Battle

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All game mechanics are subject to change/tweaking as the game is still in Alpha. Verification will be needed upon full release.

Battles are the core gameplay of Griftlands aside from Negotiation. Battles are fought by spending Action Points on cards to use attacks, inflict statuses, and prepare other actions such as gaining defense.

Health

Health is a stat for every character, including the player character and NPCs. When a character's health drops to zero, they die and is out of the game. If the hero loses all health, they die, ending the current run. Players are given 1 chance to restart from the beginning of the current day if they die, but only if it's at least day 2.

Icon	Name	Description
	Health Bar	The fight ends and the Hero dies if their health reaches 0.
	Damage	Damage being dealt to a target's health is displayed above the character.
	Defend	Defend is a temporary stat applied to your health pool that resets to 0 at the start of each turn or is removed by attacks.
	Piercing	Some attacks deal piercing damage, signified by a yellow icon. Pierce bypasses armor and deals damage directly to HP.
	Attack w/ Status	Some enemy attacks apply status effects that directly impact health and the amount of damage you take each turn. This includes effects like Bleed and Wound.
	Status	This attack deals no damage but is guaranteed to inflict a status effect unless evaded.
	Lethal	If incoming damage would result in death for the target, a red skull appears next to the damage numbers.

Notes:

• Resting at the inn each night fully restores your HP and Resolve but resting can only be done after completing each day's story.
• Merchants sell limited use items that can restore health, such as Salve and Healing Vapors.
• The bartender at the player's home (Fssh for Sal, Hebbel for Rook) sells food to the player. Eating food cost some shills, but will restore 15 Health and add a Bloated card to the player's battle deck. The player cannot buy more food if they have 3 or more Bloated card in their deck.
• Status damage from secondary sources (such as burn applied on a different enemy) won't flag death or surrender warnings. Be careful not to accidentally murder targets with these effects if you intend to let them surrender.

Panic and Surrender

A secondary stat to Health, Panic Meter is the point at which the character panics. When an enemy's health drops below this threshold, they will panic, and they will run away(if they are an animal) or surrender(If they are sentient). Morale is the opposite of Panic Meter, and is only displayed whenever the panic meter changes.

When a sentient character panics, they will Surrender, and will be unable to act for 3 turns. After 3 turns, they will Rally, healing some amount of health, reducing their panic threshold, and become Rallied(a status effect that lasts for the rest of the fight, and has "this character deals 25% more damage"). The player can then make this character panic again.

When every fighter on a team either: is killed, runs away, panics, or is a quitter(but not if all fighters on a team are quitters at the start), that team becomes defeated. At this point, the battle ends, and the player can decide to execute any survivors that are still there, or spare the remaining fighters. The player is not required to kill every enemy in order to win a fight(and often this is better than killing everyone).

Icon	Name	Description
	Panic Meter	The threshold that determines when an enemy surrenders is called the Panic Meter and displays above their health bar.
	Surrender	Targets who take damage equal to or exceeding their panic level will surrender and temporarily cease to attack.
	Quitter	Enemies who are quitters will stop fighting if all their non-quitter allies surrender or perish. Quitter is a common effect on drones.
	Dauntless	Dauntless enemies cannot panic if there are other enemies in the encounter that are not panicking.

Notes:

• Not all characters have a panic meter. The player character doesn't have one, as well as mechs.
• Most creatures and people will not fight to the death unless specific circumstances are present, such as successfully being provoked into a fight via negotiation when hated.
• Animals panic easily, causing them to flee battle but outright killing them will cause an item to drop. Dropping their health as close to the panic threshold then finishing them off with a big attack can be quite useful for gaining powerful cards early on in a run. ex. Carapace
• Panic can be directly increased by using specific cards such as Crackler.
• While most enemies have low max HP and a panic threshold of around 25%, some enemies have very high HP pools but an even higher panic threshold %, making Bog Doom especially powerful against them.
• If an attack round hits an enemy's panic threshold, the surrender flag will display next to the damage being dealt. Dealing any more damage is not required if you plan to force all enemies to surrender unless you want to murder that character.

Combat Strength

Each character has a combat strength rating that acts as a rough estimate on their battle prowess and difficulty to defeat. When previewing a fight, combat strength is shown as a star rating of 1-5 stars above the character's portrait.

