Combat follows the basic mechanics of Novus,  and then extends them accordingly.

The TN for making an attack is the targets Defense score (DEF). This is equal to 15, plus the character’s Speed stat bonus,  plus a +1 modifier for every 5 ranks that the character has in his best melee skill,  plus a shield bonus if he has a shield,  plus any other modifiers, such as from Dodging or Fighting Defensively.

The character makes an attack roll against the target’s DEF,  if he succeeds,  he does the Base Damage for the weapon he is using. Base Damage is equal to the Damage Rating (a static, unchanging number) and the stat bonus of the stat used in making the attack. So, if a character has a Dex bonus of +2, and is using a weapon that has a DR of 6, then his Base Damage for that weapon is 8.

However,  we don’t stop there. For every point that the attack roll was above the target’s DEF,  the character delivers another point of damage. Plus, for every 10 points above the target’s DEF,  the character earns a Boon Point.

Any Boon Points earned must then be immediately spent (they cannot be saved!),  to purchase additional effects,  such as a higher DEF for your character (in the same round or even the next), a bonus to your character’s initiative in the next round,  extra damage on the target (in the form of penalties,  extra hits,  bleeding,  stuns (stunned foes are helpless),  etc),  extra attacks (against the same foe or another one within range). You could,  if you earn enough Boon Points,  even cause your foe to die instantly.

Armor protects you from damage. It will reduce the amount of damage you receive from an attack. However,  heavier armors also reduce your Dexterity (and Speed if you are untrained in it),  and impede spellcasting.

At this point, you are essentially finished creating your character. The only step left is to tally up all of his skill bonuses and other bonuses, including modifiers from armor worn and encumbrance.

Once this is complete, fill in any gaps in his background, the Game Master (GM) can help you with this since he should be more knowledgeable about the setting being used in your game.

Once this is done, you are all set to begin play, and waiting on the GM.

Enjoy!

Once you have completed provisioning and outfitting your character, you now need to figure what his encumbrance will be. Since a strict accounting of the character’s equipment and belongings would be tedious and undesirable, and just not very much fun at all, we have therefore come up with the following rules.

Basic Equipment – A character’s Basic Equipment does not count towards encumbrance. Basic equipment is defined as the following:

• 4 Belt Pouches – containing up to their weight limit of not more than 5-10 lbs per pouch.
• Weapons – the character may have 1 large or huge weapon, or 2 medium weapons. 2 Small weapons count as a single Medium weapon. Two Tiny weapons count as a single Small weapon. This includes any weapon belts and/or scabbards and quivers that are associated with the weapon. Please note that the weapon sizes listed here are based upon the sizes given in the Weapons table on p. 38.
• Armor & Clothing – any worn armor and clothing. Some armors have their own penalties associated with wearing them. Those penalties are not considered to be part of encumbrance and are treated separately.

Backpack – A character’s backpack can be encumbering, especially as it starts getting full. If the backpack is at least half full, the character will receive an encumbrance modifier to all rolls based upon Speed and/or Dexterity. This includes skill rolls, stat rolls, and Saving Throws.

This modifier is equal to -3 plus the character’s Strength Stat Bonus. If the backpack is full, the encumbrance modifier is equal to -5 plus the character’s Strength Stat Bonus. The character’s Strength Stat Bonus can never raise the encumbrance modifier to more than zero.

Encumbrance Unit – Outside of a character’s Basic Equipment and Backpack, a character may carry an amount equal to 2 lbs per for each point of their Strength Stat Value. Thus a character with a Strength Stat Value of 15 has an Encumbrance Unit of 30 lbs. Each full Encumbrance Unit gives the character a -2 modifier to all actions. Especially large or bulky items can impose greater modifiers. If the character is carrying more than 2 Encumbrance Units, his Movement Rate is halved, and he will be unable to dodge, or perform any other types of similar actions.

Even though there are a wide variety of weapons available, not all are available to every character. Certain weapons may be restricted based on the character’s race or culture. Below is a short description of the weapons available, along with any special notes about the given weapons.

