Basic Combat

Introduction:

NeoDBZ is, ultimately, a game based around combat. It is typically the easiest way to gain experience and it is essential to learn if you're going to play this game. Though not required. It should be noted that most events involve more advanced forms of combat; so it's recommended at least some form of knowledge on the combat system be known.

* Note: The rules in this section of the phb are standized. If a power, ability, racial trait or unique suggestions that it functions in an alternative method to the ruling in this section, presume the abnormal ruling is correct. The combat part of the PHB is intended to be a 'catch all', but some special abilities have their own special rulings.

1. Initiative

When two people square off the exact timing of actions becomes important.

The first thing you do in combat, is roll your combat Initiative to determine the order of your actions so you can beat on one another. You should be able to find your Inititative roller in your character sheet and fill it in as required, but there's a few additional tidbits of information you can add; more information for your opponent, the better.

Preround Declarations: In short; anything that you activate as a passive ability or power, is considered a "Preround" power. If you paid for Bulking Aura and want to add it to your damage, you add it to the list of Prerounds. Same with Basic Flight, Weighted Clothes, if you're attempting to Ki sense lock.

To make things quicker, you can also consider adding your Alignment to hasten combat by removing the need of having to exchange the information each time. Anything that provides important information to your opponent speeds things up, even if your Declarations start becoming a long list.

The normal format in your character sheet should something like this:

Initiative: {1d20+(INT/5+SPD/25)} | APR: [INT/30+DEX/35+SPD/25] | SPD: #

Preround Declarations: Basic Flight. Weighted Clothes 1. Ki Sense: Auto. Neutral Good.

When this is posted, it will roll the 1d20 and you'll have your initiative number. Divide the rolled initiative by your calculated APR to get a division. Using this new number, you reduce your initiative number repeatedly to get a series of numbers up to your APR.

For example; Goku rolls 20 and has 5 APR, whereas Freiza rolls 15 and has 7 APR. 20/5 is 4. So thats 20 16 12 8 4 for Goku's Initiative. Freiza rolled 15 and has 7 APR, 15/7 is 2; which means his init looks like 15 13 11 9 7 5 3. Now since these numbers are meaningless as they are, they're converted to the characters initial to make: GG FF G FF G FF G F.

Remember, your APR stats are a minimium of 1 for each. If you have 20 INT, 20/30 = 1. So your minimium APR is 3.

The reason your Speed stat is listed is because during a Tie; the faster fighter goes first.

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2. Acting in the Round

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When taking your actions, it's important that you actually roleplay out your actions and follow them with a brief Out Of Character explanation of what you're doing. For example:

Arvok smirks, his aura flaring slightly as he does so. Seconds pass, and his aura begins to grow massively, collecting ki at an alarming rate! When his aura dims, his powerlevel has grown substantially. (Mega Charge)

In the above, Arvok roleplayed his action, and declared what power he was doing. You *must* declare what you're using, if he had not declared Mega Charge, his opponent wouldn't know if he used Charge, Enhanced Charge, High Charge, or Megacharge, amongst other things.

The amount of depth you use with each post will vary, but it's recommended by the GM's that your fights consist of more detailed roleplay than:

''Goku laughs as he's hit. (Power Block)''

''Vegeta pummels you! (ACT Combo)''

''Freiza fires a beam of Ki! (MACT Piercing Blast)''

This makes for boring fights not only for spectators; but for you and your opponent.

When it's your turn to act, you can do many things. Everyone can perform certain actions, which are listed in this chapter in the node 'Basic Attacks'. Aside from these attacks, you can perform different attacks based upon the powers you have and for this reason it is important to pick powers wisely to ensure you can do what you want to do in combat. All actions cost at least one point of Endurance (End) and some cost more than one.

If they do not state how much Endurance they cost, then they simply cost one point.

When you attack someone (or when you're attacked), you then have to post a defensive reaction. The most common methods of defense are Blocking (letting them hit you, but absorbing some of the impact to take less than the full damage), Dodging (to try and avoid the attack altogether) and Parrying (Similar to Dodging, but you're only trying to redirect their attack away from you using your hands or a weapon).

