Available to FGT 7+, THF 12+, CLE 17+, MAG 22+

Sacrifice a Risk Die. If it doesn't come up '1', you may make a second melee attack this round. If it hits, add {+Risk Die Result} to the damage on a single damage die. There is a {Risk Die Result}% chance you gain one percentile point to your Strength score. If you choose to sacrifice two Risk Dice for this deed, this second attack is made at a +4 bonus to-hit. The deed succeeds as long as one of the two Risk Dice isn't a '1', and the damage added to the second attack may be taken from either of the two Risk Dice results. When you succeed in invoking this heroic deed, you may remove one negative status or spell effect from your person and you regain a number of hit points equal to half those inflicted with your second attack. These cannot be gained as temporary hit points.

If you have already used the Stinging Second Attack Heroic Deed in the current round, sacrifice a Risk Die. If it doesn't come up '1', you may make a third melee attack at a -4 penalty on the to-hit roll. If it hits, add {(Risk Die Result)x3} to the damage on a single damage die. There's a {Risk Die Result}% chance you gain one percentile point to your Strength score. If you choose to sacrifice two Risk Dice for this deed, the level requirements are decreased by two. The deed succeeds as long as one of the two Risk Dice isn't a '1', and the damage added to the third attack may be calculated by using either of the two Risk Dice results.

A Gentle Introduction to Roleplaying Games - Part 2

At some point, your player-character will find herself involved in combat — perhaps not willingly (ambush, brigands). When combat ensues, the old addage may well apply: "I'm don't start fights, but I definitely finish them."

Truth to tell, depending upon the chosen personality and predilections of your player-character, s/he may indeed start a lot of fights.

In a roleplaying game, fights may be mortal, i.e., to the death, or they may be broken up by bystanders or what passes for law enforcement (bar fights, etc.) Regardless of the type of fight in which you find your player-character, your objective is usually to win.

When it comes to physical combat, not all player-character (i.e., PCs for short) are created equal. In many roleplaying games (Dungeons & Dragons being the most widely known), your player-character will have a vocation. In many game systems, this is called your character's class.

In Scarlet Horizons, the author's self-created setting and rules system for fantasy and far-future roleplaying, there are quite a few of these classes. The best combatants are those PCs (i.e., player-characters) who concentrate of the Fighter class —and its subclasses. These characters tend to hit the hardest and most accurately in combat.

New players who've never played a tabletop RPG may want to take the Fighter class. It's tendencies and modus operandi are well-reflected in literature, television, and movies (The Count of Monte Christo, Vikings, Bruce Lee movies, Blackhawk Down, etc.)

The thing about combat is, your foe(s) is/are trying to hurt you without getting hurt in turn. So, combat is a dance of martial skill — feints, lunges, haymakers, thrusts, slashes all interspersed with ducking, dodging, blocking, evading.

In many roleplaying games combat is simulated using dice rolls. Because dice introduce randomness, they lend themselves to combat, in which there is rarely a 100% chance of landing a sword stroke — or avoiding one.

In Dungeons & Dragons, and in my own Scarlet Horizons system and setting — which uses Kevin Crawford's Scarlet Heroes as a starting point for its mechanics — a twenty-sided die is used to determine if a combatant's attack successfully hits its intended target.