This is not an official Simutronics file. I am not related to this firm in any way. I don’t get paid for this guide (sadly). While I believe any information provided here to be harmless and reliable, I can not be held responsible for any catastrophic events (nuclear war, death, Martian invasion) which could result on any mistakes on my part.

While reading the boards, I have noticed that ambushing still raises a lots of questions, most of them being answered several times a week... This guide is an attempt to limit the cluttering of those boards by presenting an hopefully up to date state of knowledge. Most of the information bellow comes from various post from both knowledgeable players and GM, such as GM Cyper, Lord Sophokles or Lord Vincit.

If you have additional information, or wish to thank or correct me, you can write at Elfarran.Havnor@france-connexion.fr.

Please, send hate letters or flames to dev/null, I don’t have much time to read my mail ;-)

I apologise in advance for any spelling or grammar mistake. English is not my first language, and I’m still having trouble making simple and clear sentences ;-)

Ambushing is the art of killing a foe with minimum efforts ;-)

One common strategy is to hurl a big chunk of metal around, hoping to hit the creature in a sensitive part. This can take a while... This is also not very stylish.

On the other hand, an ambusher will take the time to study the creature. And then will attack with precise moves, taking down the foe with skill rather than brute force.

This form of attack is preferred when it’s difficult to hide from the critter, either because it’s very perceptive or because your hiding skill is too low. This allows the smart fighter to target a specific part on his foe’s body. A good ambusher will not only be able to hit what he has been aiming for reliably, but will also know what effect is associated with the part he’s hitting.

This is the preferred form of attacks of rogues or rangers. As in ambushing from mêlée, the attacker is trying to hit a precise body part. But he is doing so from hiding. This will increase the critical damage associated with the attack. For instance, a minor wound would get promoted to a major bleeding wound. With sufficient ambushing skill, this allows to kill with one single blow to the head, with only rolling a little bit over +100.

This attack is also done from hiding. But here, the ambusher is only concentrating on producing the highest critical possible. So, the area hit will be random. But the increase in the critical hit level can be dramatic. However, it should be noted that once you have a high ambushing skill (above 160), you won’t notice any difference between this form of attack and the previous one.

Two of the three forms of ambushing allow to target a specific body area. The success is determined by two formulas, whether it is done from the open or from hiding.

Mêlée Ambush Success <=> (CM Skill + Ambushing Skill)/4 + Area Modifier + d100 > 100

Hiding Ambush Success <=> Ambushing Skill/2 + Area Modifier + d100 > 100

Rogues, who typically have more in ambush than in CM skill will thus be better at ambushing from hiding than from melee. The contrary stands for Warriors and Clerics. Bards and Rangers are somewhat in the middle, depending on their training regiment.

When you fail your aimed attacks, two things can happen :

The Area modifier is either a bonus or a malus, depending on the difficulty of hitting the targeted body part. I don’t know the precise modifiers. Use common sense : a chest or a leg is obviously easier to hit than an eye!

If you want to be a good ambusher, you need to know why you target a body area. Each one has it’s advantage. So, study this list till you know it by heart. Note than some critter are lacking some body parts. For instance, worms have no legs. Also note that some critter, mainly undead, are non-corporeal. Not having a body, they won’t suffer any reverse effect from being hit in the neck or the leg or whatever. However, the extra damage from the critical hit are still computed in the Health Point loss. So hitting their abdomen is still better than hitting their hand. Other critters are also very resistant to critical hits. No matter how hard your claidhmore lands on a Troll King head, it’s not going to kill it. It might even make it really angry at you!

When dealing with ambushing, it’s really important to understand how the combat system works. In fact, when hitting a creature, you are doing two things. One is dealing raw Health Point (HP) damage. The other is dealing a critical hit, which add extra HP damage and can lead to very interesting and fun effect (stuns, death, loss of various body parts...).

Let’s look at a typical hit from a non ambusher :

You swing a jet black falchion at a rolton!

AS: +143 vs DS: +0 with AvD: +35 + d100 roll: +22 = +200

... and hit for 85 points of damage!

Lucky shot rips through bone and muscle sending right leg flying.

A rolton screams and falls to the ground grasping its mangled right leg!

The rolton hisses one last time and dies.

Round time: 6 sec.

The final roll is above 100, meaning the target is hit. In the following discussion, I will call Success Margin (SM) the amount by which the roll does exceed 100. In this example :

SM=100

First, the combat system will look at the armor covering the body area which was hit. In this case, since rolton have no sense of decency and walk around naked, the armor coverage is " skin ".

If then looks in a table and determine the Damage Factor (DF) for the weapon you’re using versus the armor category. In this case, Falchion vs Skin leads to a DF of 0.450. I then makes the product of the DF with the SM. This leads to the Raw HP loss (RHP) :

RHP = DF * SM

RHP = 0.450 * 100 = 45

Then, the RHP is divided by 5 to figure out the Critical hit Rank (CR). If the body area was not covered with armor, the rank is increased by 1. The maximum rank allowed is 9.