Bosses will have "high threat" text above of their character portrait instead of the usual star rating when allied or fighting through other event. ( need confirmation )

For a list of characters and their combat strength, see: Characters

Killing and Murdering

Killing is not required to win a battle. However, sometimes the enemies are killed, either accidentally or on purpose, by the player or another character. Killing an enemy has the following effects:

• The player is rewarded the victim's death loot if they have one.
• Some Shills will drop if the victim is sentient. The amount dropped depends on the victim's Renown.
• If the player kills the victim(either with direct damage, player-inflicted status effects like Bleed, or with execution), it is considered Murdering, and if the fight is not isolated, either one of the following diplomatic consequences will be applied to the player(chosen randomly):
  • A friend of the victim(a member in the same faction) will hate the player, giving them their bane. The friend is random, and can be anyone who doesn't hate the player before(even those who loves the player previously).
  • A Murder Card will be added to the player's negotiation deck, representing their reputation. This is the default choice if there are no one in the same faction as the victim.

Notes:

• If you let someone else deals the lethal blow, it is not considered murdering, and you can profit from the benefit of this death without suffering from the severe consequences.
• If you inflicted a status effect such as Bleed, a teammate inflict that effect onto the same target, and the target dies from the effect, the teammate is considered the killer, because they last inflicted the effect.
• If the player causes the death, but does not directly attack the victim(for example, killing someone by exploding a Spark Mine), it does not count as a murder.

Negative Status Effects

Many battle cards and ally/enemy attacks apply status effects to their targets. Referred to in game as debuffs, most statuses stack which increases the power of the effect. Some enemies inflict statuses when attacking your hero while others add status cards to the player's deck.

Icon	Name	Description
	Bleed	Deals 1 damage per stack at the start of the turn. Damage is dealt before an attack around. Stacks are reduced by 50% after damage is dealt (can be reduced to a 33% loss using a certain graft).
	Burn	Deals 1 damage per stack at the start of the turn, then deals 50% of that damage to all other characters on the same side of the field. All stacks are removed after the burn damage is dealt (can be reduced to 50% loss with scorch).
	Cleaved	When applied to an ally, Cleaved prevents bleed status cards from being expended. When applied to an enemy, bleed no longer decays. Cleaved loses 1 stack at the start of the round.
	Impair	Reduces the damage dealt by the afflicted by 33% (can be boosted to 50% using a special graft). Cripple is reduced by 1 at the end of every turn.
	Exposed	Reduces defense gain by 50%. Reduces stack count by 1 each round.
	Fatigue	Cards will no longer gain xp. Automatically is applied after (6?) turns of combat. This effect can be removed but will reapply.
	Marked
	Temporary Power	Lose power at the end of your turn equal to the temporary power amount. This status can be removed by the player, which allows the player to permanently gain power for the remainder of battle.
	Scorch	Any burn applied to a scorched target loses 50% of burn stacks rather than 100%. Scorch loses 1 stack at the end of every turn.
	Stinging Eyes	Attacks have random targets.
	Trauma	Each time this target is attacked, it gains 1 trauma stack. At 10 stacks, the target becomes traumatized, multiplying damage taken from next attack by 2.
	Defect	Each time this target is attacked, the damage recieved is doubled. Defect loses 1 stack whenever the target is attacked.
	Wound	Increases damage taken by 1 per stack. Bonus is accumulative. Wound is reduced by 1 at the end of every turn.

Notes:

• Most statuses become exceedingly powerful when stacked to high amounts. Building a deck around 1 or 2 specific statuses is an efficient way to increase your chance of success.
• On the flip side, building a deck with various statuses can create interesting synergies with cards like Cataclysm and Brain Tick.
• Most allies inflict specific statuses or have low damage multi-hit attacks. Pairing wound with multiple allies is particularly strong.

Positive Status Effects

Some status effects can be applied to your hero directly as a buff. Buffs can be gained in various ways such as from playing ability cards, social boons, and grafts.

Universal Buffs

Icon	Name	Description
	Counter	Deals attack damage equal to the amount of counter back to any attacker each time the target is hit.
	Evasion	The next attack on the target will be evaded. Evasion loses 1 stack at the start of your turn.
	Healing	Target will restore HP at the start of their next turn.
	Power	Increases all damage dealt by 1 per power. Power lasts until the end of the fight unless removed.
	Rallied	Increases all damage by 25%. Panic is drastically reduced.
	Targeted	All allies will only target this enemy.

Sal Buffs and Abilities

Icon	Name	Type	Description
	Barbed Defense	Ability	Your ounter attacks apply 2 stacks of Bleed.
	Boulder Stance	Ability	Gain 1 Defense whenever you play a card.
	Combo	Resource	An expendable resource used by finishers. Half of your combo is lost whenever you take unmitigated damage.
	Deepstance	Ability	Counter attacks apply 1 wound.
	Efficient Disposal	Ability	Deal 2 damage to a random enemy each time you discard a card.
	Hemophage	Ability	Heal for 1 whenever you apply a Bleed.
	Inside Fighting	Ability	Gain 1 combo each time you attack.
	Into the Night	Ability	Gain 1 Defense whenever you discard a card.
	Ravenous	Ability	Heal for 6 HP whenever an enemy dies.
	Shadow Mastery	Ability	Gain 1 temporary power each time you discard a card.
	Spines	Ability	Gain 1 counter any time you gain Defense.
	Vital Strikes	Buff	Attacks apply 1 wound for the rest of your turn.

