RULEBOOK

Distraction

Not everyone wins fights by hitting things harder. Some people win by making sure someone else can. Distraction is the action for those people — a social or performance skill rolled against enemies’ composure, opening gaps that your allies exploit.

What Distraction Does

When you use Distraction, you roll a social or performance skill and generate a success count. That count becomes the threshold. Every enemy whose composure — measured by Resolve + Mental Resistance — falls below that threshold is distracted. A distracted enemy grants +1 bonus success to any ally attacking them this round.

The bonus is flat. Your skill determines how many enemies you can rattle — not how badly you rattle each one. A mediocre insult affects one nervous lieutenant. A legendary one echoes across the whole formation. Either way, the ally who swings gets +1.

How It Works

Cost: 2 AP. The first AP is paid at one step, the second at a later step. Distraction resolves the moment the second AP is paid — not at the end of the round.

  1. Spend 2 AP and declare Distraction. Choose your approach — a taunt, a bluff, a thrown handful of gravel, a battlefield speech — and propose a Gift + Skill pairing. The GM approves. Common pairings: Presence + Performance, Wits + Deception, Appeal + Charm.
  2. Roll 2d6 and count your successes. This total is the threshold.
  3. Compare the threshold against each enemy’s Resolve + Mental Resistance (Gift value + Skill dots, not a roll). Enemies whose combined total is below the threshold are distracted this round.
  4. Any ally attacking a distracted enemy this round adds +1 bonus success to their attack roll.

Distraction cannot be interrupted. Taking damage mid-taunt does not stop the taunt. A character with a crossbow bolt in their shoulder can finish their insult — they just sound more committed.

This is intentional. It is what makes Distraction different from spellcasting, which can be interrupted.

Distraction Requires Allies

The +1 bonus only matters if an ally is there to use it. A lone character taunting in an empty field is not a tactician — they are a loud person getting stabbed.

If no ally attacks a distracted enemy this round, the distraction does nothing. The enemy was rattled. Nobody took advantage of it. Better luck next round.

Distraction is a team action dressed up as a solo performance. Coordinate with your party before you spend 2 AP on it.

Worked Example

Example: Fiera vs. The Warlord’s Formation

The party is outnumbered in a courtyard. The warlord stands at the back with two lieutenants and four mercenaries arranged in front. Bran has a greatsword (3 AP) and is already eyeing the nearest lieutenant. Tilly is circling for an angle. Nobody has done anything yet.

Fiera spends 2 AP and opens her mouth.

She tells him, in the tone of someone correcting a minor administrative error, that she burned Aldric Voss at his post two winters ago and he screamed for quite a lot longer than she expected. She mentions this because the warlord once called Voss his most loyal man, and she thought he should know how that loyalty ended.

The GM agrees this is Presence + Performance. Fiera has Presence 4, Performance 3. She rolls 2d6: a 1 and a 5.

Die 1 (Presence 4, rolled 1): 4 − 1 + 1 = 4 successes. Die 2 (Performance 3, rolled 5): 5 > 3, so 0 successes. Total: 4 successes. The threshold is 4.

Now the GM checks each enemy against the threshold:

  • The warlord has Resolve 4, Mental Resistance 3 — total 7. Not below 4. He listens to the entire speech without blinking. His expression does not change. This is significantly more unsettling than if he had reacted.
  • The lieutenant has Resolve 2, Mental Resistance 1 — total 3. Below 4. Distracted.
  • The mercenaries have Resolve 1, Mental Resistance 1 — total 2. Below 4. All four are distracted; two of them are actively looking at the hat.

Bran attacks the lieutenant. He adds +1 bonus success to his roll. The lieutenant was already flustered — Bran’s warhammer finds an opening that would not have been there otherwise. He looks pleased. He will write something about this later.

Tilly drops in behind one of the rattled mercenaries. Same bonus. A flanking strike into someone already off their footing is a question of geometry, not strength. She takes it.

The warlord watches two of his people take hits in the same round. He turns to Fiera. She is already examining her nails.

The hat comment was about the feather.

Timing: When Distraction Resolves

Distraction costs 2 AP. In the step system, the first AP is paid at one step and the second at a later step. Distraction resolves the moment the second AP is paid — not at end of round.

The +1 bonus applies to allies whose attacks resolve after that moment. Allies whose attacks already resolved before the distraction was fully paid do not benefit — the window was not open yet.

Practically: if you pay your second AP at Step 2/3, allies attacking later in Step 2/3 and all of Step 3/3 get the +1. Allies who already attacked at Step 1/3 do not. Time your spending to open the window before your hardest-hitting ally swings.

The bonus does not carry into the next round. If the distracted enemies survive, a new Distraction must be spent to open the window again.

See The Round — 3-Step System for the full step structure.

Tactical Notes

Use Distraction when:

  • Your character is not built for combat damage — this is your damage contribution.
  • An ally is about to land a high-AP attack and needs an edge.
  • You are fighting multiple weak-willed enemies and want to open gaps across the whole formation.
  • You need to feel important while Bran does all the hitting.

Skip Distraction when:

  • You are alone. There is no ally to convert the bonus into damage.
  • The enemies have high Resolve + Mental Resistance. Your threshold may not reach them, and 2 AP is a significant spend on a miss.
  • Your allies are attacking early in the round and will resolve before your second AP lands. They will miss the window.
Note: Distraction Does Not Steal AP

Distraction grants a +1 bonus success to allies. It does not reduce enemy AP, remove enemy actions, or lock anyone out of attacking. A distracted enemy still acts on their declaration — they are just slightly easier to hit while doing it.

It also does not deal damage, and it does not interrupt spells. What it does: open a small window. What your allies do with that window is up to them.

For the full step structure and when actions resolve, see The Round — 3-Step System . For the full action cost table, see Actions & Action Points . For spell interruption (what Distraction is not), see Magic in Combat .