Activity: Combat
01
Overview
Combat is a way for you to earn extra experience points (XP) and loot for your characters and can range from battling other players and their wargs to fighting monsters or NPCs.
What is Combat?
- Combat is defined as fighting between armed forces.
- Combat can be undertaken in groups or individually.
- Combat may be PvP (Player vs. Player) or PvE (Player vs. Environment)
- Combat has direct consequences on a character's health and capabilities, so it is not for the faint of heart.
Submission Requirements
- Each party/side of combat can have a maximum of 3 players.
- Additional characters can be featured for XP but cannot contribute to combat.
- All characters must be at least 75% visible in order to be counted.
- You may only submit art for activities at this time. Literature/roleplay is not accepted.
- You can submit a maximum of one combat every 24 hours per character.
You can find the entirety of our combat rules on the journal provided here. Always refer to the rules and guidelines provided in the current combat journal before preparing your combat submission.
02
Combat Roles
All classes can participate in combat, however, the part they play will vary. There are three different combat roles:
Tank (Warriors)
Damage Dealer (Rangers, Rogues, and Mages)
Healer (Healers)
What Do the Combat Roles Mean?
These roles advise players on what kind of skills/abilities your character may utilize in a combat situation. Tanks are designed to absorb and deal heavy damage and work in close combat. Damage dealers inflict less damage but also take fewer hits and usually fight with ranged weapons, but may use a combination of melee attacks as well. Healing roles are designed to keep the entire party operating against particularly resilient enemies by restoring hit points and even reviving fallen teammates.
While you are not locked into fighting exactly according to your combat role (e.g., some healing roles might use ranged weapons, some damage dealers might prefer close-range melee weapons), these roles will help guide you in what your character will naturally excel at.
Do I Have to Have Every Fight Rolled as Combat?
No. You are not required to partake in rolled combat between player characters if you do not want to! If both parties agree to RP it out and have a set ending in mind then they may choose to sort it out amongst themselves, but will not net the participants prizes like rolled combat.
Tanks
Damage Dealers
Healers
Front line, close quarter combatants.
Back and middle line, ranged or melee combatants.
Any line, raises HP and revives fallen party members.
Using Stat Points in Combat
Stat points really come into play during combat. They will help dictate how often you hit, how hard you hit, and even what gear you can use.
What to Focus on
In a combat situation, results will be calculated on the backend by staff using dice rollers. They will take into account your class, the numerical value of your stat points, and your gear. From your end, however, we recommend building your character according to what makes the most sense for your intended playstyle.
Consider statting them in whichever way best compliments how you want to play in Hvalla overall. Stat points will have some uses outside of combat, so it may not benefit your character as a whole if they are built solely for it. For the best gameplay experience, we highly recommend spending stat points in the way you will enjoy playing your character most. Stats are as follows:
Strength (STR)
Agility (AGI)
Intellect (INT)
Stamina (STA)
Strength affects melee weapon damage.
Agility affects ranged weapon damage.
Intellect affects magic damage and effectiveness as a healer.
Stamina determines the gear you can equip and how well you use it.
Using Armor in Combat
Armor helps protect your character against attacks and makes them more difficult to hit. There are two classes of armor: open and restricted. Open armor means that the armor can be worn by any warg, of any race, level or class. Restricted armor may have stat, class or level requirements that a character must meet in order to wear them.
Unless otherwise stated for a particular piece of gear, your character’s armor will not affect their stats, but will instead increase their armor class or AC. AC determines the minimum number an opponent has to roll (with applicable bonuses) to damage your character. The higher the AC, the harder your character is to hit.
Every character has “natural armor” or a base AC rating before anything is equipped. Each race is as follows:
- Icewarg have 7 AC
- Stonewarg have 6 AC
- Woodwarg have 5 AC
Armor adds a bonus to this number. Each character has four armor slots (head, body, shoulders, and legs), and each piece adds to their total AC. The exact number can be viewed on the item art of the armor. You are free to mix and match any pieces your character is able to use, though some armor sets provide a “set bonus” or additional protection when you have all four pieces equipped at once.
Shields will also add to your character’s AC, however, this does take up weapon slots, which will affect what weapon(s) you can equip at one time.
