text
stringlengths 1.32k
19.1k
|
|---|
INTRODUCTIONThis is Book 2 of the GURPS BasicSet, Fourth Edition.Why two books? The last edition,after all, was a single book of 256pages, plus the Instant Characters sec-tion.The short answer is: we added a lotof material. Which translated to a lotof pages. This new edition brings in agreat deal of material thats eitherbrand new or previously appeared inother books (especially the twoCompendiums). This new Basic Setweighs in at a total of 576 pages, morethan double the length of the last edi-tion. Thats quite a stack of paper.We could still have done it as a sin-gle book. But for two reasons, we did-nt. First, that would be a thick, heavybook, suitable for stopping bullets butjust a bit unwieldy to use. And second,it would be an expensive book. Really,too expensive.By dividing the manuscript intotwo parts, we were able to get every-thing that a player has to have intoBook 1. That book has the basic sys-tem rules and everything for charactercreation. What it didnt have, in theearly drafts, was any combat at all . . .so we added a section with the basicsof combat. Now a player needs onlyBook 1 to get into the game.Who needs this book? Well, firstand foremost, the GM. This book goesinto detail about physical feats andcombat. It also covers vehicles andtechnology, animals and monsters,world design, and Game Mastering.Tool kit chapters let the GM createnew creatures (and even PC races),artifacts, character abilities, andentire game worlds.But its not just for GMs. Playerswho enjoy detail and who want to par-ticipate in the creative side of thegame will definitely find this book use-ful . . . and so will players who want tobecome GMs someday. The point issimply that its not required.Nevertheless, the books are intendedto work together. The pages and chap-ters are consecutively numbered, andthe index covers both books and isrepeated in both.In the final analysis, the answer towhy two books? is simply accessibil-ity. We want the system to be easy toplay, easy to learn, and easy to get into.By dividing the text into necessary forthe new player and everything else,we hope weve made the new BasicSet not just easier to carry around, butalso a better introduction to the sys-tem. Let us know how we did. Steve JacksonOTHER SUPPORTAND GM TOOLSGame Masters will also find usefulmaterial in the GURPS GMs Screen,which includes all the tables necessaryto run a GURPS Fourth Edition game,copies of GURPS Lite and the tablesof advantages, disadvantages, andskills from the Basic Set, Book 1, aswell as several variant charactersheets and other useful tools.If you have access to the Internet. . . and nowadays thats almost agiven . . . theres a great deal of sup-port available, including: The free SJ Games webforums atforums.sjgames.com. Pyramid Magazine, which, for$20 a year, gives subscribers severalarticles a week. A lot of these relatedirectly or indirectly to GURPS. Thereare also reviews, cartoons, and otherbits of data and inspiration. e23 is our electronic publish-ing division. Browse over towww.sjgames.com/e23/ and see whatyou find. We have already prepareddozens of PDFs, ranging from shortadventures to whole GURPS source-books, and we get more ready everyweek. This will be a very valuableresource. You can purchase gamematerial online, in PDF format, in thesame shopping cart you use for yourWarehouse 23 orders! And, of course, the GURPS web-site itself (www.sjgames.com/gurps/)is constantly being updated withinformation about all GURPS prod-ucts in and out of print. One brand-new feature will be implemented formany GURPS books by the time youread this: the books complete bibliog-raphy will be online, and every bookthats currently in print will have ahotlink to amazon.com!342INTRODUCTIONWhenever a character attempts toperform an action (e.g., use a skill),roll three dice to determine the out-come. This is called a success roll. Thetask in question succeeds if the total rolledon the dice is less than or equal to the num-ber that governs the action most often askill or an attribute. Otherwise, it fails.Example: If you attempt to pick a lockwith a Lockpicking skill of 9, you must roll9 or less on 3d to succeed. On a roll of 10or more, you fail.Regardless of the score you are rollingagainst, a roll of 3 or 4 is always a success,while a roll of 17 or 18 is always a failure.In general, the player makes the die rollsfor his characters actions. However, the GMmay always choose to roll the dice in secret see When the GM Rolls (p. 344).WHEN TO ROLLTo avoid bogging down the game in endlessdie rolls, the GM should only require a suc-cess roll if there is a chance of meaning-ful failure or gainful success. In par-ticular, the GM should require suc-cess rolls when . . . A PCs health, wealth, friends, reputation, or equipment areat risk. This includes chases, combat (even if the target is stationaryand at point-blank range!), espionage, thievery, and similar adventur-ing activities. A PC stands to gain allies, information, new abilities, social stand-ing, or wealth.The GM should not require rolls for . . . Utterly trivial tasks, such as crossing the street, driving into town,feeding the dog, finding the corner store, or turning on the computer. Daily work at a mundane, nonadventuring job. (To evaluate jobperformance, make monthly job rolls; see Jobs, p. 516.)SUCCESS ROLLS343CHAPTER TENSUCCESS ROLLSRegardless of the score you are rolling against, a roll of 3 or 4 is alwaysa success, while a roll of 17 or 18 isalways a failure.When the GM RollsThere are two sets of circum-stances under which the GM shouldroll for a PC and not let the player seethe results:1. When the character wouldntknow for sure whether he had succeed-ed. This is true of all rolls to gain infor-mation, whether through skills suchas Detect Lies, Interrogation,Meteorology, and Search, advantageslike Intuition and Oracle, or supernat-ural divinatory abilities. In this situa-tion, the player declares that he isusing his ability and the GM rolls insecret. On a success, the GM gives theplayer true information the lowerthe roll, the better the information. Ona failure, the GM either gives no infor-mation at all or lies (the higher theroll, the more severe the lie), as appro-priate.2. When the player shouldnt knowwhats going on. This includes mostSense rolls, rolls to use Danger Sense,etc. Suppose the party is walkingalong a jungle trail. A jaguar is on alimb ahead. The GM should not say,Theres a jaguar ahead of you. Roll tosee if you notice it. Neither should hesay, Everybody make a Vision roll.Does anybody have Danger Sense?Either of these approaches gives toomuch away. Instead, the GM shouldroll for each character in secret. If any-one succeeds, the GM can say, Younotice a jaguar on a branch 20 yardsahead! If nobody succeeds . . . theyrein for a surprise.MODIFIERSThe rules often specify modifiersfor certain success rolls. These bonus-es and penalties affect the number youare rolling against your target num-ber and not the total rolled on thedice. Bonuses always improve yourodds, while penalties always reducethem.For instance, the Lockpicking skilldescription states, -5 if working bytouch (e.g., in total darkness). Thismeans that if you are working in thedark, you must subtract 5 from yourLockpicking skill for that attempt. Ifyour Lockpicking skill is 9, you rollagainst 9 minus 5, or 4, in the dark.A specific scenario might providemodifiers to allow for the relative easeor difficulty of a particular situation.For instance, an adventure might statethat a lock is +10 to open due to thefact that it is primitive and clumsy. Ifyour Lockpicking skill were 9, youwould roll against 9 + 10, or 19. Sincethe highest roll possible on 3d is 18, itwould seem that success is assured.This is almost true, but not quite seeCritical Failure (p. 348).Modifiers are cumulative unlessstated otherwise. For instance, if youtried to open that primitive lock in thedark, both modifiers would apply, andyou would roll against 9 - 5 + 10, or 14.See Culture (p. 23), Language(p. 23), Tech-Level Modifiers (p. 168),Familiarity (p.169), EquipmentModifiers (p. 345), and Task Difficulty(p. 345) for discussions of commonmodifiers.Base Skill vs. Effective SkillYour base skill is your actual levelin a skill, as recorded on your charac-ter sheet. Your effective skill for a par-ticular task is your base skill plus orminus any modifiers for that task. Inthe Lockpicking examples above, baseskill is 9 in all cases, while effectiveskill is 4, 19, and 14 in three differentsituations.The terms base skill and effec-tive skill apply to all success rolls, notjust to skill rolls. When you make an344SUCCESS ROLLSDefault RollsWhen a task calls for a skill roll, you must have some ability with therequired skill in order to attempt the task. Ideally, you want points inthat skill . . . but an untrained person can take a stab at most tasks. Forinstance, anyone can swing a sword although only a trained warrioris likely to have much success at it.A skill that anyone can attempt without study is said to default toan attribute or another skill. This means you can attempt the desiredaction by rolling against one of your attributes or other skills at a penal-ty. This default roll is just an ordinary success roll.Example: Lockpicking skill defaults to IQ-5; that is, anyone canopen a lock, without training, by making a success roll against 5 lessthan his IQ. If your IQ is 10, you can open an ordinary lock on a roll of5 or less on 3d. The smarter you are, the better your chances but train-ing is always preferable!The description of each skill shows what skills or attributes itdefaults to, and at what penalties. If a skill offers multiple defaults,always choose the best one.Example: Interrogation defaults to IQ-5, Intimidation-3, orPsychology-4. If youre not a trained interrogator, you can still getanswers out of a prisoner by outthinking him (IQ-5), frightening him(Intimidation-3), or playing mind games with him (Psychology-4). Ifyou had IQ 12, Intimidation at 14, and Psychology at 13, your defaultswould be 7, 11, and 9, respectively. Roll against 11, the highest of thethree.The Rule of 20If you have a basic attribute over 20, treat it as 20 for default pur-poses. For instance, if you have IQ 25, your default Lockpicking skill(IQ-5) is 15 not 20. No such limit applies to defaults to other skills.No DefaultSome actions are impossible without training. Skills like Alchemy,Karate, and magic spells have no default. If you lack the proper train-ing, you cant attempt these things at all.
|
Whenever a character attempts toperform an action (e.g., use a skill),roll three dice to determine the out-come. This is called a success roll. Thetask in question succeeds if the total rolledon the dice is less than or equal to the num-ber that governs the action most often askill or an attribute. Otherwise, it fails.Example: If you attempt to pick a lockwith a Lockpicking skill of 9, you must roll9 or less on 3d to succeed. On a roll of 10or more, you fail.Regardless of the score you are rollingagainst, a roll of 3 or 4 is always a success,while a roll of 17 or 18 is always a failure.In general, the player makes the die rollsfor his characters actions. However, the GMmay always choose to roll the dice in secret see When the GM Rolls (p. 344).WHEN TO ROLLTo avoid bogging down the game in endlessdie rolls, the GM should only require a suc-cess roll if there is a chance of meaning-ful failure or gainful success. In par-ticular, the GM should require suc-cess rolls when . . . A PCs health, wealth, friends, reputation, or equipment areat risk. This includes chases, combat (even if the target is stationaryand at point-blank range!), espionage, thievery, and similar adventur-ing activities. A PC stands to gain allies, information, new abilities, social stand-ing, or wealth.The GM should not require rolls for . . . Utterly trivial tasks, such as crossing the street, driving into town,feeding the dog, finding the corner store, or turning on the computer. Daily work at a mundane, nonadventuring job. (To evaluate jobperformance, make monthly job rolls; see Jobs, p. 516.)SUCCESS ROLLS343CHAPTER TENSUCCESS ROLLSRegardless of the score you are rolling against, a roll of 3 or 4 is alwaysa success, while a roll of 17 or 18 isalways a failure.When the GM RollsThere are two sets of circum-stances under which the GM shouldroll for a PC and not let the player seethe results:1. When the character wouldntknow for sure whether he had succeed-ed. This is true of all rolls to gain infor-mation, whether through skills suchas Detect Lies, Interrogation,Meteorology, and Search, advantageslike Intuition and Oracle, or supernat-ural divinatory abilities. In this situa-tion, the player declares that he isusing his ability and the GM rolls insecret. On a success, the GM gives theplayer true information the lowerthe roll, the better the information. Ona failure, the GM either gives no infor-mation at all or lies (the higher theroll, the more severe the lie), as appro-priate.2. When the player shouldnt knowwhats going on. This includes mostSense rolls, rolls to use Danger Sense,etc. Suppose the party is walkingalong a jungle trail. A jaguar is on alimb ahead. The GM should not say,Theres a jaguar ahead of you. Roll tosee if you notice it. Neither should hesay, Everybody make a Vision roll.Does anybody have Danger Sense?Either of these approaches gives toomuch away. Instead, the GM shouldroll for each character in secret. If any-one succeeds, the GM can say, Younotice a jaguar on a branch 20 yardsahead! If nobody succeeds . . . theyrein for a surprise.MODIFIERSThe rules often specify modifiersfor certain success rolls. These bonus-es and penalties affect the number youare rolling against your target num-ber and not the total rolled on thedice. Bonuses always improve yourodds, while penalties always reducethem.For instance, the Lockpicking skilldescription states, -5 if working bytouch (e.g., in total darkness). Thismeans that if you are working in thedark, you must subtract 5 from yourLockpicking skill for that attempt. Ifyour Lockpicking skill is 9, you rollagainst 9 minus 5, or 4, in the dark.A specific scenario might providemodifiers to allow for the relative easeor difficulty of a particular situation.For instance, an adventure might statethat a lock is +10 to open due to thefact that it is primitive and clumsy. Ifyour Lockpicking skill were 9, youwould roll against 9 + 10, or 19. Sincethe highest roll possible on 3d is 18, itwould seem that success is assured.This is almost true, but not quite seeCritical Failure (p. 348).Modifiers are cumulative unlessstated otherwise. For instance, if youtried to open that primitive lock in thedark, both modifiers would apply, andyou would roll against 9 - 5 + 10, or 14.See Culture (p. 23), Language(p. 23), Tech-Level Modifiers (p. 168),Familiarity (p.169), EquipmentModifiers (p. 345), and Task Difficulty(p. 345) for discussions of commonmodifiers.Base Skill vs. Effective SkillYour base skill is your actual levelin a skill, as recorded on your charac-ter sheet. Your effective skill for a par-ticular task is your base skill plus orminus any modifiers for that task. Inthe Lockpicking examples above, baseskill is 9 in all cases, while effectiveskill is 4, 19, and 14 in three differentsituations.The terms base skill and effec-tive skill apply to all success rolls, notjust to skill rolls. When you make an344SUCCESS ROLLSDefault RollsWhen a task calls for a skill roll, you must have some ability with therequired skill in order to attempt the task. Ideally, you want points inthat skill . . . but an untrained person can take a stab at most tasks. Forinstance, anyone can swing a sword although only a trained warrioris likely to have much success at it.A skill that anyone can attempt without study is said to default toan attribute or another skill. This means you can attempt the desiredaction by rolling against one of your attributes or other skills at a penal-ty. This default roll is just an ordinary success roll.Example: Lockpicking skill defaults to IQ-5; that is, anyone canopen a lock, without training, by making a success roll against 5 lessthan his IQ. If your IQ is 10, you can open an ordinary lock on a roll of5 or less on 3d. The smarter you are, the better your chances but train-ing is always preferable!The description of each skill shows what skills or attributes itdefaults to, and at what penalties. If a skill offers multiple defaults,always choose the best one.Example: Interrogation defaults to IQ-5, Intimidation-3, orPsychology-4. If youre not a trained interrogator, you can still getanswers out of a prisoner by outthinking him (IQ-5), frightening him(Intimidation-3), or playing mind games with him (Psychology-4). Ifyou had IQ 12, Intimidation at 14, and Psychology at 13, your defaultswould be 7, 11, and 9, respectively. Roll against 11, the highest of thethree.The Rule of 20If you have a basic attribute over 20, treat it as 20 for default pur-poses. For instance, if you have IQ 25, your default Lockpicking skill(IQ-5) is 15 not 20. No such limit applies to defaults to other skills.No DefaultSome actions are impossible without training. Skills like Alchemy,Karate, and magic spells have no default. If you lack the proper train-ing, you cant attempt these things at all.attribute roll, defense roll (p. 374),self-control roll (p. 120), etc., yourbase skill is your unmodified score,while your effective skill is your final,modified target number.You may not attempt a success rollif your effective skill is less than 3,unless you are attempting a defenseroll (p. 374).TASK DIFFICULTYIf the GM feels that a success rollshould be easier or harder in a partic-ular situation, he may assess a difficul-ty modifier. This is separate from mod-ifiers for the culture, equipment, lan-guage, tech level, etc. of the personattempting the task, in that it appliesto anyone who attempts the task. It iscumulative with all other modifiers.For instance, if the GM rules thatthe only way to sway a particular audi-ence is to make a Public Speaking rollat -2, the difficulty modifier is -2. Anyspeaker has -2, in addition to personalmodifiers (for culture, language,Voice, etc.), when dealing with thataudience.Many skills suggest difficulty mod-ifiers e.g., the -5 to use Lockpickingskill by touch but the possible varietyof tasks is essentially infinite. Here aresome guidelines for GMs:+10 Automatic. Tasks so trivial thatthe GM should waive the need for asuccess roll, except under extraor-dinary circumstances. Example: ADriving roll to start a car.+8 or +9 Trivial. Situations wherefailure is extremely unlikely, andwould require incredibly bad luck.Example: A Driving roll to drivearound an empty parking lot.+6 or +7 Very Easy. Tasks where fail-ure is possible, but would requirebad luck. Example: A Driving roll todrive down an empty suburbanstreet.+4 or +5 Easy. Most mundane tasks,including rolls made by ordinarypeople at day-to-day jobs. Example:A Driving roll to commute to workin a small town.+2 or +3 Very Favorable. Mildlyrisky tasks that most peoplewould undertake without hesita-tion. Example: A Driving roll tocommute to work in a teemingmetropolis.+1 Favorable. Tasks that most peoplewould hesitate at, due to the risk,but that a career adventurer wouldregard as easy. Example: A Drivingroll to compete in a road rally.0 Average. Most adventuring tasks,and the majority of skill use understress. Example: A Driving roll in acar chase.-1 Unfavorable. Stressful tasks thatwould challenge a novice adventur-er, but not an old hand. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed carchase.-2 or -3 Very Unfavorable. Stressfultasks that would challenge a pro-fessional. Skilled adventurers stillroutinely accept such risks!Example: A Driving roll in a high-speed car chase on a busy freeway.-4 or -5 Hard. Tasks so challengingthat even an expert will look foralternatives. A true master is stillunlikely to feel challenged.Example: A Driving roll to keep thecar on the road while shooting agun out the window during a high-speed chase.SUCCESS ROLLS345Equipment ModifiersThe quality of your equipment modifies your skillrolls for tasks that normally require equipment:No equipment: -10 for technological skills, -5 forother skills. Note that many skills cannot be used at allwithout equipment!Improvised equipment: -5 for technological skills, -2for other skills.Basic equipment: No modifier. This is the case mostof the time.Good-quality equipment: +1. Costs about 5 basicprice.Fine-quality equipment: +2. Costs about 20 basicprice.Best equipment possible at your TL: +TL/2, rounddown (minimum +2). Not usually for sale!If you have basic or better equipment that is notin perfect condition, the following modifiers apply inaddition to quality modifiers:Missing important items: -1 per item.Damaged equipment: -1 to -3.Equipment modifiers reflect the quality of: Special tools of the trade, for criminal, military,and espionage skills such as Disguise, Explosives,Forgery, Forward Observer, Holdout, and Lockpicking. The contents of your backpack, for outdoor skillslike Fishing and Survival. Your instruments or lab, for scientific and medicalskills such as Alchemy, Diagnosis, Meteorology,Navigation, and Surgery. Your shop or toolkit, for Armoury, Carpentry,Electrician, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist,Masonry, Mechanic, Smith, and other skills used tobuild or repair things. Your studio, for artistic skills Artist, Jeweler,Photography, etc.Example: For First Aid skill, improvised mightmean leaves and clean mud; basic, sterile bandages;good, a standard first-aid kit; fine, a crash kit(found in most ambulances); and best, an entire hos-pital. Missing antiseptic would give -1, while a first-aidkit salvaged from a wrecked vehicle might give -1 orworse for damaged equipment.
|
When the GM RollsThere are two sets of circum-stances under which the GM shouldroll for a PC and not let the player seethe results:1. When the character wouldntknow for sure whether he had succeed-ed. This is true of all rolls to gain infor-mation, whether through skills suchas Detect Lies, Interrogation,Meteorology, and Search, advantageslike Intuition and Oracle, or supernat-ural divinatory abilities. In this situa-tion, the player declares that he isusing his ability and the GM rolls insecret. On a success, the GM gives theplayer true information the lowerthe roll, the better the information. Ona failure, the GM either gives no infor-mation at all or lies (the higher theroll, the more severe the lie), as appro-priate.2. When the player shouldnt knowwhats going on. This includes mostSense rolls, rolls to use Danger Sense,etc. Suppose the party is walkingalong a jungle trail. A jaguar is on alimb ahead. The GM should not say,Theres a jaguar ahead of you. Roll tosee if you notice it. Neither should hesay, Everybody make a Vision roll.Does anybody have Danger Sense?Either of these approaches gives toomuch away. Instead, the GM shouldroll for each character in secret. If any-one succeeds, the GM can say, Younotice a jaguar on a branch 20 yardsahead! If nobody succeeds . . . theyrein for a surprise.MODIFIERSThe rules often specify modifiersfor certain success rolls. These bonus-es and penalties affect the number youare rolling against your target num-ber and not the total rolled on thedice. Bonuses always improve yourodds, while penalties always reducethem.For instance, the Lockpicking skilldescription states, -5 if working bytouch (e.g., in total darkness). Thismeans that if you are working in thedark, you must subtract 5 from yourLockpicking skill for that attempt. Ifyour Lockpicking skill is 9, you rollagainst 9 minus 5, or 4, in the dark.A specific scenario might providemodifiers to allow for the relative easeor difficulty of a particular situation.For instance, an adventure might statethat a lock is +10 to open due to thefact that it is primitive and clumsy. Ifyour Lockpicking skill were 9, youwould roll against 9 + 10, or 19. Sincethe highest roll possible on 3d is 18, itwould seem that success is assured.This is almost true, but not quite seeCritical Failure (p. 348).Modifiers are cumulative unlessstated otherwise. For instance, if youtried to open that primitive lock in thedark, both modifiers would apply, andyou would roll against 9 - 5 + 10, or 14.See Culture (p. 23), Language(p. 23), Tech-Level Modifiers (p. 168),Familiarity (p.169), EquipmentModifiers (p. 345), and Task Difficulty(p. 345) for discussions of commonmodifiers.Base Skill vs. Effective SkillYour base skill is your actual levelin a skill, as recorded on your charac-ter sheet. Your effective skill for a par-ticular task is your base skill plus orminus any modifiers for that task. Inthe Lockpicking examples above, baseskill is 9 in all cases, while effectiveskill is 4, 19, and 14 in three differentsituations.The terms base skill and effec-tive skill apply to all success rolls, notjust to skill rolls. When you make an344SUCCESS ROLLSDefault RollsWhen a task calls for a skill roll, you must have some ability with therequired skill in order to attempt the task. Ideally, you want points inthat skill . . . but an untrained person can take a stab at most tasks. Forinstance, anyone can swing a sword although only a trained warrioris likely to have much success at it.A skill that anyone can attempt without study is said to default toan attribute or another skill. This means you can attempt the desiredaction by rolling against one of your attributes or other skills at a penal-ty. This default roll is just an ordinary success roll.Example: Lockpicking skill defaults to IQ-5; that is, anyone canopen a lock, without training, by making a success roll against 5 lessthan his IQ. If your IQ is 10, you can open an ordinary lock on a roll of5 or less on 3d. The smarter you are, the better your chances but train-ing is always preferable!The description of each skill shows what skills or attributes itdefaults to, and at what penalties. If a skill offers multiple defaults,always choose the best one.Example: Interrogation defaults to IQ-5, Intimidation-3, orPsychology-4. If youre not a trained interrogator, you can still getanswers out of a prisoner by outthinking him (IQ-5), frightening him(Intimidation-3), or playing mind games with him (Psychology-4). Ifyou had IQ 12, Intimidation at 14, and Psychology at 13, your defaultswould be 7, 11, and 9, respectively. Roll against 11, the highest of thethree.The Rule of 20If you have a basic attribute over 20, treat it as 20 for default pur-poses. For instance, if you have IQ 25, your default Lockpicking skill(IQ-5) is 15 not 20. No such limit applies to defaults to other skills.No DefaultSome actions are impossible without training. Skills like Alchemy,Karate, and magic spells have no default. If you lack the proper train-ing, you cant attempt these things at all.attribute roll, defense roll (p. 374),self-control roll (p. 120), etc., yourbase skill is your unmodified score,while your effective skill is your final,modified target number.You may not attempt a success rollif your effective skill is less than 3,unless you are attempting a defenseroll (p. 374).TASK DIFFICULTYIf the GM feels that a success rollshould be easier or harder in a partic-ular situation, he may assess a difficul-ty modifier. This is separate from mod-ifiers for the culture, equipment, lan-guage, tech level, etc. of the personattempting the task, in that it appliesto anyone who attempts the task. It iscumulative with all other modifiers.For instance, if the GM rules thatthe only way to sway a particular audi-ence is to make a Public Speaking rollat -2, the difficulty modifier is -2. Anyspeaker has -2, in addition to personalmodifiers (for culture, language,Voice, etc.), when dealing with thataudience.Many skills suggest difficulty mod-ifiers e.g., the -5 to use Lockpickingskill by touch but the possible varietyof tasks is essentially infinite. Here aresome guidelines for GMs:+10 Automatic. Tasks so trivial thatthe GM should waive the need for asuccess roll, except under extraor-dinary circumstances. Example: ADriving roll to start a car.+8 or +9 Trivial. Situations wherefailure is extremely unlikely, andwould require incredibly bad luck.Example: A Driving roll to drivearound an empty parking lot.+6 or +7 Very Easy. Tasks where fail-ure is possible, but would requirebad luck. Example: A Driving roll todrive down an empty suburbanstreet.+4 or +5 Easy. Most mundane tasks,including rolls made by ordinarypeople at day-to-day jobs. Example:A Driving roll to commute to workin a small town.+2 or +3 Very Favorable. Mildlyrisky tasks that most peoplewould undertake without hesita-tion. Example: A Driving roll tocommute to work in a teemingmetropolis.+1 Favorable. Tasks that most peoplewould hesitate at, due to the risk,but that a career adventurer wouldregard as easy. Example: A Drivingroll to compete in a road rally.0 Average. Most adventuring tasks,and the majority of skill use understress. Example: A Driving roll in acar chase.-1 Unfavorable. Stressful tasks thatwould challenge a novice adventur-er, but not an old hand. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed carchase.-2 or -3 Very Unfavorable. Stressfultasks that would challenge a pro-fessional. Skilled adventurers stillroutinely accept such risks!Example: A Driving roll in a high-speed car chase on a busy freeway.-4 or -5 Hard. Tasks so challengingthat even an expert will look foralternatives. A true master is stillunlikely to feel challenged.Example: A Driving roll to keep thecar on the road while shooting agun out the window during a high-speed chase.SUCCESS ROLLS345Equipment ModifiersThe quality of your equipment modifies your skillrolls for tasks that normally require equipment:No equipment: -10 for technological skills, -5 forother skills. Note that many skills cannot be used at allwithout equipment!Improvised equipment: -5 for technological skills, -2for other skills.Basic equipment: No modifier. This is the case mostof the time.Good-quality equipment: +1. Costs about 5 basicprice.Fine-quality equipment: +2. Costs about 20 basicprice.Best equipment possible at your TL: +TL/2, rounddown (minimum +2). Not usually for sale!If you have basic or better equipment that is notin perfect condition, the following modifiers apply inaddition to quality modifiers:Missing important items: -1 per item.Damaged equipment: -1 to -3.Equipment modifiers reflect the quality of: Special tools of the trade, for criminal, military,and espionage skills such as Disguise, Explosives,Forgery, Forward Observer, Holdout, and Lockpicking. The contents of your backpack, for outdoor skillslike Fishing and Survival. Your instruments or lab, for scientific and medicalskills such as Alchemy, Diagnosis, Meteorology,Navigation, and Surgery. Your shop or toolkit, for Armoury, Carpentry,Electrician, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist,Masonry, Mechanic, Smith, and other skills used tobuild or repair things. Your studio, for artistic skills Artist, Jeweler,Photography, etc.Example: For First Aid skill, improvised mightmean leaves and clean mud; basic, sterile bandages;good, a standard first-aid kit; fine, a crash kit(found in most ambulances); and best, an entire hos-pital. Missing antiseptic would give -1, while a first-aidkit salvaged from a wrecked vehicle might give -1 orworse for damaged equipment.-6 or -7 Very Hard. Situations thateven the masters might have sec-ond thoughts about. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed chaseduring a blizzard.-8 or -9 Dangerous. Tasks at whicheven the greatest masters expect tofail. Example: A Driving roll whileshooting a gun in a high-speedchase during a blizzard.-10 Impossible. No sane personwould attempt such a task. TheGM may wish to forbid suchattempts altogether. Example: ADriving roll to steer a car with theknees while firing a bazooka two-handed during a chase through ablizzard.These modifiers assume a trainedcharacter. To get an idea of how tougha task would be for someone workingat default, add the default penalty tothe difficulty modifier.Example: Someone who neverlearned to drive is using Driving at itsDX-5 default. For him, an everydaycommute Easy (+4 or +5) for atrained driver would be Average(DX) or even Unfavorable (DX-1),and almost certainly a stressful experience!The GM can use difficulty modi-fiers in place of other modifiers if theoutcome of a task is too unimportant or the action too hot to justify stop-ping to add up a long string of modi-fiers. For instance, in a car chaseinvolving a car in bad repair, the GMmight bump the difficulty up a level ortwo instead of assessing an equipmentmodifier for the car.Time SpentYou can reduce the penalty for atough task or even get a bonus byworking slowly and deliberately, tak-ing the time to get things right.Conversely, if you are racing to beat adeadline, even the simplest task canbecome tricky.Extra Time: Taking more time thanusual for a task (as specified by therules or the GM) gives a bonus to anoncombat action: 2 as long gives +1,4 gives +2, 8 gives +3, 15 gives +4,and 30 gives +5. For instance, takinga work day (eight hours) to do a one-hour task would give +3. This bonusonly applies if it would make sense totake extra time for the task at hand(GMs judgment). You can take extratime to open a safe or figure out analien artifact, but not to neutralizepoison or chase a fleeing suspect!Haste: Hurrying gives a penalty: -1per 10% less time taken. Forinstance, attempting a task in half theusual time (-50%) is at -5. The maxi-mum time reduction is normally 90%(taking 1/10 the prescribed time), at-9. In a cinematic game, the GMmight allow one attempt at -10 tocomplete a task instantly; e.g., aMechanic roll at -10 to fix a machineby kicking it! However, you cannothasten tasks that require a certainamount of time due to natural laws(e.g., a chemical reaction) or the lim-itations of equipment (e.g., the topspeed of a vehicle). When in doubt,the GMs decision is final.Note that if a skill specifies timemodifiers, these override the genericmodifiers above. For instance, magicspells have their own rules for extratime (see Ceremonial Magic, p. 238)and cannot be rushed save by thosewith high skill (see Magic Rituals,p. 237).346SUCCESS ROLLSLong TasksThe GM may define major projects as long tasksthat require a number of man-hours of work with oneor more attributes or skills. For instance, the GMmight rule that building a rope bridge over a chasmrequires 40 man-hours of DX-based ordinary labor, 24man-hours of Carpentry work, and eight man-hours ofEngineer work.The normal limit on labor for each person involvedis eight hours per 24-hour day. At the end of each day,each worker rolls vs. the skill used that day (the GMrolls for NPCs). A success puts eight man-hours ofwork toward the task; a critical success counts 50%extra. A failure counts as half as much. A critical fail-ure contributes nothing, and ruins 2d man-hours ofwork already done!A supervisor who works a full shift with his work-ers may opt to coordinate his staff instead of workinghimself. Make an Administration roll if organizationmatters more than inspiration, or a Leadership roll inthe opposite situation (GMs judgment). On a success,the workers get +1 to their rolls for the day; on a criti-cal success, they get +2. On any failure, the supervisorcontributes nothing at all.It is possible to work longer shifts. To get an NPC todo this, make an Influence roll (see Influence Rolls,p. 359). Roll against HT on any day you work more thaneight hours, at -1 per hour over 10. On a success, makethe usual skill roll and (except on a critical failure) basethe man-hours contributed on the time worked. On afailure, your skill roll has a penalty equal to your mar-gin of failure or -2, whichever is worse, and you lose FPequal to the size of your penalty but you still con-tribute extra labor if your skill roll succeeds. Treat a crit-ical failure as any other failure, except that you are soexhausted that you cannot work the next day!It is possible to cut corners and reduce the man-hours of labor required, as described under TimeSpent. All workers doing a given type of labor maketheir skill rolls at the usual penalty for haste. Forinstance, the manual laborers working on the ropebridge above could reduce their work to 20 man-hours, but they would roll at DX-5.Likewise, it is possible to take extra time to get abonus. For instance, if those laborers put in 80 man-hours, they would roll at DX+1. This strategy is likelyto backfire if the extra time takes the form of longshifts, however.
|
attribute roll, defense roll (p. 374),self-control roll (p. 120), etc., yourbase skill is your unmodified score,while your effective skill is your final,modified target number.You may not attempt a success rollif your effective skill is less than 3,unless you are attempting a defenseroll (p. 374).TASK DIFFICULTYIf the GM feels that a success rollshould be easier or harder in a partic-ular situation, he may assess a difficul-ty modifier. This is separate from mod-ifiers for the culture, equipment, lan-guage, tech level, etc. of the personattempting the task, in that it appliesto anyone who attempts the task. It iscumulative with all other modifiers.For instance, if the GM rules thatthe only way to sway a particular audi-ence is to make a Public Speaking rollat -2, the difficulty modifier is -2. Anyspeaker has -2, in addition to personalmodifiers (for culture, language,Voice, etc.), when dealing with thataudience.Many skills suggest difficulty mod-ifiers e.g., the -5 to use Lockpickingskill by touch but the possible varietyof tasks is essentially infinite. Here aresome guidelines for GMs:+10 Automatic. Tasks so trivial thatthe GM should waive the need for asuccess roll, except under extraor-dinary circumstances. Example: ADriving roll to start a car.+8 or +9 Trivial. Situations wherefailure is extremely unlikely, andwould require incredibly bad luck.Example: A Driving roll to drivearound an empty parking lot.+6 or +7 Very Easy. Tasks where fail-ure is possible, but would requirebad luck. Example: A Driving roll todrive down an empty suburbanstreet.+4 or +5 Easy. Most mundane tasks,including rolls made by ordinarypeople at day-to-day jobs. Example:A Driving roll to commute to workin a small town.+2 or +3 Very Favorable. Mildlyrisky tasks that most peoplewould undertake without hesita-tion. Example: A Driving roll tocommute to work in a teemingmetropolis.+1 Favorable. Tasks that most peoplewould hesitate at, due to the risk,but that a career adventurer wouldregard as easy. Example: A Drivingroll to compete in a road rally.0 Average. Most adventuring tasks,and the majority of skill use understress. Example: A Driving roll in acar chase.-1 Unfavorable. Stressful tasks thatwould challenge a novice adventur-er, but not an old hand. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed carchase.-2 or -3 Very Unfavorable. Stressfultasks that would challenge a pro-fessional. Skilled adventurers stillroutinely accept such risks!Example: A Driving roll in a high-speed car chase on a busy freeway.-4 or -5 Hard. Tasks so challengingthat even an expert will look foralternatives. A true master is stillunlikely to feel challenged.Example: A Driving roll to keep thecar on the road while shooting agun out the window during a high-speed chase.SUCCESS ROLLS345Equipment ModifiersThe quality of your equipment modifies your skillrolls for tasks that normally require equipment:No equipment: -10 for technological skills, -5 forother skills. Note that many skills cannot be used at allwithout equipment!Improvised equipment: -5 for technological skills, -2for other skills.Basic equipment: No modifier. This is the case mostof the time.Good-quality equipment: +1. Costs about 5 basicprice.Fine-quality equipment: +2. Costs about 20 basicprice.Best equipment possible at your TL: +TL/2, rounddown (minimum +2). Not usually for sale!If you have basic or better equipment that is notin perfect condition, the following modifiers apply inaddition to quality modifiers:Missing important items: -1 per item.Damaged equipment: -1 to -3.Equipment modifiers reflect the quality of: Special tools of the trade, for criminal, military,and espionage skills such as Disguise, Explosives,Forgery, Forward Observer, Holdout, and Lockpicking. The contents of your backpack, for outdoor skillslike Fishing and Survival. Your instruments or lab, for scientific and medicalskills such as Alchemy, Diagnosis, Meteorology,Navigation, and Surgery. Your shop or toolkit, for Armoury, Carpentry,Electrician, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist,Masonry, Mechanic, Smith, and other skills used tobuild or repair things. Your studio, for artistic skills Artist, Jeweler,Photography, etc.Example: For First Aid skill, improvised mightmean leaves and clean mud; basic, sterile bandages;good, a standard first-aid kit; fine, a crash kit(found in most ambulances); and best, an entire hos-pital. Missing antiseptic would give -1, while a first-aidkit salvaged from a wrecked vehicle might give -1 orworse for damaged equipment.-6 or -7 Very Hard. Situations thateven the masters might have sec-ond thoughts about. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed chaseduring a blizzard.-8 or -9 Dangerous. Tasks at whicheven the greatest masters expect tofail. Example: A Driving roll whileshooting a gun in a high-speedchase during a blizzard.-10 Impossible. No sane personwould attempt such a task. TheGM may wish to forbid suchattempts altogether. Example: ADriving roll to steer a car with theknees while firing a bazooka two-handed during a chase through ablizzard.These modifiers assume a trainedcharacter. To get an idea of how tougha task would be for someone workingat default, add the default penalty tothe difficulty modifier.Example: Someone who neverlearned to drive is using Driving at itsDX-5 default. For him, an everydaycommute Easy (+4 or +5) for atrained driver would be Average(DX) or even Unfavorable (DX-1),and almost certainly a stressful experience!The GM can use difficulty modi-fiers in place of other modifiers if theoutcome of a task is too unimportant or the action too hot to justify stop-ping to add up a long string of modi-fiers. For instance, in a car chaseinvolving a car in bad repair, the GMmight bump the difficulty up a level ortwo instead of assessing an equipmentmodifier for the car.Time SpentYou can reduce the penalty for atough task or even get a bonus byworking slowly and deliberately, tak-ing the time to get things right.Conversely, if you are racing to beat adeadline, even the simplest task canbecome tricky.Extra Time: Taking more time thanusual for a task (as specified by therules or the GM) gives a bonus to anoncombat action: 2 as long gives +1,4 gives +2, 8 gives +3, 15 gives +4,and 30 gives +5. For instance, takinga work day (eight hours) to do a one-hour task would give +3. This bonusonly applies if it would make sense totake extra time for the task at hand(GMs judgment). You can take extratime to open a safe or figure out analien artifact, but not to neutralizepoison or chase a fleeing suspect!Haste: Hurrying gives a penalty: -1per 10% less time taken. Forinstance, attempting a task in half theusual time (-50%) is at -5. The maxi-mum time reduction is normally 90%(taking 1/10 the prescribed time), at-9. In a cinematic game, the GMmight allow one attempt at -10 tocomplete a task instantly; e.g., aMechanic roll at -10 to fix a machineby kicking it! However, you cannothasten tasks that require a certainamount of time due to natural laws(e.g., a chemical reaction) or the lim-itations of equipment (e.g., the topspeed of a vehicle). When in doubt,the GMs decision is final.Note that if a skill specifies timemodifiers, these override the genericmodifiers above. For instance, magicspells have their own rules for extratime (see Ceremonial Magic, p. 238)and cannot be rushed save by thosewith high skill (see Magic Rituals,p. 237).346SUCCESS ROLLSLong TasksThe GM may define major projects as long tasksthat require a number of man-hours of work with oneor more attributes or skills. For instance, the GMmight rule that building a rope bridge over a chasmrequires 40 man-hours of DX-based ordinary labor, 24man-hours of Carpentry work, and eight man-hours ofEngineer work.The normal limit on labor for each person involvedis eight hours per 24-hour day. At the end of each day,each worker rolls vs. the skill used that day (the GMrolls for NPCs). A success puts eight man-hours ofwork toward the task; a critical success counts 50%extra. A failure counts as half as much. A critical fail-ure contributes nothing, and ruins 2d man-hours ofwork already done!A supervisor who works a full shift with his work-ers may opt to coordinate his staff instead of workinghimself. Make an Administration roll if organizationmatters more than inspiration, or a Leadership roll inthe opposite situation (GMs judgment). On a success,the workers get +1 to their rolls for the day; on a criti-cal success, they get +2. On any failure, the supervisorcontributes nothing at all.It is possible to work longer shifts. To get an NPC todo this, make an Influence roll (see Influence Rolls,p. 359). Roll against HT on any day you work more thaneight hours, at -1 per hour over 10. On a success, makethe usual skill roll and (except on a critical failure) basethe man-hours contributed on the time worked. On afailure, your skill roll has a penalty equal to your mar-gin of failure or -2, whichever is worse, and you lose FPequal to the size of your penalty but you still con-tribute extra labor if your skill roll succeeds. Treat a crit-ical failure as any other failure, except that you are soexhausted that you cannot work the next day!It is possible to cut corners and reduce the man-hours of labor required, as described under TimeSpent. All workers doing a given type of labor maketheir skill rolls at the usual penalty for haste. Forinstance, the manual laborers working on the ropebridge above could reduce their work to 20 man-hours, but they would roll at DX-5.Likewise, it is possible to take extra time to get abonus. For instance, if those laborers put in 80 man-hours, they would roll at DX+1. This strategy is likelyto backfire if the extra time takes the form of longshifts, however.DEGREEOF SUCCESSOR FAILUREOnce you have calculated effectiveskill by applying all relevant modifiersto base skill, roll 3d to determine theoutcome. If the total rolled on the diceis less than or equal to your effectiveskill, you succeed, and the differencebetween your effective skill and yourdie roll is your margin of success.Example: If you have effective skill18 and roll a 12, you succeed; yourmargin of success is 6.If you roll higher than your effec-tive skill, you fail, and the differencebetween the die roll and your effectiveskill is your margin of failure.Example: If you have effective skill9 and roll a 12, you fail; your marginof failure is 3.Always note your margin of suc-cess or failure, as many rules use thesemargins to calculate results that mat-ter in play. Even when the rules dontcall for these numbers, the GM mightwish to reward a large margin of suc-cess with a particularly favorable out-come, or assess especially dire conse-quences for a large margin of failure!Extremely high or low rolls havespecial effects beyond those for nor-mal success and failure regardlessof your exact margin of success orfailure.Critical SuccessA critical success is an especiallygood result. You score a critical suc-cess as follows: A roll of 3 or 4 is always a criticalsuccess. A roll of 5 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 15+. A roll of 6 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 16+.When you roll a critical success,the GM determines what happens toyou. It is always something good! Thelower the roll, the better bonus hegives you.A critical hit is a critical successscored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Hit Table (p. 556).SUCCESS ROLLS347Optional Rule:Influencing Success RollsHere are two options for GMs who wish to let players spend bonuscharacter points (see p. 498) to influence game-world outcomes. Beaware that rules of this kind tend to encourage players to sacrifice long-term development for short-term success. This is most appropriate forgenres where the heroes usually win but dont develop much; e.g.,classic comic-book supers. The GM might want to set a limit on howmany points each player can spend this way per game session.Buying SuccessA player can spend bonus character points to alter the outcome ofhis last success roll. It costs 2 points to turn critical failure into failure,1 point to convert failure to success, or 2 points to turn success into crit-ical success. Add these costs for multiple shifts (e.g., critical failure tocritical success costs 5 points). To keep the PCs from winning every bat-tle with a series of critical hits, the GM may choose to forbid purchaseof critical successes, at least in combat.Note that because guaranteed successcan destroy suspense, this optional rule isnot recommended for horror or mysterygames.Player GuidanceA player can spend bonus characterpoints to specify the game-world effects of arecent success. Whenever he rolls a success(or in a situation that didnt call for a roll),he may spend 2 points and add a plausibleelement to the world or scene. A player whorolls a critical success may spend 1 point forthe same effect. This replaces any other ben-eficial effects of the critical success.Example: Dr. Smith is working at theFederal Laboratory for Advanced Weaponswhen a giant robot bursts through the frontdoors, four stories below. Smith makes hisSense roll and notices the attack. Smithsplayer suggests, I was walking past thesecurity station and spotted the robot on amonitor. I go over to the console and trainthe sensors on the robot. The GM hadntpreviously mentioned a security station orsensors, but since that fits his view of theFLAW, he agrees. Smiths player pays 2points and the GM fits the scene in.In addition to being plausible, a suggestionmust be acceptable to the GM and the other players. In general, the GMshould go along with suggestions that are imaginative, that move theplot forward, or that save a PCs life. The GM should not approve asuggestion that would short-circuit the plot, contradict a previouslyestablished fact, or harm or steal the scene from another PC. In bor-derline cases, the player and GM can negotiate.The GM should make a note of any element added using this rule, asit becomes a permanent part of the game world!
|
-6 or -7 Very Hard. Situations thateven the masters might have sec-ond thoughts about. Example: ADriving roll in a high-speed chaseduring a blizzard.-8 or -9 Dangerous. Tasks at whicheven the greatest masters expect tofail. Example: A Driving roll whileshooting a gun in a high-speedchase during a blizzard.-10 Impossible. No sane personwould attempt such a task. TheGM may wish to forbid suchattempts altogether. Example: ADriving roll to steer a car with theknees while firing a bazooka two-handed during a chase through ablizzard.These modifiers assume a trainedcharacter. To get an idea of how tougha task would be for someone workingat default, add the default penalty tothe difficulty modifier.Example: Someone who neverlearned to drive is using Driving at itsDX-5 default. For him, an everydaycommute Easy (+4 or +5) for atrained driver would be Average(DX) or even Unfavorable (DX-1),and almost certainly a stressful experience!The GM can use difficulty modi-fiers in place of other modifiers if theoutcome of a task is too unimportant or the action too hot to justify stop-ping to add up a long string of modi-fiers. For instance, in a car chaseinvolving a car in bad repair, the GMmight bump the difficulty up a level ortwo instead of assessing an equipmentmodifier for the car.Time SpentYou can reduce the penalty for atough task or even get a bonus byworking slowly and deliberately, tak-ing the time to get things right.Conversely, if you are racing to beat adeadline, even the simplest task canbecome tricky.Extra Time: Taking more time thanusual for a task (as specified by therules or the GM) gives a bonus to anoncombat action: 2 as long gives +1,4 gives +2, 8 gives +3, 15 gives +4,and 30 gives +5. For instance, takinga work day (eight hours) to do a one-hour task would give +3. This bonusonly applies if it would make sense totake extra time for the task at hand(GMs judgment). You can take extratime to open a safe or figure out analien artifact, but not to neutralizepoison or chase a fleeing suspect!Haste: Hurrying gives a penalty: -1per 10% less time taken. Forinstance, attempting a task in half theusual time (-50%) is at -5. The maxi-mum time reduction is normally 90%(taking 1/10 the prescribed time), at-9. In a cinematic game, the GMmight allow one attempt at -10 tocomplete a task instantly; e.g., aMechanic roll at -10 to fix a machineby kicking it! However, you cannothasten tasks that require a certainamount of time due to natural laws(e.g., a chemical reaction) or the lim-itations of equipment (e.g., the topspeed of a vehicle). When in doubt,the GMs decision is final.Note that if a skill specifies timemodifiers, these override the genericmodifiers above. For instance, magicspells have their own rules for extratime (see Ceremonial Magic, p. 238)and cannot be rushed save by thosewith high skill (see Magic Rituals,p. 237).346SUCCESS ROLLSLong TasksThe GM may define major projects as long tasksthat require a number of man-hours of work with oneor more attributes or skills. For instance, the GMmight rule that building a rope bridge over a chasmrequires 40 man-hours of DX-based ordinary labor, 24man-hours of Carpentry work, and eight man-hours ofEngineer work.The normal limit on labor for each person involvedis eight hours per 24-hour day. At the end of each day,each worker rolls vs. the skill used that day (the GMrolls for NPCs). A success puts eight man-hours ofwork toward the task; a critical success counts 50%extra. A failure counts as half as much. A critical fail-ure contributes nothing, and ruins 2d man-hours ofwork already done!A supervisor who works a full shift with his work-ers may opt to coordinate his staff instead of workinghimself. Make an Administration roll if organizationmatters more than inspiration, or a Leadership roll inthe opposite situation (GMs judgment). On a success,the workers get +1 to their rolls for the day; on a criti-cal success, they get +2. On any failure, the supervisorcontributes nothing at all.It is possible to work longer shifts. To get an NPC todo this, make an Influence roll (see Influence Rolls,p. 359). Roll against HT on any day you work more thaneight hours, at -1 per hour over 10. On a success, makethe usual skill roll and (except on a critical failure) basethe man-hours contributed on the time worked. On afailure, your skill roll has a penalty equal to your mar-gin of failure or -2, whichever is worse, and you lose FPequal to the size of your penalty but you still con-tribute extra labor if your skill roll succeeds. Treat a crit-ical failure as any other failure, except that you are soexhausted that you cannot work the next day!It is possible to cut corners and reduce the man-hours of labor required, as described under TimeSpent. All workers doing a given type of labor maketheir skill rolls at the usual penalty for haste. Forinstance, the manual laborers working on the ropebridge above could reduce their work to 20 man-hours, but they would roll at DX-5.Likewise, it is possible to take extra time to get abonus. For instance, if those laborers put in 80 man-hours, they would roll at DX+1. This strategy is likelyto backfire if the extra time takes the form of longshifts, however.DEGREEOF SUCCESSOR FAILUREOnce you have calculated effectiveskill by applying all relevant modifiersto base skill, roll 3d to determine theoutcome. If the total rolled on the diceis less than or equal to your effectiveskill, you succeed, and the differencebetween your effective skill and yourdie roll is your margin of success.Example: If you have effective skill18 and roll a 12, you succeed; yourmargin of success is 6.If you roll higher than your effec-tive skill, you fail, and the differencebetween the die roll and your effectiveskill is your margin of failure.Example: If you have effective skill9 and roll a 12, you fail; your marginof failure is 3.Always note your margin of suc-cess or failure, as many rules use thesemargins to calculate results that mat-ter in play. Even when the rules dontcall for these numbers, the GM mightwish to reward a large margin of suc-cess with a particularly favorable out-come, or assess especially dire conse-quences for a large margin of failure!Extremely high or low rolls havespecial effects beyond those for nor-mal success and failure regardlessof your exact margin of success orfailure.Critical SuccessA critical success is an especiallygood result. You score a critical suc-cess as follows: A roll of 3 or 4 is always a criticalsuccess. A roll of 5 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 15+. A roll of 6 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 16+.When you roll a critical success,the GM determines what happens toyou. It is always something good! Thelower the roll, the better bonus hegives you.A critical hit is a critical successscored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Hit Table (p. 556).SUCCESS ROLLS347Optional Rule:Influencing Success RollsHere are two options for GMs who wish to let players spend bonuscharacter points (see p. 498) to influence game-world outcomes. Beaware that rules of this kind tend to encourage players to sacrifice long-term development for short-term success. This is most appropriate forgenres where the heroes usually win but dont develop much; e.g.,classic comic-book supers. The GM might want to set a limit on howmany points each player can spend this way per game session.Buying SuccessA player can spend bonus character points to alter the outcome ofhis last success roll. It costs 2 points to turn critical failure into failure,1 point to convert failure to success, or 2 points to turn success into crit-ical success. Add these costs for multiple shifts (e.g., critical failure tocritical success costs 5 points). To keep the PCs from winning every bat-tle with a series of critical hits, the GM may choose to forbid purchaseof critical successes, at least in combat.Note that because guaranteed successcan destroy suspense, this optional rule isnot recommended for horror or mysterygames.Player GuidanceA player can spend bonus characterpoints to specify the game-world effects of arecent success. Whenever he rolls a success(or in a situation that didnt call for a roll),he may spend 2 points and add a plausibleelement to the world or scene. A player whorolls a critical success may spend 1 point forthe same effect. This replaces any other ben-eficial effects of the critical success.Example: Dr. Smith is working at theFederal Laboratory for Advanced Weaponswhen a giant robot bursts through the frontdoors, four stories below. Smith makes hisSense roll and notices the attack. Smithsplayer suggests, I was walking past thesecurity station and spotted the robot on amonitor. I go over to the console and trainthe sensors on the robot. The GM hadntpreviously mentioned a security station orsensors, but since that fits his view of theFLAW, he agrees. Smiths player pays 2points and the GM fits the scene in.In addition to being plausible, a suggestionmust be acceptable to the GM and the other players. In general, the GMshould go along with suggestions that are imaginative, that move theplot forward, or that save a PCs life. The GM should not approve asuggestion that would short-circuit the plot, contradict a previouslyestablished fact, or harm or steal the scene from another PC. In bor-derline cases, the player and GM can negotiate.The GM should make a note of any element added using this rule, asit becomes a permanent part of the game world!Critical FailureA critical failure is an especially badresult. You score a critical failure asfollows: A roll of 18 is always a critical failure. A roll of 17 is a critical failure ifyour effective skill is 15 or less; other-wise, it is an ordinary failure. Any roll of 10 greater than youreffective skill is a critical failure: 16 ona skill of 6, 15 on a skill of 5, and so on.When you roll a critical failure, theGM determines what happens to you.It is always something bad the high-er the roll, the worse the result.A critical miss is a critical failurescored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Miss Table (p. 556).REPEATEDATTEMPTSSometimes you will only get onechance to do something (defuse abomb, jump over a crevasse, removean inflamed appendix, please the Kingwith a song). Other times you can tryover and over again until you succeed(pick a lock, catch a fish, analyze apoison). Still other times you will notknow whether you succeeded or faileduntil its too late to try again (translatean old treasure map, order in a Frenchrestaurant, build a ship). Finally, thereare times when you are injured by fail-ure but can afford to fail a few times(climb a wall, impress a savagetribesman).The GM must use common senseto distinguish between these cases,according to the exact situation inwhich the players find themselves. Asa rule: If the first failure kills them ordestroys the object of the attempt,thats that. If a failure causes damage ofsome kind, assess the damage and letthem try again after a reasonabletime passes. (Skill descriptions fre-quently state the time required.) If a failure causes no damage, letthem try again after a reasonable time,but at -1 per repeated attempt that is,-1 on the second attempt, -2 on thethird, and so on until they succeed orgive up. If repeated attempts are the normfor the task (e.g., when attacking incombat), or if its long task, tell themthat their attempt failed but let themtry again at no special penalty, in theusual amount of time.348SUCCESS ROLLSCONTESTSSometimes a situation will arise inwhich two characters must compareattributes, skills, or other traits to settlea competition. The one with the highestscore doesnt always win . . . but thatsthe way to bet. A Contest is a quickway to handle such a competitive situa-tion without playing it out in detail. In a Contest, each competitorattempts a success roll against the abil-ity being tested with all applicablemodifiers and then compares hisresult to his opponents. There are two different ways to make this comparison.QUICK CONTESTSA Quick Contest is a competitionthat is over in very little time often inone second, perhaps even instantly.Examples include two enemies lung-ing for a gun, or two knife throwersseeing who gets closer to the bulls-eye.Each competitor attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed, the winner is the one with thelargest margin of success; if both fail,the winner is the one with the smallestmargin of failure. A tie means nobodywon (in the examples above, bothfighters grabbed the weapon at once,or the knives hit the same distancefrom the bulls-eye).Margin of VictoryThe amount by which the winnerbeat the loser is often important suc-cess by 5 vs. failure by 5 generallymeans more than success by 2 vs. suc-cess by 1! The winners margin of vic-tory is the difference between hismargin of success and the losers margin of success if both succeeded,the sum of his margin of success andthe losers margin of failure if he succeeded and the loser failed, or thedifference between the losers marginof failure and his margin of failure ifboth failed.Resistance RollsMost abilities that can affect anunwilling subject offer the subject anattempt to resist using an attribute,skill, or supernatural ability. This issometimes a Quick Contest betweenthe attacking ability and the defendersresistance, in which case two specialrules apply:1. The attacker must succeed towin. He cannot win by having thesmallest margin of failure. If he failshis roll, he loses automatically and hissubject does not need to attempt aresistance roll.2. The attacker must win to affectthe subject. All ties go to the defender.
|
DEGREEOF SUCCESSOR FAILUREOnce you have calculated effectiveskill by applying all relevant modifiersto base skill, roll 3d to determine theoutcome. If the total rolled on the diceis less than or equal to your effectiveskill, you succeed, and the differencebetween your effective skill and yourdie roll is your margin of success.Example: If you have effective skill18 and roll a 12, you succeed; yourmargin of success is 6.If you roll higher than your effec-tive skill, you fail, and the differencebetween the die roll and your effectiveskill is your margin of failure.Example: If you have effective skill9 and roll a 12, you fail; your marginof failure is 3.Always note your margin of suc-cess or failure, as many rules use thesemargins to calculate results that mat-ter in play. Even when the rules dontcall for these numbers, the GM mightwish to reward a large margin of suc-cess with a particularly favorable out-come, or assess especially dire conse-quences for a large margin of failure!Extremely high or low rolls havespecial effects beyond those for nor-mal success and failure regardlessof your exact margin of success orfailure.Critical SuccessA critical success is an especiallygood result. You score a critical suc-cess as follows: A roll of 3 or 4 is always a criticalsuccess. A roll of 5 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 15+. A roll of 6 is a critical success ifyour effective skill is 16+.When you roll a critical success,the GM determines what happens toyou. It is always something good! Thelower the roll, the better bonus hegives you.A critical hit is a critical successscored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Hit Table (p. 556).SUCCESS ROLLS347Optional Rule:Influencing Success RollsHere are two options for GMs who wish to let players spend bonuscharacter points (see p. 498) to influence game-world outcomes. Beaware that rules of this kind tend to encourage players to sacrifice long-term development for short-term success. This is most appropriate forgenres where the heroes usually win but dont develop much; e.g.,classic comic-book supers. The GM might want to set a limit on howmany points each player can spend this way per game session.Buying SuccessA player can spend bonus character points to alter the outcome ofhis last success roll. It costs 2 points to turn critical failure into failure,1 point to convert failure to success, or 2 points to turn success into crit-ical success. Add these costs for multiple shifts (e.g., critical failure tocritical success costs 5 points). To keep the PCs from winning every bat-tle with a series of critical hits, the GM may choose to forbid purchaseof critical successes, at least in combat.Note that because guaranteed successcan destroy suspense, this optional rule isnot recommended for horror or mysterygames.Player GuidanceA player can spend bonus characterpoints to specify the game-world effects of arecent success. Whenever he rolls a success(or in a situation that didnt call for a roll),he may spend 2 points and add a plausibleelement to the world or scene. A player whorolls a critical success may spend 1 point forthe same effect. This replaces any other ben-eficial effects of the critical success.Example: Dr. Smith is working at theFederal Laboratory for Advanced Weaponswhen a giant robot bursts through the frontdoors, four stories below. Smith makes hisSense roll and notices the attack. Smithsplayer suggests, I was walking past thesecurity station and spotted the robot on amonitor. I go over to the console and trainthe sensors on the robot. The GM hadntpreviously mentioned a security station orsensors, but since that fits his view of theFLAW, he agrees. Smiths player pays 2points and the GM fits the scene in.In addition to being plausible, a suggestionmust be acceptable to the GM and the other players. In general, the GMshould go along with suggestions that are imaginative, that move theplot forward, or that save a PCs life. The GM should not approve asuggestion that would short-circuit the plot, contradict a previouslyestablished fact, or harm or steal the scene from another PC. In bor-derline cases, the player and GM can negotiate.The GM should make a note of any element added using this rule, asit becomes a permanent part of the game world!Critical FailureA critical failure is an especially badresult. You score a critical failure asfollows: A roll of 18 is always a critical failure. A roll of 17 is a critical failure ifyour effective skill is 15 or less; other-wise, it is an ordinary failure. Any roll of 10 greater than youreffective skill is a critical failure: 16 ona skill of 6, 15 on a skill of 5, and so on.When you roll a critical failure, theGM determines what happens to you.It is always something bad the high-er the roll, the worse the result.A critical miss is a critical failurescored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Miss Table (p. 556).REPEATEDATTEMPTSSometimes you will only get onechance to do something (defuse abomb, jump over a crevasse, removean inflamed appendix, please the Kingwith a song). Other times you can tryover and over again until you succeed(pick a lock, catch a fish, analyze apoison). Still other times you will notknow whether you succeeded or faileduntil its too late to try again (translatean old treasure map, order in a Frenchrestaurant, build a ship). Finally, thereare times when you are injured by fail-ure but can afford to fail a few times(climb a wall, impress a savagetribesman).The GM must use common senseto distinguish between these cases,according to the exact situation inwhich the players find themselves. Asa rule: If the first failure kills them ordestroys the object of the attempt,thats that. If a failure causes damage ofsome kind, assess the damage and letthem try again after a reasonabletime passes. (Skill descriptions fre-quently state the time required.) If a failure causes no damage, letthem try again after a reasonable time,but at -1 per repeated attempt that is,-1 on the second attempt, -2 on thethird, and so on until they succeed orgive up. If repeated attempts are the normfor the task (e.g., when attacking incombat), or if its long task, tell themthat their attempt failed but let themtry again at no special penalty, in theusual amount of time.348SUCCESS ROLLSCONTESTSSometimes a situation will arise inwhich two characters must compareattributes, skills, or other traits to settlea competition. The one with the highestscore doesnt always win . . . but thatsthe way to bet. A Contest is a quickway to handle such a competitive situa-tion without playing it out in detail. In a Contest, each competitorattempts a success roll against the abil-ity being tested with all applicablemodifiers and then compares hisresult to his opponents. There are two different ways to make this comparison.QUICK CONTESTSA Quick Contest is a competitionthat is over in very little time often inone second, perhaps even instantly.Examples include two enemies lung-ing for a gun, or two knife throwersseeing who gets closer to the bulls-eye.Each competitor attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed, the winner is the one with thelargest margin of success; if both fail,the winner is the one with the smallestmargin of failure. A tie means nobodywon (in the examples above, bothfighters grabbed the weapon at once,or the knives hit the same distancefrom the bulls-eye).Margin of VictoryThe amount by which the winnerbeat the loser is often important suc-cess by 5 vs. failure by 5 generallymeans more than success by 2 vs. suc-cess by 1! The winners margin of vic-tory is the difference between hismargin of success and the losers margin of success if both succeeded,the sum of his margin of success andthe losers margin of failure if he succeeded and the loser failed, or thedifference between the losers marginof failure and his margin of failure ifboth failed.Resistance RollsMost abilities that can affect anunwilling subject offer the subject anattempt to resist using an attribute,skill, or supernatural ability. This issometimes a Quick Contest betweenthe attacking ability and the defendersresistance, in which case two specialrules apply:1. The attacker must succeed towin. He cannot win by having thesmallest margin of failure. If he failshis roll, he loses automatically and hissubject does not need to attempt aresistance roll.2. The attacker must win to affectthe subject. All ties go to the defender.REGULARCONTESTSA Regular Contest is a slow com-petition with much give and take forinstance, arm wrestling.Each character attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed or both fail, the competitorsrelative positions are unchanged andthey roll again. Eventually, one char-acter succeeds when the other fails. Atthis point, the one who made his roll isthe winner.The length of game time eachattempt takes depends on the activity,and is up to the GM. In a combat situ-ation, each attempt takes one second. . . but in a library-research contest,with the fate of the world hanging onwho finds a certain obscure referencefirst, each attempt could representdays of time.Extreme ScoresIf both contestants have a score of6 or less, a Regular Contest can bogdown the game as both sides roll fail-ure after failure. To keep the gamemoving, raise the lower score to 10and add the same amount to thehigher score.Example: For a 5 vs. 3 Contest, add7 to each score to make it 12 vs. 10.Likewise, a Regular Contest canbecome deadlocked if both contest-ants have scores of 14 or more,because it can take a long time beforeanyone rolls a failure. To speed up theprocess, reduce the lower score to 10and subtract the same amount fromthe higher score.Example: For a 19 vs. 16 Contest,subtract 6 from each score to make it13 vs. 10.When both scores are greater than20 e.g., a Contest of ST betweendinosaurs even this will not suffice.Instead, reduce the lower score to 10and multiply the higher score by(10/lower score), rounding down.Example: For a 600 vs. 500 Contest,multiply the higher score by 10/500and set the lower one to 10 to make it12 vs. 10.SUCCESS ROLLS349PHYSICAL FEATSBelow are rules for common phys-ical tasks of importance to adventur-ers. For tasks not listed here, make DXrolls for matters of precision and HTrolls for feats of endurance. To deter-mine weight moved or work done, useBasic Lift. Movement speed shouldgenerally be proportional to BasicMove. For more on basic attributesand secondary characteristics, seeChapter 1.CLIMBINGTo climb anything more difficultthan a ladder, roll against Climbingskill (p. 183). This defaults to DX-5.Modifiers to the roll depend on the dif-ficulty of the climb (see below). In allcases, subtract your encumbrancelevel from your roll as well. Climbingwhile heavily laden is a dangerousmatter!Make one roll to start the climband another roll every five minutes.Any failure means you fall (see Falling,p. 431). If you secured yourself with arope, you will fall only to the end ofthe rope unless you rolled a criticalfailure.The table below gives skill modi-fiers and climbing speeds for somecommon climbs. In most cases, usethe speeds in the Regular column.The Combat column is for climbsinspired by rage or terror, whichalways cost at least 1 FP or doublethe FP cost given in an adventure orassessed by the GM. Climbs in combatrequire a Move maneuver.Type of ClimbModifierCombatRegularLadder going upno roll3 rungs/sec1 rung/secLadder going downno roll2 rungs/sec1 rung/secOrdinary tree+51 ft/sec1 ft/3 secOrdinary mountain01 ft/2 sec10 ft/minVertical stone wall-31 ft/5 sec4 ft/minModern building-31 ft/10 sec2 ft/minRope-up-21 ft/sec20 ft/minRope-down(w/o equipment)-12 ft/sec30 ft/min(w/ equipment)-112 ft/sec12 ft/secThe Rule of 16If a supernatural attack (magic spell, psi ability, etc.) offers a resist-ance roll and the subject is living or sapient, the attackers effective skillcannot exceed the higher of 16 and the defenders actual resistance. If itdoes, reduce it to that level.Example: A wizard has an effective skill of 18 with his Mind-Readingspell. If he tries to read the mind of someone with a Will of 16 or less,he rolls against 16. If his subject has a Will of 17, he rolls against 17.And if his target has a Will of 18 or higher, he rolls against 18.
|
Critical FailureA critical failure is an especially badresult. You score a critical failure asfollows: A roll of 18 is always a critical failure. A roll of 17 is a critical failure ifyour effective skill is 15 or less; other-wise, it is an ordinary failure. Any roll of 10 greater than youreffective skill is a critical failure: 16 ona skill of 6, 15 on a skill of 5, and so on.When you roll a critical failure, theGM determines what happens to you.It is always something bad the high-er the roll, the worse the result.A critical miss is a critical failurescored on an attack. The GM does notdetermine the result. Instead, use theCritical Miss Table (p. 556).REPEATEDATTEMPTSSometimes you will only get onechance to do something (defuse abomb, jump over a crevasse, removean inflamed appendix, please the Kingwith a song). Other times you can tryover and over again until you succeed(pick a lock, catch a fish, analyze apoison). Still other times you will notknow whether you succeeded or faileduntil its too late to try again (translatean old treasure map, order in a Frenchrestaurant, build a ship). Finally, thereare times when you are injured by fail-ure but can afford to fail a few times(climb a wall, impress a savagetribesman).The GM must use common senseto distinguish between these cases,according to the exact situation inwhich the players find themselves. Asa rule: If the first failure kills them ordestroys the object of the attempt,thats that. If a failure causes damage ofsome kind, assess the damage and letthem try again after a reasonabletime passes. (Skill descriptions fre-quently state the time required.) If a failure causes no damage, letthem try again after a reasonable time,but at -1 per repeated attempt that is,-1 on the second attempt, -2 on thethird, and so on until they succeed orgive up. If repeated attempts are the normfor the task (e.g., when attacking incombat), or if its long task, tell themthat their attempt failed but let themtry again at no special penalty, in theusual amount of time.348SUCCESS ROLLSCONTESTSSometimes a situation will arise inwhich two characters must compareattributes, skills, or other traits to settlea competition. The one with the highestscore doesnt always win . . . but thatsthe way to bet. A Contest is a quickway to handle such a competitive situa-tion without playing it out in detail. In a Contest, each competitorattempts a success roll against the abil-ity being tested with all applicablemodifiers and then compares hisresult to his opponents. There are two different ways to make this comparison.QUICK CONTESTSA Quick Contest is a competitionthat is over in very little time often inone second, perhaps even instantly.Examples include two enemies lung-ing for a gun, or two knife throwersseeing who gets closer to the bulls-eye.Each competitor attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed, the winner is the one with thelargest margin of success; if both fail,the winner is the one with the smallestmargin of failure. A tie means nobodywon (in the examples above, bothfighters grabbed the weapon at once,or the knives hit the same distancefrom the bulls-eye).Margin of VictoryThe amount by which the winnerbeat the loser is often important suc-cess by 5 vs. failure by 5 generallymeans more than success by 2 vs. suc-cess by 1! The winners margin of vic-tory is the difference between hismargin of success and the losers margin of success if both succeeded,the sum of his margin of success andthe losers margin of failure if he succeeded and the loser failed, or thedifference between the losers marginof failure and his margin of failure ifboth failed.Resistance RollsMost abilities that can affect anunwilling subject offer the subject anattempt to resist using an attribute,skill, or supernatural ability. This issometimes a Quick Contest betweenthe attacking ability and the defendersresistance, in which case two specialrules apply:1. The attacker must succeed towin. He cannot win by having thesmallest margin of failure. If he failshis roll, he loses automatically and hissubject does not need to attempt aresistance roll.2. The attacker must win to affectthe subject. All ties go to the defender.REGULARCONTESTSA Regular Contest is a slow com-petition with much give and take forinstance, arm wrestling.Each character attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed or both fail, the competitorsrelative positions are unchanged andthey roll again. Eventually, one char-acter succeeds when the other fails. Atthis point, the one who made his roll isthe winner.The length of game time eachattempt takes depends on the activity,and is up to the GM. In a combat situ-ation, each attempt takes one second. . . but in a library-research contest,with the fate of the world hanging onwho finds a certain obscure referencefirst, each attempt could representdays of time.Extreme ScoresIf both contestants have a score of6 or less, a Regular Contest can bogdown the game as both sides roll fail-ure after failure. To keep the gamemoving, raise the lower score to 10and add the same amount to thehigher score.Example: For a 5 vs. 3 Contest, add7 to each score to make it 12 vs. 10.Likewise, a Regular Contest canbecome deadlocked if both contest-ants have scores of 14 or more,because it can take a long time beforeanyone rolls a failure. To speed up theprocess, reduce the lower score to 10and subtract the same amount fromthe higher score.Example: For a 19 vs. 16 Contest,subtract 6 from each score to make it13 vs. 10.When both scores are greater than20 e.g., a Contest of ST betweendinosaurs even this will not suffice.Instead, reduce the lower score to 10and multiply the higher score by(10/lower score), rounding down.Example: For a 600 vs. 500 Contest,multiply the higher score by 10/500and set the lower one to 10 to make it12 vs. 10.SUCCESS ROLLS349PHYSICAL FEATSBelow are rules for common phys-ical tasks of importance to adventur-ers. For tasks not listed here, make DXrolls for matters of precision and HTrolls for feats of endurance. To deter-mine weight moved or work done, useBasic Lift. Movement speed shouldgenerally be proportional to BasicMove. For more on basic attributesand secondary characteristics, seeChapter 1.CLIMBINGTo climb anything more difficultthan a ladder, roll against Climbingskill (p. 183). This defaults to DX-5.Modifiers to the roll depend on the dif-ficulty of the climb (see below). In allcases, subtract your encumbrancelevel from your roll as well. Climbingwhile heavily laden is a dangerousmatter!Make one roll to start the climband another roll every five minutes.Any failure means you fall (see Falling,p. 431). If you secured yourself with arope, you will fall only to the end ofthe rope unless you rolled a criticalfailure.The table below gives skill modi-fiers and climbing speeds for somecommon climbs. In most cases, usethe speeds in the Regular column.The Combat column is for climbsinspired by rage or terror, whichalways cost at least 1 FP or doublethe FP cost given in an adventure orassessed by the GM. Climbs in combatrequire a Move maneuver.Type of ClimbModifierCombatRegularLadder going upno roll3 rungs/sec1 rung/secLadder going downno roll2 rungs/sec1 rung/secOrdinary tree+51 ft/sec1 ft/3 secOrdinary mountain01 ft/2 sec10 ft/minVertical stone wall-31 ft/5 sec4 ft/minModern building-31 ft/10 sec2 ft/minRope-up-21 ft/sec20 ft/minRope-down(w/o equipment)-12 ft/sec30 ft/min(w/ equipment)-112 ft/sec12 ft/secThe Rule of 16If a supernatural attack (magic spell, psi ability, etc.) offers a resist-ance roll and the subject is living or sapient, the attackers effective skillcannot exceed the higher of 16 and the defenders actual resistance. If itdoes, reduce it to that level.Example: A wizard has an effective skill of 18 with his Mind-Readingspell. If he tries to read the mind of someone with a Will of 16 or less,he rolls against 16. If his subject has a Will of 17, he rolls against 17.And if his target has a Will of 18 or higher, he rolls against 18.DIGGINGDigging rate depends on the type ofsoil, the diggers Basic Lift (that is,STST/5), and the quality of the toolsavailable.Loose Soil, Sand, etc.: A man candig 2BL cubic feet per hour (cf/hr).Ordinary Soil: A man can dig BLcf/hr. One man with a pick can breakup 4BL cf/hr, making it into loosesoil, which is easier to remove. Themost efficient way to dig is with oneman with a pick, and two shovelersclearing behind him.Hard Soil, Clay, etc.: Must be bro-ken up first by a pick, at 2BL cf/hr,350SUCCESS ROLLSDifferent GravityA worlds gravity is measured in Gs, with 1G beingEarth-normal conditions. In comparison, Mars has0.38G and the Moon has 0.17G.Microgravity is extremely low gravity (e.g., that of anasteroid or small moon) for game purposes, anythingbelow 0.1G.Zero gravity is weightlessness, or free fall, as foundin space and aboard any spacecraft not spinning, accel-erating, or otherwise generating artificial gravity.In higher or lower gravity, mass stays the same, butweight changes.Encumbrance and Move in Different GravityIf local gravity is more than 1G, multiply the sum ofyour body weight and the weight of everything youre car-rying by (local gravity in Gs)-1. This is the extra weightyoure carrying due to high gravity. Add this to yourencumbrance when determining Move.Example: You weigh 150 lbs. and are carrying 30 lbs.of gear. On a 1.2-G world, that amounts to an extra weightof (150 + 30) (1.2 - 1) = 36 lbs. Since youre already car-rying 30 lbs., your total encumbrance is 66 lbs.If local gravity is less than 1G, multiply the weight ofthe gear youre carrying by the local gravity, and use themodified weight to determine your encumbrance. Thereis a similar reduction in your body weight; this does notaffect encumbrance, but it lets you jump further (seebelow). In very low gravity, you may be able to movefaster than your Basic Move by making a series of run-ning broad jumps instead of walking!In zero gravity, you float in space (unless using mag-netic boots, thrusters, etc.). If you cant fly, you must pushoff from a solid surface to move. Your Move when doingso is equal to ST/2, rounded down. You will keep going atthat speed until you grab or collide with something!Actions in Different GravityIn gravities other than 1G, the jumping rules (p. 352)need modification. Multiply your normal jumping dis-tances by the ratio of 1G to local gravity. For instance,under 1.25G, you jump 1/1.25 = 0.8 times as far, whileunder 0.2G, you jump 1/0.2 = 5 times as far. (Exception:Do not multiply the bonus high-jump distance you getfrom a running start!) If this lets you jump at least twiceas far as normal, use the rules under Super Jump (p. 89)to determine how fast you can move by bounding along.When throwing (p. 355), multiply distance by theratio of 1G to local gravity, just as you would for jump-ing. Damage from thrown objects does not change, asthis is based on mass.Gravity also affects falls. Multiply terminal velocityby local gravity. See Falling (p. 431) for what thisimplies.In zero gravity, your skills and DX rolls are affectedas well; see Free Fall (p. 197). This does not apply whenfiring beam weapons (unless they have Recoil 2 ormore) or operating vehicles or tools specificallydesigned for zero gravity (e.g., a spacecraft).G-Increments and Attribute PenaltiesIf local gravity differs from your home gravity (seeHome Gravity, p. 17), you might become disorientedand suffer physiological effects. The change in gravityyou can tolerate without penalties is your G-Increment. This is 0.2G unless you have the ImprovedG-Tolerance advantage (p. 60).In higher or lower gravity than usual, count thenumber of G-Increments from your home gravity,rounding down. This determines the penalties you suf-fer. For instance, an Earth native used to 1G treats0.81G to 1.19G as zero G-Increments, but 0.8G or 1.2Gcounts as one G-Increment.DX: You are at -1 DX per G-Increment of difference(-1 per two full G-Increments, if you have the G-Experience advantage, p. 57). This applies to activitiesthat require agility or judging ballistic trajectories; itaffects Broadsword, Driving, and Guns, but not BeamWeapons or Lockpicking.IQ: You are at -1 IQ per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, due to reduced blood flow to the brainand general fatigue. Lower gravity has no effect.HT: You are at -1 HT per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, because the heart has to work harder.Lower your FP score by the same amount. There is noeffect in lower gravity although microgravity or zerogravity might cause space sickness (see SpaceAdaptation Syndrome, p. 434), or even have lasting illeffects in the long term.See Temporary Attribute Penalties (p. 421) to learnhow attribute penalties affect secondary characteristicsand skills.
