ROUNDS AND TURNS

Conflict scenes take place as a series of consecutive rounds.

During each round, the participants will alternate taking turns, starting with one
participant from the side who has the initiative.
Back to the previous example: Since the Player Characters seized the initiative, one
of them (Ricard or Silida) will be the frst to take their turn during each round. Then,
the golem will take its turn; after the golem, the remaining Player Character will
fnally be able to act. Then, a new round will begin.
Each turn allows for a single action — that said, some powerful effects might grant
characters the ability to perform multiple actions during the same turn.
You can fnd more about actions starting on page 66.
w A character cannot choose to "pass" if they have the opportunity to take a turn. If an
enemy just acted and you are the only Player Character who hasn't taken their turn
this round, for instance, you must take your turn.
w Sometimes one side will be outnumbered by their adversaries. If this happens, keep
alternating turns as long as possible, then let the side with the numerical advantage
take their remaining turns towards the end of the round.
Example: In a conflict with two PCs and three NPCs where the heroes have seized the
initiative, each round will be as follows:
PC Turn Z NPC Turn Z PC Turn Z NPC Turn Z NPC Turn
A character may spend an action to perform an offensive maneuver using one of the
weapons they have available.

OO W
Choose a target for your attack.
You must know the position of the target and be able to see them.
You must be able to reach the target with the weapon you are using; flying
enemies, for instance, cannot be reached by melee attacks.
1
W If you hit the target, you deal damage based on the formula indicated by the
weapon you attacked with. This will generally be a sum of your Accuracy Check's
High Roll and a fxed value based on the weapon's power.
For a list of common weapons, see page 132.

W O 3
Perform an Accuracy Check using the formula indicated by the weapon you are
attacking with. The Diffculty Level is equal to the target’s Defense score. If you
succeed, you hit the target; if you fail, it means they managed to anticipate,
evade or negate your offensive.
w Afumble indicates an automatic failure and a critical success means you hit
your target regardless of their Defense. They also generate opportunities.
w The Game Master may apply situational modifers (+2 or -2) to your
Accuracy Check based on especially favorable or hindering circumstances.

2W O
The target loses a number of Hit Points equal to the damage you dealt.
This may be modifed by their Affnity with the damage type (page 92):
w A Vulnerable target loses twice the normal amount of Hit Points.
w A Resistant target loses half the normal amount of Hit Points.
w An Immune target loses no Hit Points.
w An Absorbing target recovers Hit Points equal to the damage suffered.
4

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Example: Our heroes are fghting a group of skeletons. Montblanc the knight charges
towards the nearest undead and swings his powerful waraxe. The Accuracy Check
requires a roll of【MIG + MIG】, which in Montblanc's case means rolling two d10s:
the knight gets a 6 and a 9, for a total of 15 — more than enough to hit the enemy’s
Defense score of 11.
The waraxe deals damage equal to【HR + 14】; since the highest of the two dice was
a 9, the total is 23 damage.
FREE ATTACKS
Some game effects allow you to perform free attacks. These follow the procedure on
the previous page but generally take place as part of a different action.
A few Skills and effects might even let you perform a free attack with weapons that
aren't part of your equipped items!
MULTI
When you perform an attack with the multi property, you may select as many different
targets as the specifc weapon or effect allows — multi (2) lets you target up to two
different creatures, for instance. You perform a single Accuracy Check and compare it
to the Defense of every target, determining which of them were hit. Rolling a critical
success means you hit all your targets, while a fumble means you miss all of them.
Finally, apply the normal damage calculation to each target.
TWO-WEAPON FIGHTING
When you perform the Attack action, if you have two weapons of the same Category
equipped (such as two swords or two frearms), you may declare that you are attacking
with both.
You perform the two attacks in any order you prefer and they may both be aimed at the
same target or different targets, but the following penalties apply:
w Both attacks lose the multi property (if they had it) and cannot gain it.
w When calculating damage for both attacks, the High Roll (HR) is always treated as
being equal to 0.
You cannot use two-weapon fghting when performing a free att The round ends once every participant has performed
the turn (or turns, in the case of
some exceptionally powerful creatures) at their disposal.
w There is no fxed duration for rounds and turns: they represent cinematic camera
movements and dramatic spotlight, not specifc segments of time.
w Despite that, it is perfectly reasonable to tie a countdown or similar gimmick to
conflict rounds (such as a six-sections Clock named “collapsing tower” that gets ticked
at the end of each round — you don't want to be there when it flls up).

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Since turns do not belong to specifc characters, you may
switch the order of your actions from round to round.
For instance, a sorceress who took the last turn during a
round and found an enemy to be Vulnerable to her ice magic
can go frst and fnish them off quickly!
This is a fundamental aspect of Fabula Ultima's conflict gameplay, and groups
that learn to coordinate their actions will perform much better than those in
which everyone is focusing on an individual strategy.
DYNAMIC TURN ORDER
Much like any game that limits the amount of “moves” a character can perform
before their opponents get a chance to act, Fabula Ultima rewards you for being
clever in how resources are used.
w If you are the Game Master, don't stage conflicts where one side is vastly
outnumbered: they will quickly be overwhelmed.
w Some powerful creatures have the ability to take several turns during each
round — these are known as elites and champions (see page 295). These
creatures still follow the normal rules for alternating turns, but take the
place of multiple normal foes.
THE ACTION ECONOMY
If you are the Game Master, it can be hard to remember
which adversaries still need to take their turn.
An excellent solution is to have enemies take their turns in
descending initiative order, from fastest to slowest — simply
write that down and apply it to