Icewarg AC
Stonewarg AC
Woodwarg AC
Icewarg have a natural armor class of 7.
Stonewarg have a natural armor class of 6.
Woodwarg have a natural armor class of 5.
Using Weapons in Combat
Weapons deal damage against your opponent. There are both melee (swords, axes, etc.) and ranged (bows, slingshots, etc.) weapons. Each weapon will have different effects and cause varying amounts of damage. Some weapons may have stat, level, or class requirements that a character must meet in order to wield them.
Your character may fight unarmed, where they engage in combat without a weapon and use only their claws and teeth. This can also happen if they are disarmed. In some cases, an unarmed attack may come in handy for certain class roles.
Each character has four weapon slots (main hand, off-hand, right foreleg, left foreleg) and a ranged weapon slot. While you can choose what slot to equip your weapons, some weapons may take up more than one slot.
Each weapon has a maximum amount of damage it can deal, which is randomly rolled for every attack. In addition to their damage dice, weapons also add additional damage depending on their type.
For melee weapons, half a character’s strength score is added to their damage (or ⅓ for mages), rounded down.
For ranged weapons, half the character’s agility score is added to their damage (or ⅓ for mages), rounded down.
Additionally, all characters can make "unarmed strikes" or attacks made without weapons and with only their tooth or claws. These types of attacks also improve every 5 levels. You may choose to make un unarmed attack even if you have weapons equipped, but they must be made from the front line. For unarmed strikes, the damage increases every five levels.
- Level 0-5: 1d6 + ½ STR
- Level 6-10: 2d6 + ½ STR
- Level 11-15: 3d6 + ½ STR
- Level 16-20: 4d6 + ½ STR
Icewarg AC
Stonewarg AC
Woodwarg AC
Icewarg have a natural armor class of 7.
Stonewarg have a natural armor class of 6.
Woodwarg have a natural armor class of 5.
Using Spells in Combat
Unlike the other classes, mages are able to use magic without any sort of focus or weapon. They are not restricted to only using unarmed strikes without a weapon equipped and will instead gradually increase their damage as they level. Each tier is as follows:
- Level 0: 1d6 damage
- Level 3: 1d8 damage
- Level 6: 1d10 damage
- Level 9: 1d12 damage
- Level 12: 1d20 damage
- Level 15: 2d20 damage
- Level 18: 3d20 damage
- Level 20: 4d20 damage
Generally, half your intelligence score (rounded down) is added to your damage, e.g., a level 2 mage with 11 intelligence will roll 1d6+5. Some items may alter this amount. You may still use regular weapons as a mage, however, they will not be as powerful as spells.
Why Doesn't Mage Magic Level like a Weapon?
Mages have the potential to be particularly powerful if not scaled properly, as they have the option to use regular weapons AND their magic. To avoid overpowering and unbalancing the other classes, a mage’s magic and weapon use must even out.
Healing in Combat
Healers play an integral part in keeping their parties up and fighting, especially in larger and longer battles. They can use their weapons like any other class, but may also choose to provide healing for another teammate instead of attacking.
Healers can only use their healing ability on party members who are also on the same line as them, so in order to heal allies, they will need to move toward them. You can choose whether your character spends all their time moving forward and backward to heal, or to attack, or a mixture of both!
How your character heals is up to you (e.g., magic, potions they’ve made, first aid, etc.) and the amount they heal with one action increases as they level up. Each tier is as follows:
- Level 0: 1d10 +1/2 int healing
- Level 3: 1d12 +1/2 int healing
- Level 6: 2d10 +1/2 int healing
- Level 9: 2d12 +1/2 int healing
- Level 12: 4d8 +1/2 int healing
- Level 15: 3d12 +1/2 int healing
- Level 20: 5d10 +1/2 int healing
Generally, half your intelligence score (rounded down) is added to your healing, e.g., a level 2 healer with 11 intelligence will roll 1d10+5.
03
Talents
Talents are special abilities for each class that are earned every five levels starting from level 5. Level 5, level 10, level 15, and level 20 all unlock a choice of new talents. With a total of NINE (9) talents to choose from per class, you will be able to make your character unique while enhancing their abilities mechanically in combat.
