Movement

Humans and elves move 30’ per action. Dwarves and halflings move 20’ per action. If characters are encumbered with metal armor or a heavy load, they move more slowly (judge's discretion).

Marching Order

Prior to entering combat, the players should determine the order in which their characters march. 

In low-level play with hordes of 0-level and 1st-level characters, we recommend the “table center” method of determining marching order. Each player arranges his character sheets in order so the one closest to the table center is closest to the front of the marching order, and the one closest to the player is in the rear of the marching order. The assortment of character sheets closest to the “table center” then forms the front rank of the party.

Initiative

In low-level play, especially with large masses of characters, use group initiative. Roll once for each player, applying the highest initiative modifier among his characters, then roll once for the monsters. When each player acts, he declares actions for all his characters.

First, determine surprise. If the characters were not aware of their opponents (or vice versa), they are surprised. Being aware of an opponent means seeing them, making a check to hear them approach, or otherwise noticing them through magical or mundane means. Surprised characters do not act in the first round of combat. After the first round they act normally on their initiative count.

An initiative check is conducted by rolling 1d20 and adding the appropriate modifier: Agility modifier, and, for warriors, class level. The highest initiative roll goes first, then next-highest, and so on. Ties are broken by highest Agility score, then by highest hit dice. A d16 is used instead of a d20 for characters wielding two-handed weapons. Initiative is rolled once at the start of an encounter, not each round.

Combat Actions

At low-level play, characters have one action each round, expressed as an action dice, which is a d20. Each round, a character or monster may move its normal speed and do one thing for each of its action dice. The actions a character takes depend on his class.

• All characters can take another movement for their actions.
• A warrior can make an attack for each of his actions, rolling d20 for the first one and a different die for the second (generally d14 or d16).
• A wizard can attack or cast a spell with the first die and can only cast a spell with the second action die.
• An elf can attack or cast a spell with any action die.
• And so on, according to the class descriptions.

Spellcasting sometimes takes longer than one action. An action spent casting a spell either completes the spell, if it can be cast in one action, or contributes toward a total casting time if the spell requires more actions to cast.

In other words, a normal 0-level character with one action can move and attack once each round. A 6th-level warrior with action dice of d20+d16 can do any of the following combinations in one round: move only; move once, then attack once with a d20 roll; move, then attack once with a d20, then attack again with a d16; or simply stand and attack once with a d20 or a second time with a d16.

Other activities take time to complete as follows:

* Can be included as part of a movement action.

Types of Combat

When creatures fight within arm’s reach (generally considered 5’ for man-sized creatures), it is considered melee combat. Strength modifies melee attack and melee damage rolls.

When creatures fight beyond arm’s reach, it is considered missile fire. Agility modifies missile fire attacks.

Armor Class

Armor Class is determined by armor, shield, Agility, and magical modifiers. An unarmored peasant is AC 10 – this is the baseline level. Armor Class increases with improved defensive capability, so wearing armor increases a character’s Armor Class. For example, wearing leather armor takes a character’s AC from 10 to 12. Armor class decreases with reduced defensive capability, so a character with a negative Agility modifier has a lower AC. For example, a character with a -2 Agility modifier has his baseline Armor Class reduced from 10 to 8.

Agility modifies the defender’s Armor Class for all kinds of combat. However, the defender must be able to maneuver in order to receive this modifier. If he is balancing on a pillar, climbing a wall, bound in rope, or otherwise constrained, the defender is not agile enough to receive the bonus from his Agility modifier.

The Attack Roll

The attacker rolls his action die (usually 1d20) and adds his attack bonus. He also adds any bonuses from spells, magic items, or class abilities (such as a thief’s backstab ability). If the attack is made with a melee weapon, he adds his Strength bonus. If the attack is made with a missile weapon, he adds his Agility bonus.

This roll is compared to the defender’s Armor Class. If the roll is equal to or higher than the defender’s Armor Class, the defender is wounded.

Modifiers to attack rolls apply as shown on table 4-1.

Fumbles: A natural roll of 1 is a fumble. Fumbles automatically miss, and the attacker must roll the appropriate die on the fumble table, with the result adjusted by the attacker’s Luck modifier. Unarmored characters roll 1d4; others roll according to armor as indicated on table 3-4.

Critical Hits: A natural roll of 20 is a critical hit. For some classes, other die rolls may also result in critical hits. See below for more details.

Fumbles

A natural roll of 1 is a fumble. Fumbles automatically miss, and the attacker must roll on the fumble table. Because “lower is better” on fumble table rolls, the roll is modified by the reverse of the character’s Luck. For example, a +1 Luck modifier becomes -1 on the fumble table roll. The type of die rolled is determined by the attacker’s armor, as follows.

Warriors and dwarves, and only warriors and dwarves, may burn 1 point of Luck to cancel a fumble. The natural 1 still results in a miss but by burning a point of Luck they can avoid any further negative effects.

The die rolled on the fumble table depends on the character's armor: 1d16 if wearing heavy armor; 1d12 if wearing moderate armor; 1d8 if wearing light armor; 1d4 is wearing no armor (see table 3-4 for armor modifiers to fumble die).

Critical Hits

On a d20 roll, a natural roll of 20 is a critical hit. A natural 20 automatically hits and the attacker must roll his crit die on the appropriate critical hit table, with the result adjusted by his Luck modifier.

