The Combat System

Sikeopath · Jun 16, 2025

The Combat System

The combat system is in place to make combat roleplay as fluid as possible without taking away from your player ideas and capabilities. The following will discuss how dice work in combat, how turns work and what you can do during them, weaponry, armor and physical abilities within your moveset!

If you have any questions regarding the system or how it works, please contact The Systems Team via a Discord Ticket.

Dice

There are many different applications for dice on Sonder. This can range from attacking and defending to perceiving and self-composure. This section will cover how the dice work and how they are calculated.

Success and Failure

Upon attempting an action, you will be asked to roll a corresponding dice for it. Each Dice you have will roll a D10. If it meets the DC (Dice Check) it will count as a ‘success’ and be marked in green. The normal DC for a success is 6, however it can be raised/lowered to make it more/less difficult to achieve a Success.
For more info, check the Difficulty Class section.

So, let us imagine we are attempting to push a Block and have been asked to roll a Body + Athletics check with 3 successes to pass. In this example, we have 3 points in Body and 2 in Athletics giving us a total of 5 Dice total for that specific check.

By doing /skillroll Body Athletics, here is an example outcome with this scenario:

Player rolled Body + Athletics [9, 7, 6, 5, 2]
Thee 5 dice will roll a D10 each. If they are above 6, they will be coloured in green and counted as a ‘success’.
In the above scenario, you can see we rolled above 6 three times and thus 3 of the numbers were marked in Green.
This means we got 3 successes and succeeded in pushing the block.

When rolling a 10 (Displayed as an ‘X’) this will count as 2 successes in our total instead of one. So a [X, 7, 6, 5, 2] would count as 4 successes instead of 3 due to rolling a 10. This applies for every 10 as well - a [X, X, X, 5, 2] would count as 6 successes.

Contested Rolls

If you are attempting to perform an action against a target that is resisting, you will contest your action by rolling against each other. Success or Failure on this is determined by the number of successes and failures between the two parties.

For example, let us say we have two individuals in combat. We will say they both have 5 attack and defense dice. The two roll against each other - One to attack & One to defend:

Attacker rolled Body + Melee [X, 9, 8, 4, 2]
Defender rolled Body + Athletics [9, 7, 5, 4, 2]
In this case, the attacker rolled 4 Successes (Remember, X’s are worth 2 successes!) and the defender rolled 2 Successes. The attacker therefore succeeds
Using the Damage system deals a Moderate Wound as they had 2 successes over the defender.

For more info on Damage, check the damage section.

In the case of a tie in successes, the attack wins by 1 Success. So if the attacker rolled [9, 7, 1] and the defender rolled [9, 8, 4], the attacker would win. Similarly, if the attacker rolls [7, 6, 4] and the defender rolls [9, 8, 4], the attacker would still win.

Focus Points

Focus Points are something you can purchase on your character skills tab which will attempt to ‘fix’ one of your potential fails into a success.

For example, if we rolled a [9, 7, 5, 5, 2], the Focus Point will attempt to ‘fix’ one of these rolls by adding its value to the highest failure. It would become [9, 7, 6, 5, 2] as the focus adds itself to the 5 changing it to a 6 (becoming blue in the process) giving us an additional success.

However, it is not guaranteed to work. If we roll [9, 7, 3, 3, 2], changing the 3 to a 4 would not grant a success as it would not be a 6, so it does nothing and the roll remains a [9, 7, 3, 3, 2]. You can also have up to two focus points, which allows it to fix rolls 2 under the DC. So while 1 focus might not fix a [9, 7, 4, 4, 2], a second one will change it to a [9, 7, 6, 4, 2].

It is also worth explicitly stating, this will only fix one potential roll. So if you have a focus point and roll a [5, 5, 5], it will only change one roll to a 6 rather than all of them.

In order to actually use your focus, do /skillroll [MainSkill] [SubSkill] true, with the true or false dictating whether a focus is applied or not. If you do not have a focus point applied to a sub-skill and put true anyways, nothing will happen.

Difficulty Class

Difficulty Class (Or DC for short) is how hard it is for a dice to be counted as a Success. Typically the DC is 6, but it can be raised or lowered by effects such as Advantage or Disadvantage which raise or lower the DC respectively.