CR = RHP/5

CR = 45/5 + 1 (Skin) = 9, because it is the maximum ;-)

Finally, the combat system looks at the weapon data to determine the kind of criticals it makes. Falchions produce two kind of criticals among the three possible : crush and slash, the third one being puncture. In this case, let’s assume the system took slash (at random). It then looks on the slash critical table for a rank 9 leg critical.

It comes with " Lucky shot rips through bone and muscle sending right leg flying. ", +40 extra damage and fall. Thus the final result.

Well, another quick example before we move to ambushing again...

You swing a jet black falchion at a frost giant!

AS: +143 vs DS: +58 with AvD: +32 + d100 roll: +81 = +198

... and hit for 50 points of damage!

Crossing slash to chest catches the frost giant's attention!

Round time: 9 sec.

SM = 98

DF : Falchion vs Brigandine armor (AsG 12) = 0.250 (Scale)

RHP = 98 * 0.250 = 25

CR = RHP/5 = 5

Thus leading to a rank 5 slash critical to the chest : +25 HP

Now, the weapon you are using can have some special effects :

Ambushing only adds to the CR when done from hiding. Mêlée ambushing works exactly like regular combat, only that it allows to aim a specific body area.

When hiding, ambushing does add a part of the ambushing skill to the CR :

Hiding and Aiming : CR = CR + (Ambushing Skill)/20

Hiding w/o Aiming : CR = CR + (Ambushing Skill)/10

So, from the point of view of critical adders, the Ambushing skills tops out at 80 (unaimed) or 160 (aimed). As long as you hit with enough force to benefit from your skill, you’re doing a rank 1 critical. And the maximum CR possible is +9. This is the reason why most highly trained rogues prefer damage weighted weapons to crit weighted ones.

However, I would still recommend that people serious about ambushing keep at least single training above +160 since you don’t know how the ambushing system will get tweaked in the future.

You leap from hiding to attack!

You swing a jet black broadsword at a hill troll!

AS: +151 vs DS: +62 with AvD: +32 + d100 roll: +37 = +158

... and hit for 35 points of damage!

You hear several snaps as the hill troll's neck is broken in several places.

The hill troll falls to the ground and dies.

Round time: 8 sec.

SM = 58

DF : Broad vs AsG 11 equ. = 0.300 (Neck is naked, but I believe hill trolls get Soft equivalent)

RHP = 17.4

CR = 17.4/5 = 3.48

Ambush Skill = 24 ranks = 102

CR = 3.48 + 102/20 = 8.58 rounded to 8 (or 9, not sure)

So, instead of a rank 3 neck critical, ambushing allows me to do at least a rank 8...

Instant death results...

Notice how the troll only lost minimal HP but was still killed on first hit.

Another quick example :

Of course, ambushing does take some time... Finesse comes with a price ! A post from GM Cyper a long while ago did clear more than a few things about how RT is calculated. Most of the following stuff is a copy from said post. This is valid from both regular RT and ambushing RT.

One major factor in determining your RT is encumbrance. You first have to know your total load :

LOAD = Things Worn * Racial Modifier + Things Carried - Armor Normal Weight

The things you wear are anything that can be put on with the WEAR verb. This doesn’t include the following things :

• Containers, since not matter your race, they can carry the same weight. They are factored in the " Things Carried "
• Armor, since its weight is already taken into account more finally by each AsG RT adder and maneuver penalty. However, if your armor weight differs from the standard armor, the difference is added to your LOAD. So, an imflass brigandine will reduce your LOAD, while a glaes one will augment it. The standard brigandine will change nothing to your LOAD. As long as you are properly trained, being naked or wearing a full plate armor will not change your LOAD a iota. Believing the contrary is a common misconception.

The Racial Modifier takes into account the fact that a halfling’s pant is much lighter than a giant’s one. Believing the opposite is another widely spread misconception.

The encumbrance is then the ratio between your load and you weight. The heavier you are, the less encumbered you will be (but the harder to drag too... Nothing comes for free!). Your weight is calculated using your race, your strength and your constitution.

Your encumbrance does give you a penalty, calculated this way:

Encum Penalty (EP) = MAX(0,ENCUM - 15 - ST_MOD - SPELL_MOD)

ST_MOD = (Strength Stat - 50)/2 + (5 if dwarf), this is the Strength Stat, no racial bonus !

SPELL_MOD is +15 for Strength Spell (509) and +10 for Phoen’s Strength (606)

I’m still the same half-elf as above... I have a 96 Strength. No spells.

