OOC

[shaidar]

I think I edited the last name in just after you read the post Rex, it is:

Anoa: Áine

In my head I see that the cleric and the cousin are the reason that Arngier is not in his homeland, just haven't worked out why.

[Rex]

Algrim is almost done.

Ed, do you want me to name them? You can if you want (I named one already).

You need to select one as a Best friend. Their relationship changes to best friend and their loyalty changes to 70+ your d20 roll for that contact. I recommend you pick Eawonn, he would have a loyalty of 79. He is a very useful contact. Note that he is a member of the Uthriem Roliri, a secret order that watches over the wilderness of Harn. They are the Rangers of Harn. If he is your best friend you will know he is a Ranger, otherwise you will not know his secret.

Algrim's Contacts

[Rex]

I think I edited the last name in just after you read the post Rex, it is:

Anoa: Áine

In my head I see that the cleric and the cousin are the reason that Arngier is not in his homeland, just haven't worked out why.

Sounds good I will had her name.

[Rex]

Turnip is up. Just need a little more info on one of them plus names. Feel free to expand/change the background if you want.

Turnip's Contacts

[Rex]

I couldn't find where either of us rolled for Idril's contacts Pulpatoon. Do you want to roll them or have me do it? She gets 5, as she is 24 years old.

The macro is Contact [1d100] Relationship [1d100] Loyalty [1d20]

More rolls are possible depending on what you roll but that is the bulk of it.

More info on Character 18 in the rules.

[sastaz]

Turnip is up. Just need a little more info on one of them plus names. Feel free to expand/change the background if you want.

Turnip's Contacts

Sure, I will copy/paste and edit. By the way, you can remove everything but the picture from the first post in Turnip's personal forum. It's all covered below now.

[Rex]

All set.

[GreyWolfVT]

you can name them Rex I don't really care what their names are. I suppose best friend is the huntsman.

[sastaz]

Turnip is up. Just need a little more info on one of them plus names. Feel free to expand/change the background if you want.

Turnip's Contacts

CONTACTS (4)
Contact roll: [1d100]=1, relationship [1d100]=45, [1d20]=15 Aunt, acquaintance (45%) The only original family member who tries to stay in touch.
Contact roll: [1d100]=12, relationship [1d100]=95, [1d20]=13 Cousin, close friend (83%)
Contact roll: [1d100]=23, relationship [1d100]=51, [1d20]=9 Church of Save-K'nor in Cherafir, best friend (79%) Probably someone she helped out big time, now he/she helps her with information gathering.
Contact roll: [1d100]=32, relationship [1d100]=49, [1d20]=2 Military (city guard), acquaintance (32%)

Aunt, Acquaintance, Loyalty 45
The only original family member who tries to stay in touch. She lives in Aleath.

Cousin, Close Friend, Loyalty 83
Occupation and Location?

Church, Best Friend, Loyalty 79
Priest of Save-K'nor. Probably someone she helped out big time, now he helps her with information gathering. Located in Aleath.

Military/Militia, Acquaintance, Loyalty 32%
City Guard in Thay. Met when you arrived from Aleath. Seems an all right guy.

Right, so the reason I placed one of the contacts - the best friend - in Cherafir is that she lived in Aleath (birth city) for her first 13 years until she left her mother's line of work in Palace of the Floating Moon and embarked on her new career as Lia-Kavair in another city. It doesn't have to be Cherafir, but it should be something else that Aleath, the place where she lived her adult life. I think I picked Cherafir because it's reasonably close where we are now and that they have a Lia-Kavair guild, or at least that a lot is going down in the Alianage. Let me know your decision before I go on with names and story. Or did you plan for her to have lived in Thay?

[Rex]

Sounds good to me, I am fine with it.

[Rex]

you can name them Rex I don't really care what their names are. I suppose best friend is the huntsman.

All set.

[shaidar]

OK, so this looks like it's going to be my first harnmaster combat I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be declaring this right in the IC thread, but my general intention would be the following :

1. Get shield up, grab throwing axe and scan for further danger
2. Use the throwing axe on any closer danger that reveal itself
3. Drop pack and shift to main axe and engage enemy.

[Rex]

Good idea to discuss some.

Drop packs is a good first action.
Action options are on Combat 7.

