Art of a man wearing a helmet with a flower and hearts on it alongside traditional knight garb.

Combat Stances

This is an idea I'm working on for a basic combat system, currently only including support for melee fighting.

I'm basing this off of Sean F Smith's KRIEGS in the SPIEL system. Whenever you initiate combat, you roll 2d6, taking the higher number.

Roll Result Combat Outcome
6 Deal Your Damage
4::5 Deal Your Damage AND
Take Your + Opponent's Damage
1::3 Take Your + Opponent's Damage

Only the attacker rolls in combat. In the case of group combat, add dice equal to your ally count and remove dice equal to enemies, with a minimum of 1 die. Each person in a group rolls once before anyone can roll again.

You can charge your moves. This is done by spending a turn focusing on your technique rather than fighting. Each consecutive turn spent like this adds 1 charge. Still roll to see if your opponent lands their blows, but you won't be dealing damage. Taking damage equal to your threshold breaks your concentration, bringing you back to 0 charges. Unleashing charged attacks can be devastating on your opponent.

Charges Damage Multiplier
1 1x
2 3x
3 5x
4 9x

The Stances at a Glance:

Damage is measured in Hits. The average person has 10 Hits, but that can go up or down if you suck or are really cool. A Partial Hit is equal to half of a Hit.

Stance Name Damage Threshold
Stone Stance 1 Partial Hit 4 Hits
Tree Stance 1 Hit 2 Hits
Blood Stance 2 Hits Partial Hit

Tree Stance

Damage: 1 Hit
Charge Threshold: 2 Hits

Tree Stance is your average martial fighter. Nothing super fancy about them, but they deal consistent damage while not taking extra. This is the default for most people.

When the damage given or received includes a Partial Hit, Tree Stance users always round to the nearest Hit in their favor. Damage cannot go below a Partial Hit.

Stone Stance

Damage: Partial hit
Charge Threshold: 4 Hits

Stone Stance users tower above their compatriots in size. They're not about the short jabs and slashes, preferring to land slow, earth-shattering blows instead.

Stone Stance users initiate their charge with 2 charges instead of 1.

Blood Stance

Damage: 2 Hits
Charge Threshold: Partial Hit

Blood Stance users are fast-paced and vicious. They like to float around their enemies in combat, bursting them down in quick succession while leaving themselves open for attacks as well.

The Blood Stance allows its user to attack once more after reaching 0 Hits. If they kill their opponent, they go back up to a Partial Hit. They can do this once per combat.