Combat? What? How?!

Basic Overview
WHAT LEVI SAID IS PRETTY RIGHT. MECHANICS TAKE A BACKSEAT TO STORYTELLING BECAUSE THAT'S GREAT. But if you're like me you want to write with boundaries that let you know your characters relative ability. Below is a overview of basic mechanical function, but know that it's all optional and if you ever have need of it someone will be happy to walk you through your specific case.

Mechanics do exist in a very simple form that helps you determine how to write your relative strength between you and your opponent. When you do a thing, you have a stat that will dictate how good you are at doing that thing and VERY frequently you will also have a skill that will determine how skillful you are at it too.

Real simple, you swing a sword? That's your Strength and your Zanjutsu. The stat is Strength because it is a physical effort and it's Zanjutsu because it's sword related.

Casting a spell? That's Spirit and the Spellcasting Skill related, let's say Hado.

Where things become complicated is when someone is opposing what you're doing. Blocking an attack is using some kind of Stat+Skill against their attacking Stat+Skill, you can block with a sword, or a spell, or a shield, or whatever makes sense narratively and it works the same.

Attacker Stat-Defender Stat is the difference, this determines baseline how effective the attack ended up being. If it's anywhere from -14-+14 then it's even. If it's lower than -14 then the attack was not really effective at all 15-49 is fairly effective and so on.

We have a chart that once you know the difference it will tell you how bad the wound is, all that information is here.

How do skills take effect? Once you know the difference you then know the tier of the attack! So if it is -14-+14 then you know that they are equivalent. If it's 15-49 then you know one side is advantaged.

Skills also work in tiers! And the difference each level of that tier typically moves the check one step! So if you were advantaged, but you have a tier higher skill than them you're now Superior! This works both ways for attackers and defenders.

Some quick and simple examples:
Attacker: 45 Strength attacking with Expert Zanjutsu
Defender: 50 Strength 30 Defense defending with Expert Zanjutsu

45-50=-5
This means the check is equivalent. If you look at what happens with an equivalent block that means the defender receives no wounds.

What if the attacker was master?

Then it'd be 45-50=-5 which is still equivalent, BUT, as the attacker has a skill one tier higher than the one the defender used the check is not EQUIVALENT but instead ADVANTAGED in favor of the attacker. This means the attacker receives a wound TWO TIERS LESS than they otherwise would.

How do we calculate wounds? Once we know a wound will be calculated it's just another check. Straight up strength vs defense, no skills.

45-30=15 which is ADVANTAGED to the attacker.

We look at the chart, and normally it'd be A MAJOR wound. That means that if the defender did not try to block, even though it ended up with advantage to the attacker, they'd take a MAJOR wound.

(COPY AND PASTED FROM HERE: Major: Deep stab wounds, broken bones, torn muscle. Third-degree burns; incredibly severe burn damage that can burn through even muscle and expose bone. A painful hindrance to a spiritual being and disabling to a mortal. Inflicted by a direct hit at Advantaged Attacker.)

But as we said earlier the block reduces that tier by TWO. So the wound is actually MINOR.

FINAL SUMMARY
Everything works on tiers, everything is determined by relative difference in stat and skill. The break point for these ranges are: 15/50/90, if you have an advantage by 15, 50, or 90 in a check everything is slide one, two, or three tiers in your favor and vice versa. Wounds have a tier based on this relative difference. Blocks are effective based on this relative difference.

When everything is even, blocks negate all incoming damage and wounds are dealt at moderate.