Crit dice and table are determined by class and level; refer to the character class tables. All 0-level characters roll 1d4 on crit table I.

Damage and Death

If a defender is wounded, the attacker rolls for damage. Roll the appropriate die for the weapon.

If the attack was made with a melee weapon, add the attacker’s Strength bonus. Add other bonuses due to spells, magic items, or class abilities. 

Deduct this value from the defender’s hit points.

A successful attack always inflicts a minimum of 1 point of damage, even if the attacker has a negative Strength modifier.

A character or monster dies when it reaches 0 hit points.

Bleeding out: There is a chance of saving a dead character by healing him very quickly (such as with a cleric’s ability to lay on hands). A 0-level character that reaches 0 hit points is irrevocably killed, but a 1st-level character that reaches 0 hit points collapses and begins bleeding out. Such a character has 1 round in which he can be healed to prevent his death. If he is healed on the round he’s reduced to 0 hit points or the next round, he is healed per the result of the lay on hands check (treat his hit points as starting at 0). If he is not healed before the second round, he may be permanently killed (see below).

For each level past the first, a character has one more round of bleeding before he is permanently killed. For example, a 3rd-level character can be saved if he is healed within 3 rounds.

A character that was bleeding out but was saved suffers permanent physical trauma from his near-fatal injuries. Anyone who is saved from bleeding out suffers a permanent loss of 1 point of Stamina. In addition, he gains a terrible scar from the wound that downed him.

Recovering the body: If the body of a dead ally can be recovered, there is a chance the ally may not be truly killed. He may have been knocked unconscious or simply stunned. If a character reaches a dead ally’s body within one hour, the dead character may make a Luck check when his body is rolled over. On a successful check, the dead character was badly injured but is not permanently killed, and the ally is able to keep him alive. The “dead” character was simply knocked out, stunned, or otherwise incapacitated. Once an ally shakes the downed character awake, he recovers to 1 hit point. The character is groggy for the next hour (-4 penalty to all rolls) and sustains a permanent injury of some kind, reflected as a permanent -1 penalty to Strength, Agility, or Stamina (determine randomly).

Healing

Wounds heal with rest. A healed character can never exceed his natural hit point maximum.

A character who actively adventures and gets a good night’s rest heals 1 hit point. If the character gets a day of bed rest, he heals 2 hit points per night.

Critical hits heal when the associated damage heals. For example, imagine that a character takes a -10’ penalty to speed due to a kneecap strike that also inflicted 4 extra points of damage. The wounded kneecap (and associated speed penalty) heals when the character has recovered 4 hit points. Note that some crits may create permanent injuries which can only be healed by magical or extraordinary means.

Ability score loss, except for Luck, heals at the same rate: 1 point with a good night’s rest, and 2 points with a day of bed rest.

A character may heal both ability score loss and hit point loss on the same night’s rest.

Luck, however, does not heal. Repeat: lost Luck does not heal. Except for the special abilities of halflings and thieves, a character who burns Luck does so permanently. Luck can be restored in the same way that a man normally gains good or bad luck – by appealing to the gods. Great acts of courage in defense of one’s deity may earn a boon, just as acts in opposition to a devil may earn a curse. The judge can tell you more about Luck…

Saving Throws

Saving throws represent the character’s ability to resist extraordinary trauma, whether it’s poison, magical flame, or a dangerous trap. A character’s class and ability scores determine his saving throw modifier for Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower. To make a saving throw, roll 1d20 and apply the character’s modifier. If the result is equal to or greater than the target DC, the saving throw succeeds. Otherwise, it fails.

Burning Luck

As noted earlier, a character can permanently burn Luck to give a one-time bonus to a roll. For example, a character could burn 6 points to get a +6 modifier on a roll, but his Luck score is now 6 points lower. The following rules govern the burning of Luck:

• A character can only burn Luck to affect his own die rolls (except for halflings as noted in their class description). Luck cannot be burned to affect the die roll of other characters or monsters, even if they affect the character. (Note that the character’s Luck modifier does apply to enemy crits against him, but this Luck modifier is different from burning off Luck.)
• Luck is typically used to affect a character’s attack rolls, damage rolls, spell checks, thief checks, and saving throws, but it can also be used for other purposes.
• A character can declare his intent to burn Luck before or after his die roll. He then specifies how many points he will burn. But he can only burn Luck once per roll.

Tables

Table 4-1: Attack Roll Modifiers

Condition                                                       Attack Roll Modifier

* And 50% chance of “friendly fire” if attack misses.

Table 4-2: Fumbles

Crit Table I: All 0-Level Characters and All Wizards

See the DCC RPG core rulebook for additional entries!

Crit Table II: All Thieves and Elves

See the DCC RPG core rulebook for additional entries!

Crit Table III: Clerics, Halflings, Level 1-2 Warriors, and Level 1-3 Dwarves

See the DCC RPG core rulebook for additional entries!

These footnotes apply to crit tables where indicated:

* Magical weapons never break due to critical fumbles. The target is disarmed instead, the weapon landing 1d10+5 feet away.

** A PC overcome by battle rage may temporarily expend points of his Personality or Intelligence score to enhance the damage on his critical hit. For every ability point he expends, he adds +1d12 to his damage roll.

Ability scores lost in this way return as the warrior heals. Each day thereafter where he does not succumb to battle rage, he recovers 1 point of the affected ability score. This rate is doubled if the character rests.