Introduction to Battle

Let this serve as an introductory course in battling in Epic. I'll try to cover the basics as well as any special circumstances that might arise.

Introduction

Terminology

A battle consists of rounds, which are themselves composed of turns. Each battle is run by a GM or Ref, who moderates, calculates damage, performs most dice rolls, and keeps track of everyone's HP. Each participant in a battle gets one turn per round. The order in which turns are performed is determined by Speed or, in rare cases, other miscellaneous effects. Furthermore, every turn is broken down into actions (typically, three). An action corresponds to roughly 5 seconds in real time.

There are six stats that directly relate to battle: two vital stats and four combat scores.

• Health Points (HP): This is a measure of how much damage you can take before being knocked out or killed.
  
• Stamina (STM): This is a measure of how many actions you can perform before being worn out.
  
• Attack (ATK): This is a measure of how hard you hit and how much damage you do.
  
• Accuracy (ACC): This is a measure of how capable you are at hitting moving targets and vital parts of the body.
  
• Speed (SPD): This is a measure of how quickly you move and your ability to dodge.
  
• Defense (DEF): This is a measure of how resilient you are to damage.
  

Once a given character falls to 0 HP or below, they are KOed (knocked out) and unable to take further actions. Once they fall to a certain negative HP value (base is 15% of their max HP below 0), then they are dead.

Actions

See article: Actions

There are a few different types of actions, characterized by when they can be performed and what they cost to perform. Most actions cost Stamina. At the start of a round, most characters' Stamina is set to 100, regardless of how much they had left from the previous round, unless said character is under some kind of effect that alters this. You can only perform an action if you have enough Stamina to satisfy its cost.

On each turn, a person gets 100 Stamina, 1 Minor Action, 1 Quick Action, and 2 Basic Actions (Usually Techniques), which can be performed in any order. Additional Quick Actions can be done in place of Basic Actions if so desired.

• Minor Action: A minor action costs no Stamina or actions. You can perform one minor action per turn. Typically, this is restricted to movement. However, some passives grant additional types of minor actions.
  
• Quick Action: A quick action can be performed once a turn, in your Quick Action slot. Extra Quick Actions can also be done in place of Basic Actions. Examples of quick actions include using items and activating Awakening.
  
• Basic Action: A basic action costs 1 action and varying amounts of Stamina to perform. Basic actions are usually techniques. You get two of these per turn. A Quick Action can be done in the place of a Basic Action.
  
• Full Turn Action: A full turn action costs 3 actions (Quick or Basic) and 50 STM.
  
• Reaction: Reactions are unusual in that they are performed during someone else's turn. They cost no actions and have variable Stamina cost.

For a full list of Actions, see their article.

For a full list of Reactions, see their article.

Range

See article: Range

Most non-spar battles feature movement on maps. For mapped battles, techniques receive an attack range. Range is an attribute inherited from the currently-equipped weapon, which indicates where your attacks can target (Though, there are some circumstances where techniques will override the weapon's range. This will be listed in the technique.). Range is listed in terms of spaces, which each represent roughly five square feet. As would follow from common sense, you can't hit someone that is outside of your action's range. For example, a range of Basic(1) means someone 1 space away from the attacker.

For the full list of Range attributes, see its article.

Start of Battle

At the start of a battle, a few things must be declared for the GM/Ref. First, and perhaps most importantly, you must list your HP and battle stats (ATK, ACC, DEF, and SPD). These numbers should include bonuses from weapons, armor, and such. Based on everyone's SPD, the Ref will determine turn order. If two characters have equal speed, their turn order will be rolled randomly, often by each of the equal characters rolling a 1d100 and the high roller going before the other.

Next, your Affinity, Alignment, and Armor class must be stated. The latter two are mainly for reference regarding Alignment and Armor affecting elements. Affinity, on the other hand, has a more important role. Most affinities have advantages and disadvantages to other affinities. These are listed in the Affinity article, along with the effects of getting this advantage. Furthermore, there are also three affinities which have Synergy with each other, yielding positive effects between allies with Synergizing affinities. These can also be found in the article.

Along with this, you must list various battle effects you received from Traits and passives, such as your race and Universal Passives. If you have multiple weapons, you should also note which one or ones are equipped, and which one is in your main hand. It's also important to list your character's death threshold (base is -15% of max HP), max amount of Charges, and their Parry Status Effect.

Note: If you make a quick reference sheet in your character's topic, you simply need to link this reference to the ref, saving everyone considerable time.

Also, at this time, the GM should roll for Day and Night, as this will determine various effects, such as a Werewolf's state, stats for Moon Affinity characters, and whether characters receive a moon/eclipse augment bonus. If the battle is part of a saga where the GM has already stated if it's day or night, all that would need to be rolled are the day rolls or night rolls in particular, rather than both overall.

If this is a mapped battle, the ref should either assign you starting positions on the map, or everyone should choose theirs. It's the ref's choice.

With all of that out of the way, the battle should be ready to begin, starting at Round 1. Everyone begins the round with their Stamina, and the person with the highest SPD at a round's start goes first. Because various effects can change a character's SPD in battle, the same order may not apply every round, but the order only changes at a round's start. For the sake of our example, let's say you are going first in a one-on-one battle.

Your Turn

What can you do on your turn? Well, as noted above, you have 1 Minor Action, 1 Quick Action, and 2 Basic Actions (Usually Techniques, sometimes additional Quick Actions), which can be performed in any order. So, how do you use these? Let's look at them one by one, starting with Minor Actions.

