Rules/Combat Rules

Global Hit Points

In Menhirs Fate, each player character starts with 3 global hit points, which can be increased with armour and skills. For the purposes of global hits it does not matter where you have been struck. You lose one hit every time you are struck in combat. A normal unarmoured character can take three points of damage before entering a ‘critical state’. Any increase to your hits also increase them at a global level. You cannot gain different hit points on different sections of the body .

All Characters regain their full amount of hit points at sunrise. There is no other way to naturally regain Hit Points

Head hits

Head hits are not a viable targets at Menhirs Fate. The head should not be targeted in melee or at range. Characters should aim elsewhere during a fight. We understand accidents happen and if you do accidentally strike the head then give a quick apology. Being struck in the head does not inflict any call or damage.

We do not expect people to use their head to block and this will be dangerous play and may result in combat warnings or bans.

The 1 second rule

Being hit and receiving damage in Menhirs Fate follows the 1 second rule. This means you can only lose 1 hit from each source of damage every second. It does allow you to take more than 1 damage per second if you are hit by multiple sources of damage such as two separate people hitting you at the same time. The ambidexterity skill may allow you to attack fast enough to hit multiple times very quickly but you will still only cause 1 damage per second.

Ranged Magic

Ranged spells do not cause a point of damage except the Cantrip elemental blast. However all ranged spells cannot be blocked unless they are counter spelled or resisted by the target.

What is an Encounter?

An encounter is any time you leave Haven through a rift. Many abilities in Menhirs Fate are usuable on a per encounter basis and will recharge when you return to Haven ready for the next encounter you go on.

Sometimes things occur in Haven that require you to use per encounter abilities. In these cases, you may recharge in 30 minutes if there is no clear 'encounter' boundary. This is reduced to 10 minutes in the 'Nature's Rest' rite area effect

For other abilities, you still recharge only on the recharge trigger or between events, or by spending 10 minutes in the 'Nature's Rest' rite area effect.

Sparring

Menhirs Fate does not feature non lethal damage as a mechanic. In the safety of Haven you may spar or otherwise practice with larp weapons and not do any damage or require healing afterwards but only for sparring purposes. Any other kind of combat will inflict damage as normal. You may roleplay that you have received minor training injuries if you wish and give healing roleplay to those playing healers but this will not require mechanical efforts to fix.

Sanctioned Combat and Grappling

At Menhirs Fate grappling is not allowed during normal combat for safety concerns. In certain circumstances we will allow for Sanctioned Combat that may allow for grappling and other stage fighting elements to be used. This must be done under the guidance of a Ref who will check if both participants agree to these elements and also check the area to make sure it is safe for Sanctioned Combat. Generally this will be within Haven in situations such as duels or sparring but occasionally may be occur on a skirmish that is specifically set up to accommodate it. These fights still follow all other combat safety rules and while Stage fighting is allowed you may not land punches and kicks.

Armour

Armour does not count as separate hits for the purposes of healing. When the character is healed their global hits are recovered with no distinction between hits provided from their base hits, armour or other sources.

The coverage system below describes locations but coverage may be achieved by any number of actual armour pieces. Chainmail, Articulated plate arms or a set of shoulder armour and bracers would all achieve the same mechanical effect.
For armour to be effective and provide benefits, you must have at least partial coverage as described below. Only then will it stop damage calls and increase the number of hits a character can withstand before entering a critical state.

Partial coverage

Armour safety can be found here

To gain Partial Coverage of the whole body you must have any 4 of the locations in the list below. This will grant you the hits listed in the relevant armour types partial coverage section.

• Head
• Upper torso
• Lower Torso
• Upper Arm (Left or Right)
• Lower Arm (Left or Right)
• Upper Leg (Left or Right)
• Lower Leg (Left or Right)

Full Coverage

Armour safety can be found here

To gain Full Coverage of the whole body you must have one torso location covered and any other 5 of the locations in the list below. This will grant you the hits listed in the relevant armour types Full coverage section.

• Head
• Upper torso
• Lower Torso
• Upper Arm (Left or Right)
• Lower Arm (Left or Right)
• Upper Leg (Left or Right)
• Lower Leg (Left or Right)

Mixing armour types may be done for aesthetic reasons but you only gain armour for the lowest armour type involved in the coverage
e.g 2 leather greaves and 2 padded arms would result in light partial coverage.
2 leather greaves, 2 padded arms and a leather torso would result in medium coverage

Stacking armour layers does not increase global hit points; only the highest layer is considered for hit points. For example, wearing full coverage heavy over full coverage light will not grant eight global hits. The heavy armour will grant five hits and the light armour will not be counted

Armour is then categorised by type of the armour worn:

