The combat engine — Trail of Embers Act 1

Levels and the turn

100levels

10every attribute starts here

10action points a turn, 4 recovered

4 mwalked per action point

4prepared ability slots to start

2AP to stand back up

Movement is charged against the same pool as everything else. There is no separate move budget, no grid and no free step: a metre walked is a metre not swung. That single decision is what makes position a resource instead of a preamble.

What a level gives you

Gain	When
Attribute	on levels ending in 0, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8
Talent	on levels ending in 0, 5
Prepared slots	on levels ending in 0
Ability	on levels ending in 2, 6, 9

Milestones

Level	Unlocks
15	Mastery Tier 2 · Mastery tier 2
20	Respec Free · first respec is free
35	Mastery Tier 3
40	Second Mastery · second Mastery, at tiers 1-3 only
55	Mastery Tier 4 · keystones
80	Mastery Capstone
100	Ascendant

Derived from the five

A stat block authors five attributes. Everything else — vitality and both armour layers — comes out of this table, which is why the bestiary can print a body from five numbers.

Stat	Base	Per level	Attribute	Per point	Per point %
Vitality	44	4	Resolve	3	1.5%
Physical armor	12	1.9	Might	2	1.5%
Ward armor	12	1.9	Spirit	2	1.5%

XP to the next level is 8·L² + 30·L + 40, and an award is 34% of the defeated actor's level.

Two armour layers

Two armour layers, and they are not two health bars. Physical armour gates the physical crowd control — knockdown, entangle, bleed. Ward armour gates the magical — freeze, stun, fear, charm. Neither reduces damage to the other's school, and neither can be spent to protect against the other. Breaking the right one is what earns you the attempt at the control, not the result.

Landing the control once the layer is down

Contest	Value
Base chance percent	62
Per attribute point percent	5
Per level difference percent	3
Min chance percent	12
Max chance percent	92
Physical attribute	Might
Ward attribute	Wits
Defence attribute	Resolve
Prerequisite bonus percent	22

Afflictions

Bleeds, poisons and burns are a softer contest than hard control — they land far more often and are resisted by the defender's resistances rather than by an armour layer.

Contest	Value
Base chance percent	82
Per attribute point percent	2.50
Per level difference percent	1.50
Per resist point percent	0.60
Min chance percent	25
Max chance percent	97
Defence attribute	Resolve

Going down

Going down is not dying. A party member who runs out of vitality drops, and a heal -- or, outside combat, a meal -- puts them back up. Being hit while down is what actually kills, and even then Resolve buys a chance to hold on. The death save is deliberately generous at high Resolve and unforgiving at low: it is the payoff for the defensive attribute, and it is what stops a downed ally from being a formality the enemy mops up for free.

Rule	Value
Death save base percent	30
Death save per resolve point percent	2.50
Death save min percent	5
Death save max percent	85
Bleed out turns	3
Stabilise ap cost	1
Stabilise turns restored	3
Stabilise reach metres	2
Revive vitality percent	20
Resurrect vitality percent	25

Position

Four design rules produce the feel of this game and all four are load-bearing: free-form movement charged against AP, two armour layers gating hard crowd control, surfaces as a separate simulation, and position mattering. This section is the fourth one, in numbers.

Height

Height advantage is normalised to −1…1 and the percent below is what full advantage pays. It is worth three times as much to a bow as to a sword, which is the whole reason the Warden wants the ridge.

Rule	Value
Ranged bonus percent	30
Melee bonus percent	10
Ranged threshold metres	3

Someone in your face

Casting or shooting with an enemy inside 2.5 metres is a bad idea, and only ranged and magic are punished for it.

Rule	Value
Threshold metres	2.50
Magic penalty percent	30
Ranged penalty percent	25

Behind them

The rear arc is 100 degrees, judged against who the target is currently fighting. A Bulwark gets almost nothing for standing behind someone, because a Bulwark's job was never to be behind them.

Role	Rear %	Flank %
Assassin	70	20
Skirmisher	45	15
Stormblade	35	12
Reaver	30	10
Warden	30	10
Bulwark	8	4
Warchanter	10	4
Scrivener	12	5
Wellwright	12	5

Position, by class

Role	Height (ranged)	Height (melee)	Close quarters
Skirmisher	50	15	-40
Warden	45	12	-35
Pyromancer	40	10	-35
Stormcaller	45	10	-35
Tidecaller	35	10	-30
Geomancer	30	12	-25
Necromancer	35	10	-30
Plaguebearer	30	10	-25
Druid	35	12	-30
Riftwalker	40	10	-20
Inquisitor	35	12	-25
Bulwark	10	8	20
Reaver	12	10	25
Stormblade	18	12	15
Warchanter	15	10	12
Artillery	55	12	-45
Caster	35	10	-30
Frontline	12	10	20
Bruiser	12	10	25
Ranged	48	12	-38
Controller	38	10	-32
Support	28	10	-28
Healer	25	8	-30
Aggressive	14	12	22
Assassin	35	22	-15
Scrivener	40	8	-40
Wellwright	30	10	-25

Falling, and shooting past people

Rule	Value
Safe drop metres	2.50
Damage per metre	7
Max damage	120
Knockdown drop metres	5

Cover is a -35% damage penalty rather than a miss chance. A miss teaches nothing and feels like the game cheating; a smaller number is legible, and it lets the player decide that a poor shot now beats a clean one next turn.

