From Mazeworld

Evasion abilities are a set of three techniques (Evade, Parry, Counter) which can be performed during combat to attempt evading enemy attacks, and in the case of the latter, use the enemy's turn to perform an attack.

All of these abilities are affected by the Evading skill, and all require Agility based checks to perform.

Evade and Parry play the role of an "active defense" ability, while Counter plays the role of a "punishment" ability.

Evade

When in combat, the Contestant may choose to attempt evading, by specifically calling for the Evade ability.

When doing so, the Contestant will be prompted to choose how many evading actions he/she wishes to attempt this turn; the maximum amount that can be attempted is dictated by the Evading skill (2 at Unskilled level, and up to 6 at Master level)

Evading is a full-turn, non-combat action (therefore it has an IS of 0). The Contestant must correctly guess that he/she is going to be targeted by an attack, and must be fast enough, as if the turn order determines that the enemy will attack before the Contestant's turn, then Evading may fail.

The Contestant can "target" a specific enemy against which to evade (in which case the Contestant will only prepare to evade attacks from this enemy). If no specific target is designated, the Contestant will prepare to evade attacks from the first enemy that attacks him/her, by default.

Evade can be attempted regardless of the attack; even if it is a Ranged attack, however the Contestant (or any Evading fighter) may not attempt to Evade if the enemy has maintained stealth.

If the Contestant has correctly guessed that he/she is going to be targeted by an attack (and, if a target was specified, was correct about which enemy is going to attack), then Evasion is resolved during the attacking enemy's turn, using the following steps:

• Combat resolution starts as normal - the amount of hits and misses are resolved and checked as they normally would.
• However, if the target is Evading, an additional step is inserted before resolving damage: Evade checks.
• The Evading fighter rolls as many Evade dice as desired, within the limits allowed by skill level. The Evade checks are 2d6+Agi, capped at 12. The dice score are then saved.
  • Example: Assuming Agility+2 and Basic skill level, allowing up to 3 evades per turn:
  • 7+2, 5+2, 11+2 -> 9, 7, 12* (* = capped at 12)
  • These dice scores are given an E prefix (therefore they become E9, E7, E12) to clearly mark them as evade checks.
• Once the Evade checks have been rolled, the Evading fighter will be prompted to select any of the enemy's hits and corresponding dice score. In order to successfully "use" an evade check and transform an enemy hit into a miss, the Evasion check dice score must be superior to the enemy attack dice score.
  • Example: Assuming the Evading fighter is about to be hit 3 times by an enemy slashing at him with a KA-BAR, the enemy's attack dice score were 8, 9 and 10.
  • The Evading fighter may use the E9 he rolled to cancel out the enemy's 8, the E12 to cancel either the 9 or the 10, but the E7 cannot be used, as it is inferior to all of the enemy's attack dice scores.
  • Therefore, the Evading fighter successfully transforms 2 out of the 3 hits into misses, and is only hit once.

Performing an Evade successfully during a turn (at least one attack was evaded) grants +1 Skill Point in Evasion skill.

Parry

In most respects, parrying is very similar to evading, but with a couple of caveats:

• Parrying can only be attempted against melee attacks; it will automatically fail against a ranged attack.
• Parrying is resolved the same way as evading, and in a sense, is exactly the same thing, with one exception:
• After resolving Evade checks, if the Parrying fighter successfully parried at least one attack and is still capable of fighting at that point, that fighter has the possibility to perform a Counter, still during the enemy's turn.

Performing a Parry successfully during a turn (at least one attack was parried) grants +1 Skill Point in Evasion skill.

Counter

Countering is the act of using the enemy's turn to perform an attack against that enemy.

As explained above, a Counter is only possible after a successful Parry. Even if the Parrying fighter was only able to parry one of the enemy's attacks and was hit multiple times, if still capable of fighting (i.e. not dead, unconscious, stunned, etc.), the opportunity to perform a Counter becomes available.

Following the resolution of Evade checks for a Parry, the Contestant (or any Parrying fighter) will be prompted about the possibility to perform a Counter. If accepted, the Parrying fighter may select ONE melee attack to perform. This is referred to as a counter-attack. At high skill levels, it is possible to perform more than one; Expert level allows 2 counter-attacks, Master allows 3.

Because they are resolved right after a Parry, counter-attacks are still technically performed during the enemy's turn, so the enemy cannot counter these in turn. (No counter-counters, in short.)

Counter-attacks are subjected to the following limitations:

• As stated above, only up to the maximum amount of hits/turn allowed by Evasion skill level, and only a melee attack.
• The melee attack cannot be a technique (martial arts, bayonet charge, etc...)
• The target can only be the enemy that was parried.
• The same usual combat rules apply to counter-attacks; they are subjected to accuracy, can be aimed at a specific body part, etc.
• Combat skill may still further restrict maximum attacks per turn; even if Evasion skill would allow more than 1 counter-attack, if the relevant combat skill allows for less attacks per turn than Evasion skill allows for counter-attacks, then the lowest number prevails.

Performing a Counter successfully during a turn (at least one counter-attack successfully hitting) grants +2 Skill Points in Evasion skill.

See also

• Abilities
• Skills