An example exception to the above rule of every action costing one Endurance is Blocking and Dodging.

Parrying has an Endurance cost listed with the type of Parrying power you're using, which means parry cannot be used before you buy the power.

Example of an Attack and corresponding Defense is thus:

''Goku launched off of the stone pillar toward the Saiyan invader, blurring out of sight at the last instant to strike Vegeta's cheek from the left side with a clenched fist, sending him spinning toward the ground. (ACT Power Punch)''

''Vegeta smirked as the weakling warrior tried to catch him off-guard, jerking his body back as Goku's fist headed toward his face. His hand slapped Goku's forearm, forcing it away from his cheek while pushing him to throw him off balance. (ACT Parry)''

Goku then rolls his Strike roll; he rolled a 34.

Vegeta then rolls his Parry roll, he only rolled a 29 so he got hit.

There are several things Vegeta could do in this situation, if his speed were higher, he could use the power Zanzoken to reroll his Parry (if he also had access to the power), but his speed isn't high enough. He could use the Telekinetic power Freeze, but he doesn't feel like Goku's punch is that strong and so he takes the damage.

Goku rolls and ends up dealing 384 points of AP/SP damage to Vegeta. Vegeta is level 6, so he decides to use the power Supreme Aura to reduce the damage by 150; determined by the maximium the power allows for his level. He then shows his damage calculation:

[384-150-24] => 210

The -24 is from his Racial Resistance. Check your racial information for your own resistance.

So he takes 210 points of damage and marks down that he spent 150 Ki using Supreme Aura, in addition to spending 30 Ki for using ACT with his Parry along with the endurance for using the actual parry power. This comes to 2 Endurance, 180 Ki in total. Goku only spent 1 Endurance and 30 Ki; which means if they kept up this kind of exchange, Goku could win.

You *always* show damage reductions publicly when you reduce the damage from any attack. This keeps everyone honest, and helps everyone correct any mistakes someone makes.

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Now you know the basics of combat; Rolling Initiative and working out your combat order, basic attack and damage along with defenses. You can effectively start playing right away. However there are more advanced powers, abilities, status effects and more if you want to compete to be the best.

Attacking:

1. Attacking

Perhaps the most common thing you'll be doing is Attacking your opponent to make them kneel under pressure. There's three basic ways of attacking someone:

With a Hand to Hand attack, a Sword (weapon) attack or a Ki attack. In every case, every attack can be placed into one of these three categories.

Hand to Hand attacks are the simplest to do and *every* fighter in NeoDBZ knows how to fight this way, to a basic degree. Everyone knows how to throw a punch or a kick, but not everyone is good at it. The list of attacks everyone can do is listed in the Basic Attacks node later in this chapter. Hand to Hand attacks use your DEX/5 as your modifier to strike and add your STR/5 to damage.

For example: {(1d6 per level+Str/5)+Misc mods+Bulk} Punch, 1 Endurance.

Sword attacks are very similar to Hand to Hand attacks, but could be considered a little bit more complicated. Everyone can still pick up a sword and swing it (though, some not very well). Everyone knows how to make a 'Basic attack' with any weapon they pick up using your DEX/5 to strike. If you hit you deal the weapon's base dice in damage, plus your level bonus damage dice (which is listed with the weapon itself), plus your STR/5, plus all miscellaneous bonuses you have to damage.

For example: {(2d10+1d10 per level+Str/5)+Misc mods+Bulk} Light Weapon, 1 Endurance.

Ki attacks are perhaps the most complex, some fighters never learn how to gather their energy and turn it into a blast of destructive energy. In order to perform Ki attacks, you must get the appropriate power from the Offensive Ki tree - there is no "Basic" Ki Attack. Ki attacks use your MNT/5 as the modifier to Strike and to damage, in addition to the base dice of the Ki attack, which varies according to how much Ki you spent on it.

