Journey: Combat

This will be where we talk about combat.

Overview

Combat is part of the adventuring life, and chances are good that - as an adventurer - you will take part in a combat. In Journey, combat can be rather deadly - if you have not spent your time hardening yourself to pain, a single swordswing could be the end of you.

The more things you carry, the heavier the armor you wear, the bigger the weapon you wield, all slow you down. While other humanoids suffer the same sorts of problems, creatures and monsters like gryphons or dragons do not suffer from such weight, and thus can strike and move that much faster. Monsters are dangerous adversaries in Journey, and only the best-prepared of adventurers would dare face them.

The combat rules of Journey are designed to be fluid. Rather than having discrete turns, each participant acts, then can act again later based upon what sort of action they took, how heavy their gear is, and how fast they are. A stealthy assassin, wielding a small dagger, can react much faster than a warrior armored head-to-toe and armed to the teeth.

Terms

Initiative

A skill that measures your ability to react. In combat, you use this to determine when you first go.

Initiative Scale

A scale that begins at 0 and goes as high as necessary. Your character's turn appears as a number on this scale; after a character acts, the character with the lowest initiative on the scale acts next.

Speed

How quick you are to recover from an action. Your Speed is equal to your minimum Dexterity.

Tick

A "tick" is a single point on the initiative scale. Durations and action costs are measured in ticks.

Action Cost

The number of ticks an action adds to your initiative.