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ReQuest

Page history last edited by Bruce Mason 12 years, 8 months ago

House rules for RQII. Presented in the same order and with the same headings as the RQII core book.


Skills

Brawn

In a skill contest no amount of Brawn skill can compensate for physical mismatches. As a good rule of thumb, compare damage modifiers. For each point of difference in one person's damage modifier to the other, the person with the greatest modifier gets +20% to the contest while the one with the lower modifier gets -20%. If the difference is 2 steps or greater, it is probably fair to say that stronger person automatically wins.

Example. No damage modifier vs +1D2. This is a 1 point difference therefore the character with 0 modifier gets -20% while the one with +1D2 gets +20%.   

 

Opposed Skill Tests

I refer to these as Skill Contests. You can either win or lose a Skill Contest. A Narrow Loss refers to succeeding at your skill test but losing the Skill Contest. Therefore there are two possible winning results (critical and normal) and three losing results (narrow, fail and fumble).

 

Opposed Skills Over 100% - house rule

For each whole 10% of your skill over 100%, your opponent suffers a -10% modifier. E.g. If your skill is 116% then your opponent suffers a -10% modifier. Note that this not a mutual modifier. Your skill is unaffected. However, if both parties in an opposed skill contest are over 100% then both will affect each other.

Examples: 

Andra is 117% vs Berthold 82%. This is modified to Andra 117% vs Berthold 72%.

Andra is 117% vs Berthold 112%. This is modified to Andra 107% vs Berthold 102%.

 

What happens if there are 3 or more people involved and at least two of them have skills over 100? In that case all except the person with the highest skill suffer the highest skill modifier. The person with the highest skill suffers a modifier based on the second highest skill.

E.g. 123 vs 117 vs 83 ends up as: 113 (123-10) vs 97 (117-20) vs 63 (83-20).

 

This is simpler than RAW until you get into multi-opponents many of whom are over 100%.

 

Game System

Adventurer Advancement

Improving characteristics - replacement house rule

If the characteristic is less than the species average it costs 5 IRs to improve it. If the characteristic is equal to or above the species average, it costs 10 points to increase it. E.g. Human average STR is 11 therefore the cost to increase STR if it is 10 or less is 5 IRs while the cost to improve STR if it is 11 or more is 10 IRs.

 

Falls - replacement house rule

For each 3m you fall you take 1D6 damage to one location (round up as usual.) E.g. If you fall 4m you take 2D6 damage to 2 locations. Each location (and its damage) is rolled randomly so you can end up rolling the same location twice. Some short falls can kill you if you're unlucky while a lucky person could fall a long way and only suffer several serious injuries.

 

A successful Athletics roll lets you treat the fall as 2m less or lets you choose one location to take damage. If this makes the fall effectively no distance then no damage is taken.  

A successful Acrobatics roll lets you treat the fall as 2m less AND lets you choose one location to take damage. If you would take taking damage to more than 1 location then the rest are still chosen randomly but you can select the chosen location after seeing the random results.

 

Example: Fahir falls 5m and fails his Athletics test. Fahir rolls 2d6 and d20 to discover he's taken 5 damage to his right leg. He then rolls 2D6 and d20 again to discover he has also taken 8 damage to the head.

 

Note that armour doesn't protect against falls.

 

Healing

Natural Healing - replacement house rule

At the end of each day you can heal a number of Hit Points from minor injuries equal to your critical Resilience score.  E.g. Resilience 73% would allow up to 8 Hit Points healing for minor wounds. If you have any serious wounds they can also heal but on a 5 for 1 basis. If your Resilience would not normally be high enough to heal a serious wound (e.g. you have a Resilience of 23%) then you can bank the points for the next day.

 

Major injuries. Unless a character is receiving medical treatment, major wounds do not naturally heal. Successful sustained medical treatment allows a location with a major wound to recover as if it were a serious injury.

 

Movement

During a Combat Round a character can move a total distance in metres equal to their Movement Rating (MOV). This can be split among CAs as desired providing that the total moved during the round does not exceed the character's MOV - 8m for humans. If a character wishes to move further than this distance they must Run. Running is a full round action and uses up all of the character's CAs for the round - even if the character does not run its full distance.

