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As with all game systems, it was inspired by Dark Souls. What's so awesome about Dark Souls' combat for me is the pacing which results from the stamina system. The mechanic of having a stamina bar that expends for both offense and defense leads to a ton of interesting moment-to-moment decisions. There's a difficulty with the basic DnD combat system which is how do you make a dual between two melee characters interesting? It's possible to do so, of course, but it takes effort on both parties. The typical, and possible optimal, behavior is to just attack back and forth. This is boring. To spice things up both have to be willing to behave suboptimally to embellish the fight or at least be willing to risk the consequences of not attacking for a turn to try something more interesting.
Enter the stamina bar. If the stamina resource is limited enough (and o boy it will be) then the optimal move is sometimes just waiting. This is massively better than always attacking. This is the difference between Rocky v Creed and Superman v ... that guy. You know, the first but recent movie. He fights a general or something that is the same and they just punch each other and never tire and the fight has terrible pacing? That one. Rocky v Creed is two guys punching eachother, but they are dodging and weaving, they are circling looking for openings, they are panting and gasping for breathe, they are struggling and constantly looking for an edge. That's because they have stamina bars and superman doesn't.So here's the idea: Mon stats are represented by dice pools. Health, Stam, and Focus. Health is health, Stam is physical action, Focus is cool mon powers. Use stam when using physical abilities. Stam returns over time and abilities using it are reliable and deal small damage, but mon specializing in its use will be relentless. Focus is basically magic dice from GLOG. Big, powerful, limited resource abilities. Also GLOG spells scale, so I only need one move for thundershock, thunderbolt, and thunder and all the other type equivalents.
The stam mechanic creates pauses in fighting, where the only thing to do is recover some stam before going at it again. This is where you yell something encouraging to your mon, cheer on a friend, yell an insult, comment on how excited you are to be having a great battle (true), comment on how excited you are to be having a great battle (lie), compliment your opponent's mon, reveal a moment of your backstory, overshare your current doubts and fears about the battle, rp your mon circling intensely, stare intensely and sweat, etc. All this stuff is super prevalent in the shows and this mechanic give time to it explicitly. It's harder to fall into a repetitive pattern.
The other thing it does is make trainer skill important. Just like in Dark Souls, if you over attack and leave yourself with no juice to defend, you're dead. A good trainer knows when to back off and play the stamina game, and when to go all out. It's not just about who's mon is stronger., but who's the better trainer? Who has what it takes to be the best there ever was?
Here are the rules.
MONS STATS
Mon stats are represented by dice pools. Dice pools consist of a number of d6 (six sided dice) from 1-5 or so, maybe more. Three dice pools represent a mon's Stamina, Focus, Bond and Health. Dice from a pool are rolled when taking an action or under a few other circumstances.
STAT SUMMARY
Stamina: Stamina dice are rolled when using a basic attack or when using a basic status move. Dice used for this purpose return to your pool on a 1, 2, or 3. This pool is tested during skill checks to avoid effects that predominately affect the body.
Focus: Focus dice are used when using a move. The move text will determine how to calculate its effects but may use notation like sum and dice which refer to the total shown on the dice or the number of dice rolled, respectively.
Health: Each level, health dice are rolled to determine the amount of health a mon has. They are also used in healing. A mon's health is determined by level + 4 per health dice
Bond: When you catch a wild Mon, their bond is 1. Increase bond each time the mon levels up or you spend time with and grow closer. Test bond to evolve each time your mom levels up if they can or test when dramatically appropriate. Reset bond to 1 after your mon evolves.
SKILL CHECKS
Skill checks are used to determine if your mon can perform a difficult task outside of using a move on an opponent. To perform a skill check, tell your GM what you want to accomplish and how you want to achieve it. The GM will determine if the task requires a stamina, focus, or health check. These correspond to feats of strength or agility, mental prowess or producing an effect with a mon's type, and toughness and endurance, respectively.
To make the check, roll a D6. If you roll under the maximum number of dice in your stat pool, the test is a success.
Skill checks for trainers should be rare. If the action to be taken is plausible for the trainer to take, then favor allowing the action to succeed. If the action is difficult or a check is otherwise necessary, the trainer has a 1 in 6 chance of success. If their mon can aid them in the action or they have another advantage, then they may receive +1 per benefit.
BATTLING MON
A mon battle can happen for any number of reasons, from two trainers bored on a slow afternoon to a horde of stampeding mon that need to be stopped before catastrophe. A battle may best represent this scenario in your game. Interacting with the environment and using it to your advantage in a battle typically involves a skill check, while using abilities against your opponent or opponents is resolved using the battling rules below.
Any number of mon may be included in a battle. Duels are common, but so are team battles between mon. Sometimes one type of battle turns into another if the loser's friends aren't happy with the results.
THE ROUND
A round consists of all mon activating one at a time, starting with the mon with the highest current stamina down to the lowest. Each round the turn order is freshly determined based on which mon has the highest stamina.
A roll-off is used to break ties.
ROUND END
At the end of the round, all mon may return one expended stamina die to their respective pool.
ACTIONS
When activated a mon basic attack, apply status effect, can use move, use an item, or wait. They may also move.
