Basic Terms
Combat: A combat is any type of deadly fight between PCs and NPCs or other PCs. A friendly sparring session is not a combat. A combat begins with the first attempted strike or hostile spell against an enemy and ends when the last enemy has left the battlefield via death, capture, or retreat. Abilities that are usable "once per combat" can be used once during this timeframe. If a fight has multiple waves of similar enemies, a new wave counts as a new combat if there is a gap in between waves when there are no active enemies on the battlefield. If enemies are constantly respawning and the field is never completely clear of enemies, it is still the same combat.
Dead: A dead character is no longer playable during the current arc (absent necromancy).
Dropped: A character who is dropped is unconcsious but not dead.
Scene: A scene is either a combat or a narrative scene. A narrative scene is like a scene in a play, and typically ecompasses a conversation, action, or activity. For example, a town meeting might be a scene and individual conversations in the town center following the meeting are a separate scene. A walk in the woods may be a scene and returning to town a separate scene. Combat always ends a narrative scene. Other cues are not always so clear; use your best judgement about whether you think a new scene has begun when determining whether abilities that are usable "once per scene" are available again.
Combat Rules
Combat Safety Overview
We use a form of "moderate contact" for boffer fighting. What this means is while we do our best to not use full force when impacting someone, we also acknowledge and allow some speed and firmer contact than "lightest touch" systems. Expect to maybe be a little sore after a lot of combat, but nothing more than light bruises. In a worst case scenario, you may get a bruise that take a couple days to heal, but nothing too severe is likely to occur. Hits to head, groin, and hands are not allowed.
You should still acknowledge shots thrown with light calibration as valid and you are welcome to throw shots with light calibration. Moderate contact just means that you can throw shots with moderate force and you should not complain if someone hits you with moderate force. You should complain if someone hits you with high force.
A big part of accomplishing this is fighter authorization. Before you ever are allowed to carry a boffer into game, you must spend some time proving you can use that weapon safely. This goes for every weapon you wish to use and the process is slightly different depending on the size/style of weapon. Staff or a safety marshal can assist you in getting cleared for combat. This authorization can be revoked at any time for any reason.
A call of "hold" stops all combat. Everyone should remain motionless until the person who called the hold resumes combat via calling, "3, 2, 1, lay on."
For more detail on the combat safety, see the Safety Rules and Guidelines page. If you believe someone is fighting unsafely, first notify them of the problem and then if necessary notify a safety marshal, as outlined in the grievance procedure.
For information on non-combatants, who should not be physically struck under any circumstances, see the Non-Combatant section of the Safety Rules and Guidelines page. Non-combatants do not need to understand the physical combat rules but should understand Magic and Essence rules as they can use and be targeted by spells.
Weapon Types
All weapons are equivalent; a knife hurts just as much as a halberd. Some traditionally less popular weapons have Weapon Powers, described below, intended to make them more strategically viable.
Thrown and ranged weapons work like you'd think; if an arrow or thrown weapon hits your shield or you bat it away with your sword, it doesn't hurt you.
A shield that is attached to your body and not held in your hand counts as armor (e.g., for the purposes of the Armored physrep bonus) but does not block strikes as a shield held in the hand does.
You may decide what weapons it makes sense for your character to wield. Stabbing is legal if your weapon’s tip is safe to stab with. Staff or a Safety Marshal will make this determination. See Weapon and Armor Safety Rules for details on weapon construction.
Hit Locations
There are no hit points or health points. There are five hit locations: your two arms from shoulder to wrist, your two legs from hip to foot, and your torso. The head and neck are not valid targets, nor is the groin or hands.
If you are hit in the arm, you lose the arm. Put your arm behind your back so it is not in the way of your torso. You may pass a weapon in your disabled arm to a free hand if you have one. If not, hold the weapon or shield behind you out of the way. If you physically cannot hold your arm behind your back, hold it as tightly to your body as you can. Hits to an injured arm count as torso because in theory that arm is no longer present, but you can only physically get it so far out of the way of your torso.
If you are hit in the leg, you have two choices. You can either post on your uninjured leg, meaning that leg cannot move from that spot until you are healed, or you can drop to your knees. If you have one functional leg, you may walk on your knees. You may not hop around on one leg.If you lose both legs, you must go to your knees and cannot knee walk. Hits to a leg that is already injured do nothing.
No amount of injured limbs drop you. You can be conscious and able to speak, cast spells that do not require gesturing, etc., after losing all four limbs. How much pain you want to roleplay being in is up to you.