Bonuses from different sources can stack, such as one character using soothing mist and another using fire wielder; however, bonuses from the SAME source do not stack, so two people in the same line, casting soothing mist will not get the bonus from both.
Effects
The effects of talents are all unique to their class and chosen role. For example, elementalist talents will revolve around fire magic, while champion talents will revolve around excellent weapon handling. You may only choose ONE (1) talent out of the THREE (3) when you reach an applicable level.
Range, Action, and Charge
Range, action, and charge are the three properties that determine what exactly a talent can do.
Range
Field, Target, Self, or Line
FIELD refers to a talent that affects the entire group on one side, either your whole party or all of your opponents
TARGET refers to a talent that affects an individual or individuals you choose
SELF refers to a talent that affects your character
LINE refers to a talent that affects teammates or opponents standing in the same row
SAME LINE refers to your teammates in the same row as you
ADJACENT LINE refers to the next row over, either in front or behind your line, or next to your target’s line
FRONT/MIDDLE/BACK LINE refers to a specific row the talent affects
Action
Full Action, Bonus Action, or Innate Ability
FULL ACTION refers to a talent that will fully take the place of an attack
BONUS ACTION refers to a talent that occurs alongside your attack
INNATE ABILITY refers to a talent that triggers automatically when its conditions are met
Innate abilities are able to be used in all combat situations. Full and bonus action talents can only be used in raids and boss fights. These are live fights, allowing you to strategically use your abilities in real-time combat.
Charge
The number of times a talent can be used or how often it can be used. It details the cooldown between uses. All the available talents can be found in your individual class page. Charges should be tracked by the player.
04
Forming Combat Parties
Hvalla is first and foremost about playing with others and working together to overcome the challenges of the world, and assembling a party is a core facet of that. Teaming up for combat is a careful balancing act where members of varied classes, gear, and talents can mix and match to best play to their strengths—or create potential weaknesses. Some classes may not perform as effectively in some scenarios while others may rise to the occasion.
There may be certain situations where having party members of all the same class, or all a different class, comes at a greater advantage. Working with others and switching up teams against different enemies will give you plentiful opportunities to create an effective party to defeat your enemy. Finding the best party makeup of tanks, damage dealers, and healers with minimal tradeoffs is all part of the fun!
Combat parties are not permanent and can change from submission to submission. You are not locked into any particular group forever and always, but some tasks, such as dungeons, may require you to work with some of the same players, or many different ones, for longer periods of time.
Communicating with your party out of character is important when taking on more difficult tasks, as you may need to strategize when to use your talents, when and where to move on the combat field, and when to give or receive healing. Combat is not just a battle of numbers, but also tactics. A good strategy can pad the odds in your favor, even if you may be statistically outmatched.
05
Undertaking Combat
Follow the process and form listed on the Combat Journal in order to undertake combat. The key information is listed below:
AC (Armor Class)
Check your AC on your inventory sheet! Your AC will depend on your race, class, and the armor equipped. AC determines your chance of being hit by an attack. The lower your AC number, the easier you will be to hit. The higher the number, the harder it will be. Some talents and items can boost your AC for the duration of the battle.
Initiative
Initiative is the order in which everyone attacks each other and is decided randomly. Some talents can affect your turn order!
Combat Lines
There are three lines of combat: front, middle, and back. Which line you are able to attack from depends on what you fight with: weapons, spells, or unarmed.
Be sure to communicate positioning with your teammates! While anyone is able to move to any line, if all characters on one line leave that line, or all characters on the line are knocked out, that line disappears. For example: If there is a tank on the front line, a mage in the middle, and a ranger in the back, but the tank moves to the middle, the lines will be redrawn. Both the tank and mage are now on the new front line, and the ranger is now on the middle line. HOWEVER, lines can be reformed. The mage and ranger can move backwards on their next turn, which will reform the back line and put them back in their original lines, but they will have lost the bonuses of those lines on that turn. You cannot move the front line forward; lines must be reformed behind it.
If an attack or talent can ONLY target a line that is no longer there, it will automatically fail. If it isn’t locked to a specific line, it would affect the next closest line.
Here is a diagram of what a field will look like:
Team One
Back Line | Middle Line | Front Line
Team Two
Front Line | Middle Line | Back Line
Melee (close-range) weapons are locked to the front and middle lines.
