Ruins of Khazan - Combat Notation Thread

[Nik Hasta]

Okay, players in the Ruins of Khazan RPG, this is the combat notation thread.

As stated at multiple points prior, this thread is for combat notation and queries only. Any other OOC chat or commentary should be kept to the Sign-Up thread here.

This thread will be used for the administration of combat. I will post initiative orders, results of combat actions and other information. Players will post the fundamental mechanical moves they wish to make on their turn and can ask questions about their strategy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Currently Active Initiative Order
- Krys + Trevor
- Morgan
- Cracker
- Bones
- Calvin
- Jane
- Lanky
- Nemo
- The Bez
- Toxic Commander (Dead)
- Digger
- Tire Brick 1
- Tire Brick 2
- Kinu + Hellhound + Cassa


----------------------------------------------------------------------

For example, we have the current initial combat encounter wherein Ella has provoked some Demon Dogs.

Initiative Order
- Mysterious Robot
- Ella
- Big Demon Dog
- Demon Dog 1
- Demon Dog 2

However, Ella took everyone off guard with her rock throwing so that constitutes both a surprise attack with the rock and a surprise round so she gets a round of her own.

MrSandman

Your last in-game post said that Ella is going to take off running. While you have used your Basic ATK action to throw a rock at the Big Demon Dog, you still have your Technique Action for this surprise round.

Please be aware that, within a surprise round, any offensive action Ella takes will be subject to Surprise Attack rules:

- Surprise Attacks: Gain +25 to HIT and ATK checks if an opponent is taken off guard. The target cannot use RAC points to actively defend on any surprise attacks. Damage will be doubled and also duplicated between both HP and Mastered ENR.

(Yes, I have beefed up Surprise a bit lol)

If you have any questions that would inform your strategy, let me know.

[MrSandman]

Hi, I has question before I proceed. How will things work in this combat thread persay?

Do I state my intended actions in the thread as normal, then we make the calculations here then we make the calculations here and I(or you) post the results? Lets use this fight as an example....

I plan to have Ella strike the one dog with a rock(basic attack), and maybe use a tech(haven't decided yet) and then huff it back to the ruins area with the pillars. This would all count towards one post worth of actions that we'd determine here and then we'd repeat with the next post of actions? Should I lay out any major plans in advance?

[Nik Hasta]

Hi, I has question before I proceed. How will things work in this combat thread persay?

Do I state my intended actions in the thread as normal, then we make the calculations here then we make the calculations here and I(or you) post the results? Lets use this fight as an example....

I plan to have Ella strike the one dog with a rock(basic attack), and maybe use a tech(haven't decided yet) and then huff it back to the ruins area with the pillars. This would all count towards one post worth of actions that we'd determine here and then we'd repeat with the next post of actions? Should I lay out any major plans in advance?

So, the rock is locked in since you already posted that. You have a Technique Action available to you and your movement. I haven't posted the NPCs reacting to your appearance or rock throwing because you are currently in a surprise round and they cannot react until you've completed your actions for this round.

We will agree on your actions for the rest of your turn in this thread, so I have clear, non-flavour breakdown of who is doing what. You will then post in the main game thread your actual post of whatever the rest of your actions are (Technique/Movement).

I will then go to the top of the order and will post the actions of Mysterious Robot in the game thread and then it will be Ella again, so we will return to this thread to agree her next turn, as we move through a normal turn rotation as outlined in the Initiative Order posted above.

You can also ask for more info about the scenario in this thread (examples: what can Ella see? What are exact dimensions of the combat arena? Is there a handy pit I can push people into? Can I throw a rope at XYZ enemy/object to get XYZ effect? etc.) to inform the actions you choose to take.

All clear? Feel free to ask any questions.

[MrSandman]

Ok then, plan will go ahead as before. Throw the rock at the dog thing. I'm also gonna use single target HoloNurse on the robot ally from a distance while I have the chance before legging it.

(On that note, I think I also still need to adjust my healing skills based on the new rules lol)

[Nik Hasta]

I will say for a GM note, the Mysterious Robot doesn't appear to have been attacked so doesn't necessarily require healing. You can still do it if you want but it is not immediately apparent that it needs it.

