SkyRealms of Jorune

Introduction
Some people feel that the Jorune combat system, although detailed and realistic, is too cumbersome and slow. This is an attempt to speed things up without having to use different character statistics or skills. It is based on three rolls per round (hit, location, damage), and has many optional rules so that sholaris can select their own degree of detail. Some of the weapons come off slightly differently in this system: this reflects my personal prejudices (mostly from using the weapons in re-enactment fighting) and can easily be changed by those who disagree. The tables for the various Jorune creatures are not yet available, but if people think the system is something they would want to use, I will endeavour to provide them. All feedback is very welcome, at dpc_dsh[at]globalnet.co.uk. I'm particularly interested in how using this system gives different results from the usual one, so that I can get it as close as possible.

1.    All combatants roll 1d10

2.    Calculate ATT and DEF for each combatant

DEF= roll plus: skill, shield bonus, weapon DEF bonus, STR and AGL bonuses
 minus: injury modifiers, position modifiers, surprise

ATT= roll plus: skill, weapon ATT bonus, STR and AGL bonuses
 minus: injury modifiers, position modifiers, surprise

In practice, a player should have already worked out their plusses to ATT and DEF rolls for their weapon, and recorded them on the character sheet. The minuses come about through the circumstances of the fight.

Weapon modifiers
                DEF       ATT     Damage    Min STR   Reach
Disarm          +2        -4      none                0
Fist            +0        +0      -2                  0
Kick            -1        -1      -1                  1
Knife           +1        +1      +0                  0
Thikes          +1        +1      +1                  0
Club            +2        +1      +0                  1
Mace            +1        +1      +2         10       1
Staff (2H)      +3        +1      +1                  1
Hand axe        +2        +1      +2                  1
Sword           +2        +2      +2                  1
Axe (2H)        +1        +0      +3         11       1
Big sword (2H)  +2        +0      +3         10       1
Big axe (2H)    -1        -1      +4         13       1
Short spear     +0        +1      +0                  1
Long spear (2H) +0        +2      +2                  2
Chain weapons   -1        +2      +2                  1
Pole arms (2H)  -1        +0      +3         11       2

Shield modifiers
Small buckler   +1        +0
Medium          +3        -1
Large           +4        -2

STR and AGL modifiers
STR 16-20       +1        +1
AGL 16-20       +1        +1
STR 1-5         -1        -1
AGL 1-5         -1        -1

Position modifiers
Outnumbered     -2 for each extra opponent
Can't back up   -3
On the ground   -5        -5
Opponent behind -6        -6
Opponent behind
with surprise  -10        -10
Surprised      -1 to -4   -1 to -4 (sholari's choice)

Wound modifiers
Superficial     -1        -1 (for one round only)
Minor           -3        -3
Major           -5        -5
All wound modifiers are cumulative

Creatures have fixed ATT and DEF numbers that take account of skill and 'weapon' bonuses. To these they add their roll and subtract modifiers for position, injury and surprise.

3. If your ATT is bigger than your opponents DEF, you hit them, and vice versa
This may sometimes mean simultaneous hits, or even no hits at all, but usually one person hits the other.

4. Did anyone roll a 10 or a 1?
If so, they roll again, to see whether they repeat that result. If not, all results are as before.

If you roll two 10s, and the initial result (from the first 10) was a miss, you have now hit. If the initial result was a hit, you have an exceptional hit. Add 5 when rolling for damage.

If you roll two 1s, and the initial result (from the first 1) was a hit, you have now missed. If the initial result was a miss, you have lost your balance and fallen. Subtract 5 from ATT and DEF next round.

5. Roll location for hits (1d20)

Human location chart
Fighting side on      Body location     Fighting face on
            1-3       Near leg          1-2
            4         Far leg           3-4
            5-10      Near arm          5-8
            11-12     Far arm           9-12
            13-18     Body              13-18
            19-20     Head              19-20

Fist, kick, thikes:
    fight face on, or let player choose a stance.
Sword, hand axe, club, mace, short spear, knife, chain weapons:
    if used with shield, then shield arm near; if no shield then weapon arm near or face on (player's choice of fighting stance)
Axe (2H), staff (2H), big sword (2H), big axe (2H):
    face on or 'non-weapon' arm near (i.e. if right-handed, the left arm) (player's choice).
Long spear (2H), pole arm (2H):
    'non-weapon' arm near.

If a combatant is attacked from the side, that side automatically becomes the near side, regardless.

Other creatures have their own location charts. Small creatures, e.g. pibber, beagre, scragger, treat all locations as body.

6. Roll damage (1d10)

Add the damage bonus for the weapon (+5 extra for exceptional attack) and bonuses for STR and racial size, subtract armour modifiers for the location.

STR 16-20, damage +1; STR 1-5, damage -1.
Size modifiers to damage: muadra -1, boccord +1, bronth +2.