Combat 7.PNG (378.55 KiB) Viewed 320 times

You can post what you want to do and I will figure out how it fits in the rules.

Order of action after the surprise round is by Initiative ML, highest first. When you first Engage someone you both test Initiative, if the Defender has a better level of success he gains a Tactical Advantage (Free Action).
Note that your Move is in Hexes (5 feet).
Your shield is your best friend, it is the best Defense vs any attack form, acts as Cover and Armor.
Defending yourself is a reaction not an action, so if you are aware of the attack you can defend yourself. Ignoring an attack is a bad thing.

[sastaz]

Sounds good to me, I am fine with it.

Ok, cool, will finish the contacts tonight (Swedish time).

[sastaz]

Good idea to discuss some.

Drop packs is a good first action.
Action options are on Combat 7.

You can post what you want to do and I will figure out how it fits in the rules.

Order of action after the surprise round is by Initiative ML, highest first. When you first Engage someone you both test Initiative, if the Defender has a better level of success he gains a Tactical Advantage (Free Action).
Note that your Move is in Hexes (5 feet).
Your shield is your best friend, it is the best Defense vs any attack form, acts as Cover and Armor.
Defending yourself is a reaction not an action, so if you are aware of the attack you can defend yourself. Ignoring an attack is a bad thing.

If I may: one thing to remember with combat in Hârnmaster is that the defender always gets an reaction on the attacker's turn, like Rex says. This reaction is normally of the "defence" type (dodge, or block with shield) which gives you sort of the same combat flow as, let's say LL or DnD. But. One defensive action is "counterstrike", which basically means you don't defend, you use oportunity to attack (because, when someone is attacking, they're letting their guard down). This could of course lead to at result where both attacker and defender impale each other. Which, and you will notice this, favours the heavy armored one. If a barbarian attacks a fully armored knight and the knight chooses defence option "counterstrike" the barbarian is going to be very sorry in a lot of the cases.

Also, like Rex said, there are bonus actions as well, usually for the most experienced and skilled combatants, so they can attack once more, which means the defender can counterstrike once more. And so on. You'll see how it flows as we start.

It's a bit different but I really love how combat plays out in Harnmaster. Nothing like "your turn - my turn - your turn - my turn", it really is more realistic.

Hope you agree Rex

[Rex]

I agree 100% sastaz. It is going to be interesting to see how it plays in pbp. Algrim and Arngeir have medium armor and Idril and Turnip are effectively unarmored and without shields. Gargun usually have light or no armor, but there hide offers minimal protection and some have small hide shields. Idril and Turnip will be best if they can stay un-engaged and use missile weapons or Invocations.

So everyone knows, initiative order to start will be:
note it changes as people get injured and add FL.

Turnip (84, no penalty)
Arngeir (78, 98-phy pen of 20)
Algrim (75, 90-phy pen of 15)
Idril (60, no penalty)
Gargun (50, no penalty)

Armor, shield and weapons slow you down, but allow you to take hits and deal damage.

[shaidar]

Arngeir's biggest issue in combat is his low movement (which I guess is improved if he drops his pack) and his lack of a long range missile weapon.

[Rex]

Agreed. He is a commited close range fighter for sure. Don't forget your Invocations. Both Arngeir and Idril can buff characters. If Arngeir wants to switch Suerlji's Defense to Jarlak's Lope it will help him with his Move. he hasn't used that invocation yet so I am fine with switching it.

For Idril, Vlasta Tears is a good offensive Invocation and Feat of Albarra is very powerful. She could use it to boost Str, Sta, Dex, Agi, Eye, Hea, Sme, or Move by 50% (double with a CS). Str would help reduce Encumbrance too. Serpent of the Claw is powerful but more difficult to use.

[shaidar]

So Unsarl's Hug would add +10 to axe and +5 to shield.

I'm not sure about Jarlak's Lope, the defense invocation boosts his blocking, but maybe that's not so useful, which I'd learn through play.

Does his movement increase much with no pack?

[sastaz]

I can't find weights for utility items like backpack, rope etcetera, and if memory servers there is no such thing - up to GM to decide-ish.

Anyway, the weight in Turnip's backpack will be negligible, maybe reduce her MOVE of 15 to 14 or even 13, but she can still cover 65 yards per round.

I'll post combat action right away!