Sections with a dice icon are mandatory to read to understand how to play
Using Weapons & Firearms, Also Attacking
As long as it is equipped to the stated equipment slot it’s supposed to take up, anyone can use their action to make a basic attack with a weapon or firearm. If used normally, weapons and firearms are meant to inflict a physical type of damage on to someone by using your action to roll high enough to break someone’s armor class.
If you are proficient with a weapon or firearm, then you are allowed to use that weapon or firearm’s special ability written down on the item.
However, not being proficient with a weapon or firearm not only means that you don’t have as many numbers to add to your attack rolls, but you also do not get to use each weapons and firearms special ability.
(Refer to Battle Items if you want to look more into Weapons)
Using Armor
As long as it is equipped to the chest equipment slot, anyone can wear a set of armor and benefit from it. The point of armor is to replace your normal default armor class with a higher number so it’s more difficult for an attacker to damage you head on.
If you are proficient with an armor, you can benefit from a higher armor class without any drawbacks that aren’t listed on the armor itself.
However, not being proficient with an armor means that when you put on the armor, while you will still benefit from a higher armor class, you will have disadvantage on all physical rolls and your speed is halved.
(More information about Proficiency can be found in the Training Section)
Armor Class
An Armor Class or AC measures your defensive capabilities, meaning that anyone trying to attack you head on needs to roll high enough to “break” your AC in order to damage you.
Normal default armor class without wearing any actual armor is calculated as 8 + your Dexterity Modifier. In order to increase this number, you can get defensive abilities like Buff Body and Mobility Expert or wear a set of armor regardless of if you’re good with it.
(Refer to Battle Items if you want to look more into Armor)
Health & Taking Damage
In order to measure how close your character is to dying, there is a resource pool that represents your vitality called Health or Hit Points. The point of the game is to reduce your enemies HP to 0 while keeping yours from reaching the same. You lose HP by someone breaking your armor class with an attack or you failing a saving throw from an external effect.
Hit Points can be regained through abilities, short rests, items, and much more! There are endless ways to recover HP. Unless stated otherwise by the DM, your current HP recovers to the maximum HP you can have at the time after a successful long rest.
(For information on what happens when your HP reaches 0, check the Death and Death’s Door rules in the Extended Combat Rules section)
Variant Rule
If you lose a significant amount of health in one burst, the DM can make the decision to put Grievous Wounds or even worse on you.
Types Of Health
The two types of health in Free Flowing is Normal Health & Overhealth.
Normal Health has a set maximum of how many hit points you can recover, although that max can be increased through perks & training.
Overhealth technically doesn’t have a set maximum of how many extra hit points you can have. However, you can only get Overhealth through specific abilities and perks. You can only benefit from one set of Overhealth at a time, attempting to stack extra Overhealth will simply replace the current amount with the new points you’re getting. Also, you lose all current Overhealth at a completed long rest.
Initiative
Initiative is the turn based order that decides who can perform combat actions before someone else. It’s a numbered list from top to bottom and the bottom of the list is the end of the round. A full round of normal combat is one minute.
Whenever roleplay starts to turn into something more intense, the DM can call for initiative to turn it into a combat. All players and other characters controlled by the DM roll a dexterity check to determine their place in initiative. If someone gets a higher number than someone else, than they go before them. It’s up to the DM to determine what to do if two people get the same number.
A combat can end in multiple ways. It can end if the players achieve a goal that the DM gives to them, if the opposing members of the combat can no longer fight, if those opposing members manage to escape, or another unpredictable scenario disrupts the combat.
Combat Actions
There’s a limited amount of things you can do during your own individual turn in a combat initiative, referred to as an action economy of weighing your character’s options. You have one of each of the following per combat turn and round:
Action: Combat moves that encompass the majority of moves in the game. Involves attacking, using special actions, and the rest of your most powerful combat options.
Quick Action: Combat moves that are much quicker and simpler than the full action. Usually involves a follow up attack or an effect that doubles your attacking/movement capabilities. Also can be used for specific special actions like help, jump, or shove.
