Combat in Words of Power uses a special grid layout (which can easily be drawn on paper). We'll cover the grid, movement, attacking, and then how to die.

Battle Board

The battle board should only be used when combat cannot be quickly and easily resolved in narrative alone. In all cases, actions should still proceed as a narrative and not a purely mechanical process. Clearing the board is never the goal. The goal is to progress the narrative to a point that you no longer need the board. Whether that's an escape, a checkmate position, or a surrender, try to keep focus on the actual story.

Each space on the board describes only its relative position to the others. There is no concept of absolute range, only what is and is not within your range. Conceptually, each ring represents a "range" that is considered to be connected. Use the same layout for fights that span a single doorway or a whole town. Use narrative to determine who is close enough to A1, the central point of this conflict, to be in the fight.

The party should establish their preferred marching order on the board ahead of time. This will help the Storyteller, should the party be suddenly under attack. It will also serve as a visual reminder for things the party wants to be clear. Such as :

• a ranger wants to stalk nearby the party, providing overwatch from D7
• the healer should be nestled in A1 between our fighters in B1 and B2 so that they are guaranteed safe from harm

You may use any of the spaces on the battle board to establish the formation that you want. However, large spaces between the party may result in a need to join combat a round or two late. Also remember that you may be attacked from any angle, relative to your position. This means that a character marching in D5 is not guaranteed to be in D5 when combat starts, just that they're relatively behind whoever is in C3. Make sure to specify, narratively, what the formation is to the Storyteller. (ie : "I'll be about x meters away in D7, trying to stay hidden, and scouting for threats.")

Your formation is used when the party is attacked or to describe how you're moving through an area, but it won't be used when you're the ones doing the attacking. Instead, the enemy will begin on the board and you'll have to choose entry points on the outer ring. If both parties are equally aware, or there's some other thing they're fighting over in A1, the Storyteller will decide where which members of each team begin the fight on the board. Just try to remember that it's a narrative tool and not a law.

Initiative

Once the battle board has become necessary, you must determine who is aware of whom. If only some characters are aware of the enemies, they may take a full round of actions before starting combat. Each team will then roll 1d6. The higher number goes first. Once the whole team has acted, the other team will go. The Storyteller may use context to determine who will roll for the party. Teams may choose their individual turn order during their first round of combat. Continue to use that same turn order for the remainder.

Turns

In one turn, you can generally do two actions. You can only attack once. A spell's unarmed attack counts as your attack. Movement limitations are described below.

Beyond that, it's pretty open. You can use an item, retrieve an item, draw a weapon, defend, or anything else that's one motion. Stopping an action (dropping a weapon) does not cost an action.

Note : All characters on the battle board are assumed to begin combat with their primary weapon drawn. You can't wait until your turn to determine which weapon you start combat with drawn. If there's some reason you'd like to start with a different weapon out, tell your Storyteller before the first turn is taken. Characters may start with weapons sheathed, if the specific context demands it. This assumption is for brevity and the Storyteller will make the final call.

Movement

It takes half of a turn to move one space on the same ring that you're on. Thus, you can move two spaces on the same ring, if you do not also take another action. It takes a full turn to move to a new ring. The Storyteller may choose to fill some spaces with hazards. You may move through friendly units but not hostiles. Corpses do not block spaces.

Interruption

Units may begin a 2-part action (moving between rings or special cases) with only 1 action remaining on their turn. The action will not complete until the first action of their next turn. If that unit takes HP damage before then, they must make a 1d6 roll to resist being interrupted. Maims will always interrupt. If the action cannot be completed for any reason (including interruption), it is cancelled without cost. Enemy units are able to understand the intention and may actively move to block.

Attacking

Rapier 1d6 / 1d6
Crossbow 1d6 / 1d4

Each weapon in Words of Power lists a hit die and a damage die. Melee weapons can attack any adjacent space, even on other rings. Ranged attacks cannot be made into adjacent spaces on the same ring.

