Black Sword Hack

2.1. Blood and Souls!

First and foremost, the players roll all the dice in combat: when monsters attack, the players simply roll to defend.

2.1.1. Initiative

At the beginning of a combat, every player makes a WIS test. Those who succeed act before the opposition (monsters and enemy NPCs), starting with the player seated at the left of the GM. The rest act after the opposition, once again, in a clockwise fashion.
• A critical success on the initiative roll means you get three actions instead of two on your first turn.
• A critical failure on the initiative roll means you only get one action instead of two on your first turn.

2.1.2. What Can You Do?

During their turn, your character can take two actions (move, attack, use something, cast a spell, etc.). Don’t forget you must roll your Doom die if you take the same action twice.

2.1.3. Attacking

• Using a melee weapon: make a STR test.

• Using a ranged weapon: make a DEX test.

A successful attack deals damage (you roll your damage die).

A critical success deals maximum damage, and you add another damage die on top of that.

2.1.4. Defending

Defending is done during the enemy’s turn; it doesn’t count against the two action limit you get during your own turn. You can defend as many times as you need during your turn. • Parrying: make a STR test

• Dodging: make a DEX test

Note: The character must be holding something to be able to parry. Ranged attacks can only be dodged.

A failed defense roll means you take damage.

A critical failure means your armour is ignored (see below).

2.1.5. Threat Level

If an opponent’s level is higher than the character’s level, the player adds the difference between the two levels to the d20 when making any attribute tests to attack (if the character’s level is higher, no modifier is applied).

2.1.6. Weapons and damage

Characters are trained fighters: the damage they cause with any weapon is the same (normally 1d6). Their unarmed damage is 1d4. These may change with Backgrounds (p. 24) and Gifts (p. 31).

2.1.7. Armour

The armour’s protection rating is subtracted from the incoming damage (which can be reduced to zero).

2.1.8. Shields

Shields give you Advantage to your defence tests when parrying. At the GM’s discretion, they may let you use your STR to defend against arrows. A critical failure means the shield is broken.

2.1.9. Two-Handed Weapons

These weapons give you Advantage to their damage rolls.

2.1.10. Attack Effect

If you want to add an effect to your attack, say so before you make your attribute test and then make a Doom roll. NPCs don’t have access to weapon effects.

• Break: you break your opponent’s weapon (or a piece of equipment).
• Brutal: add the Doom die’s result to the damage you inflict.
• Disarm: you do no damage, but your target is disarmed.
• Entangle: you do no damage, all further attacks against the target during this Turn are done with Advantage.
• Flurry: inflict regular damage and immediately get an additional attack.
• Pin down: inflict regular damage and your target cannot move this Turn.
• Sacrifice: inflict double damage (triple if your attack is a critical hit) but your weapon breaks.
• Shove: you do no damage but push your opponent (to the ground, overboard, etc.).
• Sweep: damage everyone Close to you (friend and foe).
• Vicious: inflict regular and ongoing damage (Ud4).

2.1.11. Ongoing Damage

Things like acid, poison, or fire deal ongoing damage. Roll for damage using a Usage die (generally Ud4 or Ud6) each Turn until the die is depleted. There should always be ways to stop the damage, like jump in water to douse the flames or apply anti-venom unguent.

2.1.12. Hit Points

When a monster’s or NPC’s hit points reach 0, they are dead. At 0 hit points a character is Helpless, unable to do anything except talk feebly. Once the fight is over (or the character is dragged to a safe place), the player rolls a d6:

2.1.13. Helpless (d6)

1. Scratched: the character is good to go except for a new scar.
2. Missed: one random piece of equipment is destroyed.
3. Impaired: Disadvantage on DEX tests for the rest of the session.
4. Injured: Disadvantage on all attribute tests for the rest of the session.
5. Butchered: lose 1 point of (roll a d6): 1-3: STR, 4-6: DEX permanently.
6. Killed: create a new character (of the same level).

A surviving character (results 1 to 5) immediately gets d4 HP back.

2.2. Recovery

As soon as they opted for a life of violence, characters have shown an unnatural capacity to heal. It is said that the powers of Law and Chaos tend to favour those who fit into their plans. Anyone witnessing the PCs’ unnatural healing grows suspicious of them. People associated with the powers that be usually bring bad luck and death with them... In game terms, it simply means player characters recover HP by taking a short rest or a long rest. Everyone else needs medical attention and several weeks of bed rest.

• Short rests can be taken anywhere: they last 1 hour, characters recover a number of hit points equal to half their CON score (rounded down). A character can take one short rest per day.
• Long rests can only be taken in safe environments: they last 6 hours, and characters recover all their hit points. Their Doom dice are fully restored as well. Some backgrounds and gifts may require a long rest to refresh. This is mentioned in their description (see p. 24 and p. 31).

What counts as a safe environment is up to the GM. It is usually a settlement of some kind with some degree of provided comfort. A campsite in the wilderness, where night attacks or interruptions are a possibility, is never a safe environment. You shouldn’t expect to have long rests while in the wild.