Design Log Part 3: Let's see some actual combat already!

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Lab Zero Games and this project is a fan project and is not endorsed by Lab Zero Games or any of its developers and employees.

 

Welcome to the third installment of the development blog. Thanks a lot if you followed me from the Indivisible subreddit. For today, I have a demonstration of the combat system so far, complete with pictures!

The combat was an actual play I did with myself and it demonstrated several key concepts plus some extra bits and even some sneak peek! It's almost like I planned all of this, but really it's because my idea document is very detailed with tons of ideas and some ideas discarded and some refined so that there are LOTS of ideas already in the works.

For this battle, we have Zebei, Dhar and Razmi. I designed these characters to have stats similar to a beginning level Player Character (PC), so this battle represents a low-level combat. I chose these three because they seem like a good archetype of Ranged DPS, Tank/Melee DPS and Magic accordingly.

 

There are many comcepts and mechanics I omitted from this battle. Most important is Iddhi. There are some bonuses and actions you can use with the expenditure of Iddhi, but for now I'll save that for a future post, namely because I want to show combat in its more simpler form, and also because I hadn't figured out the "flow" of Iddhi yet, i.e. how players gain and use Iddhi, and how fast it happens.

 

Characters Statistics

The following are the stats for the PCs. Note that these are working numbers and may need tweaking as development continues. Also, I realise that the formatting makes no sense if you're viewing this on your phone, so use desktop view if you can.

 

Zebei

Phy    Vit    Agi    Int    Wis    Will    Idd        Defense: 8        Soak: 2        Wounds: 14

 d6      d6      d8     d4     d6      d8      d4

Attacks:

Up Attack:         Bow - Ranged (Short) - Heavy

Neutral Attack:     Bow - Ranged (Medium) - Accurate

Down Attack:    Bow - Ranged (Medium) - Combo 1 

 

 

Dhar

Phy    Vit    Agi    Int    Wis    Will    Idd        Defense: 6        Soak: 4        Wounds: 14

 d8      d8      d6     d6     d4      d6      d4

Attacks:

Up Attack:         Sword - Melee - ??

Neutral Attack:     Sword - Melee - Charged (Area of Effect)

Down Attack:    Sword - Self - Charge 1 

 

 

Razmi

Phy    Vit    Agi    Int    Wis    Will    Idd        Defense: 4        Soak: 2        Wounds: 14

 d6      d6      d4     d6     d8      d8      d4

Attacks:

Up Attack:         Lantern - Ranged (Medium) - Launch

Neutral Attack:     Lantern - Ranged (Medium) - Combo 1

Down Attack:    Lantern - Melee - Slow

 

 

 

 

And these are the WIP stats for the two monsters we are using today.

  

 

Hungry Ghosts

Phy    Vit    Agi    Int    Wis    Will    Idd        Defense: 6        Soak: 1        Wounds: 8

 d4      d4      d6     d4     d4      d4       -

Attacks:

Lick: (Melee) d4 + d4

 

Abilities: 

Swarm: When this monster performs an Attack, it increases its Melee Skill by 1 die size for each other identical monster engaged with the same target. (i.e. d6 with 2 HGs, d8 with 3 HGs, d10 with 4 HGs and so on.)

 

 

Ahp

Phy    Vit    Agi    Int    Wis    Will    Idd        Defense: 8        Soak: 2        Wounds: 12

 d8      d6      d8     d4     d6      d6       -

Attacks:

Harpoon Hair: (Melee) d8 + d8

Acid Spit: (Ranged (Short)) d8 + d6 - Poison 1

 

 

The Ahp is meant to have another attack, which is its grapple move, but I need to sort that out in terms of mechanics and balance. My initial idea is that enemies with grapple will encourage players to work together as it acts like some special zombies in Left4Dead in that they incapacitate a PC as long as they are grappled and other PCs must damage the monster to release the grapple. It could snowball very easily though, especially if there are two or more grappling monsters in the enemy group, because that could be two incapacitated PCs which could be 50% of the group's strength.

