Special Rules of Duels
Texto
Duels follow the general pattern described in Conflict Scenes on page 249, with the following minor additions and alterations:
Initiative
For a duel, the Initiative check is a TN 1 Meditation check to attempt to foresee how the duel will transpire.
Each character has an initiative value based on the results of their Initiative check, as usual. However, each round, at the start of Phase 2: Take Turns, the characters participate in a staredown that modifies initiative.
Staredown
As tension mounts during a duel, even the most stoic of samurai feel a building pressure. The warrior’s senses are elevated, and even the crunch of gravel or a cicada’s cry becomes thunderous. This is the staredown, a special step at the start of Phase 2: Take Turns each round.
During the staredown, each character receives strife equal to the number of the round (1 strife for the first round, 2 for the second, 3 for the third, and so forth).
Additionally, after receiving this strife, each character who is not Compromised may bid additional strife to increase their initiative value for that round. To bid, each participating character secretly chooses a number between 0 and their focus attribute. Then, all simultaneously reveal their number, and each suffers that amount of strife, and adds it to their initiative for the round.
Taking Turns
During this phase, characters size up their foe, prepare their attack, and launch deadly strikes!
Rounds
Each character takes one turn each round in order of initiative. The character with the higher initiative value takes their turn, followed by the character with the lower value. If they are tied, the one with the lower honor acts first. At the end of the round, each character’s initiative value resets to its value before the staredown.
A duel does not last a fixed number of rounds. At the end of each round, if either character achieved their objective, the duel ends and proceeds to Phase 3: Resolution. Otherwise, the duel returns to Phase 2: Take Turns and continues for an additional round.
The Finishing Blow
As a combatant begins to make a move, a gap sometimes opens in their defenses, giving their foe a chance to end the fight with a well-placed attack.
The first time their opponent becomes Compromised or unmasks during a duel, a character may immediately execute a finishing blow. This is a special action that can be performed out of turn.
A character executes the finishing blow by choosing an Attack action and performing it against their opponent, interrupting anything their target is doing (including resolving a check of their own, in which case the finishing blow resolves during Step 6 of the check, after symbols are resolved but before is spent). One finishing blow can even interrupt another!
If the character executing a finishing blow succeeds, instead of dealing damage, the finishing blow inflicts a critical strike with severity equal to two times the deadliness of the weapon or Attack action used, plus the attacker’s bonus successes. Any other effects of the Attack action are resolved as usual.
If two characters trigger finishing blows simultaneously for any reason (such as the mandatory strife gained during the staredown), the one with the lower honor fully executes their finishing blow first, then the other character executes theirs (assuming they are still alive!).
If the duel’s objective is achieved by the finishing blow, the duel ends immediately. Otherwise, the duel picks up where it left off (including returning to resolving a check, if one was interrupted).
Stances
During a duel, stances dictate a character’s physical stance and overall strategy for the duel.
Players are encouraged to narrate how their character takes a particular stance, such as a nimble feint with Air or waiting motionlessly with Void.
Movement and Range
Mechanically, ranges are handled quite simply in a duel: at the start, the characters move to range 2 from each other. During the duel, each character is considered to be in range of any effect their opponent resolves. At the end of the duel, the two characters once again move to range 2 from each other.
Players should feel free to narrate how their characters are moving as they vie for position, feint, and sideslip unexpectedly.
Duel Actions
The following sample actions are available to all characters in a duel, along with actions granted to them by techniques and abilities. Players can also propose actions of their own invention based on the circumstances (per the GM’s approval).
Calming Breath
Description: During a conflict, you may inhale deeply before exhaling, drawing upon your inner strength.
Activation: As a Support action, you may take a deep breath to calm yourself and recover stamina.
Effects: If your strife is greater than half your composure, you remove 1 strife. If your fatigue is greater than half your endurance, you remove 1 fatigue.
Center
Description: You let the world around you slow as the Void overtakes your senses. Everything but the moment fades as you instinctively seek victory. Your mind weaves through infinite treacherous possibilities and the razor steel of your foe to the outcome you desire.
Activation: As a Support action in Void stance, you may focus your energy inward, envisioning your action in your mind and seeking the perfect moment to take it. You must name a skill when you use Center.
Effects: Roll a number of Skill dice up to your ranks in the skill you chose and reserve any number of those dice. If you do, the next time you make a check using the chosen skill (or use the Center action) this scene, after rolling dice, you may replace any number of rolled dice with the reserved dice (set to the results they were showing when reserved). You cannot reserve a number of dice greater than your ranks in the skill this way.
Predict
Description: You shift subtly to draw a reaction out of your foe by repositioning or signaling a strike you never intend to throw. By predicting your foe’s reaction, you aim to win the battle in the mind, leaving the foe open to a decisive strike or forcing them to attack early.
Activation: As an Attack and Scheme action, you may secretly select Air, Earth, Fire, or Water and record it.
Effects: The next time your opponent chooses their stance, you may reveal your selection; if it matches the stance they chose, your opponent receives 4 strife and must choose a different stance. This effect persists until the end of your next turn.