 

If a character wishes to combine a movement in an action in the same CA then it cannot move more than half of its normal movement. For example a character with a MOV of 7m could move 4m and attack in the same action. A simple action (like drawing a sword) can be performed at any time during the movement but a complex action such as casting a spell, attacking, firing a weapon and so on must be done after the movement. A character cannot, for example, attack then move as the same CA. 

 

An unengaged character can use the Move CA to move up to their full MOV for the round though it still cannot exceed its normal limits. However, if the character succeeds at an Athletics roll while doing so, the movement only 'costs' half the normal amount. Example: a character moves 7m and succeeds at an Athletics roll so only spends 4m of its usual movement. 

 

An unengaged character may use the Run action to move up to 5 times its normal MOV (minus any armour penalty). Running uses up all of a character's actions for that round. A character must declare a run on its first turn and without any delays though it is possible that the character may have already used some actions such as parrying a missile attack with a shield. If a character wishes to run their full amount then they are considered to be running until their first turn of the next Round. If running no further than half their full amount then they are considered to be running until their next turn or the end of the round (whichever comes first). If running more than half of the distance they are considered to be running until their next turn or the end of the round, whichever comes later. If using a grid, players may want to reposition the figure at the end of each SR cycle to show how far through the run the character is.

 

Example. Signy is a human with a MOV of 8m and an armour penalty of 5 meaning she can run up to 35m in a round. She has 3 Combat Actions. On her first turn she decides she needs to run 18m to take cover behind a castle wall. This would be half of her maximum distance (35/2, rounded up) so the run finishes on what would normally be her next turn though all her actions will have been used up. This means that all other characters will probably have one action to act during her round. If the wall had been 20m away it would have required to run until the end of the round. If the wall had been a bit closer (say 10m away) she could have tried to get their using 2 Movement actions. If she had made a successful Athletics roll for the first one then she could have moved 8m on the first action but only spent 4m of movement, leaving her with 4m still free to use. This would have had the advantage of leaving her with a CA still to spend. 

 

Charging: a charge is simply an attack combined with a run. The attack is part of the run therefore there is no need to spend any additional CAs for the attack.


 

Combat

The Combat Round

Each round is broken into two steps: the Action Step and the Wrap-Up Step.

 

Action Step

Each action step consists of 1 or more Strike Rank Cycles. During a Cycle, each character with at least one Combat Action remaining may perform one Combat Action on their SR: this is known as the character's TURN.

 

If two characters with the same SR wish to act at the same time then the character with the highest Strike Rank modifier acts first. If their Strike Rank Modifiers are identical then the actions are resolved simultaneously with the characters taking their turns at the same time. This can mean, for example, that two characters could attack each other simultaneously. 

 

Note that a character can take multiple actions with the same weapon on the same SR. For example if several goblins are attacking a character on SR 12, the defender can attempt to parry as many times as it has CAs. SRs are only used to indicate the order in which actions happen, they are not a strict measure of time. However, a character can only use a weapon once on its turn. This means that if two characters are acting simultaneously then neither character can both attack and parry with a single weapon. 

 

A note on the delay action. It might seem like a reasonable tactic for a sword & shield user to delay to the same SR as an opponent using a two-handed weapon. That way the 2H weapon user can attack or parry but not both. However delaying only allows a character to take its turn before or after another character's turn. It does not allow the characters to act simultaneously. Likewise, trying to interrupt an action temporarily suspends a turn.

 

Strike Rank Cycle(s)

Each characters takes a turn: Each character involved in the combat performs one combat Action on their turn in Strike Rank order. If an adventurer has not taken their turn by the end of the cycle then the character defaults to the "do nothing" Combat Action. Note that preparing a parry or attack is taking an action on your turn. Remember also that you cannot delay an action to beyond the end of the current cycle.

 

The lowest SR is 0. There are no negative SRs.

 

If any characters have Combat Actions remaining then a new Cycle begins, otherwise the Action Step is over.

 

Wrap-up Step

Any actions that occur "at the end of the round" happen now. This is primarily likely to be movement and charges. Then all rolls that are made at the “end of the round” occur. Finally any fatigue rolls that are needed are made. If there are characters still engaged in combat with enemies, or one or more characters is involved in some activity that requires the game to continue on "Action Time", a new Combat Round begins.