To perform an attack, roll the hit die first. This will determine which hitzone an attack strikes. Critical hits do not do additional damage but allow the attacker to choose a hitzone. Larger creatures or those with special zones may utilize the numbers above 4. For example, a Lich with a magic amulet might have hitzone 5 be the amulet. An octopus boss might have 9 hitzones, with 1 being the head and 2-9 being individual legs.

Hitzones:

Upon a successful hit, the damage die is rolled to determine how hard the attack hits. This damage is first applied to any armor in that hitzone. If an attack deals more damage than armor is left, the extra damage is lost. When armor reaches 0, the item in that zone is considered broken and unusable. If an attack hits a zone with 0 armor, it deals damage to the HP of the hitzone it covered. When a hitzone reaches 0 HP, it is considered maimed and becomes unusable (excess damage on the maiming hit is again discarded). If an attack hits an already maimed zone, damage is diverted to Head HP.

Storytellers are encouraged to treat maimed enemies as dead, for the sake of brevity. They are specifically instructed not to do "no corpse, no kill" memes. Once the Storyteller declares them as down, you can rest easy that they'll stay down. If a character is maimed but not dead (boss, special hitzone, enemy Fate Weaver, important NPC, or player specifically requests to not kill), the Storyteller should clearly state this. Nobody wants to spend an hour whittling down the full armor and HP of every trash mob in the game.

Players may keep fighting and acting as long as they have Head HP remaining.

Note : The goal of this system is to have each hit advance the narrative. Attacks that strike armor should feel ineffective. Swings that destroy armor should feel powerful. Maiming a boss should feel like you've legitimately struck a mortal blow that stops them from performing some class of action (chopped off mainhand, dropped weapon, broken legs, can't escape). If you just run straight combat without a solid accompanying narrative, these rules will become tedious and provide little benefit. Seek another system.

Ranged Attacks

Ranged weapons cannot attack adjacently on the same ring. The path from attacker to target must not be blocked by units (including allies) or terrain. The path does not need to be straight. The hit die will increase based on the range of the shot. When calculating range, changing rings costs 2 and spaces cost 1. Round up to the nearest even number.

(Range - 2) / 2 = Number of hit die increases

1d4 > 1d6 > 1d8 > 1d10 > 1d12 > 1d20

Example : Pink is unable to shoot either White or Black because they are adjacent on the same ring. She may shoot Orange, Blue, Purple, or Red.
Example : Pink wants to attack Red. She's blocked by White and Black adjacently. Crossing rings costs 2 and moving within a ring costs 1. This shot has a total cost of 6.

Example : If Pink wanted to shoot Blue, she could do it. The path does not need to be straight. She would have to count the range going around Orange, which comes out to 8. So it would be a 1d12 hit die, but it is possible.

Special Cases

To defend, you must declare which hitzone you'll be defending with. If an attack comes in before your next turn, roll 1d6 to oppose the incoming attack roll. If the block roll is equal or higher than the attack roll, divert damage to whatever zone was used to defend. If the attack would have missed, you still take damage. You can block crits.

If dual wielding weapons, you may use a full round to roll two attack rolls instead of one. They must be rolled together. You take the higher result, including misses. Roll only one damage die unless both hit dice crit.

Flanking is when two or more allies are on opposite sides of an enemy space. Flankers may use a full round to roll two attack rolls instead of one, when attacking the flanked unit. Both hit dice must be rolled together. You may choose either result. Roll only one damage die.

Example : You are in C3. You would be flanked by C4/C2, B2/D6, B2/D5, B2/D4, but not by D6/C4 or D6/D4.

Unarmed attacks are 1d6 / 1d4 and can only damage unarmored or bound hitzones. Unarmed attacks deal HP damage to bound hitzones.

Grab attacks can be made only with an empty hand. Grabs do not deal damage, but can start a bind. Grabbing can only be used on opponents on the same ring as you. The grabber must immediately win an opposed roll to establish the bind. A bound enemy must win an opposed roll before they can either use that body part or move away. Whatever (probably body part) is doing the binding is also considered bound.

While a body part is bound, attackers do not need to roll an attack die to land a hit on it (they do for other hitzones). Successfully breaking a bind does not consume an action but failing does.

