Welcome to Gaia! ::

This is a tutorial to help you get a hold of the somewhat complex yet easy to learn combat system of the Way of the Ninja guild. In order to help us in this demonstration, two valiant shinobis have volunteered: Ryu, from Konohagakure, and Bose, from Otogakure.

Say hi to everyone!

As you'll see, they are both fairly generic shiobis, you know, the kind of generic shinobis who are never named and die very early just to show you that a certain situation is serious? But don't tell them that...

Guess they heard... Anyway, we will start this tutorial with the very basics. First thing obviously is: starting a fight!

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BASIC COMBAT MECHANICS
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Okay now that we've learned how to know what the attack order during a fight will be, it's now time to move on to getting the action started. There are a couple of things everyone needs to know before getting anything going. The first is knowing how many attack turns each character will have per combat turn. If you thought Attack Turn and Combat Turn were the same thing, you couldn't be more wrong! Here are the definitions:

Combat Turn: A sequence of every character's attack turns in the order determined by their initiation check.
Attack Turn: Each character's possible individual actions depending on their level during a single combat turn.

Now, let's find out how many attack turns each of our characters have. The information should be in their character sheet just under the character's stats and over his Base Attack Bonus, but if it's one of those fancy profiles it might have been moved around. If you can't find it, refer to this thread (Abilities and Battle) to find out exactly how to calculate it. It is fairly simple since the number of attacks depends solely on the character's level!

Okay, so our two combattants have 5 attacks each, this should be a pretty close fight! Let's get this started!

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Combat Turn 1
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Since we had determined Ryu would go first based on his initiative check, he will get the benefit of the first attack sequence!

Okay, a melee attack, very classic manner of opening an assault! In order to see if a melee attack will connect, you will need to compare the total value of your attack roll to your opponent's dodge rating. The basic formula to see what the value of your attack roll is the following:


Melee Attack Value = One 20 sided dice (d20) + Base Attack Bonus (for this attack) + Strength Modifier ([Strength - 10] / 2) + Weapon / Fighting Style Skill Modifier (2 per 10 in Skill)


Once you have found the value of your attack roll, compare it to defender's dodge rating to see if it connects. If you manage to match his dodge rating, it will hit! The formula to calculate an opponent's dodge rating is the following:


Dodge Rating = Character's level + Dexterity Modifier + Wisdom Modifier + Armor Bonus (if any)


Let's see how this applies to our current antagonists!

Melee Attack's really aren't Ryu's specialty... Let's see how it compares to Bose's dodge rating!

The value of Ryu's melee attack is 35 against Bose's dodge rating of 36. This means that Ryu just missed Bose with his kunai slice!

I see Ryu's is mixing things up, trying a ranged attack now! The principle for ranged attacks is very similar as the one used for melee attacks, although the stats used to calculate are slightly different. The formula to determine the value of your ranged attack is the following:


Ranged Attack Value = One 20 sided dice (d20) + Base Attack Bonus (for this attack) + Dexterity Modifier ([Strength - 10] / 2) + Weapon / Fighting Style Skill Modifier (2 per 10 in skill)


Let's see what the value of his throw would be based on this formula!

So, the value of Ryu's ranged attack is 46 against Bose's dodge rating of 36 (does not change from one turn to the next). That's a hit!

Uh Oh! Now Bose is in for it! Ryu is casting a fairly powerful fire jutsu! Of course, he doesn't know what's happening yet since Ryu is only putting hand seals together for the moment. First thing you need to make sure before casting a jutsu is that you have enough attack turns left in the combat turn to cast it and enough chakra to generate it. To know how many attack turns requires a jutsu, you must refer to its description in the Technique List. Here is the description for the Great Fireball:

Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)

Utilizing a high amount of chakra, a large ball of flame is exhaled from the user's mouth.
Cp cost: 45
Dice Rolls: 3
Damage: 35 - 50 + chk mod
Reflex DC: 12 + chk modifier + 2 per 10 ranks in Ninjutsu
Requirements: Fire Affinity, Chakra Control 18, Ninjutsu 15
Training: 3 stages.
Stage I: Chakra Control DC 28 Generate the flame from within you by molding your Fire Affinity chakra.
Stage II: Chakra DC 18 {d20 + chk mod} Slowly increase the ball of flame in size and temperature and thus lethality.
Stage III: Ninjutsu DC 30 Combine the previously learned elements. Work on speed and smoothness of delivery.

As you can see, this technique requires 3 attack turns to cast, which is perfect since it is exactly how many attack turns Ryu has left this turn! Let's wait until Ryu is done casting to find out what happens...

Still weaving hand seals... (So much tension!)

Gah! This could be nasty! We need to see if that fireball will hit! In order to do this, unlike for physical attacks, the defender is the one who has to roll a Reflex Save to see if he can dodge the technique. You can find each technique's Reflex DC in their description. If Bose wants to dodge the jutsu, he needs to meet the technique's Reflec DC with his Reflex Save. The formula to calculate a reflex save is the following:

Reflex Save = One 20 sided dice (d20) + Defender's Base Save Bonus (Character's Level / 2) + Defender's Dexterity Modifier

So, let's see what happens here...

