Combat uses the same dice mechanic as everything else — same 5d6, same outcome bands, same T-numbers. The only differences are structure (turn order, action economy, position) and consequences (damage as Stress).
Turn Order
The GM decides who acts when. No initiative roll. The GM looks at the situation and calls who's up first, based on dramatic logic and what makes the scene most interesting. This is fast and flexible.
Your Turn
Each turn, you get one Action and one Movement. Or alternatively, you can sacrifice your Action for a Double Movement — useful for crossing ground quickly.
- Action — make a roll, use an item, take a meaningful in-fiction action
- Movement — change zones (one zone shift) or stay put
- Double Movement — no Action this turn; move two zones
You also have one Reaction per round — a triggered ability that resolves outside your normal turn, in response to a specific event. Reactions don't cost your Action or Movement. Your Reaction refreshes at the start of your next turn. Most abilities use Actions; only a few specifically use Reactions, and they'll say so.
Zones
Distance in combat uses four named zones. The grid (or minis on a map) shows exact positioning; the zones are how the rules talk about distance.
| Zone | Distance | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Engaged | Adjacent / arm's reach | Melee combat, grappling |
| Near | A short rush away | Across a small room, throwing range, pistol range |
| Far | A real traversal | Across a chamber, rifle range |
| Distant | Out of reasonable reach | Mostly out of the scene |
A normal Movement takes you between adjacent zones. A Double Movement takes you across two.
Weapons & Gear
Gear matters in combat. What you're carrying determines where you can attack from, how hard you hit, and what options you have.
Range Class
Every weapon has a range class — the zones it can attack from.
| Range Class | Zones | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Melee | Engaged only | Swords, knives, clubs, fists |
| Thrown | Engaged or Near | Throwing knives, grenades |
| Sidearm | Near or Far | Pistols, hand crossbows |
| Ranged | Far or Distant | Rifles, longbows, sniper weapons |
| Reach | Engaged or Near | Polearms, whips — long melee weapons |
Attacking outside your range class is possible but penalised: −1 Effective Tier.
Rarity & Tags
Gear has a rarity that determines how many tags it carries. Tags are short descriptors that create mechanical effects — always active, no activation needed.
| Rarity | Tags | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 1 | Standard issue. Most Solace-issue gear. |
| Uncommon | 2 | Quality equipment. Requires effort to acquire. |
| Rare | 3 | Exceptional items. Requires authorization. |
| Unique | 3 + narrative property | One of a kind. Found, won, or inherited — never issued. |
Your signature item is always at least Uncommon.
Key tags to know:
- Brutal — +1 Stress on a clean Success or better
- Precise — +1 Stress on a Crit
- Vicious — on a Crit, target is also disarmed, knocked prone, pushed one zone, or rattled (GM chooses)
- Light — −1 Stress but easy to conceal and fast to draw
- Overwhelming — hits dealing 3+ Stress push the target one zone away
- Concealable — hidden on body; needs active search to find
- Fast — attack twice in one Action; both use same roll, each −1 Stress
- Reliable — on Catastrophic Failure, weapon is damaged (loses one tag) instead of breaking
- Unreliable — on Catastrophic Failure, weapon breaks and you take 1 Body Stress
- Silenced — no noise-based awareness checks triggered
- Signature — +1 Effective Tier in situations you've specifically trained for (defined with GM at character creation)
Armour
Armour is worn gear that passively reduces incoming Body Stress. The core tag is Protective — it reduces all incoming Body Stress by 1 (minimum 1), always on, no activation needed.
| Rarity | Tags | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Common | Protective | Leather jacket, padded vest, chainmail shirt |
| Uncommon | Protective + 1 tag | Full chainmail, combat armour, reinforced coat |
| Rare | Protective + 2 tags | Plate armour, military-grade vest, powered exo-suit |
Additional armour tags: Cumbersome (normal Move costs half a zone — heavy but worth it), Concealed (looks like ordinary clothing), Rigid (reduces damage by 2 instead of 1, but breaks on Catastrophic Failure).
On a Catastrophic Failure on a defence roll, your armour takes the hit instead of you — it loses its Protective tag until repaired. You're unharmed from that blow but now exposed.
Improvised Weapons
Grabbing whatever's to hand — a chair, a pipe, a bottle — always follows the same rule:
- Range class: Melee (or Thrown at GM's discretion)
- Damage: 1 Stress on any hit
- Breaking: breaks on any Failure or worse (not just Catastrophic)
- Tags: none
If you deliberately prepare an improvised weapon before using it, the GM may upgrade it to Common with one tag.
Ammunition
Sidearm, Ranged, and Thrown weapons use ammunition tracked as uses. Each attack roll spends 1 use, hit or miss. At 0 uses the weapon can't attack until restocked.
| Range Class | Starting Uses |
|---|---|
| Sidearm | 12 |
| Ranged | 6 |
| Thrown | 3 |
Resupply is handled in fiction — easy in a world with trade, impossible in a world with no gunpowder. The GM sets what's available.
On a Catastrophic Failure while using a weapon, it breaks and is unusable until repaired. Common and Uncommon gear can be repaired with tools and downtime. Rare gear needs a skilled NPC or specialist tools plus a Hand roll (T11). Unique items may be permanently destroyed — the GM and you decide.
A weapon with Reliable is damaged instead of broken. A weapon with Unreliable breaks and hurts you.
Attacking
When you attack, you roll the appropriate domain. Two cases:
Static Target Number: When the target isn't actively defending — an unaware enemy, a surprise attack, an environmental obstacle, a helpless target — the GM gives you a T-number. Roll it. If you beat it, you hit.
