The Holy Grail War of B8

Well really, this page is just here to hold the rules.

Introduction/Game Description:
Howdy, and welcome to our own very first Grail War! This is a board game I have ripped off from the good folks over at A/M: OT, and it's modeled after the Grail War seen in Fate/Stay Night and such. We need "14" signups, which we'll randomly pair into seven teams of "two," and it will be on a mafia-style basis rather than first come first serve.

The basic concept is as follows. Every player will be assigned a video game character, with a corresponding stat sheet we've prepared ahead of time. Each team will have one Servant character and one Master character, unless we're being devious, which may or may not be the case. Like in Fate, each Servant will belong to one of seven classes, and will be responsible for the majority of their team's fighting. Master classes are significantly weaker and more oriented towards support, but rarely have to fight directly. Teams will move around a map, forging alliances and doing battle until only one servant/master pair is left standing. There will be public update and discussion topics every turn, but actual actions will be carried out through private boards and messages. You must pick your fights, uncover your opponents' identities, and fight valiantly in order to win the power of the Grail for yourself!

General Rules:
(General information on how to play the game)

Turn Progression: An individual turn is divided up into three phases. The first phase is Regeneration and Upkeep. In this phase, any upkeep costs associated with skills is paid, and all characters regenerate health and mana according to the values on their statsheet. The second phase is movement. See below for more details on that. The third phase is combat. See the combat section for more details there.

Movement: Aside from regeneration, the first thing you do each turn is movement. You may choose to remain at your current location or move elsewhere. Each character has his/her own movement range, dictated by their agility stat (See Paramters/stats for more details on this). The order that the teams move in is dictated by their Luck stat, with higher stats moving first. However, during combat, movement is replaced with fleeing. See the Combat section for more details. If you desire, you may delay your movement within the movement phase, or even until after the combat phase.

Communication: You may always communicate with your partner, regardless of how the game goes. For those familiar with Mafia, think of your partner as your Mason buddy. You may also freely communicate with other players who are in the same location as you are in-game. However, we ask you not to communicate with players who are not in your location (Or not your teammate) about the game. Communication in the public update topic on B8, however, is always allowed, and spectators/Hosts are allowed to post in it as well. We trust you guys on this one, so don't let us down.

Alliances: You may choose to ally yourself with your fellow competitors if you wish. However, these alliances are entirely informal, and there can only be one winning team. Be careful of who you trust, if you trust anybody at all. If you do ally with somebody, take note that there is no special rule on communication with your allies, and you are required to hold to the normal communication rules.

Making Moves: Each team will be given their own private forum on the zetaboards site set up for the game. Within that forum, you'll have access to your statsheets, a topic where you can discuss with your partner, and a topic for posting your moves. Roughly once every 24 hours, each of the seven teams will make a move consisting of what they want to do that turn, with regards to movement, combat, or whatever else you want. How the different teams move dictates the flow of the game. There will be one turn per day, generally. It is also possible (and encouraged) to set conditional actions, and delayed actions if you so desire. More details on this in the Combat Section.

Updates: Once all the moves are in, or the move deadline has passed, we will compile the moves and figure out what happened that turn. Once that is done, we will give updates. Each team will recieve a private update that gives their team's current status, as well as what they did that turn. There will also be a public update posted on B8, which will be heavier on flavor text and detail the most important happening of the turn. The priority for event description is as follows: Combat Encounter > Civilian Death > Noncombat Encounter > Nothing happening. On turns where nothing happens, the public update will be short and to the point, saying that nothing happened. We run on a flexible deadline system, similar to Mafia, which means that from the time the public update is posted, you generally have 24 hours to move. The specific time will be noted at the end of the update. If, for some reason, a team does not make a move, they will be considered as doing absolutely nothing for the turn. We might be willing to fudge deadlines slightly if we get reasonable warning, but if it is a persistent issue, we're going to take a stand and say no.

Changing the Map: As the war winds down, and people die, the chances of people finding each other on the map become increasingly low, to the point where if it's not prearranged, not much will be happening. To avoid this, areas might be removed from the map as the war goes on. If this happens, you will be informed no fewer than three (3) public updates in advance. To encourage you to leave those areas, there may be a penalty imposed on all people in the areas being removed when it happens, which will be posted along with notification of the area removal.

