### Rules for Combat

There will be occasions during your adventure when you will have to fight an enemy. The enemy’s COMBAT SKILL and ENDURANCE points are given in the text. Your aim in the combat is to kill the enemy by reducing his ENDURANCE points to zero while losing as few ENDURANCE points as possible yourself.

At the start of a combat, enter your own and the enemy’s ENDURANCE points in the appropriate boxes on the Combat Record section of your Action Chart.

The sequence for combat is as follows:

1. Add any extra points gained through your Grand Master Disciplines and Special Items to your current COMBAT SKILL total.
2. Subtract the COMBAT SKILL of your enemy from this total. The result is your Combat Ratio. Enter it on the Action Chart.
   Example
   You, Grand Master (COMBAT SKILL 32), are attacked in a forest by a pack of Wild Dogs (COMBAT SKILL 31). You are taken by surprise and are not given the opportunity of evading their attack. You possess the Grand Master Discipline of Kai-surge to which the Wild Dogs are not immune, so you add 8 points to your COMBAT SKILL. You also possess the Kai Weapon ‘Ulnarias’, so you add an additional 5 points to your COMBAT SKILL. This gives you a total COMBAT SKILL of 45.
   You now subtract the Wild Dogs’COMBAT SKILL from your own, giving a Combat Ratio of +14 (45−31=+14). +14 is noted on your Action Chart as the Combat Ratio.
3. When you have your Combat Ratio, pick a number from the Random Number Table.
4. Turn to the Combat Results Table. Along the top of the chart are shown the Combat Ratio numbers. Find the number that is the same as your Combat Ratio and cross-reference it with the random number that you have picked (the random numbers appear on the side of the chart). You now have the number of ENDURANCE points lost by both yourself and your enemy in this round of combat. (E represents points lost by the enemy; GM represents points lost by yourself—Grand Master.)
   Example
   The Combat Ratio between you and the Wild Dogs has been established as +14. If the number picked from the Random Number Table is 1, then the result of the first round of combat is:
   - You (GM) lose 3 ENDURANCE points (plus an additional 1 point for using Kai-surge. This loss is in addition to the loss suffered as a result of combat).
   - Wild Dogs lose 9 ENDURANCE points.
5. On the Action Chart, mark the changes in ENDURANCE points to the participants in the combat.
6. Unless otherwise instructed, or unless you have an option to evade, the next round of combat now starts.
7. Repeat the sequence from Stage 3.

This process of combat continues until the ENDURANCE points of either your enemy or yourself are reduced to zero or below, at which point that combatant is declared dead. If you are declared dead, the adventure is over. If the enemy is dead, you can proceed but with your ENDURANCE points possibly reduced.

A summary of Combat Rules appears in the back of this book.

#### Evasion of Combat

During your adventure you may be given the chance to evade combat. If you have already engaged in a round of combat and decide to evade, calculate the combat for that round in the usual manner. All points lost by the enemy as a result of that round are ignored, and you make your escape. Only you may lose ENDURANCE points during that round (such is the risk of turning tail and running away during combat!). You may only evade if the text of the particular section allows you to do so.