Rakasha Setting Guide, Combat And Fighting

Welcome Game Masters and Players. This is the guide to combat in the world of Rakasha. As you read through this guide you will be able to strike with devastating blows, learn the ways of initiative, learn how to block and dodge, how to use cover, movement, even combat underwater, and damage reduction.

The Heat of Battle

In a typical encounter for combat there usually are two sides clashing each other, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, footwork, and spellcasting. This is not an exception in Rakasha, most of the rules for combat will be covered in this guide.

This cycle of bloody combat is organized into two phases: Player and Enemy Phase. The Two phases are exactly the same, but the players control and dictate the Player Phase while the Lore Keeper determines the Enemy Phase.

Player Phase

On the Player Turn, each of the players spend Stamina to do a variety of features. A character may use their Stamina until it is gone, at which point their turn is done and the character cannot Dodge or Block anything on the Enemy Phase.

Every player gets a turn to do what they wish to do, such as movement or a feature first—or even a feature that doesn't require Stamina. If a table wants to have a more organized way of determining a combat order, Initiative can be rolled, but it is not required. Most common uses for Stamina are described later on in this guide. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your Stamina as well.

Features That Don't Expend Stamina

Various class features, Incantation features, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn that doesn't use Stamina. The Keen Action feature, for example, allows a sleuth to either Hide, Search, or Sprint. You can only use these features when a special ability, incantation, or other action of the game states that you can once per turn without expending Stamina.

You choose when to use a feature that doesn't expend Stamina during your turn, unless the timing is specified. Anything that deprives you of your ability to spend Stamina doesn't prevent you from using features without Stamina. The same rules apply, you may only use a feature that doesn't expend Stamina "Once per turn..."

Other Activity On Your Turn

Your turn can include a variety of flourishes that requires neither no Stamina and are entirely free to do. Such acts are communicating however you are able, whether this is through brief utterances and gestures as you take your turn, or during your turn as well.

You can also interact with objects or the environment for free, during either your move or when you expend Stamina. For example, a character could open a door during their move as they stride to their foe, or even draw a weapon as part of an attack.

If you want to interact with a secondary object, you need to expend 1 Stamina. Some magic items and other special objects require you to spend Stamina, as stated in their descriptions.

Countermoves

Special abilities, Incantations, and situations allow characters to take a special action called a Countermove. A Countermove is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, they can be used on any turn as long as the triggering effect happens. Contingency Attacks are the most common type of Countermove. This allows the player to attack a target that leaves their attack range.

When you take a Countermove, you can't take another one until the start of your next turn—unless you expend 2 Stamina. If the Countermove interrupts a character's turn, that character continues its turn right after the Countermove unless stated otherwise.

Ambush Round

A band of adventurers might be able to get the drop on an unsuspecting group of enemies. This is called an Ambush Round. The Lore Keeper determines who gets surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise the LK compares the Stealth pool of anyone hiding with the Awareness pool of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.

If you're surprised, then you may not use any feature that expends Stamina unless it is a Countermove.

Movement

In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand.

On your turn, you can move a number of feet equal to 5 x your Endurance Attribute unless stated otherwise. Movement on a solid or terrestrial surface is called Ground Movement. There is also Aerial Movement and Aquatic Movement if a character has these special movements.

Your movement can include jumping, climbing, swimming, and flying. These different modes of movement can be combined with your Ground Movement, or it can constitute your entire move. However you're moving, you deduct the distance moved from your largest source of movement until it is used up or until you are done moving.

Breaking Up Your Move

You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed before and after your action. For example if you have a Ground Movement of 30 ft and an Aerial Movement of 35, you can move 10 feet, use a feature with Stamina, and fly your remaining 25 feet.

Moving Between Attacks

If you use Stamina to attack multiple times, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attack. For example, a Bruiser who can make two attacks with the Extra Attack feature and has a speed of 25 feet could move 10 feet, make an attack, move 15 feet, and then attack again.

Being Prone

Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone.

You can drop prone without using any of your speed. But standing up take half of your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to stand up. You can't stand if you don't have any movement or enough left.

To move while prone, you must crawl or use magic such as teleportation. Every foot of movement while crawling costs 1 extra foot. Crawling 1 foot in difficult terrain, therefore, costs 3 feet of movement.

Terrain and Their Effects

Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains; briar-chocked forests, treacherous tunnels, mountainous caves, or vicious volcanos— the setting of a typical fight may contain different terrain.

Rough Terrain

Rough Terrain can be muddy hills, waist high water, slippery ice floors, or thorny root— each different aspects on what Rought Terrain may be. Ground movement in rough terrain is doubled unless the character expends an 2 Stamina. This ruling applies no matter the source of rough terrain.

Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, and shallow bogs are examples of difficult terrain. The space of another creature, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain.

Moving Around Other Creatures

Often times in the heat of battle, a character may need to move through their companions to secure that perfect angle for an Incantation, or the advantageous spot to settle a fight. A character may move through a non-hostile creature only if they are one size or larger without treating it as rough terrain. Moving through a hostile creature's space only if they are two sizes larger or smaller than you. But you can move through nonhostile creature's space. Another creature is considered difficult terrain for you, so remember.

Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space.

Aerial Movement

Many creatures in Rakasha rule the skies, such as the Rakashan, or the Sparkscale Goh'Blyn. Flying creatures enjoy a unique way of mobility, but must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature has its speed reduced to 0 by any means, or is deprived of the ability to fly. The creature plummets out of the air, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic.

Combative Stamina Usage

When you take your action on you turn, you take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise—remember the rule of cool.

Strike

The most common action in combat is to Strike, whether you are swimming with a sword, firing an arrow from your bow, or brawling with your fists.

When you attack choose either melee or ranged at a creature within your reach and expend 3 Stamina. A character may only take one attack unless certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the Bruiser, allow you to make an additional attack when you expend Stamina.

Disorienting Blow

During combat, a character may choose to swing a little harder than their usual attack. This strike is known as a Disorienting Blow. When a character makes a Disorienting Blow on a target, they expend 5 Stamina and if they hit, lower the creature's Block Range by 2. This effect can stack up a number of times equal to the target's Endurance Attribute. If a target takes enough Disorienting Blows, they become Staggered.

Cast A Incantation

Incantation Weavers such as the Arcanist and Devoted, as well as many monsters, have access to the ten Incantations and can use them to great effort in combat. Each Incantation must expend Stamina, specified in the Incantation. Incantations expend 3 Stamina in combat to use, unless stated otherwise.

Sprint

A character may decide on a tactical retreat and Sprint. When a character Sprint's, they expend 1 Stamina and gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 feet on your turn if you Sprint. Any increase or decrease to your movement changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your movement of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet if you Sprint.

Disengage

If you Disengage with a target, you may expend 1 Stamina, your movement doesn't provoke Contingency Attacks for the rest of the turn.

Help

You can lend your aid to another in the completion of a goal. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains additional dice to their pool equal to your Talent associated with the check until the end of their next turn.

Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some way team up to make your companion's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, their first Strike roll is granted a 1d4 bonus.

Hide

When you Hide in combat, you expend 1 Stamina and roll your Dexterity + Stealth check in an attempt to hide. If you succeed, you treat the Strike as a critical against creatures that can't see you.

Hidden Targets

When you strike creatures you can't see, you have -3 on the strike roll. This is true whether you're guessing the target's location or you're targeting a creature you can hear but not see.

If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard— when you make an strike, you give away your location when the strike hits or misses unless stated otherwise.

Held Stamina

You may want to get the drop on a creature or foe with a certain circumstance before you act. When you do so you expend Stamina for the feature you want to Hold, which lets you act using your Countermove before the start of your next turn depending on the trigger you set.

Examples include "If the Rakashan flies into the air, I'll shoot my bow," and "If the Brak charges at me, I move away."

When the trigger occurs, you can either take your Countermove right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger.

A character might even want to Hold an Incantation. The same rules still apply, you expend the Stamina and Weave of Magic, then use your Countermove when a trigger occurs. The Incantation must expend Stamina, and it requires concentration to hold it. If your concentration is broken, the Incantation dissipates without taking effect and any expended Weave of Magic or Stamina is wasted for that feature.

Search

When you use the Search an area expend 1 Stamina and roll either your Mind + Awareness or your Mind + Investigation (whichever is higher), depending on the nature of your search.

Object Usage

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an strike. When you need to use an object expend 1 Stamina. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.

Dodge and Blocking

During the Enemy Phase in combat players will be able to either Block or Dodge when they are attacked.

Dodging

Whenever you Dodge an strike, you must expend 2 Stamina and roll a Endurance + Deftness check against the enemy's Dodge DC. On a successful Dodge roll you take no damage from the strike.

The Dodge DC equals 3 + the enemy's Strength or Dexterity pool (Whichever is higher)

Blocking

Another option the player may take when attacked is to Block the incoming damage. When you choose to take the block option, you spend 2 points of Stamina pool and roll your Endurance + Brawn against the creature's Block Range. If you succeed you reduce the incoming damage by your Armor's Damage Reduction Dice.

The Block Range is a creature's Strength or Dexterity (Based on the creature) + Endurance Attributes.

