Combat Actions

When you engage in direct conflict with fist and sword, you may use these Actions.

Initiate hostilities

This is the only combat action you may take outside of an existing combat. It converts a normal Scene into a combat.

Surprise escalation

Physical altercations provoke an entirely different set of responses from all involved compared to mundane rivalry.

Using Initiate hostilities forces the Scene to convert to combat. When this happens, the storyteller needs to judge the current state of thing.

Do not immediately execute the offensive action - The character that initiated combat does not execute; initiating hostilities was their action

Let everyone know that combat will begin next round

Finish the current round for both players and NPCs

Next round, start with combat

Storytellers, you remain the arbiter. If your players are using Initiate hostilities to try and game the timing of their combat, then institute the following rule:

When players initiate hostilities, all players must forfeit their first Action of the combat

Attack

Attack is the most basic combat ability. Attack always requires Line of Sight unless otherwise stated.

Attacks are melee unless you have a Ranged property or effect. Melee attacks may only be executed against targets in your current zone.

To Attack, you choose a single element and Challenge against your foe.

Disaster: Generally, no effect. Certain bosses may punish your hubris
Failure: No effect
Success: You deal damage
Flourish: Deal damage and gain a benefit:
- Throw or shove the enemy for no additional Challenge
- Break Engagement and move up to ½ your Speed away
- Gain one Charge in the element you used to attack

Mundane equipment lacks the elemental resonance necessary to damage Cultivators. Your Attack only benefits from weapons and equipment equipped to Chakra in that same element.

Foes and the elements

Your foes will have varying defenses by element

Simple foes might simply state “Defense: 10” to indicate that you may use any element of your choice and must meet or exceed a Result of 10
Stronger foes may vary by element. Example: “Air 10, Water 15, Earth 12, Fire 12”
- You would pick the element of your choice and Challenge to meet or exceed the given value
Some foes may have immunities to given elements
- For example, a mechanical foe with no conception of orgnaic beings might state: “Air 20, Water -, Earth 30, Fire 25”
- For the example above, any Challenge against Water for the foe would be an automatic Failure
Powerful foes may hide their Defenses. You will need to use Assess (Water) and other tools to discover their weak points

Beyond these basic rules, foes may have special rules unique to their situation

One foe might require defeating the elements in a particular order
Another might shift his defenses each time he is hit
Another might grow stronger or trigger automatic effects when a particular element is hit
A boss might have a second form when seemingly defeated!

Called shots?

If the foe is strong enough to fight you, they are strong enough to guard their eyes, throat, and vitals against such strikes. If they weren’t, you’d hit them there and be done with it!

When you face trivial foes, feel free to narrate how you dispatch them to your own satisfaction.

Area attacks

Some attacks specify an area of effect (AOE). These are attacks effect everyone within the blast radius.

AOE effects target the entire zone, both friend and foe
Friendly fire is ON!

When you Challenge for an AOE effect, you roll once. The Result is checked against each target’s defenses individually.

Opportunities

When foes leave themselves unguarded, you can Attack for free. These are known as Opportunities. You know, as in “Attack of Opportunity”.

Many effects that generate Opportunities will require you to pay with Charge.

Note that you must be explicitly granted an Opportunity. Unlike other systems, you do not get an Opportunity based on movement.

Attacking objects

Use Challenges of Fire for attacking objects.

You may not target a foe’s equipped items.

Reason

You may deal damage through sound reason and argument that weakens enemy morale and undermines their motivations.

Challenge Air
Reason requires the ability to communicate complex ideas and is thus unlikely to work on wild beasts

Results:

Disaster: Your arguments emboldens your foe; they regain 1 Aura
Failure: Your arguments has no effect
Success: You deal 1 damage to the target’s Air
Flourish: Deal 2 damage instead!
- If you challenge the highest Air defense of all enemies present in a Scene and Flourish, then you additionally deal 1 damage to Air to all foes in the same Scene!

You may continue to Reason even after hostilities commence with no penalty. The only real drawback to Reason is its limited damage potential compared to weaponry.

Notes:

The storyteller may apply Penalties to reflect your conduct (or that of your allies).
Unlike Feint and Intimidate (below), both of which rely on the imposition of your conduct, Reason does not suffer stacking Penalties for re-use. The scholar wins once more!