Light Armour

• Partial Coverage: A character wearing light armour, such as soft leather, furs, Mage armour (this covers all clothing that looks like armour), or padded material (excluding simple cloth), gains two global hit points
• Full Coverage: A character wearing light armour, such as soft leather, furs, or padded material (excluding simple cloth) on all locations gains three global hit points

Note: While wearing Light armour you are able to cast any Spell/Rite/Ceremony and the “CRUSH” damage effect only does one point of damage

Medium Armour

• Partial Coverage: A character wearing medium armour, such as heavy leather, studded leather, or leather scale, gains three global hit points
• Full Coverage: A character wearing medium armour, such as heavy leather, studded leather, or ringmail on all locations, gains four global hit points

Note: ''''While wearing Medium armour you may not cast any spell/Rite but you may cast Ceremonies. While wearing Medium armour the “CRUSH” damage effect only does one point of damage

Heavy Armour

• Partial Coverage: A character wearing heavy armour, such as chainmail, flexible plate (latex/poly plate), or scalemail/brigandine, gains four global hit points
• Full Coverage: A character wearing heavy armour, such as chainmail or ringmail, flexible plate (latex/poly plate), or metal scalemail/brigandine on all locations - This gives you five global hit points

Note: While wearing Heavy armour you may not cast any spell/Rite but you may cast Ceremonies. While wearing Heavy armour the “REND” damage effect will do only one point of damage 

e.g. if you are wearing 50% light armour. You will have 3 global hits and then 2 additional global hit points that will be conveyed by the light armour. Meaning you will have 5 hits total.

Removing armour in play

Removing armour in play will reduce a character's global hit points depending on what was removed.

• A character with full-coverage armour removing enough locations to drop to partial coverage would have their global hit points reduced by one.
• A character with any armour going below partial coverage will lose all global hit points gained by armour.

e.g. If a character is on five out of seven global hit points and removes partial-coverage heavy armour, their new global hit points would be three.

Putting armour on in play

Putting armour back on while out of combat and inside Haven will increase a character's global hit points by the value of that armour.

Putting armour back on while in combat or an encounter will increase a character's maximum global hit points, but not increase their current hit points.

e.g. If a character removes full-coverage medium armour and then puts it back on in an encounter, they would be missing four global hit points, but benefit from an increased maximum. This includes removing armour to perform a rite or weaving.

An encounter will usually be a combat or non-combat situation outside of Haven, or through a portal. Players should ensure they do any appropriate healing roleplay in Haven before donning armour where possible, as it is not a substitute for healing (for an extreme example, you cannot take off your armour, go to 1 global hit point and then put armour back on to heal yourself as this is "power gaming" and against the spirit of the rules).

Note: If this is being done for safety reasons (e.g. heat exhaustion, armour becoming unsafe), a referee may take a player out-of-character to change and advise a player of their new current hit points before timing them back in.

Weapons, Foci and Relics

In Menhirs Fate all larp safe weapons are categorised as either a “Weapon”, “Relic” or a “Foci”.

The descriptions below indicate what sort of physical representation you would need for each type and the safety requirements for them. As there is some amount of crossover in these phys reps, (a staff may be a melee weapon or equally a foci, a wand may be a foci but could equally work as a relic) you must decide which it is to begin with. If you have decided your phys rep is of one type, it may not then be used as another.

Jess Bobbins has a Wand and has the ability to cast cantrip spells and also some cleric ability. They decided to bring their wand along and use it as their Foci. Later when they want to do a cleric ceremony, Jess must find a different phys rep to use as their Relic, but that's okay, they have a rather cool looking amulet that they use instead. 

Weapons

In Menhirs Fate we would encourage players to use weapons that fit with the themes of the game and the themes of the nation they are playing within. We suggest that all weapons look like just that; weapons. The Phys rep should also be larp safe as per the weapons guidelines. When looking at any item that we consider to be a ‘Comedy weapon’ we will follow the rules of:

• Is the Item safe for all participants and does the Item conform to weapon safety
• Could the item parry a sword

The rules for weapon phys reps and safety are here

Focus

Foci may be physically represented by a staff, stave, wand or similar. The important part is that it looks like a magical tool as opposed to a weapon as above. The only exception to magical weapons is daggers which must look sufficiently magical e.g made of crystals.

The Phys rep should also be larp safe as per the weapons guidelines.

The rules for weapon phys reps and safety are here

Relics

Relics in Menhirs Fate are items of iconography that Clerics and Paladins use to channel their faith and perform ceremonies with. These items are never used to make physical contact with other players and as such we do not require them to be larp safe. These may be physically represented by amulets, symbols of their gods, small effigies of importance to them and their gods.

If there is any confusion on Weapons, Relics or Foci then please contact us (Contact@menhirsfate.com) or speak to a Ref at one of our events.