[MrSandman]

Ahhh, true. Was under the impression it looked like it was hurt. In that case I'll hold off on using a technique and just focus on luring em away. (I'll likely need that ENR in a minute lol)

[Nik Hasta]

Ahhh, true. Was under the impression it looked like it was hurt. In that case I'll hold off on using a technique and just focus on luring em away. (I'll likely need that ENR in a minute lol)

Perfect, so we're locking your actions as:

- Throws a rock at Big Demon Dog in a surprise Basic ATK.

- Moves full movement away from the courtyard toward the pillars.

I can tell you hit the Dog for 22 DMG and force-burned 22 ENR due to Surprise Attack bonus.

I will now write a flavour post for the reaction and impact of your actions and will also cover the first turn of the Mysterious Robot in the first real turn and then we'll be back to you in the order. So feel free to let me know what you intend to do on that next turn once I have posted.

[Nik Hasta]

Ready for your next turn MrSandman, let me know if you want any information about mechanics or positioning.

[MrSandman]

Alrighty, sorry about the wait. So by the sound of the post they reached the ruined courtyard with the pillars?

If so I'm gonna go ahead and do the following in order.
- Order that robot that yes, I do in fact need some assistance. And hope that understanding goes both ways. If I can, tell her to take to the sky and try and topple the closest pillar in the direction of the dogs as soon as they're close.
- Gonna position Ella between a pillar the the closest charging dog.
- The moment it is close enough(And especially if the other two are charging), Ella will blast them with Flash Emitter and dodge to the side so the hopefully blinded doggo headbuts a pillar....and if the robot follows through topple it down on him.
- Run to Cover and pray.

How does all this sound? Too much?

[Nik Hasta]

Alrighty, sorry about the wait. So by the sound of the post they reached the ruined courtyard with the pillars?

Correct, Ella is about... 30 feet from the pillar where the Mysterious Robot crash landed so well within movement range.

If so I'm gonna go ahead and do the following in order.
- Order that robot that yes, I do in fact need some assistance. And hope that understanding goes both ways. If I can, tell her to take to the sky and try and topple the closest pillar in the direction of the dogs as soon as they're close.

I will note that the robot is currently Prone, since you're not intending to use your Basic ATK action this turn, you could help it up if you want to which would make its next turn a little easier.

- Gonna position Ella between a pillar the the closest charging dog.

That uses movement. All fine.

- The moment it is close enough(And especially if the other two are charging), Ella will blast them with Flash Emitter and dodge to the side so the hopefully blinded doggo headbuts a pillar....and if the robot follows through topple it down on him.

This is essentially a held Technique Action for when the first Demon Dog to act closes range with Ella. That's also fine.

- Run to Cover and pray.

You wouldn't really be able to get much further as between moving to the pillars and whatever is needed for the dodge, your movement would be exhausted. So you will be a point blank range.

Okay, so let me know if you want to help the robot up or not (it's perfectly possible for Ella to do so, despite appearances the robot is not that heavy) and then make a post of Ella getting all of those actions set up and we'll progress when I do the turns of the doggos.

[MrSandman]

Ok, lets go with using my action to help her up. I'll write it up now

[Nik Hasta]

Dropping the results from Ella's turn here:

Using Flash Emitter has lowered your Mastered ENR reserves to 170/490 (34%).

- Big Dog takes 16 DMG from impact.

- Big Dog is inflicted with Blindness - Total Darkness for 3 turns.

- Big Dog has burnt out its Mastered ENR reserves preventing the full duration of the effect. (-20 to all stats)

- Big Dog takes 22 DMG from burnout.

- Small Dog 1 is is inflicted with Blindness - Total Darkness for 3 turns.

- Small Dog 1 has burnt out its Mastered ENR reserves preventing the full duration of the effect. (-20 to all stats)

- Small Dog 1 takes 30 DMG from burnout.

- Small Dog 2 is is inflicted with Blindness - Total Darkness for 3 turns.

- Small Dog 2 has burnt out its Mastered ENR reserves preventing the full duration of the effect. (-20 to all stats)

- Small Dog 2 takes 30 DMG from burnout.

Okay, so Ella, you have been attacked by the Big Dog.

I'll give you the following pieces of information.