The Scenario

Onto the scenario. Here, we have Zebei, Dhar and Razmi (who followed disgruntledly, I'm sure) on a task to get firewood or forage or whatever nonsense Ajna needs to live. Unfortunately, they ran into some Hungry Ghosts and Ahps!

 

Combat

Let combat begin!

(Images of Zebei, Dhar, Razmi, Hungry Ghost and Ahp from Lab Zero Games, and the battle map from Yarro Studios)

 

Initiative

Everyone rolls their Agility and Intellect dice and adds them together for their Initiative score. Zebei gets the highest, so he goes first.

Round 1 

Zebei

Zebei figures that, with his ranged attacks, it's better to let the foes come to him. Every character's turn is comprised of one Minor Action and one Major Action (WIP names). A Minor Action includes moving, managing equipment, Focus, etc. Major Action includes abilities and attacks. In this case, Zebei decides to Focus for his Minor Action, which gives his Attack Dice Pool an extra d4. This extra d4 is more of a safety net in case he rolls badly.

He attacks Ahp 1 for his Major Action, using his Down Attack. Since he's using a ranged attack, he uses his Agility Die (d8) and his Ranged (Bow) Skill (d8, not shown in his stats) and he rolls the d4 he got from Focusing. He obtains a 6, 4, and a 1. In most Skill Tests, which Attack is part of, you get to choose two dice to keep and add them together for your Score. In this case, he chooses the 6 and 4, which adds to 10. The Score is compared to the defender's Defense stats. In this case, the Ahp has a Defense of 8. The Score beats (or equals) the Defense value, so the attack connects! (Of course it would, so says Zebei!)

Then, the highest among the dice kept is used for the damage. In this case, it's the 6. The Ahp takes 6 damage, but since it has a Soak value, the damage is lessened. The Ahp has a Soak value of 2, so 2 is subtracted from the 6 damage, which means it receives 4 damage. This is subtracted from its wound, so it's down from 12 to 8. Once its wounds reaches 0, it is defeated.

Since Zebei was using his Down Attack, which has the Combo 1 ability, he adds a Combo token to the Ahp. This will be beneficial to anyone who follows up with their own attack, which you will soon see.

With his turn completed, he chooses the next person to take their turn. This could be an enemy or ally (and there are times you want to choose one over the other, as more astute readers will figure out). He decides to pass the turn to Razmi. From now on, combat can be a little faster as I will spend less time explaining the mechanics.

 

Razmi

Grumbling quietly, Razmi Focuses and summons Bom with her lantern and attacks Ahp 1 with her Neutral Attack. She rolls 7, 3 and 2, keeping 7 and 3 and hits the Ahp with a Score of 10 to Defense of 8. She deals 7 damage, but because of the Combo token already on the Ahp, she adds 1 more damage to her total, bringing it to 8 damage. The Ahp's Soak of 2 reduced it to 6 damage, bringing its wounds to 2. She places another Combo token on the Ahp as her Neutral Attack allows her to do so.

In deciding who to take the next turn, Razmi has a dilemma. Passing it to Dhar would be useless as he is quite a distance away from the nearest enemy, and having an enemy go last in the round also means they can choose to start the round with themselves again, gaining the advantage. For this reason, she decides to pass the turn to Hungry Ghost 1.

 

HG 1 2 and 3

All the Hungry Ghosts take their turns one after the other, but I combine them all here just for brevity. They all Move for their Minor Action. Then, because they can't do anything else useful, they change their Major Action to a Minor Action, and Move again, just to get in engaging range with Zebei. Swapping their Major Action to a Minor Action is an option for all characters if they want to move more in a turn or do other maneuvering. Characters can also decide to do their Major Action first, before their Minor Action, if so desired.

 

The last Hungry Ghost then pass its turn to Ahp 1.

