Part II: Action
From D20advanced
Once you’ve got the characters together, you’ve got your actors. But without conflict, you don’t yet have a story. Part II of d20A details all the rules you need to create action-packed adventures. It includes the rules for combat and how to use environmental challenges to confound the characters, as well as systems for adjudicating other dramatic scenes, from car chases to interrogation to social duels.
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To the Players
Beginning players don’t need to worry too much about Part II. Part I gives beginners all the information they need to know about their character and what their character is capable of. More experienced players might want to familiarize themselves with the rules for combat and dramatic interactions in Chapter VII: Combat and Chapter IX: Dramatic Interactions, respectively, to make gameplay smoother.
To the GM
While Part I was more directed to the players, Part II is more useful to the GM. Since part of the role of the GM is to create challenges for the players and adjudicate rules during gameplay, it is important for a GM to be familiar with the rules in these chapters. Chapter VIII: Environments is particularly useful for its rules on tracking conditions, and Chapter IX: Dramatic Interactions includes the rules needed to run many different dramatic interactions. Chapter IX also includes many different options for different games, including systems for reputation and taint.
What's in This Part
Part II details all the rules you need to create and overcome challenges in-game, from characters engaged in delicate political struggles to overt battles with steel clashing against steel to struggles with Nature itself.
Chapter VII: Combat
In Chapter VII, the basics of combat are detailed, including Damage, Saves, Movement, Attacking, and Actions. The Combat chapter also includes rules for more advanced Maneuvers, as well as an optional system for Attacks of Opportunity. This section is important for GMs to understand, but players who want gameplay to move more quickly might want to familiarize themselves with this chapter as well.
Chapter VIII: Environments
While Chapter VII dealt with fighting other enemies, Chapter VIII deals with the hazards (and boons) the environment can contain. It details how GMs can create Zones in battlefields in much the same way that they design NPCs, as well as summaries of different environmental types and the different Conditions that are essential to d20A gameplay. GMs might find this whole chapter very useful, and players in particular might want to read the section on Conditions.
Chapter IX: Dramatic Interactions
The action rules that round out gameplay, dramatic interactions in Chapter IX detail a method for resolving almost any kind of conflict or contest, including (but not limited) to chases, seduction, interrogation, and social duels. Chapter IX also details optional systems that may or may not be appropriate for different games, like Reputation, Mental Strain, and different examples of Taint. Players might want to read the section on Dramatic Interactions, and GMs should understand those rules and they should browse this chapter to decide if any of the optional rules are good fits for their games. A four-color superheroes game has no need for a Madness system, for instance.
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| Chapter VII: Combat | Combat Sequence | Combat Statistics | Actions | Action Descriptions | Damage | Tactical Movement and Options | Maneuvers | |
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| Chapter VIII: Environments | Zones | Terrain Effects | Climate Effects | Conditions | |
| Chapter IX: Dramatic Interactions | Dramatic Interaction | Interaction Types | Reputation | Mental Strain | Taint | Examples of Taint | |
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