So let us say we rolled a [8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3]. With a DC of 6, we get 4 successes.
With a step of advantage, the DC becomes 5 making the roll [8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3], with the 5’s now being counted as successes.
Advantage can stack up to 2 times lowering the DC down to 4 to make the roll [8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3], turning our original 4 successes into 7.
Disadvantage raises the DC making it harder to succeed, raising the 6 to a 7 hence making the original roll [8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3] reducing our 4 successes to 2.
Like advantage, it can also stack up to 2 times making a DC of 8, and changing the roll to [8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3] for a total of 1 Success.

To change the DC of a dice, do /skillroll [MainSkill] [SubSkill] False 8 to set a DC of 8 with no Focus applied.

Sikeopath · Jul 16, 2025

Combat Turns and Rounds

Throughout combat, everyone involved will need to follow a specific order where in ever round you will have your turn act on your surroundings. This section will inform you about the difference between turns and rounds, your capabilities and how the specific order is determined.

Initiative and Turn Order

Upon starting combat, all participants will need to roll to determine the turn order. Each participant must roll a [General + Dexterity] check. This roll is known as your Initiative. The turn order is determined by the player with the most successes going first and the person with the least successes going last.

In the event of a tie, the tied combatants will roll a D10 until the tie is resolved. Similar to the above, the player rolling the highest number would go first and the person with the lowest number would go last.

Turns & Rounds

The most important information to know is the difference between Turns and Rounds. Although they may appear to be the same thing, they have different meanings while working hand in hand.

A Turn is where you specifically may perform. This can involve attacking, moving, casting and much more discussed in the sections below.

A Round is the full turn order. The duration of a round begins from the end of a players turn. The Round ends once that same players turn ends again.

As an example, we can take five players in order.
If player 2 has cast a spell which lasts for 1 round on player 4, the effects will last until player 2 has finished their next turn.
This means, players 3, 4, 5, 1 and 2 would take their turns, in this order, before the spell runs out.

The Action Pool

At the beginning of your turn, you gain 4 resources for you to use. An Action, Bonus Action, Movement and Reaction. They can be used in whatever order you deem fit. Using an Action does not end your turn.

Movement

Once per round, on your turn, you may move up to however many blocks your current Movement Speed is with the base movement speed being 5 Blocks. Movement in 1 turn can never exceed more than 20 blocks.

Bonus Action

Once per round, on your turn, you may use a Bonus Action.

Action

Once per round, on your turn, you may use an Action.

Reaction

Once per round, you may activate a Reaction.

Action Pool Usage

These are the various usage cases for the various resources you can use on your turn.
Actions

Attacking - Attempting an attack on a target using a weapon, cantrip, projectile or unarmed.

Abilities - Using an ability such as a Martial Technique, Enkindled Spell, Faithful Scripture or other actions that use an Action.

Abilities with multi-turn charge times consume your action for the specified number of turns.

Abilities with a 1 turn charge time are used instantly.

Abilities marked with ‘Weapon' or 'Cantrip' for their range will use their Weapon or Cantrips Power, Reach & Type respectively.

Prepare - Pre-charge an action by stating the conditions required to trigger it.

For example, you could prepare an attack that triggers if anyone enters your range.

This lasts until your next turn if it is not triggered. However, this can be preserved if Prepare is used again to maintain it.

If used to maintain a Prepared action, the user will gain Advantage when it is triggered.

However, this cannot be preserved if the trigger condition would automatically be activated (i.e. preparing an attack if they enter range, if the target is already in range).

Misc - Actions that do not fall in the purview of normal actions, such as lifting a rock or noticing a target's weakness, are typically for events overseen by DM’s or flavour.

Bonus Actions

Abilities - Using an ability such as a Martial Technique, Enkindled Spell, Faithful Scripture or other feats that use a Bonus Action for their charge time.

Drawing a Weapon - Draw a weapon or pick up a weapon that has been dropped.

Potions/Consumption - Drink a potion or consume an item to gain their effects.

Misc - Feats that do not fall in the purview of normal actions, such as tying a rope or lighting a torch, are typically for events overseen by DM’s or flavour.

Reactions

Abilities - Using an ability such as a Martial Technique, Enkindled Spell, Faithful Scripture or other feats that use a Reaction for their charge time.