 

 

Ahp 1

At the beginning of a character's turn, they clear any Combo or Airborne tokens they have on them (unless they are flying creatures), so the Ahp clears all of the Combo tokens. You can see how the combo can be continued until the enemy "recovers" and then the combo ends. The Ahp Moves and then does an Acid Spit Attack on Dhar. She rolls a 5 and 1, which adds to a 6 and hits Dhar's Defense of 6 (just!). Dhar takes 5 damage, but with his Soak of 4, he reduce the damage down to only 1. 

 

 

The turn is passed to the last Ahp.

 

Ahp 2

Ahp 2's turn mirrors Ahp 1, which includes a Move Minor Action then the Acid Spit Attack. She rolls a 5 and 3, which hits and again deals 5 damage which is reduced to 1 damage by Dhar's Soak. He is tough!

 

The Ahp is forced to pass its turn to the last character yet to act, which is Dhar.

 

You may also notice I cheated and changed the positions of the Hungry Ghosts a little bit so they gang up on Zebei better. Also, the Acid Spits are meant to have Poison, but I hadn't decide what it does yet.

 

 

Dhar

Recovering from the Acid Spits, Dhar decides to perform his Major Action first and does his Down "Attack" which is a Charge move. I'm experimenting with this keyword and ability, but for our purpose here having a Charge token will let him perform more powerful attacks. He then Moves with his Minor Action and engages the Ahps.

 

With all characters having had their turns, the round ends.

 

 

Round 2

Dhar

Because Dhar went last last round, he gets to choose who takes the first turn for this round. He chooses himself. You see this is the only situation where a character can immediately chain attacks or abilities with themselves. Dhar Focuses for this Minor Action, then unleash his Neutral Attack which gains an Area of Effect ability if he uses a Charge, which he does. This attack then targets both of the Ahps at the same time as he is engaged with both of them and he has an Area of Effect attack! He rolls a d8, d6 and d4 which scores an 8, 5 and 2 in that order. He keeps the 8 and 5 and add them to 13, which beats both Ahps' Defense and inflict 8 damages on them. Dhar swings his sowrd in a wide arc, with shards of rocks following its trajectory. The Ahps were caught in the spray of sharp rocks! After the soak, the Ahps each take 6 damage which kills Ahp 1 and leave Ahp 2 with 6 wounds. What a devastating attack!

Dhar passes the turn to Zebei.

Zebei

Zebei Focuses and does his Up Attack on Hungry Ghost 1, rolling 8, 4 and 4. Since this Attack does Heavy damage, he adds both the dice he kept for damage. In this case, since he keeps 8 and 4 for the Attack which adds to a total of 12, his damage is also 12. Zebei jumps and unleashes a barrage of arrows from the air! The Hungry Ghost's paltry Soak of 1 does little as it takes 11 damage which kills it immediately (It has only 8 wounds).

For this battle, using a Ranged Attack while engaged in melee has no penalty, but I'm playing with some penalties for the future.

Zebei passes the turn to Razmi.

Razmi

Trying her luck to see if she could kill Ahp 2, she Focuses and uses her Neutral Attack. She rolls, getting 5, 3, 2. It's JUST enough to reach the Ahp's Defense of 8, but does little damage. The Ahp takes 5 damage, which is reduced to 3 by its Soak of 2. The Ahp is now on 3 wounds. Badly hurt, but not out yet.

Having no allies to pass the turn to, Razmi begrudgingly passes the turn to Hungry Ghost 2.

Also her Neutral Attack is meant to place a Combo token, but I forgot.

Hungry Ghost 2 and 3

Again, Hungry Ghost 2 and 3 take one turn after another, but I combine them together to make the battle shorter. They both Focus and Lick Zebei. The first rolled 2, 4 and 1, which gets a Score of 6 and misses Zebei's Defense of 8. The second is luckier, and rolls 5, 4 and 3. 5 and 4 adds to 9, which hits Zebei for 5 damage. Zebei Soaks 2 damage, taking a final total of 3 damage. He is taken from 14 wounds to 11 wounds.

