Let’s take a closer look at combat in the tabletop role-playing game In Nomine. In Nomine is a role-playing game designed by Derek Pearcy and published in 1997 by Steve Jackson Games. You can learn more on the official website here: http://www.sjgames.com/innomine/ or the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Nomine_(role-playing_game). You can buy In Nomine products here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games/subcategory/28908_30775/In-Nomine?affiliate_id=50797
Time Stamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 1:57 Combat Summary
- 3:02 Corporeal Combat
- 5:32 Ethereal Combat
- 6:30 Celestial Combat
- 7:59 Combat Options
- 10:45 Combat Example
- 12:37 Outro
About In Nomine
Written by Derek Pearcy + Illustrated by Dan Smith
Edited by Jeff Koke, Steve Jackson, and Susan Pinsonneault
Cover art by John Zeleznik (first printing) and Christopher Shy (second printing)
In Nomine is a modern roleplaying game in which the players take the part of celestial beings – angels and demons – as they struggle for control of humanity and themselves. The celestials, powerful though they may be, are merely pawns in a much larger game being played by their Superiors, the Archangels and Demon Princes. Based on the best-selling French RPG by the wonderfully diabolical Croc!
In Nomine won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1997.
Transcript
Cold Open
We’ve glossed over it before, now let’s take a more granular view…
Intro
Welcome to Eviliv3, the live media commentary show that answers the question, does being hit in the spirit hurt worse than your balls? Subscribe if you’re new to the channel, because today we are continuing our In Nomine series with this episode, How does combat work?
Discussion
Conflict resolution in any role-playing game is based on either skill checks or combat rolls. For this episode lets focus on combat. As we have covered the basics of combat in the How to play In Nomine episode, we should dive deeper into each aspect of combat so as to aid those who want to dive right into this aspect of the game. The majority of all engagement in In Nomine will be in the Corporeal Realm, otherwise known as earth. Physical combat between a celestial’s vessel vs. another is the most frequent type of combat, though there is combat in the Ethereal and Celestial realms as well. While some situations may involve both the Ethereal and Corporeal, or Celestial and Corporeal combat, it is the exception rather than the rule.
Combat is broken down into rounds, approximately five seconds of time. It allows each side of a conflict to make a single attack against each other. This attack may take the form of a Song or weapon skill. Basically, you declare your action, roll d666 and add your skill plus its governing characteristics and forces. If you roll under the Target number, you have hit them. They may be wearing armor or attempt to dodge your attack to reduce the damage further. There may also be situational or environmental bonuses or penalties the Game Master or GM assigns to one or both combatants. This continues till one side is defeated, gives up or runs away. So we have the basics, let’s get into specifics.
Combat Summary
We can break down the combat round in the following five steps. It may be expanded on by the GM in your game. Step one, anyone using a supernatural power may do so. The highest Perception goes first. Supernatural attacks will count as your action for the round, but powers which aid other actions do not. Victims defend supernatural attacks with their Will characteristic. Step two, anyone wishing to move may do so. The highest agility goes first. Moving alone doesn’t count as an action but if you use a skill as well, like running or swimming, it will. Celestial movement does count as your action. Step three, everyone may take one action if they haven’t yet. The highest agility goes first. Step four, if you were attacked, you may attempt to Dodge if you did not already resist the attack. And finally step five, resolve any damage to those who were hit. That is one round. Repeat these five steps until combat is over. If you did not take an action you may take a Full Dodge or Aim for your turn in the round.
Corporeal Combat
Physical damage is measured in Body hits. We have already determined your total Body number is based on your Vessel level plus your Corporeal Forces, then multiplying that by Strength. Humans and Undead can add any levels of Toughness they may have bought to the Corporeal Forces number as well. Physical battle can only take place on the Corporeal Realm. However, there are Songs that can affect your physical body, or Vessel. As with other rolls in In Nomine, you are trying to roll under the Target Number. The Target Number is usually a combination of a characteristic, and/or Forces and/or Skill. For example, a bare-handed attack is rolled against your Strength plus Corporeal Forces. A weapon attack would add the weapon skill as well. Precision-based attacks use Precision rather than Strength. Think of a ranged weapon like a gun in this case. If successful, the defender can attempt a Dodge roll to lessen or avoid damage. Armor worn also reduced the amount of damage based on the armor’s protection. The Armor’s modifier is subtracted from the attackers to-hit roll as well.
If you are reduced to zero Body hits, you fall unconscious. If you take Vessel Level times Strength hits after that, the Vessel is Dead. If you are a Celestial, you will awaken from your Vessel’s death on the Celestial Plane. An unconscious character awakens if healed above zero Body hits. Otherwise they will awaken in seven minus Corporeal Forces in hours. Celestials are unconscious as long as their Vessel’s are. You can be stunned if you lose twenty-five percent or more of your Body hits in one attack. This will affect you on the turn you take the damage and your following turn. Items and powers may cause this effect as well.
You may even strike and destroy artifacts and weapons! Targeting a controlled object requires you to make an attack roll against the object starting with a minus two to hit. The wielder gets to dodge and if successful, you need to roll to attack them instead. Celestial Artifacts require a Celestial attack to damage them. You can also use your environment for cover or concealment. Environmental objects, like cars or tables, may be targeted as well. You will make your attack and if successful, add the Power of the weapon to the check digit rolled, then subtract the object’s protection to determine damage. Damage to physical objects and beings disturbs the Symphony, and may be heard by other Celestials.
