Skirmish Combat
Basics
Skirmish Combat is the system used to describe combat between individuals or small groups. This is done by going in Turn Order based on Initiative.
Time in Skirmish Combat is measured mainly in Rounds, which are each made up of 4 Action Phases.
Each character takes their Turn inside of an Action Phase. On your Turn, you perform Movement and may begin preparing an Action of your choice or may execute that Action if you have acquired the required number of Action Points.
Skirmish Combat is intended to be played on a square grid, with each square representing 1 Meter.
Turn Order
When Skirmish Combat begins, the first thing that must be done is to determine Turn Order. In most cases, this is done by arranging all active participants by order of their Initiative, with highest Reaction going first and lowest going last. If 2 Creatures have equal Reaction in the turn order, when that occurs have them roll off with a d10 until one of them rolls higher. The Creature that rolled higher goes first.
An exception to the standard method of Turn Order determination are the Hastened and Slowed Conditions. A Hastened Creature acts before all Non-Hastened Creatures, regardless of their Reaction, and a Slowed Creature acts after all Non-Slowed Creatures, regardless of their Reaction. If a Creature has more than 1 source of any of these Conditions, they stack together to determine Turn Order.
As an example, a Creature that is both Hastened and Slowed is treated as being neither, and a Creature that is Slowed from 2 different sources will act after all other Slowed Creatures.
Rounds and Action Phases
Skirmish Combat is split into 2 main units of temporal measurement, Rounds and Action Phases.
Each Round, which is used to represent 6 seconds of actual time, is made up of 4 Action Phases, each of which represents 1.5 seconds of time.
Each Creature involved in Skirmish Combat takes a Turn in each Action Phase, during which they perform Movement and may prepare or take an Action.
Movement
Movement within an Action Phase is done by splitting your Movement Attribute over the course of a Round, such that in any one Action Phase, you move 1/4 of your Movement.
If your Movement is a number that does not easily divide by 4, any left over movement is added to your Action Phase Movement starting with the last Action Phase of the Round.
As an example, a Creature with 12 Movement would move 3 in each Action Phase , or 3/3/3/3 a Creature with 13 Movement would move 3/3/3/4 and a Creature with 14 would move 3/3/4/4.
Actions and Reactions
In Lifeforce, Skirmish Combat revolves around the concept that Actions are prepared and take time to execute such that other Creatures in the combat can see and attempt to react to them. This is done by all Actions having an Activation Time or Casting Time. This time is the number of Action Phases you must spend in preparation for the action.
As an example, many Actions have an Activation Time of 2 AP, or 2 Action Phases. This means that you spend the first Action Phase preparing the Action, and then perform the Action in the 2nd.
You may choose to stop preparing an Action and prepare a different one instead. When you do so, you lose all accumulated preparation for the Action you stop preparing.
In addition to common Actions which take preparation time, there are also actions which take a Reaction. Each creature has 1 Reaction which they may take each Round. Most creatures cannot use their Reaction without special training or equipment which allows them to use it in some way.
When any Creature in a Skirmish Combat begins preparing an Action, the Action that is being prepared must be declared to all players, whether that Creature is a PC or NPC.
The table below contains some commonly taken actions that may be taken by any individual:
Action
Activation Time
Description
Weapon Attack
2 AP
Make an attack roll with a weapon against the Touch Defence of an opponent.
Run
1 AP
Double your Movement for this Action Phase
Shield Block
2 AP or Reaction
When struck in combat while carrying a shield, the character may use their reaction to roll the damage of the shield and then subtract that amount from any incoming damage from the initial strike.
Attack of Opportunity
2 AP or Reaction
When an enemy moves while already within your Reach or when an enemy makes a Ranged Attack while within your Reach. You may use this Reaction to make a Melee Attack against that enemy.
Charge
2 AP
When you begin preparing this action, choose a direction to make your charge in. When you spend an AP preparing this action, you may move up to your Action Phase Movement for that turn, to a minimum of 1M. While charging you cannot move except in a straight line in the direction of the charge.
After you have fully prepared this action, make an attack roll with a Melee weapon against the Touch Defence of an opponent. This Attack roll has a +10 bonus to Offence and a +2 bonus to damage.
As an alternative to making an Attack Roll at the end of your charge, you may instead initiate a Strike technique that causes you to make a melee attack. If you do so, you must declare your intent to initiate the technique when you begin the charge.
Attacking and Defending
Lifeforce uses 4 main Defences.
The 4 kinds of Defence are Touch, Reflex, Fortitude and Will. They are calculated by adding 50 to your Dodge, Reflex, Fortitude, and Will Skills respectively.
There are Ancestry, Culture, and General Talents or Flaws that may increase or decrease these Defences.
When an attack is made against you, it must exceed the value of your Defence to succeed. Ties go to the defender.
In addition, sometimes a Character may be called on to make a Reflex, Fortitude or Will saving throw. in such an instance, you do so by rolling your Reflex, Fortitude or Will Skill.