Servants:
(As seen in Fate/Stay Night, there are seven servant classes: Saber, Archer, Rider, Lancer, Assassin, Berserker, and Caster. Their general prototypes are representative of their names. All seven servants are characters from video games)

Death: Servants die when one of their health or mana reaches zero. When you're dead, you can talk to your partner if they're still alive, but for all intents and purposes, are out of the game, and can not win.

Regeneration: At the beginning of every turn, all servants regenerate health and mana equal to the values listed on their statsheet. This occurs before anything else in the turn. Servants who have been engaged in combat in the past turn, however, do not regenerate health. Mana regeneration is unaffected by combat. Servants who are in a separate area from their master also do not regenerate mana.

Servant Forms: A servant generally exists in a corporeal (physical) form. While in this form, they can act and regenerate as normal. Servants also have a spirit form available to them. In this form, the servant is invisible, meaning they can not be seen by any other characters. Furthermore, they regenerate health at 1.5 times the normal rate, assuming they begin the turn in Spirit Form. However, servants in Spirit Form must remain with their master at all times, and have no skills available to them. They are also unable to be attacked, and by extension defend their master. You may switch forms whenever you want, once per turn. Doing so outside of combat is a free action, but doing so in combat takes the servant's support action for the turn.

Masterless Servants: If, somehow, a servant loses its master, it will lose mana until it finds a new one, or runs out and dies. In place of regeneration, a masterless servant will lose 40% of its maximum mana every turn until it dies or gets a new master. Some servants, particularly those of the Archer Class can have an Independant Action ability, which gives them a few nights before they start losing mana. More details on this are given in the skill description for those that have the skill.

Consuming Civilians: It is possible for servants to murder and consume civilians throughout the city to regenerate extra mana. Servants in physical form may consume one civilian per turn to regenerate 25 mana on top of normal regeneration. However, being in combat disallows civlian consumption until you leave combat, either by killing the opponent, or either party fleeing. (God forbid you yourself get killed <_<) This action may draw attention to you, and will be noted in the public update. The degree of detail of the murder depends on what else happens that night, with a civilian death taking priority over everything but combat for a full description.

Consuming Other Characters: When combatants in the war die, a corpse is left behind with some magical energy left behind. Servants can take this magical energy for their own, and use it to restore themselves. Consuming dead masters will restore a servant's mana by 50% of its maximum. Consuming dead servants will restore a servant's mana by 50% of its maximum and its health by 25% of its maximum. Consuming a character destroys its corpse, and a corpse is required for consumption, meaning that a corpse can only be consumed once.

Masters:
(Each servant is contracted to a master. The link connecting Master and Servant is the Command Spell. See the Command Spell section for more details on that. There are seven masters at the start of the game, one paired with each servant. Like the servants, all Masters are characters from video games)

Death: Masters only die when their health reaches zero. When a master's mana reaches zero, nothing particularly special happens, though they can not use any abilities that require mana, nor can they use their command spells or form a contract with a masterless servant should the situation arise.

Protection: Masters, generally being weaker than servants, will be protected by their servant, assuming both are in the same area. All offensive attacks will target the servant unless the skill specifically states otherwise. This includes any Area-of-Effect/AoE attacks. The servant will take all the damage from these, and the masters will be unharmed. Do take note, though, that AoE attacks do not deal any extra damage. It just means that masters take no damage from them as long as they have a servant present. Support Skills, however, can still target and affect masters.

Servantless Masters: In the event that a master's servant is killed, they still have a couple of options available to them. They may choose to retire from the war, essentially removing them from the game, or they may choose to continue participating, and wandering around the map, potentially getting into a fight or two, while looking for a masterless servant to contract.

