step (or two if four-legged), and the Size of the attacker’s weapon is improved by one step.
The target of a charge can either attempt to parry, evade, or counterattack the charging attacker. If counterattacking both sides are treated as if they failed to parry.
Two types, Charging Into Contact, and Charging Through Contact:
Into Contact is intended as a way to crash into an opponent and then wreak havoc. I.e. smashing into a shield wall and swinging. The attacker is considered engaged after the charge and play proceeds as normal.
Through Contact is usually used for mounted combatants that or any attack that uses momentum to carry an attacker through and clear of an engagement.
Cover
Putting things between you and an opponent is called cover, shocking I know.
When in partial cover (low wall, crenellation, etc.) any attack which lands on an obscured Hit Location is blocked the by cover.
Choose Location can be used to aim at visible/unobscured parts of an opponent.
Attacker may be able to attack a fully obscured opponent if they think they’ll break through (i.e. a Warhammer through a flimsy wooden barricade), but the attack is made one grade harder.
Evading
Avoiding arrows or magic spells is best done with a good old fashioned dive to the ground, as the gods intended.
Evasion is an Opposed Roll of the attacker’s skill vs the defender’s Evade skill.
Evasion is all-or-nothing, either full damage or none, and results in the defender landing prone.
Evasion is subject to situational modifiers like attacks, such as being entangled or backed into a corner.
Not a great solution in melee since being on the ground is less-than-ideal.
Flying Combat
Some GM tips about running encounters with flying creatures like evil birds.
Knockback
Any attack which imparts more damage (before reductions) than the SIZ of the recipient results in a Knockback effect.
In this case, the defender must pass an Easy Acrobatics or standard Athletics roll to avoid falling prone and being pushed back a distance.
Differs from the Bash effect, in that this is a side effect of tremendous blows, while Bashing is a deliberate and technical maneuver.
Leaping
Some GM tips about running encounters with leaping creatures like less-evil monkeys.
Mounted Combat
Some GM tips about running encounters with creatures on maybe-evil creatures.
Outmaneuvering
When faced with multiple opponents a character can attempt to shift the odds back towards them via positioning.
Requires room to move freely and not being pinned, and assumes engagement with the entire group of foes.
As stated above, the character makes a Group Opposed Roll of Evade against the opponents.
The character and any opponents that wish to keep up with them must spend an Action Point.
Any that don’t or fail to beat the character’s roll cannot attack him for the remainder of the Round.
If the character beats all of the opponents, he can choose to stay engaged with a single foe of the group, or withdraw from the fight completely.
Passive Blocking
This describes the placement of weapons and shields in a way that they act as effective cover for one or more Hit Locations.
Weapons can cover one location, while shields cover multiple all at once, but can no longer be used to reactively parry.
The blocking continues until the weapon is used to attack or shifted back in order to actively parry (such as before using Delay).
Any hit to the covered location(s) downgrades damage according to the standard size of the weapon.
Since it works like cover, passive blocking cannot be circumvented by Choose Location.
Crouching behind a shield doubles the number of locations covered whilst blocking (for example to survive a hail of arrows).
Pulled Blows
If a character doesn’t want to completely obliterate someone or something, they can pull their punch.
Must be stated before the attack starts, and deals half the damage it would otherwise.
Surprise
This describes some nuances to any “surprise attack”, which is when the opponent is unaware of the attacker’s presence or intentions.
This includes both the obvious ambush sneak attack and treachery such as stabbing someone suddenly during a pleasant chat.
Very potent effects:
Target suffers a -10 penalty to their initiative.
Until their first turn they are flat footed and cannot defend themselves.
The first attack on the target gains a bonus Special Effect if successful.
For the first round the target may not perform any offensive action.
So potent that there should always be a chance for detection, usually via an Opposed roll of some kind.
Sweep Attacks
Some GM tips about running encounters with creatures with massive, somewhat-evil weapons like tails and giant clubs.
Unarmed Combat
Default Combat Style available to any person or creature.
Has a number of advantages even for warriors with weapons:
Can be used interchangeably as long as the attacker is within natural range (arms length).
Can be used for striking and grappling of an opponent.
Can still be used to defensively parry and gain Special Effects.
Parrying while unarmed is more like martial arts and deflection, biggest problem is the shorter range.
Some Special Effects are unique to unarmed combat, such as Flurry, Grip, and Take Weapon.
Damage, Size, and Reach depends on the creature. For Humans it’s Small, Touch, and 1d3.
Unusual Situations
Another reminder that there can always be circumstances that prevent a fighter from using their full potential.
In those cases it’s easiest to cap combat skills in some way, such as capping by Athletics while climbing, or Swimming when, well, swimming.
Weapon Reach
Optional rules to make combat more realistic.
Adds specific rules for mixed reach combat (such as a greatsword or lance battling a shortsword).
When fighting at the longer reach the short weapon user cannot directly attack the wielder, only his weapon. This reflects being kept out of reach by the longer blade or steel.
When fighting at the shorter reach the long weapon user cannot parry, his weapon’s size is reduced, and it only inflicts 1d3+1. This reflects being crunched in and having to use the haft or pommel to strike.
Changing range requires the Change Range action or one of the Special Effects.
Withdrawing
Leaving a battle is a two-step affair.
First they must Withdraw, either by the special effect of the same name or using the Change Range or Outmaneuver actions.
Once disengaged, on their next turn they may spend an Action Point to do one of the following:
Reroll initiative and stay on the fringe.
Flee the battle entirely.
Move to re-engage with a new opponent.
Do something else the GM allows.
Ranged Combat
This involves all manner of shooting, throwing, and slinging weapons.
