Combat Procedure

When the party encounters monsters, you have one decision to make first:

Attack immediately — your characters strike first. Wait and see — the monsters act first (roll on the monster's reaction table).

Wandering monsters (encountered while retracing your steps) always strike first.

Your attack turn

Each character takes one action per turn: attack with a weapon, cast a spell, drink a potion, heal, or hold ground.

To attack:

• Roll d6 and add the character's level (if their class allows it) and any weapon / class modifiers.
• Compare to the monster's level.

Against minions (groups)

• The roll's total kills minions equal to (total ÷ monster level), rounded down.
• Extra points are wasted unless rules say otherwise.

Example: A level-2 warrior rolls a 5, total Attack 5 + 2 = 7 against goblins (level 3). 7 ÷ 3 = 2 goblins slain; 1 point wasted.

Against bosses (single creatures)

• Each attack that equals or beats the boss's level inflicts 1 wound.
• Bosses have several Life; track each wound on the encounter card.

Characters may attack in any order you choose. Only monsters that survive your attacks get to strike back.

The monsters' turn

The monsters do not roll dice. Instead, every targeted character makes a Defense roll:

• Roll d6 and add modifiers (see below).
• Compare to the monster's level.

Defense modifiers

| Source | Bonus | |---|---| | Light armor | +1 | | Heavy armor | +2 | | Shield | +1 | | Rogue | +(rogue's level) | | Dwarf vs troll / giant | +1 | | Halfling vs troll / giant / ogre | +(halfling's level) |

• A natural 1 is always a failure; a natural 6 is always a success.
• Some attacks (e.g., dragon claws) negate armor or shield. Read the monster entry.
• Surprise attacks (sneaky wandering monsters) negate the shield bonus on the first attack.

Defense outcome

• Roll > monster level, or natural 6 → no damage.
• Roll ≤ monster level, or natural 1 → 1 wound (some heavy hitters do 2; the monster's stat block will say so).

Who gets attacked?

Depends on three things: how many monsters there are, your marching order, and whether you're in a room or a corridor.

• Room, fewer monsters than characters: each monster picks a different character. You decide which heroes are not attacked.
• Room, equal numbers: each character gets one attack.
• Room, more monsters than characters: distribute one attack each, then assign extras to characters you choose. Hatred: monsters that hate a class (e.g. orcs hate elves) always direct extras at that class.
• Corridor: only the two characters in marching positions 1 & 2 can be attacked, and only by 2 monsters maximum.
• Wandering monsters in a corridor sneak up — they attack positions 3 & 4 from behind with no shield bonus on the first attack.
• Dragon breath hits everyone in the room or corridor.

End-of-round bookkeeping

After both sides act:

• Mark wounds. Remove dead monsters.
• Apply ongoing effects (poison, burning, energy drain).
• Track morale for minion groups — see Morale.
• If monsters remain, decide your next action (attack again, withdraw, flee).

When the last monster dies, you may search the room if it's not a corridor. See Searching & Clues.