The Battlefield is a square or rectangular map of one inch square spaces as commonly used in other tabletop role-playing games. Unlike some other games, however, the Battlefield is required in Dragonpact, as the rules require players to make active, tactical reactions throughout battles, especially when it isn’t their turn.
All players will require a figure to represent their character. This can be any miniature figure with a base of 32 mm (or approximately one inch) or less. Larger figures must occupy multiple spaces as indicated by their base size and the approximate number of spaces they appear to occupy.
Movement
Movement on the battlefield uses either feet, yards, or meters — One space can be equal to about five feet, about one yard, or about one meter, whichever is preferred by the players and the Dragonmaster. The only rule is consistency. Once a metric is chosen, it should be used for the entirety of the game. When a Unit (any player or enemy) moves, it does so a number of spaces up to its Speed. Diagonal movement is possible, but every even-numbered diagonal space moved costs the Unit two spaces of movement. If you map this out, it appears approximately circular on a square grid.
[insert image of circular grid movement]
Occasionally, a unit might be subjected to forced movement. If movement is forced, the Ability will usually specify where the target is moved to or state that the user of the ability decides where within a specific range. If a unit is forced to move into an occupied or invalid space, such as if it’s pushed away 1 space into another unit or a wall, it stops short.
Only one unit can occupy a space at a time, regardless of if movement is voluntary or forced. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as small or tiny units being smaller than a full space. A unit that is riding or carrying another unit also occupies one or more spaces of the unit it’s riding. It’s also possible to climb on top of units that are one size or larger. See Unit Sizes below for more information.
NOTE ON UNIT HEIGHT:
Spaces are, in general, three dimensional and include height. There’s no hard and fast rule for this, however — If the Dragonmaster insists, normal (human-sized) units can be considered to be two spaces tall. The Dragonmaster and players should use their best judgement to determine if matters for your game as there are no rules that directly affect it. Again, the key is consistency.
Special Types of Movement
There are many types of movement that can be used in and out of battle. Your Speed with special movement types is the same as your regular Speed value unless otherwise noted. If you have a Speed of 4 and access to Fly, when you use the Move action and use Fly, you fly up to 4 spaces. Sometimes, special movement types might specify their own Speed value, however. You might have access to Fly 8, in which case if you move normally, your Speed is 4, and if you Fly, your speed is 8.
Movement types are as follows:
- Climb – Any unit can climb with a -2 penalty to their Speed, using various hand- and foot-holds on the terrain to stay their course. Units with Climb can move freely while climbing at their full Speed or at their listed Climb Speed if they have one. Units with Climb can move along vertical and horizontal surfaces freely unless they’re particularly slippery, such as those covered in oil or ice. The Dragonmaster might call for a roll of some kind to determine if it’s possible to move in such a situation.
- Crawl – Any unit can crawl with a -2 penalty to their Speed. Units with a Crawl Speed can move at their full speed, or at their listed Crawl speed if they have one.
- Dig – A unit with Dig can move through the ground at full Speed, leaving behind loose dirt as they travel. Hard stone and metal can’t be dug through, usually.
- Fly – Ignore terrain and fly over any obstacles, landing or hovering in place above the ground.
- Swim – Move through water and other liquids at full Speed, or at your listed Swim Speed if you have one. Other units move through water with a -2 penalty. The Dragonmaster might decide the liquid is too thick to move at a given rate through it, such as when moving through tar or lava.
- Teleport – Teleport through space instantly as you move. Requires line of sight and effect to the space you intend to arrive at.
- Walk – Also known as normal movement. All units with legs can do this. Also includes edge cases, such as units that walk on their hands, spin on their heads, pirouette about, run, skip, hop(scotch), or boogie down. If it isn’t a different type of movement already listed, it’s probably this. Since units can use two Move actions in a turn, doing this twice might be considered running instead of walking.
Unit Sizes
Unit sizes, from smallest to largest, are as follows, including the horizontal space they occupy on the Battlefield. Height doesn’t generally factor into a unit’s size, but see the note above under Movement for more information on that.
- Tiny – Less than ½ space. One space can be occupied by up to eight tiny units or one small unit and four tiny units.
- Small – ½ space. One space can be occupied by two small units.
- Normal – 1 space.
- Large – Between 2 and 4 spaces, depending on the volume of the creature. A unit such as a horse or a dire wolf occupies a 1×2 area. Units such as ogres and trolls occupy a 2×2 area.
- Huge – Between 5 and 16 spaces. Generally occupies a 3×3 or 4×4 area, though some units such as dire snakes can occupy a line one or two spaces across and eight or more spaces long. Some units that occupy a 4×4 area have enough free space at their corners for open space to be occupied by other units. Use the unit’s miniature figure to determine if there are free spaces around a unit with a circular base.
- Massive – 17 or more spaces. Any unit larger than Huge is considered Massive, from thirty foot tall Avatars of Nature all the way to planet-sized abominations.
Targeting and Area Effects
On the battlefield, there are several terms players will need to understand that describe types of area effects:
- Zone – A Zone is a group of spaces that expands immediately in a sphere out to a certain radius formatted as “Zone x within y”. To draw a Zone, start in the origin space and count out the number of spaces in all directions using the normal rules for diagonals as listed in Movement. A Zone that is centered on the source unit won’t list a “within” range.
- Line – A Line is an effect that travels between spaces a certain distance, formatted as “Line x width y”. In this case, the listed width encompasses both horizontal and vertical width; if a width isn’t listed, the width is 1 space. Lines travel straight and can only go in one of the eight directions on the battle grid without bending or curving. Lines are assumed to originate in an adjacent space unless otherwise noted, such as in spells that create magical walls.
- Cone – A Cone is a Line that expands outward as it travels. To draw a Cone, first draw a Line with a width of 1. On the second space, expand the area to one space on both sides of it, then two spaces on both sides of the third space, then three spaces on both sides of the fourth space, and so on. Formatted as “Cone x” where x is the number of spaces the cone travels outward before filling the cone area. Unlike Lines, Cones always originate from an adjacent space.
[need images of each aoe type]
Area effects can be blocked by terrain or objects. Units can never block line of effect, and the Dragonmaster has the final say in whether an object or piece of terrain is large enough to block line of effect in any given situation. Zones, Lines, and Cones are emitted from their origination space for purposes of line of effect.
Line of Sight and Line of Effect
If a unit can be seen, all units that can see it are considered to have line of sight to it. Generally speaking, if only an appendage or extremity can be seen, it doesn’t count for line of sight. At least part of the unit’s core must be visible. The Dragonmaster has the final say on whether a unit has line of sight to another and whether it applies in a given situation.
A unit can’t be targeted if there’s no line of sight to it. Area effects can still hit it. Line of effect determines whether an area effect or targeted action will work on a specific unit. The same rules as line of sight generally apply — if there is mostly uninterrupted space between the source of an effect and the unit, it can affect the unit.
The Dragonmaster determines if line of effect applies and can rule that something is blocking it. That something could be a box that the unit is ducking behind, a wall, or another unit of substantial and sufficient size. The Dragonmaster can also rule that the effect is strong enough to blow away the wall and affect units behind it, or that the effect wraps around units and hits those behind. It all depends on context, and the rules intentionally leave room for Dragonmaster fiat in situations like this. It’s important to remember the Core Rules of the Dragonmaster role when making decisions on gameplay mechanics like this.