- You have made your HIT check, if you choose to spend 1 RAC point, you will have access to the usual responses:
> Dodge: You could Perfectly Dodge this at no ENR expenditure.
> Block: You could spend a very small amount of ENR to block the attack.
> Counter: You could spend twice the amount of ENR for Block in order to attack the Dog directly.

Additional context. The small dogs are moving very slowly now due to their own burnout and do not look like they will get in range of you within their next turn so you're not in immediate danger from them at present.

The Big Dog is likewise in burnout so it's extremely unlikely that tanking the attack will do very much damage to you, but if you want to save the RAC point you could.

I will further note that, your RAC points will refresh when we go back to the top of the order so there's really no reason to Soak the attack. Since this is the first encounter of the game in a new system, I would strongly encourage you to use a RAC point.

In terms of vibes of the condition of these dogs, while they have all been hurt by overtaxing their bodies attempting to resist the blindness, none of them look close to death. They all have 2 turns of Total Darkness remaining.

So, let me know what you want to do for your reaction, I'll tell you the success and impact of it, you post in the game thread flavour that confirms the action, and then the first of your allies will arrive and will be inserted into the Initiative Order.

EDIT: Also, to be completely fair, Ella hasn't made use of her Stack so I just want to remind MrSandman the player that this is a thing that she could do on her next actual turn (this cannot be done on her reaction). Just dropping the explanation here;

- New System: STACK The Stack System is a way for players to make on the fly adjustments to their build at the start of each turn at the cost of freezing a proportion of their Mastered ENR. For each point you have in Stack, you can put a +10 on any single stat at the cost of removing 10 ENR from your Mastered ENR total. This ENR will return if you deactivate the Stack at the start of your next turn. The Stack configuration can be any mix of the main 9 stat types (Offensive, Defensive, Hit).

> Example Alice has a Stack score of 3. At the start of her turn, she chooses to allocate Stack, giving herself +10 CHR, BRA and SKI. This lowers her Mastered ENR by 30 points. At the start of her next turn, she decides to release the CHR and SKI components and gets 20 points of ENR back.

Multiple Stack points can be allocated to same stat equal to the level of the character, so a second level character could allocate +20 towards a single stat by using 2 Stack points. A third level character could do +30 and so on. It is not possible to have more than 9 Stack points, regardless of your ENR score unless you were to Trait it in.

Ella has 9 Stack points, so she has a lot of room to tweak her stats if she wants.

[MrSandman]

Well, I mean if there isn't a downside to using a RAC here I may as well and dodge that.

Edit: I'm assuming we'll have no way to tell the remaining HP as of yet. (Possible Trait/Technique in the future maybe..kekeke)

[Nik Hasta]

Well, I mean if there isn't a downside to using a RAC here I may as well and dodge that.

Lovely, a perfect Dodge it is with one RAC point consumed. This is entirely effortless for Ella.

If you could just write your Dodge action and any flavour you want to put about her reaction to her actions from the above events, please post that and then we'll press on and then add Jane to the mix.

Edit: I'm assuming we'll have no way to tell the remaining HP as of yet. (Possible Trait/Technique in the future maybe..kekeke)

Eminently correct. I am being a bit more forthcoming in this matter as (as previously noted) this the first combat encounter so I am keen to be a bit more instructional than I would normally.

In future, I won't comment too much on the status of enemy HP in this thread unless specifically asked for a general indicator to assist in targeting ("Which of these two guys looks more hurt," for example).

You'll have to parse what information you can from my flavour posts in the thread.

Though I will note, a handy metric for contextualising how powerful damage numbers are, an entirely default zero level character has 122 HP and Mobs get less HP per point than actual characters because their formulae work a bit differently. These dogs do have levels beyond a zero level character so they have more than 122 HP but consider that like a conceptual floor for most hostile NPCs.

So, you can definitely infer that Ella hasn't hit for any really serious damage yet. This is not because she isn't capable of more serious damage, but she opted to thrown a rock on her Surprise Round (which uses STR which she is not a good stat for her) and used an Epic Mind Technique which has much lower damage potential than her actual attack moves.

[MrSandman]

Posted again, sorry about the wait to everyone involved. Hopefully once more people are involved per turn this will get a bit more streamlined I'd imagine. (and I won't feel like the game is locked on just me acting ;_