Aaah, that's too bad! Bose's chances of dodging this were really high but he rolled a measley 2! This means that the fireball's reflex DC was 20 and he rolled a reflex save of 19... that's a hit!

That has to sting... Still, for reasons we'll explain in another section let's wait until the end of the combat turn before rolling damage.

It's now turn for Bose's attack sequence! Let's see how he answers this offensive onslaught

Oh Bose is now casting genjutsu! This sort of attack is different from traditional ninjutsu; but not that much. We'll get more details once he is done preparing.

Let's see this thing unfold...

Still preparing. (He doesn't look so well does he?)

Bose is still weaving seals. This is an anime so he's probably yapping away or going through flashbacks...

Almost done now...

Alright, this is when things start getting interesting!

And ther eit goes! You can actually feel reality warping around him!

Basically, the formula to resist genjutsu is pretty much the same as the one to dodge ninjutsu. Although, you can see in the genjutsu's description that instead of using a "Reflex DC" it uses a "Will DC". This means that instead of measuring your character's ability to jump out of the path of a technique, you measure the strength of his determination to prevent being engulfed by genutsu. The formula to determine your will save is the following:

Will Save = One 20 sided dice (d20) + Defender's Base Save Bonus (Character's Level / 2) + Defender's Wisdom Modifier

Let's see what happens on the battlefield in this specific situation...

Now that's everyone's used up all of their attack turns, we've officially reached the end of this combat turn! Next thing we have to do is determine the total damage that was done this turn!

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Damage for Combat Turn 1
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Okay, so as far as Ryu is concerned, he landed one long ranged attack and one fire jutsu. To know exactly what the damage for both of these attacks is, we have to refer to each of these technique's description.

Let's start with kunai damage. First thing we need is to know is the basic formula for weapon damage to insert the specific values in afterwards. The formula reads like this:

Weapon Damage = Basic Weapon Damage + (1 - 2) per 4 points in Weapon Skill

As you can see, we need to determine what the basic weapon damage for the kunai is to calculate the damage it dished out. You can find the exact description of every weapon in this thread: Weapons and Tools. The details for the kunai are the following:

Kunai

The kunai is the most famous weapon in the Naruto series and a favored weapon by all ninjas. The Kunai although not designed to be a throwing weapon can be thrown to a distance of 50 ft. The kunai is a piercing weapon that can be used to stab but not to cut.
Damage: 1 - 4 + str. mod. in melee combat. 1 - 4 + dex. mod. in ranged combat.
Range: Melee or Ranged 50 ft.
Special: Causes a Bleeding Wound upon a critical hit.
Dual Wield: Yes, -4 to attack roll.

As you can see, the kunai's basic long ranged combat damage is [(1 - 4) + Dexterity Modifier] if used as a ranged weapon. We'll use it in the basic weapon damage formula:

We now know what Ryu's kunai damage for the turn was! However, he also landed a fire jutsu. The formula to determine Ninjutsu damage is this one:

Ninjutsu Damage = Base Jutsu Damage + [(2 - 4) per 4 points in Ninjutsu]


So, knowing from the description we pulled from the Technique List a bit earlier that the basic damage from the great fireball is (35 - 50) + Chakra Modifier, we can now calculate the jutsu damage for this turn:

After all of this, we finally know what the total damage for the round can be. However, there is something else we must not forget! Fire has the nasty habit of leaving marks when it hits. Like some other techniques, fire causes what is called a Status Ailment, which is basically an additional consequence from it connecting with an opponent. Fire technique's status ailment are burns. You can find its effect with all other status ailments in the Abilities and Battle thread. Burn's effect is listed as follows:

Burned: Character loses -3 Hp per round and is treated as Fatigued. Effects may worsen at mission leader/Crew's discretion. Can be healed with Burn Salve or with basic first aid.

This description directs us to another status ailment, Fatigued:

Fatigued: Occurs after strenuous physical activity. Character suffers -2 in all checks. In the case of the Eight Gates (taijutsu), character suffers -2 in all checks per gate opened for the specified time.

Phew! That certainly was a lot of work! Now that we've calculated the potential damage, we have to add everything up and generate a random number form the possible damage. Go ahead Ryu!

Yowch!

Okay, now that we've learned how to calculate damage from jutsus, repeating the process should be fairly simple for Bose, especially since his entire combat turn consisted in one genjutsu. One thing you have to remember though, where regular jutsus cause health damage (hp) genjutsu causes mental damage (mhp).

Eeesh... that much mental damage would most likely make anyone go insane... Sorry for that Ryu!

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End of Combat Turn 1 !
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Wow that was a lot to take in at once. However, now that you've been through this part of the tutorial, you should be able to function in the combat system!

Congratulations!