Everyone has been waiting for this and here it is, the fabled battle system!

You roll and kill things :V

What, you want more details? Sure.

Firstly, battles can be either mental or physical. Meaning that an argument uses the same mechanics as battle with some slight changes, so lets begin!

Before the fighting even starts, the GM sets up 'zones'. Zones are loosely defined areas, examples are rooms, parts of a forest, a tile on the floor. Basically, a zone says what things and people you can interact with. You are allowed to interact with anything in your zone or one next to it if you can justify it. Moving between two adjacent zones is a free action (doesn't cost anything) unless there is something or someone trying to stop you from entering/leaving the zone, then it takes your action. You are also only allowed to travel 1 zone but you can move 2 zones if you don't perform an action.

Turn order is decided by what type of conflict it is. Mental stuff is determined by who has the highest Careful stat, while physical goes to Quickly stat.

Now in part 3 we talked about rolling attacks and what each number means but now I'll give a quick run down.

You pick an approach and then use it to attack (sneaky attack, quick attack, etc.) then roll. Your stat plus the roll is your total. The opponent picks an approach and uses it to defend (quickly defend, carefully defend, etc.) then roll. Your stat plus the roll is your total. If your attack is lower, nothing happens. If a tie, no damage but you get a boost, higher then damage, and roll 3 higher than the defense and you do damage and can lower the damage by 1 and get a boost. If the defense is 3 higher the defense gets a boost.

Now for the fun part, damage. The difference between the rolls is the damage. :D

That was simple right? The fun part is deciding how much of that damage you want to take! In the Fate system, everyone has a max of 6 HP. That number cannot go up in anyway, and both the strongest and weakest of us have that 6. Since the HP we have is so low, we can choose to not take damage and instead take a consequence. There are 3 consequences to choose from, Minor (2), Moderate (4), and Severe (6). Each consequence absorbs a certain amount of damage, so by carefully combining them, you have essentially 12 HP right? But consequences have a price. A consequence can only absorb 1 attack, and you can only have one of each consequence at a time. Each consequence is a negative aspect you gain, and how long it lasts depends on what type it is. Also, the attacker that caused you to take on that consequence can invoke it without using fate points once, and can have an ally get the free invocation.

Minor: This consequence absorbs 2 damage and is a small minor issue, such as getting dizzy, frightened, etc, as long as it makes the battle harder for you. Minor consequences go away at the end of the battle if you have time to rest.

Moderate: This one absorbs 4 damage and is a bigger issue, big enough to last longer than the battle. Moderate consequences last until the end of the next episode if it makes sense. These could be things like sprained ankles, temporarily blinded, being filled with crippling self doubt, etc.

Severe: This one absorbs 6 damage, but should not be taken lightly. These last until the end of the current arc, and are larger things, like perhaps a broken bone, a new phobia, basically something big enough to mess you up long term.

Now what happens if you have no more free consequence slots and run out of HP? You don't necessarily die, you get taken out. Basically you can no longer fight, buuuuut, whomever dealt the finishing blow decides what happens to you....and that can be anything from being knocked out, thrown out a building, even death, so try not to die....please?

If things look hopeless, you can surrender. When you surrender, you lose something (could be items, reputation, a possible option you could have taken, etc.) and are treated as if you were taken out, except you get to decide what happens to you to prevent you from fighting (your flee, you fake your death, you literally surrender). BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! You also get 1 fate point, and one extra one for each consequence you received. Knowing when to fight, and when to surrender is an important part of any battle.

Also you regain all your HP at the end of a battle :D

That basically sums up the battle system, but you might have noticed I mentioned episodes and arcs. Those are how we are gonna be measuring events and time. An episode is basically what you'd expect in an episode. Arcs are made up of episodes. There is one more unit of measure, and that's Seasons. Seasons always end with the status quo being shaken up in big ways. The GM decides how long episodes are, and thus controls how long arcs and seasons are as well!

Why is knowing about episodes, arcs and seasons important? They're how we level up! At the end of each unit we can do things!

At the end of an episode: You can do one of the following:
1) Switch the values of two stats
2) Change one aspect EXCEPT high concept
3) Trade in a stunt for another
4) Reduce your refresh to get another stunt

At the end of an arc: You get the benefits of an episode ending and the following:
1) You can boost one stat by 1

At the end of a Season: You get the benefits of both an episode and arc ending as well as:
1) Your refresh goes up by 1! (You can instantly use that refresh for a stunt for the episode end benefit)
2) You can change your high concept if you want.

Homework is easy, write your history and pm it to Lief and have him approve it! I will be adding a character template in this blog soon so be ready for it!