Inspiration
The Flow System is intended to make Melee and Ranged combatants have more interesting things to do on their turn than the standard class abilities and “I swing my sword twice, roll damage”. Note that this is not applied to Spellcasters. They have many of their own interesting things to do each round due to expansive spell lists, and thus did not need this. You canx think of this as a sort of “Spell List” for Martial Combat.
Flow Points
Flow Points are a separate pool of action points given to martial combatants as reward for certain actions, and represent a martial character getting into the “flow of combat”, and being able to achieve interesting results the more/longer they fight. Flow Points are gained in a variety of ways, and can be banked between turns. You are not required to have 0 FP at the end of your turn or risk losing it. There is a Flow Decay mechanic that will sap some FP each turn, and many abilities that may sap FP in their effect.
Maximum FP
As a default, no character may exceed the higher of their Melee or Ranged Modifier in total FP. So a character with 72 Ranged Skill could bank a total of 7 FP during combat. Any FP gained while at maximum are lost.
Initial Flow Points
At the start of every combat, all combatants begin with 2 FP; this represents the adrenaline spike from entering combat as everyone plans their first moves.
Flow Decay
At the end of your turn (after all other effects are applied) you lose 1 FP from your pool (down to 0). This represents the flow of combat passing by, and encourages you to use FP while making it harder to hit maximum for huge combinations.
Gaining Flow Points
At a basic level, you gain FP by succeeding on attacks in combat.
- Attack hits, NOT a crit : +2 FP
- Attack Critically Hits: +1 FP (on top of normal FP from attack)
- First Reaction: +1 FP
- Killing Blow on Enemy: +1 FP
Important Note on Spells
Spells do NOT generate FP at any time. They are not considered “attacks” for the sake of the Flow system. This system is intended to bring physical combat up to match the utility and variety of spellcasting, and thus is not intended to mesh with the Magic system.
Summary + Example
This means that, in an incredibly lucky situation, if you manage to attack 2 times, crit both, killing 2 enemies, then perform a Dodge, you will have gained 3+3+1+1+1 = 9 Flow Points in a single round (although you would Decay 1 FP at the end of your turn as usual). On average though a melee combatant cutting their way through a battle is likely to earn around 3-6 FP in a round barring any special abilities/effects. (1-2 successful attacks + 1 successful reaction)
Flow Actions
There are MANY different Flow Actions that you can perform. Some are available to everyone, others are dependent on what type of weapon you wield. Some will even be granted by various Perks or Class Abilities.
Global Flow Actions
All characters have access to a small number of Flow Actions available regardless of your weapon category or any other feature.
Power Strike
Cost: 2 FP Declaration: Before rolling your attack Effect: +1 extra damage dice on next attack. If for some reason the attack uses multiple different damage dice, you get 1 extra of the largest dice that is dealing physical damage. This cannot be used to increase the damage dice of a Persistent Damage effect
Guaranteed Critical
Cost: 5 FP Declaration: After rolling a successful attack, but before Reactions or Damage are rolled Effect: Your successful attack automatically achieves a critical hit (consider your roll a 5 for the sake of ties, etc). This attack will not grant any FP.
Perfect Defense
Cost: 2 FP Declaration: After a successful attack roll was achieved against you, but before rolling any Reactions Effect: Your next Reaction automatically achieves a Normal Success without rolling (consider the roll equal to your Skill Level for the appropriate Skill, for the sake of ties etc). This Reaction will not grant any FP.
Deflection
Cost: 2 FP Declaration: After a successful Parry attempt Effect: Redirect the damage of an attack you just Parried onto a target adjacent to the attack, other than the attacker themselves.
Flow Actions by Weapon Category
Refer to the Weapon Categories page for a detailed look.