Combat
From World of Charun
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Armour in Combat
Some fighters are untouchable, even when wearing nothing but a loincloth. In Charun you dont have to wear substantial armour in order to avoid being hit. It isn't armour that makes you harder to hit than the average man. It is your ability to dodge, duck and parry. Armour is most useful in actual war, when the ability to dodge a strike is impaired by the confusion of battle and movement-obstructing warriors. In such a situation, it is good to wear a layer of leather or metal on your vital spots to reduce the power of any strikes an opponent might land on you.
Armour is made for one purpose: to take the damage from a weapon strike instead of your body. It literally gets in the way of incoming strikes, but if those strikes are strong enough to penetrate through the armour or send destructive shock waves to your flesh, then you still get hurt -but not as much as you would have without the armour.
Damage Reduction
A suit of armor has an absorption statistic, DR (Damage Reduction), which replaces its AC bonus. This absorption statistic is based on material, coverage and a few other things. The DR value is deducted from the total damage. It applies only to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.
Example: A leather coat has DR 1d5, while a breastplate has DR 1d12.
Various beasts and monsters have natural armour, due to thick hides or other properties. Some of the mightiest of creatures, such as dragons, may have scales many times thicker than a full plate armour.
Minimum Damage
Weapons with an AP (see below) value greater than zero will always deal out "1" in damage, regardless of armour DR.
More about: Armour
Armour Piercing
Each weapon has an AP (Armour Piercing) value. Melee and throwing weapons use that in combination with the attackers Strength, which is compared to the defenders armour DR value. If the AP + STR modifier equals or is greater than the DR, the DR is halved.
Ranged weapons use the attackers Dexterity bonus in combination with the weapons AP value to determine the armour piercing power. This represents the attacker's attempts to hit soft spots and unarmoured parts of the defenders body.
Example: An iron broadsword (AP 1d4) wielding brute from the Northlands with Strength 16 (AP +2) attacks a pirate in a leather coat (DR 1d5).
The total AP value is 1d4+2. If the total equals or exceeds the armour DR roll (1d5), additional damage is dealt through the armour, through the DR absorption being halved.
More about: Weapons
Precission Fighting
An individual with the Weapon Finesse Feat may attempt to bypass armour DR all together, through striking at the joints and unarmoured parts of the body. This can only be done through the useage of selected weaponry - not to be mixed with the standard finesse weapons. Bear in mind that this is an additional feature to the default Finesse Feat, where the attacker may use his Dexterity bonus when attacking with light weapons.
The attacker attempting to bypass armour DR gets a penalty to hit equal to the defenders armour DR value. A successful hit means that he has scored a hit, and not damage reduction takes place.
Example: The defender is wearing a Breastplate (DR 1d12). The attacker has to normally roll a "12" to score a hit. However, he is now using a dagger, and thus attempting to strike at an unarmoured part of the body. The defender rolls a "6" on his DR 1d12. The attacker must thus roll "18" or more to successfully bypass the armour, negating the damage reduction.
More about: Finesse Feat
Defense Class
DC (Defense Class) replaces Armour Class as the target number an attack roll must pass. Defense Class is not affected by armour, but your Dexterity modifier still applies. Each class has a BDB (Base Defense Bonus) progression, equal to the base attack bonus progression. This progression is done automaticly when gaining a level.
Your Defense Class equals 10 + Base Defense Bonus + Dexterity bonus + Shield bonus.
- Whenever you lose your Dexterity bonus, you also lose your Base Defense Bonus. Uncanny Dodge and such abilities and feats affect the BDB along with the Dexterity bonus.
- Certain feats, such as Dodge, add to the Defense Class.
- Shields are different from armour. They do, in fact, make it easier to evade blows by deflecting them, and therefore add to the Defense Class. They do not behave as armour, reducing damage dealt.
More about: Base Defense Bonus
More about: Shields
Hit Points
A zero-level character has a number of hit points equal to his Constitution. Upon gaining the first level, a set number is added to the hit points, depending on one's class and hit dice. No Constitution modifiers are included at lvl 1. The Toughness feat on the other hand adds to the score.
Lvl 1 Hit Points = Con score + the following based on hit die:
- d4 = 1
- d6 = 2
- d8 = 3
- d10 = 4
- d12 = 5
The hit points after lvl 1 are fixed, with the Constitution modifier and other feats added to them.
- d4 = 3
- d6 = 4
- d8 = 5
- d10 = 6
- d12 = 7
More about: Hit Points
Healing and Death
Lost hit points need to be healed, or death will sooner or later occur. More about healing and dying can be found under the House Rules section.
Definiton of Terms
AP = Armour Piercing, a weapon statistic representing its ability to deal out damage through armour.
BAB = Base Attack Bonus, an offensive progression determined by class and level. It is added to the Attack roll.
BDB = Base Defense Bonus, a defensive progression determined by class and level. It is added to the DC.
DR = Damage Reduction, represents an armour's ability to absorb damage
DC = Defense Class, represents how hard it is to hit someone in battle
HP = Hit Point, represents the amount of damage someone can take before dying. A high level character may due to his experience turn a lethal blow into a glancing one through his combat experience, represented by his higher amount of HP.
LVL = Level, a way of measuring experience and skill. When enough with XP are gained, a new level can be taken.
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