Combat

Attack Calls:         

Weapon calls look like this:

(Vector) (Number) (Effect) (Carrier/Flavor) (x-to-hit)

          Vectors tell you how you can defend against a given attack - if you have a Resist Magic, for example, you can stop any attack that opens with "Magic".  Common Vectors include Magic, Poison, Natural, and Elemental.  That list isn't exhaustive; Arcane is not nearly as common in Anteris as the mainland but is still around.  Sonic occurs in a couple of places, usually Secord weaponry, and others exist that aren't cataloged.  It's important to note that every Vector has a corresponding resistance somewhere.

          If the Vector isn't included in the call, it defaults to Physical.  You may still hear Physical called for clarity, usually on non-damaging effects. "Three Normal" on a sword swing is pretty obviously Physical, but a brigand with a lasso might call Physical Bind - he could just call Bind but it'd be confusing and the point here is to reduce friction.

         Number is the amount of damage that strike inflicts if it's not defended.  It's optional, and calls without a number do not inflict direct damage. This can get a little tricky, though, because some effects cause damage despite the strike not doing so itself.  If, for example, you receive "Magic Slay", the strikes does no damage and instead inflicts the Slay effect.  Slay then causes its usual 100 points of damage.  

         Effect is just what it says - the result of an undefended strike.  Any effect can be delivered (outside of some odd corner cases) by any delivery method on any Vector.  "Sonic Stoneskin" is an odd call but legal. Effects are optional but every call should have at least one of Effect/Number.  A call without either doesn't really do anything when it connects.

         Carrier/Flavor are mutually exclusive because this combination is perhaps responsible for more combat friction than any other single factor.  It should be possible for a fire elemental (for example) to swing "fire sever" - it makes intuitive sense and doesn't pose a balance problem.  It's just difficult to disambiguate the less-obvious cases - if a Zombie hits you with "3 Disease", is that a flavor like "fire" or a carrier like "paralysis" that inflicts Disease if it reaches body? Arguments over this point have plagued us for decades.  In the interest of minimizing this, then:

         Carriers cause their stated effect if the swing causes damage to a character's unaugmented body points.  Carriers that strike bonus body granted from spells, foods, attunement powers or any other source do not take effect.  

          Flavors are a kind of tag.  They have no inherent effect, but interact with other tags in various ways.  Most PC's will take "5 Fire" as five points of damage.  Some creatures are vulnerable to fire damage and will take ten points from that same swing.  Some are resistant to fire and will only take two points.  Some are outright immune and remain unaffected regardless of the weapon landing a legal blow.

         You can easily tell whether a given swing is a Carrier or a Flavor.  Carriers are effects, across the board.  Nothing in Anteris swings Disease as a flavor, for example, in deference to this rule.  If you're not sure, consider what effect you'd take if the attack succeeded - there are rules for Disease and you could look up what it did to you.  There's not a rule for what happens to you when fire hits you.  Fire is a flavor, disease is a carrier, and every monster in Anteris follows this rule strictly. There are zero cases overriding this.

         X-to-hit is the last bit of the call, and is usually silver or magic. There are some corner cases here - there's a beast living in the West Coast Woods that requires copper to hit, there are some shapeshifters that take gold to hit,  but those are rare unless you're specifically hunting for them.  Don't spring for a weapon that swings copper unless you know you have that need.  Silver or Magic will hit almost everything that has a to-hit requirement.

         If a character, PC or NPC, requires such a weapon, that type must be included in any call to affect that character.  Vector and flavor are not by themselves enough to break x-to-hit.  Specific characters may be affected by specific exceptions, holes in their defenses - consider a vampire that requires silver to hit but will take Fire damage from any source - but this is not reliable and should not be counted on. It doesn't hurt anything to call "fire silver" and hits silver-to-hit whether or the target is vulnerable to fire.

As noted above, vectors default to Physical.  Flavors do not. "Arcane Kill" is untyped and can only be defended with defenses to the vector or effect.  Untyped effects are powerful and rare; most Npc's will follow the more common vector/effect/flavor pattern and allow a third defense option.

         Strikes are all or nothing.  If a character can defend against any portion of a strike, the entire strike is canceled.  This is a playability concern, not a balance of power issue.  Working out which parts of which strikes affect which targets bogs down the game, and the mechanical symmetry we gain from it is not worth the slowdown and confusion.