After the First Strike all weapons do 1 point of damage on
each following hit. Hits must be solid. Knicks don't count. Also it it
quite possible to catch someone's garments with what feels like a good hit but not
actually have the blow connect with your opponents body. These don't count either.
As a rule of thumb the one being hit
determines whether or not a blow was countable or not. In cases where someone is
repeatedly naysaying what you are sure are good hits, talk to them first. If no
resolution is easily forthcoming, finish the combat and talk to an AM. Don't hash it
out in the field. It rarely works out to anyone's satisfaction that way.
Head Shots
There are two spots that even solid hits to never count. The head and face is
one. The other is groin shots. If someone gets nailed in either of those
spots, halt combat and if needed give the person a moment recover. Purposely leading
with your head is not an acceptable strategy. The shots won't count but eventually
someone will tag you hard enough teach you that lesson.
If someone hits you in the head or groin accidentally, do not blow a gasket. If they
do so again and again warn them. If they hit one more time in the head or groin,
they loose the fight. Doesn't matter if they have 50 hitpoints left and last shot would
have killed their last remaining foe. Granted their may be times when you have to temper
this rule, say in a fog filled room or pitch dark night or if the monster's attire
included a full mask or helm and they really cannot see well. Let fighter know if
they are decapitating everyone and deal with it. If you can't see pay attention to
how high you're swinging.
Keeping Track
It is a fighters responsibility to:
1) Call to "HIT" each time they are struck. Do
not call the hits you
make, just those you receive.
2) Keep track of their remaining hit points. This is tough
when you
are concentration on battle, but
stopping to recalculate every few
minutes kills the flow of
battle.
When you call hit it is a good idea to call out your remain Hit points.
Breaks
Many combats have pauses. Mostly to catch ones breath. There is no rule that
states if you and your opponent pause that you have to be chivalrous and warn him that you
are attacking once more. Play it by ear. If you are playing a Myrmidon then,
yes you should ask "Ready" For a Cutthroat, its totally optional.
If someone offers you a breather then pounds you it is perfectly legal.
Pummeling
Usually combat is broken up into a series of exchanges. Often you will get a good
body blow and then cut low into a leg. This is fine. What is not allow is what
we call Pummeling. Once you have made your attack or combo then you should break and
begin again. By this I mean step back. You are not allowed to get right up to
someone and flail away. The maximum hits without breaking under normal circumstances
is three hits. The third hit though had better be something well done. Many
combats you have a one-two combo but there have been many times where people have had
their foe off balance enough that to land one more good one. Three fast
Whack-Whack-Whacks is not the same thing.
The way to distinguish between Pummeling and Combos is where your hits land. In
order for hits to count they must strike different parts of the body from the hit before
it. Break the body up into six sections; Right Leg, Right Torso, Right Arm, Left
Leg, Left Torso, & Left Arm. If you happen to get along side an opponent then if
would be Front Legs, Front Torso, Arms, Back Legs & Back Torso.
Even a two hit combo does not count if you strike the same body location twice. If
you hit someone then break and then hit them again in the same spot that is a different
story. Those count.
The exception to the rule is if someone
slips and falls prone. While they are laying there or rolling to their feet, feel
free to carve them up.
Overbearing
Sometime you have a case where you wish to use you body rather than your weapon. A
good example might be a horde of lowly goblins against a high level fighter. With
the right spells and weapon the fighter maybe be able to wipe out a large mob. So
rather than be skewered one by one, the monsters may rush the man and bear him down.
This is perfectly legit. There are a couple of conditions though.
1) No punching. Grabbing, holding, tackling even are fine. No
blows.
2) Watch the terrain. If the ground is rocky or littered with sharp
branches or stumps, overbearing must be done
carefully. This
means words grab but don't pull opponent
down. Tell the one you're
subduing "You're overborne but its
too rocky so stop fighting"
* As a note, we really should
be trying not to fight in these areas
in the first place.
Conduct
How to act in combat
Expulsion
Deliberate illegal hits or using illegal weapons are not to be tolerated. Punching,
full force head shots, even hitting an accepted body part as hard as you can are all not
acceptable.
You are allowed to swing hard, as a
matter of fact tippy-tappy attacks are more likely to be ignored than counted. How
hard you swing should be moderated though. Each set of combatants should determine
how rough combat is. Some people (like me) would rather have heavy swings and so (in
my mind) have a more realistic battle. There are others who really don't want to get
pummeled black and blue. The first rule is try and learn who likes what style of
melee. The circle is small enough to know try and remember who you can and cannot
pound.
If you are fighting someone and they
are hurting you, say so. Simply say "Too Hard". The rule here
is the same as the head shot rule. 3 strikes and you're dead. Doesn't matter
if you were winning or not.
Now there is a caveat here. We debated the featherweight, little untralight weapons
and they were voted down. So you must realize that the weapons are going to hurt
some. The three strikes are not going to apply if you call every hit too hard.
Another thing to keep in mind is don't
attack harder than you want to be hit. If you come in smashing away expect your
opponent to respond in kind.
If fight after fight the group
receives complaints every time about your fighting then you may get banned from combat.
This has never come about and hopefully it never will.
The other illegal is weapons. Any
weapon that is too hard, too heavy or both is not allowed in combat. If that is the
only weapon you have then find someone to make you a new one. It is your
responsibility to fix it. Who determines if a weapon is illegal? The AM or me.
Currently we have a two known illegal weapons that need to be retired (that is not
counting the ones that are just old). They are SkullCrusher and Eric's Axe.
FallenStar