Arena 4e

Arena 4E is a fast-paced combat game for two or more players, and it can be played as a bloody free-for-all, a team vs. team cooperative effort, or any other combination.

CREATING YOUR CHARACTER

Combatants

The four available combatants each have their own strengths and vulnerabilities.

• FIGHTER: Tough and deadly in hand-to-hand combat, the fighter tends to move slower than other characters and possess limited range attacks. Primary ability: Strength.
• WIZARD: While fairly fragile in melee, the wizard can attack multiple distant opponents with fiery blasts of magic. Primary ability: Intelligence.
• CLERIC: The cleric can be as tough as the fighter in combat and has the best healing, but does less damage than the other characters. Primary ability: Wisdom.
• ROGUE: Agile and fast, the rogue usually attacks first and deals a lot of damage, but can only fight up close and personal, lacking any range attack. Primary ability: Dexterity.

Abilities

All combatants have seven abilities, which affect their characteristics in different ways.

• STRENGTH: Measures physical might, allowing fighters to ignore attacks and increase their force of their strikes, and allowing all characters to wear heavier armor and wield more dangerous weapons.
• DEXTERITY: Measures speed and agility, allowing rogues to dodge attacks and slip through defenses to strike vulnerable targets, and affecting the movement and strike order of all characters.
• CONSTITUTION: Measures physical health, allowing all characters to suffer injuries but still remain in the fight.
• INTELLIGENCE: Measures mental agility, allowing wizards to predict incoming attacks and target the weaknesses of enemies, and allowing all characters to move to the best starting location in the arena.
• WISDOM: Measures self-discipline and empathy, allowing clerics to rely on their gods for protection, for healing of allies, and for smiting of unbelievers. All characters can provide some healing, but clerics excel in the area.
• ARMOR: Measures the protections (mundane and magical) used to guard against attacks. Because of the physical toll exacted by wearing armor, the ARMOR value cannot exceed the STRENGTH value.
• WEAPON: Measures the weapon (mundane and magical) used to attack opponents. Because of the physical toll exacted by wielding a weapon, the WEAPON value cannot exceed the STRENGTH value.

Characteristics

Depending on the combatant and abilities, the characteristics can vary.

• DEFENSE: Measures the difficulty in attacking another combatant. If an ATTACK roll is below the DEFENSE, the attack misses.
• HIT POINTS: Measures total damage a combatant can take before dying.
• ATTACK: Measures effectiveness of attack. If the rolled dice plus bonus equals or exceeds the targets DEFENSE, the attack hits.
• DAMAGE: Measures wounds in hit points delivered on a successful ATTACK.
• RANGE: Measures number of squares (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) an ATTACK can reach.
• MOVE: Measures number of squares (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) a combatant can move during a Move Action.
• INITIATIVE: Measures combat order, which is determined at the beginning of every combat round. Combatants with tied INITIATIVE rolls act at the same time.
• HEAL: Measures wounds in hit points that can be removed from any combatant in RANGE on a Heal Action.

Assigning Scores

Distribute 16 points among the abilities listed above. For each kill, you gain 4 points to distribute after the battle ends.

Score | Bonus
—————-
0 | +0
1 | +1
2-3 | +2
4-7 | +3
8-13 | +4
14-21 | +5
22-31 | +6
32-43 | +7
44-57 | +8
58-73 | +9
74+ | +10

Characteristics

FIGHTER

• Defense: 4 + Armor + Strength
• Hit Points: 35 + Constitution
• Attack: 2d8 + Strength
• Damage: d4 + Weapon + Strength
• Range: Weapon – 1 (min 1)
• Move: 1 + Dexterity – Armor (min 1)
• Initiative: d20 + Dexterity
• Heal: Wisdom (Self or Ally within range)

WIZARD

• Defense: 4 + Armor + Intelligence
• Hit Points: 20 + Constitution
• Attack: d10 + Intelligence vs. each target in range
• Damage: d6 + Weapon + Intelligence (divide among hit targets)
• Range: Intelligence + Weapon
• Move: 1 + Dexterity – Armor (min 1)
• Initiative: d20 + Dexterity
• Heal: Wisdom (Self or Ally within range)

CLERIC

• Defense: 4 + Armor + Wisdom
• Hit Points: 30 + Constitution
• Attack: 2d6 + Wisdom
• Damage: d4 + Weapon + Wisdom
• Range: Wisdom + Weapon
• Move: 1 + Dexterity – Armor (min 1)
• Initiative: d20 + Dexterity
• Heal: 1d4 + Wisdom (Self or Ally within range)

ROGUE

• Defense: 4 + Armor + Dexterity
• Hit Points: 25 + Constitution
• Attack: 2d6 + Dexterity
• Damage: Weapon + Dexterity + d8 Sneak
• Range: 1
• Move: 1 + Dexterity – Armor (min 1)
• Initiative: d20 + Dexterity
• Heal: Wisdom (Self or Ally within range)

CREATING THE ARENA

Battles are conducted on a 1″ scale battle map, with the positions of the combatants tracked using miniatures or markers. Because of attack ranges, position is extremely important.

The size of the arena depends on the number of combatants.

• 2 characters: 6 x 6 squares (d# = d6)
• 3 characters: 8 x 8 squares (d# = d8)
• 4 characters: 10 x 10 squares (d# = d10)
• 5 characters: 12 x 12 squares (d# = d12)
• 6+ characters: 20 x 20 squares (d# = d14)

Arena Traps

1. Determine the number of traps inside the arena by rolling the associated d# dice. For example, if you are fighting inside a 6 x 6 arena, roll a d6 for the number of traps.
2. Determine and mark the location of these traps by rolling the associated d# dice for the X-coordinate and the Y-coordinate. For example, if you are fighting inside a 6 x 6 arena, roll a d6 for the X-coordinate and a d6 for the Y-coordinate.

Starting Location

1. To determine the starting location of a character, roll the associated d# dice for the X-coordinate and the Y-coordinate. For example, if you are fighting inside a 6 x 6 arena, roll a d6 for the X-coordinate and a d6 for the Y-coordinate.
2. After determining the starting location for all characters but prior to the first combat round, characters can move up to their INTELLIGENCE modifier

RUNNING THE BATTLE

1. At the beginning of each round, all characters roll INITIATIVE.
2. On a combat turn, a character may use an Attack Action, a Move Action, and a Heal Action in any order.

Attack Action: Roll an ATTACK against a target in range, and if the ATTACK exceeds the target’s DEFENSE, roll DAMAGE. When total DAMAGE exceeds HIT POINTS, the combatant dies.

Move Action: Move your character up to your MOVE value. If you move into or through a trapped square, suffer 10 damage. (NOTE: The Starting Location move CAN trigger these traps).

Heal Action: Apply HEAL value to yourself or an ally within RANGE.

GAME END

When only one side or player is left standing, the game ends.

Character Sheet

Attached is an Excel document that can be used as a character sheet for your arena warrior.

ArenaCombatantCreator

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