Schools and affinity

A school is what an ability belongs to; ranks in it are worth 6% each. Nine schools map onto nine damage types.

School	Damage type
Warfare	Physical
Precision	Piercing
Fire	Fire
Tide	Frost
Storm	Storm
Stone	Stone
Venom	Venom
Arcane	Arcane
Covenant	Pure

What each class is naturally good and bad at

Negatives are the point. A class that is better at everything it touches is a class with no shape, so each of these gives up a school it has no business being good at — and hostiles carry role tags too, so the same table gives an enemy line its character.

Role	Per school
Assassin	Piercing +18%, Venom +12%, Physical -8%, Fire -15%, Stone -15%
Skirmisher	Piercing +14%, Physical +6%, Fire -10%, Stone -12%
Warden	Piercing +16%, Venom +6%, Physical -6%, Arcane -12%
Bulwark	Physical +12%, Stone +6%, Venom -10%, Arcane -12%
Reaver	Physical +18%, Piercing +4%, Frost -12%, Arcane -14%
Stormblade	Storm +12%, Piercing +8%, Physical +6%, Stone -10%
Pyromancer	Fire +18%, Stone +4%, Frost -18%, Physical -12%
Tidecaller	Frost +18%, Pure +6%, Fire -18%, Physical -12%
Stormcaller	Storm +18%, Frost +6%, Stone -14%, Physical -12%
Geomancer	Stone +18%, Fire +6%, Storm -14%, Piercing -10%
Plaguebearer	Venom +18%, Frost +4%, Fire -14%, Physical -10%
Necromancer	Venom +12%, Arcane +10%, Fire -12%, Physical -10%
Riftwalker	Arcane +18%, Storm +6%, Physical -14%, Stone -8%
Inquisitor	Pure +16%, Physical +8%, Venom -12%, Storm -8%
Warchanter	Pure +12%, Physical +4%, Fire -10%, Venom -10%
Druid	Venom +12%, Frost +8%, Fire -14%, Arcane -10%
Scrivener	Arcane +16%, Fire +8%, Frost +8%, Storm +8%, Physical -16%, Piercing -16%
Wellwright	Arcane +10%, Pure +8%, Stone +6%, Physical -14%, Piercing -14%

Surfaces

Surfaces are a separate simulation, not a damage-over-time tag on a tile. Water spreads downhill, oil does not evaporate, fire needs something to burn, and every one of them decays on its own clock. 17 surface types, 56 authored reactions between them.

Surface	Layer	Decay / round	Spreads	Flammable	Standing in it	Leaves behind
Water	Ground	0.05	yes	no	Wet	—
Blood	Ground	0.06	yes	no	Wet	—
Oil	Ground	0.03	yes	yes	Oiled	—
Venom	Ground	0.07	yes	yes	Poisoned	—
Ash	Ground	0.10	no	no	—	—
Fire	Ground	0.22	no	no	Burning	Ash
Ember	Ground	0.09	no	no	Burning	Ash
Ice	Ground	0.06	no	no	Chilled	Water
Frost	Ground	0.12	no	no	Chilled	—
ChargedWater	Ground	0.09	yes	no	Wet, Charged	Water
ChargedBlood	Ground	0.10	yes	no	Wet, Charged	Blood
CloudSteam	Air	0.10	no	no	Wet, Warm	—
CloudSmoke	Air	0.09	no	no	—	—
CloudVenom	Air	0.08	no	yes	Poisoned	—
CloudStorm	Air	0.11	no	no	Charged	—
Bramble	Ground	0.03	no	yes	Bleeding	—
CloudSpores	Air	0.12	no	yes	Poisoned	—

The reaction table

What happens when one surface meets another. Symmetric rows fire whichever way round the two arrive, which is what stops a combo depending on cast order.