Ranged (long-range) weapons are locked to the middle and back lines. This means that if your character is using a melee weapon, they can only move between the front two lines. If your character is using a ranged weapon, they can only move between the back two lines.
Spells vary with mage type. Psyche and Force mages are considered melee mages and are locked to the front and middle lines like melee fighters. Storm and Fire mages are considered ranged and are locked to the middle and back lines.
Unarmed (claw and teeth) attacks can only be made from the front line.
Moving Lines and Changing Between Weapons
A character can move up to one line (forward or backward within their team’s side) on their turn in addition to taking any other actions they have. Characters cannot skip lines. The front line can only move to the middle line, the back line can only move to the middle line, and the middle line can move either to the front or back line. You may also choose to hold your line and not move at all on your turn.
All movement occurs BEFORE attacks. You must remember that whatever weapon you are using must be able to be used in the line you move to. Attempting to use a weapon in the wrong line will result in the attack automatically failing.
Don’t forget about moving out of a line if you’re the only one in it! If you do, that line will disappear. Vanishing and redrawing lines come with their own advantages and disadvantages. You will want to coordinate movement with your team if members need to swap places. Remember, characters move in the order of their turn! So, if someone is supposed to be taking someone else’s place on the front line, but moves back before the other moves forward, the line will disappear, and the character will not be able to move forward on their turn.
You can swap weapons between attacks as long as you have them equipped and are in a line where the weapon can be used. If you declare an attack with a weapon that cannot be used on your current line, the attack automatically misses, so keep track of your positioning!
Attacking
Most PvP and PvE fights will require you to fill out a form in advance and will only last three rounds. It will have you specify what weapons you will be using, which talents must be applied (if applicable - only innate talents can be used in PvP and PvE) and who you will be targeting for all three rounds. The mods will handle everything from there!
Determining Winners
To the victors go the spoils! Unlike other activities, PvP and PvE combat has a pool of rewards that every winning player will always receive a prize from. The rewards rotate every month and the prize is randomly selected from the list for that month. Combat is winner takes all—the defeated get nothing. However, in PvP fights, both parties will receive +2 XP for participating.
Combat Rewards
If you are victorious, all of your winnings will be listed in the comment replying to your submission.
Where Can I See Potential Loot?
You can view every item with a chance to appear in the loot rotation on the HvallaAdmin account here.
Knock Outs (KOs)
When your character reaches 0 HP, they are considered KO’d or Knocked out.
Your character will not die if you reach 0 HP in PVP or PVE.
If your character is knocked out before the end of a combat, your character will no longer be able to perform any attacks and their turn will be skipped. They can also no longer be hit, and any attacks that would have been targeted at your character will instead target the character closest to the attacker (typically someone on the melee line). If there are multiple possible targets, the target will be random.
When your character is KO’d, the only activity they can participate in is Healing.
06
Boss Battles
Boss Battles are a way for you to earn extra XP and special loot for your characters. Bosses may be a single, very powerful opponent, or several opponents that you, and all of your fellow wargs can face together.
What are Boss Battles?
Boss battles work similarly to PVP and PVE; however, there is a single opponent or swarm that a very large group of wargs (more than 4) will fight to defeat. These battles are difficult, and will generally span over weeks or months in real time.
Bosses can appear as part of group events or within specific zones and important areas and will rotate periodically, remaining available to fight until they are either defeated, wander off, or flee.
Undertaking a Boss Battle
Boss battles have two phases, preparation, and execution.
The preparation phase begins when a boss is announced, or when a new round of combat begins. This phase will have a set deadline, and will allow for all those who wish to participate a chance to strategize and create their submissions. Boss battles are intended to be difficult, and provide players a chance to work together on a large scale, sometimes including an entire race or more, to defeat an enemy. It is up to the players to decide their placement on the battlefield, what talents (if any) they will use, and when, and what attacks they will use to maximize their damage.
The execution phase always follows the preparation phase. Once the deadline for submissions is up, admins will begin rolling results. Either the boss will attack first, or the party (listed in the deviation). When it is the party’s turn, attacks will be rolled starting with the first player that posted in the front line until all characters have been rolled, then admins will roll for the first character in the middle line, once that line is complete, they will roll for the first player that submitted in the back line until all characters have been rolled for.