For example: {(5d8 per level+MNT/5)+ Misc mods} Basic Discharge; 25 ki cost per level.

When you attack, you first roll strike which is 1d20+appropriate Stat modifier+miscellaneous bonuses and your opponent declares his defense. If your opponent blocks, you can just roll 1d20 to check for a critical you don't need to show all of your bonuses, since it's only the d20 result which matters.

You then roll the damage of what you're doing, presuming you hit. Powers will have the listed damage.

However, when taking your actions it's important that you actually roleplay out your actions and follow them with a brief Out Of Character explanation of what you're doing. For example:

Arvok smirks, his aura flaring slightly as he does so. Second pass, and his aura begins to grow massivly, collecting ki at an alarming rate! When his aura dims, his powerlevel has grown substantially. (Mega Charge)

In the above, Arvok roleplayed his action and declared what power he was doing. You must declare what you're using, if he had not declared Mega Charge, his opponent wouldn't know if he used Charge, Enhanced Charge, High Charge or Megacharge, amongst other things.

Remember that when you use addons such as Bulks, Superspeeds and so on. Anything that alters your attack's damage, speed or adds additional status effects is an addon.

The amount of depth you use with each post will vary, but it's recommended by the GM's that your fights consist of more detailed roleplay than:

''Goku laughs as he's hit. (Power Block)''

''Vegeta pummels you! (ACT Combo)''

''Freiza fires a beam of Ki! (MACT Piercing Blast)''

This makes for boring fights not only for spectators; but for you and your opponent.

When it's your turn to act, you can do many things. Everyone can perform certain actions, which are listed in this chapter in the node 'Basic Attacks'. Aside from these attacks, you can perform different attacks based upon the powers you have and for this reason it is important to pick powers wisely to ensure you can do what you want to do in combat. All actions cost at least one point of Endurance (End) and some cost more than one.

If they do not state how much Endurance they cost, then they simply cost one point.

When you attack someone (or when you're attacked), you then have to post a defensive reaction. The most common methods of defense are Blocking (letting them hit you, but absorbing some of the impact to take less than the full damage), Dodging (to try and avoid the attack altogether) and Parrying (Similar to Dodging, but you're only trying to redirect their attack away from you using your hands or a weapon).

Example of an Attack is thus:

''Goku launched off of the stone pillar toward the Saiyan invader, blurring out of sight at the last instant to strike Vegeta's cheek from the left side with a clenched fist, sending him spinning toward the ground. (ACT Power Punch)''

Defense:

1. Defense

When you're attacked, you almost always have the chance to defend yourself. You roleplay out your defensive action and state in parenthesis what defensive action you're taking.

Dodging is a defensive action anyone can do. It costs you nothing to do and is just a simple attempt to get out of the way of an attack. You roll 1d20+SPD/5+miscellaneous dodge modifiers, in response to their attack. If the result is the same or higher than theirs, you've successfully dodged. If your result is lower, they hit you before you can move out of the way and you're hit full force.

Blocking is also a defensive action which almost everyone can do, but it requires the power Block from the Defensive power Tree to perform. When you block, you allow your opponent to hit you, but you take less than the full amount of damage. In most cases, you divide the total damage by two, if Blocking does something different for you, the power will say so.

Parrying is another option you can do and like Blocking, requires you to have a specific power to do so. To parry with your bare hands, you must have the HtH Parry power from the Hand to Hand tree, if you want to parry with a weapon, you must have the Parrying Strike power from the Sword tree. If you want to parry with your mind, you must have the Telekinetic Parry power from the Telekinetic tree.

Normally, the only type of defense which has a cost associated with it is Parrying, which has its cost listed in the appropriate power tree. Higher forms of Blocking (like Power Block) might have you spend Ki to reduce the damage before you divide it by two, in which case you incur a cost based on how much you reduce the damage by.