Hits to the torso drop you. If you are dropped, fall down dramatically (if safe) or kneel with your weapon(s) held against your chest. Wait for someone to heal or kill you.
Hit Types
Aeternia is moderate contact, which means that the hardest acceptable hit is somewhere in the range of a hearty slap on the back. A valid but not too hard hit may sting for a couple of seconds. Not all hits need to be at the maximum hardness. There is no calling "light" in Aeternia - if a hit has intent behind it, it counts.
A hit that is glancing or incidental does not count. For example, if you deflect a sword with your weapon and the sword bounces off your arm after being deflected, you don't have to take that hit.
You should take a hit from the flat of a sword. We don't want to disadvantage pretty, sword-shaped swords compared to round boffers. However, you may call back a hit you landed if it was flat and you would like to be more realistic. If someone calls, "flat, don't take it" to you, that means ignore the last hit from them.
If your arm or torso is struck while you are in the process of delivering a hit, you are encouraged but not required to call back the hit you delivered with, "late, don't take it."
Similarly, if an arrow bounces off the ground but hits you straight-on with reasonable force, you should take that. We don't want to discourage aiming low, which is safer than aiming high. However, if you are an archer and want to be realistic, you may call back a hit that bounces. If someone calls, "bounce, don't take it" to you, that means ignore the arrow that just hit you.
There are no specific rules against flurries or "machine gunning" because these behaviors are not useful in Aeternia's combat system. However, they should be avoided anyway. Treat your weapon strikes as if you are using a real version of the weapon you are wielding and attempting to land blows that would cause damage.
Dropped
If you are stuck in the torso - or, more rarely, if you are the target of a magical effect - you are dropped. You should lie on the ground or, if lying down would be unsafe, kneel with your weapons held against your chest. When lying down, try to avoid being a tripping hazard. Be mindful of where your body and weapons are.
When dropped, you are unconscious. You may occasionally groan in pain while unconscious but cannot speak coherently or perceive what is going on around you. If you fall down behind a bush or have other reason for concern others may not notice you, you may groan loudly. You may gasp out a few words as you fall if it would be dramatically appropriate. Though you are not aware in-character of anything going on around you, you should still pay attention out-of-character for anyone killing you, anyone healing you, or any safety issue that would necessitate that you move.
If you spend five minutes in the dropped condition without being healed or stabilized, you are dead.
Dropped or otherwise unconscious or immoble characters may be carried by other players. If both players feel it is safe, you may carry another player by physically carrying them. Otherwise, you may grab the immoble character on the shoulder or arm (unless they are wearing a red wristband in which case you must ask first) to simulate carrying or dragging them. If you grab them with two hands, state, "I am carrying you" and both players may move as quickly as they safely can move while in that position. If you grab them with one hand, state, "I am dragging you," and both players must move at a slow walking pace.
Stabilized
If you are dropped, anyone can stabilize you by spending ten seconds roleplaying performing basic first aid on you. This brings you back to semi-consciousness but you cannot move or use any spells or abilities. You can speak, though you may have difficulty doing so.
If you are stabilized, you do not bleed out in five minutes. You can be killed with a killing blow as if you were dropped. You remain in the stabilized state until healed or killed.
Death
Minions of darkness are frail creatures that disincorporate the moment they are dropped. They may reincorporate and return later, or perhaps many of them may look similar; no one truly knows. Enemies who disincorporate leave the battlefield with their weapon(s) over their head.
An NPC can kill a dropped PC by touching the PC with their weapon and loudly announcing some form of declaration like: “I will now bring your final doom upon you.” or "Prepare to meet your maker!" The NPC then loudly incants "Killing Blow...1...2...3...4...5...(continuing until)...10". If no one interrupts the chant, the PC dies immediately. If the chant is interrupted at any point before this it must be restarted from the beginning. This experience, even if interrupted, is deeply traumatic.
If you are in the dropped state for five minutes and no one heals you or finishes you off, you have died of your injuries and are dead.
When you die, you die. That's it. The nature of the world and our mini campaigns allows a character to return on the next cycle/mini campaign, but for that story, they are gone. Atlternate characters (alts) are encouraged and welcome after death! You may re-enter game as an NPC or an alt at the same progression level (boons, etc).
It may not make story sense for an alt to come into game wearing an essence amulet crafted by a dead PC. Furthermore, it is a cultural practice for a close friend or family member to wear a departed loved one's amulet in order to feel close to them by carrying their last remaining essence. (The amulet is not mechanically usable unless it is the only amulet that person is carrying.) This practice is strong enough that sometimes fights can start at funerals over who will get the honor of wearing the departed's amulet and many secret love affairs have been revealed on such occasions.
