Kind of Combat Skills

• Combat Skill Levels
• Combat Penalty Skill Levels

Familiarities

If a character isn’t familiar with a particular weapon, armor or shield they are at a disadvantage when using the item.

• Weapon Familiarity – Characters who do not have the appropriate familiarity with a weapon are at a -3 OCV with that weapon.
• Armor Familiarity – Characters who do not have the appropriate familiarity with a particular type of armor are at -1 DCV and -1 DEX rolls while wearing that armor. It also takes them 2x times longer to put the equipment on.
• Shield Familiarity – Characters who do not have the appropriate familiarity with a particular type of shield are at a -1 DCV and -1 DEX rolls while wearing that armor.

Learning

Combat skills generally require training time and someone who is better at the skill than you are.

Weapon/Armor/Shield Familiarity

Takes one week of training with a trained instructor

+1 in Combat Value

• Training with someone who is more skilled than your character is. The training would take a one week (2 to 4 hours a day)
• Training by yourself. The training would take two weeks (4 to 6 hours a day). If a player has a professional skill that is combat oriented (warrior, archer, knight, etc) they could attempt to make their PS roll and if they make their roll by -1 then they can reduce the time to one week (still 4 to 6 hours a day).

Combat Skill Levels

Fighter type characters

• Heavy fighters – These are the fighters who are very strong and can wade into a battle, absorb damage and dish it out. These would be classic knights or barbarian types. Because these characters can typically do more damage in a single hit their maximum skill levels have been capped at +4 with their best weapon. So Eltrois the fighter has an overall combat level of +1, a +1 HtH, and +2 Sword. Eltrois can not buy more capability with swords but he could convert his +2 swords into +2 HtH, so he can end up +1 overall combat level, and +3 with HtH. This kind of fighter can buy overall combat levels to represent their overall combat training and expertise.
• Light fighters – These are the fighters who are very nimble and tend to prick and stick their opponents until their opponent bleeds out for being hit so often. Think Three Musketeers, Wesley or Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride. Because these fighters typically do less damage with a single hit than a heavy fighter they can have more skill levels. But the combat skill levels have to be specialized. These fighters do not have HtH or Overall combat skill levels. This represents the idea that they have spent years specializing in a single weapon. These fighters can have a +6 with any one weapon class (i.e. swords)
• Other types of fighters – archers, rangers and mixed kinds of fighters (thieves, bounty hunters, etc). These are fighters who can hold their own in a fight or are highly specialized in combat. There characteristics are dealt with on a case by case basis. These kinds of fighters are capped at +4 with their best weapon (there are exceptions). Depending on the type of fighter they may also only be allowed to by specific combat skill levels or overall skill levels.

Non-fighters

• These characters are capped at +2 with their best weapon. They can not buy overall or HtH combat skill levels without justification.

Spell casters

• +4 is the highest that can be bought

Combat Penalty Skill Levels

Combat Penalty Skill Levels can never be bought higher than +3 with a single weapon, martial art skill or spell. For instance, a +3 to offset hit locations with a sword. Or a +3 to offset range with a bow. Or a +3 to offset population modifiers with a Mind Scan.

Martial Arts

Initial

• Requires a master in that martial art to teach the character the basic skills (10pts)
• This will require two weeks of training
• The player will dedicate themselves for 6 to 8 hours
• The player will also buy a 1 pt familiarity in the martial art style

Additional

Learning a new skill within a martial art style the character already knows will require one of the following

• A master who can teach the character that specific skill(s). This will take 1 week (2 to 4 hours a day)
• Training yourself takes longer. It will take two weeks (4 to 6 hours a day). If the player makes their KS (or appropriate PS) by -1 they will cut the time down to 1 week (4 to 6 hours a day)

Special Combat Maneuvers

Whirling blades of death, or parry/riposte based on a trigger, etc

• Need someone to train with
• Must train ahead of time
• Training time is Hours = (Active Points * Real Cost) / 4
• Halfway through the learning process the character can roll their professional ‘combat’ skill roll. If they make the roll by -3 they cut the remaining time in half. If they miss their roll by +3 the time remaining will double. If the roll is between -3 and +3 then it takes the remaining time to finish.