 

Combat Actions

 

New Combat Actions

 

Ready an Attack

This action is used when a character wishes to postpone an attack until there is an appropriate target. This attack can be taken at any time before the character's next turn this Combat Round; it does not expire at the end of a cycle. However, if the character makes any out of turn actions such as Evading then the Ready an Attack action is immediately aborted and the Combat Action is lost to no effect. This action allows a character to, for instance, guard a door or to knock an arrow in order to shoot the first goblin that runs out of the undergrowth. Should the readied action be the character's last action of the round then it lasts until the end of the round.

 

Ready an action 

The general rules for readying an attack or parry can in most cases be applied to almost any other activity. E.g. If a spell is ready to cast then the actual moment of casting can be delayed. 

 

House rules for Combat Actions

 

Delay

You cannot delay until an opponent's SR in order to attempt to take your turns simultaneously. Delaying does not allow you to interrupt a turn in progress: to do that you must try to interrupt the Combat Action.

 

Aborting Combat Actions

An action can be aborted but the combat action is still used and it still counts as the character's turn for that cycle. The GM may require a skill check in order to abort an action or impose a penalty that will be suffered as a result of the aborted action. Example: Fahir swings at an enemy with an axe only to realise at the last second that it is actually his friend Mikolos. His player asks the GM if he can abort. The GM says that if Fahir can successfully make an axe skill test that he can abort. If he fails, he must carry on with the attack as normal.

 

Interrupting a Combat Action

If a character is currently delaying their turn or has readied an action then it may choose to try to interrupt an opponent's turn once it knows what the action is. Example: Fahir has an arrow ready and can normally act on SR14 but has chosen to delay his turn to see what happens. On SR4 a Broo leaps out of a bush to attack a friend. Fahir wishes to shoot the broo before it can attack. To interrupt successfully, both characters make their skill rolls simultaneously but the person who does best gets to resolve the effects of their action first. To determine who "does best" compare the two rolls as if they were an opposed contest.  If anyone involved was not planning to use a skill as such (e.g. shouting a warning or turning around) then choose an appropriate skill; usually Athletics or Evade for physical actions, sometimes Influence, Persistence or Perception for other types of activities. As with any opposed test, it is possible for all parties to fail in which case the normal action goes ahead first followed by the delayed action.

 

Example: Fahir bow 78%, SR14. Broo Unarmed attack 45%. On SR4 the broo declares an attack. Fahir has an arrow knocked and still has a Turn available during this Cycle so he declares that he wishes interrupt the broo's attack to fire the arrow at the broo in the hope of disabling it before it can attack his friend. Fahir makes his bow attack roll and gets 32. The broo is unaware of the threat and rolls 21 for its unarmed attack. Both make their rolls but Fahir rolled higher so he resolves the effect of his attack first. The broo doesn't have a CA left or else it might have been able to abort its current action and try an Evade. As it is, Fahir hits and, because the broo offered no defense, he gets a Combat Manoeuvre as well. Aiming at the head is never wise with broos so he chooses impale, hoping the damage is enough to prevent the broo from being able to make the attack. Sure enough he rolls 7 damage in total and hits the broo in the right leg. That's enough to cause it to fall over. Even though the broo would have made its attack roll normally, falling over causes the attack to be aborted.

 

The difference between taking a delayed turn normally and interrupting. Taking a delayed turn normally means to act before another character starts its turn. In the case above, if the Broo had been in the open Fahir could have assumed that it would attack as soon as it could therefore it would have been wise to fire his bow at the first opportunity. Sometimes however, you need to wait for an opponent to declare its action in order to know the best response. In that case you need to interrupt a turn in progress: a far riskier proposition. 

 

Combat Manoeuvres

Clarifications

A CM can be chosen instead of or as well as causing damage. The former may be more useful if you are trying to take an enemy alive.

 

Disarm opponent: If the target is using a 2h weapon then the target gets +20% to their chance to resist the CM. If the acting character has a 2h weapon or entangling weapon, the target gets -20% to resist. These bonuses will cancel each other out if both acting character and target are using 2H weapons.