2. Damage Reduction

The order in which you reduce damage is always as follows:

1) Auras / Shields

Various Auras and Shields are available to every fighter, the most common of which are included in the Defensive Ki power tree. All share a common theme: Reducing an attack's force by spending Ki. While they are the most common, they are not the only things capable of helping you take less damage, Psionic and Solid Aura from the Telekinetic power tree are also common methods of defense.

Multiple auras and shields can not be used together unless the power specifically says so and if someone attacks you with a Combo power (doing multiple, different attacks at the same time), you can only use a specific Aura or Shield against one of the attacks, you couldn't use the same Shield against all of the attacks in the combo.

For example; If you got hit by a combo which involved Multi Punch and then Power Punch, you would not be able to use an SP shield on both attacks, but you could use Aura of Protection against the Multi Punch and Supreme Aura against the Power Punch.

Shields and Auras which have a Ki cost can be scaled to your desired effect, up to your maximum ability, determined by level. Those shields which have no cost (like Ki Shield, and Solid aura), can not be used to block out less than the maximum amount of damage that they could.

You do not need to declare which shield you are using when you're planning to shield, however you do need to when damage reduction takes place, along with the ki cost.

Shields and Auras may not be used while unconcious unless the power specifically states otherwise.

Template: [(Damage Dealt-Shield or Aura)-Resistance]

2) Blocking

A power from the Defensive power tree, blocking allows you to brace for the impact of an attack. You're automatically hit, but you're able to reduce the damage slightly by preparing for it. Blocking divides the damage in half.

You must declare you are blocking and which block power you're using in order to utilize it.

Template: [(Damage Dealt/2)-Resistance]

3) Armor

If you're wearing armor, the armor is subtracted from the damage immediately after the aura. The damage reduction is applied before blocking. Certain things can reduce the effectiveness of Armor or ignore it entirely, be sure to read anything listed beside the damage dealt.

This step also includes any form of Natural Armor a character might have, some races have a certain amount of Natural Armor, which is treated the exact same way as regular Armor. Anything that pierces regular armor also pierces Natural Armor. If you have a form of Natural Armor, you can not wear Armor on top of it.

Armor must be declared in your Initiative preround in order to be worn in combat and may not be added during an ongoing battle with exception of Natural Armor - which must always be 'worn' and applied.

Template: [(Damage Dealt - Aura - Armor) - Resistance]

Blocking Template: [(Damage Dealt - Aura - Armor)/2 - Resistance]

4) Resistance

Resistance is the last form of damage reduction. Resistance ensures that whatever force gets past your auras, blocking and armor, it then doesn't do you much damage. Hopefully. The most common form of Resistance is given to you by your Racial Resistance found in your Race's information, but there are certain uniques and powers which grant some fighters additional Resistance as well.

Resistance acts much like Armor in that it reduces an attack's damage before it's dealt to your Hit Points, except that it doesn't diminish. Things which bypass or reduce any Armor you're wearing also bypass Resistance, unless stated otherwise.

Multiple sources of resistance stack; So if you had level*4 resistance from your race and 5*level from a racial power or unique, you would have level*9 resistance in total.

Unlike other forms of damage reduction; resistance always applies even when unconcious.

Template: [(Damage Dealt - Resistance)]

Example:

''Goku struck Vegeta in combat for a 400-damage punch and Vegeta used the Defensive powers 'Power Block' and 'Aura of Protection'. Assume for this example he has no Armor worn or that it is broken.''

Step 1: Auras and Shields

[400-200] = 200 Damage left (200 was reduced by Aura of Protection, costing Vegeta 100 Ki)

Step 2: Armor

He isn't wearing any armor or it is broken, so this step is skipped.

Step 3: Blocking

[200/2] = 100 Blocking reduces the damage by half.

Step 4: Resistance

[100-48] = 52 (Vegeta is level 12 and has 4*level resistance)

Vegeta then takes 50 points of damage.

Normally these steps are put together as a single reduction calculation in combat, in which case it would look like this:

[(400-200)/2-48] = 52 AoP. 100 ki.

