Being Attacked & Shields

Each round, there is no limit to the number of times a character enters a combat event initiated by others on the battlefield. Provided that there is space to do so.

Each character takes up one square of a chess board, each square forward facing for the character (forward, left, right, diagonal left, & diagonal right) is the front of that character. Each square behind the character (behind, diagonal left, & diagonal right) is the rear of that character. This is important for some abilities, such as shields, Stealth attacks, etc.

If a character wishes to attack another in melee range (generally 1 square) they need to be next to that character (including diagonal squares touching it). This is not possible if all the squares are filled with other characters. Only 1 character is allowed to take up a square at any time, so long as they are alive & fighting. A space occupied by a fallen character may be occupied by another fighting character.

There is no logical number of unconscious characters that can occupy one space. Literally, the sky is the limit. However, the GM may declare that a space is occupied with enough bodies (or in the case of large races, one body) to have that square designated as terrain. As terrain it may be used as cover & may no longer able to be occupied or traveled through.

The defending character may swap weapons in any way they choose, at any time they choose. Hence, a bowman can defend a melee attack by using unarmed or by simply switching weapons to another melee style. This gives them the opportunity to respond to any incoming attacks declared against them in any way they choose.

Unless the target of a projectile attack is within melee distance, they do not get the opportunity to do damage on a counterattack. If they win their contested-roll they would simply succeed in evading the projectile. Contested projectile attack damage can only occur on the turn of the character declaring it. Bows cannot counterattack even if within their range (including within melee range).

Shield

Equipping a shield has no Skill requirement. Equipping a shield does have a Stat requirement. For each Tier value the shield is, the user must have that value in their Body stat or higher (ie: a T8 Shield requires Body: 8+).

Equipping a shield takes 1 round to complete (2 consecutive non-contested actions). This may be changed to a lower number later. But the buff from shields is too great to allow it to be switched to as a free action like other equipment.

The Shield does not work unless equipped in hand. The rules cannot safely balance wearing shields on the back as armor.

When attacked from anywhere, regardless of orientation, if the defending character wins the roll; that character will automatically turn to defend themselves from their opponent. If they are in melee range & wielding a melee weapon, they will counterattack using the roll difference in their damage calculation. If they are outside melee range, they will simply dodge the attack instead. Then they will return to facing their declared direction (or opponent, object, etc.) after the attacker’s turn concludes.

However… If shield user loses a contested-roll while being attacked from the rear, they get no shield bonus.

####	####	####	####	####
####	DDDD	DDDD	DDDD	####
####	DDDD	DDDD	DDDD	####
####	DDDD	DDDD	DDDD	####
—–	DDDD	DDDD	DDDD	—–
—–	DDDD	DDDD	DDDD	—–
—–	—–	—–	—–	—–

And… If a character is attacked from a Stealth attack from the rear (after losing a contested stealth check), they will not turn to face their opponent & no shield bonus is applied (nor is any stat, skill, or dice).

The front arc that a shield protects for large creatures includes all tiles from it’s center-line forward.

The graph shows “DDDD” to represent a 3×5 draconic creature. The “####” represent where the shield cover functions. The “—–” represent where the shield does not offer protection. That is a 25 foot long creature…