FREAK FEST COMBAT MECHANICS
So listen, Freak Fest isn’t exactly the safest place around. You should know that by the waivers you had to sign. Within the game players will be faced with dangerous, and even life threatening situations. To be prepared for that you should make yourself familiar with our combat system, even if you’re not much of a fighter. This page will help you with that.
SKILL RANKS
Within Freak Fest there are combat skill ranks. More detailed information on this can be found on the skill rank page, but we will touch on it briefly here.
Coming into Freak Fest everyone has the option to place 3 skill ranks along our skill tree. We only recommend this if your character would realistically have combat/weapon skills for a variety of reasons some of them touched on in the weapons section of this page. You can still fight and use weapons (for at least a single action) without ranks in anything and for that we have basic tables for the three main types of combat, hand to hand, melee weapons, and range weapons. Reference them as needed, and if you do apply skill ranks make sure to take note of how it might change your rolls.
HAND TO HAND
Roll 1d20-3 for all combat rolls (NOT 1d17)
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- Roll 1d3 every hit for self dmg (result = dmg taken)
- Roll 1d(STR stat) for opponents dmg (1dmg min)
ROLL TABLE
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[Nat1] Double self DMG
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[(-3)-6] Self DMG only
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[7-14] Successful Hit (x1 dmg roll)
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[15-20] Successful Hit (x2 dmg roll)
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[Nat20] Successful Hit (x3 dmg roll)
WITH RANGE WEAPONS
Roll 1d20-3 for all combat rolls (NOT 1d17)
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ROLL TABLE
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[Nat1] Weapon Breaks + Backfire DMG
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[(-3)-4] Weapon Jams
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[5-8] Miss
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[9-13] Graze (1dmg)
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[14-16] Successful Shot (3dmg)
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[17-20] Successful Shot (6dmg)
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[Nat20] Successful Shot (Fatal OR 8dmg)
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- With a Nat20 you can choose to do less damage
WITH MELEE WEAPONS
Roll 1d20-3 for all combat rolls (NOT 1d17)
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ROLL TABLE
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[Nat1] Weapon Breaks + WeaponDMG(Self)
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[(-3)-3] Weapon Breaks/Is Lost + Miss
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[4-8] Miss
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[9-16] Successful Hit (WeaponDMG)
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[17-20] Successful Hit (STR+WeaponDMG)
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[Nat20] Successful Hit (STRx2+WeaponDMG)
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- With a Nat20 you can choose to do less damage
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Weapons locked to a rank you don't have can only be used once before they are lost or broken in character. They can be held in your inventory, but only until an attempted use.
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BASIC COMBAT
Official combat is very different from unofficial things between members. Outside mod management you are free to conduct your fights and flirting however you like as long as you’re respectful of the groups rules and fellow players. For official events and mod controlled encounters however, there is a basic system to things you should make yourself familiar with. Below you'll find the basic steps to a combat encounter.
ROLLING INITIATIVE 1d20+DEX
You will be asked to roll initiative by a mod or game runner at the very beginning of an encounter, this will establish the turn order and generally will stay the same throughout the encounter.
TURN PROCESS
STEP 01 - REACTION (optional)
At the beginning of your turn you have the option to react to certain actions, such as an attack on your person. These are generally DEX based rolls.
REACTION OPTIONS | DODGE | PURSUE | BREAK GRAPPLE
DODGE | Roll (1d20)+DEX
[Melee] if your dodge roll is higher than your attacker’s roll then you have dodged the hit. If it is a tie then you take half damage in the attacker's favor. (For throwing weapons you must beat the attack roll by 3)
[Ranged Weapons] Only a Nat20 or a roll of 20+ can dodge these weapons.
PURSUE| Roll (1d20)+DEX
Pursue is a reaction to a FLEE roll. When in pursuit if your roll is higher that your opponents FLEE roll you receive an additional action against the runner. If it is less you can either begin a chase or let them go.
BREAK GRAPPLE | Roll (1d20)+STR
IN ORDER TO GRAPPLE IT MUST BE REALISTIC THAT BOTH GRAPPLER AND TARGET ARE WITHIN ARMS LENGTH OF EACHOTHER. IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR CHARACTER IS NOT WITHIN RANGE YOU MAY BRING THIS UP IN RP, IF CONVINIENT TURN TO A COMMUNITY OR ADMIN MOD FIRST FOR THIS DETERMINIATION TO AVOID PLAYER CONFLICT.
