Combat is the most important element of Dragon Ball RPG. In this section I hope to clarify everything surrounding combat.
Rounds
Combat is divided into rounds. During these, characters can take as many actions as they are allowed (DEX/10). An action is an undetermined amount of time. It can either be two seconds as in a punch, or up to fifteen seconds as in a multi fireball. It is really irrelevant, but if necessary for story purposes, a round can be considered about one minute. Even though many characters are participating in combat, they are considered attacking seconds behind one another. They are not actually taking turns trading punches.
Attacks
The winner of initiative gets to attack first, then the next highest roll follows. No one gets to attack twice before everyone gets a chance to attack. For example: Kaku, Neo Cell, and Shin are involved in combat. Kaku rolls a 13, Neo Cell rolls an 8, and Shin rolls a 17. Shin gets one attack, then Kaku gets one attack, then Neo Cell gets one attack. After everyone attacks once, it starts over with Shin going, then Kaku, and then Neo Cell. After all attacks have been used, reroll for the next round of combat.
Fireball Battles
This is another aspect of combat that requires a little more detail. Special Attacks are always -4 to dodge. When a character fires off their special attack, the character being targeted automatically gets to fire his special attack back. Now most special attacks take time to charge up, and the character being targeted gets the chance to charge up his also. To prevent people from taking cheap shots while someone is charging, if someone attacks the charging character, the attacker can be automatically blasted with as much power as the special attack has built up. So for example: Neo Cell is has built up his "fusion bomb attack" to 1d6x100 damage, but he still wants to charge more. However, Shin tries a cheapshot on Neo Cell, but Neo Cell is automatically allowed to blast Shin for 1d6x100 damage. Neo Cell rolls a 3 and does 300 damage to Shin, tearing him in half. That'll teach those cheating good guys! This is used to portray the Dragon Ball ki battle. I'm sure you have always wondered why someone didn't just attack Cell as he charged his massive KameHameHa. Well this is my explanation.
Now for the ki battle itself. Right away roll for damage. The higher damage fireball has the lower fireball's damage subtracted from it. For example: Neo Cell's "fusion bomb attack" does 500 damage, and Kaku's "Infinite Lightning Attack" does 400 damage. So Neo Cell's fireball is brought down to 100 damage. Now Kaku has a chance to rectify the situation. He can spend one point of ki to add 2 damage to his fireball. So he can spend 50 to cancel out Neo Cell's fireball. But then Neo Cell gets the same chance. Basically this goes on until someone runs out of Ki and gets the smack down on their ass.
Multi Attacks
Attacks such as multi punch have damage calculated differently. As opposed to adding the character's HTH damage bonus to each punch, it is only added once to the total multi punch attack. For example: Kathan uses his multi punch attack. He rolls 1d6 and rolls a 3. Three punches are thrown. So he rolls 3d6 for damage and then adds the HTH damage bonus. Note that he does not roll 1d6+HTH damage bonus for each different punch. The same goes for multi kick and multi fireball.
Other Attacks
These attacks are unconventional and will be treated as such. More will come soon.
Throw: Throwing is used to hurl your opponent into something very large and very hard. Roll the same as a normal HTH attack. If successful the character has grabs his opponent and can now throw them. No matter what they run into the damage will be the same, unless of course it is a wall of spikes or something. Damage is calculated by dividing the attacker's STR by two and no HTH damage bonuses are added. There are several different types of throws: spin and let fly, over the shoulder flip etc. All of them will do the same amount of damage. The only downside of this attack is that it counts as two actions and is only usable once per round.
Body Slam: This move is rarely used, but it is effective. Make the normal roll to attack. To calculate damage divide STR+DEX by three. The body slam can take the form of a power bomb, basic scoop slam etc. There is a conversion on the body slam. If the characters are in the air, the attacker can try a ramming body slam. This attack is -4 to strike, but the damage is STR+DEX by three plus the character's SPD. Either type of body slam counts at two attacks and is only usable once per round.
Is there anything else I need to add, if soemail me