Magical Blocking

Blocking follows the same rules for spell weavers but instead of using only Stamina, they use their Weave of Magic as well. They must expend 2 Stamina point and Weave of Magic to produce a magical barrier that will keep them from harm. This magical barrier reduces damage by 1d6 per Weave of Magic spent. The Spell Weaver may add their Weave Occult to the roll instead of their Brawn if it's higher.

Additionally, you add your Armor Reduction Dice to the Magical Blocking die.

In the case of a critical the target gets the Staggered condition and that creature's turn ends immediately after the hit.

Improvised Action

Your character can do things not covered in these action, such as breaking down doors, intimidation, sensing weakness in magical defenses, or calling for a parley with a foe. The only limits to the actions you can attempt are your imagination and your character's Attributes and Talents.

Rolling A Strike

However you're attacking, be it a melee weapon, firing a weapon, casting an Incantation, strikes have simple order of events.

1. Target Choice:
   Pick a target within your range: a creature, an object, or a location.


2. Determine What to Use:
   The Lore Keeper determines if you have additions or subtractions to your pool. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your strike roll.


3. Resolve The Strike:
   You make the strike roll count the number of successes. The LK will tell you if it hits. If you hit, roll damage. Some strikes cause special effects in addition to damage.



Damage: Resistances, Vulnerabilities, and Types

After you've resolved your strike you get to roll your damage. But what kind of damage do you roll? What is the damage? Damage is separated into two categories: Physical and Magical



Physical Damage

Physical damage is damage that is dealt by nonmagical weapons, such as swords, fists, axes, hammers, bo-staves, and many more. Physical damage while it comes in three forms: Blunt, Pierce, and Carve.


Regular means of armor can reduce physical damage by the Armor's Reduction Dice. Some Incantations do this as well, reducing the damage based by its Magical Reduction Dice. Some class features like the Berzerker's Wrathful Armor can reduce Physical damage by 1d12, or many of the Aegis' features can give an ally or allies Physical or Magical damage resistance.



Magical Damage

Magical damage is damage dealt by Incantations, magical weaponry, and special class features that deal magical damage. Magical damage comes in all forms, some common forms of Magical damage are: Corrosion, Echo, Fester, Frost, Jolt, Nova, Scorch, Trauma, and Wychblight.


Magical damage cannot be reduced by normal armor, only magical armor and the Incantations can reduce this damage.


Some monsters and players have an innate resistance to Magical and Physical damage, reducing damage from those sources by their Resistance Dice.



Underwater Fighting

When a party has a quest that leads them into the ocean, they might fight off sharks in an ancient shipwreck, find themselves in a Tidal Prime Karathigan's lair and have to fight it, or become trapped in a temple room that becomes flooded with water. While the party or group is underwater during comeback the following rules apply.


When making a melee weapon strike, a creature that doesn't have a swimming speed (either natural, or granted by magic) has -2 on the strike roll unless the weapon has the Mariner.property.


A ranged weapon strike automatically misses a target beyond a weapon's normal range. Even against a target within normal range, the strike roll has -2 unless the weapon has the Mariner property. Examples of Mariner ranged weapons are crossbow, a net, or a weapon that is thrown like a javelin (including a spear, trident, or dart).


Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have 3d6 Resistance Dice to Scorch damage from a natural source.



Mounted Combat

An Exorcist charging after a Kazzra on a Shadowbounder, a Arcanist casts his Incantation from the back of a Hypogryph, or a Devoted soaring through the sky on a Prime Karathigan. All of these characters share one thing: enjoying the benefits of speed and mobility that a mount can provide.



A willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount, using the following rules.



Mounting And Dismounting

Once during your move, you can mount a creature that is within 5 feet of you or dismount. Doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed.


If an effect moves your mount against its will while you're on it, you must succeed on a DC 5 Dexterity check or fall of the mount, landing prone in a space within 5 feet of it. You make the same check if you're knocked prone while mounted.


If your mount is knocked prone you can use your Countermove to dismount it as it fails and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 5 feet it.



Controlling A Mount

While you're mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Creatures with Intelligence pool of 5, such as Hypogryphs, act independently.


You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated horses, donkeys, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The mount moves as you direct it on your turn, and can only do two options: Sprint and Disengage. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it.


An independent mount acts on its own on the Player Phase. The rider puts no restriction on its actions, and it moves and acts on its own whims. It might flee from the fight, rush to attack and consume a injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.


The mount provokes a Contingency Strike while you're riding it. The attacker can target you or the mount.


Thank you, Lore Keeper and Players, for reading this guide on combat in the world of Rakasha! I hope it served you well! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please tell me in the comments below! Happy rolling and happy brawling!