Update: Conflicts Without Damage

Damage and the iconic "damage roll" are staples of many popular role-playing games. As The Way of the Earth has undergone its latest round of updates, damage, as it is traditionally conceived, has essentially been removed from the game. The new Judge Two system has a lot of nuance built into it, enough that I felt like "damage" or "points of damage" was no longer really necessary to meaningfully differentiate between weapons. I want to keep the action fast and the math light, and damage wasn't really helping either of those goals.

As it stands now, conventional weapons are simply either bashing or lethal. There is no "damage" difference among the types. All bashing weapons impose penalties to certain actions and build up to knocking someone out. All lethal weapons impose limitations to a character's movement and built up to killing them. Otherwise, weapons within a damage type are equally "powerful." A peasant's hatchet is a lethal weapon. An Atrian royal guard's dual headed crescent axe is a lethal weapon. Both can kill a character.

The Way of the Earth encourages players to see weapons in a utilitarian fashion. Many role-playing games have characters specialize in the use of particular types of weapons and then gives them stronger and stronger versions of that weapon as they level up. In The Way of the Earth, weapons are tools, and best used in certain situations. Combat orientated character will want to have several weapons with them at any given time, and choose the best one for the occasion when opponents reveal themselves. So instead of weapons being differentiated by damage rolls, weapons in The Way of the Earth are differentiated by attack bonuses.

Every weapon in The Way of the Earth has one or more edges, which is a situational attack bonus most commonly applicable to a certain kind of opponent. A weapon might have an edge for attacking heavily armored targets, or shielded targets, or unshielded targets, or slow moving targets, or weakened targets, or grappling targets, or ranged targets, or defending targets, or targets without cover, or targets that are also attacking, etc, etc. The strength of a weapon is dictated by how many edges it has and how many situations they are applicable in. So, for example, the hatchet above is equally as lethal as the crescent axe, but the hatchet's edge grants +1 to attacks against wounded targets. Not bad, but not really great until the action's already underway. It doesn't help you make good on your first swing. Whereas the crescent axe has three edges, granting +1 against groups of targets, +1 against unarmored targets, and +1 against a target previously attacked. The edges add to one another, allowing the crescent axe to achieve a +3 attack bonus in the ideal situation. The edges also encourage use against certain kinds of opponents. Against a single, heavily armored opponent who catches a character off guard, the crescent axe is the same as the simple hatchet. But against a group of unarmored opponents, and with the opportunity to attack more than once, the crescent axe becomes an instrument of death.

I'll likely spend the next few updates going over some of the changes from the recent overhaul before moving back to talking about characters and professions. After characters and professions, it will be on to the magic system in earnest, which is the aspect of The Way of the Earth I am most excited to unveil.

- ABH