The Star of Byzantium
The largest die being rolled determines the number of phases and the length of the round. In the example above, the d12 for the Alteration spell means the entire round would last 12 phases, even if the sorcerer ended up rolling a 1 on this die. This means that the character using a dagger (d4 initiative roll) can roll and act three times during the same period, the character doing other actions (d6) can act twice, and the character using the sword (d8) will act twice if his/her second roll is a 4 or less.[Top]
It takes three average-length rounds (or six actions of d6 initiative value) to reload a crossbow, six rounds (or twelve "d6" actions) to reload a pistol or musket, and twenty rounds (or forty "d6" actions) to reload a rifle. The time to knock a new arrow is included in the initiative value of bows.[Top]
Add your character's Attack value to the difficulty, which is usually the opponent's defence score (see below).[Top]For example: Snack uses her bow to attack, so she adds -8 to her opponent's defence, say in this case a 45 for a total of (45 + -8 =) 37, so she's hoping to roll 38 or better.
If your character is frenzied, or desperate, or for whatever reason becomes oblivious to self-preservation and wants to make an all-out attack, you can subtract your weapon adjust (not attack value) from both his/her attack and defence value. This will make you at the same time more likely to hit and to be hit.[Top]For example: Black Jack Thuuri goes berserk into a full attack with his belaying pin. His level with this weapon is 5, so the related adjust is 15 (see table on p. 15 of the rulebook); he subtracts this from his attack score which is normally 11, for a total attack value of -4. (Remember, the lower your attack value, the lower your target number on the dice.) However, he also subtracts 15 from his defence score, making him that much easier to hit.
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- When in melee combat, a character usually parries (defends) using the defence score of his chosen weapon or unarmed combat skill.
- When attacked by a missile weapon at a distance, or if he has no applicable weapon or unarmed combat skill, he uses his Unarmed Defence score (ducking or dodging.)
- When surprised or unable to duck or dodge, he uses his Base Defence score.
- Against a spell, the character uses his Magic Defence score.
- Under appropriate circumstances (see skill description in the book), a character can uses her Acrobatics defence value as her defence score.
If your character is putting all her energy into not getting hit this round, she can add her skill level adjust value (see table on p. 15 of the rulebook) to her defence score.[Top]For example: Thuuri is now dodging for dear life using his Acrobatics score and not attacking at all during the current round. Since his skill level is 3, he gets to add his skill adjust (6) to his defence score of 52, for a total of 58. His knife-throwing opponent now needs to roll 59 or better to hit him. If Thuuri was trying to parry blows using his belaying pin in this full defence, he would add a skill add of 15 (level 5) to his Parry of 61 for a total of 76!
If a character hits with a normal success, roll the damage die associated with his weapon to determine how much damage he does.[Top]For example: Using her small sword with a strength of 25, Captain Bollen rolls a d10 for damage and obtains a 6, so her opponents loses 6 hit points.
A weapon's Stunning value is used instead of its damage value when the character hitting declares that she is trying to render the opponent unconscious rather than wound him.[Top]
Special attacks include positioning, tackling, disarming, knocking your opponent down, pinning or immobilizing him, targetting a specific location, etc. When you declare that you do such a special attack and you get a normal success, you do no damage but obtain the sought effect. If you get a double success (+20) you obtain the effect and do normal damage (instead of double damage as for an ordinary attack). If you get a triple success (+20) you obtain the effect and do double damage (instead of triple damage as for an ordinary attack).[Top]The effect of these special attacks is generally to give an advantage to the character using them. For example, an opponent with the sun in his eyes might suffer a 5 or 10 points penalty on his attack and defence. A disarmed opponent is reduced to his Unarmed Combat or Unarmed Defence score.
Hitting multiple opponents is also a special attack. With a double effect roll you can do single damage to two opponents; with a triple effect roll you can do single damage to three opponents or single damage to one and double to the other.
This is an experiment. Marce's character Shadow does Elemental Magic, which is specifically listed as too slow to be used in melee combat. However, that will make her awfully vulnerable, especially since she kindly refrained from making her character a combat character in other ways. Therefore, I would like to try giving her a better initiative. If it turns out to be too powerful still, or makes her useless in combat, I'll apologize and readjust.[Top]One thing I'm considering doing is letting the sorcerer cast faster for less damage. Thus, for his standard d300 damage, Shadow would roll a d100 for initiative. If he chose to do d100 damage he could use a d30 for initiative; if he dropped his damage to d30 then he could use a d12 for initiative. That would still make him extremely lethal in combat compared to characters using mundane weapons, but since this blast doesn't come with a defensive skill, he would still be very vulnerable to even mediocre attacks himself.
In addition, with appropriate spells such as Earth, Water or Air, the caster can decide to do Stunning damage instead of causing wounds.
I am hereby dropping the official rules regarding double and triple effects on successful attacks (crippling wound or lethal wound). The damage is simply doubled or tripled (roll double or triple the number of damage dice listed for the weapon.) My excuse is that I want a cinematic game where characters won't be maimed or constantly bedridden.[Top]
I will only use the hit location table when it is interesting and cinematic, such as in dramatic duels. Otherwise, just mark off hit points.[Top]
A character using a bow, crossbow, or firearm can aim to improve his chance of hitting. For each d6 action spent aiming, up to a maximum of three actions, the character can subtract an additional -5 from his difficulty. This bonus is lost if the target moves out of sight, the shooter is jostled or hit, etc.[Top]
I will be using a modified version of Gilles Bussières's racial bonus system, which is available on the Furry Pirates Web site. Each species group gets a narrow skill specialty for which they get a natural talent.[Top]
Racial Advantages ~ Species ~ ~ Advantage ~ Avians Flight (Athletics) OR Eyesight (Tracking) [pick one]: -10 Attack Canines Smell (Tracking): -10 Attack Chiroptera Flight (Athletics): -10 Attack Felines Breakfall (Acrobat): -10 Attack Lapines Evasion (Acrobat): +10 Defence Marsupials Jumping (Athletics): -10 Attack Mustelidae Swimming (Athletics) OR Climbing (Athletics) [pick one]: -10 Attack Prosimians Swinging (Acrobat): -10 Attack Reptiles Hide (Ambush): +10 Defence Rodents Hearing (Tracking): -10 Attack Ungulates Running (Athletics) OR Lifting (Athletics) [pick one]: -10 Attack Ursoids Climbing (Athletics) OR Lifting (Athletics) [pick one]: -10 Attack
I'm having conceptual difficulties with rolls that are based directly on a character's attributes (strength, reason, etc.) For example, what does one roll for perception? Right now, I'm treating the case as a 0-point skill, i.e., for attack your score is (50 - Attribute), and for defence it is (10 + Attribute). However, this is another case where I may make adjustments later.[Top]
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Credits: This site copyright Sophie Lagacé, 2002-2003. Furry Pirates written by Lisa Breakey and Bruce Thomas, copyright 1999 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games.