ST_MOD = (96-50)/2 = 23

EP = MAX(0,29 - 15 - 23) = 0

I will be able to carry :

LOAD = (15 + 23 (ST_MOD) ) * WEIGHT/100 = 79.8 pounds before becoming encumbered

Every 5 points of EP will make me suffer 1 second of additional RT. This is the encumbrance penalty modifier (EPM).

If you want to determine the WBS for a given weapon, you can proceed as follow :

Each armor has a RT adder (RTA) associated with its AsG. You can get it from any good armor guide. For instance, the RT for double leather is +2. Every 20 points in armor skill will remove 1 from the RTA. According to Sophokles, this value is rounded to the nearest multiple of 20. You can’t reduce the RTA bellow 0 this way. So over-training in armor use past what is needed for the armor you plan to stick with is a waste of training points.

Both your Dexterity and Reflex bonus (DE/RE bonus) will reduce your RT. Every +15 bonus will reduce your RT by 1 second. This is rounded up.

I have a +29 reflex bonus, a +10 dexterity bonus.

My RT is reduced by (29+10)/15 = 2.6 = 3 seconds

This reduction can go either towards reducing the extra RT from your encumbrance, your lack of training in armor use or you additional ambush RT... It can’t do all of those at the same time!

So, taking all those things into account, the RT calculation is as follow :

RT = MIN(60,MAX(5,WBS + EPM + Armor RT - DE/RE Bonus + 3 if ambushing))

There are several ways to reduce your RT when ambushing :

• Keep your weight as low as possible. Heavy backpacks are very well named : they weight 20 pounds! Prefer a lightweight cloak or one of those pocketed jackets (I love the tanned leather one). Use a Disk to carry your chests (dark crystals can be very useful).
• Use a faster weapon. With high ambushing skills, even a short sword can be deadly.
• If you are a ranger, Phoen’s Strength is a must.
• Ask a friendly wizard to cast a strength spell on you. Or use a white crystal.
• Use a Haste I (-3 seconds) or II item (-6 seconds). They can reduce your RT below 5 seconds, even to the point of making it null.

Keeping your RT as low as possible is really important. It allows you to safely stance dance despite the RT adder for ambushing. It also allows you to use a technic known as " shadow dancing " when facing critters which are very good at spotting you but are rather slow. It works this ways :

1. Wait for the creature to attack.
2. Hide immediately after (you will need a hiding RT of 3 seconds).
3. Switch as fast as possible to offensive and attack.
4. Switch back to defensive before (hopefully) the creature swings back.
5. Repeat till creature is dead (shouldn’t take long)

Obviously, you need perfect weather to manage it ;-) But it works pretty well on creatures as steel golems or kappas.

The normal ambushing protocol when the critter is near blind would be as follow :

1. Hide.
2. Wait for creature to do an action (sniffing/searching, attacking someone else...).
3. Stance up and attack.
4. Stance down as fast as possible
5. Repeat

I hope this guide will prove useful. I also hope it will bring more folks into using the marvelous ambushing skill.

1. Is there a point when training in ambushing is no longer useful?

Yes and no ;-)

Once you go above 160 in ambushing, training further won’t add anything to your crit rank (9 being the maximum). And once you get above 200, additional training won’t help your aiming either. So, technically, training over 200 (and even above 160, since statistic bonus might improve your aiming) does nothing for you.

However, some Gms (including GM " Tweak " Cyper and GM " Tweak again " Banthis) think that ambushing in imbalancing at higher levels. So, they might decide to change the formulas... Better being safe than sorry. Moreover, I’m still not clear on how ambushing in handled vs creatures with crit-padded hides...

IMHO, yes! I know my Bard is single training every year, and so far she is pretty happy with it. However, be warned that a single training will have to wait what may seem a long time before seeing any positive effect. I would say that you need around 20 ranks in ambushing before tasting its power. This means around Lord level for single trainer.

Don’t forget also that you will need to train in hiding as well if you want to fully use ambushing. I would say that Rangers should think twice before choosing not to go the ambushing route, they got so many spells which help ambushing (weeds, Phoen strength, colors, sneaking...) that it would be a waste not to have the means to use them...

Bards and Warriors should also consider this options, although it is quite expensive.

Ambushing for Empaths, Wizards and Sorcerers is really not an option due to the cost. However, some train in hiding only, as a mean to get " sneak " spell attacks. This allow them to sneak around with a prepared spell, and to jump out of hiding just at the last moment to kill the foe quickly. This may be a good tactic at higher levels, when critters start to have deadly one-shot-kills maneuver attacks.

Note that some Clerics are fairly adept at ambushing. I think Lord Cru is a great advocate of this kind of training. Clerics will only be able to train at most once every other year.