Movement

The most common minor action is movement. You may move once per turn and move up to 6 spaces (30 feet). Some effects such as terrain, techniques, or Awakenings may impede your ability to move. For example, a space crowded with trees or rocks might require 2 spaces to move through rather than 1. There are also obstacles, such as walls or pillars, that might make it impossible to pass through.

You cannot normally pass through a space occupied by another person. However, they might choose to allow you to pass through their space, although it requires 1 more space to move through than usual. It's generally assumed that allies will let you pass through their spaces freely like this.

If you fall a certain distance, then you take damage. It sucks. See Battle Penalties for more information.

Techniques

The most common thing to spend your Basic Actions on are Techniques. They have a variety of effects. What you need to keep in mind is your currently-equipped weapon and its range. For example, most melee weapons have a range of Basic(1), meaning that you must be 1 space (5 feet) away from the target in order to target them. As with most actions, techniques also cost Stamina. If you don't have enough Stamina left to satisfy a technique's cost, you can't perform the technique and should use a different technique or Quick Action instead.

Damage

The goal of battle is to lower someone to 0 HP. There is a close relationship between ATK/DEF and damage done. When you hit someone with a technique, the Battle Tables are used to calculate the Attack Bonus or Defense Bonus. (Remember that the Battle Tables are to be used after calculating the attack's normal damage with other modifiers listed on the attack.)

For example, if an attacking character has 104 ATK, and the defending character had 42 DEF, the attacker would have an attack advantage of 62. According to the Battle Tables, an attack advantage of 62 gives that attack a 40% damage increase. Therefore, an attack that has a base damage of 50 would be increased by 40% to be 70 damage.

Please keep in mind when calculating this that +40% means the damage is multipled by x1.4, as you're adding 40% to x1, or if the defense has a 40% advantage, it would be multiplied by x0.6, as you would be taking 40% away from x1. If this confuses you, ask around. Some players just like math a lot and can help with this. However, liking math makes you a loser. Remember that, kids.

Vital Hit

If your Accuracy exceeds the target's Speed, then all of your damaging techniques have a chance of Vital Hit. Vital Hit is a special effect resulting from hitting a vital area on the target's body and inflicting abnormally high damage. If Vital Hit succeeds on a technique, then its final damage is doubled. Your chance of Vital Hit is calculated using the Battle Tables.

For example, let's say an attacking character has 78 ACC, and the defending character has 59 SPD. This gives the attacker an advantage of 19. According to the Battle Tables, the ACC advantage of 19 gives that attack a 12% chance of Vital Hit.

Quick Actions

You must use a minimum of one Quick Action on your turn, but you can use more in place of Basic Actions. For the sake of our example, let's say that after your first attack, you spend your other Basic Action on a Quick Action, giving you two to use.

Quick Actions are the most varied action type, and have quite an extensive list on the Actions page. Examples of quick actions include:

• Charging to gain a Charge to use during certain techniques.
• Recovering Stamina so you can use more in your current turn, if you're short on it.
• Using various items and consumables.
• Making use of certain Skills with battle effects.
• Switching your currently equipped weapon.
• Running to for a small amount of additional movement.
• Activating Awakening.
• Using a Quick Attack for a small amount of damage (This is only recommended if you've already used two techniques and still want to deal more damage)

For our example, let's say you make use of an item. This would cost 15 Stamina and remove the item from your inventory. If you drank a potion, you would receive an empty bottle in its place.

With our last Quick Action, let's take a look at the final major part of gameplay during your turn: Awakening.

Awakenings and Ascensions

All characters have access to an Awakening, a special ability which enhances your combat capabilities, and can be customized by the player. You can enter your Awakening at anytime using a Quick Action and 15 Stamina.

In addition to Awakening, characters have access to an Ascension. Ascension is the extreme form of Awakening, and costs a Keystone to use. You can enter Ascension with a Quick Action and 15 Stamina, and don't have to be in your Awakening form first. Ascension lasts 3 rounds, but another Keystone can be consumed for a Quick Action and 15 Stamina to extend the duration 3 more rounds.

As you use your Awakening or Ascension, an excess of energy builds up in your body, causing various detrimental effects. This is known as Overload, and is what keeps Awakening and Ascension in check. Starting on the turn after an awakening's activation, Overload begins to build. At each point of overload, the player must roll from a list of overload effects. As overload builds, the tiers you must roll from change and become more dangerous.

At the start of each of your turns while Awakening or Ascension is active, you first gain a point of Overload, and then an Overload effect is rolled based on your Overload points. When you deactivate your Awakening and Ascension, your overload begins to drop by one point at the start of each turn, where it would normally grow. You still keep rolling for the overload you still have, until you fall below 1. You may activate your awakening again at any time.

Enemy's Turn

Since you've gone first in our example, it's now the enemy's turn. As you might expect, the enemy's turn goes just as your own would. However, there is one thing you can still do on the enemy's turn, which is reacting to their attacks.

Reactions

Most attacks can be countered with a reaction. Therefore, when someone else performs an attack, you can choose from several options as to how you react. You may choose not to react, however. The basic reactions are explained on the Reactions page. You can react whenever you would be directly damaged by an enemy's action, whether it's by a technique or by something like a grenade or chemical weapon. Additionally, there is one reaction you can use when a healing technique is used, and two you can use to protect someone else who is being attacked.

End of Round

At the end of a round, any end of round effects from various techniques or passives are applied, and a new round begins. At the new round's start, round start effects apply, turn order is re-decided if anyone's Speed has changed, and everyone is restored to max Stamina. The battle continues in this manner until one side is victorious.

Closing

In summary, battling is fun for the whole family and you should do it! Kill Seth.