Misc - Feats that do not fall in the purview of normal reactions, such as warning someone of danger, are typically for events overseen by DM’s or flavour.

Sikeopath · Jul 16, 2025

Basic Combat

Combat is ensured to run smoothly by using fixed amounts of damage based on skill rolls with the dices each player has. This section aims to simplify how damage is taken and what induces it systematically.

Damage

Upon failing a defense roll, you will take damage according to the number of successes between the defense and the attack roll.

A critical Success (A dice of 10) also counts as two successes in this calculation. Each player has a maximum HP of 24.

Successes over Defense	Wound Tier	Damage
1 Success	Minor	-2 HP
2 Successes	Moderate	-4 HP
3+ Successes	Major	-8 HP

Falling Damage is calculated as a stacking Minor Wound for each block past 4 Blocks.

Attacking / Defending

If you are attacking someone or defending against an attack, there are a variety of dice you can roll. Your options to attack or defend with may be limited by either your weapons for attacking or what you are defending against.

Some abilities might limit what skills you can use to defend against them, but otherwise you are generally free to use whatever defense roll you see fit.

Attacking

Body + Melee

Attacks using melee weapons such as Swords or Daggers use the Body + Melee stat.

Body + Unarmed

Attacks while unarmed or weapons such as Knuckles or Gauntlets use the Body + Unarmed stat.

Body + Ranged

Attacks using ranged weapons such as Bows or Slings use the Body + Ranged stat.

Mind + Arcana

Attacks using Arcana such as spells or cantrips use the Mind + Arcana stat.
This requires the user to be part of the Enkindled System.

Mind + Faith

Attacks using Faith such as scriptures or cantrips use the Mind + Faith stat.
This requires the user to be part of the Faithful System.

Defending

Body + Athletics

Defending via Blocking or Dodging uses the Body + Athletics stat.

Body + Dexterity

Defending via Dodging or Blocking uses the Body + Dexterity stat.

Mind + Constitution

Defending via a Defensive Cantrip from either Enkindled or Faithful.
This requires the user to be part of the Enkindled or Faithful System.

Sikeopath · Jul 16, 2025

Gear

Whether it be a weapon to attack with or armour to defend with, every category of gear is used in a certain way and can greatly impact the course of combat roleplay. This section discusses the types of Weapons and Armour that you can use and how each will effect you.

Armour & AC

Armour - Chestplate

Armour (Abbreviated to AC) acts as a “success buffer” against damage of a specified type. If the defender is successfully attacked while wearing a chestplate, the total successes towards the damage calculation is reduced by 1 for each point of AC the struck armour piece has. This cannot reduce it below a Minor Wound.

If you are wearing armour with an AC of 1 and are struck with an attack with a success difference of 3, you would subtract 1 from that bringing the total down to 2 Successes, bringing the successes damage down to a Moderate Wound.

This reduction occurs after being struck, not before. So if the defender has an AC of 2, and the difference in successes is 2, the AC would apply after they are struck, subtracting 2 from the successes down to 0. Since it cannot reduce it below a Minor Wound, they take that.

Armour is made up of four pieces of gear which each serve a different purpose. The chestplate is the main piece of gear which applies the points of AC to the rest of your armour. An individual's AC can never exceed IV in any one category, with higher rarity armour’s having a potential additional point of AC to allocate to one of the three resistance categories.

Armour classified as heavy will reduce the wearer’s base movement speed by 2 down to 3 Blocks. This reduced speed applies when calculating effects such as [Slowed] or [Hastened].

Chestplate Material	Armour Type	Physical Resistance	Magic Resistance	Faith Resistance
Chain \| Fae Thread	Light	1	1	0
Cloth \| Weaved	Light	0	1	1
Leather \| Hide	Light	1	0	1
Plate	Heavy	2	2	1
Scale	Heavy	1	2	2
Splint \| Chitin	Heavy	2	1	2

The Other Armour Types Will Be Released At A Later Date Once They Have Been Worked

Weapons

Weapons are used to enhance yourself in combat, and have three distinct characteristics that define their usage.

Power

This is the relative strength of a weapon, and how hard it is to wield.