Ball & Chain – This is sometimes called a Meteor Hammer or a Comet Hammer. This weapon consists of a length of chain with a solid metal ball, about 3” in diameter and often slightly spiked, at one end, and a crossbar handle at the other end. The user gains a +2 to his attacks when using this weapon against a foe that is using a shield.

Bastard Sword – Often called a Hand-and-a-Half Sword. It has an extra long hilt that could easily accommodate either 1 hand or two. The blade is straight and sharpened on both edges.

Baton – There are several varieties of this weapon, from a simple short stout stick, to a slightly more flexible handle topped with a small weight.

Battle Axe – The Battle Axe is a large double-bladed axe that is used in a two-handed fashion. The blades are roughly shaped along the lines of a half moon (or perhaps a third of a moon) and they usually mirror one another, although there is some variation possible.

Broadsword – This double-edged blade is one of the most common types of swords out there. The blade itself is usually about 3” wide for the majority of its length.

Cestus – These are battle gloves, often worn by Boxers to increase the amount of damage that they deal with their fist attacks. These gloves usually include built in bracers that protect the forearms and allows the boxer to parry attacks without harm.

Club – Clubs are usually thicker on the business end, tapering down to the grip end. They are made of wood, and usually have a rough hewn appearance.

Composite Bow – This is a strong recurve bow made of several different materials that allow for greater strength and range in a shorter bow.

Dagger – Daggers are short, double-edged blades. They are useful tools for close in fighting.

Dart – The Dart is small thrown blade. It is often used to deliver poison to the target since it cannot do a lot of damage in and of itself.

Falchion – The Falchion is a one-handed, single-edged blade. It has a blade that usually has a heavy curved end, making the tip of the blade wider than it is down near the hilt.

Greatsword – This is a heavy sword. It is a double-edged weapon that comes in a variety of styles that all require 2 hands for the wielder to use it.

Hand axe – The Hand axe is characterized by its distinctly arch-shaped head, widening toward the cutting edge and terminating in a prominent point at both the upper and lower corners. It makes for both a good melee and thrown weapon.

Heavy Crossbow – This is a bow mounted on a long stock. It is used to shoot projectiles, called bolts. The bow is cocked by using a winding mechanism and then the bolt is slid into a groove.

Javelin – The Javelin is basically a sharpened shaft that is thrown at a target in most cases. Some Javelins will have metal heads or metal sheaths protecting and strengthening their tips.

Light Crossbow – This is a smaller version of the Heavy Crossbow. It is not as powerful as a Heavy Crossbow, but it is a little more compact and easier and quicker to reload.

Long Bow – This is a bow made from a single, long piece of wood. When strung, it looks like a capital “D” from the side as it doesn’t have the same sort of recurve that a Composite Bow has. It is used to fire arrows.

Mace – The Mace is a relatively simple weapon, being a metal head, often knobbed or spiked, attached to a stout handle.

Main Gauche – The Main Gauche is essentially a parrying dagger. What makes it different from other daggers is that its hilt is specially designed so that it provides a greater benefit to a character’s DEF. If it is not used to attack, the Main Gauche provides an extra +3 to DEF in addition any other bonuses.

Morning Star – The Morning Star is a type of flail, easily sed one handed. It is comprised of a wooden shaft/handle with an iron ball attached via a short length of chain. The iron ball is usually studded or spiked.

Pole Arms – Pole Arms come in a variety of styles, but basically, they are a long staff with sharp points and blades on the one end. Pole Arms are good against mounted or flying foes, or when out in the open, with a lot of others also using Pole Arms, but they are not very good at close quarters fighting.

Pole Axe – The Pole Axe is similar to the Pole Arms, except that the blades at the end are variations of an axe head, and they work best with slashing style attacks.

Quarterstaff – The Quarterstaff is a long cylindrical rod about an inch thick and the ends are often capped in metal.

Rapier – The Rapier is slim-bladed. It is primarily a thrusting sword, though it sometimes has a sharp edge to also allow for a little slashing.

Sai – This is a pointed, dagger-shaped metal baton, with two curved prongs projecting from the handle. The tip is often sharpened, making for a good stabbing weapon.

Scimitar – The Scimitar is a long curved blade, sharpened on only the outer edge of the curve.

