COMBAT SKILLS
We all have our talents, some of them quantifiable by degrees earned, light bulbs swallowed, song lyrics memorized, and others by damage done. This skill tree deals with those talents relevant to combat. These skills won't guarantee your survival but coming into Freak Fest every character has the chance to place their ranks and take their chances. Now you might not be a fighter and you might not want your character to be a fighter. That’s more than fine, you can surrender your ranks upon application for group coin, however, even if you’re not interested in being a bruiser you should be familiar with the basics. Make sure if nothing else to review the unarmed rank and the basic combat mechanics on the combat page.
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VERY IMPORTANT NOTES BEFORE YOU GET STARTED:
1. The weapon system is here IF it is needed, but that depends entirely on how players play the game and in the end might be completely irrelevant. We encourage you to just realistically think if your character would have any weapon savy and go from there.
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2. Keep in mind that entering the group is the only time that multiple ranks can be applied to a character at once. In-group rank climbing takes time including a 3 week real time cool down between purchases. Make the choice that is right for you.
FOR THE FIGHTERS: CHOOSING RANKS
Coming into Freak Fest players have 2 ranks per character to apply to any step of the path they they want as long as there is a linear connection from the starting rank, UNNARMED. The farthest reaches possible on the skill tree upon entry are the paths in red. Your path selection does not have to be focused, whether you want to come into the Fest with a particular specialty, or as a generalist is up to you!
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THE PATHS
In Freak Fest our skill tree can lead players down several specialized avenues. The basic specialties that you can eventually master of are: hand to hand, melee weapons, throwing weapons, handguns, long barrel artillery and archery. Each of these paths includes a family of weapons or benefits that can be unlocked by climbing ranks. Above each icon links to the specifics of our ranks so you can make the most informed decision on your path. Have fun and do some damage.
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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)
UNARMED | LEVEL 0 | - - -
Unarmed is the level everyone starts in all combat skills, some people never cultivate their skills past this level. At this point you are still fully capable of picking up weapons and attempting to use them, or try to fend off enemies with your bare hands, however, you are untrained and unskilled. Certain weapons will be useless to you or even catastrophically dangerous and when you don't know what you're doing it's hard to land a hit without hurting yourself as much as the other guy. Try to be aware of your limitations.
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Directly below you'll find the basic combat rules and rolling tables you should be familiar with even if you're not a fighter. For each category these are the default rules. Unless you have reached a higher skill level in a given category use these for your actions.
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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Unarmed players have 1 hit/shot/action per combat turn.
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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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COMBAT SKILL TREE
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The brawler path uses the
HAND TO HAND roll table and is best suited to characters with a good strength and dexterity stat.
Few weapons are unlocked down this path, but that's because if you master it you really won't need them.
The bonk! path uses the
MELEE WEAPON roll table and is best suited to characters with a good strength stat.
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Following this path will allow characters to be resourceful and making a weapon out of just about anything they can find.
The throwing weapon path uses the MELEE WEAPON roll table and is best suited to characters with a good strength or dexterity stat.
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Following this path will allow characters to use throwing weapons. These weapons combine the benefits of ranged attacks and stat based damage.
The archery path uses the
RANGE WEAPON roll table, is best suited for those with a good dexterity stat, and unlocks the use of archery weapons.
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Archery weapons are durable range weapons that have the benefit of silence and additional weapon damage depending on the strength of the draw.
The handgun path uses the
RANGE WEAPON roll table, is best suited for those with a good dexterity stat, and unlocks the use of several weapons.
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Handguns are deadly weapons, easy to conceal, straightforward to use, and able to hold several rounds.
The long barrel path uses the
RANGE WEAPON roll table, is good for any stat build, and unlocks the use of several unique weapons.
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Long barrel weapons are deadly and versatile. Though they cap at 2 shots per round weapons available with this path do things no others can do.