Standing	Incoming	Order	Ground becomes	Air becomes	Why
Water	Fire	both ways	cleared	CloudSteam	Fire is quenched, the pool flashes to steam. Order-independent.
ChargedWater	Fire	both ways	cleared	CloudStorm	Electrified water flashes off as a live storm cloud.
Blood	Fire	both ways	cleared	CloudSteam	Blood boils away; thin steam.
ChargedBlood	Fire	both ways	cleared	CloudStorm
Oil	Fire	both ways	Fire	—	Signature ignition: hotter and far longer-lived than open fire.
Venom	Fire	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke	Venom detonates -- fire on the floor, choking smoke overhead.
Ice	Fire	both ways	Water	—	Melt. The ice sheet becomes a pool of the same size (conversion retention).
Frost	Fire	both ways	Water	—
Ash	Fire	both ways	Ember	—	Ash beds hold heat -- fire dropped on ash becomes long-lived embers.
Fire	Fire	one way	Fire	—
Ember	Fire	both ways	Ember	—
CloudVenom	Fire	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke	Cross-layer: igniting a venom cloud drops burning fallout on the floor.
Oil	Water	both ways	Oil	—	Oil floats -- the slick survives, the water does not read as a surface.
Ash	Water	both ways	Water	—	Sodden ash -- an ooze. Modelled as Water until an Ooze surface type exists.
Venom	Water	both ways	Venom	—	Water only dilutes venom, it does not clean it up.
Blood	Water	both ways	Water	—
Ice	Water	both ways	Ice	—	Water poured onto a frozen sheet freezes into it.
ChargedWater	Water	both ways	ChargedWater	—	The charge conducts through the new volume -- do not stand downhill.
Ember	Water	both ways	Water	CloudSteam	Embers are drowned -- the only reliable way to stop a reignition.
Water	Frost	both ways	Ice	—	Freeze a pool into a sheet. Actors already Wet are the intended victims.
Blood	Frost	both ways	Ice	—
ChargedWater	Frost	both ways	Ice	—	Freezing insulates -- the charge is lost.
ChargedBlood	Frost	both ways	Ice	—
Venom	Frost	both ways	Ice	—
Oil	Frost	both ways	Oil	—	Oil does not freeze. A slick cannot be made safe with frost.
Ash	Frost	both ways	Frost	—
Ice	Frost	both ways	Ice	—
CloudSteam	Frost	both ways	Ice	cleared	Cross-layer: steam condenses and freezes, clearing the cloud and glazing the floor.
Water	Storm	both ways	ChargedWater	—	The classic. Stunned here is still gated on WardArmor being exactly zero.
Blood	Storm	both ways	ChargedBlood	—
CloudSteam	Storm	both ways	—	CloudStorm	Steam conducts -- a storm cloud fills the whole volume.
Oil	Storm	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke	A spark in a slick. Storm is a fire starter, which most players discover late.
Venom	Storm	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke
CloudVenom	Storm	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke	Cross-layer detonation of a venom cloud.
Ice	Storm	both ways	Ice	—	Ice conducts across its whole sheet but is not consumed.
CloudSmoke	Storm	both ways	—	CloudStorm
Fire	Storm	both ways	Fire	—
Ember	Venom	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke
Oil	Ember	both ways	Fire	—
Ice	Oil	both ways	Ice	—	Oil beads off a frozen sheet -- the sheet is what matters underfoot.
Ash	Oil	both ways	Oil	—
Ice	Blood	both ways	Ice	—
ChargedWater	Blood	both ways	ChargedWater	—
Fire	Ash	both ways	Fire	—	Ash smothers a fire partially but does not put it out.
CloudSmoke	CloudSteam	both ways	—	CloudSteam
CloudStorm	CloudSteam	both ways	—	CloudStorm
CloudVenom	CloudSteam	both ways	—	CloudVenom
Ember	CloudVenom	one way	Fire	CloudSmoke	Cross-layer: a venom cloud drifting over live embers detonates on the round tick.
Bramble	Fire	both ways	Fire	—	Deliberately decisive. Persistent living terrain needs a loud, cheap answer or it dominates every encounter that lacks one.
Bramble	Water	both ways	Bramble	—	Water feeds it. The one reaction that makes a Tidecaller and a Druid better together than apart.
Bramble	Frost	both ways	Frost	—	Frozen over: the thorns stop cutting and become footing instead.
Bramble	CloudStorm	both ways	Bramble	—	Wet living matter carries a charge without being consumed.
Bramble	Venom	both ways	Bramble	CloudSpores	Venom sours the growth into a spore bloom overhead; the bramble itself survives.
CloudSpores	Fire	both ways	Fire	CloudSmoke	Spore detonation: fire on the floor, choking smoke overhead. The Druid's own combo and their worst accident.
CloudSpores	CloudStorm	both ways	—	CloudStorm	The storm carries the spores rather than clearing them.
CloudSpores	Water	both ways	—	cleared	Rain washes the bloom out of the air.

Walking through it

Surface	Move cost ×	Gives you
bare ground	1	—
Ice	0.85	—
Frost	1.15	—
Oil	1.90	—
Venom	1.50	—
Water	1.60	—
ChargedWater	1.60	—
Blood	1.25	—
ChargedBlood	1.25	—
Ash	1.05	—
Fire	1.25	—
Ember	1.25	—
CloudSteam	1	—
CloudSmoke	1	—
CloudVenom	1	—
CloudStorm	1	—
Bramble	1.75	—
CloudSpores	1	—

The statuses

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