Resolved in the same attack workflow as melee combat, except that ranged attacks can normally only be parried by shields.
This makes ranged attacks great against lightly-armored foes that would have to duck and dive and risk being kicked and bullied.
Glossary of terms for ranged weapons:
Force = ranged weapon equivalent of Size. Represents penetrative power of the weapon or ammunition when resolving shield parries.
Damage Modifier = a checkbox that shows whether the attacker’s DM is added to the weapon’s damage roll.
Range = three numbers separated by slashes, representing maximum Close, Effective, and Long ranges for the weapon or ammunition. At long range the weapon deals half damage and the Force is reduced by a step.
Reload = the amount of turns required to reload the weapon.
Aiming
A character can spend some time locking in to improve his chances in complex conditions.
If a character spends one full round steadying him aim and waiting for the right moment, he can reduce the penalty of a Situational Modifier by one grade.
I.e. Moderate Wind raises the attack grade to Formidable. Aiming would reduce this to Hard.
Distance Penalties
Distance makes shots harder, go figure.
Separate from the Range stat of the weapon, which deals with the weapon’s practical performance; Distance is a matter of personal skill (and luck).
Penalty is offset by the target’s size, which makes sense.
Another fun chart to gauge difficulty. Against an average human size a character can shoot with no penalty within 20 meters, with a step harder every additional 40 meters.
Firing into a Crowd
This header will get me on a list.
A classic friendly fire rule.
Variable difficulty depending on if you’re shooting at a target at the edge of a crowd/melee, or through the crowd to your target.
One of the few rolls where both the result grade and roll matter; if the increased difficulty “caused” a character to fail the attack, an adjacent victim takes the blow instead.
Firing on the Move
Some edge-case rules for firing while mounted or riding a vehicle, where the attack is capped by the Ride or Drive skill of the person controlling the mount/ride.
Ranged attacks generally cannot be used when moving faster than a walk, unless the Style has the Skirmishing Trait (in which case it is capped by Athletics).
Impaling Ranged Attacks
Arrows or javelins impale foes, similar to the Impale Special Effect.
Since an archer isn’t generally next to their target, they often can’t pull out the arrow themselves, but any other characters within reach can, for a nice combo.
Loading Ranged Weapons
Ranged weapons need to be readied or loaded before firing.
Thrown weapons are quicker but more melee-adjacent, while projectile weapons are slower but longer-ranged.
Hit Locations
This system tracks individual health and protection for segments of a creature’s body. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS COMPLICATED BUT IT’S NOT THAT HARD.
Most attacks will land on a specific hit location, which is rolled randomly unless specifically selected by Special Effects such as Choose Location.
Animals and monsters have some different physiology, and therefore different hit tables, but they’re always a rollable table off of a d20, with a spread roughly equating size of the area.
Some attacks, usually via magic or monsters, may strike several Locations simultaneously.
Each Location may be armored via natural means or worn protection.
Damage and Wound Levels
These Locations are squishy bits, and don’t like being hurt.
Given a shortsword that deals 1d6 damage, here is how it is applied:
All the dice are rolled, and the initial result is noted.
Add or remove damage according to any magic effects.
If parried, reduce damage according to weapon sizes.
If the Location is armored, reduce damage by the Armor Points (AP) value.
If this final number is above zero, then the Location is Injured and the armor (if there was any) has been broken through. Reduce the Hit Points of the Location by this amount.
Injured Locations have three levels of Wounds, scaling as they get lower in Hit Points.
Minor Wounds
Hit Points > 0 = Minor Wound.
Minor Wounds are cuts or bruises that are hurt and show minor bleeding, but don’t affect the victim in any meaningful way.
Serious Wounds
Hit Points < 0 = Severe Wound.
Serious Wounds are brutal injuries to a location, with equally serious effects.
The location is permanently scarred, and due to the pain and shock, the victim cannot attack or start to cast spells for the next 1d3 turns.
If the Location is a limb, the victim must immediately make an opposed Endurance vs the attack roll; failure results in the limb being rendered useless, which can cause dropping of weapons or going prone.
If the wound is to the Abdomen, Chest, or Head, they must immediately make an opposed Endurance vs the attack roll; failure results in unconsciousness for a number of minutes equal to the damage sustained in the attack.
Major Wounds
Hit Points equals a negative score >= its base Hit Points = Major Wound. (i.e. if a Location has a base HP of 7, it has a Major Wound if HP reaches -7).
Major Wounds are near-fatal (or totally fatal) injuries to a location, where death is likely just around the corner.
If the Location is a limb, the limb is considered severed, shattered, or ripped off in some way.
The victim drops prone, is physically incapacitated, and must immediately make an opposed Endurance vs the attack roll; failures results in unconsciousness.
If a severed or punctured limb is not treated within a number of minutes equal to Healing Rate x 5, the victim dies from blood loss.
If the wound is to the Abdomen, Chest, or Head, this is a potentially fatal injury.
They drop prone and become totally incapacitated. The victim must immediately make an opposed Endurance vs the attack roll; failure results in instant and gratuitous death, such as decapitation or impalement through the heart.
If the victim survives and the location is not treated within a number of minutes equal to twice their Healing Rate, the victim dies from shock.
Heroic Last Actions
In special moments when key characters (this means you) receive a Major Wound, the GM may allow one last heroic Combat Action.
This might be calling on divine providence to issue a burst of magic, summoning the strength to try to crawl away to cover, or even tending to their own wound before they pass out. Whatever the GM allows, the character must have working limbs to achieve the action, and burn a Luck Point to attempt it.
After the attempt the character immediately passes into unconsciousness, and likely death.