Light Weaponry

Light Weaponry deals Roll Damage capped at a Moderate Wound, can be thrown, and allows them to perform an attack after using Sprint using the Swift Strike reaction.
These weapons can be dual wielded allowing the user to use Swift Strike after attacking too. Dual wielding prevents the user from equipping a shield.

Medium Weaponry

Medium Weaponry deals Roll Damage, with no inherent special effects.

Heavy Weaponry

Heavy Weaponry deals Roll Damage and grants Advantage on Attack rolls and Disadvantage on Defense rolls while wielding it.

Reach

How far a weapon can reach. This varies based on if a weapon is Melee or Ranged. Any Disadvantage from Weapon Reach does not apply when using abilities that do not include Weapon in their range.

Short

Melee: 1 Block range, with Advantage on any defense roll involving the Body stat.
Ranged: 10 Blocks Range, with Disadvantage if the target is within 5 Blocks.

Average

Melee: 2 Blocks range, with Disadvantage if the target is within 1 Block.
Ranged: 15 Blocks Range, with Disadvantage if the target is within 7 Blocks

Long

Melee: 3 Blocks range, with Disadvantage if the target is within 2 Blocks.
Ranged: 20 Blocks Range, with Disadvantage if the target is within 10 Blocks.

Type

A weapons type is whether it is considered Melee or Ranged.

These are some weapons from both the Melee and Ranged category. If a weapon is not on this list, and cannot be cleanly fitted onto an existing one- make a Systems ticket and we will try and incorporate it onto the list.

Unarmed cannot be Dual Wielded (without an applicable Martial Trait), but do gain the advantage on Defense Rolls from Short Weapons if you have no Weapons or Shields equipped at all.
Melee

Name	Power	Reach
Unarmed	Light	Short
Knuckles	Medium	Short
Gauntlets	Heavy	Short
Daggers	Light	Short
Hand-Axe	Light	Short
Short Spear	Light	Average
Mace	Heavy	Short
Shortsword	Light	Average
Flail	Medium	Average
Cutlass	Light	Average
Maul	Heavy	Average
Chain Sickle	Light	Average
Rapier	Light	Average
Hammer	Heavy	Average
Sword	Medium	Average
Axe	Medium	Average
Sickle	Medium	Average
Javelin	Light	Average
Scythe	Heavy	Long
Staff	Medium	Long
Halberd	Heavy	Long
Whip	Light	Long
Longsword	Medium	Long
Greatsword	Heavy	Long
Great Axe	Heavy	Long
Greathammer	Heavy	Long
Spear	Medium	Long

Ranged

Name	Power	Reach
Shortbow	Light	Short
Longbow	Medium	Long
Greatbow	Heavy	Long
Heavy Crossbow	Heavy	Average
Light Crossbow	Medium	Average
Hand Crossbow	Light	Average
Sling	Medium	Average
Throwing	Light	Average

Sikeopath · Jul 16, 2025

Universal Abilities

These are various abilities that every character has by default that can be used on their turn.

Actions

Sprint

Name: Sprint
Effect: Boon
Range: Self
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: 1 Round
Ability Roll: N/A
Description: Doubles the users movement speed for 1 round. If used 3 turns consecutively, it applies [Slowed] for 1 round at the end of your turn.
Cannot be used while [Slowed].

Disengage:

Name: Disengage
Effect: Boon
Range: Self
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: 1 Round
Ability Roll: N/A
Description: Protects the user from triggering attacks of opportunity by moving for 1 round.

Grapple

Name: Grapple
Effect: Curse
Range: Touch
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: 1 Round
Ability Roll: Body + Unarmed
Description: The user attempts to restrain a target, restricting their body movements. The target must roll a defense against the user's Ability Roll, reducing their movement speed to 0 for 1 Round.
This effect cannot be removed early by abilities.

Inspiration

Name: Inspiration
Effect: Boon
Range: 15 Blocks
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: 1 Round
Ability Roll: General + Charisma/Performance
Description: The user attempts to inspire an ally and surpass their limits. This will add half of the user’s successes from their Ability Roll (rounded up) onto the target's next attack roll.

This ability can only be used once every 3 turns.