Or:

[(Damage Dealt - Shield or Aura - Armor)/2 - Resistance]

Health and Energy:

1. Health and Energy

Everyone has Hit Points, Life Points, Ki and Endurance. The exception to this is Androids, which have no Endurance and is detailled in their racial information. While there is no direct penalty to losing Ki, Hit Points or Endurance, common sense would dictate that if you're at half Hit Points, then your character looks beaten up. Same with being at Half endurance, you might be sweating or breathing heavily from fatigue. Ki is a little bit less noticeable in terms of how much you have versus how much you're missing, though it would still be indicated in your powerlevel lowering and maybe similar to exhaustion or fatigue, but in a more spiritual way in place of physical exertion.

You do not regen while there is an ongoing fight in your scene. Even if you're not part of it.

Hit Points (HP)

These points represent how much damage you can take and should be considered superficial injury, such as bruises and more minor cuts that won't have lasting impact on the body's performance. When you are reduced to 0 Hit Points, you go unconscious. If someone deals you damage beyond this, the damage then goes to your Life Points. You recover 5% of your Maximum Hit Points every Neo hour (7 IRL minutes) out of combat. You do not regain HP while a fight is ongoing in the scene that you're in.

Ki (Chi)

These points represent your spiritual energy. How much you have and how well you can use it. You spend it to enhance the stength and speed of your attacks, as well as to reduce the damage you take and more. You recover 5% of your Maximum Ki every Neo hour (7 IRL minutes) out of combat. You do not regain Ki while a fight is ongoing in the scene that you're in.

Life Points (LP)

These represent the natural resilience of your body to survive without any conscious aid from you. If you run out of Hit Points, damage then goes to your Life Points. Generally speaking, Life Points are serious damage to the body; such as internal bleeding and damaged organs or worse. If you then lose all of your Life points, you are dead. If your Life Points are ever damaged, you must recover them fully before you start to recover any of your Hit Points. Life Points recover slowly at a rate of (Level*2 LP) every hour in-game (7 IRL minutes).

If you recieve a heal while unconcious, the healing power will specify if it is LP or HP or both. If it's for a HP heal while you're in LP; you gain it as normal but must continue to regain your LP through natural regen before waking up. If the heal would wake you up due to being restored, you will still remain unconcious for half the regen time it would've normally taken.

For example; if you were KO'd by an attack that takes you into 100 LP's, (-100 HP) and you were level 5, you would take 70 Real Life minutes to wake up. You continue to regenerate HP as normal during this time. You do not regain LP while a fight is ongoing in the scene that you're in.

Sub-Life Points (SLP)

These life points are a rare form of additional Life Points that represent a characters ability to survive even beyond what most consider death. While in Sub-LP, you give off no power level or pulse as if you were dead and cannot be targetted for additional damage or a killing move while in this state. Even if someone does try; simply pretend to take the damage or state you're dead. Once you're back to 1 LP, you once more have a pulse and power level. You must regenerate Sub-LP before you can begin regenerating LP.

Warning; you can be killed if sufficient damage puts you through your LP and Sub LP in a single attack - only if you keep Sub-LP after the damage is finished do you get it as a 'free death'.

If a person has witnessed this state of death before, is a member of your race with the same death state or has been told by someone aware of this state of death (simply sensing someone disappear is not enough to confirm these suspicions - you would have to be told that person x is infact dead 100%), one person present (and aware) can target the remains with an attack and only once to try and kill you for good. If they fail to deal enough damage to put you to 0 Sub-LP or below, then you are still alive. You do not regain SLP while a fight is ongoing in the scene that you're in.

You regain SLP at double the rate you gain LP, unless otherwise stated.

Endurance (End)

It determines how physically fit you are and just how long you can go on fighting. You pay 1 Endurance for every action you take, minimum unless otherwise specified. Certain attacks might cost more than one point of End, they will state so in their descriptions. When you have 0 Endurance, you have over-exerted yourself and you go unconscious. If you were performing an action that takes you into negative endurance; the action is aborted. You regain 25% of your Maximum Endurance every Neo hour (7 IRL minutes).