Contracts: A contract is the bond between master and servant, controlled by the Command Spell. Each master and servant pair starts with one. However, in the event that you find a masterless servant, it is possible to contract with it. Do note, however, that controlling multiple servants reduces their potential to fight. Having two servants will decrease the damage output and regeneration of both to 75%. Having 3 will reduce the output and regen of all three to 66%. Having 4 will reduce the damage output and regen of all 4 to 50%. It is impossible to be contracted to more than four servants at once. All damage reductions occur after all other calculations.

Ending a Contract: A contract between master and servant ends the instant the master's last Command Spell is used. The order dictated by the command spell is still valid, though aside from that, the servant(s) is now free to do what they wish. They may continue with their current master, though their mana regeneration will be reduced by half, or they may choose to form a contract with a new master. Sticking with, and recieving mana from their current master will allow them to remain in the world, and means they are not subject to the rules on Masterless Servants above. A servant may end their affiliation and connection with their previous master whenever they wish, even mid-turn or mid-battle. A master can not start providing mana to a servant without at least one Command Spell, however, so it is impossible for a master that lacks Command Spells to team up with a servant.

Command Spells:
(The Command Spell is the ultimate proof of a contract. A Master begins with three of them, and may use them to give absolute orders to the servant or provide a variety of other effects, described below)

Using Command Spells: A Command Spell may be used at any point during the turn as a free action. Unless you specify otherwise, the default timing for a Command Spell is immediately after regeneration/upkeep, and before movement. You may use multiple command spells per turn, but keep in mind that you only have three, and there is no way to get extras.

List of Command Spells: The following Command spells are available to you


 * Fight Harder (Raise all stats except Noble Phantasm by + for the remainder of the fight)


 * Stop Holding Back (Raise all stats except Noble Phantasm by one rank for the remainder of the fight. If this would cause a stat to reach EX, it instead raises the stat by ++)


 * Obey Me! (Forces the servant to take action as dictated by the master. If you need to use this for whatever reason, be creative <.<)


 * Come Here! (Instantly summons the servant to the same location as the master)


 * Get us out! (Instantly transports the servant and master to any adjacent area, ignoring the limitations on fleeing.)


 * Enter Spirit Form! (Instantly forces the servant into Spirit Form, regardless of the turn progression or anything that may be preventing it)


 * Enter Physical Form! (Instantly forces the servant into Physical Form, regardless of the Turn Order or anything that may be preventing it)

Please note that for the command spells that raise stats, only one may be active on a servant at a time. Furthermore, you may only use Command Spells on a servant that you are contracted with. You may not use command spells on other masters' servants. ==Combat: ==

(Fighting. Plain and simple. Also, it's required to win)

Actions: Every combat round, all players may take actions. Masters may only take one action per turn, be it offensive or defensive, though Command Spell usage doesn't count towards this total. Servants can take two actions per turn. Servants have a support action, which they can use to use a Support skill, and an offensive action, where they can use an Offensive skill or Noble Phantasm. It is impossible to use an offensive action on a support skill, or a support action on an offensive skill, and if you do not use a support or offensive action on a turn, it is simply lost. Actions do not stack.

Support Skills: Support skills are listed on the skill sheet as Support Skills <_<. Using one requires the mana cost listed on the statsheet, as well as whatever other costs or requirements are listed on the sheet being fufilled, if any. You may only use one support skill per turn. Support Skills are generally the kind of skills that affect the battle without changing the other party's HP, and can turn the tide of a battle if used properly. Support Noble Phantasms also fall into this category, and follow these rules.

Offensive Skills: These are your main form of offense in a fight. To use them, you simply need to pay the mana cost, and fufill whatever other requirements are given (If any). For all of the numbers involved in damage calculation, check the Parameters/Stats section below. Offensive Noble Phantasms fall into this category, and follow these rules.

