There are three ways to defend against attacks. Characters can either dodge, block or parry an attack. When defending against an attack you roll an ability. If the defence score is equal to or higher then the attack score the attack misses. You must roll defence before knowing the result of the attack roll.

Dodging is done by rolling an agility check. To block an oncoming attack, you need some kind of shield and roll the ability needed to use your shield. You can only parry against melee attacks. To parry an attack you must wield a weapon and roll the ability you use for that weapon.

Defending against multiple attacks

If you are attacked multiple times before your next turn, you will receive penalties to your defence rolls. The more you have to defend, the bigger the penalty will become. For dodging and blocking, there is a consistency penalty of two, every time you use that defence. So if you dodge three times between your turn and you want to dodge a fourth time, you will have a consistency penalty of six (2x3=6). Every type of defence has it's own penalty. So dodging multiple times will not get you a penalty on blocking. And blocking multiple times will not create a consistency penalty on dodging. For every melee weapon you wield, you can make only one parry roll between turns.

Because of this, if you are attacked multiple times between your turns, it will likely be advantageous to use different types of defence. Character using a shield will have a big advantage over characters without shields while defending, since they have an extra way to defend themselves. Your defence uses are restored again at the start of your next turn.

Positions

Positions are states a character can find themselves in during combat.

• Prone Your character lays on the ground. The only way to move around is by crawling. While prone you have a consistency penalty of two for all attacks and defences. Ranged attacks against a prone target have a consistency penalty of two.

• Helpless You cannot perform any action or defend yourself in any way.

• Sleeping You are prone and helpless. You wake up if you are hit by an attack. The only action you can take is make perception checks when something happens around you. Waking up to a soft sound has a challenge requirement of nine. Waking up to a louder sound has a challenge requirement of five.

• Unconscious You are prone and helpless and can not wake up from this state without medical attention.

• Concealed Some (or all) of your opponents can not see you directly. But unless you are also hidden from them, they do know approximately where you are. Opponents from who you are concealed have a consistency penalty on attack rolls against you. How high the penalty is depends on how effective the concealment is. You can not be concealed from opponents who are in a combat cluster with you.

• Hidden Some (or all) of your opponents do not know where you are. You can not be hidden from an opponent unless you are also concealed from them. You can not be attacked, unless the attacker knows you are hidden. If your opponent knows you are hidden, you can only be attacked with a luck shot. The opponent rolls a D10 before the attack roll. Only if he or she rolls 10, can they make an attack roll. The attack has a consistency penalty of one plus the penalty from being concealed. If you are hidden from an opponent, you receive a bonus potential of two, when you charge them or make a ranged attack against them.

  Every time you make any soft sound while hidden, your hide challenge is reduced by two. Making it ever easier for your opponents to find you using perception. Soft sounds include whispering, shooting a bow or blowgun or throwing a weapon. Louder sounds such as speaking, shouting, weapons clattering, etc. give you away.

• Climbing You have a consistency penalty of two on all defences and attacks. If you are hit by an effect and climbing had a challenge requirement, you must make a new roll to see if you can hold on. Note that the position "climbing" is different from the climb action. You do not have to climb up or down every turn you are in a climbing position. You can even make an attack while in the climbing position, unless holding on requires the use of both hands. While in this position you have a consistency penalty of one to attack rolls. Because climbing requires one hand, you can not wield a shield and a sword at the same time while climbing.

Pre-rolling defence

Opponents can see how good your defensive stance is. So you should pre-roll your defence, preferably at the end of your turn, and as soon as you've used your last pre-rolled defence. You must decide which defence you use before the attack roll. The attacker chooses their target based on how someone is defending, not the defender based on how he's being attacked. The only exception is when you've parried and an opponent decides to attack you with a ranged attack. Since you can't parry a ranged attack, you must roll either dodge or block after the attack was declared, but before the attack was rolled. The parry you rolled must be used as a defence against the first melee attack. Fatigue only changes when you use the defence roll to oppose an attack.

Guarding

You can protect people, locations or objects from your opponents by guarding them. When you guard, your opponent can not reach whatever it is you are guarding without first having to get past you. By guarding you can stop one opponent from getting to their target, or you can intercept a ranged attack. When you are guarding an ally, and an opponent intends to attack them, the attack will be directed to you instead. If this is a ranged attack, the attack moves on to it's original target if you successfully dodge the attack. Blocking a ranged attack stops it.

The guard ends once you've intercepted one opponent. Once the guard ends, other characters can freely get to whatever was guarded. If multiple characters are guarding the same target, the order in which characters defend is the initiative order, starting at the character attempting to reach the target. Only the first guard can respond to the attack. Because of this, when you are defending a single target it requires one attacker more then there are guards to get to the target.

Borders can be guarded from either side. If the guard is in the same square as you, you can not cross the border, since the guard will intercept you. If the guard is in the other square, you can go across the border, but if you charge, the guard intercepts your attack. The guard ends if you move across a guarded border.

Guards can not respond to characters hidden from them. So if you are hidden from a guard, that guard can not stop you from reaching your target. You can also get past a guard by outmanoeuvre him. The guard can make an attack against you as a free action. You must dodge this attack. On this dodge roll you have a consistency penalty of one.

Forced movement and restraint

Some characters can not move by themselves, or do not want to be moved. To move or stop characters from moving, the following rules apply:

• One character can move a willing character with a leg injury
• Two characters can move a character unable to stand and resist
• Three characters can move an unwilling bound character
• Four characters can move an unwilling character

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