Advanced Combat
The Combat system in Berkana can be broken down into how skills and calls interact with each other and how those mechanics are communicated. The first thing to know is that a Call is used to communicate the mechanical effects of combat skills and may contain a single key word or multiple. Each key word in and of itself is considered a call, and they can be built ontop each other to describe the mechanical affect. The 4 main parts of a call are as follows
Potency: This describes how deadly an attack is and will always come first. If a call is missing a numerical potency it does not do damage.
Damage type: There are technically 5 damage types in berkana though one has no call. no call, Fire, Ice, Silver, and Spirit. Damage types are used to interact with resistance, vulnerability or immunities and have no other value than flavor. If a potency call is made with no damage type it is mechanically considered no call damage and represents normal ways of causing injury.
Condition: A condition is and on/ off mechanic. Each condition has a mechanical effect on the character and will stay until it is removed. Conditions cannot stack.
Effect: These are mechanical role play mechanics that force a specific role play for a certain duration. All Role Play effects are defined as Short, Long, or Eternal. A short effect is 3-5 seconds of the specified RP, Long is minimum 30 seconds and Eternal acts like a condition where the role play is required until removed. If an effect is given without a duration it is considered to be short.
Deflections: A deflection can be used at any time the player is struck with a weapon or a spell packet to prevent the call from affecting the player. the ammount of deflections a player has is denoted by their skills and the level of armor being repped as described on the general mechanics page
Reactions: A reaction call, which is usually made from a specific trigger, is used to directly affect the last person to interact with the player that made the call.
Thal-Ra and Packets: Any conjuration spell (denoted in game by starting with Thal-Ra in the chant) is repped by throwing a packet which is usually made from a piece of cloth wrapped up and filled with bird seed, being rougly the size of a 20 sided die.
Mez-Ra and "by my voice/gaze" calls: All evocation spells (denoted in game by starting with Mez-Ra in the chant) will be accompanied by a "by my voice" or "by my gaze" call. "By my voice" calls affect all players that hear the call, whether they are aware of the casters presence or not. "By my gaze" calls affect only the player that has made eye contact during the call with the caster.
Resist: A call used to denote when an attackers call has had a reduced or outright negated effect.
Resistance: If a player or cast member is resistant to a damage type, they will count their fortitude as infinite when regarding that damage type only.
Vulnerability: If a player or cast member is vulnerable to a damage type, they will count their fortitude as 0 when regarding that damage type only.
All of this combined
When a call is made and interacts with your character either by hitting them or other means it will always start with potency but may change the order of effects, damage type and condition. this is simply done for ease of the call. The important thing to note is that all mechanics of a call count as one whole and interact with the character immediately. This means that conditions or effects will mechanically take place at the same time as the potency. Example: 10 Fire Gore In this example a 10 potency, fire damage type, with gore condition hit the character. Gore means a character cannot use wounds to ignore the lethal effect of potency. Unless the gore condition is resisted or the entire attack is blocked or deflected this character will likely die from the call.Types of Calls
Outlined below are the methods in which a player or cast member may deliver the games calls to another player and how they should react to them. Weapon calls: In Berkana all weapon swings are accompanied with a call to communicate what the player being hit must react to. If no skill is being used when swung, every weapon strike will be accompanied with a basic potency call (1 handed weapons have a default potency of 1, 2 handed weapons have a default potency of 2). Most combat skills will have their own call or augment this basic potency call when used by a player.Deflections: A deflection can be used at any time the player is struck with a weapon or a spell packet to prevent the call from affecting the player. the ammount of deflections a player has is denoted by their skills and the level of armor being repped as described on the general mechanics page
Reactions: A reaction call, which is usually made from a specific trigger, is used to directly affect the last person to interact with the player that made the call.
Thal-Ra and Packets: Any conjuration spell (denoted in game by starting with Thal-Ra in the chant) is repped by throwing a packet which is usually made from a piece of cloth wrapped up and filled with bird seed, being rougly the size of a 20 sided die.
Mez-Ra and "by my voice/gaze" calls: All evocation spells (denoted in game by starting with Mez-Ra in the chant) will be accompanied by a "by my voice" or "by my gaze" call. "By my voice" calls affect all players that hear the call, whether they are aware of the casters presence or not. "By my gaze" calls affect only the player that has made eye contact during the call with the caster.
Resist: A call used to denote when an attackers call has had a reduced or outright negated effect.
Resistance: If a player or cast member is resistant to a damage type, they will count their fortitude as infinite when regarding that damage type only.
Vulnerability: If a player or cast member is vulnerable to a damage type, they will count their fortitude as 0 when regarding that damage type only.
Context Skill System
Berkana uses the context system to control how players may use their skills. Most combat skills will have a context key word or phrase attached to them. Below are listed all the key words for the context system and how they determine when and how a skill can be used. Ambush: A skill call that can be used before any other skill call. Ambush skills are regained after a long RP hiding while breaking line of sight with an enemy.Tactical: A skill call that may be used once per opponent.
Trigger: A skill call that can only be used in a given situation.
Risk: A skill call that inflicts a detriment if it does not hit.
Equipment: A skill that requires or augments equipment.
Condition: A skill that causes a condition if used.
Honed: A skill that requires a long RP of preparation to be used. (limited to one active).
Fatigue: Cannot be used if Fatigued and causes Fatigue when used.
Passive: A skill that modifies something permanently.