We highly recommend strategizing your posting order to maximize the benefits from your talents.
Once the execution phase is complete, a post will be made that includes the total damage dealt to the boss that round and announcing the start of the next preparation phase. The rounds will repeat in a similar fashion until the battle ends.
Actions in Boss Battles
During each preparation phase, you will have up to three actions you can take, one of each of the following;
Movement: you may move forward or backwards one line. This action always occurs FIRST. Plan your attacks for where you are going to end up, not where you start. You do not have to move if you do not want to and can stay in the same line.
Bonus action: not everyone will have a bonus action and you will not have a bonus action for every round. Generally, these types of actions add additional damage or effects to your attacks. You may only have a maximum of ONE bonus action per round, and they always happen BEFORE your full action.
Full action: Generally a full action will be a single weapon attack, magical attack, or healing. Some talents may allow you to make more than one attack in a full action, but by default, you get one attack per full action. Full actions are where most of your damage dealing is going to come from, and can be enhanced with bonus actions or innate talents. Some talents may take a full action to perform. Full actions always go LAST.
Movement in Boss Battles
At the start of a boss fight, you may choose any line to start on, however, on all subsequent turns, you may choose to move forward or backward one line. You cannot move forward on the front line, you cannot move backwards on the back line. You are not required to move on your turns, and may instead choose to stay in the same location.
You may not move another character except under one condition; you may give up your full action and bonus action on your turn to move a team mate that is at 0 HP. You must start your turn on the same or adjacent line as the KO’d team mate, and you may only move them one line. The player of the KO’d character will need to confirm this as a reply on your post. If the KO’d character is healed before your turn, this action fails.
Injuries in Boss Battles
Any warg that has submitted for a particular round is a possible target, so if you decide not to participate in one round, you will not take damage, however any status effects WILL tick down even if you do not participate. For example, if you are stunned for 3 rounds, you can choose to participate and deal with the effects of the stun, or wait 3 rounds to pass before submitting again without the stun. These types of lingering effects will never deal damage to you out of battle.
During the execution phase, you will receive a reply to your submission comment that will include the damage you dealt to the boss, as well as any damage you took, status effects, or debuffs that have been added.
Healing in Boss Battles
Only healers can heal other characters in boss battles. Any healer may choose to use their full action to use their standard healing ability, but they can only heal characters on the same line with this ability. Healers will likely be moving often to better assist their teammates.
Some healers may also have talents that allow them to heal more teammates, more health, or heal from further away.
However, while receiving HP from a healer in combat may be the more efficient way to regain HP, it is not the only way a character can heal. You can also choose to create a healing submission or use a healing item on the healing journal.
We cannot guarantee when, or in what order admins will roll threads, so healing this way may force you to skip a round.
Knock Outs (KOs) in Boss Battles
Unlike in PVP/PVE, if your character is knocked out, they may still be able to participate in the battle. Some talents may allow a character to keep fighting even after reaching 0 HP, and healers can heal fallen party members on their turns. Keep in mind, you must have submitted a piece for the boss battle in order to receive healing from a party member. However, even if neither of those options are possible, you can still submit a normal healing piece or submit to use a healing item in the healing journal
Characters with 0 HP cannot attack a boss, and cannot receive any additional damage. Unlike with other activities, you may submit to the battle before you have received your healing (either from a player rolling before you, or through a normal healing piece), however, if you are not raised above 0HP before your turn, your attack will automatically fail.
Turn order is important. Plan ahead.
Winning a Boss Battle
The warg party will win a boss battle if all enemy creatures in the boss fight are reduced to 0 HP. A comment will be made on the boss’ deviation when they are defeated revealing what loot has been dropped, and a table of all the characters that met the minimum participation requirement, which is listed in the boss’ description. All characters that are eligible to receive loot will receive the same amount of loot.
+2 XP bonus for each piece that is featured in a boss battle (one per round).
Losing a Boss Battle
It is possible for the warg party to lose a boss battle. If a boss has two turns without a challenger, or if a battle has simply gone on for too long, they will leave. When a boss leaves the battle, no one will receive loot.