Entangle: An 'automatic trip attempt' means that the character may pit their Attack skill vs the defender's Evade skill as a subsequent Combat Action in order to try to Trip the opponent. If the defender wins, the defender does not automatically slip free but, if the defender gets 1 or more CMs, then they may choose slip free as one of them.

 

Impale: the impaler can immediately spend 1 CA to try to "yank" the weapon free using a Brawn roll. They also may try to yanks it free it as an action on their own Turn.If the Brawn roll is a failure, no damage is done and the attacker loses grip on the weapon. The victim of an impale can also try to yank it free at the cost of doing damage to themselves. 

 

Pin Weapon: To summarise, you can free your weapon by:

  1. Gaining a CM and choosing the slip free CM. Remember that you cannot use the pinned weapon to attack or parry so it might be tricky to gain a CM.
  2. Using a CA to make an opposed roll of your skill with the pinned weapon versus the opponent's skill with the weapon doing the pinning. If you win, you unpin the weapon. In some circumstances this may be an opposed roll of Brawn vs Brawn.

 

House Rules

 

Bash: The way this works is identical to knockback with the exception that the knockback distance ignores the target's SIZ.

  • The target must succeed at an Athletics test to avoid falling prone.
  • If the target hits an obstacle, the Athletics test gets a -20% penalty. 
  • The target may choose to substitute Acrobatics for Athletics to avoid falling prone in which case it gets a +20% bonus. (This bonus will cancel out the -20% penalty for hitting an obstacle should that occur.) 
  • A design note. The Trip manoeuvre is more likely to knock an opponent down as the tripped character needs to pit an Evade against the attack roll. 

 

Blind Opponent:  If the attacker fails [to resist the blinding attempt] it cannot attack on its next 1D3 CAs. Furthermore it is blinded until then (giving it -60% to all physical actions relying on sight such as parries or evades...). 

 

Grip: Being gripped also counts as being closed by a Touch reach weapon. It is perfectly possible for both parties to be gripping each other. While gripping an opponent you gain the ability to select the throw Combat Manoeuvre. You can break a grip in one of three ways:

  1. Gaining a CM and choosing the slip free CM.
  2. Using 1 CA to make an opposed roll of your Brawn, Unarmed or Evade skill vs the gripper's choice of their Unarmed or Brawn skill. If the gripping character has natural weapons such as a bite, claws etc then it gets a +20% or +40% bonus depending on circumstances.
  3. If your Damage modifier is at least three steps greater than that of the gripping character then you can break free automatically unless the gripping character is holding on with natural weapons such as a bite or claws.

 

Overextend opponent: Opponent cannot attack on his next turn.

 

Swallow (Critical Bite attack only): If a creature has the Swallow trait then it can automatically swallow whole any creature which is no more than 1/3rd of the creature's SIZ. Thus a SIZ 20 creature could swallow another creature of SIZ 6 or less. See the entry for Swallowing  under Close Combat Situations for more details.

 

Throw (Attack versus Gripped opponent only):The recipient is thrown a number of metres equal to the thrower's Damage Modifier or 1m, (whichever is most) and ends up prone. This counts as a fall equal to half the distance thrown. You cannot throw someone who currently has a grip on you. This cannot be used on a recipient who has a damage Modifier of three steps or more than the thrower's Damage Modifier.

 

Close Combat Situations

Terminology - Grounded, mounted & flying

A character is:

  • grounded if it is fighting on foot.
  • mounted if it is riding a mount.
  • flying if it is airborne.

A character riding a flying mount is considered to be both flying and mounted.

  • A flying character can move away freely from non-flying foes without needing to use a Change Range Combat Action or CM.
  • A mounted character can always move away freely from grounded foes without needing to use a Change Range Combat Action or CM.

Charging - house rule

A charge is an attack on the run against an opponent. Because a charge happens on the run, the charger cannot take Defensive Combat Actions while charging, including during the attack. The actual charge attack is part of the move action. The charge will be resolved either on the charger's next turn or at the end of the round depending on the distance charged. (See running earlier.)