Ethereal Combat
The next type of combat is mental combat, otherwise known as Ethereal combat. This can take place in the Corporeal or Ethereal Realms. Not everyone can take part in Ethereal combat. You will need a Song or Attunement which causes mind damage to do so. To make an Ethereal attack, roll a normal attack against intelligence plus Ethereal Forces. If you are using an Ethereal weapon, add the relevant Skill as well. The defender may try to Dodge using Precision rather than Agility. Damage is measured in mind hits. Your total Mind number is the sum of your Ethereal Forces times your Intelligence. If your mind falls to zero, you fall unconscious. If you are in the Ethereal Realm when this happens, you are kicked out of it, and you gain one level of Ethereal Discord. Further attacks will not create more Discord until you have healed at least half of your total Mind hits. Creatures with no Ethereal Forces cannot be targeted by Ethereal combat.
Celestial Combat
Celestial combat tears away your resonance to the Symphony. Soul to Soul combat may occur on any realm, but on the Corporeal realm, the physical Vessel shields attacks against the Will. Anyone in Celestial form is vulnerable! This is the only way to combat in the Celestial Realm. If you have no Celestial Forces, you cannot be targeted by a Celestial attack. Celestial attacks are rolled against your Will plus Celestial Forces. Celestial weapons will add the relevant Skill as well. The defender may try to Dodge if he has the skill, but the target number is Dodge skill plus Perception. Damage is measured in Soul hits. Your total Soul number is the sum of your Celestial Forces times your Will. You may attack from your Will number in yards away! Though a Celestial cannot move and attack in the same turn. Each time the total hits you take in celestial combat equal your Soul number, you permanently lose one Force! You will need to roll to determine which Force is lost. This will naturally affect your characteristics in that force as well. Combat continues until you flee, are shown mercy, or die. Celestials can grapple each other from a yard away, but the grappler can do nothing else but hold its target. The grappled target has its movement halved. To break out of the grapple you need to win a contest of Will plus Celestial Forces. This takes a full round.
Combat Options
You may need to determine more specifics in a combat round than has been provided thus far. Let’s look at some other aspects of Combat that may be relevant. Corporeal movement: A two legged Corporeal creature can run at a rate of its Agility times six in yards each round. The Running skill may enhance your base movement. A four-legged creature runs a total of their Agility times ten in yards per round. This may be affected by the environment. Ethereal Movement: This is a more difficult situation as the Ethereal realm is uncertain at best. If you wish to leave the realm, you can make a Will roll to awaken. Otherwise simply evade and escape as the GM dictates . Celestial Movement: Celestials can move at a total of their perception times six in yards per round. They ignore gravity and barriers as they are insubstantial. They must be Perceived before they can be targeted on the Corporeal Realm, and on the Celestial realm, distance is handled differently.
You can also Aim on your turn to increase your chance to hit a target with a weapon. Aiming a full round adds plus one to your target number, to a maximum of plus one with a melee weapon and plus three to a ranged weapon. You may also spend the round in a Full Dodge. This allows you to make a Dodge roll against every attack made against you with a plus two bonus. There is a difference between resisting and Dodging. You cannot do both against the same attack in a round.
The Game Master’s Guide presents some variant rules that some GM’s may appreciate. First let’s talk Target Numbers. To make combat more difficult, or to level out combat monsters, remove Force from the combat equation, so your Target Number would be your Characteristic plus your Skill only. Though if you use this, consider raising the defaults as well, so those with no relevant Skill or low characteristic may still land a punch. Another optional rule is Improved Dodging. Consider comparing the Dodge check Digit to the unmodified attack check digit. If it’s higher, the attack misses entirely. Finally let’s consider Body Hits. The disparity of Celestial to mundane human body hits is pretty vast from a potential one hundred and fourty-four to a total of seventy. If you want to even out the characters, consider having the Body hits be equal to Total Forces, plus Corporeal Forces plus Strength. This evens out the potential Body hits significantly. You can even use this for Mind and Soul Hits as well, using the Ethereal Forces and Intelligence, or Celestial Forces and Will instead.
Combat Example
For this video I am using the sample characters from the Core Rules, page 37. Carin the Malakite angel of Michael against Matthew the Mummy of Saminga. Okay, so we get the order of events, let’s take a look at it with Carin and Matthew. Carin has been ordered to investigate a disturbance in the Symphony emanating from a local cemetery. It turns out Matthew has been hunting a group of kids who think they are a cult. He has assaulted them during one of their rituals as Carin walks up to him. She draws her pistol and calls out to him as the kids run away. As she has the highest perception, she acts first. She uses her Celestial Song of Light to strike him. To use a song you must use one or more Essence and roll d666. The Target Number is the level of the song plus the number of Forces of that type. So Carin uses one essence and must roll under a nine. As Matthew is a corporeal form, he can attempt to dodge by rolling his Dodge Skill plus the form of attack, Physical in this case. He must roll under a nine and whatever his check digit is, reducing the damage of the attack. As the beam of light strikes Matthew causing two body hits, Mathew avoids a direct hit by ducking behind a tombstone. Seeing that she missed a direct hit, she backs away from Matthew, keeping her distance while leveling her .44 magnum pistol at him. Matthew knows he needs to close the distance so he leaps over tombstones and races around them to close it. Matthew now uses his fighting skill to punch Carin in the face. His Strength plus force plus fighting means he needs under a thirteen to hit her. Carin attempts to dodge the hit with her skill and agility, needing under a ten. As her dodge was successful and the check digit exceeded Matthews, he only made a glancing blow on her. This ends the first round of combat and they continue their fight in subsequent rounds.
I hope this helps explain how combat works in In Nomine. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Outro
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