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{{Distat}} Because Distat is aimed at Play by Post, combat is broken up by posts. A player's post constitutes that player's turn, and a GM's post constitutes the turns of all NPCs and the duration of one round. In one round, a character may take one of each of the following actions: movement, Physical and Mental. A character may take more than one turn in a round, as long as they have remaining actions. =====Movement===== Once per turn, a character may move through the area of an encounter until reaching a target (such as a wall to climb up, or combatants). Moving up to a target makes the character join the '''group''' that the target is part of, which may provide bonuses or penalties. Creatures inside a group are considered '''adjacent''' to one another. A character takes a -1 penalty to their Body EPV for every enemy beyond the first that they are adjacent to. There is normally no check necessary to receive this movement, except in the following cases: *'''Time Constraint:''' A character that has a time constraint on movement (for example, to reach a closing gate or interpose themselves between an attacking enemy and an ally) must use his Physical action for the round, and make an opposed Body check against the cause of the time constraint. *'''Threatened:''' When a character is attempting to move away from an enemy who is adjacent to him and aware of him, he must make an opposed Mind or Body check (character's choice). On a failure, he is unable to take his move action for the round, but may act normally otherwise. **''Threatened by multiple enemies'': A character only ever makes one check to move away, regardless of how many opponents Threaten him. The character is opposed by the enemy with the highest relevant EPV. **''Presence of allies'': Each side in this check gains a +1 bonus for every one of their allies adjacent to them. If the character attempting to move has more allies than enemies in the group, he does not need to make the opposed check to move away. *'''Incapacitated:''' A character that is incapacitated (such as restrained or unconscious) cannot take move actions. =====Physical===== A character with a Body Effective Active Value higher than 0 may initiate one Body stat or opposed check on their turn. If a character is physically restrained, they may not take Body actions involving the use of restricted body parts except to attempt to escape. Physical opposed checks require their target to be adjacent unless specified. =====Mental===== A character with a Mind Effective Active Value higher than 0 may initiate one Mind stat or opposed check on their turn. If the character is mentally restrained, they may not take Mental actions. Mental opposed checks require the initiator to see the target. =====Non-actions===== Something that is not an action is not subject to the restrictions placed on the amount of actions taken in a turn. Some non-actions (using Passive talents, making the check when Threatened to escape) cannot be used unless triggered, and others (such as speaking or using a consumable, unless used to affect someone else) can be used at any time, unless prohibited by circumstances or subject to time constraints (in which case they are still non-actions but require an additional stat or opposed check anyway). ====Splitting Actions==== A character may choose to break up their Physical or Mental actions into several smaller opposed checks. In such a case, the character may willingly reduce their Effective Active Value of the appropriate stat by any number, so long as the Effective Active Value exceeds 0. After the opposed check, regardless of success, the character's Effective Active Value for the stat used becomes the number the Value was reduced by originally. The character may split an action as many times as they want, so long as their Effective Active Value remains above 1. At the end of the last of the split actions, the character's Effective Active Value is reset to what it was before being split. ====Actions Without Talents==== A character does not have to spend their action on a talent. Simple tasks, such as the following, can be done by any character with the appropriate Effective Active Value above 0: =====Physical===== *Attack an enemy physically (with a weapon). This is an opposed check that uses the Body Effective Active Value of the initiator and the Body Effective Passive Value of the target. *Attempt a physical feat (moving something heavy, jumping over a chasm, breaking out of or otherwise escaping restraints, etc). This is a stat check that uses the Body Effective Active Value. =====Mental===== *Attack an enemy's will (intimidating speech, reasoning, jeering and heckling). This is an opposed check that uses the Mind Effective Active Value of the initiator and typically the Mind Effective Passive Value of the target. *Attempt a mental feat (resisting mental influence, trying to spot a weakness or figure out a solution to a problem). This is a stat check that uses the Mind Effective Active Value. =====Restraining===== Restraining is a special opposed check that can be taken with either action and checks the appropriate effective stats. On a success, the target is denied the appropriate action for its next turn. A character may not attempt to restrain a target that's already restrained. A restrained character cannot Threaten. A character can't take a move action in a round after it has Restrained an opponent, but may move and then attempt to Restrain. =====Identify===== A character may, instead of a move action, make a stat check against a target to determine what talent it used. This check uses the appropriate stat with the target number of the minimum stat point expenditure for the talent (for example, a 3rd level talent would have a target number of 6 to identify it). Every time the character sees that talent used by the target, the target number decreases by one. If the character has the same talent, the target number is halved (rounding up). ====Opposed Checks==== An opposed check represents a clash between a force and an obstacle (usually someone attacking someone else). All attacks are opposed checks. The initiator compares their Effective Active Value to the target's appropriate Effective Passive Value. The character with the higher of the two compared stats wins the check. A failure only damages the losing side if it was the defending side (so an initiator that fails to harm their target takes no penalty). A tie always counts as a failure on the initiator's part. =====Active Talents in Opposed Checks===== If a target of an opposed check that is using an active talent knows the talent (and has Identified it), the target gets a +1 bonus to its EPV on that check. This bonus is cumulative; if the target has Identified more than one active talent it knows being used with the check, it receives the bonus for each one. =====Taking Damage===== A character's effective value is reduced by failing attacks made against them; unless otherwise specified, taking damage in this way incurs a 1 point damage penalty to the EV of the stat that was used in the opposed check. Whenever a character's effective value drops to 0, that character is subject to a number of restrictions. They may no longer take the respective action in combat, and automatically fail all opposed checks using that stat. A character with an effective value reduced below 0 becomes unwilling or unable to continue fighting (such as unconscious). At the end of an encounter, allowing a short rest, such a character's effective values return to 0, and if medical attention (for Body) or something to rally (for Mind) is available, to 1 (if it was higher than 0 to begin with). A character whose effective values have dropped under half of their normal maximum (round down) has them return to that value, allowing a similar short rest. For every two points from the bonus pool spent at this time (and only at this time), a character recovers an additional point of damage penalty. A full night's rest recovers 2 points of damage penalty. Otherwise, characters do not automatically recover from damage. All automatic recovery affects both stats: a character reduced below 0 in both Mind and Body will recover up to 0 in both stats, and a night's rest will heal him 2 points in each stat. [[Category:Distat]]

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