|
REGULARCONTESTSA Regular Contest is a slow com-petition with much give and take forinstance, arm wrestling.Each character attempts his suc-cess roll. If one succeeds and the otherfails, the winner is obvious. If bothsucceed or both fail, the competitorsrelative positions are unchanged andthey roll again. Eventually, one char-acter succeeds when the other fails. Atthis point, the one who made his roll isthe winner.The length of game time eachattempt takes depends on the activity,and is up to the GM. In a combat situ-ation, each attempt takes one second. . . but in a library-research contest,with the fate of the world hanging onwho finds a certain obscure referencefirst, each attempt could representdays of time.Extreme ScoresIf both contestants have a score of6 or less, a Regular Contest can bogdown the game as both sides roll fail-ure after failure. To keep the gamemoving, raise the lower score to 10and add the same amount to thehigher score.Example: For a 5 vs. 3 Contest, add7 to each score to make it 12 vs. 10.Likewise, a Regular Contest canbecome deadlocked if both contest-ants have scores of 14 or more,because it can take a long time beforeanyone rolls a failure. To speed up theprocess, reduce the lower score to 10and subtract the same amount fromthe higher score.Example: For a 19 vs. 16 Contest,subtract 6 from each score to make it13 vs. 10.When both scores are greater than20 e.g., a Contest of ST betweendinosaurs even this will not suffice.Instead, reduce the lower score to 10and multiply the higher score by(10/lower score), rounding down.Example: For a 600 vs. 500 Contest,multiply the higher score by 10/500and set the lower one to 10 to make it12 vs. 10.SUCCESS ROLLS349PHYSICAL FEATSBelow are rules for common phys-ical tasks of importance to adventur-ers. For tasks not listed here, make DXrolls for matters of precision and HTrolls for feats of endurance. To deter-mine weight moved or work done, useBasic Lift. Movement speed shouldgenerally be proportional to BasicMove. For more on basic attributesand secondary characteristics, seeChapter 1.CLIMBINGTo climb anything more difficultthan a ladder, roll against Climbingskill (p. 183). This defaults to DX-5.Modifiers to the roll depend on the dif-ficulty of the climb (see below). In allcases, subtract your encumbrancelevel from your roll as well. Climbingwhile heavily laden is a dangerousmatter!Make one roll to start the climband another roll every five minutes.Any failure means you fall (see Falling,p. 431). If you secured yourself with arope, you will fall only to the end ofthe rope unless you rolled a criticalfailure.The table below gives skill modi-fiers and climbing speeds for somecommon climbs. In most cases, usethe speeds in the Regular column.The Combat column is for climbsinspired by rage or terror, whichalways cost at least 1 FP or doublethe FP cost given in an adventure orassessed by the GM. Climbs in combatrequire a Move maneuver.Type of ClimbModifierCombatRegularLadder going upno roll3 rungs/sec1 rung/secLadder going downno roll2 rungs/sec1 rung/secOrdinary tree+51 ft/sec1 ft/3 secOrdinary mountain01 ft/2 sec10 ft/minVertical stone wall-31 ft/5 sec4 ft/minModern building-31 ft/10 sec2 ft/minRope-up-21 ft/sec20 ft/minRope-down(w/o equipment)-12 ft/sec30 ft/min(w/ equipment)-112 ft/sec12 ft/secThe Rule of 16If a supernatural attack (magic spell, psi ability, etc.) offers a resist-ance roll and the subject is living or sapient, the attackers effective skillcannot exceed the higher of 16 and the defenders actual resistance. If itdoes, reduce it to that level.Example: A wizard has an effective skill of 18 with his Mind-Readingspell. If he tries to read the mind of someone with a Will of 16 or less,he rolls against 16. If his subject has a Will of 17, he rolls against 17.And if his target has a Will of 18 or higher, he rolls against 18.DIGGINGDigging rate depends on the type ofsoil, the diggers Basic Lift (that is,STST/5), and the quality of the toolsavailable.Loose Soil, Sand, etc.: A man candig 2BL cubic feet per hour (cf/hr).Ordinary Soil: A man can dig BLcf/hr. One man with a pick can breakup 4BL cf/hr, making it into loosesoil, which is easier to remove. Themost efficient way to dig is with oneman with a pick, and two shovelersclearing behind him.Hard Soil, Clay, etc.: Must be bro-ken up first by a pick, at 2BL cf/hr,350SUCCESS ROLLSDifferent GravityA worlds gravity is measured in Gs, with 1G beingEarth-normal conditions. In comparison, Mars has0.38G and the Moon has 0.17G.Microgravity is extremely low gravity (e.g., that of anasteroid or small moon) for game purposes, anythingbelow 0.1G.Zero gravity is weightlessness, or free fall, as foundin space and aboard any spacecraft not spinning, accel-erating, or otherwise generating artificial gravity.In higher or lower gravity, mass stays the same, butweight changes.Encumbrance and Move in Different GravityIf local gravity is more than 1G, multiply the sum ofyour body weight and the weight of everything youre car-rying by (local gravity in Gs)-1. This is the extra weightyoure carrying due to high gravity. Add this to yourencumbrance when determining Move.Example: You weigh 150 lbs. and are carrying 30 lbs.of gear. On a 1.2-G world, that amounts to an extra weightof (150 + 30) (1.2 - 1) = 36 lbs. Since youre already car-rying 30 lbs., your total encumbrance is 66 lbs.If local gravity is less than 1G, multiply the weight ofthe gear youre carrying by the local gravity, and use themodified weight to determine your encumbrance. Thereis a similar reduction in your body weight; this does notaffect encumbrance, but it lets you jump further (seebelow). In very low gravity, you may be able to movefaster than your Basic Move by making a series of run-ning broad jumps instead of walking!In zero gravity, you float in space (unless using mag-netic boots, thrusters, etc.). If you cant fly, you must pushoff from a solid surface to move. Your Move when doingso is equal to ST/2, rounded down. You will keep going atthat speed until you grab or collide with something!Actions in Different GravityIn gravities other than 1G, the jumping rules (p. 352)need modification. Multiply your normal jumping dis-tances by the ratio of 1G to local gravity. For instance,under 1.25G, you jump 1/1.25 = 0.8 times as far, whileunder 0.2G, you jump 1/0.2 = 5 times as far. (Exception:Do not multiply the bonus high-jump distance you getfrom a running start!) If this lets you jump at least twiceas far as normal, use the rules under Super Jump (p. 89)to determine how fast you can move by bounding along.When throwing (p. 355), multiply distance by theratio of 1G to local gravity, just as you would for jump-ing. Damage from thrown objects does not change, asthis is based on mass.Gravity also affects falls. Multiply terminal velocityby local gravity. See Falling (p. 431) for what thisimplies.In zero gravity, your skills and DX rolls are affectedas well; see Free Fall (p. 197). This does not apply whenfiring beam weapons (unless they have Recoil 2 ormore) or operating vehicles or tools specificallydesigned for zero gravity (e.g., a spacecraft).G-Increments and Attribute PenaltiesIf local gravity differs from your home gravity (seeHome Gravity, p. 17), you might become disorientedand suffer physiological effects. The change in gravityyou can tolerate without penalties is your G-Increment. This is 0.2G unless you have the ImprovedG-Tolerance advantage (p. 60).In higher or lower gravity than usual, count thenumber of G-Increments from your home gravity,rounding down. This determines the penalties you suf-fer. For instance, an Earth native used to 1G treats0.81G to 1.19G as zero G-Increments, but 0.8G or 1.2Gcounts as one G-Increment.DX: You are at -1 DX per G-Increment of difference(-1 per two full G-Increments, if you have the G-Experience advantage, p. 57). This applies to activitiesthat require agility or judging ballistic trajectories; itaffects Broadsword, Driving, and Guns, but not BeamWeapons or Lockpicking.IQ: You are at -1 IQ per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, due to reduced blood flow to the brainand general fatigue. Lower gravity has no effect.HT: You are at -1 HT per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, because the heart has to work harder.Lower your FP score by the same amount. There is noeffect in lower gravity although microgravity or zerogravity might cause space sickness (see SpaceAdaptation Syndrome, p. 434), or even have lasting illeffects in the long term.See Temporary Attribute Penalties (p. 421) to learnhow attribute penalties affect secondary characteristicsand skills.and then shoveled at 2BL cf/hr. Alone man with both pick and shovelcan only remove 0.6BL cf/hr heloses time switching between tools.Hard Rock: Must be broken by apick at BL cf/hr (or slower, for veryhard rock!), and then shoveled at BLcf/hr.All of the above assumes iron orsteel tools! Halve speeds for woodentools (common at TL5 and below).Divide by 4 (or more) for improvisedtools bare hands, mess kits, etc.Time Required and Fatigue CostTo find the time required to dig agiven hole, find the volume of the holein cubic feet by multiplying height width depth (all in feet). Then dividethe number of cubic feet by the dig-ging rate to find the hours of workrequired.Each hour of work costs 1 FP forloose soil, 2 FP for ordinary soil, 3 FPfor hard soil, and 4 FP for hard rock.HIKINGSustainable cross-country speed onfoot depends on ground Move. Startwith Basic Move and reduce it forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17), injury (see GeneralInjury, p. 419), and exhaustion (seeLost Fatigue Points, p. 426), as appli-cable. The distance in miles you canmarch in one day, under ideal condi-tions, equals 10 Move.If you have the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage, you may applyyour movement multiple to this dis-tance. For instance, Enhanced Move 1(Ground) multiplies Move by two,doubling daily marching distance. SeeEnhanced Move (p. 52).A successful roll against Hikingskill (p. 200) increases marching dis-tance by 20%. Roll daily. A group ledby someone with Leadership skill at12+ may make a single roll against thegroups average Hiking skill. (Hikingdefaults to HT-5 for those who havenot studied it.) Success lets the entiregroup march 20% farther; failuremeans the whole group must forgo thebonus.When these rules result in differentspeeds for different members of aparty, the party must either move atthe speed of its slowest member orsplit up. Note that a party that hasopted to make a single Hiking roll forthe entire group has already chosennot to split up!TerrainOnce you know your ideal dailymileage, modify it for terrain as fol-lows:Very Bad: Deep snow, dense forest,jungle, mountains, soft sand, orswamp. 0.20.Bad: Broken ground (includingstreams), forest, or steep hills. 0.50.Average: Light forest or rolling hills1.00.Good: Hard-packed desert or levelplains. 1.25.WeatherWeather conditions can furthermodify distance traveled:Rain: Rain halves off-road speed inany terrain. See Roads (below) for theeffects of rain on roads.Snow: Ankle-deep snow halvesspeed in any terrain. Anything deeperdivides speed by 4 or more. Exception:Skis allow travelers to treat any depthof snow as Average terrain. ReplaceHiking skill with Skiing skill (p. 221)when traveling on skis.Ice: Cold combined with moisture due to rain, sleet, snowmelt, etc. results in ice. A coating of ice halvesspeed in any terrain. Solid ice, such asa frozen lake or river, is effectively itsown terrain type; treat it as Bad ter-rain. Exception: Treat solid ice asGood terrain for those with skates.Skating skill (p. 220) replaces Hikingskill when traveling on skates.RoadsIn fine weather, most roads countas Average terrain, regardless of thesurrounding terrain. The best roadsmight even count as Good terrain, giv-ing a bonus.In rain, low-quality roads unsur-faced dirt or gravel turn to mud.Treat them as Very Bad terrain. Betterroads behave as Average (but neverGood) terrain in the rain.In snow or ice, treat roads asAverage terrain, but apply the move-ment penalties given under Weather(above) unless the road is cleared.Time Required and Fatigue CostThese rules assume you spend theentire day preparing for your hike,hiking, or resting, leaving no time forstudy or other activities. This is truehowever small your daily mileage the heavier your load and the worsethe traveling conditions, the moreslowly you walk and the more fre-quently you stop to rest.Should you interrupt your travelsfor adventuring matters, you will bemissing FP when you stop. See FatigueCosts (p. 426) for details.HOLDING YOURBREATHAdventurers often need to holdtheir breath whether to dive or tosurvive poison gas, strangulation, vac-uum, etc. Your HT determines thelength of time you can hold yourbreath, as follows:No Exertion (e.g., sitting quietly ormeditating): HT10 seconds.Mild Exertion (e.g., operating avehicle, treading water, or walking):HT4 seconds.SUCCESS ROLLS351When these rules result in different speeds for different members of a party, the party must eithermove at the speed of its slowest member or split up.
|
DIGGINGDigging rate depends on the type ofsoil, the diggers Basic Lift (that is,STST/5), and the quality of the toolsavailable.Loose Soil, Sand, etc.: A man candig 2BL cubic feet per hour (cf/hr).Ordinary Soil: A man can dig BLcf/hr. One man with a pick can breakup 4BL cf/hr, making it into loosesoil, which is easier to remove. Themost efficient way to dig is with oneman with a pick, and two shovelersclearing behind him.Hard Soil, Clay, etc.: Must be bro-ken up first by a pick, at 2BL cf/hr,350SUCCESS ROLLSDifferent GravityA worlds gravity is measured in Gs, with 1G beingEarth-normal conditions. In comparison, Mars has0.38G and the Moon has 0.17G.Microgravity is extremely low gravity (e.g., that of anasteroid or small moon) for game purposes, anythingbelow 0.1G.Zero gravity is weightlessness, or free fall, as foundin space and aboard any spacecraft not spinning, accel-erating, or otherwise generating artificial gravity.In higher or lower gravity, mass stays the same, butweight changes.Encumbrance and Move in Different GravityIf local gravity is more than 1G, multiply the sum ofyour body weight and the weight of everything youre car-rying by (local gravity in Gs)-1. This is the extra weightyoure carrying due to high gravity. Add this to yourencumbrance when determining Move.Example: You weigh 150 lbs. and are carrying 30 lbs.of gear. On a 1.2-G world, that amounts to an extra weightof (150 + 30) (1.2 - 1) = 36 lbs. Since youre already car-rying 30 lbs., your total encumbrance is 66 lbs.If local gravity is less than 1G, multiply the weight ofthe gear youre carrying by the local gravity, and use themodified weight to determine your encumbrance. Thereis a similar reduction in your body weight; this does notaffect encumbrance, but it lets you jump further (seebelow). In very low gravity, you may be able to movefaster than your Basic Move by making a series of run-ning broad jumps instead of walking!In zero gravity, you float in space (unless using mag-netic boots, thrusters, etc.). If you cant fly, you must pushoff from a solid surface to move. Your Move when doingso is equal to ST/2, rounded down. You will keep going atthat speed until you grab or collide with something!Actions in Different GravityIn gravities other than 1G, the jumping rules (p. 352)need modification. Multiply your normal jumping dis-tances by the ratio of 1G to local gravity. For instance,under 1.25G, you jump 1/1.25 = 0.8 times as far, whileunder 0.2G, you jump 1/0.2 = 5 times as far. (Exception:Do not multiply the bonus high-jump distance you getfrom a running start!) If this lets you jump at least twiceas far as normal, use the rules under Super Jump (p. 89)to determine how fast you can move by bounding along.When throwing (p. 355), multiply distance by theratio of 1G to local gravity, just as you would for jump-ing. Damage from thrown objects does not change, asthis is based on mass.Gravity also affects falls. Multiply terminal velocityby local gravity. See Falling (p. 431) for what thisimplies.In zero gravity, your skills and DX rolls are affectedas well; see Free Fall (p. 197). This does not apply whenfiring beam weapons (unless they have Recoil 2 ormore) or operating vehicles or tools specificallydesigned for zero gravity (e.g., a spacecraft).G-Increments and Attribute PenaltiesIf local gravity differs from your home gravity (seeHome Gravity, p. 17), you might become disorientedand suffer physiological effects. The change in gravityyou can tolerate without penalties is your G-Increment. This is 0.2G unless you have the ImprovedG-Tolerance advantage (p. 60).In higher or lower gravity than usual, count thenumber of G-Increments from your home gravity,rounding down. This determines the penalties you suf-fer. For instance, an Earth native used to 1G treats0.81G to 1.19G as zero G-Increments, but 0.8G or 1.2Gcounts as one G-Increment.DX: You are at -1 DX per G-Increment of difference(-1 per two full G-Increments, if you have the G-Experience advantage, p. 57). This applies to activitiesthat require agility or judging ballistic trajectories; itaffects Broadsword, Driving, and Guns, but not BeamWeapons or Lockpicking.IQ: You are at -1 IQ per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, due to reduced blood flow to the brainand general fatigue. Lower gravity has no effect.HT: You are at -1 HT per two full G-Increments ofhigher gravity, because the heart has to work harder.Lower your FP score by the same amount. There is noeffect in lower gravity although microgravity or zerogravity might cause space sickness (see SpaceAdaptation Syndrome, p. 434), or even have lasting illeffects in the long term.See Temporary Attribute Penalties (p. 421) to learnhow attribute penalties affect secondary characteristicsand skills.and then shoveled at 2BL cf/hr. Alone man with both pick and shovelcan only remove 0.6BL cf/hr heloses time switching between tools.Hard Rock: Must be broken by apick at BL cf/hr (or slower, for veryhard rock!), and then shoveled at BLcf/hr.All of the above assumes iron orsteel tools! Halve speeds for woodentools (common at TL5 and below).Divide by 4 (or more) for improvisedtools bare hands, mess kits, etc.Time Required and Fatigue CostTo find the time required to dig agiven hole, find the volume of the holein cubic feet by multiplying height width depth (all in feet). Then dividethe number of cubic feet by the dig-ging rate to find the hours of workrequired.Each hour of work costs 1 FP forloose soil, 2 FP for ordinary soil, 3 FPfor hard soil, and 4 FP for hard rock.HIKINGSustainable cross-country speed onfoot depends on ground Move. Startwith Basic Move and reduce it forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17), injury (see GeneralInjury, p. 419), and exhaustion (seeLost Fatigue Points, p. 426), as appli-cable. The distance in miles you canmarch in one day, under ideal condi-tions, equals 10 Move.If you have the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage, you may applyyour movement multiple to this dis-tance. For instance, Enhanced Move 1(Ground) multiplies Move by two,doubling daily marching distance. SeeEnhanced Move (p. 52).A successful roll against Hikingskill (p. 200) increases marching dis-tance by 20%. Roll daily. A group ledby someone with Leadership skill at12+ may make a single roll against thegroups average Hiking skill. (Hikingdefaults to HT-5 for those who havenot studied it.) Success lets the entiregroup march 20% farther; failuremeans the whole group must forgo thebonus.When these rules result in differentspeeds for different members of aparty, the party must either move atthe speed of its slowest member orsplit up. Note that a party that hasopted to make a single Hiking roll forthe entire group has already chosennot to split up!TerrainOnce you know your ideal dailymileage, modify it for terrain as fol-lows:Very Bad: Deep snow, dense forest,jungle, mountains, soft sand, orswamp. 0.20.Bad: Broken ground (includingstreams), forest, or steep hills. 0.50.Average: Light forest or rolling hills1.00.Good: Hard-packed desert or levelplains. 1.25.WeatherWeather conditions can furthermodify distance traveled:Rain: Rain halves off-road speed inany terrain. See Roads (below) for theeffects of rain on roads.Snow: Ankle-deep snow halvesspeed in any terrain. Anything deeperdivides speed by 4 or more. Exception:Skis allow travelers to treat any depthof snow as Average terrain. ReplaceHiking skill with Skiing skill (p. 221)when traveling on skis.Ice: Cold combined with moisture due to rain, sleet, snowmelt, etc. results in ice. A coating of ice halvesspeed in any terrain. Solid ice, such asa frozen lake or river, is effectively itsown terrain type; treat it as Bad ter-rain. Exception: Treat solid ice asGood terrain for those with skates.Skating skill (p. 220) replaces Hikingskill when traveling on skates.RoadsIn fine weather, most roads countas Average terrain, regardless of thesurrounding terrain. The best roadsmight even count as Good terrain, giv-ing a bonus.In rain, low-quality roads unsur-faced dirt or gravel turn to mud.Treat them as Very Bad terrain. Betterroads behave as Average (but neverGood) terrain in the rain.In snow or ice, treat roads asAverage terrain, but apply the move-ment penalties given under Weather(above) unless the road is cleared.Time Required and Fatigue CostThese rules assume you spend theentire day preparing for your hike,hiking, or resting, leaving no time forstudy or other activities. This is truehowever small your daily mileage the heavier your load and the worsethe traveling conditions, the moreslowly you walk and the more fre-quently you stop to rest.Should you interrupt your travelsfor adventuring matters, you will bemissing FP when you stop. See FatigueCosts (p. 426) for details.HOLDING YOURBREATHAdventurers often need to holdtheir breath whether to dive or tosurvive poison gas, strangulation, vac-uum, etc. Your HT determines thelength of time you can hold yourbreath, as follows:No Exertion (e.g., sitting quietly ormeditating): HT10 seconds.Mild Exertion (e.g., operating avehicle, treading water, or walking):HT4 seconds.SUCCESS ROLLS351When these rules result in different speeds for different members of a party, the party must eithermove at the speed of its slowest member or split up.Heavy Exertion (e.g., climbing,combat, or running): HT seconds.These times assume you have onesecond to take a deep breath (requiresa Concentrate maneuver in combat).Multiply all times by 1.5 if you hyper-ventilate first or by 2.5 if you hyper-ventilate with pure oxygen. A success-ful roll against Breath Control skill(p. 182) multiplies these times by afurther factor of 1.5. However, if youare surprised and dont have a chanceto take a deep breath e.g., when a gasgrenade goes off in combat halvethese times instead.Regardless of circumstances, eachlevel of the Breath-Holding advantage(p. 41) doubles the time you can holdyour breath.At the end of this time, you start tolose 1 FP per second. At 0 FP, youmust make a Will roll every second orfall unconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.JUMPINGWhen you want to jump oversomething with a Size Modifier 3 lessthan yours or smaller (which encom-passes most ordinary obstacles), theGM should say, Okay, you jumpedover it, and get on with play. Suchjumps succeed automatically. Butwhen the obstacle seems really signif-icant, or if the GM put it there as adeliberate hazard, use the followingrules.Jumping DistanceYour Basic Move determines jump-ing distance, as follows:High Jump: (6 Basic Move) - 10inches. For example, a Basic Move of6 lets you jump 26 straight up. For arunning jump, add the number ofyards you run to Basic Move in thisformula. Maximum running high-jump height is twice standing high-jump height.Broad Jump: (2 Basic Move) - 3feet. For example, a Basic Move of 6lets you jump 9 feet from a standingstart. For a running jump, add thenumber of yards you run to BasicMove in this formula. Maximum run-ning broad-jump distance is twicestanding broad-jump distance.Those with the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage (p. 52) may applytheir movement multiplier to BasicMove before inserting it into these for-mulas when they have a running start.This is instead of adding the numberof yards run! For instance, a horsewith Basic Move 6 and EnhancedMove 1 makes running jumps as if itsBasic Move were 12.Those who have Super Jump(p. 89) double the final jumping dis-tance for each level of that advantage.This is cumulative with the effects ofEnhanced Move!Remember that 12 inches equalone foot, and that 3 feet equal oneyard (or one hex on a battle map).Jumping DuringCombatThe jumping distance formulasassume you take the time to crouchand prepare for the jump. In combat,this takes two consecutiveConcentrate maneuvers. Halve all dis-tances if you jump without suchpreparation.If you jump over a small obstacleduring a fight (anything with a SizeModifier 3 less than yours or smaller),you must use a Move maneuver, andthe jump costs one extra movementpoint.To jump over a larger obstruction(e.g., a chair) or onto something (e.g.,a table) during a fight takes yourentire turn and requires a Movemaneuver. Unless the jump is extreme,the GM will assume you can make thejump. (Dont interrupt a battle to cal-culate jumping distance every timesomebody jumps onto a chair!)However, you must make a DX rollwhen you make a vertical jump or along horizontal one. A difficult jump(into a pit, for instance) might give -1to -5 to this DX roll. The GM deter-mines whether you must roll, and atwhat penalty. On a failure, you fall. Ittakes two Change Posture maneuversto stand up again. On a critical failure,you fall off the thing you jumped onto,or land badly if you were jumpingdown, and take normal falling damagefor that height (see Falling, p. 431).To clamber onto a vertical obstaclewithout risking a DX roll, take twoconsecutive Move maneuvers. Successis automatic.Jumping SkillIf you have the Jumping skill(p. 203), you may substitute half yourskill level, rounded down, for BasicMove in the distance formulas. Inaddition, you may roll againstJumping instead of DX whenever youmake a difficult jump.352SUCCESS ROLLSOptional Jumping RulesThe following rules for jumping are optional. Only use them if youenjoy extra detail!ST and JumpingBasic Move is a ready-made measure of jumping ability after all, itmeasures running speed, and running is just a series of rapid hops.However, unnaturally strong supers and monsters in fiction can oftenmake mighty leaps without being speedsters. To emulate this, the GMmay allow those with Basic Lift in excess of body weight to use the high-er of ST/4 (round down) or Basic Move in the jumping distance formulas.Jumping with EncumbranceFor added realism, multiply jumping distances by the encumbrancefactors given under Encumbrance and Move (p. 17): 1 for None, 0.8 forLight, 0.6 for Medium, 0.4 for Heavy, and 0.2 for Extra-Heavy.
|
and then shoveled at 2BL cf/hr. Alone man with both pick and shovelcan only remove 0.6BL cf/hr heloses time switching between tools.Hard Rock: Must be broken by apick at BL cf/hr (or slower, for veryhard rock!), and then shoveled at BLcf/hr.All of the above assumes iron orsteel tools! Halve speeds for woodentools (common at TL5 and below).Divide by 4 (or more) for improvisedtools bare hands, mess kits, etc.Time Required and Fatigue CostTo find the time required to dig agiven hole, find the volume of the holein cubic feet by multiplying height width depth (all in feet). Then dividethe number of cubic feet by the dig-ging rate to find the hours of workrequired.Each hour of work costs 1 FP forloose soil, 2 FP for ordinary soil, 3 FPfor hard soil, and 4 FP for hard rock.HIKINGSustainable cross-country speed onfoot depends on ground Move. Startwith Basic Move and reduce it forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17), injury (see GeneralInjury, p. 419), and exhaustion (seeLost Fatigue Points, p. 426), as appli-cable. The distance in miles you canmarch in one day, under ideal condi-tions, equals 10 Move.If you have the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage, you may applyyour movement multiple to this dis-tance. For instance, Enhanced Move 1(Ground) multiplies Move by two,doubling daily marching distance. SeeEnhanced Move (p. 52).A successful roll against Hikingskill (p. 200) increases marching dis-tance by 20%. Roll daily. A group ledby someone with Leadership skill at12+ may make a single roll against thegroups average Hiking skill. (Hikingdefaults to HT-5 for those who havenot studied it.) Success lets the entiregroup march 20% farther; failuremeans the whole group must forgo thebonus.When these rules result in differentspeeds for different members of aparty, the party must either move atthe speed of its slowest member orsplit up. Note that a party that hasopted to make a single Hiking roll forthe entire group has already chosennot to split up!TerrainOnce you know your ideal dailymileage, modify it for terrain as fol-lows:Very Bad: Deep snow, dense forest,jungle, mountains, soft sand, orswamp. 0.20.Bad: Broken ground (includingstreams), forest, or steep hills. 0.50.Average: Light forest or rolling hills1.00.Good: Hard-packed desert or levelplains. 1.25.WeatherWeather conditions can furthermodify distance traveled:Rain: Rain halves off-road speed inany terrain. See Roads (below) for theeffects of rain on roads.Snow: Ankle-deep snow halvesspeed in any terrain. Anything deeperdivides speed by 4 or more. Exception:Skis allow travelers to treat any depthof snow as Average terrain. ReplaceHiking skill with Skiing skill (p. 221)when traveling on skis.Ice: Cold combined with moisture due to rain, sleet, snowmelt, etc. results in ice. A coating of ice halvesspeed in any terrain. Solid ice, such asa frozen lake or river, is effectively itsown terrain type; treat it as Bad ter-rain. Exception: Treat solid ice asGood terrain for those with skates.Skating skill (p. 220) replaces Hikingskill when traveling on skates.RoadsIn fine weather, most roads countas Average terrain, regardless of thesurrounding terrain. The best roadsmight even count as Good terrain, giv-ing a bonus.In rain, low-quality roads unsur-faced dirt or gravel turn to mud.Treat them as Very Bad terrain. Betterroads behave as Average (but neverGood) terrain in the rain.In snow or ice, treat roads asAverage terrain, but apply the move-ment penalties given under Weather(above) unless the road is cleared.Time Required and Fatigue CostThese rules assume you spend theentire day preparing for your hike,hiking, or resting, leaving no time forstudy or other activities. This is truehowever small your daily mileage the heavier your load and the worsethe traveling conditions, the moreslowly you walk and the more fre-quently you stop to rest.Should you interrupt your travelsfor adventuring matters, you will bemissing FP when you stop. See FatigueCosts (p. 426) for details.HOLDING YOURBREATHAdventurers often need to holdtheir breath whether to dive or tosurvive poison gas, strangulation, vac-uum, etc. Your HT determines thelength of time you can hold yourbreath, as follows:No Exertion (e.g., sitting quietly ormeditating): HT10 seconds.Mild Exertion (e.g., operating avehicle, treading water, or walking):HT4 seconds.SUCCESS ROLLS351When these rules result in different speeds for different members of a party, the party must eithermove at the speed of its slowest member or split up.Heavy Exertion (e.g., climbing,combat, or running): HT seconds.These times assume you have onesecond to take a deep breath (requiresa Concentrate maneuver in combat).Multiply all times by 1.5 if you hyper-ventilate first or by 2.5 if you hyper-ventilate with pure oxygen. A success-ful roll against Breath Control skill(p. 182) multiplies these times by afurther factor of 1.5. However, if youare surprised and dont have a chanceto take a deep breath e.g., when a gasgrenade goes off in combat halvethese times instead.Regardless of circumstances, eachlevel of the Breath-Holding advantage(p. 41) doubles the time you can holdyour breath.At the end of this time, you start tolose 1 FP per second. At 0 FP, youmust make a Will roll every second orfall unconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.JUMPINGWhen you want to jump oversomething with a Size Modifier 3 lessthan yours or smaller (which encom-passes most ordinary obstacles), theGM should say, Okay, you jumpedover it, and get on with play. Suchjumps succeed automatically. Butwhen the obstacle seems really signif-icant, or if the GM put it there as adeliberate hazard, use the followingrules.Jumping DistanceYour Basic Move determines jump-ing distance, as follows:High Jump: (6 Basic Move) - 10inches. For example, a Basic Move of6 lets you jump 26 straight up. For arunning jump, add the number ofyards you run to Basic Move in thisformula. Maximum running high-jump height is twice standing high-jump height.Broad Jump: (2 Basic Move) - 3feet. For example, a Basic Move of 6lets you jump 9 feet from a standingstart. For a running jump, add thenumber of yards you run to BasicMove in this formula. Maximum run-ning broad-jump distance is twicestanding broad-jump distance.Those with the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage (p. 52) may applytheir movement multiplier to BasicMove before inserting it into these for-mulas when they have a running start.This is instead of adding the numberof yards run! For instance, a horsewith Basic Move 6 and EnhancedMove 1 makes running jumps as if itsBasic Move were 12.Those who have Super Jump(p. 89) double the final jumping dis-tance for each level of that advantage.This is cumulative with the effects ofEnhanced Move!Remember that 12 inches equalone foot, and that 3 feet equal oneyard (or one hex on a battle map).Jumping DuringCombatThe jumping distance formulasassume you take the time to crouchand prepare for the jump. In combat,this takes two consecutiveConcentrate maneuvers. Halve all dis-tances if you jump without suchpreparation.If you jump over a small obstacleduring a fight (anything with a SizeModifier 3 less than yours or smaller),you must use a Move maneuver, andthe jump costs one extra movementpoint.To jump over a larger obstruction(e.g., a chair) or onto something (e.g.,a table) during a fight takes yourentire turn and requires a Movemaneuver. Unless the jump is extreme,the GM will assume you can make thejump. (Dont interrupt a battle to cal-culate jumping distance every timesomebody jumps onto a chair!)However, you must make a DX rollwhen you make a vertical jump or along horizontal one. A difficult jump(into a pit, for instance) might give -1to -5 to this DX roll. The GM deter-mines whether you must roll, and atwhat penalty. On a failure, you fall. Ittakes two Change Posture maneuversto stand up again. On a critical failure,you fall off the thing you jumped onto,or land badly if you were jumpingdown, and take normal falling damagefor that height (see Falling, p. 431).To clamber onto a vertical obstaclewithout risking a DX roll, take twoconsecutive Move maneuvers. Successis automatic.Jumping SkillIf you have the Jumping skill(p. 203), you may substitute half yourskill level, rounded down, for BasicMove in the distance formulas. Inaddition, you may roll againstJumping instead of DX whenever youmake a difficult jump.352SUCCESS ROLLSOptional Jumping RulesThe following rules for jumping are optional. Only use them if youenjoy extra detail!ST and JumpingBasic Move is a ready-made measure of jumping ability after all, itmeasures running speed, and running is just a series of rapid hops.However, unnaturally strong supers and monsters in fiction can oftenmake mighty leaps without being speedsters. To emulate this, the GMmay allow those with Basic Lift in excess of body weight to use the high-er of ST/4 (round down) or Basic Move in the jumping distance formulas.Jumping with EncumbranceFor added realism, multiply jumping distances by the encumbrancefactors given under Encumbrance and Move (p. 17): 1 for None, 0.8 forLight, 0.6 for Medium, 0.4 for Heavy, and 0.2 for Extra-Heavy.LIFTING ANDMOVING THINGSBasic Lift STST/5 pounds gov-erns the weight you can pick up andmove. The GM may let multiple char-acters add their BL (not their ST)whenever it seems reasonable; e.g., tocarry a stretcher or pull a wagon.One-Handed Lift: 2BL (takes twoseconds).Two-Handed Lift: 8BL (takes fourseconds).Shove and Knock Over: 12BL.Double this if you have a running start.The GM can also make allowances forprecariously balanced objects, tomake them easier to tilt.Carry on Back: 15BL. Thus, youcan carry more than you can lift byyourself . . . but every second that yourencumbrance is over 10BL (that is,Extra-Heavy encumbrance), you lose1 FP.Shift Slightly: Depending on yourfooting and the way you are braced,you could shift or rock 50BL.Pulling and DraggingWhen you pull a load behind youunassisted, use its full weight. Halveeffective weight if you are pulling asledge over snow or ice, divide effec-tive weight by 10 for a two-wheeledcart, and divide effective weight by 20for a four-wheeled wagon. (Rememberto add the weight of the sledge, cart, orwagon to that of the load before divid-ing!)In all cases, if the surface is smoothand relatively level for instance, aconcrete floor, a proper road, or afrozen lake halve the effective weightof the load. This is cumulative withthe effects of a sledge, cart, or wagon.Final effective weight pulled, afterall modifiers, cannot exceed 15BL ifyou are to have any hope of movingthe object at all. Determine yourencumbrance level using effectiveweight, and work out Move normally.Lifting and MovingThings During CombatIn combat, you can pick up an itemthat weighs no more than your BasicLift by taking a one-second Readymaneuver. To pick up anything heav-ier requires multiple, consecutiveReady maneuvers: two if using onehand, four if using two hands. To pickup an unwilling character, you musttake a second to grapple him first (seeGrappling, p. 370). He may attempt tobreak free during the time it takes youto pick him up!To kick, body-block, shove, or oth-erwise shift an obstacle in combatrequires an Attack maneuver. You canmove or knock over up to 12BL thisway. If you have enough space to runyour full Move, you can knock overtwice this weight (24BL) by slam-ming into it at a run. This requires aMove maneuver. These rules are forinanimate objects; see Slam (p. 371)for rules governing attempts to knockover someone who can actively resist.If using a combat map, be sure tomark the map or place a counter toindicate an object that has beenknocked over. This is especially impor-tant for a feature that was drawn onthe map! Likewise, objects picked upby fighters should be removed fromthe map.In all cases, if an attempt seemsreasonable, do not pause the battle tocompare weight to BL. Use commonsense. Make it fun!Lifting SkillA successful roll against Liftingskill (p. 205) increases your Basic Liftby 5% times your margin of successfor the purpose of picking up heavyobjects. For instance, if you haveLifting at 14, a roll of 9 lets you lift anextra 25%. Roll once per lift.SUCCESS ROLLS353
|
Heavy Exertion (e.g., climbing,combat, or running): HT seconds.These times assume you have onesecond to take a deep breath (requiresa Concentrate maneuver in combat).Multiply all times by 1.5 if you hyper-ventilate first or by 2.5 if you hyper-ventilate with pure oxygen. A success-ful roll against Breath Control skill(p. 182) multiplies these times by afurther factor of 1.5. However, if youare surprised and dont have a chanceto take a deep breath e.g., when a gasgrenade goes off in combat halvethese times instead.Regardless of circumstances, eachlevel of the Breath-Holding advantage(p. 41) doubles the time you can holdyour breath.At the end of this time, you start tolose 1 FP per second. At 0 FP, youmust make a Will roll every second orfall unconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.JUMPINGWhen you want to jump oversomething with a Size Modifier 3 lessthan yours or smaller (which encom-passes most ordinary obstacles), theGM should say, Okay, you jumpedover it, and get on with play. Suchjumps succeed automatically. Butwhen the obstacle seems really signif-icant, or if the GM put it there as adeliberate hazard, use the followingrules.Jumping DistanceYour Basic Move determines jump-ing distance, as follows:High Jump: (6 Basic Move) - 10inches. For example, a Basic Move of6 lets you jump 26 straight up. For arunning jump, add the number ofyards you run to Basic Move in thisformula. Maximum running high-jump height is twice standing high-jump height.Broad Jump: (2 Basic Move) - 3feet. For example, a Basic Move of 6lets you jump 9 feet from a standingstart. For a running jump, add thenumber of yards you run to BasicMove in this formula. Maximum run-ning broad-jump distance is twicestanding broad-jump distance.Those with the Enhanced Move(Ground) advantage (p. 52) may applytheir movement multiplier to BasicMove before inserting it into these for-mulas when they have a running start.This is instead of adding the numberof yards run! For instance, a horsewith Basic Move 6 and EnhancedMove 1 makes running jumps as if itsBasic Move were 12.Those who have Super Jump(p. 89) double the final jumping dis-tance for each level of that advantage.This is cumulative with the effects ofEnhanced Move!Remember that 12 inches equalone foot, and that 3 feet equal oneyard (or one hex on a battle map).Jumping DuringCombatThe jumping distance formulasassume you take the time to crouchand prepare for the jump. In combat,this takes two consecutiveConcentrate maneuvers. Halve all dis-tances if you jump without suchpreparation.If you jump over a small obstacleduring a fight (anything with a SizeModifier 3 less than yours or smaller),you must use a Move maneuver, andthe jump costs one extra movementpoint.To jump over a larger obstruction(e.g., a chair) or onto something (e.g.,a table) during a fight takes yourentire turn and requires a Movemaneuver. Unless the jump is extreme,the GM will assume you can make thejump. (Dont interrupt a battle to cal-culate jumping distance every timesomebody jumps onto a chair!)However, you must make a DX rollwhen you make a vertical jump or along horizontal one. A difficult jump(into a pit, for instance) might give -1to -5 to this DX roll. The GM deter-mines whether you must roll, and atwhat penalty. On a failure, you fall. Ittakes two Change Posture maneuversto stand up again. On a critical failure,you fall off the thing you jumped onto,or land badly if you were jumpingdown, and take normal falling damagefor that height (see Falling, p. 431).To clamber onto a vertical obstaclewithout risking a DX roll, take twoconsecutive Move maneuvers. Successis automatic.Jumping SkillIf you have the Jumping skill(p. 203), you may substitute half yourskill level, rounded down, for BasicMove in the distance formulas. Inaddition, you may roll againstJumping instead of DX whenever youmake a difficult jump.352SUCCESS ROLLSOptional Jumping RulesThe following rules for jumping are optional. Only use them if youenjoy extra detail!ST and JumpingBasic Move is a ready-made measure of jumping ability after all, itmeasures running speed, and running is just a series of rapid hops.However, unnaturally strong supers and monsters in fiction can oftenmake mighty leaps without being speedsters. To emulate this, the GMmay allow those with Basic Lift in excess of body weight to use the high-er of ST/4 (round down) or Basic Move in the jumping distance formulas.Jumping with EncumbranceFor added realism, multiply jumping distances by the encumbrancefactors given under Encumbrance and Move (p. 17): 1 for None, 0.8 forLight, 0.6 for Medium, 0.4 for Heavy, and 0.2 for Extra-Heavy.LIFTING ANDMOVING THINGSBasic Lift STST/5 pounds gov-erns the weight you can pick up andmove. The GM may let multiple char-acters add their BL (not their ST)whenever it seems reasonable; e.g., tocarry a stretcher or pull a wagon.One-Handed Lift: 2BL (takes twoseconds).Two-Handed Lift: 8BL (takes fourseconds).Shove and Knock Over: 12BL.Double this if you have a running start.The GM can also make allowances forprecariously balanced objects, tomake them easier to tilt.Carry on Back: 15BL. Thus, youcan carry more than you can lift byyourself . . . but every second that yourencumbrance is over 10BL (that is,Extra-Heavy encumbrance), you lose1 FP.Shift Slightly: Depending on yourfooting and the way you are braced,you could shift or rock 50BL.Pulling and DraggingWhen you pull a load behind youunassisted, use its full weight. Halveeffective weight if you are pulling asledge over snow or ice, divide effec-tive weight by 10 for a two-wheeledcart, and divide effective weight by 20for a four-wheeled wagon. (Rememberto add the weight of the sledge, cart, orwagon to that of the load before divid-ing!)In all cases, if the surface is smoothand relatively level for instance, aconcrete floor, a proper road, or afrozen lake halve the effective weightof the load. This is cumulative withthe effects of a sledge, cart, or wagon.Final effective weight pulled, afterall modifiers, cannot exceed 15BL ifyou are to have any hope of movingthe object at all. Determine yourencumbrance level using effectiveweight, and work out Move normally.Lifting and MovingThings During CombatIn combat, you can pick up an itemthat weighs no more than your BasicLift by taking a one-second Readymaneuver. To pick up anything heav-ier requires multiple, consecutiveReady maneuvers: two if using onehand, four if using two hands. To pickup an unwilling character, you musttake a second to grapple him first (seeGrappling, p. 370). He may attempt tobreak free during the time it takes youto pick him up!To kick, body-block, shove, or oth-erwise shift an obstacle in combatrequires an Attack maneuver. You canmove or knock over up to 12BL thisway. If you have enough space to runyour full Move, you can knock overtwice this weight (24BL) by slam-ming into it at a run. This requires aMove maneuver. These rules are forinanimate objects; see Slam (p. 371)for rules governing attempts to knockover someone who can actively resist.If using a combat map, be sure tomark the map or place a counter toindicate an object that has beenknocked over. This is especially impor-tant for a feature that was drawn onthe map! Likewise, objects picked upby fighters should be removed fromthe map.In all cases, if an attempt seemsreasonable, do not pause the battle tocompare weight to BL. Use commonsense. Make it fun!Lifting SkillA successful roll against Liftingskill (p. 205) increases your Basic Liftby 5% times your margin of successfor the purpose of picking up heavyobjects. For instance, if you haveLifting at 14, a roll of 9 lets you lift anextra 25%. Roll once per lift.SUCCESS ROLLS353RUNNINGYour running speed, or groundMove, is equal to your Basic Movescore modified for encumbrance seeEncumbrance and Move (p. 17). Incombat, running is just a series ofMove maneuvers. Use the moredetailed rules below when it is impor-tant to know whether the heroes catchthe plane, escape the savage pygmies,or whatever.SprintingSprinting is all-out running. It isvery fast, but also fatiguing (seeFatigue Cost, below). Use it when youneed to cover a short distance quickly,and can afford to arrive at your objec-tive somewhat fatigued.You can sprint if you run forwardfor two or more seconds. Add 20% toyour Move after one second. Forinstance, with a Move of 7, you couldsprint at 8.4 yards/second after run-ning for one second at 7 yards/second.On a battle map, where movementinvolves discrete one-yard hexes, dropall fractions to get a round Move score;in the example above, you would haveMove 8. Assume that even the slowestsprinter gets +1 Move. Thus, sprinterswith Move 9 or less can move one extrahex on a battle map.If you have Enhanced Move(Ground), you can accelerate by yourBasic Move every second until youreach top speed. Use your EnhancedMove multiplier instead of the 20%bonus above. For instance, with BasicMove 7 and Enhanced Move 2, yourun at Move 7 the first second, Move14 the next second, Move 21 the thirdsecond, and your top speed of Move 28in the fourth second.You may only move at your maxi-mum sprinting speed if the ground isgood and you are running more or lessstraight at some goal. Any deviationfrom forward movement requiresyou to run at normal ground Move forone second before you can resumesprinting.Paced RunningIf you need to run a long distance,you will want to pace yourself to avoidexhaustion. Paced running averagesexactly half the sprinting speed calcu-lated above. For instance, with aground Move of 7, you would run at4.2 yards/second on good ground;thus, you could run a 7-minute mile.Fatigue CostAfter every 15 seconds of sprintingor every minute of paced running,roll against the higher of HT orRunning skill (p. 218). On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reducedto less than 1/3 your FP, halve yourMove for any kind of running; seeFatigue (p. 426).Note that since paced running ishalf as fast as sprinting but burns FPat one-quarter the rate, you can runtwice as far before you run out ofenergy. This is not true for those withthe Machine meta-trait (p. 263),because they do not fatigue in gener-al, such characters will always sprint.SWIMMINGUnless you are Amphibious (p. 40)or Aquatic (p. 145), you must rollagainst Swimming skill (p. 224) anytime you enter water over your head.Swimming defaults to HT-4. Rollwhen you first enter the water, andagain every five minutes.Modifiers: +3 if you entered thewater intentionally; a penalty equal totwice your encumbrance level (e.g.,Heavy encumbrance gives -6); +1 ifyou are Overweight, +3 if Fat, or +5 ifVery Fat (see Build, p. 18).On a failure, you inhale water!Lose 1 FP and roll again in five sec-onds and so on, until you drown, arerescued (see Lifesaving, below), ormake a successful Swimming roll andget your head above water. If you suc-cessfully recover, roll again in oneminute; if you succeed, go back tomaking rolls five minutes apart. Yes,you can shout for help!You may try to get rid of armor, etc.after making your first successfulSwimming roll. Roll vs. DX for eachitem you try to remove; roll at -4 toremove shields, helmets, or torsoarmor. A failed roll means you inhalewater, with penalties as above.Once you reach 0 FP, you mustmake a Will roll every second or fallunconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.Swimming SpeedLand-dwellers such as humanshave water Move equal to BasicMove/5 (round down), although it ispossible to modify this slightly; seeMove in Other Environments (p. 18).Minimum water Move for such char-acters is 1 yard/second.Amphibious and Aquatic beingshave water Move equal to their fullBasic Move.When swimming long distances,use a 10-second time scale. The num-ber of yards you can swim in 10 sec-onds is equal to 10 times your waterMove, modified downward forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17). For instance, water Move1 and Heavy encumbrance would letyou swim four yards in 10 seconds.354SUCCESS ROLLSFlyingWhen flying, use the Hiking (p. 351) and Running rules with thesechanges: Substitute air Move (equal to twice Basic Speed, dropping allfractions) for ground Move (equal to Basic Move). Apply modifiersfor encumbrance, injury, and fatigue exactly as you would for groundMove. Substitute Enhanced Move (Air) for Enhanced Move(Ground). For high-speed flight (running), handle acceleration withEnhanced Move as described under Sprinting. Substitute Flight skill (p. 195) for Hiking skill and Runningskill. Ignore terrain, but note that wind and other weather conditionscan have comparable effects.
|
LIFTING ANDMOVING THINGSBasic Lift STST/5 pounds gov-erns the weight you can pick up andmove. The GM may let multiple char-acters add their BL (not their ST)whenever it seems reasonable; e.g., tocarry a stretcher or pull a wagon.One-Handed Lift: 2BL (takes twoseconds).Two-Handed Lift: 8BL (takes fourseconds).Shove and Knock Over: 12BL.Double this if you have a running start.The GM can also make allowances forprecariously balanced objects, tomake them easier to tilt.Carry on Back: 15BL. Thus, youcan carry more than you can lift byyourself . . . but every second that yourencumbrance is over 10BL (that is,Extra-Heavy encumbrance), you lose1 FP.Shift Slightly: Depending on yourfooting and the way you are braced,you could shift or rock 50BL.Pulling and DraggingWhen you pull a load behind youunassisted, use its full weight. Halveeffective weight if you are pulling asledge over snow or ice, divide effec-tive weight by 10 for a two-wheeledcart, and divide effective weight by 20for a four-wheeled wagon. (Rememberto add the weight of the sledge, cart, orwagon to that of the load before divid-ing!)In all cases, if the surface is smoothand relatively level for instance, aconcrete floor, a proper road, or afrozen lake halve the effective weightof the load. This is cumulative withthe effects of a sledge, cart, or wagon.Final effective weight pulled, afterall modifiers, cannot exceed 15BL ifyou are to have any hope of movingthe object at all. Determine yourencumbrance level using effectiveweight, and work out Move normally.Lifting and MovingThings During CombatIn combat, you can pick up an itemthat weighs no more than your BasicLift by taking a one-second Readymaneuver. To pick up anything heav-ier requires multiple, consecutiveReady maneuvers: two if using onehand, four if using two hands. To pickup an unwilling character, you musttake a second to grapple him first (seeGrappling, p. 370). He may attempt tobreak free during the time it takes youto pick him up!To kick, body-block, shove, or oth-erwise shift an obstacle in combatrequires an Attack maneuver. You canmove or knock over up to 12BL thisway. If you have enough space to runyour full Move, you can knock overtwice this weight (24BL) by slam-ming into it at a run. This requires aMove maneuver. These rules are forinanimate objects; see Slam (p. 371)for rules governing attempts to knockover someone who can actively resist.If using a combat map, be sure tomark the map or place a counter toindicate an object that has beenknocked over. This is especially impor-tant for a feature that was drawn onthe map! Likewise, objects picked upby fighters should be removed fromthe map.In all cases, if an attempt seemsreasonable, do not pause the battle tocompare weight to BL. Use commonsense. Make it fun!Lifting SkillA successful roll against Liftingskill (p. 205) increases your Basic Liftby 5% times your margin of successfor the purpose of picking up heavyobjects. For instance, if you haveLifting at 14, a roll of 9 lets you lift anextra 25%. Roll once per lift.SUCCESS ROLLS353RUNNINGYour running speed, or groundMove, is equal to your Basic Movescore modified for encumbrance seeEncumbrance and Move (p. 17). Incombat, running is just a series ofMove maneuvers. Use the moredetailed rules below when it is impor-tant to know whether the heroes catchthe plane, escape the savage pygmies,or whatever.SprintingSprinting is all-out running. It isvery fast, but also fatiguing (seeFatigue Cost, below). Use it when youneed to cover a short distance quickly,and can afford to arrive at your objec-tive somewhat fatigued.You can sprint if you run forwardfor two or more seconds. Add 20% toyour Move after one second. Forinstance, with a Move of 7, you couldsprint at 8.4 yards/second after run-ning for one second at 7 yards/second.On a battle map, where movementinvolves discrete one-yard hexes, dropall fractions to get a round Move score;in the example above, you would haveMove 8. Assume that even the slowestsprinter gets +1 Move. Thus, sprinterswith Move 9 or less can move one extrahex on a battle map.If you have Enhanced Move(Ground), you can accelerate by yourBasic Move every second until youreach top speed. Use your EnhancedMove multiplier instead of the 20%bonus above. For instance, with BasicMove 7 and Enhanced Move 2, yourun at Move 7 the first second, Move14 the next second, Move 21 the thirdsecond, and your top speed of Move 28in the fourth second.You may only move at your maxi-mum sprinting speed if the ground isgood and you are running more or lessstraight at some goal. Any deviationfrom forward movement requiresyou to run at normal ground Move forone second before you can resumesprinting.Paced RunningIf you need to run a long distance,you will want to pace yourself to avoidexhaustion. Paced running averagesexactly half the sprinting speed calcu-lated above. For instance, with aground Move of 7, you would run at4.2 yards/second on good ground;thus, you could run a 7-minute mile.Fatigue CostAfter every 15 seconds of sprintingor every minute of paced running,roll against the higher of HT orRunning skill (p. 218). On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reducedto less than 1/3 your FP, halve yourMove for any kind of running; seeFatigue (p. 426).Note that since paced running ishalf as fast as sprinting but burns FPat one-quarter the rate, you can runtwice as far before you run out ofenergy. This is not true for those withthe Machine meta-trait (p. 263),because they do not fatigue in gener-al, such characters will always sprint.SWIMMINGUnless you are Amphibious (p. 40)or Aquatic (p. 145), you must rollagainst Swimming skill (p. 224) anytime you enter water over your head.Swimming defaults to HT-4. Rollwhen you first enter the water, andagain every five minutes.Modifiers: +3 if you entered thewater intentionally; a penalty equal totwice your encumbrance level (e.g.,Heavy encumbrance gives -6); +1 ifyou are Overweight, +3 if Fat, or +5 ifVery Fat (see Build, p. 18).On a failure, you inhale water!Lose 1 FP and roll again in five sec-onds and so on, until you drown, arerescued (see Lifesaving, below), ormake a successful Swimming roll andget your head above water. If you suc-cessfully recover, roll again in oneminute; if you succeed, go back tomaking rolls five minutes apart. Yes,you can shout for help!You may try to get rid of armor, etc.after making your first successfulSwimming roll. Roll vs. DX for eachitem you try to remove; roll at -4 toremove shields, helmets, or torsoarmor. A failed roll means you inhalewater, with penalties as above.Once you reach 0 FP, you mustmake a Will roll every second or fallunconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.Swimming SpeedLand-dwellers such as humanshave water Move equal to BasicMove/5 (round down), although it ispossible to modify this slightly; seeMove in Other Environments (p. 18).Minimum water Move for such char-acters is 1 yard/second.Amphibious and Aquatic beingshave water Move equal to their fullBasic Move.When swimming long distances,use a 10-second time scale. The num-ber of yards you can swim in 10 sec-onds is equal to 10 times your waterMove, modified downward forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17). For instance, water Move1 and Heavy encumbrance would letyou swim four yards in 10 seconds.354SUCCESS ROLLSFlyingWhen flying, use the Hiking (p. 351) and Running rules with thesechanges: Substitute air Move (equal to twice Basic Speed, dropping allfractions) for ground Move (equal to Basic Move). Apply modifiersfor encumbrance, injury, and fatigue exactly as you would for groundMove. Substitute Enhanced Move (Air) for Enhanced Move(Ground). For high-speed flight (running), handle acceleration withEnhanced Move as described under Sprinting. Substitute Flight skill (p. 195) for Hiking skill and Runningskill. Ignore terrain, but note that wind and other weather conditionscan have comparable effects.Fatigue CostAfter every minute of top-speedswimming, roll against the higher ofHT or Swimming skill. On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reduced toless than 1/3 your FP, halve your waterMove; see Fatigue (p. 426).If you are swimming slowly, or juststaying afloat, make this roll every 30minutes.LifesavingYou can use the Swimming skill torescue a drowning person. Make aSwimming roll at -5, plus or minus thedifference in ST between you and theperson you are rescuing. If the playersthink of good lifesaving techniques,the GM may give them a bonus to thisroll.On a failure, you inhale water andlose 1 FP, but may try again after oneminute. On a critical failure, the vic-tim nearly drowned you! This costs 6FP, and you must break off the rescueattempt.THROWINGYou can throw anything you canpick up that is, anything with aweight of 8BL or less. If the objectyou wish to throw is not already inyour hands, you must take one ormore Ready maneuvers to pick it up.See Lifting and Moving Things (p. 353)for details.Throwing an object during combat whether as an attack or not requires an Attack maneuver. You canthrow objects that weigh up to 2BLusing one hand; heavier objectsrequire a two-handed throw. Rollagainst DX-3 to hit a specific target, or against DX to lob something into a general area. Apply the usual modifiers for target size, speed, anddistance.Throwing DistanceTo avoid slowing down the gamewith math, the GM should allow anythrow he deems reasonable . . . butwhen you need to know the exact dis-tance you can throw an object, use thefollowing procedure:1. Divide the objects weight inpounds by your Basic Lift to get theweight ratio.2. Find the weight ratio in theWeight Ratio column of the tablebelow. If it falls between two values,use the higher value.3. Read across to the DistanceModifier column and find the dis-tance modifier.4. Multiply your ST by the distancemodifier to find the distance in yardsyou can throw the object.Example: You have ST 12, giving aBL of 29 lbs. You need to throw a 120-lb. body over a two-yard pit. Divideweight by BL: 120/29 = 4.1. This fallsbetween 4.0 and 5.0 in the WeightRatio column, so treat it as 5.0. Theassociated distance modifier is 0.12.Multiplying by ST, your range is 0.12 12 = 1.4 yards. Oops! The body just hitthe bottom of the pit.Damage From Thrown ObjectsThrown objects inflict thrust dam-age for your ST (see Damage Table,p. 16), modified for weight as shownon the table below. Damage is usuallycrushing, but the GM may rule that asharp object does cutting, piercing, orimpaling damage instead. A fragileobject (or a thrown character) takesthe same amount of damage it inflicts;roll damage separately for the objectand the target.WeightDamageUp to BL/8Thrust, -2 per dieUp to BL/4Thrust, -1 per dieUp to BL/2ThrustUp to BLThrust, +1 per dieUp to 2BLThrustUp to 4BLThrust, -1/2 per die(round down)Up to 8BLThrust, -1 per dieExample: You have ST 28, whichgives you a BL of 157 lbs. and a thrustdamage of 3d-1. You hit a foe with ahurled 50-lb. bag of cement. It isbetween BL/4 (39 lbs.) and BL/2 (78lbs.). As shown on the table above, itdoes straight thrust damage, or 3d-1.SUCCESS ROLLS355WeightDistanceWeightDistanceRatioModifierRatioModifier0.053.52.00.300.102.52.50.250.152.03.00.200.201.54.00.150.251.25.00.120.301.16.00.100.401.07.00.090.500.88.00.080.750.79.00.071.000.610.00.061.500.412.00.05CatchingIf someone throws an object at you, you may make an active defenseroll to avoid it. However, if he deliberately throws it to you by suc-cessfully lobbing it into your general area you can try to catch it. Rollagainst DX or a suitable Sports skill to make the catch, at -4 if you arenot taking a Wait maneuver, but at +1 per two full points by which thethrower made his roll. This counts as a parry with your catching hand.You can also attempt to intercept a thrown object en route to a catch-er. Treat this as a parry against a thrown weapon (see Parrying, p. 376).On a success, you snatch the thrown object out of the air.
|
RUNNINGYour running speed, or groundMove, is equal to your Basic Movescore modified for encumbrance seeEncumbrance and Move (p. 17). Incombat, running is just a series ofMove maneuvers. Use the moredetailed rules below when it is impor-tant to know whether the heroes catchthe plane, escape the savage pygmies,or whatever.SprintingSprinting is all-out running. It isvery fast, but also fatiguing (seeFatigue Cost, below). Use it when youneed to cover a short distance quickly,and can afford to arrive at your objec-tive somewhat fatigued.You can sprint if you run forwardfor two or more seconds. Add 20% toyour Move after one second. Forinstance, with a Move of 7, you couldsprint at 8.4 yards/second after run-ning for one second at 7 yards/second.On a battle map, where movementinvolves discrete one-yard hexes, dropall fractions to get a round Move score;in the example above, you would haveMove 8. Assume that even the slowestsprinter gets +1 Move. Thus, sprinterswith Move 9 or less can move one extrahex on a battle map.If you have Enhanced Move(Ground), you can accelerate by yourBasic Move every second until youreach top speed. Use your EnhancedMove multiplier instead of the 20%bonus above. For instance, with BasicMove 7 and Enhanced Move 2, yourun at Move 7 the first second, Move14 the next second, Move 21 the thirdsecond, and your top speed of Move 28in the fourth second.You may only move at your maxi-mum sprinting speed if the ground isgood and you are running more or lessstraight at some goal. Any deviationfrom forward movement requiresyou to run at normal ground Move forone second before you can resumesprinting.Paced RunningIf you need to run a long distance,you will want to pace yourself to avoidexhaustion. Paced running averagesexactly half the sprinting speed calcu-lated above. For instance, with aground Move of 7, you would run at4.2 yards/second on good ground;thus, you could run a 7-minute mile.Fatigue CostAfter every 15 seconds of sprintingor every minute of paced running,roll against the higher of HT orRunning skill (p. 218). On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reducedto less than 1/3 your FP, halve yourMove for any kind of running; seeFatigue (p. 426).Note that since paced running ishalf as fast as sprinting but burns FPat one-quarter the rate, you can runtwice as far before you run out ofenergy. This is not true for those withthe Machine meta-trait (p. 263),because they do not fatigue in gener-al, such characters will always sprint.SWIMMINGUnless you are Amphibious (p. 40)or Aquatic (p. 145), you must rollagainst Swimming skill (p. 224) anytime you enter water over your head.Swimming defaults to HT-4. Rollwhen you first enter the water, andagain every five minutes.Modifiers: +3 if you entered thewater intentionally; a penalty equal totwice your encumbrance level (e.g.,Heavy encumbrance gives -6); +1 ifyou are Overweight, +3 if Fat, or +5 ifVery Fat (see Build, p. 18).On a failure, you inhale water!Lose 1 FP and roll again in five sec-onds and so on, until you drown, arerescued (see Lifesaving, below), ormake a successful Swimming roll andget your head above water. If you suc-cessfully recover, roll again in oneminute; if you succeed, go back tomaking rolls five minutes apart. Yes,you can shout for help!You may try to get rid of armor, etc.after making your first successfulSwimming roll. Roll vs. DX for eachitem you try to remove; roll at -4 toremove shields, helmets, or torsoarmor. A failed roll means you inhalewater, with penalties as above.Once you reach 0 FP, you mustmake a Will roll every second or fallunconscious, and are likely to dieunless you are rescued. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.Swimming SpeedLand-dwellers such as humanshave water Move equal to BasicMove/5 (round down), although it ispossible to modify this slightly; seeMove in Other Environments (p. 18).Minimum water Move for such char-acters is 1 yard/second.Amphibious and Aquatic beingshave water Move equal to their fullBasic Move.When swimming long distances,use a 10-second time scale. The num-ber of yards you can swim in 10 sec-onds is equal to 10 times your waterMove, modified downward forencumbrance (see Encumbrance andMove, p. 17). For instance, water Move1 and Heavy encumbrance would letyou swim four yards in 10 seconds.354SUCCESS ROLLSFlyingWhen flying, use the Hiking (p. 351) and Running rules with thesechanges: Substitute air Move (equal to twice Basic Speed, dropping allfractions) for ground Move (equal to Basic Move). Apply modifiersfor encumbrance, injury, and fatigue exactly as you would for groundMove. Substitute Enhanced Move (Air) for Enhanced Move(Ground). For high-speed flight (running), handle acceleration withEnhanced Move as described under Sprinting. Substitute Flight skill (p. 195) for Hiking skill and Runningskill. Ignore terrain, but note that wind and other weather conditionscan have comparable effects.Fatigue CostAfter every minute of top-speedswimming, roll against the higher ofHT or Swimming skill. On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reduced toless than 1/3 your FP, halve your waterMove; see Fatigue (p. 426).If you are swimming slowly, or juststaying afloat, make this roll every 30minutes.LifesavingYou can use the Swimming skill torescue a drowning person. Make aSwimming roll at -5, plus or minus thedifference in ST between you and theperson you are rescuing. If the playersthink of good lifesaving techniques,the GM may give them a bonus to thisroll.On a failure, you inhale water andlose 1 FP, but may try again after oneminute. On a critical failure, the vic-tim nearly drowned you! This costs 6FP, and you must break off the rescueattempt.THROWINGYou can throw anything you canpick up that is, anything with aweight of 8BL or less. If the objectyou wish to throw is not already inyour hands, you must take one ormore Ready maneuvers to pick it up.See Lifting and Moving Things (p. 353)for details.Throwing an object during combat whether as an attack or not requires an Attack maneuver. You canthrow objects that weigh up to 2BLusing one hand; heavier objectsrequire a two-handed throw. Rollagainst DX-3 to hit a specific target, or against DX to lob something into a general area. Apply the usual modifiers for target size, speed, anddistance.Throwing DistanceTo avoid slowing down the gamewith math, the GM should allow anythrow he deems reasonable . . . butwhen you need to know the exact dis-tance you can throw an object, use thefollowing procedure:1. Divide the objects weight inpounds by your Basic Lift to get theweight ratio.2. Find the weight ratio in theWeight Ratio column of the tablebelow. If it falls between two values,use the higher value.3. Read across to the DistanceModifier column and find the dis-tance modifier.4. Multiply your ST by the distancemodifier to find the distance in yardsyou can throw the object.Example: You have ST 12, giving aBL of 29 lbs. You need to throw a 120-lb. body over a two-yard pit. Divideweight by BL: 120/29 = 4.1. This fallsbetween 4.0 and 5.0 in the WeightRatio column, so treat it as 5.0. Theassociated distance modifier is 0.12.Multiplying by ST, your range is 0.12 12 = 1.4 yards. Oops! The body just hitthe bottom of the pit.Damage From Thrown ObjectsThrown objects inflict thrust dam-age for your ST (see Damage Table,p. 16), modified for weight as shownon the table below. Damage is usuallycrushing, but the GM may rule that asharp object does cutting, piercing, orimpaling damage instead. A fragileobject (or a thrown character) takesthe same amount of damage it inflicts;roll damage separately for the objectand the target.WeightDamageUp to BL/8Thrust, -2 per dieUp to BL/4Thrust, -1 per dieUp to BL/2ThrustUp to BLThrust, +1 per dieUp to 2BLThrustUp to 4BLThrust, -1/2 per die(round down)Up to 8BLThrust, -1 per dieExample: You have ST 28, whichgives you a BL of 157 lbs. and a thrustdamage of 3d-1. You hit a foe with ahurled 50-lb. bag of cement. It isbetween BL/4 (39 lbs.) and BL/2 (78lbs.). As shown on the table above, itdoes straight thrust damage, or 3d-1.SUCCESS ROLLS355WeightDistanceWeightDistanceRatioModifierRatioModifier0.053.52.00.300.102.52.50.250.152.03.00.200.201.54.00.150.251.25.00.120.301.16.00.100.401.07.00.090.500.88.00.080.750.79.00.071.000.610.00.061.500.412.00.05CatchingIf someone throws an object at you, you may make an active defenseroll to avoid it. However, if he deliberately throws it to you by suc-cessfully lobbing it into your general area you can try to catch it. Rollagainst DX or a suitable Sports skill to make the catch, at -4 if you arenot taking a Wait maneuver, but at +1 per two full points by which thethrower made his roll. This counts as a parry with your catching hand.You can also attempt to intercept a thrown object en route to a catch-er. Treat this as a parry against a thrown weapon (see Parrying, p. 376).On a success, you snatch the thrown object out of the air.Throwing Skill and Throwing ArtWhen you throw an object that fitsinto the palm of your hand such as abottle, rock, or grenade you may rollagainst Throwing skill (p. 226) to hit atarget or a general area. Furthermore,if you know Throwing at DX+1 level,add +1 to ST before you multiply it bythe distance modifier. Add +2 to ST ifyou know Throwing at DX+2 or better.If you have Throwing Art skill(p. 226), you can use it to throw any-thing. Roll against skill to hit. If youknow Throwing Art at DX level, add+1 to ST before you multiply it by thedistance modifier, and add +1 per dieto thrust damage. These bonusesincrease to +2 if you know ThrowingArt at DX+1 or better.Thrown WeaponsThe rules above are for throwingrocks, bodies, televisions . . . anythingbut weapons. Hurled weapons differ inthree important ways:1. Thrown weapons use ThrownWeapon skills (p. 226) to hit, not DXor Throwing (but Throwing Art doesallow you to throw weapons).2. Many throwing weapons travelsignificantly farther than ordinaryobjects due to streamlining and stabi-lization. Others have less range, due tothe way they are thrown. For instance,you can hurl a throwing knife as far asthese rules suggest, but the range atwhich it will hit point-first and inflictdamage is considerably shorter.3. Throwing weapons have points,edges, dense striking heads, etc. thatfocus the force of impact. They almostalways do more damage than theserules would indicate.EXTRA EFFORTThrough sheer force of will, youcan push your body past its usual lim-its when you perform physical tasks.This is called extra effort. Note thatif you have the Machine meta-trait,you cannot use extra effort!You can use extra effort to increaseBasic Lift (but not ST itself) when dig-ging or lifting; daily mileage when hik-ing; Move when running or swim-ming; distance (but not Basic Moveitself) when jumping; and ST for thepurposes of throwing, making a single356SUCCESS ROLLS
|
Fatigue CostAfter every minute of top-speedswimming, roll against the higher ofHT or Swimming skill. On a failure,you lose 1 FP. Once you are reduced toless than 1/3 your FP, halve your waterMove; see Fatigue (p. 426).If you are swimming slowly, or juststaying afloat, make this roll every 30minutes.LifesavingYou can use the Swimming skill torescue a drowning person. Make aSwimming roll at -5, plus or minus thedifference in ST between you and theperson you are rescuing. If the playersthink of good lifesaving techniques,the GM may give them a bonus to thisroll.On a failure, you inhale water andlose 1 FP, but may try again after oneminute. On a critical failure, the vic-tim nearly drowned you! This costs 6FP, and you must break off the rescueattempt.THROWINGYou can throw anything you canpick up that is, anything with aweight of 8BL or less. If the objectyou wish to throw is not already inyour hands, you must take one ormore Ready maneuvers to pick it up.See Lifting and Moving Things (p. 353)for details.Throwing an object during combat whether as an attack or not requires an Attack maneuver. You canthrow objects that weigh up to 2BLusing one hand; heavier objectsrequire a two-handed throw. Rollagainst DX-3 to hit a specific target, or against DX to lob something into a general area. Apply the usual modifiers for target size, speed, anddistance.Throwing DistanceTo avoid slowing down the gamewith math, the GM should allow anythrow he deems reasonable . . . butwhen you need to know the exact dis-tance you can throw an object, use thefollowing procedure:1. Divide the objects weight inpounds by your Basic Lift to get theweight ratio.2. Find the weight ratio in theWeight Ratio column of the tablebelow. If it falls between two values,use the higher value.3. Read across to the DistanceModifier column and find the dis-tance modifier.4. Multiply your ST by the distancemodifier to find the distance in yardsyou can throw the object.Example: You have ST 12, giving aBL of 29 lbs. You need to throw a 120-lb. body over a two-yard pit. Divideweight by BL: 120/29 = 4.1. This fallsbetween 4.0 and 5.0 in the WeightRatio column, so treat it as 5.0. Theassociated distance modifier is 0.12.Multiplying by ST, your range is 0.12 12 = 1.4 yards. Oops! The body just hitthe bottom of the pit.Damage From Thrown ObjectsThrown objects inflict thrust dam-age for your ST (see Damage Table,p. 16), modified for weight as shownon the table below. Damage is usuallycrushing, but the GM may rule that asharp object does cutting, piercing, orimpaling damage instead. A fragileobject (or a thrown character) takesthe same amount of damage it inflicts;roll damage separately for the objectand the target.WeightDamageUp to BL/8Thrust, -2 per dieUp to BL/4Thrust, -1 per dieUp to BL/2ThrustUp to BLThrust, +1 per dieUp to 2BLThrustUp to 4BLThrust, -1/2 per die(round down)Up to 8BLThrust, -1 per dieExample: You have ST 28, whichgives you a BL of 157 lbs. and a thrustdamage of 3d-1. You hit a foe with ahurled 50-lb. bag of cement. It isbetween BL/4 (39 lbs.) and BL/2 (78lbs.). As shown on the table above, itdoes straight thrust damage, or 3d-1.SUCCESS ROLLS355WeightDistanceWeightDistanceRatioModifierRatioModifier0.053.52.00.300.102.52.50.250.152.03.00.200.201.54.00.150.251.25.00.120.301.16.00.100.401.07.00.090.500.88.00.080.750.79.00.071.000.610.00.061.500.412.00.05CatchingIf someone throws an object at you, you may make an active defenseroll to avoid it. However, if he deliberately throws it to you by suc-cessfully lobbing it into your general area you can try to catch it. Rollagainst DX or a suitable Sports skill to make the catch, at -4 if you arenot taking a Wait maneuver, but at +1 per two full points by which thethrower made his roll. This counts as a parry with your catching hand.You can also attempt to intercept a thrown object en route to a catch-er. Treat this as a parry against a thrown weapon (see Parrying, p. 376).On a success, you snatch the thrown object out of the air.Throwing Skill and Throwing ArtWhen you throw an object that fitsinto the palm of your hand such as abottle, rock, or grenade you may rollagainst Throwing skill (p. 226) to hit atarget or a general area. Furthermore,if you know Throwing at DX+1 level,add +1 to ST before you multiply it bythe distance modifier. Add +2 to ST ifyou know Throwing at DX+2 or better.If you have Throwing Art skill(p. 226), you can use it to throw any-thing. Roll against skill to hit. If youknow Throwing Art at DX level, add+1 to ST before you multiply it by thedistance modifier, and add +1 per dieto thrust damage. These bonusesincrease to +2 if you know ThrowingArt at DX+1 or better.Thrown WeaponsThe rules above are for throwingrocks, bodies, televisions . . . anythingbut weapons. Hurled weapons differ inthree important ways:1. Thrown weapons use ThrownWeapon skills (p. 226) to hit, not DXor Throwing (but Throwing Art doesallow you to throw weapons).2. Many throwing weapons travelsignificantly farther than ordinaryobjects due to streamlining and stabi-lization. Others have less range, due tothe way they are thrown. For instance,you can hurl a throwing knife as far asthese rules suggest, but the range atwhich it will hit point-first and inflictdamage is considerably shorter.3. Throwing weapons have points,edges, dense striking heads, etc. thatfocus the force of impact. They almostalways do more damage than theserules would indicate.EXTRA EFFORTThrough sheer force of will, youcan push your body past its usual lim-its when you perform physical tasks.This is called extra effort. Note thatif you have the Machine meta-trait,you cannot use extra effort!You can use extra effort to increaseBasic Lift (but not ST itself) when dig-ging or lifting; daily mileage when hik-ing; Move when running or swim-ming; distance (but not Basic Moveitself) when jumping; and ST for thepurposes of throwing, making a single356SUCCESS ROLLSST roll, or drawing or cocking a bowor crossbow thats too strong for you.You cannot use extra effort to increasethe time you can hold your breath that would be self-defeating!To apply extra effort, make a Willroll.Modifiers: -1 per 5% increase incapabilities (e.g., to add 10% to ST,roll at -2). If you are fatigued, apply apenalty equal to the missing FP. Roll at+5 if you are motivated by fear, anger,or concern for a loved one (GMs deci-sion, but you must usually fail a FrightCheck or a self-control roll for a suit-able disadvantage, or be the victim ofa successful Intimidation attempt, toget this bonus).Extra effort costs FP whether yousucceed or fail. Instantaneous feats(e.g., jumps and throws) cost a flat 1FP per attempt. Ongoing tasks (dig-ging, running, swimming, etc.) requirerepeated extra effort rolls, and cost 1FP per roll. Hiking works differently see below. Pay the FP cost for extraeffort immediately after you attemptyour Will roll. Note that the FP spenton extra effort do not penalize thisattempt, but give a penalty to futureattempts until you recover the FP.On a success, you gain the desiredincrease in your physical capabilities.This does not guarantee success at thetask at hand you could still fail theDX roll for an extra-effort jump, forinstance. On a critical success, you donot have to pay FP for your extraeffort.On a failure, you achieve only whatyou would have accomplished withoutextra effort.A critical failure means you loseHP equal to the FP spent on theattempt including any FP the taskwould have cost without extra effort and the task fails automatically! If youroll a natural 18, you must also makean immediate HT roll to avoid acquir-ing a temporary disadvantage appro-priate to the task (see below for exam-ples). Handle recovery as described inDuration of Crippling Injuries (p. 422).A sufficiently bad HT roll can result ina permanent disadvantage!Notes for SpecificPhysical TasksInstead of rolling against Will touse extra effort, you may make a Will-based roll against a relevant skill(Hiking, Jumping, Lifting, Running,Swimming, or Throwing, as applica-ble), if that would be better.Digging: For every hour of digging,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the usual FP cost. On acritical failure, the injury is to yourback, and will heal only with rest (notFirst Aid); on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Bad Back disadvantage(p. 123).Hiking: Make one extra-effort rollper day. Extra effort increases the FPyou suffer by two when you stop onthe march (see Fatigue, p. 426). Assessinjury due to critical failure at the endof the day, and base it on the modifiedFP penalty. For instance, if you wouldnormally be missing 5 FP when youstopped, you would be missing 7 FP ifyou used extra effort and if you crit-ically failed, you would end the daywith 7 HP of injury! When usingHiking skill, make a single Will-basedHiking roll at -1 per 5% extra mileagebeyond the basic +20% for a success-ful Hiking roll (-1 for +25%, -2 for+30%, and so on).Jumping: On a critical failure,apply the injury to the foot or leg(GMs option, or roll randomly); on an18, you temporarily acquire theCrippled Leg disadvantage (see Lame,p. 141).Lifting and Moving Things: Forevery minute of continuing effort,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.(This cost adds to the 1 FP per secondfor carrying encumbrance over10BL, if applicable.) Handle criticalfailures as described for digging.When using Lifting skill, make a singleWill-based Lifting roll, at -1 per 10%extra Basic Lift. This is instead of theusual 5% bonus per point of success.Running: For every 15 seconds ofsprinting or minute of paced running,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the FP cost for failed HTrolls while running! On a critical fail-ure, apply the injury to one of yourlegs; on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Crippled Leg disadvantage(see Lame, p. 141).Swimming: For every minute ofswimming, make an extra effort rolland pay 1 FP. This adds to the FP costfor failed HT rolls while swimming.Throwing: Increases to ST affectboth damage and distance, but notBasic Lift for the purpose of what youcan throw in the first place. For that,make a separate extra-effort liftingattempt! Add bonuses for Throwing orThrowing Art skill after those for extraeffort.Optional Rule: ExtraEffort in CombatAt the GMs option, fighters can useextra effort in combat. These ruleswork differently from those above mainly to avoid bogging down combatwith extra die rolls and calculations.You must declare that you are usingextra effort and spend the required FPbefore you make your attack or defenseroll. A critical failure on the roll causes1 HP of injury to the arm (if blocking,parrying, or attacking with a shield,weapon, or hand) or leg (if dodging orkicking) in addition to the usual criticalmiss results. DR does not protect youfrom this damage!Feverish Defense: If you take anymaneuver other than All-Out Attack,you can spend 1 FP to get +2 to a sin-gle active defense roll. (You can usethis bonus to offset the penalty for par-rying multiple times with one hand;see Parrying, p. 376.)Flurry of Blows: If you take anAttack maneuver, you can halve thepenalty for Rapid Strike (see RapidStrike, p. 370) by spending 1 FP perattack.Mighty Blows: If you take an Attackmaneuver in melee combat, you canspend FP to gain the damage bonus ofan All-Out Attack (Strong) (see All-OutAttack, p. 365) without sacrificing yourdefenses. This costs 1 FP per attack.You cannot use Flurry of Blowsand Mighty Blows at the same time!SUCCESS ROLLS357Through sheer force of will, you can push your body past its usual limits when you performphysical tasks.