Normal Attacks: Instead of using an offensive skill on a turn, you may choose to use a normal attack. This attack is equivalent to an E-rank offensive ability, but costs no mana, and has no requirements. This skill is a physical attack, and uses your Strength stat as the base damage. It has no magical equivalent. Using this skill consumes your offensive action for the turn. Furthermore, this is the only ability available (Other than command spells) during skirmish rounds (See below) Other than that, these attacks follow all the same rules as Offensive skills

Skirmishing: The first turn of Combat is called a "Skirmish". In a skirmish round, you are restricted on how you can attack, and are forbidden from using Skills or Noble Phantasms, and will simply use the Basic attack. In the Skirmish round, Command Spells may not be used, and, barring a delay on the part of a team, attacks will occur in the Offensive Combat phase, in the order of the servants' agility. Skirmishes only occur between servants, however. If there is a servant attacking a lone master, or two lone masters fighting it out, the skirmish round is skipped, and all parties can attack with any skills or Noble Phantasms they wish to use

Fleeing: Fleeing comes at the end of a combat round. On a turn that a team decides to flee, they get no actions other than Command Spell usage that turn. However, they are still valid targets for their opponents to attack, and as such, are at risk of taking damage. After all other actions in the combat round have occured, the fleeing team will move to the location indicated in their move. If a team flees to a location, and at that location, they're attacked by a third party, combat will restart as normal, starting with a skirmish round between the two teams. If two opposing teams flee on the same turn, movement occurs in order of Agility, with neither teams getting actions that turn.

Missing: Based on the Agility and Luck stats of combatants, it is possible for attacks to miss, and thus deal zero damage. If this happens, you will recieve no compensation for lost moves or mana. Check the Parameters/Stats section for more details. Noble Phantasms can not miss under normal circumstances.

Area of Effect: It is possible that some skills in the war will allow you to target multiple people, or perhaps every character in your area. However, in this case, enemy masters are not targeted unless they are alone, or the ability explicitly states it. These attacks have nothing special involving damage calculation. Noble Phantasms can not miss.

Third Parties: It is possible for another team to move to an area where a fight is occuring, with intent to fight. In this case, they will recieve a skirmish round against one of the teams fighting, who will recieve an extra attack to respond to the skirmish, in addition to the rest of their move against their other opponent. After this skirmish round is over, all teams resume combat as normal, and can attack any involved party. It is possible for multiple, separate fights to occur in the same location. In this case, as long as every involved party has been in combat for at least one full turn, the skirmish round is skipped.

Sighting: As teams move across the map, it is inevitable that a team will move through an area occupied by another team en route to their final destination. When this happens, the stationary team can choose to engage in a modified skirmish round. The stationary team attacks with their basic attack, as normal, but the team that was moving has the choice of continuing to move, or fighting back. If the option you'd like is not stated in your move, the default is to fight back instead of moving. ==Parameters/Stats: ==

(Mostly numbers and explanations, but still worth reading !!) STR/MAG Parameter Base A: 200 B: 175 C: 150 D: 130 E: 115 EX: 250 +: +10 each Skill Multiplier A: 2 B: 1.75 C: 1.5 D: 1.25 E/Skirmish: 1 EX: 2.5 +: +.1 each END Reduction Multiplier A: .6 B: .7 C: .8 D: .9 E: .95 EX: .4 +: -.04 each_ END Flat Reduction A: 60 B: 45 C: 30 D: 15 E: 5 +: +6 each Base Hit chance (Attacker AGI) EX: 115 A: 100 B: 95 C: 90 D: 85 E: 80 +: +2 each Reduced by Defender's AGI as follows: EX: 15, but the attack is rolled twice and both have to hit A: 15 B: 10 C: 5 D: 0 E: +5 +: 1

Ok, the way this works is as follows: If you're attacking with a Magical attack, you use your Magical Energy stat. If you're attacking with a physical skill, you use your Strength stat. Take the stat, and multiply it by the rank of the skill you're using. Basic/Skirmish attacks are E Rank. Next, take that, and multiply it by the END Reduction Multiplier of the target's Endurance stat. After that, subtract off the flat reduction to find your total damage. Miss chances are out of 100. Start with the attacker's AGI, and pull the value of the rank. Then subtract the defender's AGI. That's your % chance to hit. If the attack misses, too bad. Remember that Noble Phantasms can not miss.

For a simple formula:


 * Damage = (Stat Base * Skill Rank Base) * END Multiplier - END Reduction


 * % Chance of hitting = Attacker AGI Base - Defender AGI Base