If you have been targeted in a successful grapple roll you may roll to break the grapple. This would be a strength roll that would have to exceed the grapplers first roll. Only NAT 20 rolls can break NAT 20 grapple rolls.
Players who have been grappled cannot take any other reaction options until the grapple is broken.
STEP 02 - MAIN ACTION
This is the main action of your turn in combat, below you'll find the main options for actions you can take.
OPTIONS | ATTACK| GRAPPLE| FLEE | OBSERVE/SEARCH | OTHER
ATTACK
Pick target(s) and indicate them clearly in your post, Roll* a (1d20-3)+(any applicable modifiers) for all hits/shots. Do not assume success in your post.
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*Review the success table for your weapon type and the features of any applicable skill ranks you have BEFORE rolling as this may affect your base roll and success threshold.
GRAPPLE | Roll (1d20)+STR
IN ORDER TO GRAPPLE IT MUST BE REALISTIC THAT BOTH GRAPPLER AND TARGET ARE WITHIN ARMS LENGTH OF EACHOTHER.
Pick target(s) and indicate them clearly in your post along with a strength roll (1d20)+(STR). Any roll of 10 or higher MAY be a success, however if the roll is 9 or below the grapple was failed. You may include a description of taking hold/touching the target in your post if the roll was sucessful.
FLEE
Roll a (1d20)+DEX and state your intended route of escape in your post.
OBSERVE/SEARCH
Roll a (1d20-3)+INT, self explanatory, at times this can reap benefits, other times it only results in a wasted action.
OTHER
You can also ask to take other actions if you like, just discuss with your game runner especially if it likely requires a roll such as an attempted negotiation.
And that's it! Then it's the next persons turn and on goes combat. Damage is determined by an attackers strength stat or weapon damage depending on the kind of weapon they have. Attackers should be familiar with their stats, the appropriate damage table, and the weapon they have in hand before beating people.
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PLAYER HEALTH
In Freak Fest different classes have different health totals. You might notice that with the highest base-health possible being 30 that it’s a little low; especially when you compare it to how much damage some of our weapons and traps can do. This means players should be very aware of their health and their environment at all times. There are plenty of things out there that can hurt you, we know, we put them there.
Health -10
you died
Health 0
can take no action
Health 1-3
-2 to physical rolls
Health 4-9
-1 to physical rolls
Health 10-24
No Effect
Health 25+
+2 to physical rolls
In our combat system there are 6 health states. Peak, Prime, Weakened, Struggling, Unconscious, and Dead. Long story short, Peak and Prime, good, the rest, bad. Try to keep your health in the green to avoid negatives to your rolls that will just make surviving harder than it already is.
HEALING
There are several ways to regain health, the best ways being the use of items and rest. Avoiding combat for a whole day in character will recover 2 health, while the amount of health items can recover can vary. Health aids can be bought or found, so don’t neglect searching areas if you have the time!
WEAPONS IN GAME
When it comes to weapons the first thing important to know is that acquiring weapons and keeping weapons are two very different things. Both are very difficult. Remember, despite what completely unexpected events may or may not happen, Freak Fest is a “convention”, and not one run by the NRA. Weapons are strictly prohibited, and will be confiscated under normal circumstances if found. Marked BB guns are the only exception to this, and weapons that can be decently concealed.
This means that weapons found and purchased in game have NO GUARANTEE OF BEING PERMANENT ADDITIONS TO YOUR INVENTORY. Weapons will be gained, lost and broken on a regular basis. Make sure to keep this in mind when purchasing weapons and don’t bring any weapon to the Fest your character isn’t willing to lose.
USING WEAPONS
When using weapons Freak Fest has two basic damage tables to reference, one for melee weapons such as blunt objects and blades, and one for range weapons such as bows and guns. These tables can be found both early on this page and on the skill rank page. Skill ranks are very important for weapon use so make sure you are familiar with whatever ranks you have achieved. These ranks dictate the weapons you can use as well as provide upgrades to the basic tables and even bonus abilites.
SOME WORDS TO KNOW
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JAMMED WEAPON
Weapon is unable to be used until repaired, any attempt to fire the gun while in this state will result in IMMEDIATE backfire. Jammed weapons can only be repaired by those with high enough ranks in the specific weapon OR a NERD class character rolling a Nat20 to repair.
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BACKFIRE
This is when an attack backfires (ranged weapons only) and the attacker then takes 6 damage rather than the target. This usually destroys the weapon completely until higher ranks are reached.
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STUN
When a target is stunned they cannot move or take action. (This is generally reserved for BB gun usage)