|
Throwing Skill and Throwing ArtWhen you throw an object that fitsinto the palm of your hand such as abottle, rock, or grenade you may rollagainst Throwing skill (p. 226) to hit atarget or a general area. Furthermore,if you know Throwing at DX+1 level,add +1 to ST before you multiply it bythe distance modifier. Add +2 to ST ifyou know Throwing at DX+2 or better.If you have Throwing Art skill(p. 226), you can use it to throw any-thing. Roll against skill to hit. If youknow Throwing Art at DX level, add+1 to ST before you multiply it by thedistance modifier, and add +1 per dieto thrust damage. These bonusesincrease to +2 if you know ThrowingArt at DX+1 or better.Thrown WeaponsThe rules above are for throwingrocks, bodies, televisions . . . anythingbut weapons. Hurled weapons differ inthree important ways:1. Thrown weapons use ThrownWeapon skills (p. 226) to hit, not DXor Throwing (but Throwing Art doesallow you to throw weapons).2. Many throwing weapons travelsignificantly farther than ordinaryobjects due to streamlining and stabi-lization. Others have less range, due tothe way they are thrown. For instance,you can hurl a throwing knife as far asthese rules suggest, but the range atwhich it will hit point-first and inflictdamage is considerably shorter.3. Throwing weapons have points,edges, dense striking heads, etc. thatfocus the force of impact. They almostalways do more damage than theserules would indicate.EXTRA EFFORTThrough sheer force of will, youcan push your body past its usual lim-its when you perform physical tasks.This is called extra effort. Note thatif you have the Machine meta-trait,you cannot use extra effort!You can use extra effort to increaseBasic Lift (but not ST itself) when dig-ging or lifting; daily mileage when hik-ing; Move when running or swim-ming; distance (but not Basic Moveitself) when jumping; and ST for thepurposes of throwing, making a single356SUCCESS ROLLSST roll, or drawing or cocking a bowor crossbow thats too strong for you.You cannot use extra effort to increasethe time you can hold your breath that would be self-defeating!To apply extra effort, make a Willroll.Modifiers: -1 per 5% increase incapabilities (e.g., to add 10% to ST,roll at -2). If you are fatigued, apply apenalty equal to the missing FP. Roll at+5 if you are motivated by fear, anger,or concern for a loved one (GMs deci-sion, but you must usually fail a FrightCheck or a self-control roll for a suit-able disadvantage, or be the victim ofa successful Intimidation attempt, toget this bonus).Extra effort costs FP whether yousucceed or fail. Instantaneous feats(e.g., jumps and throws) cost a flat 1FP per attempt. Ongoing tasks (dig-ging, running, swimming, etc.) requirerepeated extra effort rolls, and cost 1FP per roll. Hiking works differently see below. Pay the FP cost for extraeffort immediately after you attemptyour Will roll. Note that the FP spenton extra effort do not penalize thisattempt, but give a penalty to futureattempts until you recover the FP.On a success, you gain the desiredincrease in your physical capabilities.This does not guarantee success at thetask at hand you could still fail theDX roll for an extra-effort jump, forinstance. On a critical success, you donot have to pay FP for your extraeffort.On a failure, you achieve only whatyou would have accomplished withoutextra effort.A critical failure means you loseHP equal to the FP spent on theattempt including any FP the taskwould have cost without extra effort and the task fails automatically! If youroll a natural 18, you must also makean immediate HT roll to avoid acquir-ing a temporary disadvantage appro-priate to the task (see below for exam-ples). Handle recovery as described inDuration of Crippling Injuries (p. 422).A sufficiently bad HT roll can result ina permanent disadvantage!Notes for SpecificPhysical TasksInstead of rolling against Will touse extra effort, you may make a Will-based roll against a relevant skill(Hiking, Jumping, Lifting, Running,Swimming, or Throwing, as applica-ble), if that would be better.Digging: For every hour of digging,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the usual FP cost. On acritical failure, the injury is to yourback, and will heal only with rest (notFirst Aid); on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Bad Back disadvantage(p. 123).Hiking: Make one extra-effort rollper day. Extra effort increases the FPyou suffer by two when you stop onthe march (see Fatigue, p. 426). Assessinjury due to critical failure at the endof the day, and base it on the modifiedFP penalty. For instance, if you wouldnormally be missing 5 FP when youstopped, you would be missing 7 FP ifyou used extra effort and if you crit-ically failed, you would end the daywith 7 HP of injury! When usingHiking skill, make a single Will-basedHiking roll at -1 per 5% extra mileagebeyond the basic +20% for a success-ful Hiking roll (-1 for +25%, -2 for+30%, and so on).Jumping: On a critical failure,apply the injury to the foot or leg(GMs option, or roll randomly); on an18, you temporarily acquire theCrippled Leg disadvantage (see Lame,p. 141).Lifting and Moving Things: Forevery minute of continuing effort,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.(This cost adds to the 1 FP per secondfor carrying encumbrance over10BL, if applicable.) Handle criticalfailures as described for digging.When using Lifting skill, make a singleWill-based Lifting roll, at -1 per 10%extra Basic Lift. This is instead of theusual 5% bonus per point of success.Running: For every 15 seconds ofsprinting or minute of paced running,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the FP cost for failed HTrolls while running! On a critical fail-ure, apply the injury to one of yourlegs; on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Crippled Leg disadvantage(see Lame, p. 141).Swimming: For every minute ofswimming, make an extra effort rolland pay 1 FP. This adds to the FP costfor failed HT rolls while swimming.Throwing: Increases to ST affectboth damage and distance, but notBasic Lift for the purpose of what youcan throw in the first place. For that,make a separate extra-effort liftingattempt! Add bonuses for Throwing orThrowing Art skill after those for extraeffort.Optional Rule: ExtraEffort in CombatAt the GMs option, fighters can useextra effort in combat. These ruleswork differently from those above mainly to avoid bogging down combatwith extra die rolls and calculations.You must declare that you are usingextra effort and spend the required FPbefore you make your attack or defenseroll. A critical failure on the roll causes1 HP of injury to the arm (if blocking,parrying, or attacking with a shield,weapon, or hand) or leg (if dodging orkicking) in addition to the usual criticalmiss results. DR does not protect youfrom this damage!Feverish Defense: If you take anymaneuver other than All-Out Attack,you can spend 1 FP to get +2 to a sin-gle active defense roll. (You can usethis bonus to offset the penalty for par-rying multiple times with one hand;see Parrying, p. 376.)Flurry of Blows: If you take anAttack maneuver, you can halve thepenalty for Rapid Strike (see RapidStrike, p. 370) by spending 1 FP perattack.Mighty Blows: If you take an Attackmaneuver in melee combat, you canspend FP to gain the damage bonus ofan All-Out Attack (Strong) (see All-OutAttack, p. 365) without sacrificing yourdefenses. This costs 1 FP per attack.You cannot use Flurry of Blowsand Mighty Blows at the same time!SUCCESS ROLLS357Through sheer force of will, you can push your body past its usual limits when you performphysical tasks.Sense rolls include Vision rolls,Hearing rolls, Taste/Smell rolls, andall rolls to use special senses such asScanning Sense (p. 81) and VibrationSense (p. 96).To notice something using a givensense, roll against your Perceptionscore, modified by the applicableAcute Senses advantage (p. 35): AcuteVision for Vision rolls, Acute Hearingfor Hearing rolls, and so on.Comprehension Rolls: A successfulSense roll means you noticed some-thing. That is often sufficient, but insome cases, the GM may require asecond roll to understand what youhave sensed; e.g., to realize that theowl hoot you heard is really anIndian warrior, or that the faint scentyou noticed belongs to the flower of aman-eating plant. This roll is againstIQ for details that anyone could fig-ure out, or against an appropriateskill if the significance would be loston anyone but an expert.Danger Sense: If you have theDanger Sense advantage (p. 47) andfail a Sense roll or comprehensionroll to notice something dangerous,the GM will secretly make aPerception roll for you. On a success,you sense the danger anyhow!VISIONMake a Vision roll whenever it isimportant that you see something.Modifiers: Any Acute Visionbonus; +3 for Hyperspectral Vision;modifiers for the size and range ofthe target (see p. 550); -1 to -9 in par-tial darkness. In totaldarkness,Vision rolls are impossible withoutspecial advantages or technologicalaids. To spot something in plain sight e.g., a car coming toward you onthe road roll at +10. This does notapply to attempts to spot hiddenobjects, read text, identify faces, etc.When you try to spot somethingthat is deliberately hidden, the GMmay treat this roll as a Quick Contestagainst a concealment skill(Camouflage, Holdout, etc.), and mayallow or require a skill such asObservation or Search to replacePerception for the roll.Note that the curvature of a plan-et blocks vision beyond the horizon.The normal horizon on an Earth-sized planet is about three miles foran observer five to six feet in height.The GM should increase this fortaller observers or those in elevatedpositions. There is no horizon inspace!Useful Advantages: Night Visioncancels -1 in partial darkness penal-ties per level, and Dark Vision letsyou ignoredarkness penalties.Peripheral Vision gives you a Visionroll to see anything that is not absolutely, positively, directlybehind you and 360 Vision letsyou see even that! Telescopic Visioncancels -1 in range penalties perlevel.Limiting Disadvantages: Bad Sightgives -6 to Vision rolls to spot itemsmore than one yard away if you arenearsighted, or items within one yardif you are farsighted. RestrictedVision prevents you from noticinganything that isnt in the directionyou are looking. Blindness meansyou can see nothing!HEARINGMake a Hearing roll whenever it isimportant that you hear a sound. TheGM will often require a separate IQroll to make out speech, especially ina foreign language.Modifiers: Any Acute Hearingbonus; +4 for DiscriminatoryHearing; -4 for Hard of Hearing. TheGM may make this roll easier orharder, depending on the loudness ofthe sound, surrounding noises, etc.The range at which you can hear asound at no penalty is given on thetable below. For each step by whichyou are closer than this, apply +1 tothe roll, while for each step by whichyou are more distant, apply -1. For instance, to hear normal conver-sation at 8 yards would require a rollat -3.When you try to hear someonewho is attempting to move silently,the GM may treat this roll as a QuickContest against his Stealth skill. Ifyou are actively listening for suchactivity, the GM may allow you tosubstitute Observation skill forPerception.Useful Advantages: ParabolicHearing allows you to hear distantsounds as if they were nearby.Subsonic Hearing and Ultrahearingcan detect sounds that are inaudibleto normal humans.Limiting Disadvantage: If you suf-fer from Deafness, you can hear nothing!Hearing Distance TableSoundRange (yards)Leaves rustling1/4Quiet conversation1/2Normal conversation1Light traffic2Loud conversation4Noisy office8Normal traffic16Quiet rock band32Heavy traffic64Jet takeoff128Very loud rock band256Metallica512TASTE/SMELLTaste and smell are two manifesta-tions of the same sense. Make a Tasteroll to notice a flavor, or a Smell roll tonotice a scent.Modifiers: Any Acute Taste andSmell bonus; +4 for DiscriminatorySmell or Taste (as applicable). The GMmay modify this roll for a particularlystrong or weak taste or odor, and mayapply a penalty if it is specifically disguised.Useful Advantages: In addition togiving a bonus to your roll,Discriminatory Smell and Discri-minatory Taste can reveal sufficientdetail to allow you to identify people,locations, and objects with precisionequivalent to hearing or vision for anormal human.Limiting Disadvantage: No Sense ofSmell/Taste means that you cannottaste or smell anything.358SUCCESS ROLLSSENSE ROLLS
|
ST roll, or drawing or cocking a bowor crossbow thats too strong for you.You cannot use extra effort to increasethe time you can hold your breath that would be self-defeating!To apply extra effort, make a Willroll.Modifiers: -1 per 5% increase incapabilities (e.g., to add 10% to ST,roll at -2). If you are fatigued, apply apenalty equal to the missing FP. Roll at+5 if you are motivated by fear, anger,or concern for a loved one (GMs deci-sion, but you must usually fail a FrightCheck or a self-control roll for a suit-able disadvantage, or be the victim ofa successful Intimidation attempt, toget this bonus).Extra effort costs FP whether yousucceed or fail. Instantaneous feats(e.g., jumps and throws) cost a flat 1FP per attempt. Ongoing tasks (dig-ging, running, swimming, etc.) requirerepeated extra effort rolls, and cost 1FP per roll. Hiking works differently see below. Pay the FP cost for extraeffort immediately after you attemptyour Will roll. Note that the FP spenton extra effort do not penalize thisattempt, but give a penalty to futureattempts until you recover the FP.On a success, you gain the desiredincrease in your physical capabilities.This does not guarantee success at thetask at hand you could still fail theDX roll for an extra-effort jump, forinstance. On a critical success, you donot have to pay FP for your extraeffort.On a failure, you achieve only whatyou would have accomplished withoutextra effort.A critical failure means you loseHP equal to the FP spent on theattempt including any FP the taskwould have cost without extra effort and the task fails automatically! If youroll a natural 18, you must also makean immediate HT roll to avoid acquir-ing a temporary disadvantage appro-priate to the task (see below for exam-ples). Handle recovery as described inDuration of Crippling Injuries (p. 422).A sufficiently bad HT roll can result ina permanent disadvantage!Notes for SpecificPhysical TasksInstead of rolling against Will touse extra effort, you may make a Will-based roll against a relevant skill(Hiking, Jumping, Lifting, Running,Swimming, or Throwing, as applica-ble), if that would be better.Digging: For every hour of digging,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the usual FP cost. On acritical failure, the injury is to yourback, and will heal only with rest (notFirst Aid); on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Bad Back disadvantage(p. 123).Hiking: Make one extra-effort rollper day. Extra effort increases the FPyou suffer by two when you stop onthe march (see Fatigue, p. 426). Assessinjury due to critical failure at the endof the day, and base it on the modifiedFP penalty. For instance, if you wouldnormally be missing 5 FP when youstopped, you would be missing 7 FP ifyou used extra effort and if you crit-ically failed, you would end the daywith 7 HP of injury! When usingHiking skill, make a single Will-basedHiking roll at -1 per 5% extra mileagebeyond the basic +20% for a success-ful Hiking roll (-1 for +25%, -2 for+30%, and so on).Jumping: On a critical failure,apply the injury to the foot or leg(GMs option, or roll randomly); on an18, you temporarily acquire theCrippled Leg disadvantage (see Lame,p. 141).Lifting and Moving Things: Forevery minute of continuing effort,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.(This cost adds to the 1 FP per secondfor carrying encumbrance over10BL, if applicable.) Handle criticalfailures as described for digging.When using Lifting skill, make a singleWill-based Lifting roll, at -1 per 10%extra Basic Lift. This is instead of theusual 5% bonus per point of success.Running: For every 15 seconds ofsprinting or minute of paced running,make an extra-effort roll and pay 1 FP.This adds to the FP cost for failed HTrolls while running! On a critical fail-ure, apply the injury to one of yourlegs; on an 18, you temporarilyacquire the Crippled Leg disadvantage(see Lame, p. 141).Swimming: For every minute ofswimming, make an extra effort rolland pay 1 FP. This adds to the FP costfor failed HT rolls while swimming.Throwing: Increases to ST affectboth damage and distance, but notBasic Lift for the purpose of what youcan throw in the first place. For that,make a separate extra-effort liftingattempt! Add bonuses for Throwing orThrowing Art skill after those for extraeffort.Optional Rule: ExtraEffort in CombatAt the GMs option, fighters can useextra effort in combat. These ruleswork differently from those above mainly to avoid bogging down combatwith extra die rolls and calculations.You must declare that you are usingextra effort and spend the required FPbefore you make your attack or defenseroll. A critical failure on the roll causes1 HP of injury to the arm (if blocking,parrying, or attacking with a shield,weapon, or hand) or leg (if dodging orkicking) in addition to the usual criticalmiss results. DR does not protect youfrom this damage!Feverish Defense: If you take anymaneuver other than All-Out Attack,you can spend 1 FP to get +2 to a sin-gle active defense roll. (You can usethis bonus to offset the penalty for par-rying multiple times with one hand;see Parrying, p. 376.)Flurry of Blows: If you take anAttack maneuver, you can halve thepenalty for Rapid Strike (see RapidStrike, p. 370) by spending 1 FP perattack.Mighty Blows: If you take an Attackmaneuver in melee combat, you canspend FP to gain the damage bonus ofan All-Out Attack (Strong) (see All-OutAttack, p. 365) without sacrificing yourdefenses. This costs 1 FP per attack.You cannot use Flurry of Blowsand Mighty Blows at the same time!SUCCESS ROLLS357Through sheer force of will, you can push your body past its usual limits when you performphysical tasks.Sense rolls include Vision rolls,Hearing rolls, Taste/Smell rolls, andall rolls to use special senses such asScanning Sense (p. 81) and VibrationSense (p. 96).To notice something using a givensense, roll against your Perceptionscore, modified by the applicableAcute Senses advantage (p. 35): AcuteVision for Vision rolls, Acute Hearingfor Hearing rolls, and so on.Comprehension Rolls: A successfulSense roll means you noticed some-thing. That is often sufficient, but insome cases, the GM may require asecond roll to understand what youhave sensed; e.g., to realize that theowl hoot you heard is really anIndian warrior, or that the faint scentyou noticed belongs to the flower of aman-eating plant. This roll is againstIQ for details that anyone could fig-ure out, or against an appropriateskill if the significance would be loston anyone but an expert.Danger Sense: If you have theDanger Sense advantage (p. 47) andfail a Sense roll or comprehensionroll to notice something dangerous,the GM will secretly make aPerception roll for you. On a success,you sense the danger anyhow!VISIONMake a Vision roll whenever it isimportant that you see something.Modifiers: Any Acute Visionbonus; +3 for Hyperspectral Vision;modifiers for the size and range ofthe target (see p. 550); -1 to -9 in par-tial darkness. In totaldarkness,Vision rolls are impossible withoutspecial advantages or technologicalaids. To spot something in plain sight e.g., a car coming toward you onthe road roll at +10. This does notapply to attempts to spot hiddenobjects, read text, identify faces, etc.When you try to spot somethingthat is deliberately hidden, the GMmay treat this roll as a Quick Contestagainst a concealment skill(Camouflage, Holdout, etc.), and mayallow or require a skill such asObservation or Search to replacePerception for the roll.Note that the curvature of a plan-et blocks vision beyond the horizon.The normal horizon on an Earth-sized planet is about three miles foran observer five to six feet in height.The GM should increase this fortaller observers or those in elevatedpositions. There is no horizon inspace!Useful Advantages: Night Visioncancels -1 in partial darkness penal-ties per level, and Dark Vision letsyou ignoredarkness penalties.Peripheral Vision gives you a Visionroll to see anything that is not absolutely, positively, directlybehind you and 360 Vision letsyou see even that! Telescopic Visioncancels -1 in range penalties perlevel.Limiting Disadvantages: Bad Sightgives -6 to Vision rolls to spot itemsmore than one yard away if you arenearsighted, or items within one yardif you are farsighted. RestrictedVision prevents you from noticinganything that isnt in the directionyou are looking. Blindness meansyou can see nothing!HEARINGMake a Hearing roll whenever it isimportant that you hear a sound. TheGM will often require a separate IQroll to make out speech, especially ina foreign language.Modifiers: Any Acute Hearingbonus; +4 for DiscriminatoryHearing; -4 for Hard of Hearing. TheGM may make this roll easier orharder, depending on the loudness ofthe sound, surrounding noises, etc.The range at which you can hear asound at no penalty is given on thetable below. For each step by whichyou are closer than this, apply +1 tothe roll, while for each step by whichyou are more distant, apply -1. For instance, to hear normal conver-sation at 8 yards would require a rollat -3.When you try to hear someonewho is attempting to move silently,the GM may treat this roll as a QuickContest against his Stealth skill. Ifyou are actively listening for suchactivity, the GM may allow you tosubstitute Observation skill forPerception.Useful Advantages: ParabolicHearing allows you to hear distantsounds as if they were nearby.Subsonic Hearing and Ultrahearingcan detect sounds that are inaudibleto normal humans.Limiting Disadvantage: If you suf-fer from Deafness, you can hear nothing!Hearing Distance TableSoundRange (yards)Leaves rustling1/4Quiet conversation1/2Normal conversation1Light traffic2Loud conversation4Noisy office8Normal traffic16Quiet rock band32Heavy traffic64Jet takeoff128Very loud rock band256Metallica512TASTE/SMELLTaste and smell are two manifesta-tions of the same sense. Make a Tasteroll to notice a flavor, or a Smell roll tonotice a scent.Modifiers: Any Acute Taste andSmell bonus; +4 for DiscriminatorySmell or Taste (as applicable). The GMmay modify this roll for a particularlystrong or weak taste or odor, and mayapply a penalty if it is specifically disguised.Useful Advantages: In addition togiving a bonus to your roll,Discriminatory Smell and Discri-minatory Taste can reveal sufficientdetail to allow you to identify people,locations, and objects with precisionequivalent to hearing or vision for anormal human.Limiting Disadvantage: No Sense ofSmell/Taste means that you cannottaste or smell anything.358SUCCESS ROLLSSENSE ROLLSAn Influence roll is a deliberateattempt to ensure a positive reactionfrom an NPC. A PC with an appropri-ate Influence skill can always electto substitute an Influence roll for aregular reaction roll in suitable cir-cumstances (GMs decision). SeeReaction Rolls (p. 494) for more onNPC reactions.Decide which Influence skill youare using: Diplomacy, Fast-Talk,Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, SexAppeal, or Streetwise. Choose wisely!The GM may allow other skills towork as Influence skills in certain sit-uations (e.g., Law skill, when dealingwith a judge). Then roll a QuickContest: your Influence skill vs. thesubjects Will.Modifiers: All your personal reac-tion modifiers (although the GM orthe skill description may rule thatsome modifiers do not apply); anyspecific modifiers given in the skilldescription; -1 to -10 for using aninappropriate Influence skill (GMsdecision).If you win, you get a Good reac-tion from the NPC Very Good ifyou used Sex Appeal. On any otheroutcome, the NPC resents your clum-sy attempt at manipulation. This givesyou a Bad reaction Very Bad ifyou attempted specious intimidation(see Intimidation, p. 202). Exception:If you used Diplomacy, the GM willalso make a regular reaction roll anduse the better of the two reactions.Thus, Diplomacy is relatively safe . . .If the subject is Indomitable(p. 60), you lose automatically unlessyou have Empathy, Animal Empathy,Plant Empathy, or Spirit Empathy, asappropriate. Intimidation attemptsagainst those with the Unfazeableadvantage (p. 95) also fail automati-cally. On the other hand, you win auto-matically no roll required againstthose with Slave Mentality (p. 154).Psychological WarfareYou can use Propaganda skill formedia manipulation, and Psychologyskill for other psyops. This is anInfluence roll. Apply your causes reac-tion modifiers rather than your own,and use the average Will of the targetgroup in the Quick Contest.SUCCESS ROLLS359INFLUENCE ROLLSInfluencing the PCsInfluence rolls are designed to allow PCs to affect NPC reactions.The GM should not make Influence rolls on behalf of NPCs and tell theplayers how to react. Most players form an opinion of an NPC based onthe GMs portrayal of the character, and few appreciate being told thatthey must roleplay a good reaction toward an NPC they do not like ortrust.This does not mean that NPCs cannot influence PCs! When an NPCmakes a successful Influence roll against a PC, the GM should apply theNPCs margin of victory as a bonus or penalty (as appropriate) to thePCs die rolls when dealing with that NPC. For instance, if a beautifulspy beats the PCs Will by 3 using Sex Appeal, the hero might suffer -3on self-controls roll for his Lecherousness and -3 to his Detect Lies skillwhere that spy is concerned. Be creative!
|
Sense rolls include Vision rolls,Hearing rolls, Taste/Smell rolls, andall rolls to use special senses such asScanning Sense (p. 81) and VibrationSense (p. 96).To notice something using a givensense, roll against your Perceptionscore, modified by the applicableAcute Senses advantage (p. 35): AcuteVision for Vision rolls, Acute Hearingfor Hearing rolls, and so on.Comprehension Rolls: A successfulSense roll means you noticed some-thing. That is often sufficient, but insome cases, the GM may require asecond roll to understand what youhave sensed; e.g., to realize that theowl hoot you heard is really anIndian warrior, or that the faint scentyou noticed belongs to the flower of aman-eating plant. This roll is againstIQ for details that anyone could fig-ure out, or against an appropriateskill if the significance would be loston anyone but an expert.Danger Sense: If you have theDanger Sense advantage (p. 47) andfail a Sense roll or comprehensionroll to notice something dangerous,the GM will secretly make aPerception roll for you. On a success,you sense the danger anyhow!VISIONMake a Vision roll whenever it isimportant that you see something.Modifiers: Any Acute Visionbonus; +3 for Hyperspectral Vision;modifiers for the size and range ofthe target (see p. 550); -1 to -9 in par-tial darkness. In totaldarkness,Vision rolls are impossible withoutspecial advantages or technologicalaids. To spot something in plain sight e.g., a car coming toward you onthe road roll at +10. This does notapply to attempts to spot hiddenobjects, read text, identify faces, etc.When you try to spot somethingthat is deliberately hidden, the GMmay treat this roll as a Quick Contestagainst a concealment skill(Camouflage, Holdout, etc.), and mayallow or require a skill such asObservation or Search to replacePerception for the roll.Note that the curvature of a plan-et blocks vision beyond the horizon.The normal horizon on an Earth-sized planet is about three miles foran observer five to six feet in height.The GM should increase this fortaller observers or those in elevatedpositions. There is no horizon inspace!Useful Advantages: Night Visioncancels -1 in partial darkness penal-ties per level, and Dark Vision letsyou ignoredarkness penalties.Peripheral Vision gives you a Visionroll to see anything that is not absolutely, positively, directlybehind you and 360 Vision letsyou see even that! Telescopic Visioncancels -1 in range penalties perlevel.Limiting Disadvantages: Bad Sightgives -6 to Vision rolls to spot itemsmore than one yard away if you arenearsighted, or items within one yardif you are farsighted. RestrictedVision prevents you from noticinganything that isnt in the directionyou are looking. Blindness meansyou can see nothing!HEARINGMake a Hearing roll whenever it isimportant that you hear a sound. TheGM will often require a separate IQroll to make out speech, especially ina foreign language.Modifiers: Any Acute Hearingbonus; +4 for DiscriminatoryHearing; -4 for Hard of Hearing. TheGM may make this roll easier orharder, depending on the loudness ofthe sound, surrounding noises, etc.The range at which you can hear asound at no penalty is given on thetable below. For each step by whichyou are closer than this, apply +1 tothe roll, while for each step by whichyou are more distant, apply -1. For instance, to hear normal conver-sation at 8 yards would require a rollat -3.When you try to hear someonewho is attempting to move silently,the GM may treat this roll as a QuickContest against his Stealth skill. Ifyou are actively listening for suchactivity, the GM may allow you tosubstitute Observation skill forPerception.Useful Advantages: ParabolicHearing allows you to hear distantsounds as if they were nearby.Subsonic Hearing and Ultrahearingcan detect sounds that are inaudibleto normal humans.Limiting Disadvantage: If you suf-fer from Deafness, you can hear nothing!Hearing Distance TableSoundRange (yards)Leaves rustling1/4Quiet conversation1/2Normal conversation1Light traffic2Loud conversation4Noisy office8Normal traffic16Quiet rock band32Heavy traffic64Jet takeoff128Very loud rock band256Metallica512TASTE/SMELLTaste and smell are two manifesta-tions of the same sense. Make a Tasteroll to notice a flavor, or a Smell roll tonotice a scent.Modifiers: Any Acute Taste andSmell bonus; +4 for DiscriminatorySmell or Taste (as applicable). The GMmay modify this roll for a particularlystrong or weak taste or odor, and mayapply a penalty if it is specifically disguised.Useful Advantages: In addition togiving a bonus to your roll,Discriminatory Smell and Discri-minatory Taste can reveal sufficientdetail to allow you to identify people,locations, and objects with precisionequivalent to hearing or vision for anormal human.Limiting Disadvantage: No Sense ofSmell/Taste means that you cannottaste or smell anything.358SUCCESS ROLLSSENSE ROLLSAn Influence roll is a deliberateattempt to ensure a positive reactionfrom an NPC. A PC with an appropri-ate Influence skill can always electto substitute an Influence roll for aregular reaction roll in suitable cir-cumstances (GMs decision). SeeReaction Rolls (p. 494) for more onNPC reactions.Decide which Influence skill youare using: Diplomacy, Fast-Talk,Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, SexAppeal, or Streetwise. Choose wisely!The GM may allow other skills towork as Influence skills in certain sit-uations (e.g., Law skill, when dealingwith a judge). Then roll a QuickContest: your Influence skill vs. thesubjects Will.Modifiers: All your personal reac-tion modifiers (although the GM orthe skill description may rule thatsome modifiers do not apply); anyspecific modifiers given in the skilldescription; -1 to -10 for using aninappropriate Influence skill (GMsdecision).If you win, you get a Good reac-tion from the NPC Very Good ifyou used Sex Appeal. On any otheroutcome, the NPC resents your clum-sy attempt at manipulation. This givesyou a Bad reaction Very Bad ifyou attempted specious intimidation(see Intimidation, p. 202). Exception:If you used Diplomacy, the GM willalso make a regular reaction roll anduse the better of the two reactions.Thus, Diplomacy is relatively safe . . .If the subject is Indomitable(p. 60), you lose automatically unlessyou have Empathy, Animal Empathy,Plant Empathy, or Spirit Empathy, asappropriate. Intimidation attemptsagainst those with the Unfazeableadvantage (p. 95) also fail automati-cally. On the other hand, you win auto-matically no roll required againstthose with Slave Mentality (p. 154).Psychological WarfareYou can use Propaganda skill formedia manipulation, and Psychologyskill for other psyops. This is anInfluence roll. Apply your causes reac-tion modifiers rather than your own,and use the average Will of the targetgroup in the Quick Contest.SUCCESS ROLLS359INFLUENCE ROLLSInfluencing the PCsInfluence rolls are designed to allow PCs to affect NPC reactions.The GM should not make Influence rolls on behalf of NPCs and tell theplayers how to react. Most players form an opinion of an NPC based onthe GMs portrayal of the character, and few appreciate being told thatthey must roleplay a good reaction toward an NPC they do not like ortrust.This does not mean that NPCs cannot influence PCs! When an NPCmakes a successful Influence roll against a PC, the GM should apply theNPCs margin of victory as a bonus or penalty (as appropriate) to thePCs die rolls when dealing with that NPC. For instance, if a beautifulspy beats the PCs Will by 3 using Sex Appeal, the hero might suffer -3on self-controls roll for his Lecherousness and -3 to his Detect Lies skillwhere that spy is concerned. Be creative!When you are faced with a stressfulsituation or a distraction, the GM mayrequire you to roll against your Will tostay focused. On a success, you mayact normally. On a failure, you submitto the fear, give in to the pressure, aredistracted from your task, etc.The effects of a failed Will roll in astressful situation are often identicalto those of a failed self-control roll fora mental disadvantage. This does notmake Will rolls and self-control rollsinterchangeable. Which kind of rollyou must make depends on the causeof the stress, not on its effects.If a game-world event causes nega-tive effects (distraction, stunning, etc.)for anyone who fails a Will roll, youroll against Will just like anyone else even if your self-control roll to resistidentical effects from a mental disad-vantage would be easier or harder.If a mental disadvantage causes anegative effect on a failed self-controlroll, you roll against your self-controlnumber to resist even if your Willroll to avoid that same effect underother circumstances would differ.However, modifiers to self-controlrolls and Will rolls to resist a particu-lar effect are usually interchangeable.For instance, a drug that gives +2 toWill rolls to resist distraction wouldalso give +2 to self-control rolls toresist disadvantages that result in dis-traction.FRIGHT CHECKSA Fright Check is a Will roll madeto resist fear. Fright Checks can occuras often or as rarely as the GM wishes.In a horror campaign where ordinarypeople meet shockingly gruesomeThings, Fright Checks might be verycommon! With only minor adapta-tion, the GM can use these rules forawe, confusion, etc. as well as fear.As a general rule, ordinary fright-ening things do not require FrightChecks. Fright Checks are for eventsso unusual and terrifying that theymight stun or even permanently scarsomeone.What counts as ordinary dependson the characters and the setting. Thisis one place where a character storycan be helpful! An ordinary, 21st-cen-tury American might have to makeFright Checks for encounters withmonsters, dead bodies, and the super-natural. A battle-hardened comman-do in the same game might not haveto roll for dead bodies. And in a fan-tasy campaign, all these things maybe quite normal . . . threatening, butnormal. On the other hand, a fantasycharacter might have to make aFright Check if transported to the 21stcentury and given a ride down theinterstate . . .Fright Check ModifiersThe following modifiers are cumu-lative.Advantages and Disadvantages: AnyFearlessness bonus or Fearfulnesspenalty; +2 for Combat Reflexes, or -2for Combat Paralysis. Other modifiersare conditional: -1 to -4 for Cowardicewhen your physical safety is at risk; +1for Daredevil when charging into ascary situation; +1 for Higher Purposewhen confronting threats you aresworn to oppose; +1 to +4 forXenophilia when confronting mon-sters. Unfazeable characters dontmake Fright Checks!Bodies: +6 for a peaceful-lookingbody, prepared for burial; +2 for adead body with no signs of violence;no modifier for most victims of vio-lence; and from -1 to -3 for grisly muti-lations. Apply another -6 if the victimwas your Dependent!Heat of Battle: +5 if you are in com-bat when the terrifying thing happensor you first notice it.Monsters: A given monster mightgive a basic -1 to -10 to Fright Checks.For hordes of monsters, roll at -1 for 5monsters, -2 for 10, -3 for 20, -4 for 50,and -5 for 100 or more.Physical Circumstances: -1 if thebody, monster, etc. touches you; +1 ifyou witness it at a great distance (atleast 100 yards); or +3 if you view itremotely (using Clairsentience,closed-circuit TV, etc.). Apply -1 if thearea is physically isolated, -1 at nightor in the dark (or in daylight, if yourea night-dweller!), and -2 if you are (orthink you are) alone.Preparation: +1 if you have previ-ous personal experience with this kindof threat; +1 per exposure to this par-ticular threat in 24 hours; +1 to +3(depending on the quality of thereport) if you learned the details ofthis particular situation before youwitnessed it.The Rule of 14If final, modified Will exceeds 13,reduce it to 13 for the purpose of theFright Check. This means that a roll of14 or more is automatically a failure.This rule does not apply to other Willrolls (resistance rolls, rolls to avoiddistraction, etc.) only to FrightChecks.Fright Check TableWhen you fail a Fright Check, roll3d, add your margin of failure on theFright Check, and consult the tablebelow. This sometimes gives implausi-ble results. The GM should eitherreroll these or change them to some-thing more appropriate especiallyfor Fright Checks stemming from awe(e.g., divine beauty) or mind-warpingcomplexity (e.g., otherworldly geome-try or radical philosophical concepts)instead of fear.Many of these results give a newmental quirk or disadvantage. TheGM assigns this trait, which must berelated to the frightening event. If pos-sible, it should also be related to thevictims existing mental traits! Traitsacquired this way reduce the victimspoint value.4, 5 Stunned for one second, thenrecover automatically.6, 7 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. unmodi-fied Will to snap out of it.8, 9 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. Will, pluswhatever bonuses or penalties youhad on your original roll, to snapout of it.10 Stunned for 1d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.11 Stunned for 2d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.360SUCCESS ROLLSWILL ROLLS
|
An Influence roll is a deliberateattempt to ensure a positive reactionfrom an NPC. A PC with an appropri-ate Influence skill can always electto substitute an Influence roll for aregular reaction roll in suitable cir-cumstances (GMs decision). SeeReaction Rolls (p. 494) for more onNPC reactions.Decide which Influence skill youare using: Diplomacy, Fast-Talk,Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, SexAppeal, or Streetwise. Choose wisely!The GM may allow other skills towork as Influence skills in certain sit-uations (e.g., Law skill, when dealingwith a judge). Then roll a QuickContest: your Influence skill vs. thesubjects Will.Modifiers: All your personal reac-tion modifiers (although the GM orthe skill description may rule thatsome modifiers do not apply); anyspecific modifiers given in the skilldescription; -1 to -10 for using aninappropriate Influence skill (GMsdecision).If you win, you get a Good reac-tion from the NPC Very Good ifyou used Sex Appeal. On any otheroutcome, the NPC resents your clum-sy attempt at manipulation. This givesyou a Bad reaction Very Bad ifyou attempted specious intimidation(see Intimidation, p. 202). Exception:If you used Diplomacy, the GM willalso make a regular reaction roll anduse the better of the two reactions.Thus, Diplomacy is relatively safe . . .If the subject is Indomitable(p. 60), you lose automatically unlessyou have Empathy, Animal Empathy,Plant Empathy, or Spirit Empathy, asappropriate. Intimidation attemptsagainst those with the Unfazeableadvantage (p. 95) also fail automati-cally. On the other hand, you win auto-matically no roll required againstthose with Slave Mentality (p. 154).Psychological WarfareYou can use Propaganda skill formedia manipulation, and Psychologyskill for other psyops. This is anInfluence roll. Apply your causes reac-tion modifiers rather than your own,and use the average Will of the targetgroup in the Quick Contest.SUCCESS ROLLS359INFLUENCE ROLLSInfluencing the PCsInfluence rolls are designed to allow PCs to affect NPC reactions.The GM should not make Influence rolls on behalf of NPCs and tell theplayers how to react. Most players form an opinion of an NPC based onthe GMs portrayal of the character, and few appreciate being told thatthey must roleplay a good reaction toward an NPC they do not like ortrust.This does not mean that NPCs cannot influence PCs! When an NPCmakes a successful Influence roll against a PC, the GM should apply theNPCs margin of victory as a bonus or penalty (as appropriate) to thePCs die rolls when dealing with that NPC. For instance, if a beautifulspy beats the PCs Will by 3 using Sex Appeal, the hero might suffer -3on self-controls roll for his Lecherousness and -3 to his Detect Lies skillwhere that spy is concerned. Be creative!When you are faced with a stressfulsituation or a distraction, the GM mayrequire you to roll against your Will tostay focused. On a success, you mayact normally. On a failure, you submitto the fear, give in to the pressure, aredistracted from your task, etc.The effects of a failed Will roll in astressful situation are often identicalto those of a failed self-control roll fora mental disadvantage. This does notmake Will rolls and self-control rollsinterchangeable. Which kind of rollyou must make depends on the causeof the stress, not on its effects.If a game-world event causes nega-tive effects (distraction, stunning, etc.)for anyone who fails a Will roll, youroll against Will just like anyone else even if your self-control roll to resistidentical effects from a mental disad-vantage would be easier or harder.If a mental disadvantage causes anegative effect on a failed self-controlroll, you roll against your self-controlnumber to resist even if your Willroll to avoid that same effect underother circumstances would differ.However, modifiers to self-controlrolls and Will rolls to resist a particu-lar effect are usually interchangeable.For instance, a drug that gives +2 toWill rolls to resist distraction wouldalso give +2 to self-control rolls toresist disadvantages that result in dis-traction.FRIGHT CHECKSA Fright Check is a Will roll madeto resist fear. Fright Checks can occuras often or as rarely as the GM wishes.In a horror campaign where ordinarypeople meet shockingly gruesomeThings, Fright Checks might be verycommon! With only minor adapta-tion, the GM can use these rules forawe, confusion, etc. as well as fear.As a general rule, ordinary fright-ening things do not require FrightChecks. Fright Checks are for eventsso unusual and terrifying that theymight stun or even permanently scarsomeone.What counts as ordinary dependson the characters and the setting. Thisis one place where a character storycan be helpful! An ordinary, 21st-cen-tury American might have to makeFright Checks for encounters withmonsters, dead bodies, and the super-natural. A battle-hardened comman-do in the same game might not haveto roll for dead bodies. And in a fan-tasy campaign, all these things maybe quite normal . . . threatening, butnormal. On the other hand, a fantasycharacter might have to make aFright Check if transported to the 21stcentury and given a ride down theinterstate . . .Fright Check ModifiersThe following modifiers are cumu-lative.Advantages and Disadvantages: AnyFearlessness bonus or Fearfulnesspenalty; +2 for Combat Reflexes, or -2for Combat Paralysis. Other modifiersare conditional: -1 to -4 for Cowardicewhen your physical safety is at risk; +1for Daredevil when charging into ascary situation; +1 for Higher Purposewhen confronting threats you aresworn to oppose; +1 to +4 forXenophilia when confronting mon-sters. Unfazeable characters dontmake Fright Checks!Bodies: +6 for a peaceful-lookingbody, prepared for burial; +2 for adead body with no signs of violence;no modifier for most victims of vio-lence; and from -1 to -3 for grisly muti-lations. Apply another -6 if the victimwas your Dependent!Heat of Battle: +5 if you are in com-bat when the terrifying thing happensor you first notice it.Monsters: A given monster mightgive a basic -1 to -10 to Fright Checks.For hordes of monsters, roll at -1 for 5monsters, -2 for 10, -3 for 20, -4 for 50,and -5 for 100 or more.Physical Circumstances: -1 if thebody, monster, etc. touches you; +1 ifyou witness it at a great distance (atleast 100 yards); or +3 if you view itremotely (using Clairsentience,closed-circuit TV, etc.). Apply -1 if thearea is physically isolated, -1 at nightor in the dark (or in daylight, if yourea night-dweller!), and -2 if you are (orthink you are) alone.Preparation: +1 if you have previ-ous personal experience with this kindof threat; +1 per exposure to this par-ticular threat in 24 hours; +1 to +3(depending on the quality of thereport) if you learned the details ofthis particular situation before youwitnessed it.The Rule of 14If final, modified Will exceeds 13,reduce it to 13 for the purpose of theFright Check. This means that a roll of14 or more is automatically a failure.This rule does not apply to other Willrolls (resistance rolls, rolls to avoiddistraction, etc.) only to FrightChecks.Fright Check TableWhen you fail a Fright Check, roll3d, add your margin of failure on theFright Check, and consult the tablebelow. This sometimes gives implausi-ble results. The GM should eitherreroll these or change them to some-thing more appropriate especiallyfor Fright Checks stemming from awe(e.g., divine beauty) or mind-warpingcomplexity (e.g., otherworldly geome-try or radical philosophical concepts)instead of fear.Many of these results give a newmental quirk or disadvantage. TheGM assigns this trait, which must berelated to the frightening event. If pos-sible, it should also be related to thevictims existing mental traits! Traitsacquired this way reduce the victimspoint value.4, 5 Stunned for one second, thenrecover automatically.6, 7 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. unmodi-fied Will to snap out of it.8, 9 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. Will, pluswhatever bonuses or penalties youhad on your original roll, to snapout of it.10 Stunned for 1d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.11 Stunned for 2d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.360SUCCESS ROLLSWILL ROLLS12 Lose your lunch. Treat this asretching for (25 - HT) seconds,and then roll vs. HT each secondto recover; see IncapacitatingConditions (p. 428). Depending on the circumstances, this may be merely inconvenient, or humil-iating.13 Acquire a new mental quirk (seeQuirks, p. 162). This is the only wayto acquire more than five quirks.14, 15 Lose 1d FP, and take 1d sec-onds of stunning as per 10.16 Stunned for 1d seconds, as per10, and acquire a new quirk, as per13.17 Faint for 1d minutes, then roll vs.HT each minute to recover.18 Faint as above, and roll vs. HTimmediately. On a failed roll, take 1HP of injury as you collapse.19 Severe faint, lasting for 2d min-utes. Roll vs. HT each minute torecover. Take 1 HP of injury.20 Faint bordering on shock, lastingfor 4d minutes. Also, lose 1d FP.21 Panic. You run around scream-ing, sit down and cry, or do some-thing else equally pointless for 1dminutes. At the end of that time,roll vs. unmodified Will once perminute to snap out of it.22 Acquire a -10-point Delusion(p. 130).23 Acquire a -10-point Phobia(p. 148) or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.24 Major physical effect, set by GM:hair turns white, age five yearsovernight, go partially deaf, etc. Ingame terms, acquire -15 pointsworth of physical disadvantages(for this purpose, each year of agecounts as -3 points).25 If you already have a Phobia orother mental disadvantage that islogically related to the frighteningincident, your self-control numberbecomes one step worse. If not, orif your self-control number isalready 6, add a new -10-pointPhobia or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.26 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-pointDelusion, as per 22.27 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-point men-tal disadvantage, as per 23.28 Light coma. You fall uncon-scious, rolling vs. HT every 30 min-utes to recover. For 6 hours afteryou come to, all skill rolls andattribute checks are at -2.29 Coma. As above, but you areunconscious for 1d hours. Thenroll vs. HT. If the roll fails, remainin a coma for another 1d hours,and so on.30 Catatonia. Stare into space for 1ddays. Then roll vs. HT. On a failedroll, remain catatonic for another1d days, and so on. If you have nomedical care, lose 1 HP the firstday, 2 the second, and so on. If yousurvive and awaken, all skill rollsand attribute checks are at -2 for asmany days as the catatonia lasted.31 Seizure. You lose control of yourbody and fall to the ground in a fitlasting 1d minutes and costing 1dFP. Also, roll vs. HT. On a failure,take 1d of injury. On a critical failure, you also lose 1 HT permanently.32 Stricken. You fall to the ground,taking 2d of injury in the form of amild heart attack or stroke.33 Total panic. You are out of con-trol; you might do anything (theGM rolls 3d: the higher the roll, themore useless your reaction). Forinstance, you might jump off a cliffto avoid the monster. If you surviveyour first reaction, roll vs. Will tocome out of the panic. If you fail,the GM rolls for another panicreaction, and so on!34 Acquire a -15-point Delusion(p. 130).35 Acquire a -15-point Phobia(p. 148) or other mental disadvan-tage worth -15 points.36 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -20 points ofphysical disadvantages.37 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -30 points ofphysical disadvantages.38 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointDelusion, as per 34.39 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointPhobia or other -15-point mentaldisadvantage, as per 35.40+ As 39, above, but victim alsoloses 1 point of IQ permanently.This automatically reduces all IQ-based skills, including magic spells,by 1.SUCCESS ROLLS361
|
When you are faced with a stressfulsituation or a distraction, the GM mayrequire you to roll against your Will tostay focused. On a success, you mayact normally. On a failure, you submitto the fear, give in to the pressure, aredistracted from your task, etc.The effects of a failed Will roll in astressful situation are often identicalto those of a failed self-control roll fora mental disadvantage. This does notmake Will rolls and self-control rollsinterchangeable. Which kind of rollyou must make depends on the causeof the stress, not on its effects.If a game-world event causes nega-tive effects (distraction, stunning, etc.)for anyone who fails a Will roll, youroll against Will just like anyone else even if your self-control roll to resistidentical effects from a mental disad-vantage would be easier or harder.If a mental disadvantage causes anegative effect on a failed self-controlroll, you roll against your self-controlnumber to resist even if your Willroll to avoid that same effect underother circumstances would differ.However, modifiers to self-controlrolls and Will rolls to resist a particu-lar effect are usually interchangeable.For instance, a drug that gives +2 toWill rolls to resist distraction wouldalso give +2 to self-control rolls toresist disadvantages that result in dis-traction.FRIGHT CHECKSA Fright Check is a Will roll madeto resist fear. Fright Checks can occuras often or as rarely as the GM wishes.In a horror campaign where ordinarypeople meet shockingly gruesomeThings, Fright Checks might be verycommon! With only minor adapta-tion, the GM can use these rules forawe, confusion, etc. as well as fear.As a general rule, ordinary fright-ening things do not require FrightChecks. Fright Checks are for eventsso unusual and terrifying that theymight stun or even permanently scarsomeone.What counts as ordinary dependson the characters and the setting. Thisis one place where a character storycan be helpful! An ordinary, 21st-cen-tury American might have to makeFright Checks for encounters withmonsters, dead bodies, and the super-natural. A battle-hardened comman-do in the same game might not haveto roll for dead bodies. And in a fan-tasy campaign, all these things maybe quite normal . . . threatening, butnormal. On the other hand, a fantasycharacter might have to make aFright Check if transported to the 21stcentury and given a ride down theinterstate . . .Fright Check ModifiersThe following modifiers are cumu-lative.Advantages and Disadvantages: AnyFearlessness bonus or Fearfulnesspenalty; +2 for Combat Reflexes, or -2for Combat Paralysis. Other modifiersare conditional: -1 to -4 for Cowardicewhen your physical safety is at risk; +1for Daredevil when charging into ascary situation; +1 for Higher Purposewhen confronting threats you aresworn to oppose; +1 to +4 forXenophilia when confronting mon-sters. Unfazeable characters dontmake Fright Checks!Bodies: +6 for a peaceful-lookingbody, prepared for burial; +2 for adead body with no signs of violence;no modifier for most victims of vio-lence; and from -1 to -3 for grisly muti-lations. Apply another -6 if the victimwas your Dependent!Heat of Battle: +5 if you are in com-bat when the terrifying thing happensor you first notice it.Monsters: A given monster mightgive a basic -1 to -10 to Fright Checks.For hordes of monsters, roll at -1 for 5monsters, -2 for 10, -3 for 20, -4 for 50,and -5 for 100 or more.Physical Circumstances: -1 if thebody, monster, etc. touches you; +1 ifyou witness it at a great distance (atleast 100 yards); or +3 if you view itremotely (using Clairsentience,closed-circuit TV, etc.). Apply -1 if thearea is physically isolated, -1 at nightor in the dark (or in daylight, if yourea night-dweller!), and -2 if you are (orthink you are) alone.Preparation: +1 if you have previ-ous personal experience with this kindof threat; +1 per exposure to this par-ticular threat in 24 hours; +1 to +3(depending on the quality of thereport) if you learned the details ofthis particular situation before youwitnessed it.The Rule of 14If final, modified Will exceeds 13,reduce it to 13 for the purpose of theFright Check. This means that a roll of14 or more is automatically a failure.This rule does not apply to other Willrolls (resistance rolls, rolls to avoiddistraction, etc.) only to FrightChecks.Fright Check TableWhen you fail a Fright Check, roll3d, add your margin of failure on theFright Check, and consult the tablebelow. This sometimes gives implausi-ble results. The GM should eitherreroll these or change them to some-thing more appropriate especiallyfor Fright Checks stemming from awe(e.g., divine beauty) or mind-warpingcomplexity (e.g., otherworldly geome-try or radical philosophical concepts)instead of fear.Many of these results give a newmental quirk or disadvantage. TheGM assigns this trait, which must berelated to the frightening event. If pos-sible, it should also be related to thevictims existing mental traits! Traitsacquired this way reduce the victimspoint value.4, 5 Stunned for one second, thenrecover automatically.6, 7 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. unmodi-fied Will to snap out of it.8, 9 Stunned for one second. Everysecond after that, roll vs. Will, pluswhatever bonuses or penalties youhad on your original roll, to snapout of it.10 Stunned for 1d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.11 Stunned for 2d seconds. Everysecond after that, roll vs. modifiedWill, as above, to snap out of it.360SUCCESS ROLLSWILL ROLLS12 Lose your lunch. Treat this asretching for (25 - HT) seconds,and then roll vs. HT each secondto recover; see IncapacitatingConditions (p. 428). Depending on the circumstances, this may be merely inconvenient, or humil-iating.13 Acquire a new mental quirk (seeQuirks, p. 162). This is the only wayto acquire more than five quirks.14, 15 Lose 1d FP, and take 1d sec-onds of stunning as per 10.16 Stunned for 1d seconds, as per10, and acquire a new quirk, as per13.17 Faint for 1d minutes, then roll vs.HT each minute to recover.18 Faint as above, and roll vs. HTimmediately. On a failed roll, take 1HP of injury as you collapse.19 Severe faint, lasting for 2d min-utes. Roll vs. HT each minute torecover. Take 1 HP of injury.20 Faint bordering on shock, lastingfor 4d minutes. Also, lose 1d FP.21 Panic. You run around scream-ing, sit down and cry, or do some-thing else equally pointless for 1dminutes. At the end of that time,roll vs. unmodified Will once perminute to snap out of it.22 Acquire a -10-point Delusion(p. 130).23 Acquire a -10-point Phobia(p. 148) or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.24 Major physical effect, set by GM:hair turns white, age five yearsovernight, go partially deaf, etc. Ingame terms, acquire -15 pointsworth of physical disadvantages(for this purpose, each year of agecounts as -3 points).25 If you already have a Phobia orother mental disadvantage that islogically related to the frighteningincident, your self-control numberbecomes one step worse. If not, orif your self-control number isalready 6, add a new -10-pointPhobia or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.26 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-pointDelusion, as per 22.27 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-point men-tal disadvantage, as per 23.28 Light coma. You fall uncon-scious, rolling vs. HT every 30 min-utes to recover. For 6 hours afteryou come to, all skill rolls andattribute checks are at -2.29 Coma. As above, but you areunconscious for 1d hours. Thenroll vs. HT. If the roll fails, remainin a coma for another 1d hours,and so on.30 Catatonia. Stare into space for 1ddays. Then roll vs. HT. On a failedroll, remain catatonic for another1d days, and so on. If you have nomedical care, lose 1 HP the firstday, 2 the second, and so on. If yousurvive and awaken, all skill rollsand attribute checks are at -2 for asmany days as the catatonia lasted.31 Seizure. You lose control of yourbody and fall to the ground in a fitlasting 1d minutes and costing 1dFP. Also, roll vs. HT. On a failure,take 1d of injury. On a critical failure, you also lose 1 HT permanently.32 Stricken. You fall to the ground,taking 2d of injury in the form of amild heart attack or stroke.33 Total panic. You are out of con-trol; you might do anything (theGM rolls 3d: the higher the roll, themore useless your reaction). Forinstance, you might jump off a cliffto avoid the monster. If you surviveyour first reaction, roll vs. Will tocome out of the panic. If you fail,the GM rolls for another panicreaction, and so on!34 Acquire a -15-point Delusion(p. 130).35 Acquire a -15-point Phobia(p. 148) or other mental disadvan-tage worth -15 points.36 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -20 points ofphysical disadvantages.37 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -30 points ofphysical disadvantages.38 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointDelusion, as per 34.39 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointPhobia or other -15-point mentaldisadvantage, as per 35.40+ As 39, above, but victim alsoloses 1 point of IQ permanently.This automatically reduces all IQ-based skills, including magic spells,by 1.SUCCESS ROLLS361The complete combat system occupies threechapters. This chapter contains the core com-bat rules. Chapter 12 adds rules for playingout combat using counters or figures ona hexagonal grid. Chapter 13 providesrules for a number of special combatsituations. Like the character-creationsystem in Book 1, the combat systemapplies equally to PCs and NPCs.The GM decides when to startusing the combat rules. This will gener-ally be when fighting seems likely andcombatants begin maneuvering for tacti-cal advantage. The GM may also use theserules to resolve action situations such aschases and tournaments.COMBATTURNSEQUENCECombat takes place second by second.Each character actively involved in thecombat gets one opportunity to act persecond, referred to as his turn. Aftereveryone has taken his turn, one secondhas passed.The GM shouldnt feel constrained bythe one-second time scale. This is just away of breaking a battle into manageablechunks! He should feel free to drop out ofcombat time whenever dramaticallyappropriate, and to resume combat timewhen noncombat action gives way to more fighting. Consider a runninggunfight in which the combatants leap across rooftops and chase eachother up and down rickety fire escapes: the GM could resolve thisthrough roleplaying and DX or skill rolls (against Jumping, etc.),interspersed with a few seconds of combat whenever he feels theopponents have a clear shot at each other.Active CharactersAn active character is involved in the combat and able to takeaction. A character who is knocked out, asleep, etc. is not active. Butsomeone who chooses to do nothing is still active Do Nothing is avalid combat maneuver (see p. 364).362COMBATCHAPTER ELEVENCOMBAT
|
12 Lose your lunch. Treat this asretching for (25 - HT) seconds,and then roll vs. HT each secondto recover; see IncapacitatingConditions (p. 428). Depending on the circumstances, this may be merely inconvenient, or humil-iating.13 Acquire a new mental quirk (seeQuirks, p. 162). This is the only wayto acquire more than five quirks.14, 15 Lose 1d FP, and take 1d sec-onds of stunning as per 10.16 Stunned for 1d seconds, as per10, and acquire a new quirk, as per13.17 Faint for 1d minutes, then roll vs.HT each minute to recover.18 Faint as above, and roll vs. HTimmediately. On a failed roll, take 1HP of injury as you collapse.19 Severe faint, lasting for 2d min-utes. Roll vs. HT each minute torecover. Take 1 HP of injury.20 Faint bordering on shock, lastingfor 4d minutes. Also, lose 1d FP.21 Panic. You run around scream-ing, sit down and cry, or do some-thing else equally pointless for 1dminutes. At the end of that time,roll vs. unmodified Will once perminute to snap out of it.22 Acquire a -10-point Delusion(p. 130).23 Acquire a -10-point Phobia(p. 148) or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.24 Major physical effect, set by GM:hair turns white, age five yearsovernight, go partially deaf, etc. Ingame terms, acquire -15 pointsworth of physical disadvantages(for this purpose, each year of agecounts as -3 points).25 If you already have a Phobia orother mental disadvantage that islogically related to the frighteningincident, your self-control numberbecomes one step worse. If not, orif your self-control number isalready 6, add a new -10-pointPhobia or other -10-point mentaldisadvantage.26 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-pointDelusion, as per 22.27 Faint for 1d minutes, as per 18,and acquire a new -10-point men-tal disadvantage, as per 23.28 Light coma. You fall uncon-scious, rolling vs. HT every 30 min-utes to recover. For 6 hours afteryou come to, all skill rolls andattribute checks are at -2.29 Coma. As above, but you areunconscious for 1d hours. Thenroll vs. HT. If the roll fails, remainin a coma for another 1d hours,and so on.30 Catatonia. Stare into space for 1ddays. Then roll vs. HT. On a failedroll, remain catatonic for another1d days, and so on. If you have nomedical care, lose 1 HP the firstday, 2 the second, and so on. If yousurvive and awaken, all skill rollsand attribute checks are at -2 for asmany days as the catatonia lasted.31 Seizure. You lose control of yourbody and fall to the ground in a fitlasting 1d minutes and costing 1dFP. Also, roll vs. HT. On a failure,take 1d of injury. On a critical failure, you also lose 1 HT permanently.32 Stricken. You fall to the ground,taking 2d of injury in the form of amild heart attack or stroke.33 Total panic. You are out of con-trol; you might do anything (theGM rolls 3d: the higher the roll, themore useless your reaction). Forinstance, you might jump off a cliffto avoid the monster. If you surviveyour first reaction, roll vs. Will tocome out of the panic. If you fail,the GM rolls for another panicreaction, and so on!34 Acquire a -15-point Delusion(p. 130).35 Acquire a -15-point Phobia(p. 148) or other mental disadvan-tage worth -15 points.36 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -20 points ofphysical disadvantages.37 Severe physical effect, as per 24,but equivalent to -30 points ofphysical disadvantages.38 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointDelusion, as per 34.39 Coma, as per 29, and a -15-pointPhobia or other -15-point mentaldisadvantage, as per 35.40+ As 39, above, but victim alsoloses 1 point of IQ permanently.This automatically reduces all IQ-based skills, including magic spells,by 1.SUCCESS ROLLS361The complete combat system occupies threechapters. This chapter contains the core com-bat rules. Chapter 12 adds rules for playingout combat using counters or figures ona hexagonal grid. Chapter 13 providesrules for a number of special combatsituations. Like the character-creationsystem in Book 1, the combat systemapplies equally to PCs and NPCs.The GM decides when to startusing the combat rules. This will gener-ally be when fighting seems likely andcombatants begin maneuvering for tacti-cal advantage. The GM may also use theserules to resolve action situations such aschases and tournaments.COMBATTURNSEQUENCECombat takes place second by second.Each character actively involved in thecombat gets one opportunity to act persecond, referred to as his turn. Aftereveryone has taken his turn, one secondhas passed.The GM shouldnt feel constrained bythe one-second time scale. This is just away of breaking a battle into manageablechunks! He should feel free to drop out ofcombat time whenever dramaticallyappropriate, and to resume combat timewhen noncombat action gives way to more fighting. Consider a runninggunfight in which the combatants leap across rooftops and chase eachother up and down rickety fire escapes: the GM could resolve thisthrough roleplaying and DX or skill rolls (against Jumping, etc.),interspersed with a few seconds of combat whenever he feels theopponents have a clear shot at each other.Active CharactersAn active character is involved in the combat and able to takeaction. A character who is knocked out, asleep, etc. is not active. Butsomeone who chooses to do nothing is still active Do Nothing is avalid combat maneuver (see p. 364).362COMBATCHAPTER ELEVENCOMBATTurn SequenceThe turn sequence is the order inwhich active characters take theirturns. It is set at the start of the fightand does not change during combat.The combatant with the highest BasicSpeed goes first and takes his turn,then the one with the next-highestBasic Speed, and so on, in descendingorder by Basic Speed. Once everyactive character has taken his turn,one second has passed and anothersecond begins.Tied Speeds: If multiple NPCs onthe same side have the same BasicSpeed, the GM simply decides whogoes first it isnt really important. IfPCs are involved, ties go to the highestDX. If theres still a tie, GM should rollrandomly at the start of the combat todetermine who acts first, and use thatorder throughout the combat.Sequence Chart: If a combat hasmany participants, the GM may find ituseful to make a quick list of the orderin which the combatants take theirturns.Your TurnA given participants turn is theone-second period that stretchesfrom when he chooses a maneuveruntil his next opportunity to select amaneuver. This overlaps the turns ofother characters.COMBAT363A maneuver is an action thatyou can take on your turn. Each turn,you must choose one of the followingmaneuvers: Aim, All-Out Attack, All-Out Defense, Attack, Change Posture,Concentrate, Do Nothing, Evaluate,Feint, Move, Move and Attack, Ready,or Wait. Your choice determines whatyou can do on your turn, and setsyour options for active defense andmovement.Active Defense and ManeuversThe maneuver you choose affectsyour active defenses your ability tododge, parry, or block attacks (seeDefending, p. 374). You only have toselect an active defense if you areattacked. Your most recent maneuvergoverns the active defenses you canuse.For the purpose of active defenses,your maneuver is considered to be ineffect until you select another maneu-ver on your next turn. For instance, ifyou chose All-Out Defense (whichgives a defensive advantage), its bene-fits would apply if you were attackedafter you took your turn, and wouldpersist until it was your turn again andyou took a different maneuver.If youre attacked before youve hada chance to choose a maneuver usu-ally at the start of combat youre con-sidered to be taking a Do Nothingmaneuver (see p. 364).Movement and ManeuversMost maneuvers allow some formof movement. The Move and Moveand Attack maneuvers allow you tomove quickly, up to a number of yardsequal to your full Move score. Othermaneuvers, such as All-Out Attack,limit you to a fraction of your fullMove.Many maneuvers restrict move-ment to a step. This is movement upto 1/10 your Move, minimum 1 yard,in any direction, a change of facing(for instance, to turn around), or both.You can perform your step before orafter the rest of the maneuver; forinstance, you could step and attack orattack and step.Some maneuvers allow no move-ment. In particular, you cannot moveif you Change Posture or Do Nothing.For more on movement, see Move(p. 364) and Movement and Combat(p. 367).Free ActionsFree actions are things you can do during any maneuver. Someexamples:Talk. You can always talk. If the GMwants to be realistic, he should allowonly one sentence of communicationper second . . . but it is usually morefun when you ignore this limitation!MANEUVERSEach character actively involved in the combatgets one opportunity to act per second, referred toas his turn. After everyone has taken his turn, one second has passed.Multiple Maneuvers and Full-Turn ManeuversOrdinary characters can only take a single maneuver when it is theirturn to act, limiting them to one maneuver per second. However, a fewtraits allow you to act with superhuman speed and take multiplemaneuvers per turn!Some maneuvers are described as full-turn maneuvers. If you takeone of these, its the only maneuver you can perform on your turn,regardless of how fast you can act. You are assumed to be performingthat maneuver for an entire second.
