Fight!

Let’s have these heroes (from last post) fight a big spider…

Creatively-Named Big Spider (30 CPs): Fighting +4; Might +4 (Strike); Stamina +3; Invulnerable +2; Wall Crawling [2]; Poison +3; Stealth +3
The spider deals +8 damage (might doubled based on strike) when it lands a successful bite attack.

Anj and Mim enter a tomb, looking for a particular book that Mim has heard tell of… and as they step into the cobweb-filled entryway, a spider lurking in the shadows overhead attempts to get in position to launch a surprise attack…

It rolls stealth, getting 8+3=11. Neither Anj nor Mim has Intuition, so they both roll 2D unmodified to notice; Mim rolls 9, and Anj rolls 11. Since ties go to the attacker, the spider succeeds (barely), and is able to get a free attack at +3 (its stealth rating).

The spider attacks Anj, rolling 5+ 4 (fighting) +3 (stealth) =12 to attack. Anj rolls 10+4=14 to parry. She manages to get her sword up in time, blocking the bite of the spider as its mandibles excrete a green poison that drips on her gloves... It’s time to roll sequence.

Anj rolls 9; Mim rolls 7; the spider rolls 7. That will be the order.

• Anj swings her sword, rolling 8+4=12 to hit; the spider rolls 7+4=11 to defend. She hits by +1. For damage (without any magical boosting so far), she rolls 6+5+1=12 damage. The spider rolls 6+2=8 to soak. She deals 4 wounds, leaving the spider at 26 wounds.
• Mim boosts Anj’s Might to +4.
• The spider goes to bite, rolling 10+4=12 to bite (fighting). Anj rolls 7+4=11 to defend. The spider hits by +1. For damage, it rolls 8+ 8 (might + strike) +1 (bonus from attack) =17 wounds. Anj rolls 7+3 (her armor rating) = 10 to soak. She suffers 7 wounds, leaving her at 13 wounds. She has to roll to resist the spider’s poison. We’ll use static 7 for that, although we could roll it; she has to resist its total rating of 10 (7+3). This poison will tic up to 3 times, although if she successfully resists it (rolling 11 or better on any tic), she ends the effect. She rolls 7 +3 (Stamina) =10, and fights off the poison this round, although it will still tic 2 more times.
• Anj holds her action to after Mim… she will drop to that position for the rest of the scene, acting after Mim does.
• Mim uses his turn to Energize their weapons.
• On her turn (after the delay), Anj swings her sword, using one of her Resolve points now that her Might is boosted (adding this to her attack for a great cleave). She rolls 10 +4 (fighting) +4 (Might) = 18 to hit. The spider rolls fighting to defend, getting 12+4=16. She only hits by +2 because the spider’s defensive roll was the best it could be… although she would have missed without the use of the Resolve point. For damage, she rolls 6+10+2=18 wounds. The spider rolls to soak, getting 7+2=9. It suffers 9 more wounds, leaving it at 17 wounds.
• On its turn, the spider bites her again, rolling 7+4=11. If it had Resolve points, it would start using them… Anj rolls to defend, getting 6+4=10. It hits by +1. For damage, the spider rolls 4+8+1=13, and Anj rolls 8+3=11 to soak. She suffers 2 more wounds, leaving her at 11 wounds. Since it’s the end of the round, Anj also has to roll to resist the poison again, and rolls 11+3=14. She not only withstands the poison, but her roll is good enough to shake off the effect altogether. The spider can inject poison again, but not until its next action… the poison technically tics at the end of the round, after all other actions are finished.
• On his turn, Mim uses his healing on Anjelica, rolling 5+4=9 wounds. She recovers 9 wounds, putting her back up to 20 wounds (her starting total). That’s Mim’s only chance to heal this scene.
• On her turn, Anj is feeling good, and wants to end this fight; planning to use another Resolve point to cleave, adding her might to her fighting; she rolls a natural 2!. She automatically fails, but doesn’t have to spend the Resolve point. (That rule will have to specifically be spelled out- you don’t have to declare Resolve point use until all dice have been rolled).
• On its turn, the spider attacks again, rolling 4+4=8, and Anj rolls 6+4=10 to defend. She successfully evades the spider’s bite.
• On his turn, Mim finally gets to fire an arrow, and will use a Resolve point to apply his knowledge of spider physiology (Lore) to his fighting attack roll. He rolls 5+2+4=11 and the spider rolls 5+4=9 to defend. Mim hits by +2. For damage, he rolls 4+4+2=10 damage, and the spider rolls 6+2=8 to soak. He deals 2 wounds, leaving the spider at 15 wounds.
• Anj will try again with her Resolve… she rolls 8+4+4 (might) =16 to hit; the spider rolls 11+4=15 to defend. Again, the Resolve point helped her to overcome a great defensive roll. For damage, she spends another Resolve point to add her Fighting to damage (leaving her with 1 Resolve point for the scene), rolling 5+10+4+1=20 damage; the spider rolls 6+2=8 to soak. She deals 12 wounds, leaving the spider badly damaged with only 3 wounds remaining.
• On its turn, the spider bites, rolling 7+4=11 to hit, but Anj rolls 8+4=12 to defend, and the spider misses.
• Mim fires another arrow, rolling 9+2=11 to hit, and the spider rolls 4+4=8 to defend. He hits by +3. For damage, Mim rolls 7+4+3=14. The spider soaks 7+2=9, meaning that it suffers 5 wounds; this drops it to -2 wounds, and it falls.

Analysis:
• The heroes had a relatively easy time of it. Anj ended up at about half of her wounds, but a single heal (although that was all he had), got her back to full, and she never took damage again.
• The use of Resolve points made a big difference. They hit three times when they would have missed without Resolve points. That’s another 1-2 attacks the spider would have been able to make without them.
• Mim doesn’t deal a lot of damage, but he’s not built to- he’s a support character. I think that he can be fun to play, and his use of Lore in combat situations (through Resolve) makes him a viable combatant, and a useful member of the team. The fact that he has a mesmerize spell he never used (and which would almost surely have been successful) means that they could have feasibly faced two of these spiders at once; mathematically, this one spider was a challenge equal to their abilities; two spiders would have been far beyond their comparative level, but the way the two heroes are balanced makes them potentially tough enough to win.
• Giving Resolve to villains is the difference between an average and very capable adversary. As a general rule, common foes are going to have no resolve at all. Goblins, zombies, spiders, robots- no resolve for them.