No, at least not directly. The only way of benefiting from both would be to first use ambushing to disable the foe (stunning it, cutting its leg...), and then to follow with a couple of powerful kicks. Proned critters suffer quite a loss of MB. However, this is not a very efficient tactic, since if you can cut a foe’s leg in one blow, you might as well cut its head off.

I see more ambushing and Voln Fu as two separate tactics, with complementary fields of use. Ambushing is good against crittable critters. Voln Fu is very effective against non-crittable critters, or against those you can’t easily ambush (very fast ones for instance). Voln Fu is also good against foes with very high AS which don’t crit easily, since it works very well with AirWall (102).

Short answer : any weapon you will comfortable with ;-)

More seriously, you need a weapon which is fast enough and still deals enough damage to inflict rank 9 injuries. How fast it needs to be really depends on what you are hunting. You can afford a 7 seconds RT while fighting Cave Trolls. You can’t when fighting Steel Golems... A falchion or an handaxe is a good all around ambushing weapon. A short sword can be used when RT is really critical. Anyway, expect to have at least a couple of weapons to choose from depending on your target.

As long as you are still undertrained in ambushing (skill level under 160), a crit weighted weapon is a good choice, since it helps you reach rank 9 injuries more often. Once you reach a sufficient training to achieve the maximum critical rank every time (still above 160), a damage weighted weapon is a good choice, since it garantees additionnal damage in case you can kill with a single blow.

Weapons with flares are also a valuable choice, especially those with high ranked ones. Ebladed weapons are a must in this category, especially those with lightining flares, since they can sometimes kill your foe with the elemental critical alone. If you have the spell (411), the ideal (but expensive) weapon would have a natural bonus. Such weapons can still be ebladed despite their innate bonus. For instance, a natural +20 weapon can be ebladed to +40. Moreover, they can be blessed with the Cleric spell (304). Polearm users can try the naginata (in the weapon shop backroom) which is +20 natural (but unfortunately is two-handed and quite slow). Expect to pay quite a lot for any other weapon with an innate bonus.

Any armor you are fully trained for and which provide full body protection. Such armors are double leather, brigandine armor (the most widely used by Rogues), chain auberk and full plate (the one most Warriors are aiming for). They respectively need an armor training of 40, 120, 180 and 240. Never use an armor if you don’t have enough armor skill for it, it would add to your RT.

Yes and no ;-)

It wouldn’t affect the WBS (Weapon Base Speed). A broadsword made of thin air would have a WBS of 5, one made of lead would still have a WBS of 5... However, getting a lighter one would make you less encumbered. So this really depends on your race and your strength. An halfling would better stay off mein, while a giantman wouldn’t have too much trouble with it. Remember two facts though : Imflass is not much lighter than Vultite (or even Ora), and Imflass breaks easily (in case weapon breakage comes back).

Anyway, your weapon and shield should be the last things you try to lighten. They aren’t so heavy (except for the Wall shields), and it’s much more efficient to get lighter containers and to avoid walking around with 100 pounds of junks ;-)

You only have a limited set of options to reduce your RT : get a faster weapon or reduce your encumberance.

You need to look at your Dexterity and Reflex first. Use the formulas, assuming you have no encumberance penalties. This should give you your minimal RT.

If it’s still too high, the only mean is to get a faster weapon (which sadly will be less damaging too).

If you have not yet reached your minimal RT, then it’s time to do the strip tease ;-) Make a list of all the stuff you are carrying, weight it, and decide what is non-essential. Do you really need to carry your yellow and pink toy warrior around all the time? Do you really need a backpack and a cloak? Most backpacks are heavy. Some cloaks are heavy too. The best combination I have found is one of those marvelous jackets (those which weight less than 3 pounds) and a Disk from a friendly wizard. This is especially good if you can pick/pop/bash your own boxes...

From the Major Elemental list :

• Strength, which helps reduce your encumberance
• Haste I and II, which turns you into a living machine of destruction, but sadly lasts only one minute

From the Wizard list :

• Disk, which helps you reduce your load

From the Ranger list :

• Natural color and sneaking, which helps your hiding skill
• Phoen Strength, which helps reduce your encumberance
• Camouflage, which hides you and gives you a bonus to AS when ambushing (+30 I think)
• Tangle/Killer weeds, which will bring your foe down
• Mass Calm, which will allow you to fight only one foe at a time

From the Minor Elemental list :

• Elemental Wave, which will prone your foes and put them in RT
• Elemental Targetting, which will boost your AS

From the Minor Spiritual list :

• Spirit Strike, which provides a one shot boost of +75 to AS (more than enough for a good ambusher)

If the creature you hunt has legs, bring its neck to your level by removing the legs ;-)

Otherwise, the belly is a soft spot which can give almost as good results as the head (although messier). The back is also a good target, since it can make the creature fall.

Yes, it is. Expect ten ranks before you notice anything. Twenty before your foes don’t have the time to notice anything ;-)