|
The complete combat system occupies threechapters. This chapter contains the core com-bat rules. Chapter 12 adds rules for playingout combat using counters or figures ona hexagonal grid. Chapter 13 providesrules for a number of special combatsituations. Like the character-creationsystem in Book 1, the combat systemapplies equally to PCs and NPCs.The GM decides when to startusing the combat rules. This will gener-ally be when fighting seems likely andcombatants begin maneuvering for tacti-cal advantage. The GM may also use theserules to resolve action situations such aschases and tournaments.COMBATTURNSEQUENCECombat takes place second by second.Each character actively involved in thecombat gets one opportunity to act persecond, referred to as his turn. Aftereveryone has taken his turn, one secondhas passed.The GM shouldnt feel constrained bythe one-second time scale. This is just away of breaking a battle into manageablechunks! He should feel free to drop out ofcombat time whenever dramaticallyappropriate, and to resume combat timewhen noncombat action gives way to more fighting. Consider a runninggunfight in which the combatants leap across rooftops and chase eachother up and down rickety fire escapes: the GM could resolve thisthrough roleplaying and DX or skill rolls (against Jumping, etc.),interspersed with a few seconds of combat whenever he feels theopponents have a clear shot at each other.Active CharactersAn active character is involved in the combat and able to takeaction. A character who is knocked out, asleep, etc. is not active. Butsomeone who chooses to do nothing is still active Do Nothing is avalid combat maneuver (see p. 364).362COMBATCHAPTER ELEVENCOMBATTurn SequenceThe turn sequence is the order inwhich active characters take theirturns. It is set at the start of the fightand does not change during combat.The combatant with the highest BasicSpeed goes first and takes his turn,then the one with the next-highestBasic Speed, and so on, in descendingorder by Basic Speed. Once everyactive character has taken his turn,one second has passed and anothersecond begins.Tied Speeds: If multiple NPCs onthe same side have the same BasicSpeed, the GM simply decides whogoes first it isnt really important. IfPCs are involved, ties go to the highestDX. If theres still a tie, GM should rollrandomly at the start of the combat todetermine who acts first, and use thatorder throughout the combat.Sequence Chart: If a combat hasmany participants, the GM may find ituseful to make a quick list of the orderin which the combatants take theirturns.Your TurnA given participants turn is theone-second period that stretchesfrom when he chooses a maneuveruntil his next opportunity to select amaneuver. This overlaps the turns ofother characters.COMBAT363A maneuver is an action thatyou can take on your turn. Each turn,you must choose one of the followingmaneuvers: Aim, All-Out Attack, All-Out Defense, Attack, Change Posture,Concentrate, Do Nothing, Evaluate,Feint, Move, Move and Attack, Ready,or Wait. Your choice determines whatyou can do on your turn, and setsyour options for active defense andmovement.Active Defense and ManeuversThe maneuver you choose affectsyour active defenses your ability tododge, parry, or block attacks (seeDefending, p. 374). You only have toselect an active defense if you areattacked. Your most recent maneuvergoverns the active defenses you canuse.For the purpose of active defenses,your maneuver is considered to be ineffect until you select another maneu-ver on your next turn. For instance, ifyou chose All-Out Defense (whichgives a defensive advantage), its bene-fits would apply if you were attackedafter you took your turn, and wouldpersist until it was your turn again andyou took a different maneuver.If youre attacked before youve hada chance to choose a maneuver usu-ally at the start of combat youre con-sidered to be taking a Do Nothingmaneuver (see p. 364).Movement and ManeuversMost maneuvers allow some formof movement. The Move and Moveand Attack maneuvers allow you tomove quickly, up to a number of yardsequal to your full Move score. Othermaneuvers, such as All-Out Attack,limit you to a fraction of your fullMove.Many maneuvers restrict move-ment to a step. This is movement upto 1/10 your Move, minimum 1 yard,in any direction, a change of facing(for instance, to turn around), or both.You can perform your step before orafter the rest of the maneuver; forinstance, you could step and attack orattack and step.Some maneuvers allow no move-ment. In particular, you cannot moveif you Change Posture or Do Nothing.For more on movement, see Move(p. 364) and Movement and Combat(p. 367).Free ActionsFree actions are things you can do during any maneuver. Someexamples:Talk. You can always talk. If the GMwants to be realistic, he should allowonly one sentence of communicationper second . . . but it is usually morefun when you ignore this limitation!MANEUVERSEach character actively involved in the combatgets one opportunity to act per second, referred toas his turn. After everyone has taken his turn, one second has passed.Multiple Maneuvers and Full-Turn ManeuversOrdinary characters can only take a single maneuver when it is theirturn to act, limiting them to one maneuver per second. However, a fewtraits allow you to act with superhuman speed and take multiplemaneuvers per turn!Some maneuvers are described as full-turn maneuvers. If you takeone of these, its the only maneuver you can perform on your turn,regardless of how fast you can act. You are assumed to be performingthat maneuver for an entire second.Maintain spells or psi. As long asyou remain active, you can maintain aspell or ongoing psi ability, no matterwhat else you do.Drop an item. You can drop anyready item at any time during anymaneuver. If youre moving, you maydrop it at any point within your reachduring your movement.Crouch. If standing, you may optto crouch (to make yourself a smallertarget for ranged attacks) at thebeginning of your turn. This will usu-ally slow your movement speed (seeMovement, p. 367), and you cannotcrouch and sprint. If you werealready crouching, it is a free actionto rise from a crouching position atany time.DO NOTHINGAnyone who is just standing still isassumed to be doing nothing. In par-ticular, when combat begins, anyonewho has not yet taken a turn is treatedas if he took this maneuver beforeentering combat.Someone who is conscious butstunned or surprised must take thismaneuver. On each turn of DoNothing, he may attempt a HT roll torecover from physical stun or an IQroll to recover from mental stun. On asuccess, he recovers at the end of histurn that is, he Does Nothing thisturn, but may act normally next turn.Movement: None!Active Defense: Any (unless youretied up, etc.). If you are stunned, how-ever, your active defenses are at -4until your next turn even if yourecover.MOVEMove, but take no other actionexcept those specified under FreeActions (p. 363). You may move anynumber of yards up to your full Movescore. Most other maneuvers allow atleast some movement on your turn;take this maneuver if all you want todo is move.Players must tell the GM exactlywhere their PCs move to so that hecan keep track of the combat. The GMdecides where his NPCs move, andwill inform any players whose PCs arein a position to witness the movement.If you are controlling a vehicle orriding a mount, take a Move maneu-ver to spend the turn actively control-ling it. Instead of you moving, thevehicle or mount moves on your turn(carrying you and other occupants).See Mounted Combat (p. 396) andVehicles (p. 462) for details.Sprinting: If you run forward fortwo or more turns in a row, you getbonus movement on your second andlater moves; see Sprinting (p. 354).Movement: See above.Active Defense: Any.CHANGEPOSTUREThis maneuver lets you switchbetween any two postures (stancesin which you can pose your body).Valid postures are standing, sitting,kneeling, crawling, lying prone (facedown), and lying face up. Any postureother than standing slows your move-ment and penalizes your attack anddefense rolls, but also makes you asmaller target for ranged attacks.You cannot stand up directly froma lying position. If you are lying (proneor face up), you must take a ChangePosture maneuver to rise to a crawl-ing, kneeling, or sitting posture first. Asecond Change Posture maneuver letsyou stand from any of these postures.(Going from standing up to lyingdown, however, only takes one maneu-ver or none at all, if the change wasinvoluntary!)You can switch between kneelingand standing (only) as the step por-tion of any maneuver that allows astep you dont need Change Posturefor that. This is instead of using thestep to move. Thus, you could go fromprone to kneeling with a ChangePosture maneuver on one turn, andthen stand up in place on your nextturn by taking a maneuver that allowsa step.Crouching does not require aChange Posture maneuver; see FreeActions (p. 363).Movement: None. You remain inplace as you change posture.Active Defense: Any. Postures otherthan standing penalize your defenserolls, but also make you a smaller tar-get for ranged attacks.AIMThis is a full-turn maneuver usedto aim a ranged weapon (or a devicesuch as a camera or telescope). Youmust choose a specific target. Youcant aim at something that you cantsee or otherwise detect.Specify the weapon youre aimingwith and your target. If you follow anAim maneuver with an Attack or All-Out Attack with the same weaponagainst the same target, you get abonus to hit. Add the weaponsAccuracy (Acc) to your skill, plus anybonuses for targeting systems used:sights, targeting computers, etc.If you brace a firearm or crossbow,you get an extra +1 to Acc. A firearmor crossbow is braced if you can rest iton a sandbag, low wall, car, etc. A one-handed firearm (e.g., a pistol) is con-sidered braced if used two-handed. Atwo-handed firearm (e.g., a rifle) isconsidered braced if you are proneand using a bipod.If you Aim for more than one sec-ond, you receive an additional bonus:+1 for two seconds of Aim, or +2 forthree or more seconds.Your combined bonus from all tar-geting systems (scopes, sights, com-puters, etc.) cannot exceed theweapons base Accuracy. For instance,if you add a telescopic sight that gives+4 Acc to a pistol with Acc 2, thebonus is +2, not +4.Movement: Step. Exception: Youcannot step if using a braced, two-handed weapon.Active Defense: Any, but you auto-matically spoil your aim and lose allaccumulated benefits. If you areinjured while aiming, you must makea Will roll or lose your aim.EVALUATEThis maneuver is the melee combatequivalent of Aim. It lets you take timeto study an adversary in order to gaina combat bonus on a subsequentattack. You must specify one visibleopponent who is close enough toattack unarmed or with a ready meleeweapon, or whom you could reachwith a single Move and Attack maneu-ver. You are sizing him up and lookingfor the right moment to strike.An Evaluate maneuver gives you+1 to skill for the purpose of an Attack,364COMBAT
|
Turn SequenceThe turn sequence is the order inwhich active characters take theirturns. It is set at the start of the fightand does not change during combat.The combatant with the highest BasicSpeed goes first and takes his turn,then the one with the next-highestBasic Speed, and so on, in descendingorder by Basic Speed. Once everyactive character has taken his turn,one second has passed and anothersecond begins.Tied Speeds: If multiple NPCs onthe same side have the same BasicSpeed, the GM simply decides whogoes first it isnt really important. IfPCs are involved, ties go to the highestDX. If theres still a tie, GM should rollrandomly at the start of the combat todetermine who acts first, and use thatorder throughout the combat.Sequence Chart: If a combat hasmany participants, the GM may find ituseful to make a quick list of the orderin which the combatants take theirturns.Your TurnA given participants turn is theone-second period that stretchesfrom when he chooses a maneuveruntil his next opportunity to select amaneuver. This overlaps the turns ofother characters.COMBAT363A maneuver is an action thatyou can take on your turn. Each turn,you must choose one of the followingmaneuvers: Aim, All-Out Attack, All-Out Defense, Attack, Change Posture,Concentrate, Do Nothing, Evaluate,Feint, Move, Move and Attack, Ready,or Wait. Your choice determines whatyou can do on your turn, and setsyour options for active defense andmovement.Active Defense and ManeuversThe maneuver you choose affectsyour active defenses your ability tododge, parry, or block attacks (seeDefending, p. 374). You only have toselect an active defense if you areattacked. Your most recent maneuvergoverns the active defenses you canuse.For the purpose of active defenses,your maneuver is considered to be ineffect until you select another maneu-ver on your next turn. For instance, ifyou chose All-Out Defense (whichgives a defensive advantage), its bene-fits would apply if you were attackedafter you took your turn, and wouldpersist until it was your turn again andyou took a different maneuver.If youre attacked before youve hada chance to choose a maneuver usu-ally at the start of combat youre con-sidered to be taking a Do Nothingmaneuver (see p. 364).Movement and ManeuversMost maneuvers allow some formof movement. The Move and Moveand Attack maneuvers allow you tomove quickly, up to a number of yardsequal to your full Move score. Othermaneuvers, such as All-Out Attack,limit you to a fraction of your fullMove.Many maneuvers restrict move-ment to a step. This is movement upto 1/10 your Move, minimum 1 yard,in any direction, a change of facing(for instance, to turn around), or both.You can perform your step before orafter the rest of the maneuver; forinstance, you could step and attack orattack and step.Some maneuvers allow no move-ment. In particular, you cannot moveif you Change Posture or Do Nothing.For more on movement, see Move(p. 364) and Movement and Combat(p. 367).Free ActionsFree actions are things you can do during any maneuver. Someexamples:Talk. You can always talk. If the GMwants to be realistic, he should allowonly one sentence of communicationper second . . . but it is usually morefun when you ignore this limitation!MANEUVERSEach character actively involved in the combatgets one opportunity to act per second, referred toas his turn. After everyone has taken his turn, one second has passed.Multiple Maneuvers and Full-Turn ManeuversOrdinary characters can only take a single maneuver when it is theirturn to act, limiting them to one maneuver per second. However, a fewtraits allow you to act with superhuman speed and take multiplemaneuvers per turn!Some maneuvers are described as full-turn maneuvers. If you takeone of these, its the only maneuver you can perform on your turn,regardless of how fast you can act. You are assumed to be performingthat maneuver for an entire second.Maintain spells or psi. As long asyou remain active, you can maintain aspell or ongoing psi ability, no matterwhat else you do.Drop an item. You can drop anyready item at any time during anymaneuver. If youre moving, you maydrop it at any point within your reachduring your movement.Crouch. If standing, you may optto crouch (to make yourself a smallertarget for ranged attacks) at thebeginning of your turn. This will usu-ally slow your movement speed (seeMovement, p. 367), and you cannotcrouch and sprint. If you werealready crouching, it is a free actionto rise from a crouching position atany time.DO NOTHINGAnyone who is just standing still isassumed to be doing nothing. In par-ticular, when combat begins, anyonewho has not yet taken a turn is treatedas if he took this maneuver beforeentering combat.Someone who is conscious butstunned or surprised must take thismaneuver. On each turn of DoNothing, he may attempt a HT roll torecover from physical stun or an IQroll to recover from mental stun. On asuccess, he recovers at the end of histurn that is, he Does Nothing thisturn, but may act normally next turn.Movement: None!Active Defense: Any (unless youretied up, etc.). If you are stunned, how-ever, your active defenses are at -4until your next turn even if yourecover.MOVEMove, but take no other actionexcept those specified under FreeActions (p. 363). You may move anynumber of yards up to your full Movescore. Most other maneuvers allow atleast some movement on your turn;take this maneuver if all you want todo is move.Players must tell the GM exactlywhere their PCs move to so that hecan keep track of the combat. The GMdecides where his NPCs move, andwill inform any players whose PCs arein a position to witness the movement.If you are controlling a vehicle orriding a mount, take a Move maneu-ver to spend the turn actively control-ling it. Instead of you moving, thevehicle or mount moves on your turn(carrying you and other occupants).See Mounted Combat (p. 396) andVehicles (p. 462) for details.Sprinting: If you run forward fortwo or more turns in a row, you getbonus movement on your second andlater moves; see Sprinting (p. 354).Movement: See above.Active Defense: Any.CHANGEPOSTUREThis maneuver lets you switchbetween any two postures (stancesin which you can pose your body).Valid postures are standing, sitting,kneeling, crawling, lying prone (facedown), and lying face up. Any postureother than standing slows your move-ment and penalizes your attack anddefense rolls, but also makes you asmaller target for ranged attacks.You cannot stand up directly froma lying position. If you are lying (proneor face up), you must take a ChangePosture maneuver to rise to a crawl-ing, kneeling, or sitting posture first. Asecond Change Posture maneuver letsyou stand from any of these postures.(Going from standing up to lyingdown, however, only takes one maneu-ver or none at all, if the change wasinvoluntary!)You can switch between kneelingand standing (only) as the step por-tion of any maneuver that allows astep you dont need Change Posturefor that. This is instead of using thestep to move. Thus, you could go fromprone to kneeling with a ChangePosture maneuver on one turn, andthen stand up in place on your nextturn by taking a maneuver that allowsa step.Crouching does not require aChange Posture maneuver; see FreeActions (p. 363).Movement: None. You remain inplace as you change posture.Active Defense: Any. Postures otherthan standing penalize your defenserolls, but also make you a smaller tar-get for ranged attacks.AIMThis is a full-turn maneuver usedto aim a ranged weapon (or a devicesuch as a camera or telescope). Youmust choose a specific target. Youcant aim at something that you cantsee or otherwise detect.Specify the weapon youre aimingwith and your target. If you follow anAim maneuver with an Attack or All-Out Attack with the same weaponagainst the same target, you get abonus to hit. Add the weaponsAccuracy (Acc) to your skill, plus anybonuses for targeting systems used:sights, targeting computers, etc.If you brace a firearm or crossbow,you get an extra +1 to Acc. A firearmor crossbow is braced if you can rest iton a sandbag, low wall, car, etc. A one-handed firearm (e.g., a pistol) is con-sidered braced if used two-handed. Atwo-handed firearm (e.g., a rifle) isconsidered braced if you are proneand using a bipod.If you Aim for more than one sec-ond, you receive an additional bonus:+1 for two seconds of Aim, or +2 forthree or more seconds.Your combined bonus from all tar-geting systems (scopes, sights, com-puters, etc.) cannot exceed theweapons base Accuracy. For instance,if you add a telescopic sight that gives+4 Acc to a pistol with Acc 2, thebonus is +2, not +4.Movement: Step. Exception: Youcannot step if using a braced, two-handed weapon.Active Defense: Any, but you auto-matically spoil your aim and lose allaccumulated benefits. If you areinjured while aiming, you must makea Will roll or lose your aim.EVALUATEThis maneuver is the melee combatequivalent of Aim. It lets you take timeto study an adversary in order to gaina combat bonus on a subsequentattack. You must specify one visibleopponent who is close enough toattack unarmed or with a ready meleeweapon, or whom you could reachwith a single Move and Attack maneu-ver. You are sizing him up and lookingfor the right moment to strike.An Evaluate maneuver gives you+1 to skill for the purpose of an Attack,364COMBATFeint, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack made against that opponent, onyour next turn only. You may take mul-tiple, consecutive Evaluate maneuversbefore you strike, giving a cumulative+1 per turn, to a maximum of +3.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. This does notspoil your evaluation.ATTACKUse this maneuver to make anarmed or unarmed attack in meleecombat, or to use a thrown or missileweapon in ranged combat. To use aweapon to attack, it must be ready.If you are using a melee weapon orunarmed attack, your target must bewithin reach. Resolve the attack asexplained under Melee Attacks(pp. 369-372). If you took an Evaluatemaneuver (above) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit. If you took a Feint(below), your opponent may have apenalty to defend.If you are using a ranged weapon,your target must be within theweapons Max range. Resolve theattack according to Ranged Attacks(pp. 372-374). If you took an Aimmaneuver (p. 364) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit.Movement: Step. You may step andthen attack or attack and then step your choice. To move further and stillattack, take All-Out Attack or Moveand Attack.Active Defense: Any.FEINTFake a melee attack. You cannotFeint someone unless you could havehit him with a melee attack that is,your weapon is ready and your foe iswithin reach. This maneuver is not anattack, though, and does not makeyour weapon unready.When you Feint, roll a QuickContest of Melee Weapon skills withyour foe; if either of you is unarmed,you may roll against an unarmedcombat skill instead. Your opponentmay opt to roll against Cloak or Shieldskill, if he is suitably equipped and thiswould give him a better roll. If his DXis better than his combat skills, hemay roll against DX instead.If you fail your roll, your Feint isunsuccessful. Likewise, if you suc-ceed, but your foe succeeds by asmuch as or more than you do, yourFeint fails.If you make your roll, and your foefails, subtract your margin of successfrom the foes active defense if youattack him with Attack, All-OutAttack, or Move and Attack on yournext turn. For instance, if your skill is15 and you roll a 12, your foe defendsagainst you at -3 next turn.If you and your foe both succeed,but you succeed by more, subtractyour margin of victory from the foesdefense. For instance, if your skill is 15and you roll a 10 (success by 5), andyour foes skill is 14 and he rolls 12(success by 2), you win by 3, so he willdefend at -3 if your next maneuver isto attack him.You cannot Feint if your foe isunable to observe you! However, ifyour foe runs away, turns his back onyou, or loses sight of you in some wayafter you successfully Feint, he willstill suffer his defense penalty if youattack him on your next turn. If youlose track of the foe, or cannot attackhim next turn, your foes defensepenalty vanishes.A Feint is good for one second! Butif you Feint and then make an All-OutAttack (Double), the feint applies toboth attacks.In all cases, your allies cannot takeadvantage of your Feint. The defensepenalty applies only to your nextattack.Shield Feints:After you haveattacked your foe once by strikingwith your shield (see p. 406), you mayalso Feint with your shield, rollingagainst Shield skill.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, if youFeint and then parry with an unbal-anced weapon, you cannot attack onyour next turn, making your Feintpointless.ALL-OUT ATTACKAttack any foe with a readyweapon, making no effort to defendagainst enemy attacks. If you are mak-ing a melee attack, you must specifyone of these four options before youattack: Determined: Make a single attackat +4 to hit!Double: Make two attacks againstthe same foe, if you have two readyweapons or one weapon that does nothave to be readied after use. Attackswith a second weapon held in the offhand are at the usual -4 (seeHandedness, p. 14) unless you haveAmbidexterity (p. 39).Feint: Make one Feint (see above)and then one attack against the samefoe. The Feint applies to this attackinstead of one you make on your nextturn. Strong: Make a single attack, atnormal skill. If you hit, you get +2 todamage or +1 damage per die, if thatwould be better. This only applies tomelee attacks doing ST-based thrustor swing damage, not to weaponssuch as force swords.If you are making a ranged attack,you must specify one of these twooptions before you attack: Determined: Make a single attackat +1 to hit. Suppression Fire: Take the entireturn to spray an area with automaticfire. This is a full-turn maneuver, andyou can only choose this option if yourweapon has RoF 5+. See SuppressionFire (p. 409).Movement: You may move up tohalf your Move, but you can onlymove forward.Active Defense: You may make noactive defenses at all from the pointyou take this maneuver until your nextturn. If someone attacks you after youmake an All-Out attack, all you can dois hope he misses you cant dodge,parry, or block!MOVE ANDATTACKMove as described for the Movemaneuver (p. 364), but during or afteryour move, make a single, poorlyaimed attack either unarmed or witha ready weapon.You attack as described for theAttack maneuver (above), but at apenalty. If you are making a rangedattack, you have a penalty of -2 or theweapons Bulk rating, whichever isworse and if you took an Aim, you lose all of its bonuses. If you areCOMBAT365
|
Maintain spells or psi. As long asyou remain active, you can maintain aspell or ongoing psi ability, no matterwhat else you do.Drop an item. You can drop anyready item at any time during anymaneuver. If youre moving, you maydrop it at any point within your reachduring your movement.Crouch. If standing, you may optto crouch (to make yourself a smallertarget for ranged attacks) at thebeginning of your turn. This will usu-ally slow your movement speed (seeMovement, p. 367), and you cannotcrouch and sprint. If you werealready crouching, it is a free actionto rise from a crouching position atany time.DO NOTHINGAnyone who is just standing still isassumed to be doing nothing. In par-ticular, when combat begins, anyonewho has not yet taken a turn is treatedas if he took this maneuver beforeentering combat.Someone who is conscious butstunned or surprised must take thismaneuver. On each turn of DoNothing, he may attempt a HT roll torecover from physical stun or an IQroll to recover from mental stun. On asuccess, he recovers at the end of histurn that is, he Does Nothing thisturn, but may act normally next turn.Movement: None!Active Defense: Any (unless youretied up, etc.). If you are stunned, how-ever, your active defenses are at -4until your next turn even if yourecover.MOVEMove, but take no other actionexcept those specified under FreeActions (p. 363). You may move anynumber of yards up to your full Movescore. Most other maneuvers allow atleast some movement on your turn;take this maneuver if all you want todo is move.Players must tell the GM exactlywhere their PCs move to so that hecan keep track of the combat. The GMdecides where his NPCs move, andwill inform any players whose PCs arein a position to witness the movement.If you are controlling a vehicle orriding a mount, take a Move maneu-ver to spend the turn actively control-ling it. Instead of you moving, thevehicle or mount moves on your turn(carrying you and other occupants).See Mounted Combat (p. 396) andVehicles (p. 462) for details.Sprinting: If you run forward fortwo or more turns in a row, you getbonus movement on your second andlater moves; see Sprinting (p. 354).Movement: See above.Active Defense: Any.CHANGEPOSTUREThis maneuver lets you switchbetween any two postures (stancesin which you can pose your body).Valid postures are standing, sitting,kneeling, crawling, lying prone (facedown), and lying face up. Any postureother than standing slows your move-ment and penalizes your attack anddefense rolls, but also makes you asmaller target for ranged attacks.You cannot stand up directly froma lying position. If you are lying (proneor face up), you must take a ChangePosture maneuver to rise to a crawl-ing, kneeling, or sitting posture first. Asecond Change Posture maneuver letsyou stand from any of these postures.(Going from standing up to lyingdown, however, only takes one maneu-ver or none at all, if the change wasinvoluntary!)You can switch between kneelingand standing (only) as the step por-tion of any maneuver that allows astep you dont need Change Posturefor that. This is instead of using thestep to move. Thus, you could go fromprone to kneeling with a ChangePosture maneuver on one turn, andthen stand up in place on your nextturn by taking a maneuver that allowsa step.Crouching does not require aChange Posture maneuver; see FreeActions (p. 363).Movement: None. You remain inplace as you change posture.Active Defense: Any. Postures otherthan standing penalize your defenserolls, but also make you a smaller tar-get for ranged attacks.AIMThis is a full-turn maneuver usedto aim a ranged weapon (or a devicesuch as a camera or telescope). Youmust choose a specific target. Youcant aim at something that you cantsee or otherwise detect.Specify the weapon youre aimingwith and your target. If you follow anAim maneuver with an Attack or All-Out Attack with the same weaponagainst the same target, you get abonus to hit. Add the weaponsAccuracy (Acc) to your skill, plus anybonuses for targeting systems used:sights, targeting computers, etc.If you brace a firearm or crossbow,you get an extra +1 to Acc. A firearmor crossbow is braced if you can rest iton a sandbag, low wall, car, etc. A one-handed firearm (e.g., a pistol) is con-sidered braced if used two-handed. Atwo-handed firearm (e.g., a rifle) isconsidered braced if you are proneand using a bipod.If you Aim for more than one sec-ond, you receive an additional bonus:+1 for two seconds of Aim, or +2 forthree or more seconds.Your combined bonus from all tar-geting systems (scopes, sights, com-puters, etc.) cannot exceed theweapons base Accuracy. For instance,if you add a telescopic sight that gives+4 Acc to a pistol with Acc 2, thebonus is +2, not +4.Movement: Step. Exception: Youcannot step if using a braced, two-handed weapon.Active Defense: Any, but you auto-matically spoil your aim and lose allaccumulated benefits. If you areinjured while aiming, you must makea Will roll or lose your aim.EVALUATEThis maneuver is the melee combatequivalent of Aim. It lets you take timeto study an adversary in order to gaina combat bonus on a subsequentattack. You must specify one visibleopponent who is close enough toattack unarmed or with a ready meleeweapon, or whom you could reachwith a single Move and Attack maneu-ver. You are sizing him up and lookingfor the right moment to strike.An Evaluate maneuver gives you+1 to skill for the purpose of an Attack,364COMBATFeint, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack made against that opponent, onyour next turn only. You may take mul-tiple, consecutive Evaluate maneuversbefore you strike, giving a cumulative+1 per turn, to a maximum of +3.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. This does notspoil your evaluation.ATTACKUse this maneuver to make anarmed or unarmed attack in meleecombat, or to use a thrown or missileweapon in ranged combat. To use aweapon to attack, it must be ready.If you are using a melee weapon orunarmed attack, your target must bewithin reach. Resolve the attack asexplained under Melee Attacks(pp. 369-372). If you took an Evaluatemaneuver (above) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit. If you took a Feint(below), your opponent may have apenalty to defend.If you are using a ranged weapon,your target must be within theweapons Max range. Resolve theattack according to Ranged Attacks(pp. 372-374). If you took an Aimmaneuver (p. 364) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit.Movement: Step. You may step andthen attack or attack and then step your choice. To move further and stillattack, take All-Out Attack or Moveand Attack.Active Defense: Any.FEINTFake a melee attack. You cannotFeint someone unless you could havehit him with a melee attack that is,your weapon is ready and your foe iswithin reach. This maneuver is not anattack, though, and does not makeyour weapon unready.When you Feint, roll a QuickContest of Melee Weapon skills withyour foe; if either of you is unarmed,you may roll against an unarmedcombat skill instead. Your opponentmay opt to roll against Cloak or Shieldskill, if he is suitably equipped and thiswould give him a better roll. If his DXis better than his combat skills, hemay roll against DX instead.If you fail your roll, your Feint isunsuccessful. Likewise, if you suc-ceed, but your foe succeeds by asmuch as or more than you do, yourFeint fails.If you make your roll, and your foefails, subtract your margin of successfrom the foes active defense if youattack him with Attack, All-OutAttack, or Move and Attack on yournext turn. For instance, if your skill is15 and you roll a 12, your foe defendsagainst you at -3 next turn.If you and your foe both succeed,but you succeed by more, subtractyour margin of victory from the foesdefense. For instance, if your skill is 15and you roll a 10 (success by 5), andyour foes skill is 14 and he rolls 12(success by 2), you win by 3, so he willdefend at -3 if your next maneuver isto attack him.You cannot Feint if your foe isunable to observe you! However, ifyour foe runs away, turns his back onyou, or loses sight of you in some wayafter you successfully Feint, he willstill suffer his defense penalty if youattack him on your next turn. If youlose track of the foe, or cannot attackhim next turn, your foes defensepenalty vanishes.A Feint is good for one second! Butif you Feint and then make an All-OutAttack (Double), the feint applies toboth attacks.In all cases, your allies cannot takeadvantage of your Feint. The defensepenalty applies only to your nextattack.Shield Feints:After you haveattacked your foe once by strikingwith your shield (see p. 406), you mayalso Feint with your shield, rollingagainst Shield skill.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, if youFeint and then parry with an unbal-anced weapon, you cannot attack onyour next turn, making your Feintpointless.ALL-OUT ATTACKAttack any foe with a readyweapon, making no effort to defendagainst enemy attacks. If you are mak-ing a melee attack, you must specifyone of these four options before youattack: Determined: Make a single attackat +4 to hit!Double: Make two attacks againstthe same foe, if you have two readyweapons or one weapon that does nothave to be readied after use. Attackswith a second weapon held in the offhand are at the usual -4 (seeHandedness, p. 14) unless you haveAmbidexterity (p. 39).Feint: Make one Feint (see above)and then one attack against the samefoe. The Feint applies to this attackinstead of one you make on your nextturn. Strong: Make a single attack, atnormal skill. If you hit, you get +2 todamage or +1 damage per die, if thatwould be better. This only applies tomelee attacks doing ST-based thrustor swing damage, not to weaponssuch as force swords.If you are making a ranged attack,you must specify one of these twooptions before you attack: Determined: Make a single attackat +1 to hit. Suppression Fire: Take the entireturn to spray an area with automaticfire. This is a full-turn maneuver, andyou can only choose this option if yourweapon has RoF 5+. See SuppressionFire (p. 409).Movement: You may move up tohalf your Move, but you can onlymove forward.Active Defense: You may make noactive defenses at all from the pointyou take this maneuver until your nextturn. If someone attacks you after youmake an All-Out attack, all you can dois hope he misses you cant dodge,parry, or block!MOVE ANDATTACKMove as described for the Movemaneuver (p. 364), but during or afteryour move, make a single, poorlyaimed attack either unarmed or witha ready weapon.You attack as described for theAttack maneuver (above), but at apenalty. If you are making a rangedattack, you have a penalty of -2 or theweapons Bulk rating, whichever isworse and if you took an Aim, you lose all of its bonuses. If you areCOMBAT365making a melee attack other than aslam (p. 371), you have a flat -4 to skill, and your adjusted skill cannotexceed 9.Movement: As described under theMove maneuver but since you aretrying to do two things at once, youare -2 on any rolls the GM requires toavoid falling, tripping over obstacles,etc.Active Defense: Dodge or blockonly. You cannot parry and you maynot retreat (see Retreat, p. 377).ALL-OUTDEFENSEThis is the maneuver to choosewhen youre beset by foes especiallyfoes who like All-Out Attacks! Youmust specify one of the following twooptions: Increased Defense: Add +2 to oneactive defense of your choice: Dodge,Parry, or Block. This bonus persistsuntil your next turn. Double Defense: Apply two differ-ent active defenses against the sameattack. If you fail your defense rollagainst an attack, you may try a sec-ond, different defense against thatattack. For instance, if you fail a block,you may try a dodge or a parry. If youtry a parry (armed or unarmed) withone hand and fail, a parry using theother hand does count as a differentdefense.Movement: If you choose IncreasedDodge, you may move up to half yourMove. Otherwise, the only movementyou may take is a step.Active Defense: You may chooseany legal active defense, with bonusesas described above.CONCENTRATEYou concentrate on one primarilymental task (even it has a minor phys-ical component, like operating con-trols, gesturing, or speaking). Thismay be casting a magical spell, using apsi ability, making a Sense roll to spotan invisible warrior, making aLeadership roll to give orders, makingan Electronics Operation roll to oper-ate a sensor, or any similar action,including most IQ-based skill rolls.This is a full-turn maneuver.Some activities (e.g., casting spells)require you to take the Concentratemaneuver for multiple seconds. If youare forced to use an active defense,knocked down, injured, or otherwisedistracted before you finish, you mustmake a Will-3 roll. On a failure, youlose your concentration and muststart over.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, itinterferes with concentration as notedabove.READYTake a Ready maneuver to pick upor draw any item and prepare it foruse; e.g., to pull a sword from itssheath or a gun from its holster, or toreload a firearm. In some cases, youmay also need a Ready maneuver toregain control of an unwieldy weaponafter a swing, or to adjust the reach ofa long weapon see the Melee WeaponTable (p. 271).You can use a Ready maneuver toperform physical actions other thanfighting: opening or closing a door,picking a lock, digging, lifting, etc.Continuing activities may requiremultiple, consecutive Ready maneu-vers; see Other Actions in Combat(p. 382).Finally, a Ready maneuver lets youswitch an advantage off or on if itis not always on and does not requirean Attack or Concentrate maneuver touse.For more information, seeReadying Weapons and Other Gear(p. 382) and When Is a Weapon Ready?(p. 382).Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any.WAITDo nothing unless a particularevent you specified in advanceoccurs before your next turn; e.g., afoe moves into range. If that hap-pens, you may transform your Waitinto an Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack(you must specify the option beforeacting), or Ready maneuver. If youare reacting to someone else, thisinterrupts his turn, but he canresume it after youve acted.You must specify exactly what youraction will be when you take the Waitmaneuver, and what will trigger it. Forinstance, Ill make an All-Out Attack(Determined) with my sword on thefirst orc to move toward me.You may take a Wait with a readyranged weapon; this is known as cov-ering a target or area. If so, you mustspecify the zone that you are coveringwith that weapon. There is no penaltyto cover a one-yard area. For largerareas and additional rules, seeOpportunity Fire (p. 390).You can use the Wait maneuverfor any reflex action you want toplan in advance, provided you speci-fy both the response and the actionthat will trigger it. This can includeholding a knife at a hostages throat,or even a noncombat action (e.g., IfDora sees any orcs, she will pull thisrope immediately otherwise, shedoes nothing.). An action only qual-ifies as a reflex if you could do it ina single motion. The GMs decision isfinal.Finally, you can use Wait to coor-dinate actions with slower friends.Stop Thrust: If you have a readythrusting weapon, you can use aWait to brace your weapon to receivea possible enemy charge. Simplystate, I brace for a stop thrust. Youcan convert your Wait into an Attackor All-Out Attack against any one foethat moves one or more yardstoward you to make a melee attack(armed or unarmed, including aslam or a grapple) or evade (seeEvading, p. 368). You strike first ifyou have the longer reach. If you hitand your foe fails to defend, add +1to thrust damage for every two fullyards your attacker moved towardyou.Movement: None until your Wait istriggered. At that point, you may moveas allowed by the maneuver you spec-ified (Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack, orReady).Active Defense: You may defendnormally while you are waiting orafter your Wait is triggered. But if youdefend while taking a Wait, you maynot transform your Wait into an All-Out Attack; you must convert yourWait into an Attack instead.366COMBAT
|
Feint, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack made against that opponent, onyour next turn only. You may take mul-tiple, consecutive Evaluate maneuversbefore you strike, giving a cumulative+1 per turn, to a maximum of +3.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. This does notspoil your evaluation.ATTACKUse this maneuver to make anarmed or unarmed attack in meleecombat, or to use a thrown or missileweapon in ranged combat. To use aweapon to attack, it must be ready.If you are using a melee weapon orunarmed attack, your target must bewithin reach. Resolve the attack asexplained under Melee Attacks(pp. 369-372). If you took an Evaluatemaneuver (above) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit. If you took a Feint(below), your opponent may have apenalty to defend.If you are using a ranged weapon,your target must be within theweapons Max range. Resolve theattack according to Ranged Attacks(pp. 372-374). If you took an Aimmaneuver (p. 364) last turn, you willhave a bonus to hit.Movement: Step. You may step andthen attack or attack and then step your choice. To move further and stillattack, take All-Out Attack or Moveand Attack.Active Defense: Any.FEINTFake a melee attack. You cannotFeint someone unless you could havehit him with a melee attack that is,your weapon is ready and your foe iswithin reach. This maneuver is not anattack, though, and does not makeyour weapon unready.When you Feint, roll a QuickContest of Melee Weapon skills withyour foe; if either of you is unarmed,you may roll against an unarmedcombat skill instead. Your opponentmay opt to roll against Cloak or Shieldskill, if he is suitably equipped and thiswould give him a better roll. If his DXis better than his combat skills, hemay roll against DX instead.If you fail your roll, your Feint isunsuccessful. Likewise, if you suc-ceed, but your foe succeeds by asmuch as or more than you do, yourFeint fails.If you make your roll, and your foefails, subtract your margin of successfrom the foes active defense if youattack him with Attack, All-OutAttack, or Move and Attack on yournext turn. For instance, if your skill is15 and you roll a 12, your foe defendsagainst you at -3 next turn.If you and your foe both succeed,but you succeed by more, subtractyour margin of victory from the foesdefense. For instance, if your skill is 15and you roll a 10 (success by 5), andyour foes skill is 14 and he rolls 12(success by 2), you win by 3, so he willdefend at -3 if your next maneuver isto attack him.You cannot Feint if your foe isunable to observe you! However, ifyour foe runs away, turns his back onyou, or loses sight of you in some wayafter you successfully Feint, he willstill suffer his defense penalty if youattack him on your next turn. If youlose track of the foe, or cannot attackhim next turn, your foes defensepenalty vanishes.A Feint is good for one second! Butif you Feint and then make an All-OutAttack (Double), the feint applies toboth attacks.In all cases, your allies cannot takeadvantage of your Feint. The defensepenalty applies only to your nextattack.Shield Feints:After you haveattacked your foe once by strikingwith your shield (see p. 406), you mayalso Feint with your shield, rollingagainst Shield skill.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, if youFeint and then parry with an unbal-anced weapon, you cannot attack onyour next turn, making your Feintpointless.ALL-OUT ATTACKAttack any foe with a readyweapon, making no effort to defendagainst enemy attacks. If you are mak-ing a melee attack, you must specifyone of these four options before youattack: Determined: Make a single attackat +4 to hit!Double: Make two attacks againstthe same foe, if you have two readyweapons or one weapon that does nothave to be readied after use. Attackswith a second weapon held in the offhand are at the usual -4 (seeHandedness, p. 14) unless you haveAmbidexterity (p. 39).Feint: Make one Feint (see above)and then one attack against the samefoe. The Feint applies to this attackinstead of one you make on your nextturn. Strong: Make a single attack, atnormal skill. If you hit, you get +2 todamage or +1 damage per die, if thatwould be better. This only applies tomelee attacks doing ST-based thrustor swing damage, not to weaponssuch as force swords.If you are making a ranged attack,you must specify one of these twooptions before you attack: Determined: Make a single attackat +1 to hit. Suppression Fire: Take the entireturn to spray an area with automaticfire. This is a full-turn maneuver, andyou can only choose this option if yourweapon has RoF 5+. See SuppressionFire (p. 409).Movement: You may move up tohalf your Move, but you can onlymove forward.Active Defense: You may make noactive defenses at all from the pointyou take this maneuver until your nextturn. If someone attacks you after youmake an All-Out attack, all you can dois hope he misses you cant dodge,parry, or block!MOVE ANDATTACKMove as described for the Movemaneuver (p. 364), but during or afteryour move, make a single, poorlyaimed attack either unarmed or witha ready weapon.You attack as described for theAttack maneuver (above), but at apenalty. If you are making a rangedattack, you have a penalty of -2 or theweapons Bulk rating, whichever isworse and if you took an Aim, you lose all of its bonuses. If you areCOMBAT365making a melee attack other than aslam (p. 371), you have a flat -4 to skill, and your adjusted skill cannotexceed 9.Movement: As described under theMove maneuver but since you aretrying to do two things at once, youare -2 on any rolls the GM requires toavoid falling, tripping over obstacles,etc.Active Defense: Dodge or blockonly. You cannot parry and you maynot retreat (see Retreat, p. 377).ALL-OUTDEFENSEThis is the maneuver to choosewhen youre beset by foes especiallyfoes who like All-Out Attacks! Youmust specify one of the following twooptions: Increased Defense: Add +2 to oneactive defense of your choice: Dodge,Parry, or Block. This bonus persistsuntil your next turn. Double Defense: Apply two differ-ent active defenses against the sameattack. If you fail your defense rollagainst an attack, you may try a sec-ond, different defense against thatattack. For instance, if you fail a block,you may try a dodge or a parry. If youtry a parry (armed or unarmed) withone hand and fail, a parry using theother hand does count as a differentdefense.Movement: If you choose IncreasedDodge, you may move up to half yourMove. Otherwise, the only movementyou may take is a step.Active Defense: You may chooseany legal active defense, with bonusesas described above.CONCENTRATEYou concentrate on one primarilymental task (even it has a minor phys-ical component, like operating con-trols, gesturing, or speaking). Thismay be casting a magical spell, using apsi ability, making a Sense roll to spotan invisible warrior, making aLeadership roll to give orders, makingan Electronics Operation roll to oper-ate a sensor, or any similar action,including most IQ-based skill rolls.This is a full-turn maneuver.Some activities (e.g., casting spells)require you to take the Concentratemaneuver for multiple seconds. If youare forced to use an active defense,knocked down, injured, or otherwisedistracted before you finish, you mustmake a Will-3 roll. On a failure, youlose your concentration and muststart over.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, itinterferes with concentration as notedabove.READYTake a Ready maneuver to pick upor draw any item and prepare it foruse; e.g., to pull a sword from itssheath or a gun from its holster, or toreload a firearm. In some cases, youmay also need a Ready maneuver toregain control of an unwieldy weaponafter a swing, or to adjust the reach ofa long weapon see the Melee WeaponTable (p. 271).You can use a Ready maneuver toperform physical actions other thanfighting: opening or closing a door,picking a lock, digging, lifting, etc.Continuing activities may requiremultiple, consecutive Ready maneu-vers; see Other Actions in Combat(p. 382).Finally, a Ready maneuver lets youswitch an advantage off or on if itis not always on and does not requirean Attack or Concentrate maneuver touse.For more information, seeReadying Weapons and Other Gear(p. 382) and When Is a Weapon Ready?(p. 382).Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any.WAITDo nothing unless a particularevent you specified in advanceoccurs before your next turn; e.g., afoe moves into range. If that hap-pens, you may transform your Waitinto an Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack(you must specify the option beforeacting), or Ready maneuver. If youare reacting to someone else, thisinterrupts his turn, but he canresume it after youve acted.You must specify exactly what youraction will be when you take the Waitmaneuver, and what will trigger it. Forinstance, Ill make an All-Out Attack(Determined) with my sword on thefirst orc to move toward me.You may take a Wait with a readyranged weapon; this is known as cov-ering a target or area. If so, you mustspecify the zone that you are coveringwith that weapon. There is no penaltyto cover a one-yard area. For largerareas and additional rules, seeOpportunity Fire (p. 390).You can use the Wait maneuverfor any reflex action you want toplan in advance, provided you speci-fy both the response and the actionthat will trigger it. This can includeholding a knife at a hostages throat,or even a noncombat action (e.g., IfDora sees any orcs, she will pull thisrope immediately otherwise, shedoes nothing.). An action only qual-ifies as a reflex if you could do it ina single motion. The GMs decision isfinal.Finally, you can use Wait to coor-dinate actions with slower friends.Stop Thrust: If you have a readythrusting weapon, you can use aWait to brace your weapon to receivea possible enemy charge. Simplystate, I brace for a stop thrust. Youcan convert your Wait into an Attackor All-Out Attack against any one foethat moves one or more yardstoward you to make a melee attack(armed or unarmed, including aslam or a grapple) or evade (seeEvading, p. 368). You strike first ifyou have the longer reach. If you hitand your foe fails to defend, add +1to thrust damage for every two fullyards your attacker moved towardyou.Movement: None until your Wait istriggered. At that point, you may moveas allowed by the maneuver you spec-ified (Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack, orReady).Active Defense: You may defendnormally while you are waiting orafter your Wait is triggered. But if youdefend while taking a Wait, you maynot transform your Wait into an All-Out Attack; you must convert yourWait into an Attack instead.366COMBATBasic movement does not require agame board. Instead, the GM shouldhave a general idea of the environ-ment, and mentally keep track of rela-tive distances between combatants orobjects possibly referring to maps,notes, or diagrams. Should the playersask about reach or distance (I want torun up and swing at him . . . how faraway is he?), the GMs judgment isfinal.Since movement and facing issuesare in the GMs head, its up to the GMhow much detail to give the players.The GM might carefully keep track ofevery yard of movement, taking noteson paper . . . or he might only worryabout exact distances when they areof vital importance. Most GMs willwant to adopt a middle ground. Forexample:GM: You see Indigo Joe 90 yardsnorth of you. Hes at the edge of thecemetery, crouched behind a tomb-stone, aiming his laser rifle at Kim.Player: Damn, he spotted us. Isthere any cover nearby? I want to runtoward it.GM: An outcropping of rock starts7 yards to your northwest, and thereare some trees about 10 yards to theeast. Your helicopter is parked 10yards behind you, if you want to fallback.Player: No way! Kim will use aMove and Attack. She runs her fullMove toward the rocks, while firing atIndigo Joe with her Gauss rifle.GM: Fine. You have Move 5?Okay, youre now 2 yards from cover.Now its Joes turn. He fires an aimedshot . . .The GM should always provideenough detail to give the players tacti-cal choices, but not so much as tooverwhelm them. If things get confus-ing, a sketch map with a few notes canoften help. Groups that desire moredetail than that should consider usingthe tactical combat system in Chapter12 or at least adopting some of thoserules to add extra detail to the guide-lines given here.Here are a few rules of thumb formovement and combat. See MountedCombat (p. 396) and Vehicles (p. 462)for notes on mounted and vehicularcombat, respectively.MOVEMENTA combatant can move a maxi-mum number of yards equal to his fullMove score if he took a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver. He can move upto half his Move if he chose an All-OutAttack or All Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) maneuver.Obstacles and bad footing will generally slow movement. The GMdecides how many yards of movementa fighter must give up to cover oneyard of difficult terrain or to cross agiven obstacle. For instance, tangledbrush might cut Move in half, whileclimbing over a fallen body might costan extra yard of movement.You can move while in almost anyposture, but you only get your fullMove if standing. You have 1/3 yourMove while crawling or kneeling andyou have a flat Move 1 while lyingdown (belly crawl or rolling). You can-not move at all while sitting!COMBAT367MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
|
making a melee attack other than aslam (p. 371), you have a flat -4 to skill, and your adjusted skill cannotexceed 9.Movement: As described under theMove maneuver but since you aretrying to do two things at once, youare -2 on any rolls the GM requires toavoid falling, tripping over obstacles,etc.Active Defense: Dodge or blockonly. You cannot parry and you maynot retreat (see Retreat, p. 377).ALL-OUTDEFENSEThis is the maneuver to choosewhen youre beset by foes especiallyfoes who like All-Out Attacks! Youmust specify one of the following twooptions: Increased Defense: Add +2 to oneactive defense of your choice: Dodge,Parry, or Block. This bonus persistsuntil your next turn. Double Defense: Apply two differ-ent active defenses against the sameattack. If you fail your defense rollagainst an attack, you may try a sec-ond, different defense against thatattack. For instance, if you fail a block,you may try a dodge or a parry. If youtry a parry (armed or unarmed) withone hand and fail, a parry using theother hand does count as a differentdefense.Movement: If you choose IncreasedDodge, you may move up to half yourMove. Otherwise, the only movementyou may take is a step.Active Defense: You may chooseany legal active defense, with bonusesas described above.CONCENTRATEYou concentrate on one primarilymental task (even it has a minor phys-ical component, like operating con-trols, gesturing, or speaking). Thismay be casting a magical spell, using apsi ability, making a Sense roll to spotan invisible warrior, making aLeadership roll to give orders, makingan Electronics Operation roll to oper-ate a sensor, or any similar action,including most IQ-based skill rolls.This is a full-turn maneuver.Some activities (e.g., casting spells)require you to take the Concentratemaneuver for multiple seconds. If youare forced to use an active defense,knocked down, injured, or otherwisedistracted before you finish, you mustmake a Will-3 roll. On a failure, youlose your concentration and muststart over.Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any. However, itinterferes with concentration as notedabove.READYTake a Ready maneuver to pick upor draw any item and prepare it foruse; e.g., to pull a sword from itssheath or a gun from its holster, or toreload a firearm. In some cases, youmay also need a Ready maneuver toregain control of an unwieldy weaponafter a swing, or to adjust the reach ofa long weapon see the Melee WeaponTable (p. 271).You can use a Ready maneuver toperform physical actions other thanfighting: opening or closing a door,picking a lock, digging, lifting, etc.Continuing activities may requiremultiple, consecutive Ready maneu-vers; see Other Actions in Combat(p. 382).Finally, a Ready maneuver lets youswitch an advantage off or on if itis not always on and does not requirean Attack or Concentrate maneuver touse.For more information, seeReadying Weapons and Other Gear(p. 382) and When Is a Weapon Ready?(p. 382).Movement: Step.Active Defense: Any.WAITDo nothing unless a particularevent you specified in advanceoccurs before your next turn; e.g., afoe moves into range. If that hap-pens, you may transform your Waitinto an Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack(you must specify the option beforeacting), or Ready maneuver. If youare reacting to someone else, thisinterrupts his turn, but he canresume it after youve acted.You must specify exactly what youraction will be when you take the Waitmaneuver, and what will trigger it. Forinstance, Ill make an All-Out Attack(Determined) with my sword on thefirst orc to move toward me.You may take a Wait with a readyranged weapon; this is known as cov-ering a target or area. If so, you mustspecify the zone that you are coveringwith that weapon. There is no penaltyto cover a one-yard area. For largerareas and additional rules, seeOpportunity Fire (p. 390).You can use the Wait maneuverfor any reflex action you want toplan in advance, provided you speci-fy both the response and the actionthat will trigger it. This can includeholding a knife at a hostages throat,or even a noncombat action (e.g., IfDora sees any orcs, she will pull thisrope immediately otherwise, shedoes nothing.). An action only qual-ifies as a reflex if you could do it ina single motion. The GMs decision isfinal.Finally, you can use Wait to coor-dinate actions with slower friends.Stop Thrust: If you have a readythrusting weapon, you can use aWait to brace your weapon to receivea possible enemy charge. Simplystate, I brace for a stop thrust. Youcan convert your Wait into an Attackor All-Out Attack against any one foethat moves one or more yardstoward you to make a melee attack(armed or unarmed, including aslam or a grapple) or evade (seeEvading, p. 368). You strike first ifyou have the longer reach. If you hitand your foe fails to defend, add +1to thrust damage for every two fullyards your attacker moved towardyou.Movement: None until your Wait istriggered. At that point, you may moveas allowed by the maneuver you spec-ified (Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack, orReady).Active Defense: You may defendnormally while you are waiting orafter your Wait is triggered. But if youdefend while taking a Wait, you maynot transform your Wait into an All-Out Attack; you must convert yourWait into an Attack instead.366COMBATBasic movement does not require agame board. Instead, the GM shouldhave a general idea of the environ-ment, and mentally keep track of rela-tive distances between combatants orobjects possibly referring to maps,notes, or diagrams. Should the playersask about reach or distance (I want torun up and swing at him . . . how faraway is he?), the GMs judgment isfinal.Since movement and facing issuesare in the GMs head, its up to the GMhow much detail to give the players.The GM might carefully keep track ofevery yard of movement, taking noteson paper . . . or he might only worryabout exact distances when they areof vital importance. Most GMs willwant to adopt a middle ground. Forexample:GM: You see Indigo Joe 90 yardsnorth of you. Hes at the edge of thecemetery, crouched behind a tomb-stone, aiming his laser rifle at Kim.Player: Damn, he spotted us. Isthere any cover nearby? I want to runtoward it.GM: An outcropping of rock starts7 yards to your northwest, and thereare some trees about 10 yards to theeast. Your helicopter is parked 10yards behind you, if you want to fallback.Player: No way! Kim will use aMove and Attack. She runs her fullMove toward the rocks, while firing atIndigo Joe with her Gauss rifle.GM: Fine. You have Move 5?Okay, youre now 2 yards from cover.Now its Joes turn. He fires an aimedshot . . .The GM should always provideenough detail to give the players tacti-cal choices, but not so much as tooverwhelm them. If things get confus-ing, a sketch map with a few notes canoften help. Groups that desire moredetail than that should consider usingthe tactical combat system in Chapter12 or at least adopting some of thoserules to add extra detail to the guide-lines given here.Here are a few rules of thumb formovement and combat. See MountedCombat (p. 396) and Vehicles (p. 462)for notes on mounted and vehicularcombat, respectively.MOVEMENTA combatant can move a maxi-mum number of yards equal to his fullMove score if he took a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver. He can move upto half his Move if he chose an All-OutAttack or All Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) maneuver.Obstacles and bad footing will generally slow movement. The GMdecides how many yards of movementa fighter must give up to cover oneyard of difficult terrain or to cross agiven obstacle. For instance, tangledbrush might cut Move in half, whileclimbing over a fallen body might costan extra yard of movement.You can move while in almost anyposture, but you only get your fullMove if standing. You have 1/3 yourMove while crawling or kneeling andyou have a flat Move 1 while lyingdown (belly crawl or rolling). You can-not move at all while sitting!COMBAT367MOVEMENT AND COMBATSTEPMost maneuvers allow you to takea step, either before or after anotheraction. You may step a distance equalto 1/10 your Move, but never less thanone yard. Round all fractions up.Thus, Move 1-10 gives a one-yard step,Move 11-20 gives a two-yard step, andso on.If you are capable of steps greaterthan one yard, you may break up yourmovement in a turn. For instance, ifyou had a two-yard step, you couldmove one yard, make an attack, andmove another yard during an Attackmaneuver.You can use a step to go from akneeling to a standing posture (or viceversa) instead of moving. This requiresyour entire step, no matter how faryou could normally move.You may always turn to face a dif-ferent direction as part of any step (oras the step, if you just want to changeyour facing).SPACINGA human-sized fighter needs aboutone yard (3) of space; thus, two war-riors could move down a passage twoyards wide shoulder-to-shoulder orhold it against a foe. A doorway isabout one yard wide, so a single per-son could hold it. All this assumesroom to attack and defend.Noncombatants could be packed inmuch more tightly, but they wouldhave no room to react.MOVINGTHROUGH OTHERCHARACTERSYou can always move throughspace occupied by your allies in com-bat, and you can run around an adver-sary who does not completely blockyour path (see Spacing, above). But ifthe GM rules that the only way past anopponent is through him, you musteither bowl him over (see Slam,p. 371) or evade him.EvadingEvading is moving throughground occupied by an opponentwithout trying to knock him down.You can attempt this as part of anymaneuver that allows movement, pro-vided you can move fast enough to gopast your foe not just up to him.First, ask if your foe is trying tostop you. If he chooses to let you past,you evade him automatically noroll is needed. If your foe wants to stopyou, roll a Quick Contest of DX.Modify your DX as follows:-5 if your foe is standing up.-2 if your foe is kneeling.+2 if you are approaching your foefrom his right or left side.+5 if you are approaching your foefrom behind.+5 if your foe is lying down.If you win, you evade him and arefree to move on. If you lose or tie, hegot in your way and stopped you.You cannot evade anyone whileyou are being grappled (see Grappling,p. 370). You cannot evade a foe if thereis no logical way you could avoid hit-ting him, either (GMs decision) . . .but note that huge creatures can stepover smaller ones, while small crea-tures can duck between the legs oflarger ones!On the other hand, if you can usean advantage such as Flight or SuperJump to move up and over the foesreach in the vertical plane, you canevade him automatically!CROUCHINGIf you are in a standing position,you can elect to crouch at the begin-ning of your turn, as part of anymaneuver. If you dont move, or if youonly step, you may also crouch afterperforming another action such asattacking or readying. However, youmay not move more than a step andthen crouch at the end of your move-ment to avoid attacks not in one sec-ond! But if you are already crouching,you may leave your crouch at any timeas a free action.368COMBAT
|
Basic movement does not require agame board. Instead, the GM shouldhave a general idea of the environ-ment, and mentally keep track of rela-tive distances between combatants orobjects possibly referring to maps,notes, or diagrams. Should the playersask about reach or distance (I want torun up and swing at him . . . how faraway is he?), the GMs judgment isfinal.Since movement and facing issuesare in the GMs head, its up to the GMhow much detail to give the players.The GM might carefully keep track ofevery yard of movement, taking noteson paper . . . or he might only worryabout exact distances when they areof vital importance. Most GMs willwant to adopt a middle ground. Forexample:GM: You see Indigo Joe 90 yardsnorth of you. Hes at the edge of thecemetery, crouched behind a tomb-stone, aiming his laser rifle at Kim.Player: Damn, he spotted us. Isthere any cover nearby? I want to runtoward it.GM: An outcropping of rock starts7 yards to your northwest, and thereare some trees about 10 yards to theeast. Your helicopter is parked 10yards behind you, if you want to fallback.Player: No way! Kim will use aMove and Attack. She runs her fullMove toward the rocks, while firing atIndigo Joe with her Gauss rifle.GM: Fine. You have Move 5?Okay, youre now 2 yards from cover.Now its Joes turn. He fires an aimedshot . . .The GM should always provideenough detail to give the players tacti-cal choices, but not so much as tooverwhelm them. If things get confus-ing, a sketch map with a few notes canoften help. Groups that desire moredetail than that should consider usingthe tactical combat system in Chapter12 or at least adopting some of thoserules to add extra detail to the guide-lines given here.Here are a few rules of thumb formovement and combat. See MountedCombat (p. 396) and Vehicles (p. 462)for notes on mounted and vehicularcombat, respectively.MOVEMENTA combatant can move a maxi-mum number of yards equal to his fullMove score if he took a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver. He can move upto half his Move if he chose an All-OutAttack or All Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) maneuver.Obstacles and bad footing will generally slow movement. The GMdecides how many yards of movementa fighter must give up to cover oneyard of difficult terrain or to cross agiven obstacle. For instance, tangledbrush might cut Move in half, whileclimbing over a fallen body might costan extra yard of movement.You can move while in almost anyposture, but you only get your fullMove if standing. You have 1/3 yourMove while crawling or kneeling andyou have a flat Move 1 while lyingdown (belly crawl or rolling). You can-not move at all while sitting!COMBAT367MOVEMENT AND COMBATSTEPMost maneuvers allow you to takea step, either before or after anotheraction. You may step a distance equalto 1/10 your Move, but never less thanone yard. Round all fractions up.Thus, Move 1-10 gives a one-yard step,Move 11-20 gives a two-yard step, andso on.If you are capable of steps greaterthan one yard, you may break up yourmovement in a turn. For instance, ifyou had a two-yard step, you couldmove one yard, make an attack, andmove another yard during an Attackmaneuver.You can use a step to go from akneeling to a standing posture (or viceversa) instead of moving. This requiresyour entire step, no matter how faryou could normally move.You may always turn to face a dif-ferent direction as part of any step (oras the step, if you just want to changeyour facing).SPACINGA human-sized fighter needs aboutone yard (3) of space; thus, two war-riors could move down a passage twoyards wide shoulder-to-shoulder orhold it against a foe. A doorway isabout one yard wide, so a single per-son could hold it. All this assumesroom to attack and defend.Noncombatants could be packed inmuch more tightly, but they wouldhave no room to react.MOVINGTHROUGH OTHERCHARACTERSYou can always move throughspace occupied by your allies in com-bat, and you can run around an adver-sary who does not completely blockyour path (see Spacing, above). But ifthe GM rules that the only way past anopponent is through him, you musteither bowl him over (see Slam,p. 371) or evade him.EvadingEvading is moving throughground occupied by an opponentwithout trying to knock him down.You can attempt this as part of anymaneuver that allows movement, pro-vided you can move fast enough to gopast your foe not just up to him.First, ask if your foe is trying tostop you. If he chooses to let you past,you evade him automatically noroll is needed. If your foe wants to stopyou, roll a Quick Contest of DX.Modify your DX as follows:-5 if your foe is standing up.-2 if your foe is kneeling.+2 if you are approaching your foefrom his right or left side.+5 if you are approaching your foefrom behind.+5 if your foe is lying down.If you win, you evade him and arefree to move on. If you lose or tie, hegot in your way and stopped you.You cannot evade anyone whileyou are being grappled (see Grappling,p. 370). You cannot evade a foe if thereis no logical way you could avoid hit-ting him, either (GMs decision) . . .but note that huge creatures can stepover smaller ones, while small crea-tures can duck between the legs oflarger ones!On the other hand, if you can usean advantage such as Flight or SuperJump to move up and over the foesreach in the vertical plane, you canevade him automatically!CROUCHINGIf you are in a standing position,you can elect to crouch at the begin-ning of your turn, as part of anymaneuver. If you dont move, or if youonly step, you may also crouch afterperforming another action such asattacking or readying. However, youmay not move more than a step andthen crouch at the end of your move-ment to avoid attacks not in one sec-ond! But if you are already crouching,you may leave your crouch at any timeas a free action.368COMBATAn attack is an attempt to hit afoe or other target. If you execute anAttack, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack maneuver (or convert a Waitinto any of these), you may try to hit afoe. You can only attack with aweapon if its ready (see Ready, p. 366).The GM always has the option ofruling, for any reason having to dowith the situation, that some fighterscannot attack certain opponents. Forinstance, eight attackers could not hitone human-sized foe at the same time.(Even three or four attackers at oncewould be unlikely, unless their victimhad no allies!)There are two basic types of attacks: melee attacks (pp. 369-372)and ranged attacks (pp. 372-374).Your target must be within reach if youre making a melee attack, orwithin range if youre making aranged attack. Resolving either type ofattack takes three die rolls: First is your attack roll. If yourroll is successful, your attack was agood one. Now your foe must make adefense roll to see if he can defendagainst your blow. If he makes thisroll, he evaded or stopped the attack,and is not hit. If he misses his defense roll, yourblow struck home and you roll fordamage.Some advantages (e.g., ExtraAttack) and combat options (see All-Out Attack, p. 365, and Rapid Strike,p. 370) let you attack more than once.Resolve such attacks one at a time.ATTACK ROLLYour attack roll is a regular suc-cess roll see Chapter 10. Figure youreffective skill (base skill plus or minusany appropriate modifiers) with theweapon you are using.If your roll is less than or equal toyour effective skill, your attack willhit unless your foe successfullydefends (see Defending, p. 374). If hefails to defend or if he cant youvehit him.If your roll is greater than youreffective skill, you missed!No matter what your effective skill,a roll of 3 or 4 always hits, and is acritical hit; see Critical Hits (p. 381).A roll of 17 or 18 always misses.COMBAT369ATTACKINGMELEE ATTACKSWhen you take a maneuver thatlets you make a melee attack, youmust specify who you are attacking,and with what weapon. You can makea melee attack using any ready meleeweapon (including a natural weaponsuch as a kick, bite, or punch) againstany target that is within reach.You can use some weapons inmore than one way; e.g., you canswing or thrust with a shortsword.Such weapons have multiple lines onthe Melee Weapon Table (p. 271). Whenyou attack with a weapon like this,you must indicate how you are usingit before you roll.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with theweapon or unarmed attack you areusing.2. Applying all conditional modi-fiers for your maneuver, situation,posture, and the targets visibility. Adetailed list appears under MeleeAttack Modifiers (p. 547).The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Ready WeaponsA one-handed weapon is ready ifits being held in your hand. A two-handed weapon is ready if you aregripping it with both hands. Someunwieldy weapons (e.g., the great axe)become unready after each attackunless you are extremely strong; seethe Melee Weapon Table to learn whichweapons are unwieldy, and their STrequirements (always marked ).To draw a new weapon from asheath, scabbard, or sling, or to readyan unwieldy weapon that becameunready after an attack, you must takea Ready maneuver (p. 366).A natural weapon (punch, kick,etc.) is always ready unless the bodypart in question is occupied orrestrained; e.g., you cant punch if youare holding a weapon with the samehand, or bite while wearing a full-facehelmet or gripping something withyour teeth.ReachA melee weapon can only attack atarget that is within its reach (meas-ured in yards), as given on the MeleeWeapon Table. Most weapons have areach of 1, which means you must beadjacent to your target (that is, withinone yard of him). Reach plays a muchlarger role if using a game board; seeChapter 12.MELEE ATTACKOPTIONSBefore making a melee attack, youmay specify some additional options.Hit LocationIt is assumed that you are attackingthe targets center of mass (the torso,on a human), unless you specify oth-erwise. If you wish to target anotherbody part (e.g., the head), see HitLocation (p. 398). If you choose toattack his weapon, see Striking atWeapons (p. 400).Deceptive AttackYou may designate any meleeattack as deceptive before you roll tohit. A Deceptive Attack is intended toget past an opponents defensesthrough sheer skill. You can use thisoption to represent any number ofadvanced fighting techniques.
|
STEPMost maneuvers allow you to takea step, either before or after anotheraction. You may step a distance equalto 1/10 your Move, but never less thanone yard. Round all fractions up.Thus, Move 1-10 gives a one-yard step,Move 11-20 gives a two-yard step, andso on.If you are capable of steps greaterthan one yard, you may break up yourmovement in a turn. For instance, ifyou had a two-yard step, you couldmove one yard, make an attack, andmove another yard during an Attackmaneuver.You can use a step to go from akneeling to a standing posture (or viceversa) instead of moving. This requiresyour entire step, no matter how faryou could normally move.You may always turn to face a dif-ferent direction as part of any step (oras the step, if you just want to changeyour facing).SPACINGA human-sized fighter needs aboutone yard (3) of space; thus, two war-riors could move down a passage twoyards wide shoulder-to-shoulder orhold it against a foe. A doorway isabout one yard wide, so a single per-son could hold it. All this assumesroom to attack and defend.Noncombatants could be packed inmuch more tightly, but they wouldhave no room to react.MOVINGTHROUGH OTHERCHARACTERSYou can always move throughspace occupied by your allies in com-bat, and you can run around an adver-sary who does not completely blockyour path (see Spacing, above). But ifthe GM rules that the only way past anopponent is through him, you musteither bowl him over (see Slam,p. 371) or evade him.EvadingEvading is moving throughground occupied by an opponentwithout trying to knock him down.You can attempt this as part of anymaneuver that allows movement, pro-vided you can move fast enough to gopast your foe not just up to him.First, ask if your foe is trying tostop you. If he chooses to let you past,you evade him automatically noroll is needed. If your foe wants to stopyou, roll a Quick Contest of DX.Modify your DX as follows:-5 if your foe is standing up.-2 if your foe is kneeling.+2 if you are approaching your foefrom his right or left side.+5 if you are approaching your foefrom behind.+5 if your foe is lying down.If you win, you evade him and arefree to move on. If you lose or tie, hegot in your way and stopped you.You cannot evade anyone whileyou are being grappled (see Grappling,p. 370). You cannot evade a foe if thereis no logical way you could avoid hit-ting him, either (GMs decision) . . .but note that huge creatures can stepover smaller ones, while small crea-tures can duck between the legs oflarger ones!On the other hand, if you can usean advantage such as Flight or SuperJump to move up and over the foesreach in the vertical plane, you canevade him automatically!CROUCHINGIf you are in a standing position,you can elect to crouch at the begin-ning of your turn, as part of anymaneuver. If you dont move, or if youonly step, you may also crouch afterperforming another action such asattacking or readying. However, youmay not move more than a step andthen crouch at the end of your move-ment to avoid attacks not in one sec-ond! But if you are already crouching,you may leave your crouch at any timeas a free action.368COMBATAn attack is an attempt to hit afoe or other target. If you execute anAttack, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack maneuver (or convert a Waitinto any of these), you may try to hit afoe. You can only attack with aweapon if its ready (see Ready, p. 366).The GM always has the option ofruling, for any reason having to dowith the situation, that some fighterscannot attack certain opponents. Forinstance, eight attackers could not hitone human-sized foe at the same time.(Even three or four attackers at oncewould be unlikely, unless their victimhad no allies!)There are two basic types of attacks: melee attacks (pp. 369-372)and ranged attacks (pp. 372-374).Your target must be within reach if youre making a melee attack, orwithin range if youre making aranged attack. Resolving either type ofattack takes three die rolls: First is your attack roll. If yourroll is successful, your attack was agood one. Now your foe must make adefense roll to see if he can defendagainst your blow. If he makes thisroll, he evaded or stopped the attack,and is not hit. If he misses his defense roll, yourblow struck home and you roll fordamage.Some advantages (e.g., ExtraAttack) and combat options (see All-Out Attack, p. 365, and Rapid Strike,p. 370) let you attack more than once.Resolve such attacks one at a time.ATTACK ROLLYour attack roll is a regular suc-cess roll see Chapter 10. Figure youreffective skill (base skill plus or minusany appropriate modifiers) with theweapon you are using.If your roll is less than or equal toyour effective skill, your attack willhit unless your foe successfullydefends (see Defending, p. 374). If hefails to defend or if he cant youvehit him.If your roll is greater than youreffective skill, you missed!No matter what your effective skill,a roll of 3 or 4 always hits, and is acritical hit; see Critical Hits (p. 381).A roll of 17 or 18 always misses.COMBAT369ATTACKINGMELEE ATTACKSWhen you take a maneuver thatlets you make a melee attack, youmust specify who you are attacking,and with what weapon. You can makea melee attack using any ready meleeweapon (including a natural weaponsuch as a kick, bite, or punch) againstany target that is within reach.You can use some weapons inmore than one way; e.g., you canswing or thrust with a shortsword.Such weapons have multiple lines onthe Melee Weapon Table (p. 271). Whenyou attack with a weapon like this,you must indicate how you are usingit before you roll.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with theweapon or unarmed attack you areusing.2. Applying all conditional modi-fiers for your maneuver, situation,posture, and the targets visibility. Adetailed list appears under MeleeAttack Modifiers (p. 547).The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Ready WeaponsA one-handed weapon is ready ifits being held in your hand. A two-handed weapon is ready if you aregripping it with both hands. Someunwieldy weapons (e.g., the great axe)become unready after each attackunless you are extremely strong; seethe Melee Weapon Table to learn whichweapons are unwieldy, and their STrequirements (always marked ).To draw a new weapon from asheath, scabbard, or sling, or to readyan unwieldy weapon that becameunready after an attack, you must takea Ready maneuver (p. 366).A natural weapon (punch, kick,etc.) is always ready unless the bodypart in question is occupied orrestrained; e.g., you cant punch if youare holding a weapon with the samehand, or bite while wearing a full-facehelmet or gripping something withyour teeth.ReachA melee weapon can only attack atarget that is within its reach (meas-ured in yards), as given on the MeleeWeapon Table. Most weapons have areach of 1, which means you must beadjacent to your target (that is, withinone yard of him). Reach plays a muchlarger role if using a game board; seeChapter 12.MELEE ATTACKOPTIONSBefore making a melee attack, youmay specify some additional options.Hit LocationIt is assumed that you are attackingthe targets center of mass (the torso,on a human), unless you specify oth-erwise. If you wish to target anotherbody part (e.g., the head), see HitLocation (p. 398). If you choose toattack his weapon, see Striking atWeapons (p. 400).Deceptive AttackYou may designate any meleeattack as deceptive before you roll tohit. A Deceptive Attack is intended toget past an opponents defensesthrough sheer skill. You can use thisoption to represent any number ofadvanced fighting techniques.For every -2 you accept to yourown skill, your foe suffers a -1 penaltyon his active defenses against thisattack. You may not reduce your finaleffective skill below 10 with aDeceptive Attack, which normally lim-its it to skilled fighters.The GM may opt to speed play bylimiting Deceptive Attacks to a flat -4to skill, giving the target -2 on hisactive defenses.Rapid StrikeA Rapid Strike is a melee attackexecuted swiftly enough that you getone extra attack. You must take anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver,and you must use a ready weapon tomake the extra attack. Make twoattacks, both at -6 to skill. You can tar-get multiple opponents this way.If youalready have multipleattacks, for whatever reason, you canreplace one of them (and only one!)with two attacks at -6.UNARMEDCOMBATSometimes you have to fight with-out weapons, or with improvisedweapons. This is unarmed combat.Anyone can engage in unarmed com-bat, but certain skills make you a moreeffective unarmed fighter. For thispurpose: Striking skills are Boxing (p. 182),Brawling (p. 182), and Karate (p. 203).Grappling skills are Judo (p. 203),Sumo Wrestling (p.223), andWrestling (p. 228).StrikingSee the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271)for the reach, damage, etc., of punch-es, kicks, bites, and other unarmedstrikes. For additional options, seeSample Combat Techniques (p. 230)and Special Unarmed CombatTechniques (p. 403). And see HurtingYourself (p. 379) for the effects of strik-ing an armored target barehanded . . .GrabbingYou can grab something a foe isholding, like a weapon. To do so, youmust have an empty hand (but someweapons, such as whips, can alsograb). Make an attack using DX or agrappling skill, with the usual penaltyto hit the hand (-4). Your opponentdefends normally.If you hit, youve grabbed hold ofyour foes weapon. On subsequentturns, you may try to wrest it fromhim. Each attempt is a full-turnmaneuver. Roll a Regular Contest ofST. If you win, you take his weaponaway. If you lose, you lose your grip onhis weapon.GrapplingGrappling is an attempt to grabyour foes body. You must have at leastone empty hand. On a game board,you must also move into your foes hex(close combat).Each attempt requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against basic DX or agrappling skill to hit. Your foe maydefend normally he can parry,dodge, or block. You may Evaluate orFeint beforehand to improve yourodds of success.Grappling does no damage, but ifyou successfully hit, the foe has -4 toDX as long as youre holding on. Hemay not move away until he breaksfree (see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) or you let go. Exception: If yougrapple a foe of more than twice yourST, you do not prevent him from mov-ing away youre just extra encum-brance for him!You may grapple with any or all ofyour arms. If you grapple with morethan two arms, each arm beyond thefirst two gives a bonus of +2 to hit. Anarm committed to grappling cannotmake unarmed parries until you letgo. Letting go is a free action on yourturn.If you are holding onto your foewith all your arms, the only furtherattacks you can make are those listedunder Actions After a Grapple, below.Posture: To grapple a prone, kneel-ing, or sitting opponent, you mustkneel or lie down yourself, unless hisSize Modifier is two or more greaterthan yours. You may do this as part ofthe step component of an Attackmaneuver.Hit Location: The rules aboveassume that you are grappling thetorso. To grab another body part,apply half the penalty given under HitLocation (p. 398) to your roll; seeGrappling and Hit Location, p. 400. Ifyou hit, your foe has -4 to DX onlywhen using that body part. You couldgrab a weapon arm or hand (to disarmyour victim), a leg (to trip him), or theneck (to strangle him). If you grab anarm or hand, you cannot snatch aweapon away, but you can force yourfoe to drop it by winning a RegularContest of ST roll once per turn, asexplained under Grabbing (above).For a related technique, see Arm Lock(p. 230).Actions After a GrappleOnce you have grappled a foe, youmay attempt the following moves onsubsequent turns (provided youropponent does not break free!). Eachaction requires an Attack or All-OutAttack maneuver.TakedownThis is an attempt to bear youropponent to the ground. You may onlytry this on a standing foe. Roll a QuickContest, with each contestant usingthe highest of ST, DX, or his best grap-pling skill. If you are not standing, youhave a penalty equal to the usualpenalty to hit for your posture. If youwin, your victim falls down next toyou (on a game board, he falls in yourhex and any adjacent hex of yourchoice). If he was grappling you, heloses his grip. If you lose, you sufferthe same effects! On a tie, nothinghappens.PinYou may only attempt a pin if yourfoe is on the ground and you are grap-pling his torso. Roll a Regular Contestof Strength. The larger fighter gets +3for every point by which his SizeModifier exceeds that of his foe. Thefighter with the most free hands gets+3. If you win, your foe is pinned andhelpless. You must stay there to holdhim down, but you can free one ofyour hands for other actions. If youlose or tie, nothing happens.Choke or StrangleYou must have grappled your foeby the neck. You must normally useyour hands, and cant do anything elsewith them (e.g., parry) while holdingon but if you have the ConstrictionAttack advantage (p. 43), you can useyour body instead. Roll a QuickContest: your ST vs. the higher of yourfoes ST or HT. You are at -5 if you useonly one hand, but at +2 per hand370COMBAT
|
An attack is an attempt to hit afoe or other target. If you execute anAttack, All-Out Attack, or Move andAttack maneuver (or convert a Waitinto any of these), you may try to hit afoe. You can only attack with aweapon if its ready (see Ready, p. 366).The GM always has the option ofruling, for any reason having to dowith the situation, that some fighterscannot attack certain opponents. Forinstance, eight attackers could not hitone human-sized foe at the same time.(Even three or four attackers at oncewould be unlikely, unless their victimhad no allies!)There are two basic types of attacks: melee attacks (pp. 369-372)and ranged attacks (pp. 372-374).Your target must be within reach if youre making a melee attack, orwithin range if youre making aranged attack. Resolving either type ofattack takes three die rolls: First is your attack roll. If yourroll is successful, your attack was agood one. Now your foe must make adefense roll to see if he can defendagainst your blow. If he makes thisroll, he evaded or stopped the attack,and is not hit. If he misses his defense roll, yourblow struck home and you roll fordamage.Some advantages (e.g., ExtraAttack) and combat options (see All-Out Attack, p. 365, and Rapid Strike,p. 370) let you attack more than once.Resolve such attacks one at a time.ATTACK ROLLYour attack roll is a regular suc-cess roll see Chapter 10. Figure youreffective skill (base skill plus or minusany appropriate modifiers) with theweapon you are using.If your roll is less than or equal toyour effective skill, your attack willhit unless your foe successfullydefends (see Defending, p. 374). If hefails to defend or if he cant youvehit him.If your roll is greater than youreffective skill, you missed!No matter what your effective skill,a roll of 3 or 4 always hits, and is acritical hit; see Critical Hits (p. 381).A roll of 17 or 18 always misses.COMBAT369ATTACKINGMELEE ATTACKSWhen you take a maneuver thatlets you make a melee attack, youmust specify who you are attacking,and with what weapon. You can makea melee attack using any ready meleeweapon (including a natural weaponsuch as a kick, bite, or punch) againstany target that is within reach.You can use some weapons inmore than one way; e.g., you canswing or thrust with a shortsword.Such weapons have multiple lines onthe Melee Weapon Table (p. 271). Whenyou attack with a weapon like this,you must indicate how you are usingit before you roll.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with theweapon or unarmed attack you areusing.2. Applying all conditional modi-fiers for your maneuver, situation,posture, and the targets visibility. Adetailed list appears under MeleeAttack Modifiers (p. 547).The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Ready WeaponsA one-handed weapon is ready ifits being held in your hand. A two-handed weapon is ready if you aregripping it with both hands. Someunwieldy weapons (e.g., the great axe)become unready after each attackunless you are extremely strong; seethe Melee Weapon Table to learn whichweapons are unwieldy, and their STrequirements (always marked ).To draw a new weapon from asheath, scabbard, or sling, or to readyan unwieldy weapon that becameunready after an attack, you must takea Ready maneuver (p. 366).A natural weapon (punch, kick,etc.) is always ready unless the bodypart in question is occupied orrestrained; e.g., you cant punch if youare holding a weapon with the samehand, or bite while wearing a full-facehelmet or gripping something withyour teeth.ReachA melee weapon can only attack atarget that is within its reach (meas-ured in yards), as given on the MeleeWeapon Table. Most weapons have areach of 1, which means you must beadjacent to your target (that is, withinone yard of him). Reach plays a muchlarger role if using a game board; seeChapter 12.MELEE ATTACKOPTIONSBefore making a melee attack, youmay specify some additional options.Hit LocationIt is assumed that you are attackingthe targets center of mass (the torso,on a human), unless you specify oth-erwise. If you wish to target anotherbody part (e.g., the head), see HitLocation (p. 398). If you choose toattack his weapon, see Striking atWeapons (p. 400).Deceptive AttackYou may designate any meleeattack as deceptive before you roll tohit. A Deceptive Attack is intended toget past an opponents defensesthrough sheer skill. You can use thisoption to represent any number ofadvanced fighting techniques.For every -2 you accept to yourown skill, your foe suffers a -1 penaltyon his active defenses against thisattack. You may not reduce your finaleffective skill below 10 with aDeceptive Attack, which normally lim-its it to skilled fighters.The GM may opt to speed play bylimiting Deceptive Attacks to a flat -4to skill, giving the target -2 on hisactive defenses.Rapid StrikeA Rapid Strike is a melee attackexecuted swiftly enough that you getone extra attack. You must take anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver,and you must use a ready weapon tomake the extra attack. Make twoattacks, both at -6 to skill. You can tar-get multiple opponents this way.If youalready have multipleattacks, for whatever reason, you canreplace one of them (and only one!)with two attacks at -6.UNARMEDCOMBATSometimes you have to fight with-out weapons, or with improvisedweapons. This is unarmed combat.Anyone can engage in unarmed com-bat, but certain skills make you a moreeffective unarmed fighter. For thispurpose: Striking skills are Boxing (p. 182),Brawling (p. 182), and Karate (p. 203).Grappling skills are Judo (p. 203),Sumo Wrestling (p.223), andWrestling (p. 228).StrikingSee the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271)for the reach, damage, etc., of punch-es, kicks, bites, and other unarmedstrikes. For additional options, seeSample Combat Techniques (p. 230)and Special Unarmed CombatTechniques (p. 403). And see HurtingYourself (p. 379) for the effects of strik-ing an armored target barehanded . . .GrabbingYou can grab something a foe isholding, like a weapon. To do so, youmust have an empty hand (but someweapons, such as whips, can alsograb). Make an attack using DX or agrappling skill, with the usual penaltyto hit the hand (-4). Your opponentdefends normally.If you hit, youve grabbed hold ofyour foes weapon. On subsequentturns, you may try to wrest it fromhim. Each attempt is a full-turnmaneuver. Roll a Regular Contest ofST. If you win, you take his weaponaway. If you lose, you lose your grip onhis weapon.GrapplingGrappling is an attempt to grabyour foes body. You must have at leastone empty hand. On a game board,you must also move into your foes hex(close combat).Each attempt requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against basic DX or agrappling skill to hit. Your foe maydefend normally he can parry,dodge, or block. You may Evaluate orFeint beforehand to improve yourodds of success.Grappling does no damage, but ifyou successfully hit, the foe has -4 toDX as long as youre holding on. Hemay not move away until he breaksfree (see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) or you let go. Exception: If yougrapple a foe of more than twice yourST, you do not prevent him from mov-ing away youre just extra encum-brance for him!You may grapple with any or all ofyour arms. If you grapple with morethan two arms, each arm beyond thefirst two gives a bonus of +2 to hit. Anarm committed to grappling cannotmake unarmed parries until you letgo. Letting go is a free action on yourturn.If you are holding onto your foewith all your arms, the only furtherattacks you can make are those listedunder Actions After a Grapple, below.Posture: To grapple a prone, kneel-ing, or sitting opponent, you mustkneel or lie down yourself, unless hisSize Modifier is two or more greaterthan yours. You may do this as part ofthe step component of an Attackmaneuver.Hit Location: The rules aboveassume that you are grappling thetorso. To grab another body part,apply half the penalty given under HitLocation (p. 398) to your roll; seeGrappling and Hit Location, p. 400. Ifyou hit, your foe has -4 to DX onlywhen using that body part. You couldgrab a weapon arm or hand (to disarmyour victim), a leg (to trip him), or theneck (to strangle him). If you grab anarm or hand, you cannot snatch aweapon away, but you can force yourfoe to drop it by winning a RegularContest of ST roll once per turn, asexplained under Grabbing (above).For a related technique, see Arm Lock(p. 230).Actions After a GrappleOnce you have grappled a foe, youmay attempt the following moves onsubsequent turns (provided youropponent does not break free!). Eachaction requires an Attack or All-OutAttack maneuver.TakedownThis is an attempt to bear youropponent to the ground. You may onlytry this on a standing foe. Roll a QuickContest, with each contestant usingthe highest of ST, DX, or his best grap-pling skill. If you are not standing, youhave a penalty equal to the usualpenalty to hit for your posture. If youwin, your victim falls down next toyou (on a game board, he falls in yourhex and any adjacent hex of yourchoice). If he was grappling you, heloses his grip. If you lose, you sufferthe same effects! On a tie, nothinghappens.PinYou may only attempt a pin if yourfoe is on the ground and you are grap-pling his torso. Roll a Regular Contestof Strength. The larger fighter gets +3for every point by which his SizeModifier exceeds that of his foe. Thefighter with the most free hands gets+3. If you win, your foe is pinned andhelpless. You must stay there to holdhim down, but you can free one ofyour hands for other actions. If youlose or tie, nothing happens.Choke or StrangleYou must have grappled your foeby the neck. You must normally useyour hands, and cant do anything elsewith them (e.g., parry) while holdingon but if you have the ConstrictionAttack advantage (p. 43), you can useyour body instead. Roll a QuickContest: your ST vs. the higher of yourfoes ST or HT. You are at -5 if you useonly one hand, but at +2 per hand370COMBATafter the first two. If your SizeModifier exceeds your foes, you cangrapple and squeeze his torso instead,in which case you roll at -5 unless youhave Constriction Attack. If you win,your foe takes crushing damage equalto your margin of victory. DR protectsnormally. Multiply injury to the neckby 1.5. If any damage even blunttrauma (p. 379) penetrates the vic-tims DR, you also start to suffocatehim! On his next turn and every sub-sequent turn until he escapes, he loses1 FP; see Suffocation (p. 436).Choke HoldIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a hold that canincapacitate without crushing thethroat or torso. See Choke Hold(p. 404).Arm LockIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a lock to restrainor cripple your opponents arm. SeeArm Lock (p. 403).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbIf you grappled your foes neck orskull, or a limb or other extremity, youcan twist. See Neck Snap or WrenchLimb (p. 404).Other ActionsYou can bite or use a Striker (pro-vided it has reach C) even if all yourhands are busy. If youre not using ahand to grapple your foe, you can useit to Attack or All-Out Attack (eitherunarmed or with a reach C weapon),or to take a Ready maneuver. You can-not Aim, Feint, Concentrate, Wait, ormake ranged attacks unless youvepinned your foe. You may also per-form the following free actions: Release your grip. Let go of thefoe, if you are grappling or pinninghim. Or you can release just one hand but this makes it easier for him toescape. Throw away a ready weapon. Thisautomatically succeeds and takes notime. You may do this to get a uselessweapon out of your way, or to deprivethe foe of a chance to grab a usefulweapon (e.g., a blackjack) from you. Drag or carry your victim. Ifyouve pinned your foe, you can moveor step normally, dragging or carryinghim; see Lifting and Moving Things(p. 353) for how much you can lift ordrag. He counts as encumbrance,reducing your Move. If you haventpinned him, moving away from himmeans you automatically release yourgrip unless you have at least twice hisST. If youre that strong, you can pullor carry him with you!SlamYou can deliberately collide withan opponent. This requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against DX, Brawling,or Sumo Wrestling to hit. Note thatthe -4 to hit and effective skill cap of 9for a Move and Attack do not apply toslams.Your foe may block, dodge, orparry (but your body counts as aheavy weapon; see Parrying HeavyWeapons, p. 376). If your foe dodges,you must move at least two yards pasthim if you have enough movement. Ifyou would hit someone else, seeHitting the Wrong Target (p. 389).If you hit, you and your foe eachinflict dice of crushing damage on theother equal to (HP velocity)/100.Velocity is usually just the numberof yards you moved this turn but ina head-on collision, add the distanceyour foe moved toward you on his lastturn (that is, use relative velocity).If damage is less than 1d, treat frac-tions up to 0.25 as 1d-3, fractions upto 0.5 as 1d-2, and any larger fractionas 1d-1. Otherwise, round fractions of0.5 or more up to a full die. You canuse All-Out Attack (Strong) to increaseyour damage!If your damage roll equals orexceeds that of your foe, he mustmake a DX roll or fall down. Youknock him down automatically if youroll twice his damage or more. If herolls twice your damage or more,though, you fall down instead!If your opponent dodged and youwent past him and hit a solid obstacle,apply your damage roll to yourself(and to the obstacle, if it matters).You can also slam with a vehicle ormount. Roll against your vehicle-oper-ation skill to hit with a vehicle, orRiding skill to hit with a mount.Figure damage based on the HP ofyour vehicle or mount.For additional rules and specialcases, see Collisions and Falls (p. 430).COMBAT371Actions After Being GrappledIf you have been grappled, you cannot take a Move maneuver unlessyou have at least twice your foes ST. Aim, Feint, Concentrate, and Waitmaneuvers and ranged attacks are completely impossible. If you arepinned, you cant take any maneuver that requires physical movement!Otherwise, you can do the following:Attack or All-Out AttackYou can take either maneuver, with certain limitations. You cannotuse any limb that has been grappled or bite, if your neck or head wasgrappled. Youre limited to unarmed attacks (striking or grappling) orattacks using weapons with reach C. You can stab with a dagger, butnot swing a sword!ReadyYou can Ready an item if you have a hand free, but you must makea DX roll. Failure means you drop the item. Ready maneuvers to switchadvantages off and on succeed automatically.Break FreeIf you are grappled, you cannot move away until you break free bywinning a Quick Contest of ST. Your foe has +5 if he is grappling youwith two hands. If he has you pinned, he rolls at +10 if using two handsor at +5 if using only one, and you may only attempt to break free onceevery 10 seconds. If either of you has three or more arms, each armbeyond the first two gives +2. If your foe is stunned, he rolls at -4; if hefalls unconscious, you are automatically free! If you successfully breakfree, you may immediately move one yard in any direction.