You do not regain END while a fight is ongoing in the scene that you're in.

Regeneration

In combat, it means you recover a certain amount of HP, LP, Ki or End (or whatever it is that you regenerate) on each of your actions per round. This happens automatically at the start of your action (before costs/effects) and happens even on actions in which you're stunned and unable to act, unless the power used specifically states that it prevents you from regenerating.

If you regenerate at an accelerated rate during combat, you will regenerate just as quickly out of combat. You add the number you multiply your your level by to find your per-action regeneration to the amount of % you heal per Neo Hour. For instance, if you regenerate Level*6 HP per action, you heal +6% of your HP per Neo Hour outside of combat. If you regenerate Level*3 HP and Level*3 Ki per action, you recover +3% HP and Ki every Neo Hour outside of Combat.

If you recover LP faster than normal, then you add your per-action LP regeneration directly to how much LP you recover from every Neo Hour. +Level*1 LP Regeneration causes you to recover +Level*1 LP every Neo Hour.

Unconcious (KO)

This means you are immediately removed from the Initiative and ignored in order to deal with more immediate threats, if they are present. If you are KO'd in the middle of an action string or Multi Attack involving multiple strike rolls, your opponent may cease his attack at any time if he chooses but pays the costs of the attacks as normal. Combos can not be pulled in this way and full damage must apply, if it hits with the exception of Sword Combos; since they function more like a Multi.

The reasoning for not being targettable while unconcious during a fight, is simply that fights are so fast; an opponent doesn't have the opportunity to look for a small power signature and line up an attack before their opponent intercepts them.

You are considered Unconcious when you either:

1) Run out of HP.

2) Run out of Endurance.

3) Run out of Ki, if you're an Android.

4) Knocked out by a Critical that induces an auto-KO or Death.

Death

This means you've run out of LP and you're unable to save yourself. Consider carefully before declaring death, because many times senior players have been able to point out methods of preventing an accidental death by better usage of Damage Reduction or Special abilities and thus avoiding an upset player. It's easy to get upset over death, so ensure you have done everything you can in order to prevent it before throwing in the towel. Keep your sheet, too. Because in some circumstances Death is not the end.

Remember that passive shields such as Solid Aura and Resistance continue to function while you're unconcious, but without using an ability that feigns death, someone can still tell if you're in positive LP.

Certain races or Immortals are harder to kill than others, but not known by people outside their race or unless they've been told by the person or witnessed the ressurection first hand. If someone you killed came back to life; you'd be suspicious of their next "death" too.

Feigning Death

Unfortunately pretending to be dead can be metagamed against, so you must be weary about telling people ICly about techniques you have or know to avoid dying if you want to live a long and happy life. Abilities such as Taisha's Charge taught by the Vengard School can make you appear dead to the untrained eye and immune to further damage unless the person knows how to circumvent the technique by possessing it or having seen you use it before.

Armors and Natural Armors

Sometimes you'll have access to Armors or automatically possess Natural Armors. This is generally treated as an additional buffer for your health points or life points. Details for its usage can be found under the "Defense" node in Chapter 5L Combat, Section 1: Basic Combat.

Armors are bought or made and must be declared pre-round to be used; they have an associated XP penalty if used outside of serious fights and generally act as additional health or damage reduction, sometimes with additional effects. Armors tend to warn your opponent you mean business. You can only wear one type of Armor at any one time.

Natural Armors however, are always applied and do not need to be declared pre-round. You must apply Natural Armors (unless it was destroyed in a previous fight). You may not wear Armor over Natural Armor; for example if an Icer was wearing Armor and ascended to Form 3 which gains Natural Armor - the Armor is simply forced off his body by the natural one and drops to the floor.

Donning Armor may only be done as a pre-round action in the initial initiative roll, you cannot suddenly decide to apply Armor in later initiatives, unless the fight ends and a new one begins. Natural Armors regenerate as explained in their racial information.