When a character is attacked during a Surprise Round, or is unaware of an attack before it is made against them, they are Flat-Footed against that attack. This causes them to lose their bonuses to their Touch and Reflex Defence that are gained from Skills.
Many creatures will possess Armor.
Armor reduces all incoming Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage by an amount equal to its value.
Many attacks which use those damage types will have an associated Armor Penetration value, which causes that attack to ignore an amount of the Armor equal to the Armor Penetration value.
Whenever a creature attacks with a melee weapon attack, they add their Strength Benefit to the damage that attack deals. If that weapon attack is made using a weapon wielded in 2 hands, the Strength benefit is multiplied by 1.5x and truncated before being added to the damage of that attacks.
Combat Stunts
Whenever a creature makes an attack roll during combat, for every additional 15 by which they succeed they generate 1 stunt point.
Stunt Points can be spent on relevant Stunts. A creature can only generate Stunt Points once per action phase, and any Stunt Points they generate must be spent immediately or they will be lost.
A Creature that makes an attack that could generate Stunt Points can choose to not generate Stunt Points with that attack.
Weapon Stunts
Stunt Point Cost
Name
Description
1
Rapid Reload
You may ignore the Loading quality on a single weapon for this turn
Skirmish
You may move yourself or the target of your attack 5 feet in any direction as long as their movement would allow them to reach that location. This stunt may be activated any number of times per attack. You may not move the target into a hazardous environment with this stunt.
Defensive Stance
You gain +10 to your Defence until your next turn
Disarm
You force your target to make an attack roll with an object they are holding. if the result is less then your attack roll with this attack they drop the object at their feet
Minor Critical
Multiply the damage you deal by 1.5x This does not stack with Major Critical
2
Threaten
Make a Intimidate Initiator Level check against the target’s Will Defence. if you succeed, your target must attack you in some way over the next 2 action phases if able. if not able they must spend their actions trying to get into position to attack you.
3
Knock Prone
Make a Weapon Skill Initiator Level check against the target’s Reflex Defence. if you succeed, your target is knocked prone
4
Dual Strike
Choose another target within 5 feet of your target within your Reach or Range, you may make an attack roll on that target which cannot generate Stunt Points
Major Critical
Multiply the damage you deal by 2x This does not stack with Minor Critical
5
Seize the Initiative
You gain Hasted for the next round.
Spell Stunts
Stunt Point Cost
Name
Description
1
Skirmish
You may move yourself or the target of your attack 5 feet in any direction as long as their movement would allow them to reach that location. This stunt may be activated any number of times per attack. You may not move the target into a hazardous environment with this stunt.
Defensive Stance
You gain +10 to your Defence until your next turn
You force your target to make an attack roll with an object they are holding. if the result is less then your attack roll with this attack they drop the object at their feet
Disarm
2
Multiply the damage you deal by 1.5x This does not stack with Major Critical
Minor Critical
4
Major Critical
Multiply the damage you deal by 2x This does not stack with Minor Critical
5
Seize the Initiative
You gain Hasted for the next round.
Grappling
Engaging a Grapple
In order to engage someone in a grapple, you must be directly adjacent to them. While directly adjacent to them, you may take a 1 AP action in order to attempt to engage them in a grapple. In order to do this, you must beat them in a contested Athletics check known as a Grappling check. For this use, Athletics is considered a combat skill, and you add any generalized bonuses you receive to Offence to this check.
If you succeed, this puts both creatures into the state of Grappling, granting the associated condition. If you initiated the grapple you become the dominant grappler
Engaging a Grapple
During an action phase in which you are in a grapple, both participants must decide at the start of the action phase whether or not they wish to actively contest the grapple.
A creature that actively contests a grapple can take no other actions in that action phase. If neither creature actively contests the grapple ends and both creatures lose the grappling condition.
When the resolution of the action phase reaches the turn of the dominant grappler, both participants of the grapple make a Grappling check.
If one of the participants decided to not contest the grapple they gain disadvantage on this check.
The participant who succeeds at this check becomes the dominant grappler. If they were already the dominant grappler, they progress the grapple track
The grapple track is a simple term to represent the current state of the grapple. It begins in the neutral state of Grappling.
When the dominant grappler first succeeds at a grapple check, it progresses to the Held stage, causing the non-dominant grappler to be unable to begin physical actions that are not contesting the grapple.
If the dominant grappler succeeds at a check while at Held, the grapple progresses to the Pinned stage, causing the non dominant grappler to become Prone, and granting the dominant grappler advantage on grappling checks.
If the non dominant grappler succeeds at a grappling check, the grappling track does not reset, it instead simply switches the states, so if the grappling check is at Held, it remains at Held, with the only difference being who is the dominant grappler. The same is true for Pinned.
If after the grappling check you are the dominant grappler, you may choose to immediately end the grapple.