|
For every -2 you accept to yourown skill, your foe suffers a -1 penaltyon his active defenses against thisattack. You may not reduce your finaleffective skill below 10 with aDeceptive Attack, which normally lim-its it to skilled fighters.The GM may opt to speed play bylimiting Deceptive Attacks to a flat -4to skill, giving the target -2 on hisactive defenses.Rapid StrikeA Rapid Strike is a melee attackexecuted swiftly enough that you getone extra attack. You must take anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver,and you must use a ready weapon tomake the extra attack. Make twoattacks, both at -6 to skill. You can tar-get multiple opponents this way.If youalready have multipleattacks, for whatever reason, you canreplace one of them (and only one!)with two attacks at -6.UNARMEDCOMBATSometimes you have to fight with-out weapons, or with improvisedweapons. This is unarmed combat.Anyone can engage in unarmed com-bat, but certain skills make you a moreeffective unarmed fighter. For thispurpose: Striking skills are Boxing (p. 182),Brawling (p. 182), and Karate (p. 203).Grappling skills are Judo (p. 203),Sumo Wrestling (p.223), andWrestling (p. 228).StrikingSee the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271)for the reach, damage, etc., of punch-es, kicks, bites, and other unarmedstrikes. For additional options, seeSample Combat Techniques (p. 230)and Special Unarmed CombatTechniques (p. 403). And see HurtingYourself (p. 379) for the effects of strik-ing an armored target barehanded . . .GrabbingYou can grab something a foe isholding, like a weapon. To do so, youmust have an empty hand (but someweapons, such as whips, can alsograb). Make an attack using DX or agrappling skill, with the usual penaltyto hit the hand (-4). Your opponentdefends normally.If you hit, youve grabbed hold ofyour foes weapon. On subsequentturns, you may try to wrest it fromhim. Each attempt is a full-turnmaneuver. Roll a Regular Contest ofST. If you win, you take his weaponaway. If you lose, you lose your grip onhis weapon.GrapplingGrappling is an attempt to grabyour foes body. You must have at leastone empty hand. On a game board,you must also move into your foes hex(close combat).Each attempt requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against basic DX or agrappling skill to hit. Your foe maydefend normally he can parry,dodge, or block. You may Evaluate orFeint beforehand to improve yourodds of success.Grappling does no damage, but ifyou successfully hit, the foe has -4 toDX as long as youre holding on. Hemay not move away until he breaksfree (see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) or you let go. Exception: If yougrapple a foe of more than twice yourST, you do not prevent him from mov-ing away youre just extra encum-brance for him!You may grapple with any or all ofyour arms. If you grapple with morethan two arms, each arm beyond thefirst two gives a bonus of +2 to hit. Anarm committed to grappling cannotmake unarmed parries until you letgo. Letting go is a free action on yourturn.If you are holding onto your foewith all your arms, the only furtherattacks you can make are those listedunder Actions After a Grapple, below.Posture: To grapple a prone, kneel-ing, or sitting opponent, you mustkneel or lie down yourself, unless hisSize Modifier is two or more greaterthan yours. You may do this as part ofthe step component of an Attackmaneuver.Hit Location: The rules aboveassume that you are grappling thetorso. To grab another body part,apply half the penalty given under HitLocation (p. 398) to your roll; seeGrappling and Hit Location, p. 400. Ifyou hit, your foe has -4 to DX onlywhen using that body part. You couldgrab a weapon arm or hand (to disarmyour victim), a leg (to trip him), or theneck (to strangle him). If you grab anarm or hand, you cannot snatch aweapon away, but you can force yourfoe to drop it by winning a RegularContest of ST roll once per turn, asexplained under Grabbing (above).For a related technique, see Arm Lock(p. 230).Actions After a GrappleOnce you have grappled a foe, youmay attempt the following moves onsubsequent turns (provided youropponent does not break free!). Eachaction requires an Attack or All-OutAttack maneuver.TakedownThis is an attempt to bear youropponent to the ground. You may onlytry this on a standing foe. Roll a QuickContest, with each contestant usingthe highest of ST, DX, or his best grap-pling skill. If you are not standing, youhave a penalty equal to the usualpenalty to hit for your posture. If youwin, your victim falls down next toyou (on a game board, he falls in yourhex and any adjacent hex of yourchoice). If he was grappling you, heloses his grip. If you lose, you sufferthe same effects! On a tie, nothinghappens.PinYou may only attempt a pin if yourfoe is on the ground and you are grap-pling his torso. Roll a Regular Contestof Strength. The larger fighter gets +3for every point by which his SizeModifier exceeds that of his foe. Thefighter with the most free hands gets+3. If you win, your foe is pinned andhelpless. You must stay there to holdhim down, but you can free one ofyour hands for other actions. If youlose or tie, nothing happens.Choke or StrangleYou must have grappled your foeby the neck. You must normally useyour hands, and cant do anything elsewith them (e.g., parry) while holdingon but if you have the ConstrictionAttack advantage (p. 43), you can useyour body instead. Roll a QuickContest: your ST vs. the higher of yourfoes ST or HT. You are at -5 if you useonly one hand, but at +2 per hand370COMBATafter the first two. If your SizeModifier exceeds your foes, you cangrapple and squeeze his torso instead,in which case you roll at -5 unless youhave Constriction Attack. If you win,your foe takes crushing damage equalto your margin of victory. DR protectsnormally. Multiply injury to the neckby 1.5. If any damage even blunttrauma (p. 379) penetrates the vic-tims DR, you also start to suffocatehim! On his next turn and every sub-sequent turn until he escapes, he loses1 FP; see Suffocation (p. 436).Choke HoldIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a hold that canincapacitate without crushing thethroat or torso. See Choke Hold(p. 404).Arm LockIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a lock to restrainor cripple your opponents arm. SeeArm Lock (p. 403).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbIf you grappled your foes neck orskull, or a limb or other extremity, youcan twist. See Neck Snap or WrenchLimb (p. 404).Other ActionsYou can bite or use a Striker (pro-vided it has reach C) even if all yourhands are busy. If youre not using ahand to grapple your foe, you can useit to Attack or All-Out Attack (eitherunarmed or with a reach C weapon),or to take a Ready maneuver. You can-not Aim, Feint, Concentrate, Wait, ormake ranged attacks unless youvepinned your foe. You may also per-form the following free actions: Release your grip. Let go of thefoe, if you are grappling or pinninghim. Or you can release just one hand but this makes it easier for him toescape. Throw away a ready weapon. Thisautomatically succeeds and takes notime. You may do this to get a uselessweapon out of your way, or to deprivethe foe of a chance to grab a usefulweapon (e.g., a blackjack) from you. Drag or carry your victim. Ifyouve pinned your foe, you can moveor step normally, dragging or carryinghim; see Lifting and Moving Things(p. 353) for how much you can lift ordrag. He counts as encumbrance,reducing your Move. If you haventpinned him, moving away from himmeans you automatically release yourgrip unless you have at least twice hisST. If youre that strong, you can pullor carry him with you!SlamYou can deliberately collide withan opponent. This requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against DX, Brawling,or Sumo Wrestling to hit. Note thatthe -4 to hit and effective skill cap of 9for a Move and Attack do not apply toslams.Your foe may block, dodge, orparry (but your body counts as aheavy weapon; see Parrying HeavyWeapons, p. 376). If your foe dodges,you must move at least two yards pasthim if you have enough movement. Ifyou would hit someone else, seeHitting the Wrong Target (p. 389).If you hit, you and your foe eachinflict dice of crushing damage on theother equal to (HP velocity)/100.Velocity is usually just the numberof yards you moved this turn but ina head-on collision, add the distanceyour foe moved toward you on his lastturn (that is, use relative velocity).If damage is less than 1d, treat frac-tions up to 0.25 as 1d-3, fractions upto 0.5 as 1d-2, and any larger fractionas 1d-1. Otherwise, round fractions of0.5 or more up to a full die. You canuse All-Out Attack (Strong) to increaseyour damage!If your damage roll equals orexceeds that of your foe, he mustmake a DX roll or fall down. Youknock him down automatically if youroll twice his damage or more. If herolls twice your damage or more,though, you fall down instead!If your opponent dodged and youwent past him and hit a solid obstacle,apply your damage roll to yourself(and to the obstacle, if it matters).You can also slam with a vehicle ormount. Roll against your vehicle-oper-ation skill to hit with a vehicle, orRiding skill to hit with a mount.Figure damage based on the HP ofyour vehicle or mount.For additional rules and specialcases, see Collisions and Falls (p. 430).COMBAT371Actions After Being GrappledIf you have been grappled, you cannot take a Move maneuver unlessyou have at least twice your foes ST. Aim, Feint, Concentrate, and Waitmaneuvers and ranged attacks are completely impossible. If you arepinned, you cant take any maneuver that requires physical movement!Otherwise, you can do the following:Attack or All-Out AttackYou can take either maneuver, with certain limitations. You cannotuse any limb that has been grappled or bite, if your neck or head wasgrappled. Youre limited to unarmed attacks (striking or grappling) orattacks using weapons with reach C. You can stab with a dagger, butnot swing a sword!ReadyYou can Ready an item if you have a hand free, but you must makea DX roll. Failure means you drop the item. Ready maneuvers to switchadvantages off and on succeed automatically.Break FreeIf you are grappled, you cannot move away until you break free bywinning a Quick Contest of ST. Your foe has +5 if he is grappling youwith two hands. If he has you pinned, he rolls at +10 if using two handsor at +5 if using only one, and you may only attempt to break free onceevery 10 seconds. If either of you has three or more arms, each armbeyond the first two gives +2. If your foe is stunned, he rolls at -4; if hefalls unconscious, you are automatically free! If you successfully breakfree, you may immediately move one yard in any direction.Flying Tackle: As slam, but youmust have at least two legs and onearm free most animals and vehiclescant do this! A flying tackle gives you+4 to hit and an extra yard of reach,and you may opt to roll againstJumping skill to hit. However, whetheryou succeed or fail, you end up lyingdown (in the same hex as your foe, ifyou are using a combat map).Pounce: As flying tackle, but youmust have four or more legs. After youattack, make a DX, Acrobatics, orJumping roll. On a success, you stayon your feet! This is how some ani-mals attack, especially cats: theyknock down their foe and then claw orbite. If a mount tries this, the ridermust roll vs. Riding-4 or fall off!Shield Rush: As slam, but youmust have a shield. Roll againstShield skill to hit, and add yourshields Defense Bonus to your dam-age roll. Your shield takes damageinstead of you, but you still fall downif your opponent rolls twice yourbasic damage or more.ShoveYou can shove a foe with one orboth arms. Roll against DX or SumoWrestling to hit. Your foe may block,dodge, or parry. If you hit, rollthrust/crushing damage at -1 per die,if you used only one hand and dou-ble it. This inflicts knockback (seeKnockback, p. 378), but never actualphysical injury.372COMBATRANGED ATTACKSA ranged attack is any attackwith a weapon used at a distance,from a thrown rock to a laser rifle.This includes Missile spells and theAffliction, Binding, and Innate Attackadvantages (unless given the Aura,Malediction, or Melee Attack modi-fiers). Most other spells and advan-tages arenotconsidered rangedattacks.RangeYou can only make a ranged attackon a target that falls within yourweapons range. To find this, see therelevant weapon table or advantage orspell description. Most ranged attackslist Half Damage (1/2D) range andMaximum (Max) range, in yards. Yourtarget must be no farther away thanMax range; 1/2D range only affectsdamage.A few weapons have a minimumrange, as they lob projectiles in a higharc, or have fusing or guidance limits.When using a weapon like this, yourtarget cant be any closer than theminimum range.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with yourranged weapon.2. Adding your weapons Accuracy(Acc) if you preceded your attack withan Aim maneuver.3. Applying the targets SizeModifier (SM). See Size Modifier(p. 19).4. Modifying for the targets rangeand speed (done as a single modifier),from the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).5. Modifying for circumstances(rapid fire, movement, darkness,cover, etc.), including any special con-ditions determined by the GM. SeeRanged Attack Modifiers (p. 548) for asummary.The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Accuracy and Aimed FireAll ranged weapons have anAccuracy (Acc) statistic. This is thebonus you get if you take one or moreAim maneuvers immediately beforeyou attack.When you Aim, you can receiveother bonuses for extra seconds ofaim, bracing your weapon, or using ascope or a laser sight. These benefitsare discussed under Aim (p. 364) andsummarized under Ranged CombatModifiers (p. 548). The sum of Acc andall extra aimed-fire bonuses can neverexceed twice the base Acc of theattack.Size ModifierA human-sized target has a SizeModifier (SM) of 0; there is no bonusor penalty to hit. Larger targets have apositive SM, while smaller targetshave a negative SM. Add SM to yourskill. The SM of a character or a vehi-cle appears on its character sheet orvehicle description. For other objects,use the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).Targets Range and SpeedA distant target is harder to hit. Asa rule of thumb, a target up to 2 yardsaway is close enough that theres nopenalty to hit. At 3 yards, you have -1to hit; at up to 5 yards, -2; at up to 7yards, -3; at up to 10 yards, -4; and soon, with each approximately 50%increase in range giving a further -1to hit.Consult the Speed/Range columnof the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550) to find the exact penalty. Forranges that fall between two values onthe table, use the larger penalty. Forvery distant targets, the table also pro-vides the equivalent range in miles.Example: Infinity Patrol agentJenny Atkins is shooting on the firingrange. The target is 17 yards (50)away. This rounds up to 20 yards, for-6 to hit.A fast-moving target is also harderto hit. Consult the same column of thetable, but use speed in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard/second) insteadof range in yards to find the penalty.If the target is both distant and fastmoving, add range (in yards) to speed(in yards per second), and look up thetotal in the Speed/Range column tofind the penalty to hit. (Do not look upthe range and speed penalties sepa-rately and add them together! Greatrange mitigates the effects of speed,and vice versa.)Examples: Agent Atkins fires herpistol at a Centrum spy who is mak-ing a getaway on a speeding motorcy-cle. Her target is 50 yards away and
|
after the first two. If your SizeModifier exceeds your foes, you cangrapple and squeeze his torso instead,in which case you roll at -5 unless youhave Constriction Attack. If you win,your foe takes crushing damage equalto your margin of victory. DR protectsnormally. Multiply injury to the neckby 1.5. If any damage even blunttrauma (p. 379) penetrates the vic-tims DR, you also start to suffocatehim! On his next turn and every sub-sequent turn until he escapes, he loses1 FP; see Suffocation (p. 436).Choke HoldIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a hold that canincapacitate without crushing thethroat or torso. See Choke Hold(p. 404).Arm LockIf you have Judo or Wrestling skill,you may try to apply a lock to restrainor cripple your opponents arm. SeeArm Lock (p. 403).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbIf you grappled your foes neck orskull, or a limb or other extremity, youcan twist. See Neck Snap or WrenchLimb (p. 404).Other ActionsYou can bite or use a Striker (pro-vided it has reach C) even if all yourhands are busy. If youre not using ahand to grapple your foe, you can useit to Attack or All-Out Attack (eitherunarmed or with a reach C weapon),or to take a Ready maneuver. You can-not Aim, Feint, Concentrate, Wait, ormake ranged attacks unless youvepinned your foe. You may also per-form the following free actions: Release your grip. Let go of thefoe, if you are grappling or pinninghim. Or you can release just one hand but this makes it easier for him toescape. Throw away a ready weapon. Thisautomatically succeeds and takes notime. You may do this to get a uselessweapon out of your way, or to deprivethe foe of a chance to grab a usefulweapon (e.g., a blackjack) from you. Drag or carry your victim. Ifyouve pinned your foe, you can moveor step normally, dragging or carryinghim; see Lifting and Moving Things(p. 353) for how much you can lift ordrag. He counts as encumbrance,reducing your Move. If you haventpinned him, moving away from himmeans you automatically release yourgrip unless you have at least twice hisST. If youre that strong, you can pullor carry him with you!SlamYou can deliberately collide withan opponent. This requires an Attack,All-Out Attack, or Move and Attackmaneuver. Roll against DX, Brawling,or Sumo Wrestling to hit. Note thatthe -4 to hit and effective skill cap of 9for a Move and Attack do not apply toslams.Your foe may block, dodge, orparry (but your body counts as aheavy weapon; see Parrying HeavyWeapons, p. 376). If your foe dodges,you must move at least two yards pasthim if you have enough movement. Ifyou would hit someone else, seeHitting the Wrong Target (p. 389).If you hit, you and your foe eachinflict dice of crushing damage on theother equal to (HP velocity)/100.Velocity is usually just the numberof yards you moved this turn but ina head-on collision, add the distanceyour foe moved toward you on his lastturn (that is, use relative velocity).If damage is less than 1d, treat frac-tions up to 0.25 as 1d-3, fractions upto 0.5 as 1d-2, and any larger fractionas 1d-1. Otherwise, round fractions of0.5 or more up to a full die. You canuse All-Out Attack (Strong) to increaseyour damage!If your damage roll equals orexceeds that of your foe, he mustmake a DX roll or fall down. Youknock him down automatically if youroll twice his damage or more. If herolls twice your damage or more,though, you fall down instead!If your opponent dodged and youwent past him and hit a solid obstacle,apply your damage roll to yourself(and to the obstacle, if it matters).You can also slam with a vehicle ormount. Roll against your vehicle-oper-ation skill to hit with a vehicle, orRiding skill to hit with a mount.Figure damage based on the HP ofyour vehicle or mount.For additional rules and specialcases, see Collisions and Falls (p. 430).COMBAT371Actions After Being GrappledIf you have been grappled, you cannot take a Move maneuver unlessyou have at least twice your foes ST. Aim, Feint, Concentrate, and Waitmaneuvers and ranged attacks are completely impossible. If you arepinned, you cant take any maneuver that requires physical movement!Otherwise, you can do the following:Attack or All-Out AttackYou can take either maneuver, with certain limitations. You cannotuse any limb that has been grappled or bite, if your neck or head wasgrappled. Youre limited to unarmed attacks (striking or grappling) orattacks using weapons with reach C. You can stab with a dagger, butnot swing a sword!ReadyYou can Ready an item if you have a hand free, but you must makea DX roll. Failure means you drop the item. Ready maneuvers to switchadvantages off and on succeed automatically.Break FreeIf you are grappled, you cannot move away until you break free bywinning a Quick Contest of ST. Your foe has +5 if he is grappling youwith two hands. If he has you pinned, he rolls at +10 if using two handsor at +5 if using only one, and you may only attempt to break free onceevery 10 seconds. If either of you has three or more arms, each armbeyond the first two gives +2. If your foe is stunned, he rolls at -4; if hefalls unconscious, you are automatically free! If you successfully breakfree, you may immediately move one yard in any direction.Flying Tackle: As slam, but youmust have at least two legs and onearm free most animals and vehiclescant do this! A flying tackle gives you+4 to hit and an extra yard of reach,and you may opt to roll againstJumping skill to hit. However, whetheryou succeed or fail, you end up lyingdown (in the same hex as your foe, ifyou are using a combat map).Pounce: As flying tackle, but youmust have four or more legs. After youattack, make a DX, Acrobatics, orJumping roll. On a success, you stayon your feet! This is how some ani-mals attack, especially cats: theyknock down their foe and then claw orbite. If a mount tries this, the ridermust roll vs. Riding-4 or fall off!Shield Rush: As slam, but youmust have a shield. Roll againstShield skill to hit, and add yourshields Defense Bonus to your dam-age roll. Your shield takes damageinstead of you, but you still fall downif your opponent rolls twice yourbasic damage or more.ShoveYou can shove a foe with one orboth arms. Roll against DX or SumoWrestling to hit. Your foe may block,dodge, or parry. If you hit, rollthrust/crushing damage at -1 per die,if you used only one hand and dou-ble it. This inflicts knockback (seeKnockback, p. 378), but never actualphysical injury.372COMBATRANGED ATTACKSA ranged attack is any attackwith a weapon used at a distance,from a thrown rock to a laser rifle.This includes Missile spells and theAffliction, Binding, and Innate Attackadvantages (unless given the Aura,Malediction, or Melee Attack modi-fiers). Most other spells and advan-tages arenotconsidered rangedattacks.RangeYou can only make a ranged attackon a target that falls within yourweapons range. To find this, see therelevant weapon table or advantage orspell description. Most ranged attackslist Half Damage (1/2D) range andMaximum (Max) range, in yards. Yourtarget must be no farther away thanMax range; 1/2D range only affectsdamage.A few weapons have a minimumrange, as they lob projectiles in a higharc, or have fusing or guidance limits.When using a weapon like this, yourtarget cant be any closer than theminimum range.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with yourranged weapon.2. Adding your weapons Accuracy(Acc) if you preceded your attack withan Aim maneuver.3. Applying the targets SizeModifier (SM). See Size Modifier(p. 19).4. Modifying for the targets rangeand speed (done as a single modifier),from the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).5. Modifying for circumstances(rapid fire, movement, darkness,cover, etc.), including any special con-ditions determined by the GM. SeeRanged Attack Modifiers (p. 548) for asummary.The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Accuracy and Aimed FireAll ranged weapons have anAccuracy (Acc) statistic. This is thebonus you get if you take one or moreAim maneuvers immediately beforeyou attack.When you Aim, you can receiveother bonuses for extra seconds ofaim, bracing your weapon, or using ascope or a laser sight. These benefitsare discussed under Aim (p. 364) andsummarized under Ranged CombatModifiers (p. 548). The sum of Acc andall extra aimed-fire bonuses can neverexceed twice the base Acc of theattack.Size ModifierA human-sized target has a SizeModifier (SM) of 0; there is no bonusor penalty to hit. Larger targets have apositive SM, while smaller targetshave a negative SM. Add SM to yourskill. The SM of a character or a vehi-cle appears on its character sheet orvehicle description. For other objects,use the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).Targets Range and SpeedA distant target is harder to hit. Asa rule of thumb, a target up to 2 yardsaway is close enough that theres nopenalty to hit. At 3 yards, you have -1to hit; at up to 5 yards, -2; at up to 7yards, -3; at up to 10 yards, -4; and soon, with each approximately 50%increase in range giving a further -1to hit.Consult the Speed/Range columnof the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550) to find the exact penalty. Forranges that fall between two values onthe table, use the larger penalty. Forvery distant targets, the table also pro-vides the equivalent range in miles.Example: Infinity Patrol agentJenny Atkins is shooting on the firingrange. The target is 17 yards (50)away. This rounds up to 20 yards, for-6 to hit.A fast-moving target is also harderto hit. Consult the same column of thetable, but use speed in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard/second) insteadof range in yards to find the penalty.If the target is both distant and fastmoving, add range (in yards) to speed(in yards per second), and look up thetotal in the Speed/Range column tofind the penalty to hit. (Do not look upthe range and speed penalties sepa-rately and add them together! Greatrange mitigates the effects of speed,and vice versa.)Examples: Agent Atkins fires herpistol at a Centrum spy who is mak-ing a getaway on a speeding motorcy-cle. Her target is 50 yards away andtraveling at 60 mph, or Move 30. Thisis a speed/range of 50 + 30 = 80. Perthe Size and Speed/Range Table, thisgives -10 to hit.Ranged Attacks on Human TargetsWhen using a ranged weaponagainst a target moving at humanspeeds anything up to Move 10 youmay simplify the calculation by usingjust a range modifier and neglectingspeed (unless the target is flying,sprinting, or something similar).Assume that the targets ability to takea dodge defense adequately representsthe effects of movement.THROWNWEAPONATTACKSThrown weapons are weaponsyou must physically hurl at the target:rocks, hand grenades, ninja stars(shuriken), etc. You can also throwcertain melee weapons, such as hatch-ets, knives, and spears. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for statistics and skillsrequired. See Chapter 13 for theeffects of grenades and incendiaries.Treat a thrown weapon just likeany other ranged attack, with a fewspecial rules: Once you throw a weapon, its nolonger ready! Hit or miss, yourweapon is now somewhere else. If youwant to attack again, youll have to gofetch your weapon (from the ground. . . or your foes body) or ready a newone. The range of a thrown weapon isusually a multiple of your ST; e.g.,ST2. This is given on the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table formany common thrown weapons. Todetermine range (and damage) foranything not listed there, seeThrowing (p. 355). A thrown weapon travels fairlyslowly. Your target has the option ofusing a block or a parry active defenseinstead of a dodge. Success by 5+ (orcritical success) with an unarmedparry means your target has caughtthe weapon!MISSILEWEAPONATTACKSMissile weapons are rangedattacks other than thrown weapons:bows, firearms, Missile spells, rangedInnate Attacks, and so on. They fallinto two broad categories.Muscle-Powered Missile Weapons:These include bows, slings, and cross-bows. As with thrown weapons, yourrange and damage are determined byyour ST or in the case of a bow or acrossbow, by the weapons ST. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for details.Firearms: These include guns,beam weapons, and self-propelledprojectiles. See the Firearms Table(pp. 278-280) for statistics and specialrules for all types of high-tech missileweapons from black-powderweapons through contemporary gunsand on to science-fiction weaponssuch as lasers.Rate of FireAll missile weapons have a Rate ofFire (RoF) statistic. If RoF is 1, theweapon can fire one shot per attack. IfRoF is 2 or more, the weapon is capa-ble of firing more than one shot perattack; see Rapid Fire (below).Examples: A bow has RoF 1; it canfire one shot per attack. A .38 revolverhas RoF 3; it can fire up to three shotsper attack. A machine gun has RoF 10;it can fire up to 10 shots per attack . . .but this is still one attack roll, not 10separate attacks!Reloading and ShotsMissile weapons also have a Shotsstatistic. Once you have fired thismany shots, you must reload beforeyou can fire the weapon again.Reloading requires a number ofReady maneuvers; see ReadyingWeapons and Other Gear (p. 382). Thetime required to reload appears inparentheses after the weapons Shotsentry in the weapon tables.Reloading restores the weaponsfull number of shots. If a weapon hasonly one shot, this represents loadinga new one. If it has multiple shots, thisrepresents changing the magazine,belt, etc. The exception to this is multi-shot weapons that have cylinders,hoppers, or internal magazines. Theirloading time is designated i (forindividually loaded), and is per shot(unless sped up by some mechanism,such as a speed loader).Examples: A bow has Shots 1(2); itcan fire one arrow, after which it takesthe archer two seconds to prepareanother. A .38 revolver has Shots 6(3i);it can fire six shots, after which eachshot takes 3 seconds to reload. Amachine gun has Shots 200(5); it canfire 200 shots, after which it takes 5seconds to change the belt.Rapid FireSome missile weapons have RoF 2or more. This means they can firemultiple shots per attack, up to a max-imum equal to their RoF. For exam-ple, a .38 revolver with RoF 3 couldfire 1, 2, or 3 shots per attack. Ofcourse, you can never fire more shotsthan your weapon currently hasremaining, regardless of its RoF.Rapid-fire weapons use the Recoil(Rcl) statistic, which measures howcontrollable the weapon is when firingmultiple shots. Rcl helps determinethe number of hits a rapid-fire attackcan inflict. The lower the Rcl, the easi-er the weapon is to control. Rcl 1means the weapon is recoilless, likemost beam weapons.If a weapon has RoF 2 or more,you must decide how many shots (upto RoF) you wish to fire before youmake your attack roll. Firearms firedat RoF 1-3 are firing one shot per trig-ger pull; those fired at RoF 4+ areusually firing full auto like amachine gun either in short burstsor continuously.Firing a large number of shots perattack gives a bonus to hit, as shownon this table:ShotsBonus to Hit2-4+05-8+19-12+213-16+317-24+425-49+550-99+6each 2+1 to hitCOMBAT373
|
Flying Tackle: As slam, but youmust have at least two legs and onearm free most animals and vehiclescant do this! A flying tackle gives you+4 to hit and an extra yard of reach,and you may opt to roll againstJumping skill to hit. However, whetheryou succeed or fail, you end up lyingdown (in the same hex as your foe, ifyou are using a combat map).Pounce: As flying tackle, but youmust have four or more legs. After youattack, make a DX, Acrobatics, orJumping roll. On a success, you stayon your feet! This is how some ani-mals attack, especially cats: theyknock down their foe and then claw orbite. If a mount tries this, the ridermust roll vs. Riding-4 or fall off!Shield Rush: As slam, but youmust have a shield. Roll againstShield skill to hit, and add yourshields Defense Bonus to your dam-age roll. Your shield takes damageinstead of you, but you still fall downif your opponent rolls twice yourbasic damage or more.ShoveYou can shove a foe with one orboth arms. Roll against DX or SumoWrestling to hit. Your foe may block,dodge, or parry. If you hit, rollthrust/crushing damage at -1 per die,if you used only one hand and dou-ble it. This inflicts knockback (seeKnockback, p. 378), but never actualphysical injury.372COMBATRANGED ATTACKSA ranged attack is any attackwith a weapon used at a distance,from a thrown rock to a laser rifle.This includes Missile spells and theAffliction, Binding, and Innate Attackadvantages (unless given the Aura,Malediction, or Melee Attack modi-fiers). Most other spells and advan-tages arenotconsidered rangedattacks.RangeYou can only make a ranged attackon a target that falls within yourweapons range. To find this, see therelevant weapon table or advantage orspell description. Most ranged attackslist Half Damage (1/2D) range andMaximum (Max) range, in yards. Yourtarget must be no farther away thanMax range; 1/2D range only affectsdamage.A few weapons have a minimumrange, as they lob projectiles in a higharc, or have fusing or guidance limits.When using a weapon like this, yourtarget cant be any closer than theminimum range.To HitFigure your adjusted chance to hitby:1. Taking your base skill with yourranged weapon.2. Adding your weapons Accuracy(Acc) if you preceded your attack withan Aim maneuver.3. Applying the targets SizeModifier (SM). See Size Modifier(p. 19).4. Modifying for the targets rangeand speed (done as a single modifier),from the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).5. Modifying for circumstances(rapid fire, movement, darkness,cover, etc.), including any special con-ditions determined by the GM. SeeRanged Attack Modifiers (p. 548) for asummary.The result is your effective skill. Aroll of this number or less is a suc-cessful attack roll. It will hit, unlessthe target succeeds with an activedefense.Accuracy and Aimed FireAll ranged weapons have anAccuracy (Acc) statistic. This is thebonus you get if you take one or moreAim maneuvers immediately beforeyou attack.When you Aim, you can receiveother bonuses for extra seconds ofaim, bracing your weapon, or using ascope or a laser sight. These benefitsare discussed under Aim (p. 364) andsummarized under Ranged CombatModifiers (p. 548). The sum of Acc andall extra aimed-fire bonuses can neverexceed twice the base Acc of theattack.Size ModifierA human-sized target has a SizeModifier (SM) of 0; there is no bonusor penalty to hit. Larger targets have apositive SM, while smaller targetshave a negative SM. Add SM to yourskill. The SM of a character or a vehi-cle appears on its character sheet orvehicle description. For other objects,use the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550).Targets Range and SpeedA distant target is harder to hit. Asa rule of thumb, a target up to 2 yardsaway is close enough that theres nopenalty to hit. At 3 yards, you have -1to hit; at up to 5 yards, -2; at up to 7yards, -3; at up to 10 yards, -4; and soon, with each approximately 50%increase in range giving a further -1to hit.Consult the Speed/Range columnof the Size and Speed/Range Table(p. 550) to find the exact penalty. Forranges that fall between two values onthe table, use the larger penalty. Forvery distant targets, the table also pro-vides the equivalent range in miles.Example: Infinity Patrol agentJenny Atkins is shooting on the firingrange. The target is 17 yards (50)away. This rounds up to 20 yards, for-6 to hit.A fast-moving target is also harderto hit. Consult the same column of thetable, but use speed in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard/second) insteadof range in yards to find the penalty.If the target is both distant and fastmoving, add range (in yards) to speed(in yards per second), and look up thetotal in the Speed/Range column tofind the penalty to hit. (Do not look upthe range and speed penalties sepa-rately and add them together! Greatrange mitigates the effects of speed,and vice versa.)Examples: Agent Atkins fires herpistol at a Centrum spy who is mak-ing a getaway on a speeding motorcy-cle. Her target is 50 yards away andtraveling at 60 mph, or Move 30. Thisis a speed/range of 50 + 30 = 80. Perthe Size and Speed/Range Table, thisgives -10 to hit.Ranged Attacks on Human TargetsWhen using a ranged weaponagainst a target moving at humanspeeds anything up to Move 10 youmay simplify the calculation by usingjust a range modifier and neglectingspeed (unless the target is flying,sprinting, or something similar).Assume that the targets ability to takea dodge defense adequately representsthe effects of movement.THROWNWEAPONATTACKSThrown weapons are weaponsyou must physically hurl at the target:rocks, hand grenades, ninja stars(shuriken), etc. You can also throwcertain melee weapons, such as hatch-ets, knives, and spears. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for statistics and skillsrequired. See Chapter 13 for theeffects of grenades and incendiaries.Treat a thrown weapon just likeany other ranged attack, with a fewspecial rules: Once you throw a weapon, its nolonger ready! Hit or miss, yourweapon is now somewhere else. If youwant to attack again, youll have to gofetch your weapon (from the ground. . . or your foes body) or ready a newone. The range of a thrown weapon isusually a multiple of your ST; e.g.,ST2. This is given on the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table formany common thrown weapons. Todetermine range (and damage) foranything not listed there, seeThrowing (p. 355). A thrown weapon travels fairlyslowly. Your target has the option ofusing a block or a parry active defenseinstead of a dodge. Success by 5+ (orcritical success) with an unarmedparry means your target has caughtthe weapon!MISSILEWEAPONATTACKSMissile weapons are rangedattacks other than thrown weapons:bows, firearms, Missile spells, rangedInnate Attacks, and so on. They fallinto two broad categories.Muscle-Powered Missile Weapons:These include bows, slings, and cross-bows. As with thrown weapons, yourrange and damage are determined byyour ST or in the case of a bow or acrossbow, by the weapons ST. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for details.Firearms: These include guns,beam weapons, and self-propelledprojectiles. See the Firearms Table(pp. 278-280) for statistics and specialrules for all types of high-tech missileweapons from black-powderweapons through contemporary gunsand on to science-fiction weaponssuch as lasers.Rate of FireAll missile weapons have a Rate ofFire (RoF) statistic. If RoF is 1, theweapon can fire one shot per attack. IfRoF is 2 or more, the weapon is capa-ble of firing more than one shot perattack; see Rapid Fire (below).Examples: A bow has RoF 1; it canfire one shot per attack. A .38 revolverhas RoF 3; it can fire up to three shotsper attack. A machine gun has RoF 10;it can fire up to 10 shots per attack . . .but this is still one attack roll, not 10separate attacks!Reloading and ShotsMissile weapons also have a Shotsstatistic. Once you have fired thismany shots, you must reload beforeyou can fire the weapon again.Reloading requires a number ofReady maneuvers; see ReadyingWeapons and Other Gear (p. 382). Thetime required to reload appears inparentheses after the weapons Shotsentry in the weapon tables.Reloading restores the weaponsfull number of shots. If a weapon hasonly one shot, this represents loadinga new one. If it has multiple shots, thisrepresents changing the magazine,belt, etc. The exception to this is multi-shot weapons that have cylinders,hoppers, or internal magazines. Theirloading time is designated i (forindividually loaded), and is per shot(unless sped up by some mechanism,such as a speed loader).Examples: A bow has Shots 1(2); itcan fire one arrow, after which it takesthe archer two seconds to prepareanother. A .38 revolver has Shots 6(3i);it can fire six shots, after which eachshot takes 3 seconds to reload. Amachine gun has Shots 200(5); it canfire 200 shots, after which it takes 5seconds to change the belt.Rapid FireSome missile weapons have RoF 2or more. This means they can firemultiple shots per attack, up to a max-imum equal to their RoF. For exam-ple, a .38 revolver with RoF 3 couldfire 1, 2, or 3 shots per attack. Ofcourse, you can never fire more shotsthan your weapon currently hasremaining, regardless of its RoF.Rapid-fire weapons use the Recoil(Rcl) statistic, which measures howcontrollable the weapon is when firingmultiple shots. Rcl helps determinethe number of hits a rapid-fire attackcan inflict. The lower the Rcl, the easi-er the weapon is to control. Rcl 1means the weapon is recoilless, likemost beam weapons.If a weapon has RoF 2 or more,you must decide how many shots (upto RoF) you wish to fire before youmake your attack roll. Firearms firedat RoF 1-3 are firing one shot per trig-ger pull; those fired at RoF 4+ areusually firing full auto like amachine gun either in short burstsor continuously.Firing a large number of shots perattack gives a bonus to hit, as shownon this table:ShotsBonus to Hit2-4+05-8+19-12+213-16+317-24+425-49+550-99+6each 2+1 to hitCOMBAT373Rapid fire may score multiple hitsfrom a single attack. A successfulattack means you scored at least onehit and possibly a number of extrahits, up to a maximum equal to thenumber of shots you fired. To find thenumber of hits you scored, compareyour margin of success on the attackroll to your weapons Recoil.An attack scores one extra hit forevery full multiple of Recoil by whichyou make your attack roll. The totalnumber of hits cannot exceed shotsfired. For instance, if your attack hadRcl 2, success by 0-1 would mean onehit; success by 2-3, one extra hit; suc-cess by 4-5, two extra hits; success by6-7, three extra hits; and so on.High-RoF weapons (those withRoF 5+) can also spread fire amongmultiple targets (see Spraying Fire,p. 409) or fire lots of shots to sup-press an area (see Suppression Fire,p. 409). Other special rules apply torapid fire with certain weapons seeSpecial Rules for Rapid Fire (p. 408).374COMBATDEFENDINGIf you make your attack roll, youhave not (yet) actually struck your foe,unless you rolled a critical hit. Yourattack is good enough to hit him if hefails to defend.There are three active defensesthat a fighter can use to evade or wardoff an attack: Dodge (see Dodging,below), Parry (see Parrying, p. 376),and Block (see Blocking, p. 375). Youshould calculate these active defensescores in advance and record them onyour character sheet.An active defense is a deliberateattempt to avoid a particular attack.Its only possible if the defender isaware of the possibility of an attackfrom his assailant and is free to react. . . by moving out of the way of theattack (a dodge), deflecting the attackwith a weapon or empty hand (aparry), or interposing a shield (ablock).If a foe makes a successful attackroll against you, you may choose oneactive defense and attempt a defenseroll against it. Exception: The All-OutDefense (Double Defense) maneuverlets you attempt a second defenseagainst a particular attack if your firstdefense fails.The active defense you choosedepends on your situation especiallythe maneuver you chose last turn.Some maneuvers restrict the activedefenses you can make. Notably, if youmade an All-Out Attack, you have noactive defense.You also get no active defense ifyoure unaware of the attack.Examples of situations in which noactive defense is possible include astab in the back from a friend, a sur-prise snipers shot, and a totally unex-pected booby trap. And you get noactive defense if you are unconscious,immobilized, or otherwise unable toreact.ACTIVE DEFENSEROLLSThe defender rolls 3d against hisactive defense score. If his roll is lessthan or equal to his effective defense,he dodged, parried, or blocked theattack. Otherwise, his active defensewas ineffective and the attack struckhome. If this occurs, roll for damage.An active defense roll of 3 or 4 isalways successful even if your effec-tive defense score was only 1 or 2! Aroll of 17 or 18 always fails.Your foe does not get to attempt adefense roll if you rolled a critical hitagainst him.Several modifiers apply to activedefense rolls; see below for explana-tions of a few of these. For a completelist of modifiers, see Active DefenseModifiers (p. 548).Injury and Active DefensesIf you are stunned, any activedefense is at -4. Active defenses nevertake a penalty for shock, however. Formore on stunning and shock, seeEffects of Injury (p. 380).Shields and Defense BonusIf you have a ready shield, add itsDefense Bonus (DB) to any Dodge,Parry, or Block roll against an attackthat came from in front of you or fromyour shield side.Defense Bonus is 1 for a smallshield, light cloak, and most impro-vised shields; 2 for a medium shield orheavy cloak; and 3 for a large shield orforce shield. The Shield spell (p. 252)gives a DB of 1-4.A shields DB adds to active defenserolls against melee attacks, thrownweapons, and muscle-powered missileweapons notagainst firearms(unless the GM wishes to use theoptional Damage to Shields rules,p. 484).Retreating andDropping ProneIn some situations, you may giveground or drop prone for a bonus toyour Dodge, Parry, or Block score. SeeActive Defense Options (p. 377).DODGINGA dodge is an active attempt tomove out of the perceived path of anattack. This is often the best defensewhen youre not skilled with yourweapon and you have no shield, whenyoure attacked multiple times, orwhen your foe has such a powerfulweapon that you fear parrying orblocking it may destroy your weaponor shield.Dodge is normally the only activedefense you can take against firearms.This does not mean you can actuallydodge bullets! A dodge against thiskind of attack represents an attemptnot to be where you think your oppo-nent will shoot, by weaving or duckingat the right moment.Your Dodge active defense is BasicSpeed + 3, dropping all fractions, lessa penalty equal to your encumbrancelevel (see Encumbrance and Move,p. 17). List Dodge on your charactersheet for quick reference.You may dodge any attack exceptone that you did not know about! Youonly get one Dodge roll against a givenattack.
|
traveling at 60 mph, or Move 30. Thisis a speed/range of 50 + 30 = 80. Perthe Size and Speed/Range Table, thisgives -10 to hit.Ranged Attacks on Human TargetsWhen using a ranged weaponagainst a target moving at humanspeeds anything up to Move 10 youmay simplify the calculation by usingjust a range modifier and neglectingspeed (unless the target is flying,sprinting, or something similar).Assume that the targets ability to takea dodge defense adequately representsthe effects of movement.THROWNWEAPONATTACKSThrown weapons are weaponsyou must physically hurl at the target:rocks, hand grenades, ninja stars(shuriken), etc. You can also throwcertain melee weapons, such as hatch-ets, knives, and spears. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for statistics and skillsrequired. See Chapter 13 for theeffects of grenades and incendiaries.Treat a thrown weapon just likeany other ranged attack, with a fewspecial rules: Once you throw a weapon, its nolonger ready! Hit or miss, yourweapon is now somewhere else. If youwant to attack again, youll have to gofetch your weapon (from the ground. . . or your foes body) or ready a newone. The range of a thrown weapon isusually a multiple of your ST; e.g.,ST2. This is given on the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table formany common thrown weapons. Todetermine range (and damage) foranything not listed there, seeThrowing (p. 355). A thrown weapon travels fairlyslowly. Your target has the option ofusing a block or a parry active defenseinstead of a dodge. Success by 5+ (orcritical success) with an unarmedparry means your target has caughtthe weapon!MISSILEWEAPONATTACKSMissile weapons are rangedattacks other than thrown weapons:bows, firearms, Missile spells, rangedInnate Attacks, and so on. They fallinto two broad categories.Muscle-Powered Missile Weapons:These include bows, slings, and cross-bows. As with thrown weapons, yourrange and damage are determined byyour ST or in the case of a bow or acrossbow, by the weapons ST. See theMuscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table(p. 275) for details.Firearms: These include guns,beam weapons, and self-propelledprojectiles. See the Firearms Table(pp. 278-280) for statistics and specialrules for all types of high-tech missileweapons from black-powderweapons through contemporary gunsand on to science-fiction weaponssuch as lasers.Rate of FireAll missile weapons have a Rate ofFire (RoF) statistic. If RoF is 1, theweapon can fire one shot per attack. IfRoF is 2 or more, the weapon is capa-ble of firing more than one shot perattack; see Rapid Fire (below).Examples: A bow has RoF 1; it canfire one shot per attack. A .38 revolverhas RoF 3; it can fire up to three shotsper attack. A machine gun has RoF 10;it can fire up to 10 shots per attack . . .but this is still one attack roll, not 10separate attacks!Reloading and ShotsMissile weapons also have a Shotsstatistic. Once you have fired thismany shots, you must reload beforeyou can fire the weapon again.Reloading requires a number ofReady maneuvers; see ReadyingWeapons and Other Gear (p. 382). Thetime required to reload appears inparentheses after the weapons Shotsentry in the weapon tables.Reloading restores the weaponsfull number of shots. If a weapon hasonly one shot, this represents loadinga new one. If it has multiple shots, thisrepresents changing the magazine,belt, etc. The exception to this is multi-shot weapons that have cylinders,hoppers, or internal magazines. Theirloading time is designated i (forindividually loaded), and is per shot(unless sped up by some mechanism,such as a speed loader).Examples: A bow has Shots 1(2); itcan fire one arrow, after which it takesthe archer two seconds to prepareanother. A .38 revolver has Shots 6(3i);it can fire six shots, after which eachshot takes 3 seconds to reload. Amachine gun has Shots 200(5); it canfire 200 shots, after which it takes 5seconds to change the belt.Rapid FireSome missile weapons have RoF 2or more. This means they can firemultiple shots per attack, up to a max-imum equal to their RoF. For exam-ple, a .38 revolver with RoF 3 couldfire 1, 2, or 3 shots per attack. Ofcourse, you can never fire more shotsthan your weapon currently hasremaining, regardless of its RoF.Rapid-fire weapons use the Recoil(Rcl) statistic, which measures howcontrollable the weapon is when firingmultiple shots. Rcl helps determinethe number of hits a rapid-fire attackcan inflict. The lower the Rcl, the easi-er the weapon is to control. Rcl 1means the weapon is recoilless, likemost beam weapons.If a weapon has RoF 2 or more,you must decide how many shots (upto RoF) you wish to fire before youmake your attack roll. Firearms firedat RoF 1-3 are firing one shot per trig-ger pull; those fired at RoF 4+ areusually firing full auto like amachine gun either in short burstsor continuously.Firing a large number of shots perattack gives a bonus to hit, as shownon this table:ShotsBonus to Hit2-4+05-8+19-12+213-16+317-24+425-49+550-99+6each 2+1 to hitCOMBAT373Rapid fire may score multiple hitsfrom a single attack. A successfulattack means you scored at least onehit and possibly a number of extrahits, up to a maximum equal to thenumber of shots you fired. To find thenumber of hits you scored, compareyour margin of success on the attackroll to your weapons Recoil.An attack scores one extra hit forevery full multiple of Recoil by whichyou make your attack roll. The totalnumber of hits cannot exceed shotsfired. For instance, if your attack hadRcl 2, success by 0-1 would mean onehit; success by 2-3, one extra hit; suc-cess by 4-5, two extra hits; success by6-7, three extra hits; and so on.High-RoF weapons (those withRoF 5+) can also spread fire amongmultiple targets (see Spraying Fire,p. 409) or fire lots of shots to sup-press an area (see Suppression Fire,p. 409). Other special rules apply torapid fire with certain weapons seeSpecial Rules for Rapid Fire (p. 408).374COMBATDEFENDINGIf you make your attack roll, youhave not (yet) actually struck your foe,unless you rolled a critical hit. Yourattack is good enough to hit him if hefails to defend.There are three active defensesthat a fighter can use to evade or wardoff an attack: Dodge (see Dodging,below), Parry (see Parrying, p. 376),and Block (see Blocking, p. 375). Youshould calculate these active defensescores in advance and record them onyour character sheet.An active defense is a deliberateattempt to avoid a particular attack.Its only possible if the defender isaware of the possibility of an attackfrom his assailant and is free to react. . . by moving out of the way of theattack (a dodge), deflecting the attackwith a weapon or empty hand (aparry), or interposing a shield (ablock).If a foe makes a successful attackroll against you, you may choose oneactive defense and attempt a defenseroll against it. Exception: The All-OutDefense (Double Defense) maneuverlets you attempt a second defenseagainst a particular attack if your firstdefense fails.The active defense you choosedepends on your situation especiallythe maneuver you chose last turn.Some maneuvers restrict the activedefenses you can make. Notably, if youmade an All-Out Attack, you have noactive defense.You also get no active defense ifyoure unaware of the attack.Examples of situations in which noactive defense is possible include astab in the back from a friend, a sur-prise snipers shot, and a totally unex-pected booby trap. And you get noactive defense if you are unconscious,immobilized, or otherwise unable toreact.ACTIVE DEFENSEROLLSThe defender rolls 3d against hisactive defense score. If his roll is lessthan or equal to his effective defense,he dodged, parried, or blocked theattack. Otherwise, his active defensewas ineffective and the attack struckhome. If this occurs, roll for damage.An active defense roll of 3 or 4 isalways successful even if your effec-tive defense score was only 1 or 2! Aroll of 17 or 18 always fails.Your foe does not get to attempt adefense roll if you rolled a critical hitagainst him.Several modifiers apply to activedefense rolls; see below for explana-tions of a few of these. For a completelist of modifiers, see Active DefenseModifiers (p. 548).Injury and Active DefensesIf you are stunned, any activedefense is at -4. Active defenses nevertake a penalty for shock, however. Formore on stunning and shock, seeEffects of Injury (p. 380).Shields and Defense BonusIf you have a ready shield, add itsDefense Bonus (DB) to any Dodge,Parry, or Block roll against an attackthat came from in front of you or fromyour shield side.Defense Bonus is 1 for a smallshield, light cloak, and most impro-vised shields; 2 for a medium shield orheavy cloak; and 3 for a large shield orforce shield. The Shield spell (p. 252)gives a DB of 1-4.A shields DB adds to active defenserolls against melee attacks, thrownweapons, and muscle-powered missileweapons notagainst firearms(unless the GM wishes to use theoptional Damage to Shields rules,p. 484).Retreating andDropping ProneIn some situations, you may giveground or drop prone for a bonus toyour Dodge, Parry, or Block score. SeeActive Defense Options (p. 377).DODGINGA dodge is an active attempt tomove out of the perceived path of anattack. This is often the best defensewhen youre not skilled with yourweapon and you have no shield, whenyoure attacked multiple times, orwhen your foe has such a powerfulweapon that you fear parrying orblocking it may destroy your weaponor shield.Dodge is normally the only activedefense you can take against firearms.This does not mean you can actuallydodge bullets! A dodge against thiskind of attack represents an attemptnot to be where you think your oppo-nent will shoot, by weaving or duckingat the right moment.Your Dodge active defense is BasicSpeed + 3, dropping all fractions, lessa penalty equal to your encumbrancelevel (see Encumbrance and Move,p. 17). List Dodge on your charactersheet for quick reference.You may dodge any attack exceptone that you did not know about! Youonly get one Dodge roll against a givenattack.If a single rapid-fire attack scoresmultiple hits, a successful Dodge rolllets you avoid one hit, plus additionalhits equal to your margin of success. Acritical success lets you dodge all hitsyou took from that attack.Example: A machine gun gets fourhits against you. Your Dodge is 10.You roll an 8, succeeding by 2. Youdodge three of the hits; only one bulletstrikes you.You only get one active defenseagainst each attack, unless you use All-Out Defense (Double Defense), butthere is no limit to the number oftimes you may dodge different attacksduring your turn.Acrobatic DodgeIf you have put at least one pointinto the Acrobatics skill, you can try afancy dodge once during your turn.You may define this as jumping over asword blow, cartwheeling away, orwhatever else you like. Make anAcrobatics roll before you attemptyour Dodge roll. (If flying, roll againstAerobatics instead.) On a success, youget +2 to that Dodge roll. On a failure,you get -2.You can combine this option with aretreat (see Retreat, p. 377).Sacrificial DodgeYou can defend a friend by throw-ing yourself into the path of an attackagainst him. To do so, you must beclose enough to interpose yourselfbetween your friend and his attackerby taking a step (see Step, p. 368).Announce this after the enemy makeshis attack roll but before your friendattempts his defense roll.Use the ordinary rules for a dodge,except that you cannot combine thiswith a retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Ifyou succeed, you are hit by the attack.If you fail, you didnt move in time,but your friend still gets his normaldefense roll. In either case, since youmoved, you cannot retreat if you areattacked before your next turn.Vehicular DodgeAn evasively maneuvering vehiclegets a Dodge roll. Instead of BasicSpeed + 3, use half the operators skill(Driving, Piloting, etc.), roundeddown, modified by the vehiclesHandling statistic. For example, abiker with Driving (Motorcycle)-14 ona motorcycle with Handling +1 wouldhave a Dodge of 8.BLOCKINGA block is an attempt to interposea shield, cloak, or similar large objectbetween yourself and an attack. Thisrequires a ready shield or cloak. (Ifyoure strong enough to grab and liftsomeone, you can block with hisbody!)Your Block active defense is 3 +half your Shield or Cloak skill, drop-ping all fractions. For instance,Shield-11 would give a Block of 3 +(11/2) = 8.5, which rounds down to 8.In general, you can block anymelee attack, thrown weapon, project-ed liquid, or muscle-powered missileweapon. You cannot block bullets orbeam weapons . . . these come too fastto be stopped this way.You may attempt to block only oneattack per turn.COMBAT375
|
Rapid fire may score multiple hitsfrom a single attack. A successfulattack means you scored at least onehit and possibly a number of extrahits, up to a maximum equal to thenumber of shots you fired. To find thenumber of hits you scored, compareyour margin of success on the attackroll to your weapons Recoil.An attack scores one extra hit forevery full multiple of Recoil by whichyou make your attack roll. The totalnumber of hits cannot exceed shotsfired. For instance, if your attack hadRcl 2, success by 0-1 would mean onehit; success by 2-3, one extra hit; suc-cess by 4-5, two extra hits; success by6-7, three extra hits; and so on.High-RoF weapons (those withRoF 5+) can also spread fire amongmultiple targets (see Spraying Fire,p. 409) or fire lots of shots to sup-press an area (see Suppression Fire,p. 409). Other special rules apply torapid fire with certain weapons seeSpecial Rules for Rapid Fire (p. 408).374COMBATDEFENDINGIf you make your attack roll, youhave not (yet) actually struck your foe,unless you rolled a critical hit. Yourattack is good enough to hit him if hefails to defend.There are three active defensesthat a fighter can use to evade or wardoff an attack: Dodge (see Dodging,below), Parry (see Parrying, p. 376),and Block (see Blocking, p. 375). Youshould calculate these active defensescores in advance and record them onyour character sheet.An active defense is a deliberateattempt to avoid a particular attack.Its only possible if the defender isaware of the possibility of an attackfrom his assailant and is free to react. . . by moving out of the way of theattack (a dodge), deflecting the attackwith a weapon or empty hand (aparry), or interposing a shield (ablock).If a foe makes a successful attackroll against you, you may choose oneactive defense and attempt a defenseroll against it. Exception: The All-OutDefense (Double Defense) maneuverlets you attempt a second defenseagainst a particular attack if your firstdefense fails.The active defense you choosedepends on your situation especiallythe maneuver you chose last turn.Some maneuvers restrict the activedefenses you can make. Notably, if youmade an All-Out Attack, you have noactive defense.You also get no active defense ifyoure unaware of the attack.Examples of situations in which noactive defense is possible include astab in the back from a friend, a sur-prise snipers shot, and a totally unex-pected booby trap. And you get noactive defense if you are unconscious,immobilized, or otherwise unable toreact.ACTIVE DEFENSEROLLSThe defender rolls 3d against hisactive defense score. If his roll is lessthan or equal to his effective defense,he dodged, parried, or blocked theattack. Otherwise, his active defensewas ineffective and the attack struckhome. If this occurs, roll for damage.An active defense roll of 3 or 4 isalways successful even if your effec-tive defense score was only 1 or 2! Aroll of 17 or 18 always fails.Your foe does not get to attempt adefense roll if you rolled a critical hitagainst him.Several modifiers apply to activedefense rolls; see below for explana-tions of a few of these. For a completelist of modifiers, see Active DefenseModifiers (p. 548).Injury and Active DefensesIf you are stunned, any activedefense is at -4. Active defenses nevertake a penalty for shock, however. Formore on stunning and shock, seeEffects of Injury (p. 380).Shields and Defense BonusIf you have a ready shield, add itsDefense Bonus (DB) to any Dodge,Parry, or Block roll against an attackthat came from in front of you or fromyour shield side.Defense Bonus is 1 for a smallshield, light cloak, and most impro-vised shields; 2 for a medium shield orheavy cloak; and 3 for a large shield orforce shield. The Shield spell (p. 252)gives a DB of 1-4.A shields DB adds to active defenserolls against melee attacks, thrownweapons, and muscle-powered missileweapons notagainst firearms(unless the GM wishes to use theoptional Damage to Shields rules,p. 484).Retreating andDropping ProneIn some situations, you may giveground or drop prone for a bonus toyour Dodge, Parry, or Block score. SeeActive Defense Options (p. 377).DODGINGA dodge is an active attempt tomove out of the perceived path of anattack. This is often the best defensewhen youre not skilled with yourweapon and you have no shield, whenyoure attacked multiple times, orwhen your foe has such a powerfulweapon that you fear parrying orblocking it may destroy your weaponor shield.Dodge is normally the only activedefense you can take against firearms.This does not mean you can actuallydodge bullets! A dodge against thiskind of attack represents an attemptnot to be where you think your oppo-nent will shoot, by weaving or duckingat the right moment.Your Dodge active defense is BasicSpeed + 3, dropping all fractions, lessa penalty equal to your encumbrancelevel (see Encumbrance and Move,p. 17). List Dodge on your charactersheet for quick reference.You may dodge any attack exceptone that you did not know about! Youonly get one Dodge roll against a givenattack.If a single rapid-fire attack scoresmultiple hits, a successful Dodge rolllets you avoid one hit, plus additionalhits equal to your margin of success. Acritical success lets you dodge all hitsyou took from that attack.Example: A machine gun gets fourhits against you. Your Dodge is 10.You roll an 8, succeeding by 2. Youdodge three of the hits; only one bulletstrikes you.You only get one active defenseagainst each attack, unless you use All-Out Defense (Double Defense), butthere is no limit to the number oftimes you may dodge different attacksduring your turn.Acrobatic DodgeIf you have put at least one pointinto the Acrobatics skill, you can try afancy dodge once during your turn.You may define this as jumping over asword blow, cartwheeling away, orwhatever else you like. Make anAcrobatics roll before you attemptyour Dodge roll. (If flying, roll againstAerobatics instead.) On a success, youget +2 to that Dodge roll. On a failure,you get -2.You can combine this option with aretreat (see Retreat, p. 377).Sacrificial DodgeYou can defend a friend by throw-ing yourself into the path of an attackagainst him. To do so, you must beclose enough to interpose yourselfbetween your friend and his attackerby taking a step (see Step, p. 368).Announce this after the enemy makeshis attack roll but before your friendattempts his defense roll.Use the ordinary rules for a dodge,except that you cannot combine thiswith a retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Ifyou succeed, you are hit by the attack.If you fail, you didnt move in time,but your friend still gets his normaldefense roll. In either case, since youmoved, you cannot retreat if you areattacked before your next turn.Vehicular DodgeAn evasively maneuvering vehiclegets a Dodge roll. Instead of BasicSpeed + 3, use half the operators skill(Driving, Piloting, etc.), roundeddown, modified by the vehiclesHandling statistic. For example, abiker with Driving (Motorcycle)-14 ona motorcycle with Handling +1 wouldhave a Dodge of 8.BLOCKINGA block is an attempt to interposea shield, cloak, or similar large objectbetween yourself and an attack. Thisrequires a ready shield or cloak. (Ifyoure strong enough to grab and liftsomeone, you can block with hisbody!)Your Block active defense is 3 +half your Shield or Cloak skill, drop-ping all fractions. For instance,Shield-11 would give a Block of 3 +(11/2) = 8.5, which rounds down to 8.In general, you can block anymelee attack, thrown weapon, project-ed liquid, or muscle-powered missileweapon. You cannot block bullets orbeam weapons . . . these come too fastto be stopped this way.You may attempt to block only oneattack per turn.COMBAT375PARRYINGA parry is an attempt to deflect ablow using a weapon or your barehands. You cannot parry unless yourweapon is ready or, if you areunarmed, you have an empty hand.You can use most melee weaponsto parry; see the Parry column of theMelee Weapon Table (p. 271) for specialrestrictions and modifiers. Some heftyweapons (e.g., axes) are unbalanced:you cannot use them to parry if youvealready used them to attack on yourturn. (You can still parry with aweapon in your other hand, if youhave one.) A few long, well-balancedweapons (e.g., the quarterstaff) get a+1 or +2 bonus to parry due to theirability to keep a foe at bay.Your Parry active defense with agiven weapon is 3 + half your skill withthat weapon, dropping all fractions.For instance, Broadsword-13 wouldgive a Parry of 9.A parry wont stop anything exceptmelee attacks or thrown weapons,unless you have special skills.Exception: If a foe attacks you with amissile weapon and he is within reachof your melee weapon, you may parry.Youre parrying the weapon, not theprojectile! For example, if an attackerfired a pistol at you from only oneyard away, you could attempt to parrybarehanded. Success would mean thatyou slapped his arm or gun aside,causing him to fire wide of your body.Number of Parries: Once you haveattempted a parry with a particularweapon or bare hand, furtherattempts to parry with that weapon orhand are at a cumulative -4 per parryafter the first. Reduce this to -2 perparry if you are using a fencingweapon or have the Trained By AMaster or Weapon Master advantage or to -1 per parry if both conditionsare true. This penalty only applies tomultiple parries on the same turn; itdoes not carry over between turns.Parrying with the Off Hand: Youparry with your off hand (your leftor shield hand if right handed; seeHandedness, p. 17), or with a weaponheld in it, at -4 to skill. Since Parry iscalculated off half skill, this gives -2 toParry. You may ignore this penalty ifyou have the Ambidexterity advantage(p. 39).Parrying Thrown Weapons: You canparry thrown weapons, but at a penal-ty: -1 for most thrown weapons, or -2for smallones such as knives,shuriken, and other weapons thatweigh 1 lb. or less.Parrying Unarmed Attacks: If yousuccessfully parry an unarmed attack(bite, punch, etc.) with a weapon, youmay injure your attacker. Immediatelyroll against your skill with the weaponyou used to parry. This roll is at -4 ifyour attacker used Judo or Karate. Ifyou succeed, your parry struck theattackers limb squarely. He gets nodefense roll against this! Roll damagenormally.Parrying WithImprovised WeaponsYou can parry with anything ofsuitable size and shape, using the clos-est weapon skill. A pole or rifle couldparry like a staff, a bow like a lightclub. However, parrying just once witha bow will ruin it as a bow althoughit may survive for a few seconds longeras a club! Other fragile objects may besimilarly ruined. Most improvisedweapons count as cheap for break-age; see Parrying Heavy Weapons (box)for what this implies.Parrying UnarmedIf you are fighting withoutweapons, or with at least one handfree, you may choose to parry bare-handed. Beings that lack hands (likemost animals) cant parry unarmed they can only dodge.You can use Boxing, Brawling,Judo, or Karate skill or DX, if high-er to parry with one hand. You canalso parry with Sumo Wrestling or376COMBATYou cannot use a flimsy rapier to parry a titans tree-sized club, the slam of a charging linebacker, or thesword of a giant robot! Heavy weapons are liable toknock your weapon away or even break it.The same is true for unarmed attacks from high-STcreatures. For the purpose of these rules, treat a punch,kick, bite, etc. as a weapon with an effective weight of1/10 the attackers ST. Use his full ST if he made a slam,flying tackle, pounce, or shield rush!Your weapon may break if it parries anything threeor more times its own weight. (This does not apply tobarehanded parries; for damage to limbs when parry-ing unarmed, see Parrying Unarmed.)A weapon parrying three times its own weight has a2 in 6 chance of breaking: it breaks on a roll of 1 or 2on 1d. Add +1 to these odds per whole-numbered mul-tiple past 3 (a 3 in 6 chance at 4 times weapon weight,a 4 in 6 chance at 5 times, and so on). Weapon qualitymodifies these odds: +2 if the parrying weapon ischeap, -1 if fine, or -2 if very fine.If your weapon breaks, the parry still counts unlessthe odds of breakage exceeded 6 in 6. If so, yourweapon offered so little resistance that the parry doesnot count!Regardless of the weight of your weapon, if you areparrying unarmed or using a one-handed weapon, youcannot parry a weapon heavier than your Basic Lift or twice BL, if using a two-handed weapon. Attemptsto parry anything heavier fail automatically; whether ornot your weapon breaks, the attack sweeps it aside anddamages you normally. If your weapon does not break,you drop it; if you are unarmed, you are knocked backone yard (make a DX roll to avoid falling over).An attacker can also deliberately break or knockaway weapons; see Striking at Weapons (p. 400).Parrying Heavy Weapons
|
If a single rapid-fire attack scoresmultiple hits, a successful Dodge rolllets you avoid one hit, plus additionalhits equal to your margin of success. Acritical success lets you dodge all hitsyou took from that attack.Example: A machine gun gets fourhits against you. Your Dodge is 10.You roll an 8, succeeding by 2. Youdodge three of the hits; only one bulletstrikes you.You only get one active defenseagainst each attack, unless you use All-Out Defense (Double Defense), butthere is no limit to the number oftimes you may dodge different attacksduring your turn.Acrobatic DodgeIf you have put at least one pointinto the Acrobatics skill, you can try afancy dodge once during your turn.You may define this as jumping over asword blow, cartwheeling away, orwhatever else you like. Make anAcrobatics roll before you attemptyour Dodge roll. (If flying, roll againstAerobatics instead.) On a success, youget +2 to that Dodge roll. On a failure,you get -2.You can combine this option with aretreat (see Retreat, p. 377).Sacrificial DodgeYou can defend a friend by throw-ing yourself into the path of an attackagainst him. To do so, you must beclose enough to interpose yourselfbetween your friend and his attackerby taking a step (see Step, p. 368).Announce this after the enemy makeshis attack roll but before your friendattempts his defense roll.Use the ordinary rules for a dodge,except that you cannot combine thiswith a retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Ifyou succeed, you are hit by the attack.If you fail, you didnt move in time,but your friend still gets his normaldefense roll. In either case, since youmoved, you cannot retreat if you areattacked before your next turn.Vehicular DodgeAn evasively maneuvering vehiclegets a Dodge roll. Instead of BasicSpeed + 3, use half the operators skill(Driving, Piloting, etc.), roundeddown, modified by the vehiclesHandling statistic. For example, abiker with Driving (Motorcycle)-14 ona motorcycle with Handling +1 wouldhave a Dodge of 8.BLOCKINGA block is an attempt to interposea shield, cloak, or similar large objectbetween yourself and an attack. Thisrequires a ready shield or cloak. (Ifyoure strong enough to grab and liftsomeone, you can block with hisbody!)Your Block active defense is 3 +half your Shield or Cloak skill, drop-ping all fractions. For instance,Shield-11 would give a Block of 3 +(11/2) = 8.5, which rounds down to 8.In general, you can block anymelee attack, thrown weapon, project-ed liquid, or muscle-powered missileweapon. You cannot block bullets orbeam weapons . . . these come too fastto be stopped this way.You may attempt to block only oneattack per turn.COMBAT375PARRYINGA parry is an attempt to deflect ablow using a weapon or your barehands. You cannot parry unless yourweapon is ready or, if you areunarmed, you have an empty hand.You can use most melee weaponsto parry; see the Parry column of theMelee Weapon Table (p. 271) for specialrestrictions and modifiers. Some heftyweapons (e.g., axes) are unbalanced:you cannot use them to parry if youvealready used them to attack on yourturn. (You can still parry with aweapon in your other hand, if youhave one.) A few long, well-balancedweapons (e.g., the quarterstaff) get a+1 or +2 bonus to parry due to theirability to keep a foe at bay.Your Parry active defense with agiven weapon is 3 + half your skill withthat weapon, dropping all fractions.For instance, Broadsword-13 wouldgive a Parry of 9.A parry wont stop anything exceptmelee attacks or thrown weapons,unless you have special skills.Exception: If a foe attacks you with amissile weapon and he is within reachof your melee weapon, you may parry.Youre parrying the weapon, not theprojectile! For example, if an attackerfired a pistol at you from only oneyard away, you could attempt to parrybarehanded. Success would mean thatyou slapped his arm or gun aside,causing him to fire wide of your body.Number of Parries: Once you haveattempted a parry with a particularweapon or bare hand, furtherattempts to parry with that weapon orhand are at a cumulative -4 per parryafter the first. Reduce this to -2 perparry if you are using a fencingweapon or have the Trained By AMaster or Weapon Master advantage or to -1 per parry if both conditionsare true. This penalty only applies tomultiple parries on the same turn; itdoes not carry over between turns.Parrying with the Off Hand: Youparry with your off hand (your leftor shield hand if right handed; seeHandedness, p. 17), or with a weaponheld in it, at -4 to skill. Since Parry iscalculated off half skill, this gives -2 toParry. You may ignore this penalty ifyou have the Ambidexterity advantage(p. 39).Parrying Thrown Weapons: You canparry thrown weapons, but at a penal-ty: -1 for most thrown weapons, or -2for smallones such as knives,shuriken, and other weapons thatweigh 1 lb. or less.Parrying Unarmed Attacks: If yousuccessfully parry an unarmed attack(bite, punch, etc.) with a weapon, youmay injure your attacker. Immediatelyroll against your skill with the weaponyou used to parry. This roll is at -4 ifyour attacker used Judo or Karate. Ifyou succeed, your parry struck theattackers limb squarely. He gets nodefense roll against this! Roll damagenormally.Parrying WithImprovised WeaponsYou can parry with anything ofsuitable size and shape, using the clos-est weapon skill. A pole or rifle couldparry like a staff, a bow like a lightclub. However, parrying just once witha bow will ruin it as a bow althoughit may survive for a few seconds longeras a club! Other fragile objects may besimilarly ruined. Most improvisedweapons count as cheap for break-age; see Parrying Heavy Weapons (box)for what this implies.Parrying UnarmedIf you are fighting withoutweapons, or with at least one handfree, you may choose to parry bare-handed. Beings that lack hands (likemost animals) cant parry unarmed they can only dodge.You can use Boxing, Brawling,Judo, or Karate skill or DX, if high-er to parry with one hand. You canalso parry with Sumo Wrestling or376COMBATYou cannot use a flimsy rapier to parry a titans tree-sized club, the slam of a charging linebacker, or thesword of a giant robot! Heavy weapons are liable toknock your weapon away or even break it.The same is true for unarmed attacks from high-STcreatures. For the purpose of these rules, treat a punch,kick, bite, etc. as a weapon with an effective weight of1/10 the attackers ST. Use his full ST if he made a slam,flying tackle, pounce, or shield rush!Your weapon may break if it parries anything threeor more times its own weight. (This does not apply tobarehanded parries; for damage to limbs when parry-ing unarmed, see Parrying Unarmed.)A weapon parrying three times its own weight has a2 in 6 chance of breaking: it breaks on a roll of 1 or 2on 1d. Add +1 to these odds per whole-numbered mul-tiple past 3 (a 3 in 6 chance at 4 times weapon weight,a 4 in 6 chance at 5 times, and so on). Weapon qualitymodifies these odds: +2 if the parrying weapon ischeap, -1 if fine, or -2 if very fine.If your weapon breaks, the parry still counts unlessthe odds of breakage exceeded 6 in 6. If so, yourweapon offered so little resistance that the parry doesnot count!Regardless of the weight of your weapon, if you areparrying unarmed or using a one-handed weapon, youcannot parry a weapon heavier than your Basic Lift or twice BL, if using a two-handed weapon. Attemptsto parry anything heavier fail automatically; whether ornot your weapon breaks, the attack sweeps it aside anddamages you normally. If your weapon does not break,you drop it; if you are unarmed, you are knocked backone yard (make a DX roll to avoid falling over).An attacker can also deliberately break or knockaway weapons; see Striking at Weapons (p. 400).Parrying Heavy WeaponsWrestling skill, but this requires bothhands. Your Parry active defense is 3+ half your skill or DX, dropping allfractions.Theres no penalty to parry anotherunarmed attack. You are at -3 to parryweapons, unless the attack is a thrustor you are using Judo or Karate (ineither case, use your full parry). Seeindividual unarmed-combat skilldescriptions for other limitations.A failed parry means you are hit. Ifyou are using hit locations, a failedparry against a weapon means yourattacker may choose to hit his originaltarget or the arm you parried with! Ifyour arm suffers more than half yourHit Points in injury, it is automaticallycrippled (see Crippling Injury, p. 420).Some unarmed skills (e.g., Judo)give you special options after a suc-cessful parry. See individual skilldescriptions for details.ACTIVE DEFENSEOPTIONSYou can improve your odds of suc-cess with an active defense by choos-ing one of these options to go alongwith it.RetreatRetreat is not a separate defense,but an option you may add to anyactive defense against a melee attack.To exercise this option, you mustmove away from your attacker: atleast one yard, but not more than 1/10your Move exactly as for a step (seeStep, p. 368).Retreating gives +3 to Dodge, or +1to Block or Parry. Exception: If youparry using Boxing, Judo, Karate, orany fencing skill (Main-Gauche,Rapier, Saber, or Smallsword), aretreat gives +3 to Parry, as theseforms make superior use of mobility.Your step back takes place immedi-ately. It is assumed to occur as yourfoe is striking. If it would take you outof your attackers reach, he still gets hisattack. If he has multiple attacks (e.g.,from an Extra Attack, All-Out Attack,or Rapid Strike), your retreat does notput you beyond the reach of hisremaining attacks. However, you getyour retreating bonus on all activedefense rolls against all of his attacksuntil your next turn.If your opponent attacked you witha maneuver that allows a step, but hasnot yet taken his step, he can chooseto follow you by taking his unusedstep. In effect, he is forcing you back!You can retreat only once duringyour turn. In other words, once youretreat, you may not retreat againuntil after your next turn.You cannot retreat while in a sit-ting or kneeling posture, or whilestunned. You also cannot retreat if youmoved faster than your Basic Move onyour last turn (that is, if you weresprinting or using Enhanced Move).You can retreat (by rolling) if youare lying down.Dodge and DropWhen under fire, hit the dirt! Youmay drop to the ground while dodg-ing, earning a +3 bonus to Dodge. Thisis a dodge and drop. It is similar to aretreat, but only effective againstranged attacks. It also has a drawback:it leaves you prone on the ground.Like a retreat, a dodge and dropapplies to all of your defenses againstone foe for one turn. Any cover youdrop behind does not count againstthe initial attack that inspired thedodge and drop, but is effectiveagainst subsequent attacks directed atyou.Sacrificial Dodge and Drop: You canuse dodge and drop in conjunctionwith sacrificial dodge (p. 375) to pro-tect a friend who is no more than astep away from you. If you succeed,you both fall prone and you take thehit . . . unless you succeed by 3 ormore, in which case neither of you ishit! You can also use a sacrificialdodge and drop to throw yourself onan explosive (e.g., a hand grenade). Ifyou succeed, treat the blast as a con-tact explosion (see p. 415).Diving for Cover: You may alsoattempt a dodge and drop if you arewithin the area of effect of an explo-sion, cone, or area-effect attack andthere is cover (such as a trench) only astep away. Success means you reach itin time; failure means you dont. Evenif there is no cover handy, an extrayard or two of distance from a blastcan still help, since explosive damagedeclines with distance. If you succeed,you are a step farther away; if you fail,you suffer the effect before you makeyour step.Flying or Swimming: Dodge anddrop is possible only if a step wouldtake you below concealing terrain(e.g., a flyer dropping below a hill-crest). You dont end up prone. Youcan still dive for cover to increase yourdistance from an explosion, etc.COMBAT377DAMAGE AND INJURYIf your attack roll succeeds andyour target fails his defense roll (ifany), you hit him! If your attack is onethat can do damage, you must nowmake a damage roll. This tells youhow much basic damage you deal toyour target.Your weapon (and, for muscle-powered weapons, your ST), or yournatural or Innate Attack, determinesthe number of dice you roll for dam-age. If your target has any DamageResistance (DR) from armor, theDamage Resistance advantage (p. 46),protective magic spells, etc. he sub-tracts this from your damage roll. Ifyour attack has an armor divisor (seepp. 102, 110), this modifies your tar-gets DR.If your damage roll is less than orequal to your targets effective DR,your attack failed to penetrate itbounced off or was absorbed. A cut-ting, crushing, impaling, or piercingattack can sometimes cause damagewithout penetrating, however; seeFlexible Armor and Blunt Trauma(p. 379).If your damage roll exceeds yourtargets DR, the excess is the penetrat-ing damage. If your foe has no DR,the entire damage roll is penetratingdamage.Once you know the penetratingdamage of your attack, apply thewounding modifier for damage type(this matters only for cutting, impal-ing, and certain types of piercing dam-age; see p. 379). This gives the injurythe foe suffers, which is subtractedfrom his Hit Points.