Short Bow – The Short Bow is a smaller version of the Long Bow, made from a single piece of wood. One of the benefits of the Short Bow is that if a rider is skilled enough, it can be used from horse back.

Short Spear – The Short Spear is essentially a short shaft with a bladed head attached to one end.

Short Sword – This weapon is a smaller version of the Broadsword. Its blade is often double-edged, straight and usually about 3” wide, though thinner versions do exist.

Sling – A Sling is essentially a leather pouch with two lines, one extending from either side. The pouch is then whirled and a stone, held in the pouch, is then released to fly at its target.

Sling Shot – A Sling Shot is essentially a “Y” shaped handle with a pouch attached to the upper ends by some elastic material, or certain designs could use springs. It shoots stones, often called bullets.

Smallsword – The Smallsword has a thin, yet sturdy blade. It is made primarily for thrusting attacks, but may also be used in slashing attacks as well.

Spear – Like the Short Spear, the Spear is a long shaft with a bladed head on the end. It is most often used by foot soldiers when defending against mounted or flying opponents.

War Hammer – The War Hammer resembles a hammer on one side, with a single spike on the reverse, allowing the wielder to do either a crush or puncture critical at will, utilizing but a single skill. Dwarves are often fond of utilizing this as a thrown weapon as well.

There are a number of different methods of travel that players could use. The following list is only a sample of the possible methods that characters might use.

• Mule/Donkey – Standing around 4’ tall at the shoulder, this 550 lb beast can easily carry up to 250 lbs of cargo.
  
• Mature Pony – This mount stands about 4’ tall at the shoulder and weighs around 500 lbs. It can carry up to 180 lbs including the rider.
  
• Light Horse – This mount stands about 5’ tall at the shoulder and weighs about 800 lbs. It can carry up to 200 lbs including the rider.
  
• Medium Horse – This mount stands about 6’ tall at the shoulder and weighs about 900 lbs. It is capable of carrying up to 300 lbs including the rider.
  
• Heavy Horse – The smallest of this type of mount stands 6’ tall at the shoulders and weighs in at 1300 lbs. It can carry up to 400 lbs including its rider.
  
• Lesser Warhorse – Trained specifically for combat, this mount does not require the rider to make skill rolls to control the mount during combat. That means that the rider will not have to devote any of his activity each round to controlling it. Lesser Warhorses stand around 6’ at the shoulder and weigh about 950 lbs. They are capable of carrying up to 350 lbs including the rider.
  
• Riding Wolf – This special breed of Wolf is raised specifically by the smaller races as mounts. It stands around 3’ tall at the shoulders and weighs around 300 lbs. It can carry up to 140 lbs including the rider. Like Warhorses, these mounts do not require the rider to make Riding rolls when in combat.
  
• Horse-cart – This is a 6’ long, 2 wheeled cart that is pulled by a horse or other draft animal. It can easily be used to haul up to 800lbs of cargo, including anybody riding on the cart. It allows the animal pulling it to be able to haul double what it can normally carry, up to the maximum allowed by the cart.
  
• Wagon – This is a sturdy 4 wheeled vehicle pulled by one or two animals. It can hold up to a maximum of 1200 lbs of cargo. It allows the animal pulling it to be able to haul double what it can normally carry (quadruple, if pulled by 2 animals), up to the maximum allowed by the cart.
  
• Boats & Ships – Boats are small vessels that stick to shallow coastal waters, rivers and lakes. Ships are larger and capable of traveling the open seas.
  
  • Small Boat – This is about 10’ in length and weighs about 200 lbs. It is capable of holding up to 1000 lbs.
    
  • Medium Boat – This is about 20’ in length and weighs about 800 lbs. It is capable of holding up to 4000 lbs.
    
  • Large Boat – This is about 30’ in length and weighs about 2000 lbs. It is capable of holding up to 7000 lbs.
    
• Ship Passage – There are two main types of ship passage. The first is ferry service, going from point A to point B, such as from a city to a small island a few miles off shore. This usually costs 1 bp + an additional 2 cp per mile that the passenger is to be ferried. The second type of passage is as a passenger upon a sea-going vessel. The cost for this type of passage is normally 5 bp + an additional 1 bp per mile to be traveled.
  
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