Rules

Enchanted Realms Rulebook

Basic Game Rules

Movement

In any turn-based combat system, movement is always a challenge and often becomes unbalanced with a lot of the other parts of play. Due to the timing of initative, using total movement applied on one’s turn often creates unreachable targets -- or the opposite, no opportunity to run.

However, with a little magic from the digital age via the Roll20 API, and “real-time” movement can be incorporated to the new turn order of combat rounds. It should also relieve the player from having to count hexes, as the API will use the movement rate from the character sheet to calculate on which “second counter” movement will occur, the distance of the segment of movement, and then update the token position accordingly.

In this new interface, as combatants declare their initiative actions, they will also set way-points for movement. Using way-points will allow those on the battlefield to avoid direct movement from A to B but instead choose the rough of A to A₁ to B₁ to B, thereby attempting to avoid barriers or attacks of opportunity from enemies. Further, when setting the objective of movement, two options can be chosen: either a coordinate location or selecting a combatant on which to close. Thus, the math of the API can manage movement along a path or to automatically adjust based on the re-positioning of the chosen combatant.

The API will process all movement at the start of each “second counter” before any actions have been taken. This will define the locations of all combatants on the map for that turn order’s actions. The digital game mechanic of updating the screen is called a “motion task,” and there will be 12 of these tasks in each round.

After a “motion task,” a character with a melee action might not have yet reached the target; thus, a hold action could be used to delay until the target is within reach. Players, NPCs and monsters will also have the option to adjust their remaining movement (except after the “motion task” for second-counter-1). From the digital character sheet, the API can monitor each token’s remaining feet of movement for the round as well as the hex-change per second).

This creates some obvious caveats not having been dealt with previously from a player’s viewpoint. While not a complete set of circumstances, a few will be listed to better understand the implications of the movement system and the API’s “motion task” functionality.

Condition	Explanation
With ten or more tokens on the battlefield all moving simultaneously, which token will the API process first?	The order of sorting for the API is based on the highest effective movement speed, then descending from that point to rank all the tokens. However, there will will be ties, as many tokens will all have the same rate. Then next value for sorting order will be raw Agility score. If an tokens remain in a tie, the a random roll will be used to determine the tie-breaker.
In later rounds, two fighters are engaged in melee from the start of the combat round in adjacent hexes, and the first strikes his opponent in second-counter-7. The wounded fighter decides to change his action from attack to withdrawal. His original initiative value was 7. When is his turn?	After the delay roll (d4), the retreating combatant’s initiative value becomes 5. Thus, the action for withdrawal begins when the “motion task” is calculated in second-counter-5; however, because over half the round was spent in the same location, the retreating fighting only has 15 ft over movement remaining for the round.
Humans have a movement rate of 40 ft. Divided by the 12 second counters, the quotient is not a whole hex. How does the API calculate rounding for partial-hex in a single “motion task?”	The math used to determine hex movement on the battlemap is a floor(), which means the token updates to new hex only after a full 5 feet of movement has been accumulated. However, pauses in movement during the round can reset the accumulation. If having continuous movement through out the round, a human’s token will be updated on 11, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 2 and 1.
How will this real-time movement affect the rules for flee-attacks/attacks of opportunity?	Because it is impossible to know the total feet of movement for the round while in the middle of the round as creature moves through an adjacent hex, which is the trigger of an attack of opportunity; therefore, new rules to manage that reaction is required and will be detailed later.