  • Benefits of charging. The charger's damage modifier is increased by one step and any weapon used to parry the attack is treated as one size smaller than usual.
  • Defending against a charge. Providing the target has a Combat Action left, the target of a charge may Parry or Evade as normal. Alternatively the target may attack instead of defending. In this case the person with the weapon with the longest Reach goes first. If both weapons are the same reach, then the attacks are resolved simultaneously. If the target has readied an attack and has used it to set an impaling weapon against the charge, then the defender may choose to use the attacker's damage modifier instead of its own. 
  • Movement after a charge. Depending on the results of the charge, the charger may end up several metres beyond the target.
  • Charging into Figures. The charging figure does not necessarily have to have a weapon, it may simply charge into an opponent in an attempt to bash it out of the way using its Brawn skill. If the Brawn skill is a success and not evaded then the attacker will get a Bash Combat Manoeuvre in addition to any other manoeuvres. 
  • Mounted charge. If the attacker is mounted and is using a braced weapon like a lance, then the attacker's damage modifier is increased by two steps and any weapon used to parry the charge is treated as two sizes smaller than usual (as if two levels of the bypass parry Combat Manoeuvre had been used). If the attacker has declared that the intent is to charge into the target and the attack has been a success and not Evaded and the defender has not been knocked out of the way then the mount also charges into the target using its Brawn skill as above. A big enough mount may simply trample a defender.
  • These rules also apply to flying creatures attacking on the move. Such creatures moving very fast may increase their damage modifier by three steps and gain 3 levels of bypass parry.  

Note that if a defender has a longer weapon and chooses to attack rather than defend then any hit will generate a Combat Manoeuvre, possibly allowing the defender to trip the attacker. The moral of the story is do not charge into combat against a brave, prepared opponent who has a longer weapon than you.

 

Entangling Attacks

If a weapon is capable of entangling then it automatically gains the Entangle Combat Manoeuvre on any successful hit. If the attack was parried, then the parrying weapon has been entangled instead of a random location. 

 

Knockback

This works the same way as the Bash CM: Successful Athletics test to stay upright with a -20% penalty if you hit an obstacle. Acrobatics can be substituted for Athletics with a +20% bonus.

 

Leaping Attacks

This can also be used if you want to jump on a target from above.

 

  • A leaping attack requires an Opposed Test of the attacker’s Athletics or Unarmed skill against the defender’s Evade or Shield (if he has one) skill. If the attacker wins the test then the defender is knocked prone, and cannot stand for its next 1D3 Turns. Most creatures attempt to Grip if they gain a CM, in which case they will end up on top of the defender. 
  • If a target is aware of the leap and has a weapon ready, it may choose to attack the leaping character rather than trying to defend. If so, resolve this in a manner similar to a charge: the longest weapon is resolved first. If the leaping creature survives the attack and succeeds at the Athletics roll, the target is knocked prone as above.

 

Surprise

While surprised, a character cannot take any actions including defensive actions, so, if a character is surprised it cannot Evade or Parry. A character will become "unsurprised" on its turn as a free action. Normally Initiative is re-rolled after a round in which someone was surprised.

 

Swallowing

If a creature has the Swallow trait then as a Combat Action it can attempt to swallow whole any creature that it has Gripped with a Bite attack and which is no more than 1/3rd of the creature's SIZ. Thus a SIZ 20 creature could swallow another creature of SIZ 6 or less. A Swallow attack uses the creature's Bite skill at +40% and can be opposed with an Evade (or possibly Brawn in certain circumstances). The effects of being swallowed are generally asphyxiation, immersion in weak acid and, unless the creature is absolutely massive (something like 10 times the SIZ of the creature it swallowed) the equivalent of being completely entangled. Note that a creature can also automatically swallow as a Critical Combat Manoeuvre in which case it will happen as part of the same action as the Bite Attack. 

 

Unarmed Combat

A character making an unarmed attack can choose one of two options:

  1. Make a regular attack. If the attack gains a CM, then the attacker may choose the Grip CM.
  2. Attempt to Grip an opponent instead of doing damage. In this case the attack becomes an Opposed Test and the defender can choose either to try to Evade the attempt, use their Unarmed skill to attempt to prevent the attacker from getting a Grip or they can choose to attack the person attempting the Grip, hoping to disable the attacker before they can get a Grip.
    1. If the defender chooses to Evade or Parry with an Unarmed skill and wins the contest then the attack fails. If the attacker wins the contest, then the opponent is Gripped instead of taking damage. The attacker may also gain CMs as normal; it might be able to choose the location to be gripped for example.
    2. If the defender chooses to attack with a weapon, then the weapon with the longest Reach is resolved first. If both Reaches are the same, then the attacks are resolved simultaneously. In both cases the character attempting the Grip attack cannot take a Defensive Action against the attack unless it aborts the Grip attempt. 