Reaction: Combat moves that can only be used to react to an external source outside of your own character’s doing. Unless you are countering someone else’s reaction, this is only used across the round and not on your specific combat turn.
Interaction Action: Even quicker than quick actions, they are combat actions that can involve interacting with an item, using an active skill check, or an ability that can only be used with your interaction action.
Movement Action: Once per round, you can move up to the extent of your character’s walking speed. There are effects that can impede you from taking your movement action or make it travel farther like difficult terrain or landscapes that are difficult to traverse and therefore halve your movement.
The only action that breaks from the established mold are Free Actions. Free Actions are unique to varying abilities and items that have very specific clauses for being able to use a Free Action. This can include having it during your turn or being able to activate it at anytime through the round, it’s activation time is always obviously stated.
Critical Success Rolls
A Critical Success means rolling a 20 on a D20.
Attack Roll: Your damage becomes Critical and is greatly increased. Use the Critical Rules that your DM selects.
Skill Check: The best you could possibly do on that check.
Saving Throw: At the DM’s discretion, possibly completely avoid or negate an effect that usually results in half damage on success.
Standard Critical
Simply double your total damage roll.
CRUNCHY Critical
When rolling damage, add the maximum number you can roll on your damage die and add it to the total.
Critical Failure Rolls
A Critical Failure means rolling a 1 on a D20.
Skill Check: The worst you could possibly do on that check.
Saving Throw: The effect you are resisting against is doubled in effect and severity. If you’re taking damage, apply Critical Success rules to the damage that you are taking.
If it makes sense in the given situation, a critical failure on a roll can result in severe debuffs or even a critical wound if it makes sense. You also gain an inspiration for a Critical Failure roll.
Additional Targets
When you get to choose a higher tier of your Path, you usually get an additional target whenever you use your own custom moves from that Path. An additional target means that you can make one more target than you could before with the same custom move, meaning it can be the same character or another.
When using additional targets, the first attack and damage roll are considered the Main Target and are unaffected by any targeting rules. However, all additional targets use the Main Target for reference and have half the properties of that main target. This means halved range and damage, even if you have a bunch of targets you only roll damage once.
Additional targets can only be used if you are making single target attacks, unless stated otherwise you cannot make an additional target as an area of effect or a cone.
Duel Combat
One of the two types of “Intense Combat,” meaning that it’s a type of combat where you cannot perform reactions and rounds last 30 sec.
Duels are a combat that focuses strictly around one on one combat, only involving two characters. What’s special about duels is that both characters get access to Combos and they’re meant to be played as back to back exchanges instead of taking your time to come up with the most optimal play.
(Refer to the Combos section of this page for more information on them)
Variant Rule
Instead of properly playing out a duel, you can instead make it a series of contested attack rolls. Every time someone fails the contest of rolls, they can lose a significant amount of health or take a serious injury.
Chase Combat
One of the two types of “Intense Combat,” meaning that it’s a type of combat where you cannot perform reactions and rounds last 30 sec.
Chases are a combat that focus on fast paced movement instead of a head to head brawl. Regardless of whatever the cause of this type of combat is, the players need to move fast in order to succeed.
While in a chase, if you attempt to use the Dash action or a similar dashing effect that isn’t inspiration, you will begin to get winded. You can use a maximum of three dash effects before it impacts characters.
Attempting to use another dash effect after your third in the same chase, you need to roll a fortitude saving throw. The starting DC is 10, but increases every time you succeed on the saving throw. Every time you fail, you gain a level of exhaustion and the DC resets back to 10.
Combos
During a duel combat you can forgo either your action or quick action to perform a Combo. In Free Flowing, a Combo refers to a combat cinematic that the player describes and attempts to have play out by rolling high enough. You can only perform one Combo per duel round.
After forgoing your action/quick action and describing the cinematic series of events you want to happen, you’ll have to roll a Combo Skill Check with a stat relevant to your cinematic. Examples include:
“I land two slices with my sword and kick him prone to the ground”
“I stuff two bombs into his mouth, turn away and detonate them”
Depending on what you describe the DM will give an appropriate DC for a combo skill check. Example 1 would probably be a DC 15 while the second example would be DC 25.