|
PARRYINGA parry is an attempt to deflect ablow using a weapon or your barehands. You cannot parry unless yourweapon is ready or, if you areunarmed, you have an empty hand.You can use most melee weaponsto parry; see the Parry column of theMelee Weapon Table (p. 271) for specialrestrictions and modifiers. Some heftyweapons (e.g., axes) are unbalanced:you cannot use them to parry if youvealready used them to attack on yourturn. (You can still parry with aweapon in your other hand, if youhave one.) A few long, well-balancedweapons (e.g., the quarterstaff) get a+1 or +2 bonus to parry due to theirability to keep a foe at bay.Your Parry active defense with agiven weapon is 3 + half your skill withthat weapon, dropping all fractions.For instance, Broadsword-13 wouldgive a Parry of 9.A parry wont stop anything exceptmelee attacks or thrown weapons,unless you have special skills.Exception: If a foe attacks you with amissile weapon and he is within reachof your melee weapon, you may parry.Youre parrying the weapon, not theprojectile! For example, if an attackerfired a pistol at you from only oneyard away, you could attempt to parrybarehanded. Success would mean thatyou slapped his arm or gun aside,causing him to fire wide of your body.Number of Parries: Once you haveattempted a parry with a particularweapon or bare hand, furtherattempts to parry with that weapon orhand are at a cumulative -4 per parryafter the first. Reduce this to -2 perparry if you are using a fencingweapon or have the Trained By AMaster or Weapon Master advantage or to -1 per parry if both conditionsare true. This penalty only applies tomultiple parries on the same turn; itdoes not carry over between turns.Parrying with the Off Hand: Youparry with your off hand (your leftor shield hand if right handed; seeHandedness, p. 17), or with a weaponheld in it, at -4 to skill. Since Parry iscalculated off half skill, this gives -2 toParry. You may ignore this penalty ifyou have the Ambidexterity advantage(p. 39).Parrying Thrown Weapons: You canparry thrown weapons, but at a penal-ty: -1 for most thrown weapons, or -2for smallones such as knives,shuriken, and other weapons thatweigh 1 lb. or less.Parrying Unarmed Attacks: If yousuccessfully parry an unarmed attack(bite, punch, etc.) with a weapon, youmay injure your attacker. Immediatelyroll against your skill with the weaponyou used to parry. This roll is at -4 ifyour attacker used Judo or Karate. Ifyou succeed, your parry struck theattackers limb squarely. He gets nodefense roll against this! Roll damagenormally.Parrying WithImprovised WeaponsYou can parry with anything ofsuitable size and shape, using the clos-est weapon skill. A pole or rifle couldparry like a staff, a bow like a lightclub. However, parrying just once witha bow will ruin it as a bow althoughit may survive for a few seconds longeras a club! Other fragile objects may besimilarly ruined. Most improvisedweapons count as cheap for break-age; see Parrying Heavy Weapons (box)for what this implies.Parrying UnarmedIf you are fighting withoutweapons, or with at least one handfree, you may choose to parry bare-handed. Beings that lack hands (likemost animals) cant parry unarmed they can only dodge.You can use Boxing, Brawling,Judo, or Karate skill or DX, if high-er to parry with one hand. You canalso parry with Sumo Wrestling or376COMBATYou cannot use a flimsy rapier to parry a titans tree-sized club, the slam of a charging linebacker, or thesword of a giant robot! Heavy weapons are liable toknock your weapon away or even break it.The same is true for unarmed attacks from high-STcreatures. For the purpose of these rules, treat a punch,kick, bite, etc. as a weapon with an effective weight of1/10 the attackers ST. Use his full ST if he made a slam,flying tackle, pounce, or shield rush!Your weapon may break if it parries anything threeor more times its own weight. (This does not apply tobarehanded parries; for damage to limbs when parry-ing unarmed, see Parrying Unarmed.)A weapon parrying three times its own weight has a2 in 6 chance of breaking: it breaks on a roll of 1 or 2on 1d. Add +1 to these odds per whole-numbered mul-tiple past 3 (a 3 in 6 chance at 4 times weapon weight,a 4 in 6 chance at 5 times, and so on). Weapon qualitymodifies these odds: +2 if the parrying weapon ischeap, -1 if fine, or -2 if very fine.If your weapon breaks, the parry still counts unlessthe odds of breakage exceeded 6 in 6. If so, yourweapon offered so little resistance that the parry doesnot count!Regardless of the weight of your weapon, if you areparrying unarmed or using a one-handed weapon, youcannot parry a weapon heavier than your Basic Lift or twice BL, if using a two-handed weapon. Attemptsto parry anything heavier fail automatically; whether ornot your weapon breaks, the attack sweeps it aside anddamages you normally. If your weapon does not break,you drop it; if you are unarmed, you are knocked backone yard (make a DX roll to avoid falling over).An attacker can also deliberately break or knockaway weapons; see Striking at Weapons (p. 400).Parrying Heavy WeaponsWrestling skill, but this requires bothhands. Your Parry active defense is 3+ half your skill or DX, dropping allfractions.Theres no penalty to parry anotherunarmed attack. You are at -3 to parryweapons, unless the attack is a thrustor you are using Judo or Karate (ineither case, use your full parry). Seeindividual unarmed-combat skilldescriptions for other limitations.A failed parry means you are hit. Ifyou are using hit locations, a failedparry against a weapon means yourattacker may choose to hit his originaltarget or the arm you parried with! Ifyour arm suffers more than half yourHit Points in injury, it is automaticallycrippled (see Crippling Injury, p. 420).Some unarmed skills (e.g., Judo)give you special options after a suc-cessful parry. See individual skilldescriptions for details.ACTIVE DEFENSEOPTIONSYou can improve your odds of suc-cess with an active defense by choos-ing one of these options to go alongwith it.RetreatRetreat is not a separate defense,but an option you may add to anyactive defense against a melee attack.To exercise this option, you mustmove away from your attacker: atleast one yard, but not more than 1/10your Move exactly as for a step (seeStep, p. 368).Retreating gives +3 to Dodge, or +1to Block or Parry. Exception: If youparry using Boxing, Judo, Karate, orany fencing skill (Main-Gauche,Rapier, Saber, or Smallsword), aretreat gives +3 to Parry, as theseforms make superior use of mobility.Your step back takes place immedi-ately. It is assumed to occur as yourfoe is striking. If it would take you outof your attackers reach, he still gets hisattack. If he has multiple attacks (e.g.,from an Extra Attack, All-Out Attack,or Rapid Strike), your retreat does notput you beyond the reach of hisremaining attacks. However, you getyour retreating bonus on all activedefense rolls against all of his attacksuntil your next turn.If your opponent attacked you witha maneuver that allows a step, but hasnot yet taken his step, he can chooseto follow you by taking his unusedstep. In effect, he is forcing you back!You can retreat only once duringyour turn. In other words, once youretreat, you may not retreat againuntil after your next turn.You cannot retreat while in a sit-ting or kneeling posture, or whilestunned. You also cannot retreat if youmoved faster than your Basic Move onyour last turn (that is, if you weresprinting or using Enhanced Move).You can retreat (by rolling) if youare lying down.Dodge and DropWhen under fire, hit the dirt! Youmay drop to the ground while dodg-ing, earning a +3 bonus to Dodge. Thisis a dodge and drop. It is similar to aretreat, but only effective againstranged attacks. It also has a drawback:it leaves you prone on the ground.Like a retreat, a dodge and dropapplies to all of your defenses againstone foe for one turn. Any cover youdrop behind does not count againstthe initial attack that inspired thedodge and drop, but is effectiveagainst subsequent attacks directed atyou.Sacrificial Dodge and Drop: You canuse dodge and drop in conjunctionwith sacrificial dodge (p. 375) to pro-tect a friend who is no more than astep away from you. If you succeed,you both fall prone and you take thehit . . . unless you succeed by 3 ormore, in which case neither of you ishit! You can also use a sacrificialdodge and drop to throw yourself onan explosive (e.g., a hand grenade). Ifyou succeed, treat the blast as a con-tact explosion (see p. 415).Diving for Cover: You may alsoattempt a dodge and drop if you arewithin the area of effect of an explo-sion, cone, or area-effect attack andthere is cover (such as a trench) only astep away. Success means you reach itin time; failure means you dont. Evenif there is no cover handy, an extrayard or two of distance from a blastcan still help, since explosive damagedeclines with distance. If you succeed,you are a step farther away; if you fail,you suffer the effect before you makeyour step.Flying or Swimming: Dodge anddrop is possible only if a step wouldtake you below concealing terrain(e.g., a flyer dropping below a hill-crest). You dont end up prone. Youcan still dive for cover to increase yourdistance from an explosion, etc.COMBAT377DAMAGE AND INJURYIf your attack roll succeeds andyour target fails his defense roll (ifany), you hit him! If your attack is onethat can do damage, you must nowmake a damage roll. This tells youhow much basic damage you deal toyour target.Your weapon (and, for muscle-powered weapons, your ST), or yournatural or Innate Attack, determinesthe number of dice you roll for dam-age. If your target has any DamageResistance (DR) from armor, theDamage Resistance advantage (p. 46),protective magic spells, etc. he sub-tracts this from your damage roll. Ifyour attack has an armor divisor (seepp. 102, 110), this modifies your tar-gets DR.If your damage roll is less than orequal to your targets effective DR,your attack failed to penetrate itbounced off or was absorbed. A cut-ting, crushing, impaling, or piercingattack can sometimes cause damagewithout penetrating, however; seeFlexible Armor and Blunt Trauma(p. 379).If your damage roll exceeds yourtargets DR, the excess is the penetrat-ing damage. If your foe has no DR,the entire damage roll is penetratingdamage.Once you know the penetratingdamage of your attack, apply thewounding modifier for damage type(this matters only for cutting, impal-ing, and certain types of piercing dam-age; see p. 379). This gives the injurythe foe suffers, which is subtractedfrom his Hit Points.Example: Your basic damagewith your sword is 2d+1 cutting. Youroll 2 dice, add 1, and do 8 points ofbasic damage. Your foe has DR 3, soyour penetrating damage is 5 points.You then apply the 1.5 woundingmodifier for cutting attacks, resultingin 7 points of injury (always rounddown). Your foe loses 7 HP.DAMAGE ROLLYou usually make your own dam-age rolls, and the GM rolls for NPCs.Damage rolls are expressed as a num-ber of dice, sometimes with a modifi-er; e.g., 6d-1 or 1d+2. A negativemodifier cant reduce damage below 0if the attack does crushing damage, orbelow 1 if it does any other type ofdamage.High-damage attacks may expressdamage as a number of dice with amultiplier. For instance, 6d3 meansroll 6d and multiply the total by 3. Ifthose six dice came up 21, you woulddo 63 points of damage. This is just aquick way to roll lots of dice.The result of the damage roll (afterany additive or multiplicative modi-fiers, as explained above) is the hitsbasic damage.Half Damage (1/2D) for Ranged WeaponsIf a ranged weapon has two rangestatistics, the first is its Half Damage(1/2D) range, in yards. If the target isat or beyond 1/2D range, divide basicdamage by 2, rounding down. (This isa simplification! Realistically, mostweapons lose striking power graduallyas air resistance slows them down, buta detailed calculation would beunplayable.)Some ranged weapons (e.g.,grenades) do not suffer a reduction indamage; these do not list a 1/2D range.The damage of an attack modifiedwith Follow-Up (p. 105) is neverhalved, either although its carrierattack is subject to 1/2D effects asusual.Finally, if an attack has a 1/2Drange but requires a resistance roll toavoid an affliction of some sort, add+3 to the resistance roll instead ofhalving damage (if any).DAMAGERESISTANCE ANDPENETRATIONDamage Resistance (DR) rates thedegree of protection that natural orworn armor, a force field, tough skin,etc. affords against damage. Objectsand vehicles have their own DR valuesthat protect against any damage theysuffer and if you take cover behindor inside them, their DR also protectsyou.Subtract DR from basic damage.The result is the penetrating damagethat punched through or deformed thearmor enough to cause a significantinjury. For instance, if you are hit byan attack that inflicts 6 points of basicdamage and youre wearing mail withDR 4, you take 2 points of penetratingdamage.In general, DR from multiplesources is additive; e.g., if you have anatural DR of 2 and put on a tacticalvest with DR 15, your total DR is 17.Exceptions will always be noted.The DR of armor often varies bybody part. If you are not using the hitlocation rules (see Hit Location,p. 398), just assume that any hitstrikes the torso, and apply its DR.Finally, note that DR from certainsources may provide differing degreesof protection against different damagetypes.For more on DR, see DamageResistance (p. 46) and Armor (p. 282).Armor Divisors andPenetration ModifiersAn armor divisor indicates thatan attack is especially good (or bad)at penetrating Damage Resistance.Armor divisors appear on weapontables as numbers in parenthesesafter damage dice; e.g., 3d(2) pimeans 3d piercing damage with a (2)armor divisor.A divisor of (2) or more means thatDR protects at reduced value againstthe attack. Divide the targets DR bythe number in parentheses before sub-tracting it from basic damage; e.g., (2)means DR protects at half value.Round DR down. Minimum DR is 0.378COMBATKnockbackWhen you hit someone very hard, you may knock him away fromyou! This is called knockback. Only crushing and cutting attacks cancause knockback. A crushing attack can cause knockback regardless ofwhether it penetrates DR. A cutting attack can cause knockback only ifit fails to penetrate DR.Knockback depends on basic damage rolled before subtracting DR.For every full multiple of the targets ST-2 rolled, move the target oneyard away from the attacker. For instance, a man with ST 10 would beknocked back one yard per full 8 points of basic damage. If the targethas ST 3 or less, knockback is one yard per point of basic damage! Ifthe target has no ST score at all (like a wall), or is not resisting, use itsHP instead.Anyone who suffers knockback must attempt a roll against the high-est of DX, Acrobatics, or Judo. If he is knocked back more than oneyard, he rolls at -1 per yard after the first. Perfect Balance (p. 74) gives+4 to this roll. On a failure, he falls down.If you knock your foe into something solid, the result includingdamage to him and whatever he hit is as if he had collided with itat a speed equal to the yards of knockback. See Collisions and Falls(p. 430).Knockback Only: Some attacks a jet of water, a shove (p. 372),etc. do knockback but no damage. Roll the listed damage and workout knockback as usual, but no actual injury occurs (unless the targetcollides with something!).
|
Wrestling skill, but this requires bothhands. Your Parry active defense is 3+ half your skill or DX, dropping allfractions.Theres no penalty to parry anotherunarmed attack. You are at -3 to parryweapons, unless the attack is a thrustor you are using Judo or Karate (ineither case, use your full parry). Seeindividual unarmed-combat skilldescriptions for other limitations.A failed parry means you are hit. Ifyou are using hit locations, a failedparry against a weapon means yourattacker may choose to hit his originaltarget or the arm you parried with! Ifyour arm suffers more than half yourHit Points in injury, it is automaticallycrippled (see Crippling Injury, p. 420).Some unarmed skills (e.g., Judo)give you special options after a suc-cessful parry. See individual skilldescriptions for details.ACTIVE DEFENSEOPTIONSYou can improve your odds of suc-cess with an active defense by choos-ing one of these options to go alongwith it.RetreatRetreat is not a separate defense,but an option you may add to anyactive defense against a melee attack.To exercise this option, you mustmove away from your attacker: atleast one yard, but not more than 1/10your Move exactly as for a step (seeStep, p. 368).Retreating gives +3 to Dodge, or +1to Block or Parry. Exception: If youparry using Boxing, Judo, Karate, orany fencing skill (Main-Gauche,Rapier, Saber, or Smallsword), aretreat gives +3 to Parry, as theseforms make superior use of mobility.Your step back takes place immedi-ately. It is assumed to occur as yourfoe is striking. If it would take you outof your attackers reach, he still gets hisattack. If he has multiple attacks (e.g.,from an Extra Attack, All-Out Attack,or Rapid Strike), your retreat does notput you beyond the reach of hisremaining attacks. However, you getyour retreating bonus on all activedefense rolls against all of his attacksuntil your next turn.If your opponent attacked you witha maneuver that allows a step, but hasnot yet taken his step, he can chooseto follow you by taking his unusedstep. In effect, he is forcing you back!You can retreat only once duringyour turn. In other words, once youretreat, you may not retreat againuntil after your next turn.You cannot retreat while in a sit-ting or kneeling posture, or whilestunned. You also cannot retreat if youmoved faster than your Basic Move onyour last turn (that is, if you weresprinting or using Enhanced Move).You can retreat (by rolling) if youare lying down.Dodge and DropWhen under fire, hit the dirt! Youmay drop to the ground while dodg-ing, earning a +3 bonus to Dodge. Thisis a dodge and drop. It is similar to aretreat, but only effective againstranged attacks. It also has a drawback:it leaves you prone on the ground.Like a retreat, a dodge and dropapplies to all of your defenses againstone foe for one turn. Any cover youdrop behind does not count againstthe initial attack that inspired thedodge and drop, but is effectiveagainst subsequent attacks directed atyou.Sacrificial Dodge and Drop: You canuse dodge and drop in conjunctionwith sacrificial dodge (p. 375) to pro-tect a friend who is no more than astep away from you. If you succeed,you both fall prone and you take thehit . . . unless you succeed by 3 ormore, in which case neither of you ishit! You can also use a sacrificialdodge and drop to throw yourself onan explosive (e.g., a hand grenade). Ifyou succeed, treat the blast as a con-tact explosion (see p. 415).Diving for Cover: You may alsoattempt a dodge and drop if you arewithin the area of effect of an explo-sion, cone, or area-effect attack andthere is cover (such as a trench) only astep away. Success means you reach itin time; failure means you dont. Evenif there is no cover handy, an extrayard or two of distance from a blastcan still help, since explosive damagedeclines with distance. If you succeed,you are a step farther away; if you fail,you suffer the effect before you makeyour step.Flying or Swimming: Dodge anddrop is possible only if a step wouldtake you below concealing terrain(e.g., a flyer dropping below a hill-crest). You dont end up prone. Youcan still dive for cover to increase yourdistance from an explosion, etc.COMBAT377DAMAGE AND INJURYIf your attack roll succeeds andyour target fails his defense roll (ifany), you hit him! If your attack is onethat can do damage, you must nowmake a damage roll. This tells youhow much basic damage you deal toyour target.Your weapon (and, for muscle-powered weapons, your ST), or yournatural or Innate Attack, determinesthe number of dice you roll for dam-age. If your target has any DamageResistance (DR) from armor, theDamage Resistance advantage (p. 46),protective magic spells, etc. he sub-tracts this from your damage roll. Ifyour attack has an armor divisor (seepp. 102, 110), this modifies your tar-gets DR.If your damage roll is less than orequal to your targets effective DR,your attack failed to penetrate itbounced off or was absorbed. A cut-ting, crushing, impaling, or piercingattack can sometimes cause damagewithout penetrating, however; seeFlexible Armor and Blunt Trauma(p. 379).If your damage roll exceeds yourtargets DR, the excess is the penetrat-ing damage. If your foe has no DR,the entire damage roll is penetratingdamage.Once you know the penetratingdamage of your attack, apply thewounding modifier for damage type(this matters only for cutting, impal-ing, and certain types of piercing dam-age; see p. 379). This gives the injurythe foe suffers, which is subtractedfrom his Hit Points.Example: Your basic damagewith your sword is 2d+1 cutting. Youroll 2 dice, add 1, and do 8 points ofbasic damage. Your foe has DR 3, soyour penetrating damage is 5 points.You then apply the 1.5 woundingmodifier for cutting attacks, resultingin 7 points of injury (always rounddown). Your foe loses 7 HP.DAMAGE ROLLYou usually make your own dam-age rolls, and the GM rolls for NPCs.Damage rolls are expressed as a num-ber of dice, sometimes with a modifi-er; e.g., 6d-1 or 1d+2. A negativemodifier cant reduce damage below 0if the attack does crushing damage, orbelow 1 if it does any other type ofdamage.High-damage attacks may expressdamage as a number of dice with amultiplier. For instance, 6d3 meansroll 6d and multiply the total by 3. Ifthose six dice came up 21, you woulddo 63 points of damage. This is just aquick way to roll lots of dice.The result of the damage roll (afterany additive or multiplicative modi-fiers, as explained above) is the hitsbasic damage.Half Damage (1/2D) for Ranged WeaponsIf a ranged weapon has two rangestatistics, the first is its Half Damage(1/2D) range, in yards. If the target isat or beyond 1/2D range, divide basicdamage by 2, rounding down. (This isa simplification! Realistically, mostweapons lose striking power graduallyas air resistance slows them down, buta detailed calculation would beunplayable.)Some ranged weapons (e.g.,grenades) do not suffer a reduction indamage; these do not list a 1/2D range.The damage of an attack modifiedwith Follow-Up (p. 105) is neverhalved, either although its carrierattack is subject to 1/2D effects asusual.Finally, if an attack has a 1/2Drange but requires a resistance roll toavoid an affliction of some sort, add+3 to the resistance roll instead ofhalving damage (if any).DAMAGERESISTANCE ANDPENETRATIONDamage Resistance (DR) rates thedegree of protection that natural orworn armor, a force field, tough skin,etc. affords against damage. Objectsand vehicles have their own DR valuesthat protect against any damage theysuffer and if you take cover behindor inside them, their DR also protectsyou.Subtract DR from basic damage.The result is the penetrating damagethat punched through or deformed thearmor enough to cause a significantinjury. For instance, if you are hit byan attack that inflicts 6 points of basicdamage and youre wearing mail withDR 4, you take 2 points of penetratingdamage.In general, DR from multiplesources is additive; e.g., if you have anatural DR of 2 and put on a tacticalvest with DR 15, your total DR is 17.Exceptions will always be noted.The DR of armor often varies bybody part. If you are not using the hitlocation rules (see Hit Location,p. 398), just assume that any hitstrikes the torso, and apply its DR.Finally, note that DR from certainsources may provide differing degreesof protection against different damagetypes.For more on DR, see DamageResistance (p. 46) and Armor (p. 282).Armor Divisors andPenetration ModifiersAn armor divisor indicates thatan attack is especially good (or bad)at penetrating Damage Resistance.Armor divisors appear on weapontables as numbers in parenthesesafter damage dice; e.g., 3d(2) pimeans 3d piercing damage with a (2)armor divisor.A divisor of (2) or more means thatDR protects at reduced value againstthe attack. Divide the targets DR bythe number in parentheses before sub-tracting it from basic damage; e.g., (2)means DR protects at half value.Round DR down. Minimum DR is 0.378COMBATKnockbackWhen you hit someone very hard, you may knock him away fromyou! This is called knockback. Only crushing and cutting attacks cancause knockback. A crushing attack can cause knockback regardless ofwhether it penetrates DR. A cutting attack can cause knockback only ifit fails to penetrate DR.Knockback depends on basic damage rolled before subtracting DR.For every full multiple of the targets ST-2 rolled, move the target oneyard away from the attacker. For instance, a man with ST 10 would beknocked back one yard per full 8 points of basic damage. If the targethas ST 3 or less, knockback is one yard per point of basic damage! Ifthe target has no ST score at all (like a wall), or is not resisting, use itsHP instead.Anyone who suffers knockback must attempt a roll against the high-est of DX, Acrobatics, or Judo. If he is knocked back more than oneyard, he rolls at -1 per yard after the first. Perfect Balance (p. 74) gives+4 to this roll. On a failure, he falls down.If you knock your foe into something solid, the result includingdamage to him and whatever he hit is as if he had collided with itat a speed equal to the yards of knockback. See Collisions and Falls(p. 430).Knockback Only: Some attacks a jet of water, a shove (p. 372),etc. do knockback but no damage. Roll the listed damage and workout knockback as usual, but no actual injury occurs (unless the targetcollides with something!).Some divisors are fractions, suchas (0.5), (0.2), or (0.1). DR is increasedagainst such attacks: multiply DR by 2for (0.5), by 5 for (0.2), and by 10 for(0.1). In addition, treat DR 0 (e.g., bareskin) as if it were DR 1 against anyfractional armor divisor!There are several other penetra-tion modifiers that affect the protec-tion required to stop a given attack see Blood Agent (p. 110), ContactAgent (p. 111), Follow-Up (p. 105),Respiratory Agent (p. 108), and Sense-Based (pp. 109, 115). These are oftenfound on Afflictions and toxicattacks. See Special PenetrationModifiers (p. 416) for details.Flexible Armor and Blunt TraumaFlexible armor such as a leatherjacket, mail hauberk, or a modern bal-listic vest is much lighter than rigidarmor, but it doesnt absorb the fullforce of the blows it stops. An attackthat does crushing (cr), cutting (cut),impaling (imp), or piercing (pi-, pi, pi+,pi++) damage may inflict blunt trau-ma if it fails to penetrate flexible DR.For every full 10 points of cutting,impaling, or piercing damage or 5points of crushing damage stopped byyour DR, you suffer 1 HP of injury dueto blunt trauma. This is actual injury,not basic damage. There is no wound-ing multiplier.If even one point of damage pene-trates your flexible DR, however, youdo not suffer blunt trauma.If you layer other DR over flexibleDR, only damage that penetrates theouter layer can inflict blunt trauma.CorrosionAn attack that inflicts corrosion(cor) damage acids, disintegrationbeams, etc. destroys one point of the targets DR per 5 points of basicdamage rolled. This affects armorfirst, then natural DR. This reducesDR against future attacks, not againstthe attack that burned off the DR!Natural DR lost by living beings healsat the same rate as lost HP.Overpenetration and CoverSome attacks are powerful enoughto pass right through cover, a shield,or a victim, and damage someone onthe other side. Its usually too muchtrouble to worry about this, but if itbecomes important (e.g., shootingthrough a door, or a bystander behindyour target), see Overpenetration(p. 408).Hurting YourselfAny time you strike unarmed (withbare hands, feet, fangs, etc.) and hit atarget with DR 3+, you may hurt your-self! For every 5 points of basic dam-age you roll, you take one point ofcrushing damage, up to a maximumequal to the DR of the target you hit.Apply this damage to the body partyou used to attack, if you are using hitlocations. Your own DR protectsagainst this damage. Exception: Thisrule does not apply if the targets DRhas the Tough Skin limitation (seeDamage Resistance, p. 46).WOUNDINGMODIFIERSAND INJURYAny damage left over after sub-tracting DR from basic damage ispenetrating damage. If there is anypenetrating damage, multiply it by theattacks wounding modifier. This is amultiplier that depends on damagetype: Small piercing (pi-): 0.5. Burning (burn), corrosion (cor),crushing (cr), fatigue (fat), piercing(pi), and toxic (tox): 1 (damage isunchanged). Cutting (cut) and large piercing(pi+): 1.5. Impaling (imp) and huge piercing(pi++): 2.The damage after this multiplierdetermines the injury: the HP lost bythe target. Round fractions down, butthe minimum injury is 1 HP for anyattack that penetrates DR at all.Reduce the victims current HP totalby the injury sustained.Example: Filthy Pierre is struck byan axe, which does cutting damage.His attackers basic damage roll is 7,but Pierre is wearing DR 2 leatherarmor, so he suffers 5 points of pene-trating damage. Multiplying by 1.5 forcutting damage, Pierre ends up losing7.5 HP, which rounds to 7 HP a nastywound!Note that blunt trauma injury hasno wounding modifier.Where you were hit may furtheraffect the wounding modifier; see HitLocation (p. 398). The rules aboveassume a hit to the torso or face.COMBAT379Some attacks are powerful enough to pass rightthrough cover, a shield, or a victim, and damagesomeone on the other side.Fast Damage Resolution for Multiple HitsIf a rapid-fire attack scores multiple hits, you can speed play as fol-lows: instead of rolling damage per hit, determine damage for one hit,subtract DR, and multiply the resulting penetrating damage (or blunttrauma) by the number of hits.
|
Example: Your basic damagewith your sword is 2d+1 cutting. Youroll 2 dice, add 1, and do 8 points ofbasic damage. Your foe has DR 3, soyour penetrating damage is 5 points.You then apply the 1.5 woundingmodifier for cutting attacks, resultingin 7 points of injury (always rounddown). Your foe loses 7 HP.DAMAGE ROLLYou usually make your own dam-age rolls, and the GM rolls for NPCs.Damage rolls are expressed as a num-ber of dice, sometimes with a modifi-er; e.g., 6d-1 or 1d+2. A negativemodifier cant reduce damage below 0if the attack does crushing damage, orbelow 1 if it does any other type ofdamage.High-damage attacks may expressdamage as a number of dice with amultiplier. For instance, 6d3 meansroll 6d and multiply the total by 3. Ifthose six dice came up 21, you woulddo 63 points of damage. This is just aquick way to roll lots of dice.The result of the damage roll (afterany additive or multiplicative modi-fiers, as explained above) is the hitsbasic damage.Half Damage (1/2D) for Ranged WeaponsIf a ranged weapon has two rangestatistics, the first is its Half Damage(1/2D) range, in yards. If the target isat or beyond 1/2D range, divide basicdamage by 2, rounding down. (This isa simplification! Realistically, mostweapons lose striking power graduallyas air resistance slows them down, buta detailed calculation would beunplayable.)Some ranged weapons (e.g.,grenades) do not suffer a reduction indamage; these do not list a 1/2D range.The damage of an attack modifiedwith Follow-Up (p. 105) is neverhalved, either although its carrierattack is subject to 1/2D effects asusual.Finally, if an attack has a 1/2Drange but requires a resistance roll toavoid an affliction of some sort, add+3 to the resistance roll instead ofhalving damage (if any).DAMAGERESISTANCE ANDPENETRATIONDamage Resistance (DR) rates thedegree of protection that natural orworn armor, a force field, tough skin,etc. affords against damage. Objectsand vehicles have their own DR valuesthat protect against any damage theysuffer and if you take cover behindor inside them, their DR also protectsyou.Subtract DR from basic damage.The result is the penetrating damagethat punched through or deformed thearmor enough to cause a significantinjury. For instance, if you are hit byan attack that inflicts 6 points of basicdamage and youre wearing mail withDR 4, you take 2 points of penetratingdamage.In general, DR from multiplesources is additive; e.g., if you have anatural DR of 2 and put on a tacticalvest with DR 15, your total DR is 17.Exceptions will always be noted.The DR of armor often varies bybody part. If you are not using the hitlocation rules (see Hit Location,p. 398), just assume that any hitstrikes the torso, and apply its DR.Finally, note that DR from certainsources may provide differing degreesof protection against different damagetypes.For more on DR, see DamageResistance (p. 46) and Armor (p. 282).Armor Divisors andPenetration ModifiersAn armor divisor indicates thatan attack is especially good (or bad)at penetrating Damage Resistance.Armor divisors appear on weapontables as numbers in parenthesesafter damage dice; e.g., 3d(2) pimeans 3d piercing damage with a (2)armor divisor.A divisor of (2) or more means thatDR protects at reduced value againstthe attack. Divide the targets DR bythe number in parentheses before sub-tracting it from basic damage; e.g., (2)means DR protects at half value.Round DR down. Minimum DR is 0.378COMBATKnockbackWhen you hit someone very hard, you may knock him away fromyou! This is called knockback. Only crushing and cutting attacks cancause knockback. A crushing attack can cause knockback regardless ofwhether it penetrates DR. A cutting attack can cause knockback only ifit fails to penetrate DR.Knockback depends on basic damage rolled before subtracting DR.For every full multiple of the targets ST-2 rolled, move the target oneyard away from the attacker. For instance, a man with ST 10 would beknocked back one yard per full 8 points of basic damage. If the targethas ST 3 or less, knockback is one yard per point of basic damage! Ifthe target has no ST score at all (like a wall), or is not resisting, use itsHP instead.Anyone who suffers knockback must attempt a roll against the high-est of DX, Acrobatics, or Judo. If he is knocked back more than oneyard, he rolls at -1 per yard after the first. Perfect Balance (p. 74) gives+4 to this roll. On a failure, he falls down.If you knock your foe into something solid, the result includingdamage to him and whatever he hit is as if he had collided with itat a speed equal to the yards of knockback. See Collisions and Falls(p. 430).Knockback Only: Some attacks a jet of water, a shove (p. 372),etc. do knockback but no damage. Roll the listed damage and workout knockback as usual, but no actual injury occurs (unless the targetcollides with something!).Some divisors are fractions, suchas (0.5), (0.2), or (0.1). DR is increasedagainst such attacks: multiply DR by 2for (0.5), by 5 for (0.2), and by 10 for(0.1). In addition, treat DR 0 (e.g., bareskin) as if it were DR 1 against anyfractional armor divisor!There are several other penetra-tion modifiers that affect the protec-tion required to stop a given attack see Blood Agent (p. 110), ContactAgent (p. 111), Follow-Up (p. 105),Respiratory Agent (p. 108), and Sense-Based (pp. 109, 115). These are oftenfound on Afflictions and toxicattacks. See Special PenetrationModifiers (p. 416) for details.Flexible Armor and Blunt TraumaFlexible armor such as a leatherjacket, mail hauberk, or a modern bal-listic vest is much lighter than rigidarmor, but it doesnt absorb the fullforce of the blows it stops. An attackthat does crushing (cr), cutting (cut),impaling (imp), or piercing (pi-, pi, pi+,pi++) damage may inflict blunt trau-ma if it fails to penetrate flexible DR.For every full 10 points of cutting,impaling, or piercing damage or 5points of crushing damage stopped byyour DR, you suffer 1 HP of injury dueto blunt trauma. This is actual injury,not basic damage. There is no wound-ing multiplier.If even one point of damage pene-trates your flexible DR, however, youdo not suffer blunt trauma.If you layer other DR over flexibleDR, only damage that penetrates theouter layer can inflict blunt trauma.CorrosionAn attack that inflicts corrosion(cor) damage acids, disintegrationbeams, etc. destroys one point of the targets DR per 5 points of basicdamage rolled. This affects armorfirst, then natural DR. This reducesDR against future attacks, not againstthe attack that burned off the DR!Natural DR lost by living beings healsat the same rate as lost HP.Overpenetration and CoverSome attacks are powerful enoughto pass right through cover, a shield,or a victim, and damage someone onthe other side. Its usually too muchtrouble to worry about this, but if itbecomes important (e.g., shootingthrough a door, or a bystander behindyour target), see Overpenetration(p. 408).Hurting YourselfAny time you strike unarmed (withbare hands, feet, fangs, etc.) and hit atarget with DR 3+, you may hurt your-self! For every 5 points of basic dam-age you roll, you take one point ofcrushing damage, up to a maximumequal to the DR of the target you hit.Apply this damage to the body partyou used to attack, if you are using hitlocations. Your own DR protectsagainst this damage. Exception: Thisrule does not apply if the targets DRhas the Tough Skin limitation (seeDamage Resistance, p. 46).WOUNDINGMODIFIERSAND INJURYAny damage left over after sub-tracting DR from basic damage ispenetrating damage. If there is anypenetrating damage, multiply it by theattacks wounding modifier. This is amultiplier that depends on damagetype: Small piercing (pi-): 0.5. Burning (burn), corrosion (cor),crushing (cr), fatigue (fat), piercing(pi), and toxic (tox): 1 (damage isunchanged). Cutting (cut) and large piercing(pi+): 1.5. Impaling (imp) and huge piercing(pi++): 2.The damage after this multiplierdetermines the injury: the HP lost bythe target. Round fractions down, butthe minimum injury is 1 HP for anyattack that penetrates DR at all.Reduce the victims current HP totalby the injury sustained.Example: Filthy Pierre is struck byan axe, which does cutting damage.His attackers basic damage roll is 7,but Pierre is wearing DR 2 leatherarmor, so he suffers 5 points of pene-trating damage. Multiplying by 1.5 forcutting damage, Pierre ends up losing7.5 HP, which rounds to 7 HP a nastywound!Note that blunt trauma injury hasno wounding modifier.Where you were hit may furtheraffect the wounding modifier; see HitLocation (p. 398). The rules aboveassume a hit to the torso or face.COMBAT379Some attacks are powerful enough to pass rightthrough cover, a shield, or a victim, and damagesomeone on the other side.Fast Damage Resolution for Multiple HitsIf a rapid-fire attack scores multiple hits, you can speed play as fol-lows: instead of rolling damage per hit, determine damage for one hit,subtract DR, and multiply the resulting penetrating damage (or blunttrauma) by the number of hits.EFFECTSOF INJURYIf you are injured, subtract thepoints of injury from your Hit Points.Usually, you are still in the fight aslong as you have positive HP; seeGeneral Injury: Lost Hit Points (p. 419)for details. The most importanteffects are: If you have less than 1/3 of yourHP remaining, you are reeling fromyour wounds. Halve your Basic Speedand Move (round up), which alsoreduces your Dodge. If you have zero or fewer HP left,you are hanging onto consciousnessthrough sheer willpower and adrena-line or are barely holding together, ifyoure a machine. You must roll vs. HTeach turn to avoid falling unconscious.If you pass out, see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423) for how longit will take to recover.If you go to fully negative HP (forinstance, -10 if you have 10 HP), yourisk death! You must make an imme-diate HT roll to avoid dying. You mustmake another HT roll to avoid deatheach time you lose an extra multiple ofyour HP that is, at -2HP, -3HP, andso on. If you reach -5HP, you dieautomatically. See Death (p. 423).The sudden loss of HP can haveadditional effects:380COMBATInjury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse TargetsThe Wounding Modifiers and Injury rules assume a human, animal,or other ordinary living being. Machines, corporeal undead, swarms,and other unusual entities are much less vulnerable to certain damagetypes:Unliving: Machines and anyone with Injury Tolerance (Unliving)(p. 60), such as most corporeal undead, are less vulnerable to impalingand piercing damage. This gives impaling and huge piercing a wound-ing modifier of 1; large piercing, 1/2; piercing, 1/3; and small pierc-ing, 1/5.Homogenous: Things that lack vulnerable internal parts or mecha-nisms such as uniformly solid or hollow objects (e.g., melee weapons,shields, and furniture), unpowered vehicles, trees, and walls are evenless vulnerable! This includes animated statues, blobs, and anythingelse with Injury Tolerance (Homogenous). Impaling and huge piercinghave a wounding modifier of 1/2; large piercing, 1/3; piercing, 1/5;and small piercing, 1/10.Diffuse: A target with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) is even harder todamage! This includes swarms, air elementals, nets, etc. Impaling andpiercing attacks (of any size) never do more than 1 HP of injury, regard-less of penetrating damage! Other attacks can never do more than 2 HPof injury. Exception: Area-effect, cone, and explosion attacks cause nor-mal injury.Example: Edmund Zhang empties his 9mm machine pistol (2d+2 pidamage) at an approaching zombie. He hits three times. After sub-tracting the zombies DR 1, he scores 8 points of penetrating damagewith the first bullet, 7 with the second, and 10 with the third. The zom-bie has Injury Tolerance (Unliving), so the usual 1 wounding modifierfor piercing damage drops to 1/3. Rounding down, the three bulletsinflict 2 HP, 2 HP, and 3 HP of injury. The zombie had 24 HP, so it has17 HP left. Undaunted, it shambles forward. Edmund should havebrought an axe or a flamethrower!
|
Some divisors are fractions, suchas (0.5), (0.2), or (0.1). DR is increasedagainst such attacks: multiply DR by 2for (0.5), by 5 for (0.2), and by 10 for(0.1). In addition, treat DR 0 (e.g., bareskin) as if it were DR 1 against anyfractional armor divisor!There are several other penetra-tion modifiers that affect the protec-tion required to stop a given attack see Blood Agent (p. 110), ContactAgent (p. 111), Follow-Up (p. 105),Respiratory Agent (p. 108), and Sense-Based (pp. 109, 115). These are oftenfound on Afflictions and toxicattacks. See Special PenetrationModifiers (p. 416) for details.Flexible Armor and Blunt TraumaFlexible armor such as a leatherjacket, mail hauberk, or a modern bal-listic vest is much lighter than rigidarmor, but it doesnt absorb the fullforce of the blows it stops. An attackthat does crushing (cr), cutting (cut),impaling (imp), or piercing (pi-, pi, pi+,pi++) damage may inflict blunt trau-ma if it fails to penetrate flexible DR.For every full 10 points of cutting,impaling, or piercing damage or 5points of crushing damage stopped byyour DR, you suffer 1 HP of injury dueto blunt trauma. This is actual injury,not basic damage. There is no wound-ing multiplier.If even one point of damage pene-trates your flexible DR, however, youdo not suffer blunt trauma.If you layer other DR over flexibleDR, only damage that penetrates theouter layer can inflict blunt trauma.CorrosionAn attack that inflicts corrosion(cor) damage acids, disintegrationbeams, etc. destroys one point of the targets DR per 5 points of basicdamage rolled. This affects armorfirst, then natural DR. This reducesDR against future attacks, not againstthe attack that burned off the DR!Natural DR lost by living beings healsat the same rate as lost HP.Overpenetration and CoverSome attacks are powerful enoughto pass right through cover, a shield,or a victim, and damage someone onthe other side. Its usually too muchtrouble to worry about this, but if itbecomes important (e.g., shootingthrough a door, or a bystander behindyour target), see Overpenetration(p. 408).Hurting YourselfAny time you strike unarmed (withbare hands, feet, fangs, etc.) and hit atarget with DR 3+, you may hurt your-self! For every 5 points of basic dam-age you roll, you take one point ofcrushing damage, up to a maximumequal to the DR of the target you hit.Apply this damage to the body partyou used to attack, if you are using hitlocations. Your own DR protectsagainst this damage. Exception: Thisrule does not apply if the targets DRhas the Tough Skin limitation (seeDamage Resistance, p. 46).WOUNDINGMODIFIERSAND INJURYAny damage left over after sub-tracting DR from basic damage ispenetrating damage. If there is anypenetrating damage, multiply it by theattacks wounding modifier. This is amultiplier that depends on damagetype: Small piercing (pi-): 0.5. Burning (burn), corrosion (cor),crushing (cr), fatigue (fat), piercing(pi), and toxic (tox): 1 (damage isunchanged). Cutting (cut) and large piercing(pi+): 1.5. Impaling (imp) and huge piercing(pi++): 2.The damage after this multiplierdetermines the injury: the HP lost bythe target. Round fractions down, butthe minimum injury is 1 HP for anyattack that penetrates DR at all.Reduce the victims current HP totalby the injury sustained.Example: Filthy Pierre is struck byan axe, which does cutting damage.His attackers basic damage roll is 7,but Pierre is wearing DR 2 leatherarmor, so he suffers 5 points of pene-trating damage. Multiplying by 1.5 forcutting damage, Pierre ends up losing7.5 HP, which rounds to 7 HP a nastywound!Note that blunt trauma injury hasno wounding modifier.Where you were hit may furtheraffect the wounding modifier; see HitLocation (p. 398). The rules aboveassume a hit to the torso or face.COMBAT379Some attacks are powerful enough to pass rightthrough cover, a shield, or a victim, and damagesomeone on the other side.Fast Damage Resolution for Multiple HitsIf a rapid-fire attack scores multiple hits, you can speed play as fol-lows: instead of rolling damage per hit, determine damage for one hit,subtract DR, and multiply the resulting penetrating damage (or blunttrauma) by the number of hits.EFFECTSOF INJURYIf you are injured, subtract thepoints of injury from your Hit Points.Usually, you are still in the fight aslong as you have positive HP; seeGeneral Injury: Lost Hit Points (p. 419)for details. The most importanteffects are: If you have less than 1/3 of yourHP remaining, you are reeling fromyour wounds. Halve your Basic Speedand Move (round up), which alsoreduces your Dodge. If you have zero or fewer HP left,you are hanging onto consciousnessthrough sheer willpower and adrena-line or are barely holding together, ifyoure a machine. You must roll vs. HTeach turn to avoid falling unconscious.If you pass out, see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423) for how longit will take to recover.If you go to fully negative HP (forinstance, -10 if you have 10 HP), yourisk death! You must make an imme-diate HT roll to avoid dying. You mustmake another HT roll to avoid deatheach time you lose an extra multiple ofyour HP that is, at -2HP, -3HP, andso on. If you reach -5HP, you dieautomatically. See Death (p. 423).The sudden loss of HP can haveadditional effects:380COMBATInjury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse TargetsThe Wounding Modifiers and Injury rules assume a human, animal,or other ordinary living being. Machines, corporeal undead, swarms,and other unusual entities are much less vulnerable to certain damagetypes:Unliving: Machines and anyone with Injury Tolerance (Unliving)(p. 60), such as most corporeal undead, are less vulnerable to impalingand piercing damage. This gives impaling and huge piercing a wound-ing modifier of 1; large piercing, 1/2; piercing, 1/3; and small pierc-ing, 1/5.Homogenous: Things that lack vulnerable internal parts or mecha-nisms such as uniformly solid or hollow objects (e.g., melee weapons,shields, and furniture), unpowered vehicles, trees, and walls are evenless vulnerable! This includes animated statues, blobs, and anythingelse with Injury Tolerance (Homogenous). Impaling and huge piercinghave a wounding modifier of 1/2; large piercing, 1/3; piercing, 1/5;and small piercing, 1/10.Diffuse: A target with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) is even harder todamage! This includes swarms, air elementals, nets, etc. Impaling andpiercing attacks (of any size) never do more than 1 HP of injury, regard-less of penetrating damage! Other attacks can never do more than 2 HPof injury. Exception: Area-effect, cone, and explosion attacks cause nor-mal injury.Example: Edmund Zhang empties his 9mm machine pistol (2d+2 pidamage) at an approaching zombie. He hits three times. After sub-tracting the zombies DR 1, he scores 8 points of penetrating damagewith the first bullet, 7 with the second, and 10 with the third. The zom-bie has Injury Tolerance (Unliving), so the usual 1 wounding modifierfor piercing damage drops to 1/3. Rounding down, the three bulletsinflict 2 HP, 2 HP, and 3 HP of injury. The zombie had 24 HP, so it has17 HP left. Undaunted, it shambles forward. Edmund should havebrought an axe or a flamethrower!Shock: Any injury that causes a lossof HP also causes shock. Shock is apenalty to DX, IQ, and skills based onthose attributes on your next turn(only). This is -1 per HP lost unlessyou have 20 or more HP, in which caseit is -1 per (HP/10) lost, roundeddown. The shock penalty cannotexceed -4, no matter how much injuryyou suffer.Major Wounds: Any single injurythat inflicts a wound in excess of 1/2your HP is a major wound. For amajor wound to the torso, you mustmake a HT roll. Failure means yourestunned and knocked down; failure by5+ means you pass out. For details,see Major Wounds (p. 420) andKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Stunning: If youre stunned, youare -4 to active defenses and cannotretreat, and must Do Nothing on yournext turn. At the end of your turn,attempt a HT roll to recover. If youfail, youre still stunned and must DoNothing for another turn. And so on.For more about injuries and howto recover from them! see Injuries(p. 418).SPECIAL DAMAGECertain attacks have specialeffects: poison, electrical shocks,stunning, setting the victim on fire,etc. See the weapon tables, specificattack enhancements in Chapter 2,and the relevant sections of Chapters13 and 14 for details.Follow-Up DamageSome attacks, such as poison dartsand exploding bullets, have follow-up damage: a second type of damagethat occurs an instant after the pri-mary effect. The primary effect isalways ordinary damage of some type piercing, impaling, etc.If the primary damage penetratesthe targets DR, the follow-up effectoccurs inside the target. DR has noeffect! Follow-up effects that occurinternally never inflict knockback orblunt trauma even if their damagetype usually does.If the primary damage fails to pen-etrate DR, the follow-up effect occursoutside the target, if appropriate, as ifthe target had been touched just likea linked effect (see below). Thus, poi-son that must enter the bloodstreamwould have no effect if the arrow thatcarried it failed to penetrate. On theother hand, an explosive projectilewould still do damage . . . but the DRthat stopped the primary damagewould protect against it.Linked EffectsSome attacks have a linked effect.This is a second type of damage orother effect that occurs simultaneous-ly with the primary effect. Make oneroll to hit, but resolve all damage andresistance rolls separately for the pri-mary effect and the linked effect. Anexample of a linked effect is a grenadethat inflicts both a crushing explosionand a blinding flash of light on deto-nation. A person in armor might beblinded but unhurt, while an unar-mored person with eye protectionmight be wounded but not blinded.COMBAT381CRITICAL HITS AND MISSESCritical hits and critical missesare critical successes and failures (seeDegree of Success or Failure, p. 347) onrolls to attack or defend in combat.CRITICAL HITSA critical hit is an especially luckyor good blow. It automatically hitshome your foe does not get an activedefense roll!Whenever you roll a natural 3 or 4when attacking, you get a critical hitand you roll on the Critical Hit Table(p. 556). If you have high skill or a par-ticularly good shot at your foe, youwill get critical hits more often. Withan effective skill of 15+, any roll of 5 orless is a critical hit; with an effectiveskill of 16+, any roll of 6 or less is acritical hit. Bonuses to hit (e.g., for All-Out Attack or a large target) do makecritical hits more likely, while penal-ties (e.g., for a difficult target) makecritical hits less likely.Example: Louis LeBlanc needs toroll 15 or less to hit Filthy Pierre. Herolls a 5. Thats a critical hit for him!(A 3 or 4 would be a critical hit foranyone!) Because this is a critical hit,Pierre gets no defense roll. The blowautomatically hits!A critical hit is often the only wayfor an unskilled character to injure asuperior opponent in a fair fight or getthrough heavy armor with a lightweapon. Once in a while, everybodygets a lucky shot. But note that themost likely result on the table is noextra damage. Even if you get luckyand hit a superior foe, your blowmight not be especially hard . . .Critical Success onDefense RollsIf you get a critical success on adefense roll against a melee attack,then your foe goes immediately to theCritical Miss Table (p. 556). You fakedhim out, knocked his weapon fromhis hand, or otherwise defended verywell!A critical success on a defense rollagainst a ranged attack has no specialeffect, with one exception: if the attackwas a thrown weapon, a critical suc-cess on a bare-handed parry lets youcatch the incoming weapon withouthurting yourself, if you so desire.Attacks Without DamageNot all attacks inflict damage. Some stun rays, drugs, etc. offer amodified HT roll to resist (e.g., HT-2). If the victim is hit and fails hisHT roll, hes affected; see Affliction (p. 35) for details. Other attacksrestrain the victim, requiring ST rolls to break free; see Binding (p. 40).
|
EFFECTSOF INJURYIf you are injured, subtract thepoints of injury from your Hit Points.Usually, you are still in the fight aslong as you have positive HP; seeGeneral Injury: Lost Hit Points (p. 419)for details. The most importanteffects are: If you have less than 1/3 of yourHP remaining, you are reeling fromyour wounds. Halve your Basic Speedand Move (round up), which alsoreduces your Dodge. If you have zero or fewer HP left,you are hanging onto consciousnessthrough sheer willpower and adrena-line or are barely holding together, ifyoure a machine. You must roll vs. HTeach turn to avoid falling unconscious.If you pass out, see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423) for how longit will take to recover.If you go to fully negative HP (forinstance, -10 if you have 10 HP), yourisk death! You must make an imme-diate HT roll to avoid dying. You mustmake another HT roll to avoid deatheach time you lose an extra multiple ofyour HP that is, at -2HP, -3HP, andso on. If you reach -5HP, you dieautomatically. See Death (p. 423).The sudden loss of HP can haveadditional effects:380COMBATInjury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse TargetsThe Wounding Modifiers and Injury rules assume a human, animal,or other ordinary living being. Machines, corporeal undead, swarms,and other unusual entities are much less vulnerable to certain damagetypes:Unliving: Machines and anyone with Injury Tolerance (Unliving)(p. 60), such as most corporeal undead, are less vulnerable to impalingand piercing damage. This gives impaling and huge piercing a wound-ing modifier of 1; large piercing, 1/2; piercing, 1/3; and small pierc-ing, 1/5.Homogenous: Things that lack vulnerable internal parts or mecha-nisms such as uniformly solid or hollow objects (e.g., melee weapons,shields, and furniture), unpowered vehicles, trees, and walls are evenless vulnerable! This includes animated statues, blobs, and anythingelse with Injury Tolerance (Homogenous). Impaling and huge piercinghave a wounding modifier of 1/2; large piercing, 1/3; piercing, 1/5;and small piercing, 1/10.Diffuse: A target with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) is even harder todamage! This includes swarms, air elementals, nets, etc. Impaling andpiercing attacks (of any size) never do more than 1 HP of injury, regard-less of penetrating damage! Other attacks can never do more than 2 HPof injury. Exception: Area-effect, cone, and explosion attacks cause nor-mal injury.Example: Edmund Zhang empties his 9mm machine pistol (2d+2 pidamage) at an approaching zombie. He hits three times. After sub-tracting the zombies DR 1, he scores 8 points of penetrating damagewith the first bullet, 7 with the second, and 10 with the third. The zom-bie has Injury Tolerance (Unliving), so the usual 1 wounding modifierfor piercing damage drops to 1/3. Rounding down, the three bulletsinflict 2 HP, 2 HP, and 3 HP of injury. The zombie had 24 HP, so it has17 HP left. Undaunted, it shambles forward. Edmund should havebrought an axe or a flamethrower!Shock: Any injury that causes a lossof HP also causes shock. Shock is apenalty to DX, IQ, and skills based onthose attributes on your next turn(only). This is -1 per HP lost unlessyou have 20 or more HP, in which caseit is -1 per (HP/10) lost, roundeddown. The shock penalty cannotexceed -4, no matter how much injuryyou suffer.Major Wounds: Any single injurythat inflicts a wound in excess of 1/2your HP is a major wound. For amajor wound to the torso, you mustmake a HT roll. Failure means yourestunned and knocked down; failure by5+ means you pass out. For details,see Major Wounds (p. 420) andKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Stunning: If youre stunned, youare -4 to active defenses and cannotretreat, and must Do Nothing on yournext turn. At the end of your turn,attempt a HT roll to recover. If youfail, youre still stunned and must DoNothing for another turn. And so on.For more about injuries and howto recover from them! see Injuries(p. 418).SPECIAL DAMAGECertain attacks have specialeffects: poison, electrical shocks,stunning, setting the victim on fire,etc. See the weapon tables, specificattack enhancements in Chapter 2,and the relevant sections of Chapters13 and 14 for details.Follow-Up DamageSome attacks, such as poison dartsand exploding bullets, have follow-up damage: a second type of damagethat occurs an instant after the pri-mary effect. The primary effect isalways ordinary damage of some type piercing, impaling, etc.If the primary damage penetratesthe targets DR, the follow-up effectoccurs inside the target. DR has noeffect! Follow-up effects that occurinternally never inflict knockback orblunt trauma even if their damagetype usually does.If the primary damage fails to pen-etrate DR, the follow-up effect occursoutside the target, if appropriate, as ifthe target had been touched just likea linked effect (see below). Thus, poi-son that must enter the bloodstreamwould have no effect if the arrow thatcarried it failed to penetrate. On theother hand, an explosive projectilewould still do damage . . . but the DRthat stopped the primary damagewould protect against it.Linked EffectsSome attacks have a linked effect.This is a second type of damage orother effect that occurs simultaneous-ly with the primary effect. Make oneroll to hit, but resolve all damage andresistance rolls separately for the pri-mary effect and the linked effect. Anexample of a linked effect is a grenadethat inflicts both a crushing explosionand a blinding flash of light on deto-nation. A person in armor might beblinded but unhurt, while an unar-mored person with eye protectionmight be wounded but not blinded.COMBAT381CRITICAL HITS AND MISSESCritical hits and critical missesare critical successes and failures (seeDegree of Success or Failure, p. 347) onrolls to attack or defend in combat.CRITICAL HITSA critical hit is an especially luckyor good blow. It automatically hitshome your foe does not get an activedefense roll!Whenever you roll a natural 3 or 4when attacking, you get a critical hitand you roll on the Critical Hit Table(p. 556). If you have high skill or a par-ticularly good shot at your foe, youwill get critical hits more often. Withan effective skill of 15+, any roll of 5 orless is a critical hit; with an effectiveskill of 16+, any roll of 6 or less is acritical hit. Bonuses to hit (e.g., for All-Out Attack or a large target) do makecritical hits more likely, while penal-ties (e.g., for a difficult target) makecritical hits less likely.Example: Louis LeBlanc needs toroll 15 or less to hit Filthy Pierre. Herolls a 5. Thats a critical hit for him!(A 3 or 4 would be a critical hit foranyone!) Because this is a critical hit,Pierre gets no defense roll. The blowautomatically hits!A critical hit is often the only wayfor an unskilled character to injure asuperior opponent in a fair fight or getthrough heavy armor with a lightweapon. Once in a while, everybodygets a lucky shot. But note that themost likely result on the table is noextra damage. Even if you get luckyand hit a superior foe, your blowmight not be especially hard . . .Critical Success onDefense RollsIf you get a critical success on adefense roll against a melee attack,then your foe goes immediately to theCritical Miss Table (p. 556). You fakedhim out, knocked his weapon fromhis hand, or otherwise defended verywell!A critical success on a defense rollagainst a ranged attack has no specialeffect, with one exception: if the attackwas a thrown weapon, a critical suc-cess on a bare-handed parry lets youcatch the incoming weapon withouthurting yourself, if you so desire.Attacks Without DamageNot all attacks inflict damage. Some stun rays, drugs, etc. offer amodified HT roll to resist (e.g., HT-2). If the victim is hit and fails hisHT roll, hes affected; see Affliction (p. 35) for details. Other attacksrestrain the victim, requiring ST rolls to break free; see Binding (p. 40).CRITICAL MISSESThe opposite of a critical hit is acritical miss. You suffer a criticalmiss when you fail badly on an attackor defense roll. You might break yourweapon, throw it away, or even hityourself!A roll of 18 is always a critical miss.A roll of 17 is a critical miss unlessyour effective skill is 16 or better; inthat case, it is an ordinary miss. Amelee attack (but not a ranged attack)or defense roll that fails by 10 or moreis also a critical miss.If you get a critical miss on anattack or a parry, roll on the appropri-ate Critical Miss Table (p. 556). Applythe result immediately. If you critical-ly miss a dodge, you lose your footingand fall prone (no effect if alreadyprone). If you tried to block, you loseyour grip on your shield and musttake a turn to ready it before you canuse it to block again.A firearm may also malfunction ona bad roll; see Malfunctions (p. 407). Amalfunction has priority over a crit-ical miss: if both would occur, only themalfunction takes place.382COMBATExample of CombatLouis LeBlancs weapon is a shortsword. He isstanding two yards from his foe, Filthy Pierre. On histurn, Louis takes the Attack maneuver, steps one yardtoward Pierre, and strikes!Louis has Shortsword-15, and there are no adverseconditions that would give him a skill penalty; there-fore, he needs to roll 15 or less to hit. He swings androlls a 13, so he hits.Pierre has a Dodge of 8, Shield-12 (giving him aBlock of 9), and Shortsword-11 (giving him a Parry of8). His Block is his best defense, so hell use it when-ever he can. Pierres small shield gives a +1 DefenseBonus (see Shields, p. 287); this increases all of hisdefenses by 1.Pierres Block defense is therefore 9 + 1, for a totalof 10 . . . or 11, if he retreats. If he blocks and retreats,and rolls 11 or less, he can defend against the accurateblow that Louis just threw. But he gets a 12. Too bad!Hes hit.Although the combat calculations may seem com-plex at first, they are simple in play! The attacker rollsagainst his skill, as shown on his character sheet. Thedefender adds up his defenses, as shown on his char-acter sheet, and rolls against the total. Thats it!To continue the example: Louis is attacking Pierre.His blow was good, and Pierre failed to defend. So theblow got through.Now Louis rolls for damage. Louis player hasalready figured how much damage he does with ashortsword and written it on his character sheet. Hehas ST 11, so his swing does 1d+1 damage. He rollsone die and gets a 4. Adding one point yields a 5, soPierre takes 5 points of basic damage.However, Pierre is wearing cloth armor, which hasDR 1. This subtracts a point from Louis damage roll only 4 points of damage penetrate Pierres armor.A shortsword is a cutting weapon, with a 1.5wounding modifier. This multiplies the penetratingdamage . . . so Pierre takes a 6 HP wound! That blowcould knock a lesser man down. Sad but true . . . onegood sword blow can settle a fight.The GM subtracts 6 from Pierres HP. Luckily forPierre, this is not more than half of his original 12 HP,so he does not have to roll to see if he is knocked downor stunned. However, if he attacks on his next turn, hewill have a shock penalty equal to the HP he lost or -4,whichever is the lower penalty. Since he lost 6 HP, hesat -4 to skill.And the fight continues.OTHER ACTIONS IN COMBATCombatants can perform actionsother than attacking and moving.Physical actions usually require Readymaneuvers, while mental ones call forConcentrate maneuvers.READYINGWEAPONS ANDOTHER GEARA ready item is one that is inhand, ready for action. A weapon orother device is unready if in a holster,scabbard, pocket, belt, or pack; on thefloor or a table; etc.It generally takes a single Readymaneuver to ready an item that is onyour belt, in a pocket, in a scabbard orholster, or slung over your back.If you stand still, a single Readymaneuver also lets you ready an itemfrom a table, wall rack, etc., providedit is within your reach (normally oneyard).A single Ready maneuver lets youaccept one item that another person isholding out to you. He must be closeenough to reach you (one yard, for ahuman), and he must have taken aReady maneuver on his turn in orderto hold out the item for you. You mustboth stand still. Note that you cannotexchange two items simultaneously.Each object exchanged requires a sep-arate Ready maneuver on the part ofeach person involved. (Recall thatthese rules are for combat; obviouslytwo people walking down the streetcan hand things back and forth atwill.)
|
Shock: Any injury that causes a lossof HP also causes shock. Shock is apenalty to DX, IQ, and skills based onthose attributes on your next turn(only). This is -1 per HP lost unlessyou have 20 or more HP, in which caseit is -1 per (HP/10) lost, roundeddown. The shock penalty cannotexceed -4, no matter how much injuryyou suffer.Major Wounds: Any single injurythat inflicts a wound in excess of 1/2your HP is a major wound. For amajor wound to the torso, you mustmake a HT roll. Failure means yourestunned and knocked down; failure by5+ means you pass out. For details,see Major Wounds (p. 420) andKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Stunning: If youre stunned, youare -4 to active defenses and cannotretreat, and must Do Nothing on yournext turn. At the end of your turn,attempt a HT roll to recover. If youfail, youre still stunned and must DoNothing for another turn. And so on.For more about injuries and howto recover from them! see Injuries(p. 418).SPECIAL DAMAGECertain attacks have specialeffects: poison, electrical shocks,stunning, setting the victim on fire,etc. See the weapon tables, specificattack enhancements in Chapter 2,and the relevant sections of Chapters13 and 14 for details.Follow-Up DamageSome attacks, such as poison dartsand exploding bullets, have follow-up damage: a second type of damagethat occurs an instant after the pri-mary effect. The primary effect isalways ordinary damage of some type piercing, impaling, etc.If the primary damage penetratesthe targets DR, the follow-up effectoccurs inside the target. DR has noeffect! Follow-up effects that occurinternally never inflict knockback orblunt trauma even if their damagetype usually does.If the primary damage fails to pen-etrate DR, the follow-up effect occursoutside the target, if appropriate, as ifthe target had been touched just likea linked effect (see below). Thus, poi-son that must enter the bloodstreamwould have no effect if the arrow thatcarried it failed to penetrate. On theother hand, an explosive projectilewould still do damage . . . but the DRthat stopped the primary damagewould protect against it.Linked EffectsSome attacks have a linked effect.This is a second type of damage orother effect that occurs simultaneous-ly with the primary effect. Make oneroll to hit, but resolve all damage andresistance rolls separately for the pri-mary effect and the linked effect. Anexample of a linked effect is a grenadethat inflicts both a crushing explosionand a blinding flash of light on deto-nation. A person in armor might beblinded but unhurt, while an unar-mored person with eye protectionmight be wounded but not blinded.COMBAT381CRITICAL HITS AND MISSESCritical hits and critical missesare critical successes and failures (seeDegree of Success or Failure, p. 347) onrolls to attack or defend in combat.CRITICAL HITSA critical hit is an especially luckyor good blow. It automatically hitshome your foe does not get an activedefense roll!Whenever you roll a natural 3 or 4when attacking, you get a critical hitand you roll on the Critical Hit Table(p. 556). If you have high skill or a par-ticularly good shot at your foe, youwill get critical hits more often. Withan effective skill of 15+, any roll of 5 orless is a critical hit; with an effectiveskill of 16+, any roll of 6 or less is acritical hit. Bonuses to hit (e.g., for All-Out Attack or a large target) do makecritical hits more likely, while penal-ties (e.g., for a difficult target) makecritical hits less likely.Example: Louis LeBlanc needs toroll 15 or less to hit Filthy Pierre. Herolls a 5. Thats a critical hit for him!(A 3 or 4 would be a critical hit foranyone!) Because this is a critical hit,Pierre gets no defense roll. The blowautomatically hits!A critical hit is often the only wayfor an unskilled character to injure asuperior opponent in a fair fight or getthrough heavy armor with a lightweapon. Once in a while, everybodygets a lucky shot. But note that themost likely result on the table is noextra damage. Even if you get luckyand hit a superior foe, your blowmight not be especially hard . . .Critical Success onDefense RollsIf you get a critical success on adefense roll against a melee attack,then your foe goes immediately to theCritical Miss Table (p. 556). You fakedhim out, knocked his weapon fromhis hand, or otherwise defended verywell!A critical success on a defense rollagainst a ranged attack has no specialeffect, with one exception: if the attackwas a thrown weapon, a critical suc-cess on a bare-handed parry lets youcatch the incoming weapon withouthurting yourself, if you so desire.Attacks Without DamageNot all attacks inflict damage. Some stun rays, drugs, etc. offer amodified HT roll to resist (e.g., HT-2). If the victim is hit and fails hisHT roll, hes affected; see Affliction (p. 35) for details. Other attacksrestrain the victim, requiring ST rolls to break free; see Binding (p. 40).CRITICAL MISSESThe opposite of a critical hit is acritical miss. You suffer a criticalmiss when you fail badly on an attackor defense roll. You might break yourweapon, throw it away, or even hityourself!A roll of 18 is always a critical miss.A roll of 17 is a critical miss unlessyour effective skill is 16 or better; inthat case, it is an ordinary miss. Amelee attack (but not a ranged attack)or defense roll that fails by 10 or moreis also a critical miss.If you get a critical miss on anattack or a parry, roll on the appropri-ate Critical Miss Table (p. 556). Applythe result immediately. If you critical-ly miss a dodge, you lose your footingand fall prone (no effect if alreadyprone). If you tried to block, you loseyour grip on your shield and musttake a turn to ready it before you canuse it to block again.A firearm may also malfunction ona bad roll; see Malfunctions (p. 407). Amalfunction has priority over a crit-ical miss: if both would occur, only themalfunction takes place.382COMBATExample of CombatLouis LeBlancs weapon is a shortsword. He isstanding two yards from his foe, Filthy Pierre. On histurn, Louis takes the Attack maneuver, steps one yardtoward Pierre, and strikes!Louis has Shortsword-15, and there are no adverseconditions that would give him a skill penalty; there-fore, he needs to roll 15 or less to hit. He swings androlls a 13, so he hits.Pierre has a Dodge of 8, Shield-12 (giving him aBlock of 9), and Shortsword-11 (giving him a Parry of8). His Block is his best defense, so hell use it when-ever he can. Pierres small shield gives a +1 DefenseBonus (see Shields, p. 287); this increases all of hisdefenses by 1.Pierres Block defense is therefore 9 + 1, for a totalof 10 . . . or 11, if he retreats. If he blocks and retreats,and rolls 11 or less, he can defend against the accurateblow that Louis just threw. But he gets a 12. Too bad!Hes hit.Although the combat calculations may seem com-plex at first, they are simple in play! The attacker rollsagainst his skill, as shown on his character sheet. Thedefender adds up his defenses, as shown on his char-acter sheet, and rolls against the total. Thats it!To continue the example: Louis is attacking Pierre.His blow was good, and Pierre failed to defend. So theblow got through.Now Louis rolls for damage. Louis player hasalready figured how much damage he does with ashortsword and written it on his character sheet. Hehas ST 11, so his swing does 1d+1 damage. He rollsone die and gets a 4. Adding one point yields a 5, soPierre takes 5 points of basic damage.However, Pierre is wearing cloth armor, which hasDR 1. This subtracts a point from Louis damage roll only 4 points of damage penetrate Pierres armor.A shortsword is a cutting weapon, with a 1.5wounding modifier. This multiplies the penetratingdamage . . . so Pierre takes a 6 HP wound! That blowcould knock a lesser man down. Sad but true . . . onegood sword blow can settle a fight.The GM subtracts 6 from Pierres HP. Luckily forPierre, this is not more than half of his original 12 HP,so he does not have to roll to see if he is knocked downor stunned. However, if he attacks on his next turn, hewill have a shock penalty equal to the HP he lost or -4,whichever is the lower penalty. Since he lost 6 HP, hesat -4 to skill.And the fight continues.OTHER ACTIONS IN COMBATCombatants can perform actionsother than attacking and moving.Physical actions usually require Readymaneuvers, while mental ones call forConcentrate maneuvers.READYINGWEAPONS ANDOTHER GEARA ready item is one that is inhand, ready for action. A weapon orother device is unready if in a holster,scabbard, pocket, belt, or pack; on thefloor or a table; etc.It generally takes a single Readymaneuver to ready an item that is onyour belt, in a pocket, in a scabbard orholster, or slung over your back.If you stand still, a single Readymaneuver also lets you ready an itemfrom a table, wall rack, etc., providedit is within your reach (normally oneyard).A single Ready maneuver lets youaccept one item that another person isholding out to you. He must be closeenough to reach you (one yard, for ahuman), and he must have taken aReady maneuver on his turn in orderto hold out the item for you. You mustboth stand still. Note that you cannotexchange two items simultaneously.Each object exchanged requires a sep-arate Ready maneuver on the part ofeach person involved. (Recall thatthese rules are for combat; obviouslytwo people walking down the streetcan hand things back and forth atwill.)Some additional rules:Picking something up from theground. You must be kneeling, crawl-ing, sitting, or lying down to do so,unless you have arms with a two-yardreach! If you are standing, you mustfirst take a Change Posture maneuverto kneel, sit, etc.Readying a weapon. You can onlyattack or parry with a weapon that isin your hand and ready to use. Youmust ready some weapons againafter each attack! For instance, youmust ready a poleaxe after each swing,because its momentum carries itaway. See the weapon tables inChapter 8 to learn which weaponsrequire readying after use.Reloading a weapon. This requiresseveral consecutive Ready maneuvers.The number of Ready maneuversrequired appears in parentheses afterthe weapons Shots statistic. Forexample, a longbow requires twoReady maneuvers: one to ready thearrow by removing it from yourquiver, and one to ready the bow byplacing the arrow to the string anddrawing it. That takes two turns. Onthe third turn, you can Aim or Attack.Readying a shield or cloak. If ashield or cloak is on the ground, orslung on your back, it takes a numberof Ready maneuvers equal to itsDefense Bonus to prepare it for com-bat. It takes the same amount of timeto don your cloak or sling your shieldagain but you can drop it on theground with a single Ready maneuver(not a free action!). For the purpose ofreadying, treat a buckler as a weapon,not as a shield.Long actions. Many physicalactions take more than one second tocomplete. In combat, choose theReady maneuver each turn until youare finished. This is not a specificmaneuver, but a generic choice thatlets you do one seconds worth of anymulti-second action. The GM decideshow many turns each action takes; seeTypical Long Actions (p. 383) for exam-ples. Some things (like piling up rocksto stand on) can be interrupted in themiddle if necessary, to take any neces-sary maneuver or other action. Otherthings (like ritual magic) cant beinterrupted; if you stop in the middle,you must start over.If an action takes a long time, youcan help the GM keep track of eventsby counting the seconds each time youannounce the maneuver. For instance,to reload a weapon, you would say,Reloading my gun one second onyour first turn, and, Reloading mygun two seconds and finished onyour second turn.TYPICALLONG ACTIONSSee the table above for the dura-tion of typical long actions. You musttake a Ready maneuver each second.The times required for long actionsare realistic, but they can also sidelinea player for instance, if his characterrummages through his backpack. Ifthe GM deems it dramatically appropri-ate, he may let PCs shave off a few seconds by making a successful DX orIQ roll, at the cost of failure havingother problems (e.g., dropping thebackpack and spilling its contents).This completes the combat system.Get out there and fight!When you are comfortable withthese rules, you can proceed toChapter 12, Tactical Combat, if youwish to use a hex grid for more preciseresolution of battles. GMs may alsoconsult Chapter 13 for advanced rulesconcerning factors that might notcome into play in every battle: hit loca-tions, mounted opponents, surpriseattacks, and various exotic weapons.See also pp. 462-470 for rules for vehi-cles, pp. 455-461 for rules for animals,and p. 547-559 for the collected com-bat tables.COMBAT383ActionTimePick up a heavy object in one hand (weight up to 2BL)2 sec.Pick up a heavy object in two hands (weight up to 8BL)4 sec.Open an unlocked box, briefcase, chest, door, etc.1 sec.Find a loose item in a box, briefcase, pack, etc. (if its not hidden)2d secondsFind an item in your own pocket1d secondsWrite a brief note5 sec. per sentenceRead a brief note2 sec. per sentenceSwallow a pill or potion2 sec.Light a candle, cigarette, fuse, match, torch, etc.2 sec.Replace a weapon in its scabbard, drop a small item into your pocket2 sec.Search an unresisting person fairly thoroughly1 min.Put on a suit of armor3 sec. per piece (30 sec./piece for a vacc suit or battlesuit)When Is a Weapon Ready?A weapon is ready if it is in your hand and ready to attack. It takesone turn to ready a weapon from its scabbard (but see Fast-Draw,p. 194). A few special rules:Changing Grips: Some long weapons require one extra turn ofreadying to go from a one-yard to a two-yard reach, or from a two-yardto a three-yard reach, or vice versa. An unready weapon may be re-read-ied to any legal reach, regardless of how you used it before; this is justpart of the Ready maneuver.Unbalanced Weapons: A few large and unwieldy weapons are car-ried out of line by their momentum when you attack. Unless your STis at least 1.5 times that required to wield the weapon, they becomeunready after you attack with them; to use them again, take a Readymaneuver. If you fall down, lose your balance, or are stunned, and yourweapon is one that requires readying after each use, it becomesunready!Holstering: It takes one second to return a pistol to a holster.Scabbarding: It takes two seconds to return a weapon to a scabbardor belt-loop.