Prepare Item
Description: You prepare, ready, or stow one weapon or other item.
Activation: As a Support action, you may use this action.
Effects: Prepare one item for use, ready a weapon in a grip of your choice, or stow an item.
Strike
Description: You make an attack against a single foe.
Activation: As an Attack action using one readied weapon, you may make a TN 2 Martial Arts check using the appropriate skill for the weapon, targeting one character within the weapon’s range.
Effects: If you succeed, you deal physical damage to the target equal to the weapon’s base damage plus your bonus successes.
New Opportunities
: If you succeed, inflict a critical strike on your target with severity equal to your weapon’s deadliness.
Unique Action
Description: You make a check using a skill for a mechanical or narrative effect, as described in Chapter
3: Skills (see page 140).
Activation: As an action, you make a skill check to attempt a task you have described to the GM.
Effects: If you succeed, you may use the skill for its narrative effects, for implementing any sample use that can be completed in a single action, or for pursuing another task that the GM deems appropriate.
Table 6–2: Duel Scoring
FEAT | SCORE
Achieved your objective | +6 points
Struck the enemy first | +3 points
Inflicted fatigue on the enemy
Inflicted one or more critical strikes on the enemy
+1 point per fatigue
+ points equal to severity of the highest critical strike (after reductions)
Killed the enemy (in a duel to the death only) | 14 points
Unmasked | –2 points
Was witnessed cheating | Automatic loss
Resolving a Duel
A duel draws to a close at the end of any round in which one or more characters achieve their objectives (see Common Forms of Duels, on page 258).
While some duels are clear in their outcome, with one samurai dead and the other standing, blade red with blood, most are more ambiguous and messier. It falls to one or more judges to call the legality of strikes, who struck first, and the efficacy of blows delivered.
During Phase 3: Resolution of a duel, each participant tallies up their score based on the various feats noted in Table 6–2: Duel Scoring. The difference between the higher score and the lower determines the duel result, as described below:
Score Difference 0—No Winner: The duel is a draw, as the fighters land telling blows simultaneously (or not at all). The characters might repeat the duel or retire to tend to wounds.
Score Difference 1—Narrow Victory: The winner seizes the thin margin of victory.
Score Difference 2—Clear Victory: The character who won claims victory definitively.
Score Difference 3–6—Absolute Victory: The character who won gives a clear demonstration of mastery. If the winner receives a glory award, increase it by +3.
Score Difference 7+—No Contest: The character who won does not so much win as demonstrate that it was never a contest. If the winner receives a glory award, increase it by +5.
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Core Rulebook · Chapter 6: Scenes and Conflicts › Duels › Special Rules of Duels · p. 258 p. 259 p. 260 p. 261
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Duels follow the general pattern described in Conflict Scenes on page 249, with the following minor additions and alterations:
Initiative
For a duel, the Initiative check is a TN 1 Meditation check to attempt to foresee how the duel will transpire.
Each character has an initiative value based on the results of their Initiative check, as usual. However, each round, at the start of Phase 2: Take Turns, the characters participate in a staredown that modifies initiative.
Staredown
As tension mounts during a duel, even the most stoic of samurai feel a building pressure. The warrior’s senses are elevated, and even the crunch of gravel or a cicada’s cry becomes thunderous. This is the staredown, a special step at the start of Phase 2: Take Turns each round.
During the staredown, each character receives strife equal to the number of the round (1 strife for the first round, 2 for the second, 3 for the third, and so forth).
Additionally, after receiving this strife, each character who is not Compromised may bid additional strife to increase their initiative value for that round. To bid, each participating character secretly chooses a number between 0 and their focus attribute. Then, all simultaneously reveal their number, and each suffers that amount of strife, and adds it to their initiative for the round.
Taking Turns
During this phase, characters size up their foe, prepare their attack, and launch deadly strikes!
Rounds
Each character takes one turn each round in order of initiative. The character with the higher initiative value takes their turn, followed by the character with the lower value. If they are tied, the one with the lower honor acts first. At the end of the round, each character’s initiative value resets to its value before the staredown.
A duel does not last a fixed number of rounds. At the end of each round, if either character achieved their objective, the duel ends and proceeds to Phase 3: Resolution. Otherwise, the duel returns to Phase 2: Take Turns and continues for an additional round.
The Finishing Blow
As a combatant begins to make a move, a gap sometimes opens in their defenses, giving their foe a chance to end the fight with a well-placed attack.
The first time their opponent becomes Compromised or unmasks during a duel, a character may immediately execute a finishing blow. This is a special action that can be performed out of turn.
A character executes the finishing blow by choosing an Attack action and performing it against their opponent, interrupting anything their target is doing (including resolving a check of their own, in which case the finishing blow resolves during Step 6 of the check, after symbols are resolved but before is spent). One finishing blow can even interrupt another!
If the character executing a finishing blow succeeds, instead of dealing damage, the finishing blow inflicts a critical strike with severity equal to two times the deadliness of the weapon or Attack action used, plus the attacker’s bonus successes. Any other effects of the Attack action are resolved as usual.
