THESE RULES ARE CURRENTLY NOT USED FOR ANY OFFICIAL PVP. The old rules detailed on discord still apply for Season 5 PvP.
Dice Combat in Wasteland is used for both Storyteller events and PvP. For PvP these are the only rules unless a unanimous agreement is made by all participants to the contrary.
During events, this is the core ruleset for Storytellers. However, the Storyteller may have house rules that are applied on top of these to add more options or flavor, such as mechanics for throwing, grappling or cover.
Dice rolls are handled in game with a special window. To open it, go to the cogwheel on your chat window, choose Actions, then Dice System.
Dice rolls are made up of a D20 (a random number from 1 to 20) and a modifier bonus (from -8 to +8). Occasionally, the rules or a storyteller may instruct you to make your roll with an advantage or disadvantage. On an advantage roll, two D20s are rolled and you keep the greater of the two results. On a disadvantaged roll, you roll two D20s and keep the lesser of the two results.
Modifiers are affected by your chosen profession, traits, environment, and equipped gear. They are never affected by skills leveled up in game, however they are often based heavily on your starting skill level (from 0 to 3). For instance, a character with +3 aim at creation (+125% boost) gains +6 to ranged attack rolls during combat.
Initiative is rolled at the start of combat and determines the turn order going forwards. It is not rerolled for the following rounds. Every character in combat rolls a D20 and adds their modifier. Characters then play in order of the highest value first. In the case of a tie, the tied characters can re-roll initiative to determine which of them takes the spot.
Example: Katniss, Frodo and Azula roll for initiative. After adding their modifiers, Katniss has 12, Frodo 6 and Azula 6. Frodo rolls again and gets an 18. Azula rolls again and gets a 14. The turn order becomes: Katniss, Frodo, Azula
Characters do not roll to move but have a flat number of tiles they can move in their turn. Movement has a base of 6, with each starting point in Sprinting adding one extra tile. Armor slows characters down by up to 2 tiles. Other factors such as traits can come into play.
By giving up your attack for this turn, you can focus purely on running, for an additional 5 tiles.
Example: Katniss has +1 point in Sprinting (+75% XP) and chooses to give up her attack to run away from Azula. Katniss is wearing medium armor. She can therefore move 6 + 1 (Sprinting) +5 (No attack) -1 (Medium armor) for a total of 11 tiles in her turn.
Attack rolls use a D20 plus your attack modifier. The modifier is based on your weapon starting skill level (from 0 to 3) multiplied by two. For ranged attacks, Aim is used. For unarmed attacks, Nimble is used. The modifier can be further changed a small amount by character traits.
To hit a target, the attack roll must equal or exceed the appropriate defense value. Characters have both melee defense and ranged defense, both of which have a base value of 12. Armor can add up to 3 points on top of this. Traits can add up to another 2 points. Various factors can affect armor negatively, such as being unarmed when attacked with a melee weapon.
Example: Azula attacks Frodo with a shotgun. She doesn’t have any traits to increase her ranged attack, but her starting Aim skill was +2, giving her +4 to her attack roll with a ranged weapon. Azula rolls D20+4.
Frodo has a base ranged defense of 12 and a Small trait which gives him +1 ranged defense. He is also wearing a bulletproof vest, giving him another +2. His total defense to beat is 15.
Azula rolls a D20 for 10 and adds 4, a total of 14, which misses Frodo by 1 point.
Your character has a total of five hit points and loses one from each successful attack against them. Once they're reduced to zero, they are considered downed and can't take part in combat anymore.
If you're downed in Dice Combat, roleplay being stunned on the ground, badly wounded or unconscious. You cannot participate in the battle anymore. For the longer term consequences, see PvP Outcomes.
Not all rolls are combat based. The dice system also includes several abilities that Storytellers may ask you to roll. Ability modifiers are figured out from a number of different factors, such as your traits and skills. For example, 👁️Awareness is affected by traits such as Keen Hearing or Deaf, whether or not you're standing in a darkened area, whether you're wearing a bulky gas mask or not and several other factors. Some professions have bonuses in their favored terrain, such as Survivalists in forest areas.
The full list of abilities are:
Storytellers may sometimes also ask you to roll a skill directly, such as Farming or Mechanics. In these cases, the modifier is purely based on your starting skill modifier, from 0 to a maximum of +6.
Armor comes from both your torso area and helmet. Torso armor can provide up to a theoretical +2 to both melee and ranged defense, while helmets can only provide +1 to either melee or ranged defense (never both at once). Torso armor with a +2 is counted as towards armor penalties for both movement and stealth rolls.
| Torso Armor | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bite/Scratch Resistance | Bullet Resistance | Melee Defense | Ranged Defense | Movement Modifier | Stealth Modifier |
| < 30% | < 30% | +0 | +0 | No Change | No Change |
| 30 - 69% | < 30% | +1 | +0 | No Change | No Change |
| < 30% | 30 - 69% | +0 | +1 | No Change | No Change |
| 30 - 69% | 30 - 69% | +1 | +1 | No Change | No Change |
| ≥ 70% | < 30% | +2 | +0 | -1 Movement | -1 Stealth |
| < 30% | ≥ 70% | +0 | +2 | -1 Movement | -1 Stealth |
| 30 - 69% | ≥ 70% | +1 | +2 | -1 Movement | -1 Stealth |
| ≥ 70% | 30 - 69% | +2 | +1 | -1 Movement | -1 Stealth |
| ≥ 70% | ≥ 70% | +2 | +2 | -2 Movement | -2 Stealth |
Examples 1: A leather jacket has 40% scratch resistance and 20% bite resistance. In dice combat this means it gives +1 to melee defense, 0 to ranged defense, and counts as light armor, with no penalty to movement or stealth.
Example 2: A bulletproof vest has 100% bullet resistance and 55% scratch resistance. In dice combat this means it gives +2 to ranged defense and +1 to melee defense. Due to the +2 ranged defense it counts as medium armor, imposing a penalty to movement and stealth.
| Helmet Armor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bite/Scratch Resistance | Bullet Resistance | Melee Defense | Ranged Defense |
| < 70% | 0 | +0 | +0 |
| ≥ 70% | 0 | +1 | +0 |
| Any | > 0 | +0 | +1 |
Example 1: A football helmet has 80% scratch resistance and no bullet resistance. This translates into +1 melee defense and 0 ranged defense.
Example 2: A military helmet has 100% scratch resistance, 100% bite resistance and 10% bullet resistance. The presence of the bullet resistance means it becomes a +1 ranged defense helmet, and therefore loses it's melee defense bonus, which remains at 0.