We have developed a combat system that will make you cringe yet cheer when you fight that dreaded creature you meet. We use hit locations and those locations have individual body points that determine the health of each location. To protect those locations, we, of course, have armor. But here, armor can sometimes be overlapped to give better protection. Maybe a few pieces of hard leather sit underneath your chainmail suit. Your armor rating will deflect damage dealt to you, which means when a certain amount of damage is done to any location, the amount of armor in that location will subtract from the damage dealt- either eliminating it or reducing it. You can also dodge, parry, or block with your shield at any point during combat, to avoid being hit.

Broken Swords & Battered Shields tracks combat through the use of the Battle Board. On it, 60 segments are sectioned out and used like a stopwatch to quickly and efficiently keep track of actions, initiatives, and "who goes next". The players declare their action, then move around the board a number of seconds determined by the action they take.

Characters can, and will, die in this game. It is a fact of life, and part of what makes the game realistic. That is why we often think twice before pulling our swords and racing headlong into battle.

The prayer powers and spell systems are unique also in their structure. You have prayers for the Holy Careers based solely on their faith and how faithful they are to their god. In the world of Broken Swords & Battered Shields, there are three in total, but then, your world might be different. Prayers have a percentage chance to either work or fail through divine favor. Holy Careers will eventually develop the potential of wielding great divine given powers that are created by you. Spells are also created by you, the player. Every single one of them is developed through a unique spell creation system that is based off of the elements of life. Through the use of spell creation points, you will build your spells solely on your wants and needs. You imagine an item, then create it. Just remember that all great spells must start smaller first before they become epic.