No this isn't the land of Eternia and you aren't playing HE-MAN! You are however full of power that helps you during combat. This article is an overview of the Labyrinths and Legends combat system as of the writing date of this article. My caveat here is that this can and probably will change as we complete playtesting etc.
Power Dice and Recovery
The first thing you will notice when creating a character is that there is no typical character stats like STR, DEX, CON...etc. (Oh no say it isn't so ... how will it ever work? I'm already confused...)
The LnL combat system works off of a power dice and recovery system we have created to specifically make Solo play more engaging and tactical. This system makes you allocate power dice to take actions during a combat round (Attacks/Defensive) and then at the end of the round you only recover X Dice based on your recovery stat.
This essentially means that you need to make good decisions and if the combat continues for too long you will have limited power to use and you become more exhausted. This is unless of course you have an ability or potion that gives you more power back, then you are back into the fray!
Ok, so where do you get more power?
Each character has a base set of 2 Power dice based on the tier of your character. We will discuss character progression and tiers at a later date but in short, you start with 2d6 Base Power Dice at the Neophyte Tier and at Legend Tier you will have 2d20's (Because you are a LEGEND baby!). Additional power dice will come from treasure and equipment you find, buy or upgrade during your adventures.
Abilities and Powers
So where do you get Abilities and Powers? By default, you start with a basic attack ability and a basic defense ability and those are available and can be used each and every round of combat as long as you have power dice.
For more specialized abilities you will be able to gain those by finding/buying equipment or by learning a power from a master or legendary trainer in that skill/guild.
Equipment
Most abilities for combat will come from equipment as there are specific actions you can take with that piece of equipment. Here are a couple of examples.
- Weapon Example: "Long Sword of Slashing" could give you a Cleave ability that can do more damage when allocating more power during the attack.
- Armor Example: "Weak Shield" could give you a Shield Bash ability that can damage your enemy during defense, however, it comes with a weakness that if you roll double 1's the shield breaks and you have to discard.
Finding, Buying, and upgrading equipment will be a core part of your character's journey to becoming a Legend.
Pet Companions
While I won't focus on details for Pet companions in this article all you need to know at this point is ... You'll have a friend to adventure with ("My Buddy, My Buddy, Wherever I go he's going to go ... My Buddy!") and they will be able to help you in and out of combat!
Encounter System and Combat Sequence
When you encounter a baddie you will either have a chance to decide to Fight or Flee or you will automatically go into combat if they get the drop on you. The combat sequence will be fully controlled by the app and you will have to decide what power to use for offense and defense as the round plays out.
Combat won't be a back and forth sequence as it is dynamic, as a real combat would be. So if you are fighting 3 skeletons you might have 2 of them attack you back to back, then you get to attack, then the last one will attack. Will you use fewer power dice to block both attacks and then try for a full attack to take them all out in one shot or save some power to defend the last attack? You have to account for you only being able to recover a few power dice at the end of the round! This, my friend, is where everything gets interesting!
Example Combat Round
Let's look at an example of a combat round. The screens below are the actual screens you see in the app. They are still in development so things could change but the general concept and flow should not.
Encounter: When you encounter enemies if they don't surprise you-you'll have the option to Fight or Flee.
Combat Round and Initiative: When Combat starts the enemy Initiative and round order will be determined. Enemy mobs have different initiatives, the number of attacks and other stats that drive their behaviors.
You Defend: When the enemies attack you will have to decide to defend using a defensive ability. To do this you will allocate Power Dice from your Power Dice Pool (on your character sheet) to a defensive ability on your character sheet. For example, the standard Defense uses one and only one Power Die. You can pick any die from your Power Pool so if you have the choice of a d4, d6, d8 you can decide which one to use. In the below example you would need to defend against the Enemy Attack Value of 3 by rolling a 3 or higher on your die. After your roll, you will select the outcome option. In this case, I rolled a 2 (my typical luck) so I "Didn't Defend")
You Take Damage: In the example above I "Didn't Defend" So I take damage from the Skeletons attack. The Damage will be indicated and you will need to mark down your health on your character sheet. The app is also tracking your health but beware we don't expose the health to you so it is essential that you know how you are feeling so you don't meet a timely death. Don't worry there are ways for you to see your health periodically in the game.
You Attack: When it is your turn to lay down the hurt on the enemy you will be allocating Power Dice from your pool to an attack ability on your Character Sheet. In this case, we are going to take 2 Power dice and do a Cleave Ability that will give me +1 weapon damage. To hit and damage the enemy you will need to exceed their Defense Value. In this case, you will have to roll a 4+ to hit and damage the enemy. I roll 2 dice from my Power Dice a d4 and a d6 ...and I roll a 2 and a 3 for a total of 5. BAM! So I will select the "Attack Hits" outcome.
Damage Thy Enemy! When you land a blow on the enemy you will need to indicate the amount of damage your abilities did. In this case the Cleave we did our base weapon damage(which is 1) +1 additional for a total of 2 damage. I will select the proper value and hit the "Damage Enemy" button.
End of Round: Once all the enemy attacks have gone and you have had your chance to dispatch some pain. You will come to the end of the Combat Round. This is where you will first see how many enemies are remaining. In this case, we took our 1 of the 3 during this round. You will then need to Recover some of your Power Dice based on your Recovery Stat. In my case, the Recovery Value is 2 so I can recover 2 Power dice from my abilities. Some abilities can't be used each round so for those "Cooldown" abilities you are only allowed to recover a single dice from it each round ... so choose the use of your abilities wisely. Once you have recovered your power it is time to decide whether to Fight or Flee. Oh, I am ALL IN so I would continue to Fight! 🙂
Die you Undead Scum! At the End of a Round where you have killed all the enemies or the enemies have fled it will be time to "Search the Bodies" and see if there is any Gold, Gems or Items that could be of use. We will go deeper into Loot in another post at a later date. In this case, I did find a new Sword that seems to sparkle at the hilt. Not sure what that is about but I'll take it to Willows Mouth Keep to the Mystical Chair (Magic Emporium) to see what they can tell me.
Well, I hope this post helps provide some insights into the Combat system of Labyrinths and Legends. We know you will find it engaging and challenging as you strike down all those enemies that oppose you. 🙂
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