Hungry Ghost have the Swarm ability, which makes their attacks more accurate and deadly the more Hungry Ghosts surround the same prey. If Zebei hadn't killed the Hungry Ghost 1, he would have been in a world of hurt!

The Hungry Ghosts pass the turn to the Ahp.

Ahp 2

The Ahp Focuses and Attack Dhar with its Harpoon Hair attack. Dhar, knowing that once the Ahp's turn ends, it will be a new round and she could choose herself to take the first turn. In effect, she could get two turns in a row and could be devastating for him. Before the Ahp rolls to attack, Dhar declares to Block. Blocking requires him to give up his Minor Action in his next turn, but will double his Soak until his turn comes. With his default Soak of 4, it is doubled to 8! However, he still take a minimum of 1 damage if the attack hits as it chip away at this defense. Dhar raises a rock shield and hope for the best.

The Ahp rolls 2, 1, and 1, which complete misses Dhar! Maybe he didn't need to Block, but you never know.

With the Ahp's turn complete, the second round ends.

Round 3

The Ahp decides to let the Hungry Ghosts take their turn first.

Hungry Ghosts 2 and 3

The Hungry Ghosts again try to gang up on Zebei. Zebei could have wisely block like Dhar, but he would rather take his chance to keep his Minor Action. The Hungry Ghosts Focuses and Lick, with the first Hungry Ghost rolling 1, 3, 3 (a miss...again) and another rolling 6, 4, 4, hitting Zebei for 6 damge, reduced by Soak to 4 damage. Zebei is down from 11 to 7 wounds. Maybe trying to take on the Hungry Ghosts by himself wasn't such a good idea...

The Hungry Ghosts pass their turn to the Ahp.

Ahp 2

The Ahp Focuses and attack Dhar again with its Harpoon Hair and rolls 8, 1, 2. It hits and would have dealt 8 damage, but because Dhar's Soak is 8 from the Block, he takes only 1 damage (as minimum while using Block). "Useless!" he cries. Dhar is down from 12 to 11 wounds.

The Ahp is forced to pass the turn to a PC. She passes to Dhar.

Dhar

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Dhar attacks the Ahp using his Neutral attack...only to roll double 1! A Fumble! I hadn't decided what a Fumble does in combat yet, so luckily for Dhar it'll just count as a miss. If Dhar had the Minor Action to Focus, it will make Fumbles less likely, as Fumble requires all dice to come up 1.

Dhar passes the turn to Razmi.

Razmi

Sniggering at Dhar, Razmi realises that she probably needs to help Zebei out before he gets eaten by the Hungry Ghosts. Then she has to explain to Ajna what happened, and she just can't be bothered. Razmi Focuses and attack Hungry Ghost 3 with her Neutral Attack, rolling a 6, 6, 1, a hit with 12. She deals 6 damage to the Hungry Ghost, who Soaked 1 damage taking it from 8 to 3 wounds. She also places a Combo token on it.

Razmi passes the turn to Zebei.

Zebei

Grunting a thanks to Razmi, Zebei uses his Minor Action to Move out of melee range with the Hungry Ghosts and uses his Neutral Attack on Hungry Ghost 3. His Neutral Attack is Accurate, which means he gets to keep three dice for his Attack Roll. He rolls 8, 7, 1, for a total score of 16, an easy hit. He deals 9 damage (8 + 1 from Combo token) to the Hungry Ghost, killing it easily.

With everyone having taken their turn, the third round ends.

Round 4

With only the Ahp with 3 wounds left and one Hungry Ghost left, the group cleans up quickly. 

 

As the dust settles, the group remembers they have to gather firewood. Razmi wonders if the remains of these Ghosts and Ahps would do instead...

End

So there you have it! A sample combat using the current rules. You can see there are already a few systems underlying the combat system, and I will endeavour to log and explain each one of them in the future posts. The next post will be on the system for building Attacks for the PCs (including weapons), followed by Iddhi, before we jump into another combat scenario. Thanks again for reading!