Manoeuvres
I have streamlined this option slightly by discarding the Eyes Fixed manoeuvre.
Aggressive Manoeuvres:
- +2 Fighting
–2 Passive Animal Handling (Aggressive) or Animal Handling (High in the Saddle)
- –2 Fighting
+2 Passive Animal Handling (Defensive) or Animal Handling (Braced)
Simultaneous Rolls
Though jousts occur simultaneously, in the php setting it is much clearer for everyone involved if the players take turns. Players can decide between themselves who will ‘act first’, while in jousts against NPCs, I will roll first for them.
Step One: Making Your Pass
● Choose manoeuvre, if any.
● Roll: Fighting (Spears), -1B Training
● Difficulty: opponent’s Passive Animal Handling (Ride)
● Critical Failure: You miss, or your lance glances off your opponent’s shield or armour.
● Failure: Your lance shatters, but has no further effect.
● Success (one+ degree): Your opponent takes damage and must test Animal Handling (Ride).
- Damage: ([Animal Handling/Fighting + Strength] * Degrees) - AR
Step Two: Keeping Your Seat
● This step only applies if you are struck by your opponent.
● Roll: Animal Handling (Ride).
● Difficulty: Challenging (TN9), increase Difficulty by one step for each degree of success after the first that your opponent rolled on their Fighting Test.
● Failure: You are unhorsed. Take additional damage as if struck by your opponent at one degree, ignoring armour reduction.
● Success (one+ degree): You keep your seat and the joust continues to the next pass (assuming the pass just completed was not the final one).
Step Three: Catching Your Breath
● Before proceeding to the next pass, you may take a moment to recover.
● Roll: Endurance
● Difficulty: Automatic (TN0).
● Failure: There are no consequences for failing this roll.
● Success (one+ degree): Remove 1 point of damage per degree of success.
Determining a Winner
A joust is won by the competitor who:
● Unhorses his opponent, whilst keeping his seat, or
● Defeats his opponent by reducing their health to 0.
If neither of these things happens within the allowed number of passes, a winner is instead adjudicated based on which opponent has landed the most strikes. If this number is equal, the degrees of success for all strikes are added together, with the highest value being declared the victor.
If the values are still equal, the competitors make a final pass. If this does not result in a clear victor, then the competitor with the highest Fighting Test result wins.