Feint

A feint is any form of distraction or harassment meant to aid your allies in overcoming a foe’s defenses.

Challenge Water
- Disaster, Failure: No effect
- Success, Flourish: Generate a Bonus Ki for one ally of your choice on their next Challenge against this foe
You may feint with melee attacks, ranged attacks, words, deeds, or any other form of interaction
Restrictions
- Only one Feint may be active at a time. Until the Feint’s bonus is spent, another may not be generated
- A Bonus Ki may be generated at most once per round
- Each successive Feint is more difficult. For each after the first, add a stacking Penalty 2

Intimidate

You may also deal damage via morale.

Intimidate Challenges Water
This requires clear communication of your intimidating intent, though not necessarily speech

Results:

Disaster: Your display emboldens your foe; they regain 1 Aura
Failure: Your display has no effect
Success: You deal 1 damage to the target’s Water
Flourish: Deal 2 damage instead!
- If you challenge the highest Water defense of all enemies present in a Scene and Flourish, then you additionally deal 1 damage to Water to all foes in the same Scene!

You may continue to Intimidate even after hostilities commence with no penalty. The only real drawback to Intimidation is its limited damage potential compared to weaponry.

Notes:

Each successive Feint is more difficult. For each after the first, add a stacking Penalty 2
The storyteller may apply Penalties to reflect your conduct (or that of your allies). Nobody is going to be intimidated if you prance about!

Throw

Throw is the name for any kind of forced movement during combat. This includes shoves, trips, and throws.

For all forms of forced movement, Disaster and Failure waste your Action to no effect. Success results in movement, and Flourish opens additional options.

Shove – Challenge Earth
- You forcibly move the target foe into an Adjacent zone
Trip – Challenge Fire
- You force the target prone
- If there are any traps in your current zone, you may force the foe to trigger one such trap with this trip
Throw – Challenge Fire
- You forcibly move the target into an Adjacent zone

In most cases, Shove and Throw are functionally equivalent. However, the storyteller may add appropriate notes. For example, a Shove action would drop a foe into a pit, while a throw action would send the foe over the pit.

Dealing damage with a throw

When you Throw a foe, you deal a default damage of 1. This represents your opportunistic use of force, such as throwing them into a wall or dropping them into rough terrain.

Certain zones will increase these effects.

Fatal Throws

Forcible movement into damaging zones is both expected and approved. Toss your foes into briars and pits!

However, certain throws would be immediately lethal. For example, being chucked into a pool of open lava. While this makes excellent tactical sense, it is not in keeping with our high flying theme.

Here we will use a simple truce: You cannot throw your foes into instantly lethal zones, and they may not throw you into the same.

Is this completely realistic? No. However, it is is substantially more fun; otherwise, any combat within such a dangerous environment would immediately devolve into a shoving match to see which team got thrown off first. Hardly very Wuxia graceful!

Grapple

Grapple is a form of ad-hoc Restraint that allows you to temporarily constrict the target’s options. Grapples restrict both parties.

Challenge against a target concrete element
- On Success, you Restrain the target element for C+1 rounds
- This initiates a grapple

While in a grapple, some special rules apply

To move, both you and your target must Challenge Earth against the opponent
- Disaster, Failure: Your Speed is 0 for this round
- Success: You may move ½ your normal Speed
- Flourish: You may move your normal Speed
All Challenges take a Penalty equal to the foe’s relevant Attribute

Ending the grapple:

If both parties agree, the grapple may end at any time
After C+1 rounds, the grapple automatically at the end of your turn
Otherwise, you may Challenge Fire to break free
Important! Your allies may also Challenge Fire to break you free!

Only one pair of characters may be in a Grapple at a time.

Throwing your weapon

If you decide to throw your weapon at a foe:

If the weapon has the Ranged property, then all is well. You’re using the tool as designed!
Otherwise, use the rules below.

First, Break the Ki you mean to use for this Challenge.

Then, make an Attack with the weapon as though it had the Ranged property.

Regardless of outcome, however, the weapon remains in the zone where the Attack took place
Anyone, friend or foe, may pick up the weapon and keep it!
- If another claims the weapon, you lose your Chakra sync with the weapon
- If you reclaim, you retain your Chakra sync with no penalty
- If the Scene ends, you are assumed to pick up the weapon after the scene by default