Weapon Powers
Some weapons are cool but weak in combat. Weapon powers attempt to balance this out. Some are better than others because some weapons are worse than others. Any time you are wielding the relevant weapon, you have access to the corresponding weapon power. Weapon powers do not cost Essence. You cannot be commanded to use weapon powers. For more detailed descriptions of the keywords in the calls described below, see Magic and Essence, below.
Any weapon held in two hands counts as a two-handed weapon for the purposes of weapon powers. If you switch between holding a weapon with one hand or two hands, you may still only use one weapon power per combat, but may choose which one to use each combat.
Two-handed sword, ax, or blunt weapon: Once per combat, immediately after your weapon contacts any part of your opponent's body, gear, weapon, or shield, you may then make a "ground" call, such as, "I'll knock you to the ground!" This represents the staggering force of your blow knocking your enemy down. (The call is allowed to be shorter than you could get away with via Invoke Ground because of the added requirement to strike something.)
Polearm: This is already very good. You don't need powers.
One-handed sword, no off-hand: Once per combat, you may Push Through an opponent's Shield effect without spending the normal essence cost to Push Through, representing your accuracy with your blade.
One-handed non-sword, no off-hand: Once per combat immediately after striking an opponent's weapon or shield you may make a "command" call instructing them to stop using the object they struck, such as, "Command: stop using your sword!" This represents the crushing force of your blow damaging the object. (The call is allowed to be shorter than you could get away with via Invoke Command because of the added requirement to strike the object.)
Dual weapons: This is already very good. You don't need powers.
Weapon and buckler (shield <12" at widest point): You may ignore the first hit that strikes you in every combat. It doesn't matter where this hit lands. Call "armor!" when this hit lands so others know you aren't ignoring it. If you also are benefitting from the physrepped armor bonus, you can ignore the first and second hit in any combat (one hit from the weapon power and one from the physrep bonus). This represents your character having greater skill with the buckler than you the player do and having blocked the blow.
Weapon and shield: This is already very good. You don't need powers.
Ranged weapons: These are already very good. You don't need powers.
Magic and Essence
Not all denizens of Aeternia have Essence or magic. But you sure do! Some especially powerful monsters may as well. In addition to the keyword-based spells described below that take effect instantly, you also have access to lengthier Rituals.
Keywords
All spell calls must contain one of five mechanical keywords. Four of the five keywords have a duration of ten seconds. Do your best to estimate this and give others the benefit of the doubt when they estimate. In all cases, it is the target, not caster, whose time-keeping matters. Being dropped ends any effect. Effects can overlap.
Ground: The target falls to their hands and knees on the ground and is incapacitated for ten seconds. The target cannot fight, move, or speak for the duration but is aware of what is happening around them.
Pinned: The target cannot move their feet (except minor adjustments to avoid falling over if needed) for ten seconds. If the target is kneeling or lying down when hit with the call, they may not get up from their knees for the duration. The target can still fight and use magic.
Command: The target must follow the caster’s command to the best of their ability for ten seconds. There is no restriction on the type of command, but targets should disregard any command that would put any player or NPC in an out-of-game unsafe situation. Commands cannot force the target to spend Essence.
Shield: The target is immune to all harmful magic and weapon strikes for ten seconds. This does not end any harmful effects that were already on the target. When struck with magic or a weapon, the target should shout, “shielded!” in a smug tone. You may target yourself or another with Shield.
Heal: The target is restored to full health with all functioning limbs. You may target yourself with Heal as long as you are fully conscious; you cannot heal yourself if you are dropped or stabilized.
In addition to the keywords used in spells, the keyword "armor" means that the hit you just landed was negated by someone's armor or buckler. The "armor" keyword is not part of any spells. You do not need to do anything if you hear this keyword.
NPCs who are especialy heavily armored will count down instead of repeatedly calling armor. For instance, they might call "5" when first hit, then, "4" when next hit, and so forth. After they call "1," they next hit will injure or drop them.
Some rare and special NPCs have an NPC-only keyword of "invulnerable." This means that the NPC cannot be injured or dropped until some condition is met, such as killing a different NPC, performing a ritual, etc. If you hit an NPC and they call "invulnerable," know that continuing to hit them won't be useful.