Basic Attack:
Each type has their own basic attack which deals damage of their type. They each use stamina dice and deal sum damage. The defending mon can roll under their current stamina (Dodge) to dodge the attack. Alternatively, they can Fire Back!
- Punch [Combat/Stamina]: Deal [sum] damage to one adjacent mon.
- Wet Slap [Water/Stam]: Deal [sum] damage to one adjacent mon.
- Hot Touch [Fire/Stam]: Deal [sum] damage to one adjacent mon.
Status Effect:
Use Stamina Dice to fuel basic status effect moves. Roll the save against the move when it is used and again at the end of every turn.
- Light: Blind. Blinded 'mon can't connect with their physical attacks. AOE physical attacks still work. Save vs Focus to end condition.
- Fire: Burn. Save vs Stamina each round, end condition on success. On a failure, take dice fire damage.
- Grass: Drain. Save vs Stamina each round, end condition on success. On a failure, target takes 1 grass damage and you restore health equal to the damage.
- Water: Drench. For dice rounds, target's highest pool is the same size as their smallest. Save vs Stamina to end condition. Regain lost dice when condition ends.
- Electric: Paralyzed. For dice rounds, Save vs Stamina. On a failed save, target skips turn.
- Earth: Entrapment. Target cannot move for dice rounds. Save vs Stamina, condition ends on a success.
- Metal: Iron Defense. Gain dice temporary hp.
- Wind: Knockdown. Target is knocked prone once and goes last for dice rounds. Dodge to avoid.
- Combat: Grapple. Target restrained for sum rounds and cannot move or dodge. Save vs Stamina to end the effect.
- Mind: Confused. Target loses access to 1 Focus Die for sum rounds. Save v Focus each round, end condition on a success.
- Dark: Taunt. Save vs Bond or disobey trainer for dice rounds, only making basic attacks or acting on impulse.
- Dragon: Fear. Trust before approaching or making a physical attack. Once afflicted with fear, cannot be afflicted again in this battle.
Moves:
Moves reveal a mon's true power. To use a move, roll any number of focus dice and calculate the effect based on the move text. Focus dice return to your pool on a roll of 1, 2, or 3, but any number counts toward the roll.
Physical attacks and moves can be Dodged by rolling under your current stamina or you can try to overpower them with a physical attack of your own! If your attack is stronger and the sum on your dice is higher, your attack goes through and theirs is wasted. If you try that you better bring it, cause if you don't win you'll be taking full damage from the enemy's attack.
Special moves can be Saved by rolling under your current focus. But if you ask me, that's sorta like crossing your fingers and hoping the firing squad misses ya, he. They hardly do. Even if you save you'll take half damage from the attack. Better to Fire Back with a special move of your own! Show 'em who's boss. Like before, if you don't give it your all you'll back taking damage instead of giving it.
Status moves are tricky and an invaluable asset in the hands of an intelligent trainer. The move text will tell you how to defend against these. They're a real grab bag.
Weather moves affect the environment directly and last till the battle is over. That reminds me, do not forget to consider the environment in your battles! If you win by knocking your opponent off a bridge or drowning them, then it doesn't matter how much hp they had left, does it? What did I say something wrong?
Physical moves can be dodged, while status moves will describe a save to avoid the effect. Saves are made when the move is used and again at the end of each turn.
Here are some excellent moves to get started.
Item
Items held by mon may be used by them for free at any point during their activation. A mon may only hold one item at a time. Items used by trainers must be used instead of their mon using an ability.
Wait
Waiting is often used by effective mon trainers. When you tell your mon to wait they may not use abilities or an item, but may immediately recover 1 stamina or focus die to their pool. This is an excellent opportunity to RP your mon or trainer. You may describe your mon doing almost anything, just not using an item or ability.
DAMAGE
The amount of damage done by a move varies and will be in the move's text.
Mon can also take damage from the environment (Alexa, link to Fuck, its a Legamon! again). A rule of thumb for this is d6 damage per 10ft fallen or a few seconds on fire. Adjust the amount of damage based on whether the effect is less or worse than that.
Reducing a mon's hp to 0 incapacitates them and they are unable to contribute to battles or skill checks until they restore hp via resting, potions.
HEALING
Mon and their trainers fully heal during a good night's rest. This requires food, shelter, and safety. Alternatively, mon and their trainers may enjoy a hearty lunch 1/day. If food and a fire can be arranged, a trainer and their mon may rest for 1 hr and heal. Roll all dice in the Health pool as d3s and recover sum hp.
LEVEL UP
The mon you featured the most this session levels up. Other mon who appeared can test by rolling a d6 over their level. If successful they level up. Upon level up, increase Bond and recalculate hp (level +4/health dice). Also, increase a dice pool by 1. Instead of gaining a stat you may learn a new move. Lastly, you may roll a d6 and if you roll under your Bond you may evolve.
When you evolve, increase a stat by one or learn a move. Also, reset your Bond back to 1.
CATCHIN MON
Legablocks come in complex geometric parallelograms. 6 sided Legablocks are cube shaped. To catch a mon, throw a Legablock. If you roll over the legamon's health + Level, you catch it. A legamon with a status condition counts its hp as half of what it is for the purpose of capturing it.
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