Rook Buffs and Abilities

Icon	Name	Type	Description
	Backfire	Ability	Gain 1 counter per stored charge at the end of your turn. (need confirmation if overcharge adds counter)
	Blinders	Ability	Apply 1 Mark to a random enemy each time you spend charge. (Need to verify how this works with Fan the Hammer)
	Charge	Resource	Pistol charges are used to add additional effects to some cards. Building charge above Rook's max charge capacity grants overcharge. Rook gains 1 defense at the end of his turn for each empty charge cell.
	Concentration	Buff	Increases the minimum damage of any attack card by 1 per stack. Rook loses half of his concentration each time he takes unmitigated damage.
	Induction	Ability	Draw a card whenever you spend Overcharge.
	Muddle	Ability	Gain 2 Defense whenever you apply a debuff to an enemy.
	Offset	Ability	All of your attacks deal +2 damage if the target has a debuff.
	Overcharge	Resource	Overcharge increase Rook's damage by 1 for each stack. Rook loses 50% of his overcharge (rounded down) at the end of his turn.
	Readied	Ability	Gain 2 concentration each time you fully mitigate an attack.
	Scatterphase	Ability	Whenever you gain charge deal 2 damage to a random enemy.
	Tank	Ability	Gain 2 counter whenever you gain charge.

Smith Buffs and Abilities

Icon	Name	Type	Description
	Alleviate	Buff	Heals Smith from self-induced damage up to the full amount of Alleviate. Smith loses all Alleviate at the end of each turn. Does not heal back counter damage, etc.
	Hoarder	Ability	Keep up to 2 empty bottles in your hand at the end of your turn rather than discarding them.
	Masochist	Ability	Whenever you take damage on your own turn, gain 1 temporary power.
	Moxie	Resource	Randomly heals Smith up to the full amount of Moxie each turn. Smith loses half of his Moxie each turn, down to a minimum of 2.
	Packrat	Ability	Adds an empty bottle to your hand each turn.

Hostile Enemy Buffs

There are numerous unique buffs enemies can have in Griftlands. Some can safely be ignored, while others will make fights extremely difficult if not taken into account when planning turns.

Icon	Name	Description
	Chemist	Attacks by this enemy have random effects. See: Bilebroker
	Chitinous	The target enemy will gain (X) defense at the start of each turn.
	Formation	Grants all allies (X) defense at the end of the turn if this target did not take damage this turn.
	Jarackle's Instinct	Gains 1 power at the start of battle.
	Jetpack	Dealing (X) damage to this target prevents their attack for 1 turn.
	Kra'deshi Regeneration	Target heals for (X) at the end of the round.
	Anger	Gains 1 power every time it's attacked. Periodically purges status effects.
	Last Stand	Target deals +25% damage when below 50% HP.
	Metallic	Target cannot be bled or wounded. Pierce does double damage.
	Multitudes	If this enemy flees, another will replace it.
	Nimble	Target gains 1 evasion at the start of their turn.
	Opportunistic	Gain 3 power after taking damage from an attack.
	Shroke Skin	Gain 2 defense the first time taking damage each turn.
	Armored	Gain X Defense at the end of every turn.
	Powered Weapons	(Enemy Name)'s attacks apply Galvanized to random cards in your deck.

Status Cards

Status cards are unique cards identified by their yellow border. Performing certain actions like drinking alcohol and eating food, while restoring resolve or HP, also adds status cards to your deck. Some boss and enemy attacks will also add status cards to your deck. Status cards are generally 1 time use (expend) that can be played to remove them from your deck and are meant to bloat your deck, but some also have an immediate negative effect upon drawing them. By default, resting at night removes all status cards from your deck.

See: Status Cards

Grafts

Grafts are items that are equipped and grant various buffs. Grafts can be purchased through the Black Market, gained as a reward from quests and random events, or dropped by bosses. Grafts are the only method a player can gain additional permanent Action Points.

Running Away

Players are given the option to run from fights. The player can run from many battles, including side quests and events.

Running away from the fight takes one turn, and must be decided at the beginning of the turn, after turn 3. After the enemy finishes their actions, the player runs away, and live to grift another day.

Running away has severe consequences:

• All party members will leave the party.
• Sentient allies will dislike you for abandoning them.
• The player gains a Coward card.
• The player may fail any active side quests.

The player cannot run away from main quests.