Calls
To perform a call, point with a free hand or weapon at a target within roughly twenty feet, say the target character’s name if you know it or a short descriptive phrase if you don’t (e.g., “monster in the red mask,” “human in blue”), and then loudly say a short descriptive sentence that includes the keyword itself and the flavor of how you are doing the keyword. You should verbally emphasize the keyword as much as possible. If the target seems confused, repeat the keyword again at the end of the sentence.
You can perform calls from farther away than twenty feet, but this drastically increases the odds that the target will not notice. If you perform a call and the target doesn't take the effect, the essence is not expended and you don't have to wait before trying again. If you perform the same call on the same target twice in a row and the target doesn't take the effect, you should get substantially closer or substantially louder before trying again. If you are closer than twenty feet and this is happening repeatedly with the same person, politely alert them after combat that they are missing calls.
Speaking a full sentence is more difficult to do than simply shouting something like “lightning bolt” or “ground pain” but that is the point – casting powerful magic requires concentration and may mean you need to take a step back from the thick of the fighting to do it.
If you think someone may have just performed a call on you but you aren’t sure what happened, you may ask, “Clarify?” and they should repeat the mechanical keyword.
Magic is tiring! You may make a call at most every thirty seconds. You don’t have to count this precisely, but you shouldn’t be chaining your calls together one right after the other. Take a few breaths in between. The thirty seconds begins after you complete your call, not when you start your call.
Example Calls
Calls tell the target how the keyword is being applied and should affect roleplay. For example, “Writhe on the GROUND in agony,” “Bow to the GROUND in awe of my goddess,” “Cower on the GROUND in fear,” “Fall to the GROUND stunned,” “Roll on the GROUND laughing at my joke,” and “Be pulled to the GROUND by vines” are all very different magic and should feel very different emotionally to the target, but they all do the same thing: briefly incapacitate a person on the ground.
Examples for pinned include, “Your foot is PINNED to the spot by an ice block,” “You are PINNED in place with fear,” “You are PINNED in place with shame from my insult,” “Thick vines PIN you in place.”
The call for Invoke Command should include both the command for the target to follow and the flavor of why the target is following that command. “By the power of my goddess, I COMMAND you to fight your allies!” “Be overwhelmed with fear as I COMMAND you to flee!” “Believe that I am your friend and follow my COMMAND to defend me.” “With a powerful guilt trip, I COMMAND you to go away and think about what you’ve done.” “With an intimidating roar I COMMAND you to fight me!”
Examples for shield might include, “You are protected by the SHIELD of my faith,” “A wall of fire SHIELDS my body,” “You gain a SHIELD of pure magic.”
Examples for heal can range from the magical to the mundane, especially if you’re doing it out of combat. You might say, “I will HEAL your wounds with my knowledge of herbalism,” “This enchanted bandage will HEAL you,” “A feeling of peace courses through you as I HEAL you,” “A cleansing flame sears your wounds and HEALS you,” or “by my mastery of magical arts, be HEALED!”
Essence
Every PC starts out with 6 Essence. Essence is not affected by being dropped or being healed; it remains the same and is neither lost nor reset.
Essence can be regained by being incredibly, overwhelmingly dramatic. This is not just your garden-variety drama. This should be levels of drama that significantly enhance someone else’s game. This can be social drama or combat drama. Each instance of drama causes you to regain 1 Essence.
Social drama might be something like confessing a long-held secret to someone whose opinion of you will be changed by the confession, publicly proposing to your star-crossed lover from a different social class, or giving a genuine speech in support of your greatest rival because you admit they will do the job better than you will.
Combat drama is showy flourishes that make the fight look like something out of a movie. Critically, you cannot perform combat drama while under the effects of a shield call, as that takes all the risk out of it! Combat drama includes things like spinning in a full 360 circle before or while making an attack, carrying on about a minute’s worth of witty banter with an opponent while actively engaging them with blows, or a solo charge against overwhelming odds.
Don’t be a spotlight hog! You can only regain Essence via combat drama once per fight. There isn’t a strict limit on how often you can regain Essence via social drama, but if you’ve done it two or three times, you should probably take a breather and help someone else be dramatic instead.
If you see another PC do something incredibly cool or impactful to your game that you think should help them recover Essence, you may go briefly out of game to suggest that they recover 1 Essence.
You recover all of your Essence after spending at least 30 minutes eating a meal or at least 6 hours sleeping. (Out of game or in game.)
Spells
Each PC may select two spells. At the time you select each spell, select the flavor that you’ll be using with the spell. If you want multiple flavor options, you may select the same spell twice with different flavor.