|
CRITICAL MISSESThe opposite of a critical hit is acritical miss. You suffer a criticalmiss when you fail badly on an attackor defense roll. You might break yourweapon, throw it away, or even hityourself!A roll of 18 is always a critical miss.A roll of 17 is a critical miss unlessyour effective skill is 16 or better; inthat case, it is an ordinary miss. Amelee attack (but not a ranged attack)or defense roll that fails by 10 or moreis also a critical miss.If you get a critical miss on anattack or a parry, roll on the appropri-ate Critical Miss Table (p. 556). Applythe result immediately. If you critical-ly miss a dodge, you lose your footingand fall prone (no effect if alreadyprone). If you tried to block, you loseyour grip on your shield and musttake a turn to ready it before you canuse it to block again.A firearm may also malfunction ona bad roll; see Malfunctions (p. 407). Amalfunction has priority over a crit-ical miss: if both would occur, only themalfunction takes place.382COMBATExample of CombatLouis LeBlancs weapon is a shortsword. He isstanding two yards from his foe, Filthy Pierre. On histurn, Louis takes the Attack maneuver, steps one yardtoward Pierre, and strikes!Louis has Shortsword-15, and there are no adverseconditions that would give him a skill penalty; there-fore, he needs to roll 15 or less to hit. He swings androlls a 13, so he hits.Pierre has a Dodge of 8, Shield-12 (giving him aBlock of 9), and Shortsword-11 (giving him a Parry of8). His Block is his best defense, so hell use it when-ever he can. Pierres small shield gives a +1 DefenseBonus (see Shields, p. 287); this increases all of hisdefenses by 1.Pierres Block defense is therefore 9 + 1, for a totalof 10 . . . or 11, if he retreats. If he blocks and retreats,and rolls 11 or less, he can defend against the accurateblow that Louis just threw. But he gets a 12. Too bad!Hes hit.Although the combat calculations may seem com-plex at first, they are simple in play! The attacker rollsagainst his skill, as shown on his character sheet. Thedefender adds up his defenses, as shown on his char-acter sheet, and rolls against the total. Thats it!To continue the example: Louis is attacking Pierre.His blow was good, and Pierre failed to defend. So theblow got through.Now Louis rolls for damage. Louis player hasalready figured how much damage he does with ashortsword and written it on his character sheet. Hehas ST 11, so his swing does 1d+1 damage. He rollsone die and gets a 4. Adding one point yields a 5, soPierre takes 5 points of basic damage.However, Pierre is wearing cloth armor, which hasDR 1. This subtracts a point from Louis damage roll only 4 points of damage penetrate Pierres armor.A shortsword is a cutting weapon, with a 1.5wounding modifier. This multiplies the penetratingdamage . . . so Pierre takes a 6 HP wound! That blowcould knock a lesser man down. Sad but true . . . onegood sword blow can settle a fight.The GM subtracts 6 from Pierres HP. Luckily forPierre, this is not more than half of his original 12 HP,so he does not have to roll to see if he is knocked downor stunned. However, if he attacks on his next turn, hewill have a shock penalty equal to the HP he lost or -4,whichever is the lower penalty. Since he lost 6 HP, hesat -4 to skill.And the fight continues.OTHER ACTIONS IN COMBATCombatants can perform actionsother than attacking and moving.Physical actions usually require Readymaneuvers, while mental ones call forConcentrate maneuvers.READYINGWEAPONS ANDOTHER GEARA ready item is one that is inhand, ready for action. A weapon orother device is unready if in a holster,scabbard, pocket, belt, or pack; on thefloor or a table; etc.It generally takes a single Readymaneuver to ready an item that is onyour belt, in a pocket, in a scabbard orholster, or slung over your back.If you stand still, a single Readymaneuver also lets you ready an itemfrom a table, wall rack, etc., providedit is within your reach (normally oneyard).A single Ready maneuver lets youaccept one item that another person isholding out to you. He must be closeenough to reach you (one yard, for ahuman), and he must have taken aReady maneuver on his turn in orderto hold out the item for you. You mustboth stand still. Note that you cannotexchange two items simultaneously.Each object exchanged requires a sep-arate Ready maneuver on the part ofeach person involved. (Recall thatthese rules are for combat; obviouslytwo people walking down the streetcan hand things back and forth atwill.)Some additional rules:Picking something up from theground. You must be kneeling, crawl-ing, sitting, or lying down to do so,unless you have arms with a two-yardreach! If you are standing, you mustfirst take a Change Posture maneuverto kneel, sit, etc.Readying a weapon. You can onlyattack or parry with a weapon that isin your hand and ready to use. Youmust ready some weapons againafter each attack! For instance, youmust ready a poleaxe after each swing,because its momentum carries itaway. See the weapon tables inChapter 8 to learn which weaponsrequire readying after use.Reloading a weapon. This requiresseveral consecutive Ready maneuvers.The number of Ready maneuversrequired appears in parentheses afterthe weapons Shots statistic. Forexample, a longbow requires twoReady maneuvers: one to ready thearrow by removing it from yourquiver, and one to ready the bow byplacing the arrow to the string anddrawing it. That takes two turns. Onthe third turn, you can Aim or Attack.Readying a shield or cloak. If ashield or cloak is on the ground, orslung on your back, it takes a numberof Ready maneuvers equal to itsDefense Bonus to prepare it for com-bat. It takes the same amount of timeto don your cloak or sling your shieldagain but you can drop it on theground with a single Ready maneuver(not a free action!). For the purpose ofreadying, treat a buckler as a weapon,not as a shield.Long actions. Many physicalactions take more than one second tocomplete. In combat, choose theReady maneuver each turn until youare finished. This is not a specificmaneuver, but a generic choice thatlets you do one seconds worth of anymulti-second action. The GM decideshow many turns each action takes; seeTypical Long Actions (p. 383) for exam-ples. Some things (like piling up rocksto stand on) can be interrupted in themiddle if necessary, to take any neces-sary maneuver or other action. Otherthings (like ritual magic) cant beinterrupted; if you stop in the middle,you must start over.If an action takes a long time, youcan help the GM keep track of eventsby counting the seconds each time youannounce the maneuver. For instance,to reload a weapon, you would say,Reloading my gun one second onyour first turn, and, Reloading mygun two seconds and finished onyour second turn.TYPICALLONG ACTIONSSee the table above for the dura-tion of typical long actions. You musttake a Ready maneuver each second.The times required for long actionsare realistic, but they can also sidelinea player for instance, if his characterrummages through his backpack. Ifthe GM deems it dramatically appropri-ate, he may let PCs shave off a few seconds by making a successful DX orIQ roll, at the cost of failure havingother problems (e.g., dropping thebackpack and spilling its contents).This completes the combat system.Get out there and fight!When you are comfortable withthese rules, you can proceed toChapter 12, Tactical Combat, if youwish to use a hex grid for more preciseresolution of battles. GMs may alsoconsult Chapter 13 for advanced rulesconcerning factors that might notcome into play in every battle: hit loca-tions, mounted opponents, surpriseattacks, and various exotic weapons.See also pp. 462-470 for rules for vehi-cles, pp. 455-461 for rules for animals,and p. 547-559 for the collected com-bat tables.COMBAT383ActionTimePick up a heavy object in one hand (weight up to 2BL)2 sec.Pick up a heavy object in two hands (weight up to 8BL)4 sec.Open an unlocked box, briefcase, chest, door, etc.1 sec.Find a loose item in a box, briefcase, pack, etc. (if its not hidden)2d secondsFind an item in your own pocket1d secondsWrite a brief note5 sec. per sentenceRead a brief note2 sec. per sentenceSwallow a pill or potion2 sec.Light a candle, cigarette, fuse, match, torch, etc.2 sec.Replace a weapon in its scabbard, drop a small item into your pocket2 sec.Search an unresisting person fairly thoroughly1 min.Put on a suit of armor3 sec. per piece (30 sec./piece for a vacc suit or battlesuit)When Is a Weapon Ready?A weapon is ready if it is in your hand and ready to attack. It takesone turn to ready a weapon from its scabbard (but see Fast-Draw,p. 194). A few special rules:Changing Grips: Some long weapons require one extra turn ofreadying to go from a one-yard to a two-yard reach, or from a two-yardto a three-yard reach, or vice versa. An unready weapon may be re-read-ied to any legal reach, regardless of how you used it before; this is justpart of the Ready maneuver.Unbalanced Weapons: A few large and unwieldy weapons are car-ried out of line by their momentum when you attack. Unless your STis at least 1.5 times that required to wield the weapon, they becomeunready after you attack with them; to use them again, take a Readymaneuver. If you fall down, lose your balance, or are stunned, and yourweapon is one that requires readying after each use, it becomesunready!Holstering: It takes one second to return a pistol to a holster.Scabbarding: It takes two seconds to return a weapon to a scabbardor belt-loop.These rules let you resolve combat using counters or figures on a hexago-nal grid. They assume you have already mastered the combat system inChapter 11, and cover only the exceptions and special cases that arise whenusing that system on a map.FIGURESYou need a marker or miniature figure to represent each combatant.This can be metal, plastic . . . even cardboard. These rules assume one-inch hexes, or a 50mm scale, for maps but 25mm figures are easier tohandle. Of course, you need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way to show when thefighter it represents is prone.Gamers who want the fun of detailed figures at the cost of card-board counters should consider Cardboard Heroes, SJ Gamesline of upright cardboard figures.CHAPTER TWELVETACTICALCOMBATYou need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way toshow when the fighter it represents is prone.384TACTICAL COMBATTHECOMBAT MAPTactical combat uses a combat map marked off in hexagons, or hexes. Eachone-inch hex on the map represents an area one yard across. At the start of com-bat, pick a suitable map, typically one you have drawn on a blank sheet of hexa-gon paper.HEXESOne hex on the combat map represents one yard of distance. It is also the basicunit of movement: each hex a fighter moves represents one yard of movement.The number of hexes you can move on your turn depends on your Move scoreand your maneuver (see Maneuvers in Tactical Combat, p. 385).Each human-sized or smaller fighter must occupy one hex. Exceptions includeclose combat (see Close Combat, p. 391), swarms (see Swarm Attacks, p. 461), andsituations in which people are crowded together but not fighting (you could cramup to four ordinary-sized humans into a single hex, if they were friendly).
|
Some additional rules:Picking something up from theground. You must be kneeling, crawl-ing, sitting, or lying down to do so,unless you have arms with a two-yardreach! If you are standing, you mustfirst take a Change Posture maneuverto kneel, sit, etc.Readying a weapon. You can onlyattack or parry with a weapon that isin your hand and ready to use. Youmust ready some weapons againafter each attack! For instance, youmust ready a poleaxe after each swing,because its momentum carries itaway. See the weapon tables inChapter 8 to learn which weaponsrequire readying after use.Reloading a weapon. This requiresseveral consecutive Ready maneuvers.The number of Ready maneuversrequired appears in parentheses afterthe weapons Shots statistic. Forexample, a longbow requires twoReady maneuvers: one to ready thearrow by removing it from yourquiver, and one to ready the bow byplacing the arrow to the string anddrawing it. That takes two turns. Onthe third turn, you can Aim or Attack.Readying a shield or cloak. If ashield or cloak is on the ground, orslung on your back, it takes a numberof Ready maneuvers equal to itsDefense Bonus to prepare it for com-bat. It takes the same amount of timeto don your cloak or sling your shieldagain but you can drop it on theground with a single Ready maneuver(not a free action!). For the purpose ofreadying, treat a buckler as a weapon,not as a shield.Long actions. Many physicalactions take more than one second tocomplete. In combat, choose theReady maneuver each turn until youare finished. This is not a specificmaneuver, but a generic choice thatlets you do one seconds worth of anymulti-second action. The GM decideshow many turns each action takes; seeTypical Long Actions (p. 383) for exam-ples. Some things (like piling up rocksto stand on) can be interrupted in themiddle if necessary, to take any neces-sary maneuver or other action. Otherthings (like ritual magic) cant beinterrupted; if you stop in the middle,you must start over.If an action takes a long time, youcan help the GM keep track of eventsby counting the seconds each time youannounce the maneuver. For instance,to reload a weapon, you would say,Reloading my gun one second onyour first turn, and, Reloading mygun two seconds and finished onyour second turn.TYPICALLONG ACTIONSSee the table above for the dura-tion of typical long actions. You musttake a Ready maneuver each second.The times required for long actionsare realistic, but they can also sidelinea player for instance, if his characterrummages through his backpack. Ifthe GM deems it dramatically appropri-ate, he may let PCs shave off a few seconds by making a successful DX orIQ roll, at the cost of failure havingother problems (e.g., dropping thebackpack and spilling its contents).This completes the combat system.Get out there and fight!When you are comfortable withthese rules, you can proceed toChapter 12, Tactical Combat, if youwish to use a hex grid for more preciseresolution of battles. GMs may alsoconsult Chapter 13 for advanced rulesconcerning factors that might notcome into play in every battle: hit loca-tions, mounted opponents, surpriseattacks, and various exotic weapons.See also pp. 462-470 for rules for vehi-cles, pp. 455-461 for rules for animals,and p. 547-559 for the collected com-bat tables.COMBAT383ActionTimePick up a heavy object in one hand (weight up to 2BL)2 sec.Pick up a heavy object in two hands (weight up to 8BL)4 sec.Open an unlocked box, briefcase, chest, door, etc.1 sec.Find a loose item in a box, briefcase, pack, etc. (if its not hidden)2d secondsFind an item in your own pocket1d secondsWrite a brief note5 sec. per sentenceRead a brief note2 sec. per sentenceSwallow a pill or potion2 sec.Light a candle, cigarette, fuse, match, torch, etc.2 sec.Replace a weapon in its scabbard, drop a small item into your pocket2 sec.Search an unresisting person fairly thoroughly1 min.Put on a suit of armor3 sec. per piece (30 sec./piece for a vacc suit or battlesuit)When Is a Weapon Ready?A weapon is ready if it is in your hand and ready to attack. It takesone turn to ready a weapon from its scabbard (but see Fast-Draw,p. 194). A few special rules:Changing Grips: Some long weapons require one extra turn ofreadying to go from a one-yard to a two-yard reach, or from a two-yardto a three-yard reach, or vice versa. An unready weapon may be re-read-ied to any legal reach, regardless of how you used it before; this is justpart of the Ready maneuver.Unbalanced Weapons: A few large and unwieldy weapons are car-ried out of line by their momentum when you attack. Unless your STis at least 1.5 times that required to wield the weapon, they becomeunready after you attack with them; to use them again, take a Readymaneuver. If you fall down, lose your balance, or are stunned, and yourweapon is one that requires readying after each use, it becomesunready!Holstering: It takes one second to return a pistol to a holster.Scabbarding: It takes two seconds to return a weapon to a scabbardor belt-loop.These rules let you resolve combat using counters or figures on a hexago-nal grid. They assume you have already mastered the combat system inChapter 11, and cover only the exceptions and special cases that arise whenusing that system on a map.FIGURESYou need a marker or miniature figure to represent each combatant.This can be metal, plastic . . . even cardboard. These rules assume one-inch hexes, or a 50mm scale, for maps but 25mm figures are easier tohandle. Of course, you need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way to show when thefighter it represents is prone.Gamers who want the fun of detailed figures at the cost of card-board counters should consider Cardboard Heroes, SJ Gamesline of upright cardboard figures.CHAPTER TWELVETACTICALCOMBATYou need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way toshow when the fighter it represents is prone.384TACTICAL COMBATTHECOMBAT MAPTactical combat uses a combat map marked off in hexagons, or hexes. Eachone-inch hex on the map represents an area one yard across. At the start of com-bat, pick a suitable map, typically one you have drawn on a blank sheet of hexa-gon paper.HEXESOne hex on the combat map represents one yard of distance. It is also the basicunit of movement: each hex a fighter moves represents one yard of movement.The number of hexes you can move on your turn depends on your Move scoreand your maneuver (see Maneuvers in Tactical Combat, p. 385).Each human-sized or smaller fighter must occupy one hex. Exceptions includeclose combat (see Close Combat, p. 391), swarms (see Swarm Attacks, p. 461), andsituations in which people are crowded together but not fighting (you could cramup to four ordinary-sized humans into a single hex, if they were friendly).TACTICAL COMBAT385A human-sized fighter who is lyingdown or who has the Horizontal dis-advantage occupies two hexes; seeChange Posture (below). Larger fight-ers also occupy more than one hex;see Multi-Hex Figures (p. 392).Treat a fractional hex (e.g., one cutin half by a wall) as if it were a full hex:you can move through it and occupy itwithout penalty, unless the GM rulesotherwise. You can also move throughan allys hex, although the movementcost is higher. You cannot movethrough or occupy a hex completelyfilled by a solid barrier (e.g., a pillar).FACINGYou must face toward one of the six hexes adjacent to your hex atall times. Your facing defines yourfront, right, left, and back hexes (seeillustration).Your front hexes are the hexes youcan see into and easily move into. Youcan move into any adjacent hex butsideways and backward movement isslower.For a right-handed fighter, theright side is the weapon side and theleft side is the shield side. For a left-handed fighter, these are reversed.MANEUVERS INTACTICAL COMBATTactical combat uses the maneu-vers described in Chapter 11 underManeuvers (p. 363), but some of thesehave additional complications on ahex grid. Several of these notes refer tomovement points; see Movement inTactical Combat (p. 386) for details.MoveYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.Change PostureIf a human-sized fighter lies proneor has the Horizontal disadvantage, hetakes up two hexes. If you lie down orare knocked prone, your lower halfoccupies the hex you were standing inand your upper half can occupy anyadjacent hex. If you get up from aprone posture, you may choose to getup into either of your hexes.All-Out AttackYou must move first and thenattack not vice versa. You mayremain stationary, turn in place, ormove forward. If you choose to moveforward, you may move up to twohexes or expend movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up),whichever is more. You may notchange facing at the end of your move.Move and AttackYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.All-Out DefenseIf you choose the Increased Dodgeoption, you may use movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up).ReadyYou can pick up an item that is inyour own hex or any hex within yourreach (usually one hex).WaitThe greater precision of tacticalcombat on a hex grid allows manymore options with this maneuver; seeWait Maneuver Strategy (below) andOpportunity Fire (p. 390). If you arewaiting with a melee weapon, yourweapons reach is crucial: a longweapon lets you strike a charging foebefore he can get to you!Wait Maneuver StrategyThe Wait maneuver can be very useful in a tacticalsituation where you want to block a fleeing foe or toprotect someone behind you.If you have taken a Wait maneuver, you can attackat any time even in the middle of someone elsesmovement! If you did not move at all on your turn, youmay take a step (see The Step in Tactical Combat,p. 386) and then strike. If your foe is still standing afteryour blow falls, he may continue his movement.This is the best way (and almost the only way) tokeep a faster foe from running past you on a clearfield. If you take another maneuver (for instance, tofight with someone else), you are distracted and, ona one-second time scale, a faster foe should be able torun past you! But if you are waiting for him, youllhave a chance to intercept him, or hit him, as he triesto go by.
|
These rules let you resolve combat using counters or figures on a hexago-nal grid. They assume you have already mastered the combat system inChapter 11, and cover only the exceptions and special cases that arise whenusing that system on a map.FIGURESYou need a marker or miniature figure to represent each combatant.This can be metal, plastic . . . even cardboard. These rules assume one-inch hexes, or a 50mm scale, for maps but 25mm figures are easier tohandle. Of course, you need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way to show when thefighter it represents is prone.Gamers who want the fun of detailed figures at the cost of card-board counters should consider Cardboard Heroes, SJ Gamesline of upright cardboard figures.CHAPTER TWELVETACTICALCOMBATYou need not use figures! Any counter will do, as longas it has a front to indicate facing and some way toshow when the fighter it represents is prone.384TACTICAL COMBATTHECOMBAT MAPTactical combat uses a combat map marked off in hexagons, or hexes. Eachone-inch hex on the map represents an area one yard across. At the start of com-bat, pick a suitable map, typically one you have drawn on a blank sheet of hexa-gon paper.HEXESOne hex on the combat map represents one yard of distance. It is also the basicunit of movement: each hex a fighter moves represents one yard of movement.The number of hexes you can move on your turn depends on your Move scoreand your maneuver (see Maneuvers in Tactical Combat, p. 385).Each human-sized or smaller fighter must occupy one hex. Exceptions includeclose combat (see Close Combat, p. 391), swarms (see Swarm Attacks, p. 461), andsituations in which people are crowded together but not fighting (you could cramup to four ordinary-sized humans into a single hex, if they were friendly).TACTICAL COMBAT385A human-sized fighter who is lyingdown or who has the Horizontal dis-advantage occupies two hexes; seeChange Posture (below). Larger fight-ers also occupy more than one hex;see Multi-Hex Figures (p. 392).Treat a fractional hex (e.g., one cutin half by a wall) as if it were a full hex:you can move through it and occupy itwithout penalty, unless the GM rulesotherwise. You can also move throughan allys hex, although the movementcost is higher. You cannot movethrough or occupy a hex completelyfilled by a solid barrier (e.g., a pillar).FACINGYou must face toward one of the six hexes adjacent to your hex atall times. Your facing defines yourfront, right, left, and back hexes (seeillustration).Your front hexes are the hexes youcan see into and easily move into. Youcan move into any adjacent hex butsideways and backward movement isslower.For a right-handed fighter, theright side is the weapon side and theleft side is the shield side. For a left-handed fighter, these are reversed.MANEUVERS INTACTICAL COMBATTactical combat uses the maneu-vers described in Chapter 11 underManeuvers (p. 363), but some of thesehave additional complications on ahex grid. Several of these notes refer tomovement points; see Movement inTactical Combat (p. 386) for details.MoveYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.Change PostureIf a human-sized fighter lies proneor has the Horizontal disadvantage, hetakes up two hexes. If you lie down orare knocked prone, your lower halfoccupies the hex you were standing inand your upper half can occupy anyadjacent hex. If you get up from aprone posture, you may choose to getup into either of your hexes.All-Out AttackYou must move first and thenattack not vice versa. You mayremain stationary, turn in place, ormove forward. If you choose to moveforward, you may move up to twohexes or expend movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up),whichever is more. You may notchange facing at the end of your move.Move and AttackYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.All-Out DefenseIf you choose the Increased Dodgeoption, you may use movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up).ReadyYou can pick up an item that is inyour own hex or any hex within yourreach (usually one hex).WaitThe greater precision of tacticalcombat on a hex grid allows manymore options with this maneuver; seeWait Maneuver Strategy (below) andOpportunity Fire (p. 390). If you arewaiting with a melee weapon, yourweapons reach is crucial: a longweapon lets you strike a charging foebefore he can get to you!Wait Maneuver StrategyThe Wait maneuver can be very useful in a tacticalsituation where you want to block a fleeing foe or toprotect someone behind you.If you have taken a Wait maneuver, you can attackat any time even in the middle of someone elsesmovement! If you did not move at all on your turn, youmay take a step (see The Step in Tactical Combat,p. 386) and then strike. If your foe is still standing afteryour blow falls, he may continue his movement.This is the best way (and almost the only way) tokeep a faster foe from running past you on a clearfield. If you take another maneuver (for instance, tofight with someone else), you are distracted and, ona one-second time scale, a faster foe should be able torun past you! But if you are waiting for him, youllhave a chance to intercept him, or hit him, as he triesto go by.In tactical combat, movement ismeasured more precisely, on a hex-by-hex basis, and a fighters facingbecomes very important.Movement PointsAn easy way to keep track of move-ment is to assume that a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver gives you a num-ber of movement points equal toyour Move score; e.g., Move 5 wouldgive you 5 movement points to useduring a Move or Move and Attack. AnAll-Out Attack or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver gives halfas many movement points, roundedup; e.g., Move 5 would give 3 move-ment points during these maneuvers.MOVEMENTAND FACINGMovement and facing interactwhen you move as part of a Move,Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, orAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver.Forward Movement and FacingIt costs one movement point toenter each hex when moving forward.A forward move is a move into oneof your three front hexes. If you gostraight ahead, your facing will notchange; otherwise it will change byone hex-side: you must turn to face thehex as you enter it (see illustrationabove).Thus, you can change directionwhile moving forward. Three con-secutive hexes of forward move-ment let you run in a half-circle andend up facing the opposite direction(see illustration below).Backward and SidewaysMovement and FacingIf you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) but not an All-Out Attack and dont want to move forward, youcan move backward (A) or sideways(B), keeping the same facing (see theillustration to the right). Each side-ways or backward hex costs twomovement points.386TACTICAL COMBATMOVEMENT INTACTICAL COMBATThe Step in Tactical CombatSome maneuvers, such asAttack or Ready, allow you totake your usual step in anydirection (see Step, p. 368).Each yard of step usuallyone yard, for humans equals one hex of movement.You may change facingfreely before or after youmove.In these diagrams, a red arrow indicates a figure and its facing. A yellow arrow indicatesmovement.
|
TACTICAL COMBAT385A human-sized fighter who is lyingdown or who has the Horizontal dis-advantage occupies two hexes; seeChange Posture (below). Larger fight-ers also occupy more than one hex;see Multi-Hex Figures (p. 392).Treat a fractional hex (e.g., one cutin half by a wall) as if it were a full hex:you can move through it and occupy itwithout penalty, unless the GM rulesotherwise. You can also move throughan allys hex, although the movementcost is higher. You cannot movethrough or occupy a hex completelyfilled by a solid barrier (e.g., a pillar).FACINGYou must face toward one of the six hexes adjacent to your hex atall times. Your facing defines yourfront, right, left, and back hexes (seeillustration).Your front hexes are the hexes youcan see into and easily move into. Youcan move into any adjacent hex butsideways and backward movement isslower.For a right-handed fighter, theright side is the weapon side and theleft side is the shield side. For a left-handed fighter, these are reversed.MANEUVERS INTACTICAL COMBATTactical combat uses the maneu-vers described in Chapter 11 underManeuvers (p. 363), but some of thesehave additional complications on ahex grid. Several of these notes refer tomovement points; see Movement inTactical Combat (p. 386) for details.MoveYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.Change PostureIf a human-sized fighter lies proneor has the Horizontal disadvantage, hetakes up two hexes. If you lie down orare knocked prone, your lower halfoccupies the hex you were standing inand your upper half can occupy anyadjacent hex. If you get up from aprone posture, you may choose to getup into either of your hexes.All-Out AttackYou must move first and thenattack not vice versa. You mayremain stationary, turn in place, ormove forward. If you choose to moveforward, you may move up to twohexes or expend movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up),whichever is more. You may notchange facing at the end of your move.Move and AttackYou receive movement pointsequal to your Move.All-Out DefenseIf you choose the Increased Dodgeoption, you may use movement pointsequal to half your Move (round up).ReadyYou can pick up an item that is inyour own hex or any hex within yourreach (usually one hex).WaitThe greater precision of tacticalcombat on a hex grid allows manymore options with this maneuver; seeWait Maneuver Strategy (below) andOpportunity Fire (p. 390). If you arewaiting with a melee weapon, yourweapons reach is crucial: a longweapon lets you strike a charging foebefore he can get to you!Wait Maneuver StrategyThe Wait maneuver can be very useful in a tacticalsituation where you want to block a fleeing foe or toprotect someone behind you.If you have taken a Wait maneuver, you can attackat any time even in the middle of someone elsesmovement! If you did not move at all on your turn, youmay take a step (see The Step in Tactical Combat,p. 386) and then strike. If your foe is still standing afteryour blow falls, he may continue his movement.This is the best way (and almost the only way) tokeep a faster foe from running past you on a clearfield. If you take another maneuver (for instance, tofight with someone else), you are distracted and, ona one-second time scale, a faster foe should be able torun past you! But if you are waiting for him, youllhave a chance to intercept him, or hit him, as he triesto go by.In tactical combat, movement ismeasured more precisely, on a hex-by-hex basis, and a fighters facingbecomes very important.Movement PointsAn easy way to keep track of move-ment is to assume that a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver gives you a num-ber of movement points equal toyour Move score; e.g., Move 5 wouldgive you 5 movement points to useduring a Move or Move and Attack. AnAll-Out Attack or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver gives halfas many movement points, roundedup; e.g., Move 5 would give 3 move-ment points during these maneuvers.MOVEMENTAND FACINGMovement and facing interactwhen you move as part of a Move,Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, orAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver.Forward Movement and FacingIt costs one movement point toenter each hex when moving forward.A forward move is a move into oneof your three front hexes. If you gostraight ahead, your facing will notchange; otherwise it will change byone hex-side: you must turn to face thehex as you enter it (see illustrationabove).Thus, you can change directionwhile moving forward. Three con-secutive hexes of forward move-ment let you run in a half-circle andend up facing the opposite direction(see illustration below).Backward and SidewaysMovement and FacingIf you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) but not an All-Out Attack and dont want to move forward, youcan move backward (A) or sideways(B), keeping the same facing (see theillustration to the right). Each side-ways or backward hex costs twomovement points.386TACTICAL COMBATMOVEMENT INTACTICAL COMBATThe Step in Tactical CombatSome maneuvers, such asAttack or Ready, allow you totake your usual step in anydirection (see Step, p. 368).Each yard of step usuallyone yard, for humans equals one hex of movement.You may change facingfreely before or after youmove.In these diagrams, a red arrow indicates a figure and its facing. A yellow arrow indicatesmovement.TACTICAL COMBAT387You can also sidestep into a fronthex (C) while keeping your originalfacing. This is allowed during an All-Out attack (as well as on a Move, etc.).It also costs two movement points.Facing Changes and MovementAt the end of your turn, if you tooka Move or Move and Attack maneuverand used no more than half of yourmovement points or if you chose theAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver you may turn to face inany direction.If you took a Move or Move andAttack and used more than half of yourmovement points, you may changeyour facing by one hex-side.You may also change facing beforeor during your movement on a Move,Move and Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver, but thiscosts movement points. Each hex-sideof facing change counts as one yard ofmovement; e.g., turning 180 coststhree movement points.Movement Point CostsDirection of TravelForward: 1 movement point per hex.Sidestep or backward: 2 movement points per hex.PostureCrouching: +1/2 movement point per hex.Kneeling: +2 movement points per hex.Crawling: +2 movement points per hex.Lying down: All movement points to move one hex.Sitting: Cannot move!Facing ChangesChange facing before or during a move: +1 move-ment point per hex-side of change.Change facing at end of move: Free! You may faceany direction if you used no more than half your move-ment points; otherwise, you may opt tochange facing by one hex-side.ObstructionsMinor obstruction in hex (e.g., an ally, or a body onthe ground): +1 movement point per obstruction.Severe obstruction in hex (several bodies, a barricade,etc.): You must either bypass the hex or jump over (seeJumping, p. 352).Enemy in hex: You must evade (see Evading,p. 368).Bad FootingTreacherous ground (mud, waxed floors, etc.): +1movement point per hex (or more, at the GMs option).Stairs (up or down): +1 movement point per hex.Shallow water (no more than 1/6 your height): +1movement point per hex.Deeper water: All movement points to move 1 hex.Use these movement point costs when you take a Move, Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver. You can always move at least one hex per turn, no matter how severe the penalties.Most other maneuvers allow a step (see Step, p. 368). In this case, cost does not matter you can move yourfull step (usually one hex), regardless of facing, posture, or terrain.
|
In tactical combat, movement ismeasured more precisely, on a hex-by-hex basis, and a fighters facingbecomes very important.Movement PointsAn easy way to keep track of move-ment is to assume that a Move or Moveand Attack maneuver gives you a num-ber of movement points equal toyour Move score; e.g., Move 5 wouldgive you 5 movement points to useduring a Move or Move and Attack. AnAll-Out Attack or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver gives halfas many movement points, roundedup; e.g., Move 5 would give 3 move-ment points during these maneuvers.MOVEMENTAND FACINGMovement and facing interactwhen you move as part of a Move,Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, orAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver.Forward Movement and FacingIt costs one movement point toenter each hex when moving forward.A forward move is a move into oneof your three front hexes. If you gostraight ahead, your facing will notchange; otherwise it will change byone hex-side: you must turn to face thehex as you enter it (see illustrationabove).Thus, you can change directionwhile moving forward. Three con-secutive hexes of forward move-ment let you run in a half-circle andend up facing the opposite direction(see illustration below).Backward and SidewaysMovement and FacingIf you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Defense (IncreasedDodge) but not an All-Out Attack and dont want to move forward, youcan move backward (A) or sideways(B), keeping the same facing (see theillustration to the right). Each side-ways or backward hex costs twomovement points.386TACTICAL COMBATMOVEMENT INTACTICAL COMBATThe Step in Tactical CombatSome maneuvers, such asAttack or Ready, allow you totake your usual step in anydirection (see Step, p. 368).Each yard of step usuallyone yard, for humans equals one hex of movement.You may change facingfreely before or after youmove.In these diagrams, a red arrow indicates a figure and its facing. A yellow arrow indicatesmovement.TACTICAL COMBAT387You can also sidestep into a fronthex (C) while keeping your originalfacing. This is allowed during an All-Out attack (as well as on a Move, etc.).It also costs two movement points.Facing Changes and MovementAt the end of your turn, if you tooka Move or Move and Attack maneuverand used no more than half of yourmovement points or if you chose theAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver you may turn to face inany direction.If you took a Move or Move andAttack and used more than half of yourmovement points, you may changeyour facing by one hex-side.You may also change facing beforeor during your movement on a Move,Move and Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver, but thiscosts movement points. Each hex-sideof facing change counts as one yard ofmovement; e.g., turning 180 coststhree movement points.Movement Point CostsDirection of TravelForward: 1 movement point per hex.Sidestep or backward: 2 movement points per hex.PostureCrouching: +1/2 movement point per hex.Kneeling: +2 movement points per hex.Crawling: +2 movement points per hex.Lying down: All movement points to move one hex.Sitting: Cannot move!Facing ChangesChange facing before or during a move: +1 move-ment point per hex-side of change.Change facing at end of move: Free! You may faceany direction if you used no more than half your move-ment points; otherwise, you may opt tochange facing by one hex-side.ObstructionsMinor obstruction in hex (e.g., an ally, or a body onthe ground): +1 movement point per obstruction.Severe obstruction in hex (several bodies, a barricade,etc.): You must either bypass the hex or jump over (seeJumping, p. 352).Enemy in hex: You must evade (see Evading,p. 368).Bad FootingTreacherous ground (mud, waxed floors, etc.): +1movement point per hex (or more, at the GMs option).Stairs (up or down): +1 movement point per hex.Shallow water (no more than 1/6 your height): +1movement point per hex.Deeper water: All movement points to move 1 hex.Use these movement point costs when you take a Move, Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver. You can always move at least one hex per turn, no matter how severe the penalties.Most other maneuvers allow a step (see Step, p. 368). In this case, cost does not matter you can move yourfull step (usually one hex), regardless of facing, posture, or terrain.Attacks work as described inChapter 11, with the difference that ahex grid permits precise determina-tion of range, facing, arc of vision, andarea of effect. This calls for a few extrarules especially for combat in thesame hex as your foe (see CloseCombat, p. 391).MELEE ATTACKSNormally, you can only attack intoyour front hexes. The distance atwhich you can attack depends on yourweapons reach.Reach of a WeaponA melee weapons reach, as givenon the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271),defines the hexes into which you canattack with it, as follows:Reach C (Close): You can strikeonly at targets in your own hex.Reach 1 (1 yard): You can strikeinto any hex marked Front in thediagram below.Reach 2 (2 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 2 in the dia-gram below.Reach 3 (3 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 3 in the dia-gram below.Most melee weapons have a one-yard reach, and can hit only yourthree front hexes.Some weapons have more thanone reach. For instance, a knife canslash at close and one-yard reach.With a spear, you can have a reach ofeither one or two yards, depending onhow you hold it. Larger pole weaponscan have a reach of one, two, or threeyards!Most weapons with a reach of twoor more yards require a Ready maneu-ver to change grips and go from onereach to another. For instance, if youare holding a halberd with a grip thatlets you strike three hexes away, youhave to ready it for one turn beforeyou can use it to strike someone oneor two hexes away. A few balancedweapons (e.g., the greatsword andquarterstaff) let you attack at morethan one reach without taking a Readymaneuver. The Melee Weapon Tableshows which weapons require a gripchange and which do not.Note that if youre very large, yourreach will increase see Size Modifierand Reach (p. 402).Attacking Through an Occupied HexYou can attack through someoneelse in melee if you are using aweapon with a reach of two yards ormore. You may attack through afriend at no penalty (this is a basicpart of your training with any longweapon). If you attack through anenemys hex, the penalty is -4. If yourattack passes along a line between twohexes, there is no penalty unless bothhexes are occupied. If they are, treatthe situation as a single occupied hex friendly, unless foes occupy bothhexes.Wild SwingsA Wild Swing is a melee attackagainst a foe to your side (left or right)or back, or against a foe you cant see.Its unlikely to hit, but sometimes itsbetter than nothing.388TACTICAL COMBATATTACKING INTACTICAL COMBATLong Weapon TacticsThe Attack maneuver lets you step before or after you attack.Stepping after you attack in melee combat can give you the upper handif your weapon has more reach than your opponents. Suppose youhave a spear and your adversary has a broadsword. You could attackfrom two hexes away and then step back, ending your turn three hexesfrom your foe. Since his weapon has a one-hex reach, he could notreach you with an Attack, as the Attack maneuver limits him to a one-yard step (of course, a foe with Move 11 or higher could step farther).To strike back, he would have to take an All-Out Attack or a Move andAttack . . . either of which would restrict his defenses, leaving him opento your next attack! And even if he does get close enough to attack, youcan always retreat when you defend . . .
|
TACTICAL COMBAT387You can also sidestep into a fronthex (C) while keeping your originalfacing. This is allowed during an All-Out attack (as well as on a Move, etc.).It also costs two movement points.Facing Changes and MovementAt the end of your turn, if you tooka Move or Move and Attack maneuverand used no more than half of yourmovement points or if you chose theAll-Out Defense (Increased Dodge)maneuver you may turn to face inany direction.If you took a Move or Move andAttack and used more than half of yourmovement points, you may changeyour facing by one hex-side.You may also change facing beforeor during your movement on a Move,Move and Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver, but thiscosts movement points. Each hex-sideof facing change counts as one yard ofmovement; e.g., turning 180 coststhree movement points.Movement Point CostsDirection of TravelForward: 1 movement point per hex.Sidestep or backward: 2 movement points per hex.PostureCrouching: +1/2 movement point per hex.Kneeling: +2 movement points per hex.Crawling: +2 movement points per hex.Lying down: All movement points to move one hex.Sitting: Cannot move!Facing ChangesChange facing before or during a move: +1 move-ment point per hex-side of change.Change facing at end of move: Free! You may faceany direction if you used no more than half your move-ment points; otherwise, you may opt tochange facing by one hex-side.ObstructionsMinor obstruction in hex (e.g., an ally, or a body onthe ground): +1 movement point per obstruction.Severe obstruction in hex (several bodies, a barricade,etc.): You must either bypass the hex or jump over (seeJumping, p. 352).Enemy in hex: You must evade (see Evading,p. 368).Bad FootingTreacherous ground (mud, waxed floors, etc.): +1movement point per hex (or more, at the GMs option).Stairs (up or down): +1 movement point per hex.Shallow water (no more than 1/6 your height): +1movement point per hex.Deeper water: All movement points to move 1 hex.Use these movement point costs when you take a Move, Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, or All-Out Defense(Increased Dodge) maneuver. You can always move at least one hex per turn, no matter how severe the penalties.Most other maneuvers allow a step (see Step, p. 368). In this case, cost does not matter you can move yourfull step (usually one hex), regardless of facing, posture, or terrain.Attacks work as described inChapter 11, with the difference that ahex grid permits precise determina-tion of range, facing, arc of vision, andarea of effect. This calls for a few extrarules especially for combat in thesame hex as your foe (see CloseCombat, p. 391).MELEE ATTACKSNormally, you can only attack intoyour front hexes. The distance atwhich you can attack depends on yourweapons reach.Reach of a WeaponA melee weapons reach, as givenon the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271),defines the hexes into which you canattack with it, as follows:Reach C (Close): You can strikeonly at targets in your own hex.Reach 1 (1 yard): You can strikeinto any hex marked Front in thediagram below.Reach 2 (2 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 2 in the dia-gram below.Reach 3 (3 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 3 in the dia-gram below.Most melee weapons have a one-yard reach, and can hit only yourthree front hexes.Some weapons have more thanone reach. For instance, a knife canslash at close and one-yard reach.With a spear, you can have a reach ofeither one or two yards, depending onhow you hold it. Larger pole weaponscan have a reach of one, two, or threeyards!Most weapons with a reach of twoor more yards require a Ready maneu-ver to change grips and go from onereach to another. For instance, if youare holding a halberd with a grip thatlets you strike three hexes away, youhave to ready it for one turn beforeyou can use it to strike someone oneor two hexes away. A few balancedweapons (e.g., the greatsword andquarterstaff) let you attack at morethan one reach without taking a Readymaneuver. The Melee Weapon Tableshows which weapons require a gripchange and which do not.Note that if youre very large, yourreach will increase see Size Modifierand Reach (p. 402).Attacking Through an Occupied HexYou can attack through someoneelse in melee if you are using aweapon with a reach of two yards ormore. You may attack through afriend at no penalty (this is a basicpart of your training with any longweapon). If you attack through anenemys hex, the penalty is -4. If yourattack passes along a line between twohexes, there is no penalty unless bothhexes are occupied. If they are, treatthe situation as a single occupied hex friendly, unless foes occupy bothhexes.Wild SwingsA Wild Swing is a melee attackagainst a foe to your side (left or right)or back, or against a foe you cant see.Its unlikely to hit, but sometimes itsbetter than nothing.388TACTICAL COMBATATTACKING INTACTICAL COMBATLong Weapon TacticsThe Attack maneuver lets you step before or after you attack.Stepping after you attack in melee combat can give you the upper handif your weapon has more reach than your opponents. Suppose youhave a spear and your adversary has a broadsword. You could attackfrom two hexes away and then step back, ending your turn three hexesfrom your foe. Since his weapon has a one-hex reach, he could notreach you with an Attack, as the Attack maneuver limits him to a one-yard step (of course, a foe with Move 11 or higher could step farther).To strike back, he would have to take an All-Out Attack or a Move andAttack . . . either of which would restrict his defenses, leaving him opento your next attack! And even if he does get close enough to attack, youcan always retreat when you defend . . .A Wild Swing is at -5 to hit or thecurrent visibility penalty, whichever isworse, and your effective skill cannotexceed 9 after all modifiers. You can-not target a particular part of the foesbody; if using hit locations, roll ran-domly.A Wild Swing need not be a swing it could be a thrust. However, youcannot make a wild thrust at a dis-tance of more than one yard.You can combine a Wild Swingwith an All-Out Attack, but you maynot choose the Determined option toget +4 to hit to offset the Wild Swingpenalty. You can also make a WildSwing during a Move and Attack; usethe more severe penalties of the two.If you have Peripheral Vision(p. 74), two-handed melee attacks intoyour right and left hexes, and one-handed attacks to the same side (e.g.,right hand to right hex), are not WildSwings. However, one-handed attacksto the opposite side (e.g., right hand toleft hex), and attacks on foes behindyou, are still Wild Swings.If you have 360 Vision (p. 34), noattack to your sides or back is a WildSwing but attacks to the back andopposite side at -2 due to the clumsyangle of attack.Note that some martial-arts tech-niques (e.g., Back Kick, p. 230) allowyou to attack foes behind you withoutmaking a Wild Swing.RANGED ATTACKSRanged combat on a hex grid alsorequires a few additional rules.Arc of VisionIf you have a ranged weapon, youcan attack into any of the white hexesin the diagram above. If you havePeripheral Vision (p. 74), you canattack into any of the white or grayhexes. And if you have 360 Vision(p. 34), you can attack into any of thewhite, gray, or black hexes. In all threecases, the hexes you can attack intodefine your arc of vision.Shooting BlindIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay attack someone outside your arcof vision or in total darkness, orwhile blinded by shooting blind.Use the rules for Wild Swings (above),but the penalty is -10 and your effec-tive skill cannot exceed 9 after allmodifiers. (As Murphys Law predicts,you are often less likely to hit your tar-get than anyone else in the vicinity; seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.)Needless to say, you cannot take theAim maneuver!Firing Through an Occupied HexYou can target an enemy if you candraw a straight line between any partof your hex and any part of his with-out passing through a solid obstacle.Use a straightedge (such as a ruler) todetermine this. However, if your cho-sen straight line passes through anoccupied hex, the occupants of thathex are in the way. You may hit themif you miss your intended target seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.Anyone in the way (friend or foe)gives you a -4 penalty. If your attackpasses through several occupiedhexes, apply this penalty for each per-son in the way!If your attack passes along a linebetween two hexes, there is no penaltyunless both hexes are occupied. If theyare, treat it as a single hex penalty (-4).Someone lying down is never inthe way unless you, too, are on theground. Someone kneeling or sittingis not in the way unless either you oryour target is also kneeling or sitting.These rules assume human-sizedor smaller combatants. A fighter witha Size Modifier 2 or more greater thanyours (3 or more if hes kneeling or hasthe Horizontal disadvantage, 4 ormore if hes prone) completely blocksyour line of sight you cant shoot pasthim unless youre higher up.Hitting the Wrong TargetIf you attack with a ranged weaponand miss, you may hit someone else.You must check for this if you fail yourattack roll.You may hit anyone friend or foe if he was in your line of fire. Todetermine this, check the line alongwhich you attacked. Any hex this linepasses through is in the way.Combatants who are kneeling or lyingdown are not in the way unless you,too, are at their level.Because hitting the wrong target isa matter of pure chance, your attackroll against each possible target is thesame: a flat 9 or the number youwould have had to roll to hit him onpurpose, whichever is worse.TACTICAL COMBAT389
|
Attacks work as described inChapter 11, with the difference that ahex grid permits precise determina-tion of range, facing, arc of vision, andarea of effect. This calls for a few extrarules especially for combat in thesame hex as your foe (see CloseCombat, p. 391).MELEE ATTACKSNormally, you can only attack intoyour front hexes. The distance atwhich you can attack depends on yourweapons reach.Reach of a WeaponA melee weapons reach, as givenon the Melee Weapon Table (p. 271),defines the hexes into which you canattack with it, as follows:Reach C (Close): You can strikeonly at targets in your own hex.Reach 1 (1 yard): You can strikeinto any hex marked Front in thediagram below.Reach 2 (2 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 2 in the dia-gram below.Reach 3 (3 yards): You can strikeinto any hex marked 3 in the dia-gram below.Most melee weapons have a one-yard reach, and can hit only yourthree front hexes.Some weapons have more thanone reach. For instance, a knife canslash at close and one-yard reach.With a spear, you can have a reach ofeither one or two yards, depending onhow you hold it. Larger pole weaponscan have a reach of one, two, or threeyards!Most weapons with a reach of twoor more yards require a Ready maneu-ver to change grips and go from onereach to another. For instance, if youare holding a halberd with a grip thatlets you strike three hexes away, youhave to ready it for one turn beforeyou can use it to strike someone oneor two hexes away. A few balancedweapons (e.g., the greatsword andquarterstaff) let you attack at morethan one reach without taking a Readymaneuver. The Melee Weapon Tableshows which weapons require a gripchange and which do not.Note that if youre very large, yourreach will increase see Size Modifierand Reach (p. 402).Attacking Through an Occupied HexYou can attack through someoneelse in melee if you are using aweapon with a reach of two yards ormore. You may attack through afriend at no penalty (this is a basicpart of your training with any longweapon). If you attack through anenemys hex, the penalty is -4. If yourattack passes along a line between twohexes, there is no penalty unless bothhexes are occupied. If they are, treatthe situation as a single occupied hex friendly, unless foes occupy bothhexes.Wild SwingsA Wild Swing is a melee attackagainst a foe to your side (left or right)or back, or against a foe you cant see.Its unlikely to hit, but sometimes itsbetter than nothing.388TACTICAL COMBATATTACKING INTACTICAL COMBATLong Weapon TacticsThe Attack maneuver lets you step before or after you attack.Stepping after you attack in melee combat can give you the upper handif your weapon has more reach than your opponents. Suppose youhave a spear and your adversary has a broadsword. You could attackfrom two hexes away and then step back, ending your turn three hexesfrom your foe. Since his weapon has a one-hex reach, he could notreach you with an Attack, as the Attack maneuver limits him to a one-yard step (of course, a foe with Move 11 or higher could step farther).To strike back, he would have to take an All-Out Attack or a Move andAttack . . . either of which would restrict his defenses, leaving him opento your next attack! And even if he does get close enough to attack, youcan always retreat when you defend . . .A Wild Swing is at -5 to hit or thecurrent visibility penalty, whichever isworse, and your effective skill cannotexceed 9 after all modifiers. You can-not target a particular part of the foesbody; if using hit locations, roll ran-domly.A Wild Swing need not be a swing it could be a thrust. However, youcannot make a wild thrust at a dis-tance of more than one yard.You can combine a Wild Swingwith an All-Out Attack, but you maynot choose the Determined option toget +4 to hit to offset the Wild Swingpenalty. You can also make a WildSwing during a Move and Attack; usethe more severe penalties of the two.If you have Peripheral Vision(p. 74), two-handed melee attacks intoyour right and left hexes, and one-handed attacks to the same side (e.g.,right hand to right hex), are not WildSwings. However, one-handed attacksto the opposite side (e.g., right hand toleft hex), and attacks on foes behindyou, are still Wild Swings.If you have 360 Vision (p. 34), noattack to your sides or back is a WildSwing but attacks to the back andopposite side at -2 due to the clumsyangle of attack.Note that some martial-arts tech-niques (e.g., Back Kick, p. 230) allowyou to attack foes behind you withoutmaking a Wild Swing.RANGED ATTACKSRanged combat on a hex grid alsorequires a few additional rules.Arc of VisionIf you have a ranged weapon, youcan attack into any of the white hexesin the diagram above. If you havePeripheral Vision (p. 74), you canattack into any of the white or grayhexes. And if you have 360 Vision(p. 34), you can attack into any of thewhite, gray, or black hexes. In all threecases, the hexes you can attack intodefine your arc of vision.Shooting BlindIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay attack someone outside your arcof vision or in total darkness, orwhile blinded by shooting blind.Use the rules for Wild Swings (above),but the penalty is -10 and your effec-tive skill cannot exceed 9 after allmodifiers. (As Murphys Law predicts,you are often less likely to hit your tar-get than anyone else in the vicinity; seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.)Needless to say, you cannot take theAim maneuver!Firing Through an Occupied HexYou can target an enemy if you candraw a straight line between any partof your hex and any part of his with-out passing through a solid obstacle.Use a straightedge (such as a ruler) todetermine this. However, if your cho-sen straight line passes through anoccupied hex, the occupants of thathex are in the way. You may hit themif you miss your intended target seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.Anyone in the way (friend or foe)gives you a -4 penalty. If your attackpasses through several occupiedhexes, apply this penalty for each per-son in the way!If your attack passes along a linebetween two hexes, there is no penaltyunless both hexes are occupied. If theyare, treat it as a single hex penalty (-4).Someone lying down is never inthe way unless you, too, are on theground. Someone kneeling or sittingis not in the way unless either you oryour target is also kneeling or sitting.These rules assume human-sizedor smaller combatants. A fighter witha Size Modifier 2 or more greater thanyours (3 or more if hes kneeling or hasthe Horizontal disadvantage, 4 ormore if hes prone) completely blocksyour line of sight you cant shoot pasthim unless youre higher up.Hitting the Wrong TargetIf you attack with a ranged weaponand miss, you may hit someone else.You must check for this if you fail yourattack roll.You may hit anyone friend or foe if he was in your line of fire. Todetermine this, check the line alongwhich you attacked. Any hex this linepasses through is in the way.Combatants who are kneeling or lyingdown are not in the way unless you,too, are at their level.Because hitting the wrong target isa matter of pure chance, your attackroll against each possible target is thesame: a flat 9 or the number youwould have had to roll to hit him onpurpose, whichever is worse.TACTICAL COMBAT389Roll first for the target closest toyou. If you miss, or if that targetdodges, roll for the next target. And soon. Keep rolling until you hit, or some-one blocks or parries your attack, oryou run out of targets. If your attackwent along a line between two occu-pied hexes, roll randomly to see whichone you check first.Anyone (friend or foe) gets thesame defense against this attack thathe would have had had your attackbeen intentional.Overshooting and Stray ShotsIf you make your attack roll butyour foe blocks or parries successfully,assume your weapon or missile hitsthe ground. It has no chance of hittinganyone.If your foe dodges, however, theprojectile goes past him and may hitsomeone else. Proceed as for Hittingthe Wrong Target, above, but start withthe closest target on the other side ofyour foe. (You already know you didnthit anybody between you and your foe,or he would not have had to defend.)Opportunity FireIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay watch a specified area and attackas soon as a target presents itself. Thisis called opportunity fire.To use opportunity fire, you musttake the Wait maneuver. You muststand still and watch for a target in aspecified area. You must face the areayou are covering. You may do noth-ing else.If a target appears in the specifiedarea, you must attack it (you can try todiscriminate, but this will give a penal-ty to hit see below). Your attack takesplace immediately. If two or more peo-ple are taking opportunity fire at thesame target, assume that their attacksare simultaneous.If no target appears, you simplywasted your turn!All of the area to be covered mustbe within your arc of vision (seep. 389). The larger the area you haveto watch, the greater the penalty whenyou attack:Hexes WatchedAttack Penalty102-13-4-25-6-37-10-411+-5You may also specify a singlestraight line, and say that you will fireat the first target that crosses the line.The penalty for this kind of opportuni-ty fire is only -2.When you attack, apply the appro-priate penalty above as well as all rele-vant ranged-combat modifiers. Youcannot claim any of the bonuses listedfor the Aim maneuver (p. 364).Exception: If you watch a single hex(only), you can Aim and Wait. Eachsecond you wait for a target alsocounts as an Aim maneuver, and youwill get the normal bonus for thatamount of aiming when you finallyattack.The GM should make sure thatplayers carefully specify the area theyare watching for opportunity fire. Inconflicts between PCs, the playersshould tell the GM in secret so thattheir opponents do not know wherethey are planning to fire.Target Discrimination: Normally,when you take opportunity fire, youmust attack the first target thatappears in the designated area friend or foe! You are free to specifythat you are not attacking automati-cally, usually to avoid shooting afriend. If so, the GM will make aVision roll for you when a targetappears and tell you whether youthink it is friend or foe. However, youhave an extra -2 to hit because of thetime you spent deciding.390TACTICAL COMBATDEFENDING INTACTICAL COMBATActive defenses work as described inChapter 11, with a few additional rules.Defending AgainstAttacks from the SideAgainst an attack that comes fromone of your side hexes, you defend at-2 unless you have Peripheral Vision(p.74) or 360Vision (p.34).Regardless of those advantages: If you have a shield, you cannotblock an attack that comes from yourweapon side, only one that comes fromyour shield side. If you have a one-handed meleeweapon, you cannot parry an attack thatcomes from the other side of your body,only one that comes from the sameside, unless your weapon arm has theExtra-Flexible enhancement or youpossess the Double-Jointed advantage.Pop-Up AttacksA pop-up attack is a special Attack maneuver in which you emergefrom cover, move no more than one hex, make a ranged attack, andreturn to cover all in the space of one turn! Examples include duckingaround a corner or a tree, or out of a trench. This is possible with anythrown weapon, firearm, or crossbow, but not with a bow or a sling.You cannot aim a pop-up attack. In fact, there is an extra -2 to hitbecause you couldnt see your target at the beginning of your turn.Note that when you emerge from cover to attack, anyone targetingyour hex with opportunity fire can attack you. If so, your only legaldefense is a dodge.
|
A Wild Swing is at -5 to hit or thecurrent visibility penalty, whichever isworse, and your effective skill cannotexceed 9 after all modifiers. You can-not target a particular part of the foesbody; if using hit locations, roll ran-domly.A Wild Swing need not be a swing it could be a thrust. However, youcannot make a wild thrust at a dis-tance of more than one yard.You can combine a Wild Swingwith an All-Out Attack, but you maynot choose the Determined option toget +4 to hit to offset the Wild Swingpenalty. You can also make a WildSwing during a Move and Attack; usethe more severe penalties of the two.If you have Peripheral Vision(p. 74), two-handed melee attacks intoyour right and left hexes, and one-handed attacks to the same side (e.g.,right hand to right hex), are not WildSwings. However, one-handed attacksto the opposite side (e.g., right hand toleft hex), and attacks on foes behindyou, are still Wild Swings.If you have 360 Vision (p. 34), noattack to your sides or back is a WildSwing but attacks to the back andopposite side at -2 due to the clumsyangle of attack.Note that some martial-arts tech-niques (e.g., Back Kick, p. 230) allowyou to attack foes behind you withoutmaking a Wild Swing.RANGED ATTACKSRanged combat on a hex grid alsorequires a few additional rules.Arc of VisionIf you have a ranged weapon, youcan attack into any of the white hexesin the diagram above. If you havePeripheral Vision (p. 74), you canattack into any of the white or grayhexes. And if you have 360 Vision(p. 34), you can attack into any of thewhite, gray, or black hexes. In all threecases, the hexes you can attack intodefine your arc of vision.Shooting BlindIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay attack someone outside your arcof vision or in total darkness, orwhile blinded by shooting blind.Use the rules for Wild Swings (above),but the penalty is -10 and your effec-tive skill cannot exceed 9 after allmodifiers. (As Murphys Law predicts,you are often less likely to hit your tar-get than anyone else in the vicinity; seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.)Needless to say, you cannot take theAim maneuver!Firing Through an Occupied HexYou can target an enemy if you candraw a straight line between any partof your hex and any part of his with-out passing through a solid obstacle.Use a straightedge (such as a ruler) todetermine this. However, if your cho-sen straight line passes through anoccupied hex, the occupants of thathex are in the way. You may hit themif you miss your intended target seeHitting the Wrong Target, below.Anyone in the way (friend or foe)gives you a -4 penalty. If your attackpasses through several occupiedhexes, apply this penalty for each per-son in the way!If your attack passes along a linebetween two hexes, there is no penaltyunless both hexes are occupied. If theyare, treat it as a single hex penalty (-4).Someone lying down is never inthe way unless you, too, are on theground. Someone kneeling or sittingis not in the way unless either you oryour target is also kneeling or sitting.These rules assume human-sizedor smaller combatants. A fighter witha Size Modifier 2 or more greater thanyours (3 or more if hes kneeling or hasthe Horizontal disadvantage, 4 ormore if hes prone) completely blocksyour line of sight you cant shoot pasthim unless youre higher up.Hitting the Wrong TargetIf you attack with a ranged weaponand miss, you may hit someone else.You must check for this if you fail yourattack roll.You may hit anyone friend or foe if he was in your line of fire. Todetermine this, check the line alongwhich you attacked. Any hex this linepasses through is in the way.Combatants who are kneeling or lyingdown are not in the way unless you,too, are at their level.Because hitting the wrong target isa matter of pure chance, your attackroll against each possible target is thesame: a flat 9 or the number youwould have had to roll to hit him onpurpose, whichever is worse.TACTICAL COMBAT389Roll first for the target closest toyou. If you miss, or if that targetdodges, roll for the next target. And soon. Keep rolling until you hit, or some-one blocks or parries your attack, oryou run out of targets. If your attackwent along a line between two occu-pied hexes, roll randomly to see whichone you check first.Anyone (friend or foe) gets thesame defense against this attack thathe would have had had your attackbeen intentional.Overshooting and Stray ShotsIf you make your attack roll butyour foe blocks or parries successfully,assume your weapon or missile hitsthe ground. It has no chance of hittinganyone.If your foe dodges, however, theprojectile goes past him and may hitsomeone else. Proceed as for Hittingthe Wrong Target, above, but start withthe closest target on the other side ofyour foe. (You already know you didnthit anybody between you and your foe,or he would not have had to defend.)Opportunity FireIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay watch a specified area and attackas soon as a target presents itself. Thisis called opportunity fire.To use opportunity fire, you musttake the Wait maneuver. You muststand still and watch for a target in aspecified area. You must face the areayou are covering. You may do noth-ing else.If a target appears in the specifiedarea, you must attack it (you can try todiscriminate, but this will give a penal-ty to hit see below). Your attack takesplace immediately. If two or more peo-ple are taking opportunity fire at thesame target, assume that their attacksare simultaneous.If no target appears, you simplywasted your turn!All of the area to be covered mustbe within your arc of vision (seep. 389). The larger the area you haveto watch, the greater the penalty whenyou attack:Hexes WatchedAttack Penalty102-13-4-25-6-37-10-411+-5You may also specify a singlestraight line, and say that you will fireat the first target that crosses the line.The penalty for this kind of opportuni-ty fire is only -2.When you attack, apply the appro-priate penalty above as well as all rele-vant ranged-combat modifiers. Youcannot claim any of the bonuses listedfor the Aim maneuver (p. 364).Exception: If you watch a single hex(only), you can Aim and Wait. Eachsecond you wait for a target alsocounts as an Aim maneuver, and youwill get the normal bonus for thatamount of aiming when you finallyattack.The GM should make sure thatplayers carefully specify the area theyare watching for opportunity fire. Inconflicts between PCs, the playersshould tell the GM in secret so thattheir opponents do not know wherethey are planning to fire.Target Discrimination: Normally,when you take opportunity fire, youmust attack the first target thatappears in the designated area friend or foe! You are free to specifythat you are not attacking automati-cally, usually to avoid shooting afriend. If so, the GM will make aVision roll for you when a targetappears and tell you whether youthink it is friend or foe. However, youhave an extra -2 to hit because of thetime you spent deciding.390TACTICAL COMBATDEFENDING INTACTICAL COMBATActive defenses work as described inChapter 11, with a few additional rules.Defending AgainstAttacks from the SideAgainst an attack that comes fromone of your side hexes, you defend at-2 unless you have Peripheral Vision(p.74) or 360Vision (p.34).Regardless of those advantages: If you have a shield, you cannotblock an attack that comes from yourweapon side, only one that comes fromyour shield side. If you have a one-handed meleeweapon, you cannot parry an attack thatcomes from the other side of your body,only one that comes from the sameside, unless your weapon arm has theExtra-Flexible enhancement or youpossess the Double-Jointed advantage.Pop-Up AttacksA pop-up attack is a special Attack maneuver in which you emergefrom cover, move no more than one hex, make a ranged attack, andreturn to cover all in the space of one turn! Examples include duckingaround a corner or a tree, or out of a trench. This is possible with anythrown weapon, firearm, or crossbow, but not with a bow or a sling.You cannot aim a pop-up attack. In fact, there is an extra -2 to hitbecause you couldnt see your target at the beginning of your turn.Note that when you emerge from cover to attack, anyone targetingyour hex with opportunity fire can attack you. If so, your only legaldefense is a dodge.Defending AgainstAttacks from the BackAgainst an attack that comes fromyour back hex, you cannot defend at allunless you have Peripheral Vision(which lets you defend at -2) or 360Vision (which lets you defend at nopenalty). Even if you have one of thoseadvantages, you have an extra -2 toparry an attack from behind, and can-not block at all, unless your weapon orshield arm has the Extra-Flexibleenhancement or you have the Double-Jointed advantage.RetreatingA retreat takes you one step nor-mally one hex directly away from thefoe you are defending against. Youcannot retreat into an occupied hex.You may change facing by one hex-side, if you wish, as you retreat.TACTICAL COMBAT391Close combat is any situation inwhich you occupy the same hex asyour foe or try to move through hishex. Use the rules given under Evading(p. 368) and Unarmed Combat (p. 370)in Chapter 11, but with the additionsbelow.ENTERING AFOES HEXYou may move or step into anenemys hex using any maneuver thatallows you enough movement to enterthat hex. You are in close combat assoon as you enter an opponents hex,regardless of your maneuver or that ofyour foe.If you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Attack maneuver, youcan always run into a foes hex and stopthere, facing him. If you do not wish tostop, you must attempt to evade (p. 368)or slam (p. 368) your foe your choice,within the limits of your maneuver.When you enter an enemy-occu-pied hex, you occupy half the hex. Youhave the half of the hex from whichyou entered; he has the other half. Toenter any of your front hexes on theenemys side, you have to movethrough him by evading.Evading in Tactical CombatTo evade a foe, you must haveenough movement points not only toenter his hex, but also to leave his hex!If your movement ends in his hex, youcannot evade on that turn.LEAVING AFOES HEXIf you start your turn in a foes hexand he isnt grappling you, you canmove out of the hex through any of thethree hexes on your side of the hex. Ifyou do this using a Move or Move andAttack, you must spend movementpoints to change facing, sidestep, orstep backward. To use forward move-ment to leave through one of the threehexes on your foes side, you mustevade him (see above).If you take a maneuver that allowsa step, you can step out of the hex andattack, feint, etc. with a one-hex reachweapon or you can make a close-combat attack and then step out butyour step can only take you into one ofthe three hexes on your side of the hex.If your foe has grappled you, youmay still choose a maneuver on yourturn, but you cannot leave the hexuntil you break free (see Actions AfterBeing Grappled, p. 371).WEAPONS FORCLOSE COMBATYou can only use small, easily man-aged weapons in close combat. Youcan attack with any melee weaponwith reach C. If using a rangedweapon, ignore the usual speed/rangepenalty and apply the weapons Bulkstatistic as a penalty to hit.READYING INCLOSE COMBATYou must make a DX roll to readya weapon in close combat. If you fail,you still take a Ready maneuver butyou accomplish nothing. If you havethe Fast-Draw skill, you must maketwo rolls: the DX roll above and a Fast-Draw roll to get your weapon quickly.If you fail the Fast-Draw roll, youready the weapon but it takes a fullReady maneuver.Runaround AttacksA fast-moving fighter can sometimes start in front of a foe and runbehind him to strike from his back hex. Against a true attack frombehind, no active defense is possible, because the victim did not knowthe attack was coming. If the attacker starts in front and runs behind,outmaneuvering his victim through sheer speed, the victim does knowhes being attacked. Treat it as a side attack: -2 to active defenses, unlessthe victim has compensating advantages.CLOSE COMBAT
|
Roll first for the target closest toyou. If you miss, or if that targetdodges, roll for the next target. And soon. Keep rolling until you hit, or some-one blocks or parries your attack, oryou run out of targets. If your attackwent along a line between two occu-pied hexes, roll randomly to see whichone you check first.Anyone (friend or foe) gets thesame defense against this attack thathe would have had had your attackbeen intentional.Overshooting and Stray ShotsIf you make your attack roll butyour foe blocks or parries successfully,assume your weapon or missile hitsthe ground. It has no chance of hittinganyone.If your foe dodges, however, theprojectile goes past him and may hitsomeone else. Proceed as for Hittingthe Wrong Target, above, but start withthe closest target on the other side ofyour foe. (You already know you didnthit anybody between you and your foe,or he would not have had to defend.)Opportunity FireIf you have a ranged weapon, youmay watch a specified area and attackas soon as a target presents itself. Thisis called opportunity fire.To use opportunity fire, you musttake the Wait maneuver. You muststand still and watch for a target in aspecified area. You must face the areayou are covering. You may do noth-ing else.If a target appears in the specifiedarea, you must attack it (you can try todiscriminate, but this will give a penal-ty to hit see below). Your attack takesplace immediately. If two or more peo-ple are taking opportunity fire at thesame target, assume that their attacksare simultaneous.If no target appears, you simplywasted your turn!All of the area to be covered mustbe within your arc of vision (seep. 389). The larger the area you haveto watch, the greater the penalty whenyou attack:Hexes WatchedAttack Penalty102-13-4-25-6-37-10-411+-5You may also specify a singlestraight line, and say that you will fireat the first target that crosses the line.The penalty for this kind of opportuni-ty fire is only -2.When you attack, apply the appro-priate penalty above as well as all rele-vant ranged-combat modifiers. Youcannot claim any of the bonuses listedfor the Aim maneuver (p. 364).Exception: If you watch a single hex(only), you can Aim and Wait. Eachsecond you wait for a target alsocounts as an Aim maneuver, and youwill get the normal bonus for thatamount of aiming when you finallyattack.The GM should make sure thatplayers carefully specify the area theyare watching for opportunity fire. Inconflicts between PCs, the playersshould tell the GM in secret so thattheir opponents do not know wherethey are planning to fire.Target Discrimination: Normally,when you take opportunity fire, youmust attack the first target thatappears in the designated area friend or foe! You are free to specifythat you are not attacking automati-cally, usually to avoid shooting afriend. If so, the GM will make aVision roll for you when a targetappears and tell you whether youthink it is friend or foe. However, youhave an extra -2 to hit because of thetime you spent deciding.390TACTICAL COMBATDEFENDING INTACTICAL COMBATActive defenses work as described inChapter 11, with a few additional rules.Defending AgainstAttacks from the SideAgainst an attack that comes fromone of your side hexes, you defend at-2 unless you have Peripheral Vision(p.74) or 360Vision (p.34).Regardless of those advantages: If you have a shield, you cannotblock an attack that comes from yourweapon side, only one that comes fromyour shield side. If you have a one-handed meleeweapon, you cannot parry an attack thatcomes from the other side of your body,only one that comes from the sameside, unless your weapon arm has theExtra-Flexible enhancement or youpossess the Double-Jointed advantage.Pop-Up AttacksA pop-up attack is a special Attack maneuver in which you emergefrom cover, move no more than one hex, make a ranged attack, andreturn to cover all in the space of one turn! Examples include duckingaround a corner or a tree, or out of a trench. This is possible with anythrown weapon, firearm, or crossbow, but not with a bow or a sling.You cannot aim a pop-up attack. In fact, there is an extra -2 to hitbecause you couldnt see your target at the beginning of your turn.Note that when you emerge from cover to attack, anyone targetingyour hex with opportunity fire can attack you. If so, your only legaldefense is a dodge.Defending AgainstAttacks from the BackAgainst an attack that comes fromyour back hex, you cannot defend at allunless you have Peripheral Vision(which lets you defend at -2) or 360Vision (which lets you defend at nopenalty). Even if you have one of thoseadvantages, you have an extra -2 toparry an attack from behind, and can-not block at all, unless your weapon orshield arm has the Extra-Flexibleenhancement or you have the Double-Jointed advantage.RetreatingA retreat takes you one step nor-mally one hex directly away from thefoe you are defending against. Youcannot retreat into an occupied hex.You may change facing by one hex-side, if you wish, as you retreat.TACTICAL COMBAT391Close combat is any situation inwhich you occupy the same hex asyour foe or try to move through hishex. Use the rules given under Evading(p. 368) and Unarmed Combat (p. 370)in Chapter 11, but with the additionsbelow.ENTERING AFOES HEXYou may move or step into anenemys hex using any maneuver thatallows you enough movement to enterthat hex. You are in close combat assoon as you enter an opponents hex,regardless of your maneuver or that ofyour foe.If you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Attack maneuver, youcan always run into a foes hex and stopthere, facing him. If you do not wish tostop, you must attempt to evade (p. 368)or slam (p. 368) your foe your choice,within the limits of your maneuver.When you enter an enemy-occu-pied hex, you occupy half the hex. Youhave the half of the hex from whichyou entered; he has the other half. Toenter any of your front hexes on theenemys side, you have to movethrough him by evading.Evading in Tactical CombatTo evade a foe, you must haveenough movement points not only toenter his hex, but also to leave his hex!If your movement ends in his hex, youcannot evade on that turn.LEAVING AFOES HEXIf you start your turn in a foes hexand he isnt grappling you, you canmove out of the hex through any of thethree hexes on your side of the hex. Ifyou do this using a Move or Move andAttack, you must spend movementpoints to change facing, sidestep, orstep backward. To use forward move-ment to leave through one of the threehexes on your foes side, you mustevade him (see above).If you take a maneuver that allowsa step, you can step out of the hex andattack, feint, etc. with a one-hex reachweapon or you can make a close-combat attack and then step out butyour step can only take you into one ofthe three hexes on your side of the hex.If your foe has grappled you, youmay still choose a maneuver on yourturn, but you cannot leave the hexuntil you break free (see Actions AfterBeing Grappled, p. 371).WEAPONS FORCLOSE COMBATYou can only use small, easily man-aged weapons in close combat. Youcan attack with any melee weaponwith reach C. If using a rangedweapon, ignore the usual speed/rangepenalty and apply the weapons Bulkstatistic as a penalty to hit.READYING INCLOSE COMBATYou must make a DX roll to readya weapon in close combat. If you fail,you still take a Ready maneuver butyou accomplish nothing. If you havethe Fast-Draw skill, you must maketwo rolls: the DX roll above and a Fast-Draw roll to get your weapon quickly.If you fail the Fast-Draw roll, youready the weapon but it takes a fullReady maneuver.Runaround AttacksA fast-moving fighter can sometimes start in front of a foe and runbehind him to strike from his back hex. Against a true attack frombehind, no active defense is possible, because the victim did not knowthe attack was coming. If the attacker starts in front and runs behind,outmaneuvering his victim through sheer speed, the victim does knowhes being attacked. Treat it as a side attack: -2 to active defenses, unlessthe victim has compensating advantages.CLOSE COMBATDEFENSE INCLOSE COMBATYou can dodge normally in closecombat. You can only parry using anempty hand or a weapon with reachC (e.g., a knife). You cannot block atall!You can retreat (see p. 377) in closecombat, if you arent being grappled.Simply step out of close combat andinto any of the three hexes on yourside of the close-combat hex. Thisgives the usual bonus to your activedefense roll.Shields in Close CombatA shield becomes a potentiallydeadly nuisance in close combat. Itstill provides its Defense Bonus, but ithampers you while you wear it.Any attack you make in close com-bat except for the initial slam, attack,etc. when you first move into the foeshex has a penalty equal to theDefense Bonus of your shield! Any DXroll you attempt in close combat afteryour first turn of close combat has thesame penalty.It takes a one-turn Ready maneu-ver and a successful DX roll to get ridof your shield in close combat.MULTIPLE CLOSECOMBATAny number of people may partici-pate in close combat in the same hex.This is easy to depict with flat coun-ters, but it can be difficult to showwith 3D figures especially if somefighters are standing and others arelying down. A good compromise is toallow a fighter to declare himself inclose combat with an opponent whilestill in an adjacent hex.Up to two fighters may combinetheir efforts in a takedown attemptagainst a single foe; up to three maywork together in a pin attempt againsta single foe. In either case, use the ST,DX, or grappling skill of the attackerwith the best score, and add 1/5 (rounddown) of the score of each of hishelpers.392TACTICAL COMBATMULTI-HEX FIGURESGiants, large animals, monsters,vehicles, etc. often occupy more thanone hex. It can be helpful to makemulti-hex counters or, if using figures,to cut cardboard bases of the appro-priate size.The head or front of a multi-hexfigure controls its movement. Handledistance moved, direction of move-ment, and facing exactly as if thecreatures head were a normal one-hex figure. The rest of the body fol-lows. This might mean, for instance,that a dragons head moves only 3hexes while its tail sweeps through10. Thats all right and its a goodway for the dragon to knock peopleover.A multi-hex figure cannot fitthrough a map space narrower thanits widest point. However, the GMshould be lenient in allowing large fig-ures to overlap walls and the like.Remember that when a hex is cut by astraight wall, etc., a partial hex countsas a full hex.Arc of VisionThe head of a multi-hex creaturedetermines its arc of vision. This doesmean that much of a large creaturesbody may fall outside its own arc ofvision! However, many large creaturesalso have Peripheral Vision (p. 74).Front, Side, and Back HexesEach multi-hex creature hasfront, right, left, and back hexes, cor-responding to those of a human (seeillustration).Slam and OverrunWhen a figure two or more hexesin size moves through a smaller one,treat it as a slam (see Slam, p. 371).This gives the small figure a chance toget out of the way. If it fails to do so, itwill probably be knocked down! Thelarger figure can keep right on movingunless it is itself knocked down.Striking Into a Close CombatIf you are not in close combat yourself, you may help allies who arein close combat by standing outside the close-combat hex and attack-ing an enemy who is in close combat with them. Your attack is at -2,plus any modifier for the targets posture (lying down, for instance).If you hit, your foe may only defend as explained in Defense in CloseCombat.If you miss, or your foe successfully dodges, you may hit someoneelse friend or foe in the hex. If there is more than one possible tar-get, roll randomly to see who you attack first. Your attack roll is a flat9 or the number you would have had to roll to hit him on purpose,whichever is worse. If you hit, the victim may attempt any legal close-combat defense. Keep rolling until you run out of targets or you actu-ally hit someone.
|
Defending AgainstAttacks from the BackAgainst an attack that comes fromyour back hex, you cannot defend at allunless you have Peripheral Vision(which lets you defend at -2) or 360Vision (which lets you defend at nopenalty). Even if you have one of thoseadvantages, you have an extra -2 toparry an attack from behind, and can-not block at all, unless your weapon orshield arm has the Extra-Flexibleenhancement or you have the Double-Jointed advantage.RetreatingA retreat takes you one step nor-mally one hex directly away from thefoe you are defending against. Youcannot retreat into an occupied hex.You may change facing by one hex-side, if you wish, as you retreat.TACTICAL COMBAT391Close combat is any situation inwhich you occupy the same hex asyour foe or try to move through hishex. Use the rules given under Evading(p. 368) and Unarmed Combat (p. 370)in Chapter 11, but with the additionsbelow.ENTERING AFOES HEXYou may move or step into anenemys hex using any maneuver thatallows you enough movement to enterthat hex. You are in close combat assoon as you enter an opponents hex,regardless of your maneuver or that ofyour foe.If you take a Move, Move andAttack, or All-Out Attack maneuver, youcan always run into a foes hex and stopthere, facing him. If you do not wish tostop, you must attempt to evade (p. 368)or slam (p. 368) your foe your choice,within the limits of your maneuver.When you enter an enemy-occu-pied hex, you occupy half the hex. Youhave the half of the hex from whichyou entered; he has the other half. Toenter any of your front hexes on theenemys side, you have to movethrough him by evading.Evading in Tactical CombatTo evade a foe, you must haveenough movement points not only toenter his hex, but also to leave his hex!If your movement ends in his hex, youcannot evade on that turn.LEAVING AFOES HEXIf you start your turn in a foes hexand he isnt grappling you, you canmove out of the hex through any of thethree hexes on your side of the hex. Ifyou do this using a Move or Move andAttack, you must spend movementpoints to change facing, sidestep, orstep backward. To use forward move-ment to leave through one of the threehexes on your foes side, you mustevade him (see above).If you take a maneuver that allowsa step, you can step out of the hex andattack, feint, etc. with a one-hex reachweapon or you can make a close-combat attack and then step out butyour step can only take you into one ofthe three hexes on your side of the hex.If your foe has grappled you, youmay still choose a maneuver on yourturn, but you cannot leave the hexuntil you break free (see Actions AfterBeing Grappled, p. 371).WEAPONS FORCLOSE COMBATYou can only use small, easily man-aged weapons in close combat. Youcan attack with any melee weaponwith reach C. If using a rangedweapon, ignore the usual speed/rangepenalty and apply the weapons Bulkstatistic as a penalty to hit.READYING INCLOSE COMBATYou must make a DX roll to readya weapon in close combat. If you fail,you still take a Ready maneuver butyou accomplish nothing. If you havethe Fast-Draw skill, you must maketwo rolls: the DX roll above and a Fast-Draw roll to get your weapon quickly.If you fail the Fast-Draw roll, youready the weapon but it takes a fullReady maneuver.Runaround AttacksA fast-moving fighter can sometimes start in front of a foe and runbehind him to strike from his back hex. Against a true attack frombehind, no active defense is possible, because the victim did not knowthe attack was coming. If the attacker starts in front and runs behind,outmaneuvering his victim through sheer speed, the victim does knowhes being attacked. Treat it as a side attack: -2 to active defenses, unlessthe victim has compensating advantages.CLOSE COMBATDEFENSE INCLOSE COMBATYou can dodge normally in closecombat. You can only parry using anempty hand or a weapon with reachC (e.g., a knife). You cannot block atall!You can retreat (see p. 377) in closecombat, if you arent being grappled.Simply step out of close combat andinto any of the three hexes on yourside of the close-combat hex. Thisgives the usual bonus to your activedefense roll.Shields in Close CombatA shield becomes a potentiallydeadly nuisance in close combat. Itstill provides its Defense Bonus, but ithampers you while you wear it.Any attack you make in close com-bat except for the initial slam, attack,etc. when you first move into the foeshex has a penalty equal to theDefense Bonus of your shield! Any DXroll you attempt in close combat afteryour first turn of close combat has thesame penalty.It takes a one-turn Ready maneu-ver and a successful DX roll to get ridof your shield in close combat.MULTIPLE CLOSECOMBATAny number of people may partici-pate in close combat in the same hex.This is easy to depict with flat coun-ters, but it can be difficult to showwith 3D figures especially if somefighters are standing and others arelying down. A good compromise is toallow a fighter to declare himself inclose combat with an opponent whilestill in an adjacent hex.Up to two fighters may combinetheir efforts in a takedown attemptagainst a single foe; up to three maywork together in a pin attempt againsta single foe. In either case, use the ST,DX, or grappling skill of the attackerwith the best score, and add 1/5 (rounddown) of the score of each of hishelpers.392TACTICAL COMBATMULTI-HEX FIGURESGiants, large animals, monsters,vehicles, etc. often occupy more thanone hex. It can be helpful to makemulti-hex counters or, if using figures,to cut cardboard bases of the appro-priate size.The head or front of a multi-hexfigure controls its movement. Handledistance moved, direction of move-ment, and facing exactly as if thecreatures head were a normal one-hex figure. The rest of the body fol-lows. This might mean, for instance,that a dragons head moves only 3hexes while its tail sweeps through10. Thats all right and its a goodway for the dragon to knock peopleover.A multi-hex figure cannot fitthrough a map space narrower thanits widest point. However, the GMshould be lenient in allowing large fig-ures to overlap walls and the like.Remember that when a hex is cut by astraight wall, etc., a partial hex countsas a full hex.Arc of VisionThe head of a multi-hex creaturedetermines its arc of vision. This doesmean that much of a large creaturesbody may fall outside its own arc ofvision! However, many large creaturesalso have Peripheral Vision (p. 74).Front, Side, and Back HexesEach multi-hex creature hasfront, right, left, and back hexes, cor-responding to those of a human (seeillustration).Slam and OverrunWhen a figure two or more hexesin size moves through a smaller one,treat it as a slam (see Slam, p. 371).This gives the small figure a chance toget out of the way. If it fails to do so, itwill probably be knocked down! Thelarger figure can keep right on movingunless it is itself knocked down.Striking Into a Close CombatIf you are not in close combat yourself, you may help allies who arein close combat by standing outside the close-combat hex and attack-ing an enemy who is in close combat with them. Your attack is at -2,plus any modifier for the targets posture (lying down, for instance).If you hit, your foe may only defend as explained in Defense in CloseCombat.If you miss, or your foe successfully dodges, you may hit someoneelse friend or foe in the hex. If there is more than one possible tar-get, roll randomly to see who you attack first. Your attack roll is a flat9 or the number you would have had to roll to hit him on purpose,whichever is worse. If you hit, the victim may attempt any legal close-combat defense. Keep rolling until you run out of targets or you actu-ally hit someone.SURPRISE ATTACKSAND INITIATIVESPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS393CHAPTER THIRTEENSPECIALCOMBATSITUATIONSWhen the PCs surprise a group ofadversaries, or vice versa, the sur-prised party may not be able to reactimmediately. In this case, the attack-ers should get one or more freeturns. The GM is responsible fordetermining when the attackers haveachieved surprise.A character with Combat Reflexes israrely surprised, and will never freeze.He also gets +6 on all IQ rolls to recov-er from surprise. Note that many wildanimals have Combat Reflexes seeChapter 16 for examples.Total SurpriseWhen the defenders are taken com-pletely by surprise, they freeze. TheGM rolls 1d. This is the number of sec-onds that pass before the defenderscan react at all. Until that time is up,they are mentally stunned and musttake the Do Nothing maneuver.Exception: Those with CombatReflexes never freeze, and treat totalsurprise as partial surprise.Adventurers, guards, etc. rarely suf-fer total surprise unless they are actu-ally asleep. But total surprise would beappropriate if a group of werewolvescame charging through the door of thelocal library. (In fact, such an extremecase might justify a Fright Check atleast for the librarian.)After the initial freeze ends, eachdefender must roll against his basic IQat the start of his turn until he recov-ers. On a success, he must take DoNothing that turn, but can act nor-mally for the rest of the combat. On afailure, he is still mentally stunned; hemay roll again at the start of his nextturn. A low-IQ character, taken totallyby surprise, could miss the wholecombat!Partial SurpriseThis may occur when the defend-ers were expecting trouble . . . or wheneach party surprised the other! TheGM should require each side to roll forinitiative.To determine who gets the initia-tive, the leader of each side rolls 1d. Aleader with Combat Reflexes gets +2,or +1 if he doesnt have CombatReflexes but someone else on his sidedoes (this bonus is not cumulative formore than one character). The leaderwith the higher IQ gets +1. Havingeven one point in Tactics skill gives +1on initiative rolls; Tactics at level 20+gives +2. The GM can apply othermodifiers as he sees fit; e.g., if hethinks one side was more alert thanthe other.If one side is totally leaderless, theGM rolls for them. They get an auto-matic -2 to initiative. (This does notapply to animals or any other groupwith IQ 5 or less.)The side that gets the highest rollgets the initiative, and can move andact normally. Everyone on the otherside is mentally stunned, and mustmake IQ rolls on their turns, asdescribed for total surprise, to snapout of it. However, with partial sur-prise, there is a +1 bonus to IQ on thesecond turn, +2 on the third turn, andso on . . . even low IQ characters catchon after a few seconds. Note that ani-mals often have Combat Reflexes,which counteracts their low IQ.If the initiative roll is a tie, nobodywas taken by surprise.These advanced combat rules cover less-commontactical situations, or offer additional detail. Theyare modular the GM decides which rules are inforce in a given situation.