If a character is unaware of an incoming threat and making no attempt to avoid it (initial stealth attack, stunned, sleeping, bound), there is no need to roll a melee attack roll. Treat the first strike as an automatic crit. Choose a hitzone and just roll damage. Ranged attacks still work as normal. If this attack would initiate combat, take a surprise round after striking and before rolling initiative.

If a character is taking an ongoing action (fleeing, channeling, 2 turn move) and they take HP damage, they must roll higher on 1d6 than the HP damage to resist interruption. If damage maims, it automatically interrupts. Damage to armor does not interrupt, even if it breaks.

Resisting death or healing a maim in combat both require half of a turn.

Entering and Exiting Ongoing Combat

To flee, a unit must spend a full turn waiting on the outer ring at the point they will exit.

Players who were out of position or enemy reinforcements that wish to join the fight should spend at least 1 turn hovering outside the space they wish to enter from. A marker should be placed in the turn tracker to transparently note when reinforcements will actually join combat. Units should act the turn after they join, as it's assumed they spent 2 movement to cross into the outer range.

Narrative should be used to describe the distance and timing of these units approaching the fight. If a space is occupied, use a different but reasonably accessible one. If no empty spaces are available, new units can't join and the narrative needs to progress.

In many cases, you will not be allowed to flee if your legs are maimed. It will depend on the context and the means of your escape. Magic, carried by allies, sliding down a trash chute, or mounting a horse are all alternative ways you might escape with maimed legs.

Example : "Things have popped off in the doorway but you see 3 Orcs running down the hall behind the guard. It will take them 3 turns to get here." Storyteller should add a marker to the turn tracker that everyone can see. He should position the 3 Orcs outside the spaces they'll join in.

It's not cheating to have ambushes but don't go overboard.

Words in Combat

Players are able to use words in combat as usual. Without modifiers, attackers must land a 1d6 unarmed attack to impart spell effects.

Fate Weavers may counterspell as long as they have line of sight. They do not need to be engaged in the combat. Consider this carefully when choosing to cast.

Example : "I'll use [Become] and [Evade] to dodge the next thing that would hit me." "Your arcane words become muffled as they leave your lips and rather than evasive you feel you've become as heavy as lead."

This is what getting counterspelled by an unknown Fate Weaver might look like.

Example : "The monk begins chanting [Bind] [Person] and trying to land a touch attack!"

As the counterspeller, you have to announce that you're counterspelling and which word you'll use before the attack or effect plays out. You may counterspell as many or as few of the incoming words as you would like. If for some reason you're unable to identify the incoming spell, the Storyteller should still tell you how many words total were used. Magic items may be used to counterspell but are destroyed in the process.

Counterspelling is the expected method of resisting spell effects. Without a counterspell, spells just have their full effect without resistance. If you wish to resist a bind, dispel, paralyze, charm, or teleport - you have to counterspell it. Counterspells may be counterspelled. Only the last word on the stack has effect. All words in the stack are lost. If the final result doesn't make any coherent sense, the Storyteller may simply declare it dispelled.

As counterspelling is weaving ontop of weaving and the effects tend to be more volatile, this will draw the attention of nearby Fate Weavers.

Enhancing Combat Actions

Words that are directly relevant to combat, such as [Block] [Strike] [Slash] [Power] [Precision] [Hold], may be used individually to enhance basic combat actions. Applying a word consumes an additional action. In general, you should roll an extra die for the part of the action you're improving. [Block] would let you roll 2d6 instead of 1d6 and take the higher, when defending. [Strike] could be used on either the hit die or the damage die but not both. [Slash] would not apply to swinging a hammer.

Like all fate weaving, there is much storyteller discretion here and their rulings will stand.

Stances

You begin combat in a neutral stance. As part of a movement or by consuming a move action and staying still, you may change stances. You gain any words, armor modifier, and tags granted by the stance until you switch out of it or combat ends. Armor modifiers do not apply if a hitzone is unarmored. Words granted by stances may be used to enhance combat actions without consuming an additional action.

4. Resting and Healing