Results of being Gripped

  • If a character is Gripped, they suffer the problems mentioned under the Grip CM.
  • If an attacker has a Grip then whenever they attack using their Unarmed skill, the attacker can choose to have the damage done to the Gripped Location instead of rolling randomly. (They can still used Choose Location to choose a different location if they wish.) 
  • While Gripped, you can defend against Unarmed attacks with Unarmed, Brawn or Evade. 
  • Unarmed attacks can generate CMs while gripped just like any other attack. While one character has gripped another and has not been gripped back, that character may use the Throw combat manoeuvre to throw its opponent in which case the opponent automatically ends prone or may use the Trip manoeuvre to force the opponent to floor while maintaining the grip.Tripping will give the person doing the trip a situational bonus of +20% against the target while he maintains the grip.
  • While Gripped, combat is considered to be at Touch range, therefore any weapons of Medium or greater length can't be used to parry. Attacks can still be made with such weapons by striking with the haft and so on. In that case, they do 1d4 damage and don't have any weapon-specific CMs such as bleed or impale.
  • It is possible for both characters to have gripped each other. Example. A attacks B and grips a leg. On their next turn B attacks A and grips the abdomen. Now both have a hold on each other.

 

Many creatures have the Formidable Natural Weapons trait to represent claws, fangs, tentacles and so on. These may be able to grip or entangle as an additional Combat Manoeuvre and may give a bonus to maintaining a grip. Despite their Size, such formidable natural weapons can be used while grappling unless the situation seems to dictate otherwise.

 

Ranged Combat

Firing into a Crowd (random cover)

When firing into a crowd or where other people are close by, if you roll doubles then you have hit someone other than the target even if the attack would normally have missed. If the double is a fumble then the result of the fumble overrides the double if they seem to contradict each other (e.g. the weapon breaking). If the accidental target is aware of the risk, it may try to Evade or Parry with a shield. If the original attack was a miss then the Evade is not an opposed roll so any successful Evade or Parry will prevent the missile from hitting. An accidental hit never generates Combat Manoeuvres even if it is a critical result (e.g from rolling 11 when your skill is 110%).

 

Damage and Wound Levels

Conditions

Dazed

When a character takes a serious wound, the character becomes dazed (stunned). A dazed character cannot make any kind of attack while dazed and its Movement Rate is halved. The character can still take defensive actions such as Evade and Parry, cast spells on itself and so on. A dazed character recovers from being dazed at the end of the combat round after the one in which it became dazed.

Overextended/unbalanced

Certain combat situations leave a character "overextended" or "unbalanced." Such a character is off-balance. While a character is overextended, other characters get +20% in skills to attack it. A character automatically recovers from being unbalanced at the end of the round after the one in which it became unbalanced.

Vulnerable

Certain combat situations can make a character "vulnerable". Such a character is badly off balance. While a character is vulnerable other characters get +20% in skills to attack it and inflict 2 additional damage whenever they hit. A character automatically recovers from being vulnerable at the end of the round after the one in which it became vulnerable.

 

Damage outside of combat

Adventurers may receive serious or major wounds outside of combat such as falling or drowning. In that case the Resilience test is routine for a serious wound (+/-0%) and Hard for a major wound (-40%). Circumstances may increase or decrease this modifier. 


 

Common Magic

Casting Common Magic Results

Note that this section is omitted from RQII.

Critical Success - the spell takes effect normally but costs 1 less MP than normal to cast - minimum 1 MP.

Normal Success - the spell takes effect normally and costs the specified number of MPs to cast.

Failure - the spell does not take effect and the caster loses 1 MP from the source that was being used to cast the spell.

Fumble - the spell does not take effect and the caster loses MPs equal to the cost of the spell from the source being used to cast the spell.

 


Extensions and Alternatives

 

 

Mongoose Publishing Resources

 

Other Resources & Links

 

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