Opposed Roll: When both sides are actively contesting — combat between equals, a trained defender, a willful target resisting influence — both you and the target roll. Higher result wins. Defender wins ties. The margin of victory determines the severity.
Defence
When you're attacked, you defend with whichever domain fits the attack:
| Attack Type | Primary Defence | Alternative (with justification) |
|---|---|---|
| Melee weapon | Body (parry, brace, soak) | Hand (deft dodge, redirect) |
| Ranged weapon | Hand (dodge, evade, take cover) | Body (brace and bear it, armor) |
| Brute force (charge, grapple) | Body (resist, brace) | Hand (slip the grab) |
| Stealth attack | Mind (perception, awareness) | Hand (fast reflexes) |
| Social pressure | Heart (emotional resilience) | Mind (logical counter), Voice (verbal sparring) |
| Manipulation / deception | Mind (see through it) | Heart (trust your gut) |
| Fear, despair | Heart (steel yourself) | Spirit (groundedness) |
| Psychic intrusion | Mind (mental walls) | Heart (sheer will) |
| Spirit attack (cosmic, magical) | Spirit (resist multiversal pressure) | Heart (stubborn refusal) |
| Environmental (cold, poison, exhaustion) | Body (raw endurance) | — |
The "alternative" options work if you can describe them fictionally. A character dodging a sword swing with Hand instead of parrying with Body: fine, if you describe the dodge.
Damage
When you're hit, you take Stress in the relevant pool. The threat's damage is pre-assigned by the GM:
- 1 Stress — a glancing blow
- 2 Stress — a solid hit
- 3+ Stress — a devastating attack
Critical Hits double damage. When you Crit on an attack, the Stress damage doubles. (This applies to enemies hitting you too — be careful.)
Helping Each Other: Support Actions
Combat in TSL works best when characters help each other. On your turn (or, in one case, as a Reaction), you can take a Support Action instead of attacking. Six options are standard:
| Support Action | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Grant Reroll | Action | Pick an ally within Engaged or Near range. Their next failed roll this scene may be rerolled — but the 1 Stress is paid from your relevant pool, not theirs. Describe how you helped. |
| Draw Aggro | Action + Movement | Make yourself the most threatening thing in the scene. Until your next turn, opponents are inclined to target you over your allies. |
| Tactical Assist | Action | Set up an ally's next move. They gain +1 Effective Tier on their next roll this scene. (Calling out a blind spot, shouting encouragement, throwing a tool — narrate it.) |
| Soak the Hit | Reaction | When an ally within Engaged range would take Body Stress, take the hit instead. The Stress lands on your Body Pool. (Push them out of the way, take the blow on your shoulder, intercept the bullet.) |
| Steady the Spirit | Action | Absorb 1 Mind Stress from an ally within Engaged or Near range, taking it onto your own Mind Pool. |
| Ground a Path-walker | Action + 1 Spirit Stress | Lend your Spirit-attunement to an ally within Engaged or Near range. They gain +1 Effective Tier on their next Spirit roll, OR they may use one of your Spirit abilities once before their next turn (paid from their own pool). |
A few notes:
- Grant Reroll is unusual — you pay the Stress, not the ally. It's an act of real sacrifice.
- Soak the Hit uses your Reaction, not your Action. You can do it between turns.
- Steady the Spirit is the same effect as the Steward's Steady Presence perk, generalized — Stewards do it free once per scene as their perk; anyone else does it as their Action.
- If you describe a creative way to help an ally that isn't on the menu, your GM will probably run with it.
A Worked Example
The party — Vela (a Pathwalker), Mar (a Steward), and Ko (a Mystic) — has just walked into an ambush. A corrupted Path-walker and two thugs are waiting.
The GM looks at the table: "Vela, you spotted the ambush, you're up first. Then the thugs are going to charge. Then Mar, then Ko. Then the ambusher."
Vela's turn. "I want to drop the closer thug before they can reach Ko. I'll use my Hand and try to put one in his leg." The GM: "Hand roll, T11 — the thug isn't aware of you, so no defence roll." Vela rolls 5d6, keeps 4 (Proficient): total 16. Clean Success. The GM: "You catch him in the thigh. He goes down screaming." The thug is a Grunt — one solid hit Breaks him. Vela uses Movement to reposition behind a pillar.
The remaining thug's turn. The GM has him use Double Movement to charge into Engaged with Ko. He doesn't get to attack this turn but he's now in Ko's face.
Mar's turn. "I want to get the thug's attention away from Ko. I'll shout at him, taunt him." The GM: "Voice roll, opposed — he's mid-charge, he'll resist." Mar rolls Voice (Trained): 13. The thug rolls Mind (Untrained): 8. Mar wins by 5. "He turns toward you, snarling."
Ko's turn. "The corrupted Path-walker — the corruption isn't natural. I want to Sense the Local Reality and read what's happening to them spiritually." The GM: "That's a Spirit ability — costs 2 Spirit Stress. Mark it. You don't roll; you spend the points and get the information." Ko marks 2 bubbles on his Spirit Pool. The GM tells Ko: "You see it. The corruption isn't natural — it's binding. There's a tether between the ambusher and something deeper in this world. Disrupt the tether and the corruption breaks."
The whole encounter just shifted: from "kill the bad guy" to "find and break the tether."
That's the rhythm. Describe action → roll if uncertain → narrate outcome → repeat.