The flavor can be any type of thematic category or power source. You can use the leylines as flavor, elements, emotions, mundane abilities, and so forth. Your spells don't have to be the same flavor but they can be. For example, you might flavor your Slow Heal spell as using bandages and ointments while your Invoke Ground spell is summoning a minor earthquake. Another character might flavor Slow Heal as inspiring someone to shake off their wounds and keep fighting with a brief speech while Invoke Ground is an insult so scathing it stuns the target.
After selecting your two spells, pick one of the two to be your signature spell. This spell costs one less Essence for you to cast. This can make it free.
Invoke Ground (2 Essence): You use the ground keyword in a call.
Slow Ground (1 Essence): You spend ten seconds with both feet planted firmly in place and at least one free hand performing magical gestures. If you manage this uninterrupted (i.e., not wounded, forced to move, or affected by a harmful spell), you use the ground keyword in a call. For fairness, try to err on the side of counting slowly.
Invoke Pinned (1 Essence): You use the pinned keyword in a call.
Invoke Command (2 Essence): You use the command keyword in a call. Note that the flavor you select may logistically limit the kind of commands it makes sense to give, so be thoughtful.
Invoke Lesser Command (1 Essence): You use the command keyword in a call that must compel the target to do one of the things on the following list, selected at the time you select this spell: fight you, fight one of your allies (e.g., a fellow PC), avoid you.
Invoke Shield (2 Essence): You use the shield keyword in a call.
Invoke Heal (2 Essence): You use the heal keyword in a call.
Slow Heal (1 Essence): You spend ten seconds with both feet planted firmly in place and at least one free hand performing magical gestures. If you manage this uninterrupted (i.e., not wounded, forced to move, or affected by a harmful spell), you use the heal keyword in a call. For fairness, try to err on the side of counting slowly.
If you are interrupted while casting a Slow spell, you do not spend the Essence. The Essence is only spent when you make the call. For the purposes of magical gesturing during Slow spells, your "free" hand can be holding a focus, as long as this focus is not a weapon, a shield, or otherwise useful for anything besides thematics.
You should think about why your character knows each spell, how they learned it, and what it feels like to cast it. Note that in-game, spells are not categorized this way. Someone who has Slow Heal and Invoke Ground with fire flavor will be seen as a very different kind of magician than someone who has Slow Heal and Invoke Ground with a plant theme.
You may use harmful spells on your fellow PCs if you choose. This will be obvious to everyone and may have repercussions.
Once per game, you may upgrade a single spell from single-target casting to sound-of-voice casting. Loudly announce, “[All/All enemies/All allies] within the sound of my voice, [call].” You pay the same Essence cost for the spell as normal.
Push Through
Especially determined heroes (that’s you) and some powerful enemies may Push Through the effects of magic. When Pushing Through magic, the mechanical effect is negated but the roleplay effect still happens.
For example, if you are targeted with, “Writhe on the ground in agony” and Push Through, you are still in agony. You should scream, grimace, etc. However, you are able to stand and continue fighting rather than falling to the ground. If you are targeted with, “Be overwhelmed with fear as I command you to flee” you are still very frightened, but manage to keep it together and stay put. If you are targeted with, “Your foot is pinned in place by a block of ice” your foot is indeed coated in ice, but you are able to wrench it free in a moment rather than ten seconds.
You may Push Through someone else’s Shield spell effect, but should make it very obvious you are taking extra effort to attack them in a way their Shield does not protect against. If they renew their Shield by recasting the spell with a new call, you must spend another Essence to Push Through again if you wish to continue making effective attacks against them.
When Pushing Through something, you should ham up your roleplay immensely and/or say “push through” or a sentence containing it so the caster knows you aren’t merely ignoring the effect.
For example, if you are screaming in obvious agony while fighting, you don’t need to say “push through,” but if you’re stoically remaining put in the face of fear, you probably should. If you are Pushing Through someone’s Shield effect you should be extra obvious about it so they know to take the hit.
Pushing Through a spell effect costs 1 Essence.
You can also Push Through Ley Influence to take one single dramatic action that runs counter to the influence you are experiencing. For example, someone who is influenced by Night might Push Through their apathy to dramatically save a friend, before succumbing to the apathy again.
Pushing Through ley influence costs 1 Essence for minor influence and 2 Essence for major influence. You may only Push Through each instance of influence once. For example, if you are influenced by Night you may Push Through once. If later that game you become influenced by Nature, you may Push Through the Nature influence once.