If two characters trigger finishing blows simultaneously for any reason (such as the mandatory strife gained during the staredown), the one with the lower honor fully executes their finishing blow first, then the other character executes theirs (assuming they are still alive!).
If the duel’s objective is achieved by the finishing blow, the duel ends immediately. Otherwise, the duel picks up where it left off (including returning to resolving a check, if one was interrupted).
Stances
During a duel, stances dictate a character’s physical stance and overall strategy for the duel.
Players are encouraged to narrate how their character takes a particular stance, such as a nimble feint with Air or waiting motionlessly with Void.
Movement and Range
Mechanically, ranges are handled quite simply in a duel: at the start, the characters move to range 2 from each other. During the duel, each character is considered to be in range of any effect their opponent resolves. At the end of the duel, the two characters once again move to range 2 from each other.
Players should feel free to narrate how their characters are moving as they vie for position, feint, and sideslip unexpectedly.
Duel Actions
The following sample actions are available to all characters in a duel, along with actions granted to them by techniques and abilities. Players can also propose actions of their own invention based on the circumstances (per the GM’s approval).
Calming Breath
Description: During a conflict, you may inhale deeply before exhaling, drawing upon your inner strength.
Activation: As a Support action, you may take a deep breath to calm yourself and recover stamina.
Effects: If your strife is greater than half your composure, you remove 1 strife. If your fatigue is greater than half your endurance, you remove 1 fatigue.
Center
Description: You let the world around you slow as the Void overtakes your senses. Everything but the moment fades as you instinctively seek victory. Your mind weaves through infinite treacherous possibilities and the razor steel of your foe to the outcome you desire.
Activation: As a Support action in Void stance, you may focus your energy inward, envisioning your action in your mind and seeking the perfect moment to take it. You must name a skill when you use Center.
Effects: Roll a number of Skill dice up to your ranks in the skill you chose and reserve any number of those dice. If you do, the next time you make a check using the chosen skill (or use the Center action) this scene, after rolling dice, you may replace any number of rolled dice with the reserved dice (set to the results they were showing when reserved). You cannot reserve a number of dice greater than your ranks in the skill this way.
Predict
Description: You shift subtly to draw a reaction out of your foe by repositioning or signaling a strike you never intend to throw. By predicting your foe’s reaction, you aim to win the battle in the mind, leaving the foe open to a decisive strike or forcing them to attack early.
Activation: As an Attack and Scheme action, you may secretly select Air, Earth, Fire, or Water and record it.
Effects: The next time your opponent chooses their stance, you may reveal your selection; if it matches the stance they chose, your opponent receives 4 strife and must choose a different stance. This effect persists until the end of your next turn.
Prepare Item
Description: You prepare, ready, or stow one weapon or other item.
Activation: As a Support action, you may use this action.
Effects: Prepare one item for use, ready a weapon in a grip of your choice, or stow an item.
Strike
Description: You make an attack against a single foe.
Activation: As an Attack action using one readied weapon, you may make a TN 2 Martial Arts check using the appropriate skill for the weapon, targeting one character within the weapon’s range.
Effects: If you succeed, you deal physical damage to the target equal to the weapon’s base damage plus your bonus successes.
New Opportunities
: If you succeed, inflict a critical strike on your target with severity equal to your weapon’s deadliness.
Unique Action
Description: You make a check using a skill for a mechanical or narrative effect, as described in Chapter
3: Skills (see page 140).
Activation: As an action, you make a skill check to attempt a task you have described to the GM.
Effects: If you succeed, you may use the skill for its narrative effects, for implementing any sample use that can be completed in a single action, or for pursuing another task that the GM deems appropriate.
Table 6–2: Duel Scoring
FEAT | SCORE
Achieved your objective | +6 points
Struck the enemy first | +3 points
Inflicted fatigue on the enemy
Inflicted one or more critical strikes on the enemy
+1 point per fatigue
+ points equal to severity of the highest critical strike (after reductions)
Killed the enemy (in a duel to the death only) | 14 points
Unmasked | –2 points
Was witnessed cheating | Automatic loss
Resolving a Duel
A duel draws to a close at the end of any round in which one or more characters achieve their objectives (see Common Forms of Duels, on page 258).
While some duels are clear in their outcome, with one samurai dead and the other standing, blade red with blood, most are more ambiguous and messier. It falls to one or more judges to call the legality of strikes, who struck first, and the efficacy of blows delivered.
During Phase 3: Resolution of a duel, each participant tallies up their score based on the various feats noted in Table 6–2: Duel Scoring. The difference between the higher score and the lower determines the duel result, as described below:
Score Difference 0—No Winner: The duel is a draw, as the fighters land telling blows simultaneously (or not at all). The characters might repeat the duel or retire to tend to wounds.
Score Difference 1—Narrow Victory: The winner seizes the thin margin of victory.
Score Difference 2—Clear Victory: The character who won claims victory definitively.
Score Difference 3–6—Absolute Victory: The character who won gives a clear demonstration of mastery. If the winner receives a glory award, increase it by +3.
Score Difference 7+—No Contest: The character who won does not so much win as demonstrate that it was never a contest. If the winner receives a glory award, increase it by +5.