Armour type     Modifier
Thin leather      -1
Leather armour    -3
Chainmail         -4
Grunder           -5
Steel plate       -6
Thailerian plate  -7

Damage Table
Roll        Wound
0 or less   No effect
1-3         Superficial wound. -1 ATT/DEF next round
             Bruising, abrasions, small cuts.
4-7         Minor wound. -3 ATT/DEF until healed
             Heavy bruising, spraining, bleeding
8-10        Major wound. -5 ATT/DEF until healed. Cannot use limb.
             Cracked bones, deep cuts.
11-13       Critical wound. Cannot fight until healed. Life in danger.
             Bad fracture, arterial bleeding, organ damage.
14+         Death wound. Only a miracle could save your life.
             Severed limb or lethal damage to body/head.

Creatures have their own modifier to damage which takes account of both their size and their armouring. This is sometimes different for different locations.

a. Minimum strength
A few weapons need strength to use effectively. See the weapon modifiers table. For every STR point below the minimum needed, subtract one from ATT and DEF.

b. Weapon reach
See the weapon modifiers table. If fighting against a longer weapon, you cannot hit them until you have closed with them. To close to your weapon range, you must make one successful attack and not be hit yourself: this does not count as a hit, but allows you to close to your range, even if closing from 2 to 0. If fighting at too close a range for your weapon, you get -5 DEF and -3 ATT but you can hit. To return to your range, you must voluntarily take a successful attack as a withdrawal to your range rather than a hit to the opponent, and not be hit, just as for closing. Creature attacks all have their own reach: typically bites are reach 0, claws reach 1.

Exception: if you are using a weapon of reach 2 (i.e. spear, pole-arm) and your opponent closes to range 0 (fist, knife) then you cannot attack them with the spear. You get -10 DEF, no ATT, and cannot withdraw to spear range unless they voluntarily pull back to range 1. The only fighting options are to let go of the spear, with one hand at least, and attack with fist or knife (range 0), or to keep hold and try to kick the opponent (range 1). Note that it is quite legitimate for an opponent with a reach 1 weapon, e.g. a sword, to close to range 0 against a spear: it hampers their sword use, but makes the spear useless. For this reason, many spear-users carry a knife as back-up.

c. Heavy hitting
A combatant can take a voluntary penalty to the ATT/DEF roll of -1 to -5, and if they still hit, they get to add +1 to +5 accordingly to the damage roll. This must be announced before making the ATT/DEF roll.

d. Aiming for a location
After hitting, and before rolling for location, a combatant may choose to aim for a particular location or combination of locations. They then roll on the same location chart, but get several tries to roll that result. If an exceptional hit has been rolled, double the number of tries. If the location is rolled on any of these tries, it is hit. If not, the blow misses altogether. You get 2 rolls if Familiar with the weapon, 3 if Experienced and 4 if Seasoned

For example, if a skill rank 8 (Familiar) combatant hits and decides to go for the head and body, they have two tries at rolling 13-20. If your skill is 5 or less (Unfamiliar), you are just not good enough to make this a useful option.

e. Pulled blows
To avoid the legal consequences of killing, a combatant may take any desired negative modifier to the damage roll before rolling it.

f. Disarming attack
The disarm attack can only be used at reach 0 by a combatant who has both hands free (unarmed). You attempt to take the opponent's weapon away from them: this is more a matter of technique than strength. The Disarm skill is separate from all other combat skills, but starts at 5 for Unfamiliar, etc. in the same way. Successful defence indicates that you have prevented the opponent from hitting you. A successful attack means that you now have possession of the opponent's weapon (at range 0) and can attack with it next round. Note the large difference between ATT and DEF bonuses for this attack.

g. Dropped weapon
A combatant who takes a minor or worse wound to the weapon arm, and who is using a one-handed weapon, will drop the weapon. If they spend the next round recovering it, they will be at -5 ATT and DEF.

h. Hurting yourself
For attacks with Fist or Kick, treat negative results on the Damage Table as positive damage to the attacker. For example, Street Thug hits Fat Merchant in the belly with his fist. Unfortunately for Street Thug, Fat Merchant is wearing steel plate armour under his XXL tunic. Street Thug rolls a 1 on damage, -6 for the steel plate, is -5. So Thug gets a minor wound (small bone broken, heavy bruising) to the arm (pick L/R at random). Armour on the striking location counts against this, so if Thug is wearing a heavy leather gauntlet (armour -3), the damage would be reduced to a 2, giving only a superficial wound (bruising and grazing, but nothing that will last). This has the slightly odd effect that if you get +1 for damage through superior STR, you are less likely to damage yourself hitting armour. Too ridiculous? It's up to you.

i. Chinks in the armour
A combatant rolling a natural 10 on the damage roll may choose to roll again, this time disregarding the opponent's armour factor for the location. This option is really only useful against heavily armoured opponents, and represents finding a gap or a weak spot in the armour.

j. Playing for time
A combatant who wishes to concentrate on defence may give up their attack for that round and get double their weapon DEF modifier in return. This option is no use with weapons with 0 or negative DEF modifiers: such weapons (spears, huge axes) are too inherently aggressive to be used in this way.