Sneak Attack

Name: Sneak Attack
Effect: Damage
Range: Attack Range
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Attack Damage
Description: The user performs an attack on a target who is unaware of their presence. The damage and effects change based on if the sneak attack is a Melee or Ranged.

If the attack is Melee, it deals Roll Damage with no defense roll from the target, and ignores any AC the defender has.
If the attack is ranged, it deals Roll Damage with no defense roll from the target, capped at a Moderate Wound that does not ignore AC. Afterwards they may attempt to roll to maintain [Stealth].

If the target has not been given a chance to detect the user yet, they may roll a [General + Perception] against the users [General + Stealth]. If the target succeeds the Sneak Attack is reverted back into a normal attack.

This action can only be used pre-combat and if the user has [Stealth]. Using this starts combat regardless of an attack succeeding or not.

Disarm

Name: Disarm
Effect: Curse
Range: Touch
Charging Time: 1 Turn
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Body + Unarmed
Description: The user attempts to disarm a target. The target must roll a defense against the user's Ability Roll or have their weapon taken. On success, the user can choose to either take the weapon for themselves or fling the weapon up to 3 Blocks in a direction of the user's choosing.

Bonus Actions

Shove

Name: Shove
Effect: Curse
Range: Touch
Charging Time: Bonus Action
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Body + Athletics
Description: The user shoves a target away from them. The target must roll a defense against the user's Ability Roll, Inflicting a 3 Blocks horizontal Knockback on failure.

Feint

Name: Feint
Effect: Curse
Range: Melee
Charging Time: Bonus Action
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Body + Dexterity
Description: The user feigns an attack on the target with the goal of faking them out. The target must roll a [General + Perception] against the user’s Ability Roll, inflicting Disadvantage on the target's next defense roll against the user’s melee attack actions this turn.

This can only be attempted once per opponent within a combat scenario.

Sneak

Name: Sneak
Effect: Boon
Range: Self
Charging Time: Bonus Action
Duration: Indefinite
Ability Roll: General + Stealth
Description: The user attempts to hide. Any targets within 10 blocks may roll a [General + Perception] against the users Ability Roll. If the user succeeds, they are granted [Stealth].

This ability cannot be used if the user was the target of an attack within the last round. If the user is 5 blocks or less from any hostile targets, the roll is made at two steps of disadvantage.

Draw Weapon

Name: Draw Weapon
Effect: Boon
Range: Self
Charging Time: Bonus Action
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: N/A
Description: The user can sheathe and draw a weapon or shield. This can be used to pick up discarded weapons too. Only one piece of equipment can be drawn per turn.

A weapon cannot be put away if it has already been used to attack that turn.

Reactions

Attack of Opportunity

Name: Attack of Opportunity
Effect: Damage
Range: Weapon
Charging Time: Reaction
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Attack Roll
Description: If a target is to leave the user’s weapon range or enter the user’s melee range when it is greater than their own, the user may consume their reaction to attack the target.

This ability cannot be used on a target who has already had this ability attempted on them this round.

Shield Block

Name: Shield Block
Effect: Defense
Range: Self
Charging Time: Reaction
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Body + Athletics
Description: If the user has a shield and is targeted by an attack, they may use their shield to block the attack using [Body + Athletics] with Advantage for that defense roll.

This action can only be used once per round, and does not consume your reaction for the round.

Swift Strike

Name: Swift Strike
Effect: Damage
Range: Weapon Range
Charging Time: Reaction
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Attack Roll
Description: If the user is wielding a Light Weapon, they may use this to perform an additional attack with it after Sprinting, or as a follow-up to their first Attack (not Abilities) if they are dual wielding.

This additional attack does not apply on-hit effects, or consume the user's Reaction.

Targeted Strike

Name: Targeted Strike
Effect: Damage
Range: Self
Charging Time: Reaction
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: Attack Roll
Description: During an attack roll, the user may use this as a reaction to aim their attack at an area other than their center mass at the cost of disadvantage on the attack.

This does not consume your reaction for the round.

Reposition

Name: Reposition
Effect: Movement
Range: Self
Charging Time: Reaction
Duration: Instant
Ability Roll: N/A
Description: If you did not move on your turn, you may activate this as a reaction to a target's movement to move at the same time as them.

The Combat System

Sikeopath

Member