Step Five: End-of-Round Resolution

After all actions have been resolved, there are several things that need to be done before the round ends. The four parts of this step are fatigue, retreats, morale, and status.

Fatigue is a measure of the character’s endurance over a prolonged combat. At the end of each round, the character checks to see if the combat has lasted long enough for him to become fatigued or exhausted.

Retreats occur when a figure is forced to fall back by the press of the fight. This can have the effect of breaking up an enemy line or forcing the retreating character over a cliff, into quicksand, and so on.

The DM makes morale checks for the monsters, if appropriate. Most creatures don’t care to carry a losing battle to their own deaths and will try to break off the fight if things aren’t going their way.

Last but not least, characters who are suffering from spell effects, poison, or special critical hits suffer damage or fight off the effect. The exact procedure is determined by the type of condition the character is suffering from.

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