|
DEFENSE INCLOSE COMBATYou can dodge normally in closecombat. You can only parry using anempty hand or a weapon with reachC (e.g., a knife). You cannot block atall!You can retreat (see p. 377) in closecombat, if you arent being grappled.Simply step out of close combat andinto any of the three hexes on yourside of the close-combat hex. Thisgives the usual bonus to your activedefense roll.Shields in Close CombatA shield becomes a potentiallydeadly nuisance in close combat. Itstill provides its Defense Bonus, but ithampers you while you wear it.Any attack you make in close com-bat except for the initial slam, attack,etc. when you first move into the foeshex has a penalty equal to theDefense Bonus of your shield! Any DXroll you attempt in close combat afteryour first turn of close combat has thesame penalty.It takes a one-turn Ready maneu-ver and a successful DX roll to get ridof your shield in close combat.MULTIPLE CLOSECOMBATAny number of people may partici-pate in close combat in the same hex.This is easy to depict with flat coun-ters, but it can be difficult to showwith 3D figures especially if somefighters are standing and others arelying down. A good compromise is toallow a fighter to declare himself inclose combat with an opponent whilestill in an adjacent hex.Up to two fighters may combinetheir efforts in a takedown attemptagainst a single foe; up to three maywork together in a pin attempt againsta single foe. In either case, use the ST,DX, or grappling skill of the attackerwith the best score, and add 1/5 (rounddown) of the score of each of hishelpers.392TACTICAL COMBATMULTI-HEX FIGURESGiants, large animals, monsters,vehicles, etc. often occupy more thanone hex. It can be helpful to makemulti-hex counters or, if using figures,to cut cardboard bases of the appro-priate size.The head or front of a multi-hexfigure controls its movement. Handledistance moved, direction of move-ment, and facing exactly as if thecreatures head were a normal one-hex figure. The rest of the body fol-lows. This might mean, for instance,that a dragons head moves only 3hexes while its tail sweeps through10. Thats all right and its a goodway for the dragon to knock peopleover.A multi-hex figure cannot fitthrough a map space narrower thanits widest point. However, the GMshould be lenient in allowing large fig-ures to overlap walls and the like.Remember that when a hex is cut by astraight wall, etc., a partial hex countsas a full hex.Arc of VisionThe head of a multi-hex creaturedetermines its arc of vision. This doesmean that much of a large creaturesbody may fall outside its own arc ofvision! However, many large creaturesalso have Peripheral Vision (p. 74).Front, Side, and Back HexesEach multi-hex creature hasfront, right, left, and back hexes, cor-responding to those of a human (seeillustration).Slam and OverrunWhen a figure two or more hexesin size moves through a smaller one,treat it as a slam (see Slam, p. 371).This gives the small figure a chance toget out of the way. If it fails to do so, itwill probably be knocked down! Thelarger figure can keep right on movingunless it is itself knocked down.Striking Into a Close CombatIf you are not in close combat yourself, you may help allies who arein close combat by standing outside the close-combat hex and attack-ing an enemy who is in close combat with them. Your attack is at -2,plus any modifier for the targets posture (lying down, for instance).If you hit, your foe may only defend as explained in Defense in CloseCombat.If you miss, or your foe successfully dodges, you may hit someoneelse friend or foe in the hex. If there is more than one possible tar-get, roll randomly to see who you attack first. Your attack roll is a flat9 or the number you would have had to roll to hit him on purpose,whichever is worse. If you hit, the victim may attempt any legal close-combat defense. Keep rolling until you run out of targets or you actu-ally hit someone.SURPRISE ATTACKSAND INITIATIVESPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS393CHAPTER THIRTEENSPECIALCOMBATSITUATIONSWhen the PCs surprise a group ofadversaries, or vice versa, the sur-prised party may not be able to reactimmediately. In this case, the attack-ers should get one or more freeturns. The GM is responsible fordetermining when the attackers haveachieved surprise.A character with Combat Reflexes israrely surprised, and will never freeze.He also gets +6 on all IQ rolls to recov-er from surprise. Note that many wildanimals have Combat Reflexes seeChapter 16 for examples.Total SurpriseWhen the defenders are taken com-pletely by surprise, they freeze. TheGM rolls 1d. This is the number of sec-onds that pass before the defenderscan react at all. Until that time is up,they are mentally stunned and musttake the Do Nothing maneuver.Exception: Those with CombatReflexes never freeze, and treat totalsurprise as partial surprise.Adventurers, guards, etc. rarely suf-fer total surprise unless they are actu-ally asleep. But total surprise would beappropriate if a group of werewolvescame charging through the door of thelocal library. (In fact, such an extremecase might justify a Fright Check atleast for the librarian.)After the initial freeze ends, eachdefender must roll against his basic IQat the start of his turn until he recov-ers. On a success, he must take DoNothing that turn, but can act nor-mally for the rest of the combat. On afailure, he is still mentally stunned; hemay roll again at the start of his nextturn. A low-IQ character, taken totallyby surprise, could miss the wholecombat!Partial SurpriseThis may occur when the defend-ers were expecting trouble . . . or wheneach party surprised the other! TheGM should require each side to roll forinitiative.To determine who gets the initia-tive, the leader of each side rolls 1d. Aleader with Combat Reflexes gets +2,or +1 if he doesnt have CombatReflexes but someone else on his sidedoes (this bonus is not cumulative formore than one character). The leaderwith the higher IQ gets +1. Havingeven one point in Tactics skill gives +1on initiative rolls; Tactics at level 20+gives +2. The GM can apply othermodifiers as he sees fit; e.g., if hethinks one side was more alert thanthe other.If one side is totally leaderless, theGM rolls for them. They get an auto-matic -2 to initiative. (This does notapply to animals or any other groupwith IQ 5 or less.)The side that gets the highest rollgets the initiative, and can move andact normally. Everyone on the otherside is mentally stunned, and mustmake IQ rolls on their turns, asdescribed for total surprise, to snapout of it. However, with partial sur-prise, there is a +1 bonus to IQ on thesecond turn, +2 on the third turn, andso on . . . even low IQ characters catchon after a few seconds. Note that ani-mals often have Combat Reflexes,which counteracts their low IQ.If the initiative roll is a tie, nobodywas taken by surprise.These advanced combat rules cover less-commontactical situations, or offer additional detail. Theyare modular the GM decides which rules are inforce in a given situation.A combat situation where somefighters cant see their foes affectsattacks and defenses.Attacker cannot see anything. If theattacker is blind or in total darkness,he can make a Hearing-2 roll or usesome other method to discover hisfoes location. If he fails his Hearingroll, he may attack in a randomly cho-sen direction (on a map, he must spec-ify the hex). He attacks at -10 (-6 if heis accustomed to being blind). Roll hitlocation randomly.Attacker cannot see his foe, but cansee his other surroundings. If only theattackers foe is invisible, use the rulesabove, but the attack penalty is only-6.Attacker cannot see his foe, butknows his location for sure. If the foe isin a single smoke-filled hex or the like,use the rules above, but no Hearingroll is required and the attack penaltyis only -4.Defender cannot see his attacker. Ifthe attacker (including his weapon) isinvisible but the defender is awarethat he is being attacked, he maydodge at -4. If the defender makes aHearing-2 roll, he may also parry orblock still at -4. If he is completelyunaware of his attacker, he gets nodefense at all! If the attacker is insmoke or unnatural darkness, but thedefender is not, he defends normally,since he can see the weapon coming.Note also that an unseen fightercan safely try things that a normalfighter could never do or he may justwait in a corner until his foe isexhausted!Torches and FlashlightsA torch or flashlight reduces thepenalty to attack rolls for darkness.Assume that any such light within lineof sight reduces the penalty from -10(total darkness) to -3. Almost everylight source has a limited range orradius see the item description fordetails.You can also use a torch as aweapon: treat it as a baton that doesone point of burning damage as alinked effect (see Linked Effects,p. 381). A torch can set things afire,given enough time. Most oil yourelikely to encounter in a medievalworld catches fire after three secondsof contact with an open flame; ordi-nary clothing ignites after four sec-onds, and kindling after 10 seconds.Other things are left to the GMs judg-ment.Its possible to carry a light in youroff hand, leaving your weapon handfree for combat. Its even possible toparry with it at the usual penaltiesfor using the off hand. A torch or ordi-nary flashlight will smash on the firstblow if it is used to parry a weaponthree times its weight or more! TL7+police flashlights are serviceablebatons: triple the cost and weight foran ordinary heavy flashlight (seeCamping and Survival Gear, p. 288).394SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSVISIBILITYSPECIAL MOVEMENTMost forms of enhanced mobilityhave significant effects on combat.HIGH-SPEEDMOVEMENTIts possible to go so fast that youcant easily stop or change course.Such high-speed movement occurswhenever your present velocityexceeds your Basic Move. These rulesapply equally to living beings and tofast-moving vehicles.You may decide to accelerate tohigh speed at the end of any turn dur-ing which youve moved your fullBasic Move modified for encum-brance, if any in one direction, moreor less (no more than one 60 turn).You must have taken either a Move ora Move and Attack maneuver thatturn, and you must be standing up.Once you switch to high-speedmovement, you move as describedunder Sprinting (p. 354). You maystart the next turn with a velocity up to20% greater than your Move (at mini-mum, +1 Move). If you have theEnhanced Move advantage, or are avehicle with a top speed greater thanyour Move, you may start your nextturn with a velocity up to 100%greater than Basic Move. In all cases,use the high-speed movement rulesbelow.VelocityKeep track of your velocity (inyards per second). You can increase itor decrease it at the end of each turn;see Accelerating, below. You mustmove as fast as your velocity that is,if your velocity is 17, you must move17 yards that turn unless something(e.g., bad footing) slows you down.Maneuvers DuringHigh-Speed MovementIf youre moving at high speedunder your own power, you shouldtake either a Move or a Move andAttack maneuver. This applies to amount, but not to riders or vehiclecrew. If you dont (or if no one is con-trolling a vehicle), see Losing Control,p. 395.Direction and Turning RadiusAt high speeds, its hard to changedirection quickly. You must continueto move in a generally forward direc-tion. A major change of direction (upto 60) is only possible after youvemoved straight ahead for a distanceequal to at least (currentvelocity/Basic Move) yards, roundeddown. This number is your turningradius. For instance, if your currentvelocity is 13 and you have Basic Move5, you must move at least 13/5 = 2.6yards, which rounds to 2 yards,between each change of facing.Until you have moved a distanceequal to your turning radius, you mustcontinue to move forward. If you areusing the Tactical Combat rules, youcan move into any of your three front
|
SURPRISE ATTACKSAND INITIATIVESPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS393CHAPTER THIRTEENSPECIALCOMBATSITUATIONSWhen the PCs surprise a group ofadversaries, or vice versa, the sur-prised party may not be able to reactimmediately. In this case, the attack-ers should get one or more freeturns. The GM is responsible fordetermining when the attackers haveachieved surprise.A character with Combat Reflexes israrely surprised, and will never freeze.He also gets +6 on all IQ rolls to recov-er from surprise. Note that many wildanimals have Combat Reflexes seeChapter 16 for examples.Total SurpriseWhen the defenders are taken com-pletely by surprise, they freeze. TheGM rolls 1d. This is the number of sec-onds that pass before the defenderscan react at all. Until that time is up,they are mentally stunned and musttake the Do Nothing maneuver.Exception: Those with CombatReflexes never freeze, and treat totalsurprise as partial surprise.Adventurers, guards, etc. rarely suf-fer total surprise unless they are actu-ally asleep. But total surprise would beappropriate if a group of werewolvescame charging through the door of thelocal library. (In fact, such an extremecase might justify a Fright Check atleast for the librarian.)After the initial freeze ends, eachdefender must roll against his basic IQat the start of his turn until he recov-ers. On a success, he must take DoNothing that turn, but can act nor-mally for the rest of the combat. On afailure, he is still mentally stunned; hemay roll again at the start of his nextturn. A low-IQ character, taken totallyby surprise, could miss the wholecombat!Partial SurpriseThis may occur when the defend-ers were expecting trouble . . . or wheneach party surprised the other! TheGM should require each side to roll forinitiative.To determine who gets the initia-tive, the leader of each side rolls 1d. Aleader with Combat Reflexes gets +2,or +1 if he doesnt have CombatReflexes but someone else on his sidedoes (this bonus is not cumulative formore than one character). The leaderwith the higher IQ gets +1. Havingeven one point in Tactics skill gives +1on initiative rolls; Tactics at level 20+gives +2. The GM can apply othermodifiers as he sees fit; e.g., if hethinks one side was more alert thanthe other.If one side is totally leaderless, theGM rolls for them. They get an auto-matic -2 to initiative. (This does notapply to animals or any other groupwith IQ 5 or less.)The side that gets the highest rollgets the initiative, and can move andact normally. Everyone on the otherside is mentally stunned, and mustmake IQ rolls on their turns, asdescribed for total surprise, to snapout of it. However, with partial sur-prise, there is a +1 bonus to IQ on thesecond turn, +2 on the third turn, andso on . . . even low IQ characters catchon after a few seconds. Note that ani-mals often have Combat Reflexes,which counteracts their low IQ.If the initiative roll is a tie, nobodywas taken by surprise.These advanced combat rules cover less-commontactical situations, or offer additional detail. Theyare modular the GM decides which rules are inforce in a given situation.A combat situation where somefighters cant see their foes affectsattacks and defenses.Attacker cannot see anything. If theattacker is blind or in total darkness,he can make a Hearing-2 roll or usesome other method to discover hisfoes location. If he fails his Hearingroll, he may attack in a randomly cho-sen direction (on a map, he must spec-ify the hex). He attacks at -10 (-6 if heis accustomed to being blind). Roll hitlocation randomly.Attacker cannot see his foe, but cansee his other surroundings. If only theattackers foe is invisible, use the rulesabove, but the attack penalty is only-6.Attacker cannot see his foe, butknows his location for sure. If the foe isin a single smoke-filled hex or the like,use the rules above, but no Hearingroll is required and the attack penaltyis only -4.Defender cannot see his attacker. Ifthe attacker (including his weapon) isinvisible but the defender is awarethat he is being attacked, he maydodge at -4. If the defender makes aHearing-2 roll, he may also parry orblock still at -4. If he is completelyunaware of his attacker, he gets nodefense at all! If the attacker is insmoke or unnatural darkness, but thedefender is not, he defends normally,since he can see the weapon coming.Note also that an unseen fightercan safely try things that a normalfighter could never do or he may justwait in a corner until his foe isexhausted!Torches and FlashlightsA torch or flashlight reduces thepenalty to attack rolls for darkness.Assume that any such light within lineof sight reduces the penalty from -10(total darkness) to -3. Almost everylight source has a limited range orradius see the item description fordetails.You can also use a torch as aweapon: treat it as a baton that doesone point of burning damage as alinked effect (see Linked Effects,p. 381). A torch can set things afire,given enough time. Most oil yourelikely to encounter in a medievalworld catches fire after three secondsof contact with an open flame; ordi-nary clothing ignites after four sec-onds, and kindling after 10 seconds.Other things are left to the GMs judg-ment.Its possible to carry a light in youroff hand, leaving your weapon handfree for combat. Its even possible toparry with it at the usual penaltiesfor using the off hand. A torch or ordi-nary flashlight will smash on the firstblow if it is used to parry a weaponthree times its weight or more! TL7+police flashlights are serviceablebatons: triple the cost and weight foran ordinary heavy flashlight (seeCamping and Survival Gear, p. 288).394SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSVISIBILITYSPECIAL MOVEMENTMost forms of enhanced mobilityhave significant effects on combat.HIGH-SPEEDMOVEMENTIts possible to go so fast that youcant easily stop or change course.Such high-speed movement occurswhenever your present velocityexceeds your Basic Move. These rulesapply equally to living beings and tofast-moving vehicles.You may decide to accelerate tohigh speed at the end of any turn dur-ing which youve moved your fullBasic Move modified for encum-brance, if any in one direction, moreor less (no more than one 60 turn).You must have taken either a Move ora Move and Attack maneuver thatturn, and you must be standing up.Once you switch to high-speedmovement, you move as describedunder Sprinting (p. 354). You maystart the next turn with a velocity up to20% greater than your Move (at mini-mum, +1 Move). If you have theEnhanced Move advantage, or are avehicle with a top speed greater thanyour Move, you may start your nextturn with a velocity up to 100%greater than Basic Move. In all cases,use the high-speed movement rulesbelow.VelocityKeep track of your velocity (inyards per second). You can increase itor decrease it at the end of each turn;see Accelerating, below. You mustmove as fast as your velocity that is,if your velocity is 17, you must move17 yards that turn unless something(e.g., bad footing) slows you down.Maneuvers DuringHigh-Speed MovementIf youre moving at high speedunder your own power, you shouldtake either a Move or a Move andAttack maneuver. This applies to amount, but not to riders or vehiclecrew. If you dont (or if no one is con-trolling a vehicle), see Losing Control,p. 395.Direction and Turning RadiusAt high speeds, its hard to changedirection quickly. You must continueto move in a generally forward direc-tion. A major change of direction (upto 60) is only possible after youvemoved straight ahead for a distanceequal to at least (currentvelocity/Basic Move) yards, roundeddown. This number is your turningradius. For instance, if your currentvelocity is 13 and you have Basic Move5, you must move at least 13/5 = 2.6yards, which rounds to 2 yards,between each change of facing.Until you have moved a distanceequal to your turning radius, you mustcontinue to move forward. If you areusing the Tactical Combat rules, youcan move into any of your three fronthexes, but without changing facing. Ifyou have legs or similar, you can rollagainst DX or Jumping to cross obsta-cles; otherwise, you collide with any-thing you cant maneuver around orwhich doesnt dodge out of the way.Note: These rules are cinematic buteasy to use. A more realistic turningradius would be (velocity squared)/10yards; those who enjoy complexity arewelcome to use this.If your Basic Move is 0, do not usethe rules above. You cannot turn at allunder your own power! You can onlydrift. To execute a turn, you must bepushed, towed, etc.Attacking and DefendingYou can fight normally duringhigh-speed movement, subject to thelimits of your combat maneuver. Youcan dodge, but you cannot retreat ordive for cover. The GM should alwaysapply speed modifiers when youreunder attack or attacking!AcceleratingIf your velocity is less than yourtop speed at the end of your turn, youcan increase it by an amount up toyour Basic Move, to a maximum ofyour rated top speed. Top speed is20% over your Move if you are sprint-ing and dont have the EnhancedMove advantage.DeceleratingInstead of accelerating, you candecelerate, reducing your velocity byan amount up to your Basic Move (ormore, with some risk see below). Ifyour deceleration reduces your veloci-ty to Basic Move or less at the end ofyour turn, you are no longer at highspeed, and may use the ordinarymovement rules next turn.Pushing the EnvelopeYou can try to decelerate by up toBasic Move 2. You can also attemptto change direction before youvemoved the requisite distance. Eitherrequires a DX+3 roll or a vehicleoperation skill roll, modified by thevehicles Handling statistic, if you aredriving a vehicle.Hasty deceleration requires a rollat -1 per two full yards/second beyondBasic Move by which you cut yourspeed. For instance, if your BasicMove is 5 and you decelerate by 9yards/second, you must roll at -2.An earlier turn (or a tighter turn;e.g., 120 instead 60) calls for a roll at-1 per full increment of Basic Move bywhich your velocity exceeds yourBasic Move. For instance, if youremoving at 23 yards/second and haveBasic Move 3, you must roll at -6.If you fail, you lose traction and fallor spin out of control see LosingControl, below.Tactical MovementIf you are using the tactical move-ment rules with high-speed move-ment, your movement points equalyour velocity at the start of your turn.You cannot sidestep or step back.Turning radius limits facing changes:a 60 turn is a one hex-side facingchange.Minor obstructions and bad foot-ing cost movement points as usual(see Movement Point Costs, p. 387),and also decelerate you at the end ofyour turn by an amount equal to theextra movement points paid. Forexample, if your high-speed velocity is14 and you run through six yards ofmud (+1 movement point per hex),youll automatically decelerate to avelocity of 8 at the end of the turn. Addthis to any voluntary deceleration. Ifthe total exceeds your Basic Move, rollas described for Pushing the Envelope,above. If it exceeds Basic Move 2,you lose control automatically.Losing ControlIf you are running on the groundand lose control, you trip. You fallover, skid for 1/4 your remainingmovement straight ahead (unless youhit something), and then stop. If youland on the ground and skid to a stopwithout hitting anything, you sufferdamage for a fall at your currentvelocity; see Falling (p. 431). If you hitsomething, you suffer (and inflict) col-lision damage instead; see Damagefrom Collisions (p. 430).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS395Optional Rule: Changing Posture in ArmorFor enhanced realism, you can let encumbrance level affect the timeit takes to perform a Change Posture maneuver. At encumbrance level0 (None) or 1 (Light), Change Posture takes one second, as usual. Atlevel 2 (Medium), it takes two seconds to change posture and so on.While you are partway through a posture change, you are considered tobe in the old posture. This rule may slow play, but it can also give a real-istic edge to lightly armored combatants.
|
A combat situation where somefighters cant see their foes affectsattacks and defenses.Attacker cannot see anything. If theattacker is blind or in total darkness,he can make a Hearing-2 roll or usesome other method to discover hisfoes location. If he fails his Hearingroll, he may attack in a randomly cho-sen direction (on a map, he must spec-ify the hex). He attacks at -10 (-6 if heis accustomed to being blind). Roll hitlocation randomly.Attacker cannot see his foe, but cansee his other surroundings. If only theattackers foe is invisible, use the rulesabove, but the attack penalty is only-6.Attacker cannot see his foe, butknows his location for sure. If the foe isin a single smoke-filled hex or the like,use the rules above, but no Hearingroll is required and the attack penaltyis only -4.Defender cannot see his attacker. Ifthe attacker (including his weapon) isinvisible but the defender is awarethat he is being attacked, he maydodge at -4. If the defender makes aHearing-2 roll, he may also parry orblock still at -4. If he is completelyunaware of his attacker, he gets nodefense at all! If the attacker is insmoke or unnatural darkness, but thedefender is not, he defends normally,since he can see the weapon coming.Note also that an unseen fightercan safely try things that a normalfighter could never do or he may justwait in a corner until his foe isexhausted!Torches and FlashlightsA torch or flashlight reduces thepenalty to attack rolls for darkness.Assume that any such light within lineof sight reduces the penalty from -10(total darkness) to -3. Almost everylight source has a limited range orradius see the item description fordetails.You can also use a torch as aweapon: treat it as a baton that doesone point of burning damage as alinked effect (see Linked Effects,p. 381). A torch can set things afire,given enough time. Most oil yourelikely to encounter in a medievalworld catches fire after three secondsof contact with an open flame; ordi-nary clothing ignites after four sec-onds, and kindling after 10 seconds.Other things are left to the GMs judg-ment.Its possible to carry a light in youroff hand, leaving your weapon handfree for combat. Its even possible toparry with it at the usual penaltiesfor using the off hand. A torch or ordi-nary flashlight will smash on the firstblow if it is used to parry a weaponthree times its weight or more! TL7+police flashlights are serviceablebatons: triple the cost and weight foran ordinary heavy flashlight (seeCamping and Survival Gear, p. 288).394SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSVISIBILITYSPECIAL MOVEMENTMost forms of enhanced mobilityhave significant effects on combat.HIGH-SPEEDMOVEMENTIts possible to go so fast that youcant easily stop or change course.Such high-speed movement occurswhenever your present velocityexceeds your Basic Move. These rulesapply equally to living beings and tofast-moving vehicles.You may decide to accelerate tohigh speed at the end of any turn dur-ing which youve moved your fullBasic Move modified for encum-brance, if any in one direction, moreor less (no more than one 60 turn).You must have taken either a Move ora Move and Attack maneuver thatturn, and you must be standing up.Once you switch to high-speedmovement, you move as describedunder Sprinting (p. 354). You maystart the next turn with a velocity up to20% greater than your Move (at mini-mum, +1 Move). If you have theEnhanced Move advantage, or are avehicle with a top speed greater thanyour Move, you may start your nextturn with a velocity up to 100%greater than Basic Move. In all cases,use the high-speed movement rulesbelow.VelocityKeep track of your velocity (inyards per second). You can increase itor decrease it at the end of each turn;see Accelerating, below. You mustmove as fast as your velocity that is,if your velocity is 17, you must move17 yards that turn unless something(e.g., bad footing) slows you down.Maneuvers DuringHigh-Speed MovementIf youre moving at high speedunder your own power, you shouldtake either a Move or a Move andAttack maneuver. This applies to amount, but not to riders or vehiclecrew. If you dont (or if no one is con-trolling a vehicle), see Losing Control,p. 395.Direction and Turning RadiusAt high speeds, its hard to changedirection quickly. You must continueto move in a generally forward direc-tion. A major change of direction (upto 60) is only possible after youvemoved straight ahead for a distanceequal to at least (currentvelocity/Basic Move) yards, roundeddown. This number is your turningradius. For instance, if your currentvelocity is 13 and you have Basic Move5, you must move at least 13/5 = 2.6yards, which rounds to 2 yards,between each change of facing.Until you have moved a distanceequal to your turning radius, you mustcontinue to move forward. If you areusing the Tactical Combat rules, youcan move into any of your three fronthexes, but without changing facing. Ifyou have legs or similar, you can rollagainst DX or Jumping to cross obsta-cles; otherwise, you collide with any-thing you cant maneuver around orwhich doesnt dodge out of the way.Note: These rules are cinematic buteasy to use. A more realistic turningradius would be (velocity squared)/10yards; those who enjoy complexity arewelcome to use this.If your Basic Move is 0, do not usethe rules above. You cannot turn at allunder your own power! You can onlydrift. To execute a turn, you must bepushed, towed, etc.Attacking and DefendingYou can fight normally duringhigh-speed movement, subject to thelimits of your combat maneuver. Youcan dodge, but you cannot retreat ordive for cover. The GM should alwaysapply speed modifiers when youreunder attack or attacking!AcceleratingIf your velocity is less than yourtop speed at the end of your turn, youcan increase it by an amount up toyour Basic Move, to a maximum ofyour rated top speed. Top speed is20% over your Move if you are sprint-ing and dont have the EnhancedMove advantage.DeceleratingInstead of accelerating, you candecelerate, reducing your velocity byan amount up to your Basic Move (ormore, with some risk see below). Ifyour deceleration reduces your veloci-ty to Basic Move or less at the end ofyour turn, you are no longer at highspeed, and may use the ordinarymovement rules next turn.Pushing the EnvelopeYou can try to decelerate by up toBasic Move 2. You can also attemptto change direction before youvemoved the requisite distance. Eitherrequires a DX+3 roll or a vehicleoperation skill roll, modified by thevehicles Handling statistic, if you aredriving a vehicle.Hasty deceleration requires a rollat -1 per two full yards/second beyondBasic Move by which you cut yourspeed. For instance, if your BasicMove is 5 and you decelerate by 9yards/second, you must roll at -2.An earlier turn (or a tighter turn;e.g., 120 instead 60) calls for a roll at-1 per full increment of Basic Move bywhich your velocity exceeds yourBasic Move. For instance, if youremoving at 23 yards/second and haveBasic Move 3, you must roll at -6.If you fail, you lose traction and fallor spin out of control see LosingControl, below.Tactical MovementIf you are using the tactical move-ment rules with high-speed move-ment, your movement points equalyour velocity at the start of your turn.You cannot sidestep or step back.Turning radius limits facing changes:a 60 turn is a one hex-side facingchange.Minor obstructions and bad foot-ing cost movement points as usual(see Movement Point Costs, p. 387),and also decelerate you at the end ofyour turn by an amount equal to theextra movement points paid. Forexample, if your high-speed velocity is14 and you run through six yards ofmud (+1 movement point per hex),youll automatically decelerate to avelocity of 8 at the end of the turn. Addthis to any voluntary deceleration. Ifthe total exceeds your Basic Move, rollas described for Pushing the Envelope,above. If it exceeds Basic Move 2,you lose control automatically.Losing ControlIf you are running on the groundand lose control, you trip. You fallover, skid for 1/4 your remainingmovement straight ahead (unless youhit something), and then stop. If youland on the ground and skid to a stopwithout hitting anything, you sufferdamage for a fall at your currentvelocity; see Falling (p. 431). If you hitsomething, you suffer (and inflict) col-lision damage instead; see Damagefrom Collisions (p. 430).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS395Optional Rule: Changing Posture in ArmorFor enhanced realism, you can let encumbrance level affect the timeit takes to perform a Change Posture maneuver. At encumbrance level0 (None) or 1 (Light), Change Posture takes one second, as usual. Atlevel 2 (Medium), it takes two seconds to change posture and so on.While you are partway through a posture change, you are considered tobe in the old posture. This rule may slow play, but it can also give a real-istic edge to lightly armored combatants.You also lose control if you areknocked out, or take any combatmaneuver but Move or Move andAttack, while moving at high speed.For instance, if you were stunned andforced to Do Nothing, you would tripas described above.Exception: If you are moving onthree or more wheels, youre more sta-ble. The GM may rule that you merelydecelerate your maximum safe decel-eration each turn instead of tripping,unless your loss of control was theresult was a critical failure or injury(stunned, etc.).High-Speed Flying and SwimmingOnly use Basic Move if you aremoving on the ground. Use basic airMove when flying, and basic waterMove when swimming (see Move inOther Environments, p. 18). If you losecontrol in the air or water, you donttrip; instead, you must move your cur-rent velocity straight ahead and thendecelerate by your maximum safedeceleration. You can do nothing else this effectively ends your turn!MOUNTEDCOMBATKnights, cowboys and Indians, andother adventurers often fight from thesaddle. A mount not only providesadditional mobility, but its extraheight and momentum can make theriders attacks more effective, whilethe shock of a mounted charge canpanic unprepared opponents. Somemounts even fight in their own right.With the exception of the occasion-al camel or elephant, mounted war-riors usually ride horses, and theserules assume that. For the differencesbetween horses and various mountsfrom fantasy and science fiction, seethe pertinent animal descriptions.Ordinarily, a rider can direct a war-trained mount by voice and foot pres-sure, leaving both hands free forweapon use. However, all Riding rollsare at -3 for no hands, or -1 if onlyone hand is on the reins. Riders whoneed both hands to control theirmount may drop what they are hold-ing. It requires a Ready maneuver andDX-3 roll to return a weapon to itsscabbard while a mount is bucking; acritical failure means you drop it!Nonsapient mounts without wartraining (see War-Trained Mounts,p. 459) are liable to spook at danger especially at the sounds of gunfireand injured animals of their ownspecies! All combat Riding rolls are at-3 for a well-broken mount withoutwar training and at -6 or worse forone that is not fully broken.The rider must make a Riding+2roll to get any mount except a war-trained mount to charge into or overany obstacle, or onto bad footing, or toperform risky maneuvers like jumps,tight turns, etc., unless theyre a mat-ter of life and death for the mount!Failure means the mount disobeys;see Spooked Mounts, p. 397.Mounting UpMounting a horse or similar crea-ture takes two consecutive maneuvers:Move to jump or climb up, followedby Change Posture to seat yourself.You can leap astride in only one turn ifyou make a Riding, Acrobatics, orJumping roll at -3 (no penalty if youare using stirrups) but on any fail-ure, you fall!When you are using TacticalCombat, a rider is in the center of a 3-hex mount like a horse, or the frontof a 2-hex mount like a gryphon. Anelephant or similar mount wouldhave a flat back, and a rider couldstand up and move around; tradition-ally, an elephant carries the driver, ormahout, on its neck, and a howdah, aplatform with several fighters, on itsback.Movement and ManeuversSee Riding and Draft Animals(p. 459) for the Move of variousmounts. The animals Basic Move isthe pace it can achieve while walkingor trotting; its Enhanced Move is for a gallop, and uses the rules under High-Speed Movement(p.394).Encumbrance penalties apply normal-ly (see Encumbrance and Move, p. 17). . . but few mounts willingly carrymore than Medium encumbrance.In combat, the mount can take anymaneuver, unless its moving at highspeed. Then it is limited to Move orMove and Attack.The rider can take any maneuver.Use Change Posture to dismount safe-ly from a mount that hasnt moved, orthat has moved only a step. Otherwise,the only way to get off is to jump orfall. To jump off safely, take a Move orMove and Attack maneuver and makean Acrobatics or Jumping roll. On anyfailure, you fall!396SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS
|
hexes, but without changing facing. Ifyou have legs or similar, you can rollagainst DX or Jumping to cross obsta-cles; otherwise, you collide with any-thing you cant maneuver around orwhich doesnt dodge out of the way.Note: These rules are cinematic buteasy to use. A more realistic turningradius would be (velocity squared)/10yards; those who enjoy complexity arewelcome to use this.If your Basic Move is 0, do not usethe rules above. You cannot turn at allunder your own power! You can onlydrift. To execute a turn, you must bepushed, towed, etc.Attacking and DefendingYou can fight normally duringhigh-speed movement, subject to thelimits of your combat maneuver. Youcan dodge, but you cannot retreat ordive for cover. The GM should alwaysapply speed modifiers when youreunder attack or attacking!AcceleratingIf your velocity is less than yourtop speed at the end of your turn, youcan increase it by an amount up toyour Basic Move, to a maximum ofyour rated top speed. Top speed is20% over your Move if you are sprint-ing and dont have the EnhancedMove advantage.DeceleratingInstead of accelerating, you candecelerate, reducing your velocity byan amount up to your Basic Move (ormore, with some risk see below). Ifyour deceleration reduces your veloci-ty to Basic Move or less at the end ofyour turn, you are no longer at highspeed, and may use the ordinarymovement rules next turn.Pushing the EnvelopeYou can try to decelerate by up toBasic Move 2. You can also attemptto change direction before youvemoved the requisite distance. Eitherrequires a DX+3 roll or a vehicleoperation skill roll, modified by thevehicles Handling statistic, if you aredriving a vehicle.Hasty deceleration requires a rollat -1 per two full yards/second beyondBasic Move by which you cut yourspeed. For instance, if your BasicMove is 5 and you decelerate by 9yards/second, you must roll at -2.An earlier turn (or a tighter turn;e.g., 120 instead 60) calls for a roll at-1 per full increment of Basic Move bywhich your velocity exceeds yourBasic Move. For instance, if youremoving at 23 yards/second and haveBasic Move 3, you must roll at -6.If you fail, you lose traction and fallor spin out of control see LosingControl, below.Tactical MovementIf you are using the tactical move-ment rules with high-speed move-ment, your movement points equalyour velocity at the start of your turn.You cannot sidestep or step back.Turning radius limits facing changes:a 60 turn is a one hex-side facingchange.Minor obstructions and bad foot-ing cost movement points as usual(see Movement Point Costs, p. 387),and also decelerate you at the end ofyour turn by an amount equal to theextra movement points paid. Forexample, if your high-speed velocity is14 and you run through six yards ofmud (+1 movement point per hex),youll automatically decelerate to avelocity of 8 at the end of the turn. Addthis to any voluntary deceleration. Ifthe total exceeds your Basic Move, rollas described for Pushing the Envelope,above. If it exceeds Basic Move 2,you lose control automatically.Losing ControlIf you are running on the groundand lose control, you trip. You fallover, skid for 1/4 your remainingmovement straight ahead (unless youhit something), and then stop. If youland on the ground and skid to a stopwithout hitting anything, you sufferdamage for a fall at your currentvelocity; see Falling (p. 431). If you hitsomething, you suffer (and inflict) col-lision damage instead; see Damagefrom Collisions (p. 430).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS395Optional Rule: Changing Posture in ArmorFor enhanced realism, you can let encumbrance level affect the timeit takes to perform a Change Posture maneuver. At encumbrance level0 (None) or 1 (Light), Change Posture takes one second, as usual. Atlevel 2 (Medium), it takes two seconds to change posture and so on.While you are partway through a posture change, you are considered tobe in the old posture. This rule may slow play, but it can also give a real-istic edge to lightly armored combatants.You also lose control if you areknocked out, or take any combatmaneuver but Move or Move andAttack, while moving at high speed.For instance, if you were stunned andforced to Do Nothing, you would tripas described above.Exception: If you are moving onthree or more wheels, youre more sta-ble. The GM may rule that you merelydecelerate your maximum safe decel-eration each turn instead of tripping,unless your loss of control was theresult was a critical failure or injury(stunned, etc.).High-Speed Flying and SwimmingOnly use Basic Move if you aremoving on the ground. Use basic airMove when flying, and basic waterMove when swimming (see Move inOther Environments, p. 18). If you losecontrol in the air or water, you donttrip; instead, you must move your cur-rent velocity straight ahead and thendecelerate by your maximum safedeceleration. You can do nothing else this effectively ends your turn!MOUNTEDCOMBATKnights, cowboys and Indians, andother adventurers often fight from thesaddle. A mount not only providesadditional mobility, but its extraheight and momentum can make theriders attacks more effective, whilethe shock of a mounted charge canpanic unprepared opponents. Somemounts even fight in their own right.With the exception of the occasion-al camel or elephant, mounted war-riors usually ride horses, and theserules assume that. For the differencesbetween horses and various mountsfrom fantasy and science fiction, seethe pertinent animal descriptions.Ordinarily, a rider can direct a war-trained mount by voice and foot pres-sure, leaving both hands free forweapon use. However, all Riding rollsare at -3 for no hands, or -1 if onlyone hand is on the reins. Riders whoneed both hands to control theirmount may drop what they are hold-ing. It requires a Ready maneuver andDX-3 roll to return a weapon to itsscabbard while a mount is bucking; acritical failure means you drop it!Nonsapient mounts without wartraining (see War-Trained Mounts,p. 459) are liable to spook at danger especially at the sounds of gunfireand injured animals of their ownspecies! All combat Riding rolls are at-3 for a well-broken mount withoutwar training and at -6 or worse forone that is not fully broken.The rider must make a Riding+2roll to get any mount except a war-trained mount to charge into or overany obstacle, or onto bad footing, or toperform risky maneuvers like jumps,tight turns, etc., unless theyre a mat-ter of life and death for the mount!Failure means the mount disobeys;see Spooked Mounts, p. 397.Mounting UpMounting a horse or similar crea-ture takes two consecutive maneuvers:Move to jump or climb up, followedby Change Posture to seat yourself.You can leap astride in only one turn ifyou make a Riding, Acrobatics, orJumping roll at -3 (no penalty if youare using stirrups) but on any fail-ure, you fall!When you are using TacticalCombat, a rider is in the center of a 3-hex mount like a horse, or the frontof a 2-hex mount like a gryphon. Anelephant or similar mount wouldhave a flat back, and a rider couldstand up and move around; tradition-ally, an elephant carries the driver, ormahout, on its neck, and a howdah, aplatform with several fighters, on itsback.Movement and ManeuversSee Riding and Draft Animals(p. 459) for the Move of variousmounts. The animals Basic Move isthe pace it can achieve while walkingor trotting; its Enhanced Move is for a gallop, and uses the rules under High-Speed Movement(p.394).Encumbrance penalties apply normal-ly (see Encumbrance and Move, p. 17). . . but few mounts willingly carrymore than Medium encumbrance.In combat, the mount can take anymaneuver, unless its moving at highspeed. Then it is limited to Move orMove and Attack.The rider can take any maneuver.Use Change Posture to dismount safe-ly from a mount that hasnt moved, orthat has moved only a step. Otherwise,the only way to get off is to jump orfall. To jump off safely, take a Move orMove and Attack maneuver and makean Acrobatics or Jumping roll. On anyfailure, you fall!396SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSFalling Off: If the mount makes asuccessful DX roll for a difficult actionlike a jump, tight turn, or hasty decel-eration, the rider must make a Ridingroll. On a failure, the rider is unseated,even though the mount performed themaneuver. If the mount fails its DXroll for a risky action, see result 12 onthe Mount Loss of Control Table(below) for effects.Spooked MountsIf a mount fails a Fright Check, orrefuses to perform a particular feat, itwill usually shy and buck. The ridermust make a Riding roll and take aReady maneuver every second toregain control.A critical success calms the mountimmediately; three ordinary successesin a row will have the same result.Three failures in a row, or a single crit-ical failure, means a total loss of con-trol (see below). A long alternation ofsuccesses and failures means youspend your time fighting your mountinstead of the enemy! Fortunately, abucking mount is still free to dodge, asis the rider although no other defens-es are possible.Mount Loss of Control TableRoll 2d on the following table ifyou completely lose control of amount. Also refer to the appropriateresult without rolling whenever arider is thrown, a mount falls, etc.2 You are thrown from your mount.Take damage for a three-yard fall(adjust this for an unusually tall orshort mount). If you remain con-scious, you may attempt an imme-diate Animal Handling-3 roll to callyour mount back. If you fail, youmay make a repeated attemptevery 5 minutes.3 You lose your grip and fall. Takedamage for a two-yard fall; aJumping or Acrobatics roll willnegate this. Otherwise, as 2, above.4 You drop whatever you were hold-ing. Now roll again!5 The mount charges directly towardthe foe, hazard, etc.6-7 The mount is exhausted and willnot fight, or move at faster than aslow walk (Move 2), until it getsseveral hours of rest.8-9 The mount seems to settle down,but is now fractious: -1 to allRiding rolls for the rest of thisengagement. If you get this resultmultiple times, the penalty iscumulative.10 The mount charges directly awayfrom the foe, hazard, etc.11 The saddle comes loose. AllRiding rolls and attack rolls madewhile riding are at -3 until you dis-mount and spend 4d seconds tight-ening the straps. If youre ridingwithout a saddle, treat as 3, above.12 The mount falls! It must make aDX+1 roll or it breaks a leg. In anycase, the rider must roll vs. Riding-2. On a failure, he is unseated andtakes damage for a three-yard fall.On a success, he must make anoth-er Riding roll, this one at a penaltyequal to his Encumbrance, to leapclear of the falling mount. On asuccess, he leaps clear and takesdamage as per 3, above. On a fail-ure, the mount falls on him, inflict-ing thrust/crushing damage basedon its ST, plus the damage for a 2-yard fall.Attacks by MountsA war-trained mount can attack ifit takes an appropriate maneuver; seeChapter 16 for details. A horse canbite, kick with hooves, or trample;iron horseshoes give +1 to kicking ortrampling damage. The riders attack isat an extra -2 if the mount attacked onits last turn.Panic: If a mounted fighter chargesdirectly toward an NPC who is unusedto facing cavalry (GMs option), theGM may require him to make a Willroll to stand his ground and fight. If hefails, hell try to run instead. Anyonewith Combat Reflexes gets +6 to thisroll. Those with a SM equal to orgreater than that of the mount do nothave to roll!Cavalry WeaponsMelee Weapons: A rider uses meleeweapons at the lower of his MeleeWeapon skill or Riding skill. Thus, atrained rider has no penalties to usemelee weapons while mounted. If themounts velocity is 7 or more relativeto the foe, the attack has -1 to hit but+1 damage. Use the same rules whenattacking from a motorcycle or similaropen vehicle (substitute Driving skillfor Riding skill above).Lances: Lance skill appears onp. 204. To couch a lance, a rider musthave a saddle and stirrups. A couchedlances damage depends on themounts mass and velocity. Work outdamage for a collision between themount and the target (mounts ST) (distance moved last turn)/100 diceof damage, rounded down and addthe lances thrust/impaling bonus of+3. Example: A ST 25 warhorsecharging at Move 8 inflicts 2d+3impaling damage.Tournament jousting uses bluntedwooden lances, specially designed tobreak if they strike very hard. Theseinflict the same amount of damage,but it is crushing and if the damageexceeds 15 points, the lance snaps,limiting damage to 15 points.Using Ranged WeaponsWhile MountedAttack: Firing from atop a movinganimal tests both marksmanship andriding. Roll against the lower of Ridingor ranged weapon skill to hit. If youare firing a noisy weapon (e.g., anunsilenced gun), you must make aRiding roll after each attack. On a fail-ure, the mount is spooked (seeSpooked Mounts, above); on a criticalfailure, you lose control (see MountLoss of Control Table, above).Aim: You may Aim a rangedweapon while mounted, but if themount moves more than a step, yousuffer the same penalties that youwould if firing from a moving vehicle:you cant benefit from extra turns ofAim, or from telescopic scopes andother targeting systems.Tricks: To turn in the saddle andfire at the foe behind you: -4 toweapon skill, and -1 to any Riding rollmade that turn. To hang on the farside of the mount and shoot over it orunderneath it: -6 to weapon skill, -3 toany Riding roll. This latter movemeans your foes only targets are yourfoot, face, eyes, skull, and one hand.But if he attacks and misses by 4 orless, he hits your mount!Mounted DefenseA mounts only defense is Dodge.Some mounts may have barding (seeHorse Armor (Barding) Table, p. 286)or natural DR.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS397
|
You also lose control if you areknocked out, or take any combatmaneuver but Move or Move andAttack, while moving at high speed.For instance, if you were stunned andforced to Do Nothing, you would tripas described above.Exception: If you are moving onthree or more wheels, youre more sta-ble. The GM may rule that you merelydecelerate your maximum safe decel-eration each turn instead of tripping,unless your loss of control was theresult was a critical failure or injury(stunned, etc.).High-Speed Flying and SwimmingOnly use Basic Move if you aremoving on the ground. Use basic airMove when flying, and basic waterMove when swimming (see Move inOther Environments, p. 18). If you losecontrol in the air or water, you donttrip; instead, you must move your cur-rent velocity straight ahead and thendecelerate by your maximum safedeceleration. You can do nothing else this effectively ends your turn!MOUNTEDCOMBATKnights, cowboys and Indians, andother adventurers often fight from thesaddle. A mount not only providesadditional mobility, but its extraheight and momentum can make theriders attacks more effective, whilethe shock of a mounted charge canpanic unprepared opponents. Somemounts even fight in their own right.With the exception of the occasion-al camel or elephant, mounted war-riors usually ride horses, and theserules assume that. For the differencesbetween horses and various mountsfrom fantasy and science fiction, seethe pertinent animal descriptions.Ordinarily, a rider can direct a war-trained mount by voice and foot pres-sure, leaving both hands free forweapon use. However, all Riding rollsare at -3 for no hands, or -1 if onlyone hand is on the reins. Riders whoneed both hands to control theirmount may drop what they are hold-ing. It requires a Ready maneuver andDX-3 roll to return a weapon to itsscabbard while a mount is bucking; acritical failure means you drop it!Nonsapient mounts without wartraining (see War-Trained Mounts,p. 459) are liable to spook at danger especially at the sounds of gunfireand injured animals of their ownspecies! All combat Riding rolls are at-3 for a well-broken mount withoutwar training and at -6 or worse forone that is not fully broken.The rider must make a Riding+2roll to get any mount except a war-trained mount to charge into or overany obstacle, or onto bad footing, or toperform risky maneuvers like jumps,tight turns, etc., unless theyre a mat-ter of life and death for the mount!Failure means the mount disobeys;see Spooked Mounts, p. 397.Mounting UpMounting a horse or similar crea-ture takes two consecutive maneuvers:Move to jump or climb up, followedby Change Posture to seat yourself.You can leap astride in only one turn ifyou make a Riding, Acrobatics, orJumping roll at -3 (no penalty if youare using stirrups) but on any fail-ure, you fall!When you are using TacticalCombat, a rider is in the center of a 3-hex mount like a horse, or the frontof a 2-hex mount like a gryphon. Anelephant or similar mount wouldhave a flat back, and a rider couldstand up and move around; tradition-ally, an elephant carries the driver, ormahout, on its neck, and a howdah, aplatform with several fighters, on itsback.Movement and ManeuversSee Riding and Draft Animals(p. 459) for the Move of variousmounts. The animals Basic Move isthe pace it can achieve while walkingor trotting; its Enhanced Move is for a gallop, and uses the rules under High-Speed Movement(p.394).Encumbrance penalties apply normal-ly (see Encumbrance and Move, p. 17). . . but few mounts willingly carrymore than Medium encumbrance.In combat, the mount can take anymaneuver, unless its moving at highspeed. Then it is limited to Move orMove and Attack.The rider can take any maneuver.Use Change Posture to dismount safe-ly from a mount that hasnt moved, orthat has moved only a step. Otherwise,the only way to get off is to jump orfall. To jump off safely, take a Move orMove and Attack maneuver and makean Acrobatics or Jumping roll. On anyfailure, you fall!396SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSFalling Off: If the mount makes asuccessful DX roll for a difficult actionlike a jump, tight turn, or hasty decel-eration, the rider must make a Ridingroll. On a failure, the rider is unseated,even though the mount performed themaneuver. If the mount fails its DXroll for a risky action, see result 12 onthe Mount Loss of Control Table(below) for effects.Spooked MountsIf a mount fails a Fright Check, orrefuses to perform a particular feat, itwill usually shy and buck. The ridermust make a Riding roll and take aReady maneuver every second toregain control.A critical success calms the mountimmediately; three ordinary successesin a row will have the same result.Three failures in a row, or a single crit-ical failure, means a total loss of con-trol (see below). A long alternation ofsuccesses and failures means youspend your time fighting your mountinstead of the enemy! Fortunately, abucking mount is still free to dodge, asis the rider although no other defens-es are possible.Mount Loss of Control TableRoll 2d on the following table ifyou completely lose control of amount. Also refer to the appropriateresult without rolling whenever arider is thrown, a mount falls, etc.2 You are thrown from your mount.Take damage for a three-yard fall(adjust this for an unusually tall orshort mount). If you remain con-scious, you may attempt an imme-diate Animal Handling-3 roll to callyour mount back. If you fail, youmay make a repeated attemptevery 5 minutes.3 You lose your grip and fall. Takedamage for a two-yard fall; aJumping or Acrobatics roll willnegate this. Otherwise, as 2, above.4 You drop whatever you were hold-ing. Now roll again!5 The mount charges directly towardthe foe, hazard, etc.6-7 The mount is exhausted and willnot fight, or move at faster than aslow walk (Move 2), until it getsseveral hours of rest.8-9 The mount seems to settle down,but is now fractious: -1 to allRiding rolls for the rest of thisengagement. If you get this resultmultiple times, the penalty iscumulative.10 The mount charges directly awayfrom the foe, hazard, etc.11 The saddle comes loose. AllRiding rolls and attack rolls madewhile riding are at -3 until you dis-mount and spend 4d seconds tight-ening the straps. If youre ridingwithout a saddle, treat as 3, above.12 The mount falls! It must make aDX+1 roll or it breaks a leg. In anycase, the rider must roll vs. Riding-2. On a failure, he is unseated andtakes damage for a three-yard fall.On a success, he must make anoth-er Riding roll, this one at a penaltyequal to his Encumbrance, to leapclear of the falling mount. On asuccess, he leaps clear and takesdamage as per 3, above. On a fail-ure, the mount falls on him, inflict-ing thrust/crushing damage basedon its ST, plus the damage for a 2-yard fall.Attacks by MountsA war-trained mount can attack ifit takes an appropriate maneuver; seeChapter 16 for details. A horse canbite, kick with hooves, or trample;iron horseshoes give +1 to kicking ortrampling damage. The riders attack isat an extra -2 if the mount attacked onits last turn.Panic: If a mounted fighter chargesdirectly toward an NPC who is unusedto facing cavalry (GMs option), theGM may require him to make a Willroll to stand his ground and fight. If hefails, hell try to run instead. Anyonewith Combat Reflexes gets +6 to thisroll. Those with a SM equal to orgreater than that of the mount do nothave to roll!Cavalry WeaponsMelee Weapons: A rider uses meleeweapons at the lower of his MeleeWeapon skill or Riding skill. Thus, atrained rider has no penalties to usemelee weapons while mounted. If themounts velocity is 7 or more relativeto the foe, the attack has -1 to hit but+1 damage. Use the same rules whenattacking from a motorcycle or similaropen vehicle (substitute Driving skillfor Riding skill above).Lances: Lance skill appears onp. 204. To couch a lance, a rider musthave a saddle and stirrups. A couchedlances damage depends on themounts mass and velocity. Work outdamage for a collision between themount and the target (mounts ST) (distance moved last turn)/100 diceof damage, rounded down and addthe lances thrust/impaling bonus of+3. Example: A ST 25 warhorsecharging at Move 8 inflicts 2d+3impaling damage.Tournament jousting uses bluntedwooden lances, specially designed tobreak if they strike very hard. Theseinflict the same amount of damage,but it is crushing and if the damageexceeds 15 points, the lance snaps,limiting damage to 15 points.Using Ranged WeaponsWhile MountedAttack: Firing from atop a movinganimal tests both marksmanship andriding. Roll against the lower of Ridingor ranged weapon skill to hit. If youare firing a noisy weapon (e.g., anunsilenced gun), you must make aRiding roll after each attack. On a fail-ure, the mount is spooked (seeSpooked Mounts, above); on a criticalfailure, you lose control (see MountLoss of Control Table, above).Aim: You may Aim a rangedweapon while mounted, but if themount moves more than a step, yousuffer the same penalties that youwould if firing from a moving vehicle:you cant benefit from extra turns ofAim, or from telescopic scopes andother targeting systems.Tricks: To turn in the saddle andfire at the foe behind you: -4 toweapon skill, and -1 to any Riding rollmade that turn. To hang on the farside of the mount and shoot over it orunderneath it: -6 to weapon skill, -3 toany Riding roll. This latter movemeans your foes only targets are yourfoot, face, eyes, skull, and one hand.But if he attacks and misses by 4 orless, he hits your mount!Mounted DefenseA mounts only defense is Dodge.Some mounts may have barding (seeHorse Armor (Barding) Table, p. 286)or natural DR.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS397A rider can Dodge, Block, or Parry.If he has Riding at 12+, all of thesedefenses are at normal levels. For aless-skilled rider, reduce active defens-es by the difference between 12 andthe riders skill; e.g., someone withRiding-9 would have -3 to all activedefenses.Height DifferenceA cavalryman on horseback iseffectively three feet above a standingfoe. See Combat at Different Levels(p. 402).Mounted CombatResultsA rider who is stunned must makea Riding roll at -4 or fall off. A riderwho suffers any knockback is auto-matically knocked off unless he has asaddle and stirrups, in which case hegets a Riding roll at -4 per yard ofknockback to stay on.If any attack aimed at a rider miss-es by 1, it hits the mount unless itmakes its active defense roll; thereverse is true for attacks aimed at themount. Of course, either may beattacked intentionally!If the mount is hit, the rider mustroll vs. Riding, minus the shock penal-ty suffered by the mount, to keep itfrom spooking (see p. 397). If themount is crippled and falls, effects areas per result 12 on the Mount Loss ofControl Table.Multiple RidersOn a horse-sized or larger mount, asecond human-sized or smaller ridercan hang on behind the one control-ling the mount. The controlling riderhas an extra -1 to Riding skill. The pas-senger uses the lower of the controllingriders skill or his own ST on any roll toavoid falling off, but does so at -3.FLYING COMBATHeroes may fly using advantages(Flight, Telekinesis, etc.), magic spells,antigravity belts, and so forth. A fewspecial rules apply to combat whileairborne.Aerial MovementIf the ceiling is high enough, flierscan move over other fighters! Humansnormally fly in a horizontal position(so that they can watch the groundand see where theyre going); treatthem as two-hex figures when usingthe Tactical Combat rules.Changing Height: Vertical move-ment costs the same as horizontalmovement. Moving a yard verticallyand a yard horizontally simultaneous-ly (diagonal movement at 45) coststhe same as 1.5 horizontal yards.Steps and Retreats: Use your basicair Move to calculate the distance youcan step or retreat during combat(see Step, p. 368); flyers are often fastenough to step 2+ yards. If a flyerretreats as part of an active defense,he can specify that he is doing sovertically.Flying Fast:See High-SpeedMovement (p. 394). A diving flyer canaccelerate faster: add +10 to basic airMove and double top airspeed on anyturn spent diving and doing nothingelse (a Move maneuver).Cannot Hover: If you are flyingunder your own power using Flightwith the Cannot Hover, ControlledGliding, or Gliding limitation, youmust take a Move or Move and Attackmaneuver and move at least 1/4 yourtop airspeed each turn, or youll stalland start to fall. You might also stall ifyou lose control during high-speedmovement (p. 394) and suffer suddendeceleration that pushes you below1/4 your top airspeed. You may recov-er from a stall by turning your fall intoa dive and regaining speed. Roll vs.DX-4 each turn to do so.Flight CeilingOn Earth, an unprotected humanhas trouble breathing past 6,000, andneeds an oxygen mask or an advan-tage such as Doesnt Breathe past20,000; see Atmospheric Pressure(p. 429). On worlds with greater airpressure, higher flight is possible. Onworlds with little atmosphere, thereverse is true. If you use wings to fly,you cant fly in a trace atmosphere ora vacuum.Aerial Attack and DefenseThere is no penalty to attack ordefense rolls in flight. Flyers are nor-mally no less stable than fighters onthe ground.Attack: When flyers attack foes onthe ground, use the Combat atDifferent Levels rules (p. 402). Weaponreach becomes very important! Dontworry about the relative height of twobattling flyers as long as theyre closeenough to engage at all.Defense: When a flyer retreats, hecan retreat out of the plane of anattack not merely away from hisattacker. If a flyer can hover, and hasenough space to move one step up ordown, he gets +1 over and above theusual retreating bonus when heretreats. To perform an AcrobaticDodge (p. 375), use Aerobatics skill.398SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSHIT LOCATIONWhen you strike at an enemy, youcan usually choose what part of hisbody to attack. Some body parts, orhit locations, are harder than othersto hit in a fight; some are more (orless) vulnerable to specific damagetypes. There are a few exceptions: Completely unaimed attacks Wild Swings, stabs in the dark,grenade fragments, etc. cannot delib-erately target a hit location. UseRandom Hit Location (p. 400) instead. Attacks that cover a large area such as an avalanche or a cone ofdragon fire make hit location irrele-vant. See Large-Area Injury (p. 400). Fatigue damage always ignoreshit location.Deciding Where to AttackWhere to hit a foe depends onmany things your skill, your foesarmor, and whether you want to killhim! A humanoid target has the loca-tions listed below (see the hit locationtables on pp.552-554 for non-humanoids). Each location gives thepenalty to attack rolls to hit that loca-tion (in parentheses), followed by anyspecial damage effects.Torso (0): The chest and abdomen.No penalty to hit, and no effect ondamage. This is the default target forattacks: if you dont specify a hit loca-tion, you are attacking the torso.
|
Falling Off: If the mount makes asuccessful DX roll for a difficult actionlike a jump, tight turn, or hasty decel-eration, the rider must make a Ridingroll. On a failure, the rider is unseated,even though the mount performed themaneuver. If the mount fails its DXroll for a risky action, see result 12 onthe Mount Loss of Control Table(below) for effects.Spooked MountsIf a mount fails a Fright Check, orrefuses to perform a particular feat, itwill usually shy and buck. The ridermust make a Riding roll and take aReady maneuver every second toregain control.A critical success calms the mountimmediately; three ordinary successesin a row will have the same result.Three failures in a row, or a single crit-ical failure, means a total loss of con-trol (see below). A long alternation ofsuccesses and failures means youspend your time fighting your mountinstead of the enemy! Fortunately, abucking mount is still free to dodge, asis the rider although no other defens-es are possible.Mount Loss of Control TableRoll 2d on the following table ifyou completely lose control of amount. Also refer to the appropriateresult without rolling whenever arider is thrown, a mount falls, etc.2 You are thrown from your mount.Take damage for a three-yard fall(adjust this for an unusually tall orshort mount). If you remain con-scious, you may attempt an imme-diate Animal Handling-3 roll to callyour mount back. If you fail, youmay make a repeated attemptevery 5 minutes.3 You lose your grip and fall. Takedamage for a two-yard fall; aJumping or Acrobatics roll willnegate this. Otherwise, as 2, above.4 You drop whatever you were hold-ing. Now roll again!5 The mount charges directly towardthe foe, hazard, etc.6-7 The mount is exhausted and willnot fight, or move at faster than aslow walk (Move 2), until it getsseveral hours of rest.8-9 The mount seems to settle down,but is now fractious: -1 to allRiding rolls for the rest of thisengagement. If you get this resultmultiple times, the penalty iscumulative.10 The mount charges directly awayfrom the foe, hazard, etc.11 The saddle comes loose. AllRiding rolls and attack rolls madewhile riding are at -3 until you dis-mount and spend 4d seconds tight-ening the straps. If youre ridingwithout a saddle, treat as 3, above.12 The mount falls! It must make aDX+1 roll or it breaks a leg. In anycase, the rider must roll vs. Riding-2. On a failure, he is unseated andtakes damage for a three-yard fall.On a success, he must make anoth-er Riding roll, this one at a penaltyequal to his Encumbrance, to leapclear of the falling mount. On asuccess, he leaps clear and takesdamage as per 3, above. On a fail-ure, the mount falls on him, inflict-ing thrust/crushing damage basedon its ST, plus the damage for a 2-yard fall.Attacks by MountsA war-trained mount can attack ifit takes an appropriate maneuver; seeChapter 16 for details. A horse canbite, kick with hooves, or trample;iron horseshoes give +1 to kicking ortrampling damage. The riders attack isat an extra -2 if the mount attacked onits last turn.Panic: If a mounted fighter chargesdirectly toward an NPC who is unusedto facing cavalry (GMs option), theGM may require him to make a Willroll to stand his ground and fight. If hefails, hell try to run instead. Anyonewith Combat Reflexes gets +6 to thisroll. Those with a SM equal to orgreater than that of the mount do nothave to roll!Cavalry WeaponsMelee Weapons: A rider uses meleeweapons at the lower of his MeleeWeapon skill or Riding skill. Thus, atrained rider has no penalties to usemelee weapons while mounted. If themounts velocity is 7 or more relativeto the foe, the attack has -1 to hit but+1 damage. Use the same rules whenattacking from a motorcycle or similaropen vehicle (substitute Driving skillfor Riding skill above).Lances: Lance skill appears onp. 204. To couch a lance, a rider musthave a saddle and stirrups. A couchedlances damage depends on themounts mass and velocity. Work outdamage for a collision between themount and the target (mounts ST) (distance moved last turn)/100 diceof damage, rounded down and addthe lances thrust/impaling bonus of+3. Example: A ST 25 warhorsecharging at Move 8 inflicts 2d+3impaling damage.Tournament jousting uses bluntedwooden lances, specially designed tobreak if they strike very hard. Theseinflict the same amount of damage,but it is crushing and if the damageexceeds 15 points, the lance snaps,limiting damage to 15 points.Using Ranged WeaponsWhile MountedAttack: Firing from atop a movinganimal tests both marksmanship andriding. Roll against the lower of Ridingor ranged weapon skill to hit. If youare firing a noisy weapon (e.g., anunsilenced gun), you must make aRiding roll after each attack. On a fail-ure, the mount is spooked (seeSpooked Mounts, above); on a criticalfailure, you lose control (see MountLoss of Control Table, above).Aim: You may Aim a rangedweapon while mounted, but if themount moves more than a step, yousuffer the same penalties that youwould if firing from a moving vehicle:you cant benefit from extra turns ofAim, or from telescopic scopes andother targeting systems.Tricks: To turn in the saddle andfire at the foe behind you: -4 toweapon skill, and -1 to any Riding rollmade that turn. To hang on the farside of the mount and shoot over it orunderneath it: -6 to weapon skill, -3 toany Riding roll. This latter movemeans your foes only targets are yourfoot, face, eyes, skull, and one hand.But if he attacks and misses by 4 orless, he hits your mount!Mounted DefenseA mounts only defense is Dodge.Some mounts may have barding (seeHorse Armor (Barding) Table, p. 286)or natural DR.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS397A rider can Dodge, Block, or Parry.If he has Riding at 12+, all of thesedefenses are at normal levels. For aless-skilled rider, reduce active defens-es by the difference between 12 andthe riders skill; e.g., someone withRiding-9 would have -3 to all activedefenses.Height DifferenceA cavalryman on horseback iseffectively three feet above a standingfoe. See Combat at Different Levels(p. 402).Mounted CombatResultsA rider who is stunned must makea Riding roll at -4 or fall off. A riderwho suffers any knockback is auto-matically knocked off unless he has asaddle and stirrups, in which case hegets a Riding roll at -4 per yard ofknockback to stay on.If any attack aimed at a rider miss-es by 1, it hits the mount unless itmakes its active defense roll; thereverse is true for attacks aimed at themount. Of course, either may beattacked intentionally!If the mount is hit, the rider mustroll vs. Riding, minus the shock penal-ty suffered by the mount, to keep itfrom spooking (see p. 397). If themount is crippled and falls, effects areas per result 12 on the Mount Loss ofControl Table.Multiple RidersOn a horse-sized or larger mount, asecond human-sized or smaller ridercan hang on behind the one control-ling the mount. The controlling riderhas an extra -1 to Riding skill. The pas-senger uses the lower of the controllingriders skill or his own ST on any roll toavoid falling off, but does so at -3.FLYING COMBATHeroes may fly using advantages(Flight, Telekinesis, etc.), magic spells,antigravity belts, and so forth. A fewspecial rules apply to combat whileairborne.Aerial MovementIf the ceiling is high enough, flierscan move over other fighters! Humansnormally fly in a horizontal position(so that they can watch the groundand see where theyre going); treatthem as two-hex figures when usingthe Tactical Combat rules.Changing Height: Vertical move-ment costs the same as horizontalmovement. Moving a yard verticallyand a yard horizontally simultaneous-ly (diagonal movement at 45) coststhe same as 1.5 horizontal yards.Steps and Retreats: Use your basicair Move to calculate the distance youcan step or retreat during combat(see Step, p. 368); flyers are often fastenough to step 2+ yards. If a flyerretreats as part of an active defense,he can specify that he is doing sovertically.Flying Fast:See High-SpeedMovement (p. 394). A diving flyer canaccelerate faster: add +10 to basic airMove and double top airspeed on anyturn spent diving and doing nothingelse (a Move maneuver).Cannot Hover: If you are flyingunder your own power using Flightwith the Cannot Hover, ControlledGliding, or Gliding limitation, youmust take a Move or Move and Attackmaneuver and move at least 1/4 yourtop airspeed each turn, or youll stalland start to fall. You might also stall ifyou lose control during high-speedmovement (p. 394) and suffer suddendeceleration that pushes you below1/4 your top airspeed. You may recov-er from a stall by turning your fall intoa dive and regaining speed. Roll vs.DX-4 each turn to do so.Flight CeilingOn Earth, an unprotected humanhas trouble breathing past 6,000, andneeds an oxygen mask or an advan-tage such as Doesnt Breathe past20,000; see Atmospheric Pressure(p. 429). On worlds with greater airpressure, higher flight is possible. Onworlds with little atmosphere, thereverse is true. If you use wings to fly,you cant fly in a trace atmosphere ora vacuum.Aerial Attack and DefenseThere is no penalty to attack ordefense rolls in flight. Flyers are nor-mally no less stable than fighters onthe ground.Attack: When flyers attack foes onthe ground, use the Combat atDifferent Levels rules (p. 402). Weaponreach becomes very important! Dontworry about the relative height of twobattling flyers as long as theyre closeenough to engage at all.Defense: When a flyer retreats, hecan retreat out of the plane of anattack not merely away from hisattacker. If a flyer can hover, and hasenough space to move one step up ordown, he gets +1 over and above theusual retreating bonus when heretreats. To perform an AcrobaticDodge (p. 375), use Aerobatics skill.398SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSHIT LOCATIONWhen you strike at an enemy, youcan usually choose what part of hisbody to attack. Some body parts, orhit locations, are harder than othersto hit in a fight; some are more (orless) vulnerable to specific damagetypes. There are a few exceptions: Completely unaimed attacks Wild Swings, stabs in the dark,grenade fragments, etc. cannot delib-erately target a hit location. UseRandom Hit Location (p. 400) instead. Attacks that cover a large area such as an avalanche or a cone ofdragon fire make hit location irrele-vant. See Large-Area Injury (p. 400). Fatigue damage always ignoreshit location.Deciding Where to AttackWhere to hit a foe depends onmany things your skill, your foesarmor, and whether you want to killhim! A humanoid target has the loca-tions listed below (see the hit locationtables on pp.552-554 for non-humanoids). Each location gives thepenalty to attack rolls to hit that loca-tion (in parentheses), followed by anyspecial damage effects.Torso (0): The chest and abdomen.No penalty to hit, and no effect ondamage. This is the default target forattacks: if you dont specify a hit loca-tion, you are attacking the torso.Vitals (-3): The heart or lungs (fromthe front) or the kidneys (frombehind). Certain attacks can target thevitals for increased damage. Increasethe wounding modifier for an impal-ing or any piercing attack to 3.Increase the wounding modifier for atight-beam burning attack (see box) to2. Other attacks cannot target thevitals.Skull (-7): The part of the head thathouses the brain. The skull gets anextra DR 2, the wounding modifier forall attacks increases to 4, knockdownrolls are at -10, and critical hits use theCritical Head Blow Table (p. 556).Exception: None of these effects applyto toxic damage.Eye (-9): Impaling, piercing, andtight-beam burning attacks can specif-ically target the eye. Injury over HP/10blinds the eye; otherwise, treat as askull hit without the extra DR 2! (Aswith skull hits, toxic damage has nospecial effect.)Face (-5): The jaw, cheeks, nose,and ears. Many helmets have an openface, allowing this attack to ignorearmor DR! Knockdown rolls are at -5,and critical hits use the Critical HeadBlow Table. Corrosion damage (only)gets a 1.5 wounding modifier . . . andif it inflicts a major wound, it alsoblinds one eye (both eyes on damagegreater than full HP).Neck (-5): The neck and throat.Increase the wounding multiplier ofcrushing and corrosion attacks to1.5, and that of cutting damage to2. The GM may rule that anyonekilled by a cutting blow to the neck isdecapitated!Groin (-3): The lower torso. Jacketsand light armor dont always coverthis area. Treat as a torso hit, exceptthat human males (and the males ofsimilar species) suffer double the usualshock from crushing damage (to amaximum of -8), and get -5 to knock-down rolls.Arm or Leg (-2): A good way to dis-able without killing! Against a livingtarget, reduce the wounding multipli-er of large piercing, huge piercing, andimpaling damage to 1. Any majorwound (loss of over 1/2 HP from oneblow) cripples the limb but damagebeyond the minimum required toinflict a crippling injury is lost. Note:The penalty to hit an arm with a shieldis -4.Hands or Feet (-4): As for an arm orleg, but damage over 1/3 HP in oneblow inflicts a crippling major wound(excess damage is still lost). This givesyou a chance to cripple the foe withlittle real damage. However, your foemight just switch hands (or hop) andfinish you off! Note: The penalty to hita hand holding a shield is -8.Weapon (varies): The place to strikeif you need to take the foe unharmed,if you have to disarm a friend, or ifyou just want to show off. See Strikingat Weapons (p. 400).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS399Tight-Beam Burning AttacksA tight-beam burning attack is any ranged burning attack that isnta jet, cone, area-effect, explosion, or follow-up attack. For instance, alaser is a tight-beam burning attack, while a torch or a flamethrower isnot. Such attacks can target the eyes and vitals for bonus damage, butdivide damage by 10 for the purposes of Making Things Burn (p. 433)and Catching Fire (p. 434).
|
A rider can Dodge, Block, or Parry.If he has Riding at 12+, all of thesedefenses are at normal levels. For aless-skilled rider, reduce active defens-es by the difference between 12 andthe riders skill; e.g., someone withRiding-9 would have -3 to all activedefenses.Height DifferenceA cavalryman on horseback iseffectively three feet above a standingfoe. See Combat at Different Levels(p. 402).Mounted CombatResultsA rider who is stunned must makea Riding roll at -4 or fall off. A riderwho suffers any knockback is auto-matically knocked off unless he has asaddle and stirrups, in which case hegets a Riding roll at -4 per yard ofknockback to stay on.If any attack aimed at a rider miss-es by 1, it hits the mount unless itmakes its active defense roll; thereverse is true for attacks aimed at themount. Of course, either may beattacked intentionally!If the mount is hit, the rider mustroll vs. Riding, minus the shock penal-ty suffered by the mount, to keep itfrom spooking (see p. 397). If themount is crippled and falls, effects areas per result 12 on the Mount Loss ofControl Table.Multiple RidersOn a horse-sized or larger mount, asecond human-sized or smaller ridercan hang on behind the one control-ling the mount. The controlling riderhas an extra -1 to Riding skill. The pas-senger uses the lower of the controllingriders skill or his own ST on any roll toavoid falling off, but does so at -3.FLYING COMBATHeroes may fly using advantages(Flight, Telekinesis, etc.), magic spells,antigravity belts, and so forth. A fewspecial rules apply to combat whileairborne.Aerial MovementIf the ceiling is high enough, flierscan move over other fighters! Humansnormally fly in a horizontal position(so that they can watch the groundand see where theyre going); treatthem as two-hex figures when usingthe Tactical Combat rules.Changing Height: Vertical move-ment costs the same as horizontalmovement. Moving a yard verticallyand a yard horizontally simultaneous-ly (diagonal movement at 45) coststhe same as 1.5 horizontal yards.Steps and Retreats: Use your basicair Move to calculate the distance youcan step or retreat during combat(see Step, p. 368); flyers are often fastenough to step 2+ yards. If a flyerretreats as part of an active defense,he can specify that he is doing sovertically.Flying Fast:See High-SpeedMovement (p. 394). A diving flyer canaccelerate faster: add +10 to basic airMove and double top airspeed on anyturn spent diving and doing nothingelse (a Move maneuver).Cannot Hover: If you are flyingunder your own power using Flightwith the Cannot Hover, ControlledGliding, or Gliding limitation, youmust take a Move or Move and Attackmaneuver and move at least 1/4 yourtop airspeed each turn, or youll stalland start to fall. You might also stall ifyou lose control during high-speedmovement (p. 394) and suffer suddendeceleration that pushes you below1/4 your top airspeed. You may recov-er from a stall by turning your fall intoa dive and regaining speed. Roll vs.DX-4 each turn to do so.Flight CeilingOn Earth, an unprotected humanhas trouble breathing past 6,000, andneeds an oxygen mask or an advan-tage such as Doesnt Breathe past20,000; see Atmospheric Pressure(p. 429). On worlds with greater airpressure, higher flight is possible. Onworlds with little atmosphere, thereverse is true. If you use wings to fly,you cant fly in a trace atmosphere ora vacuum.Aerial Attack and DefenseThere is no penalty to attack ordefense rolls in flight. Flyers are nor-mally no less stable than fighters onthe ground.Attack: When flyers attack foes onthe ground, use the Combat atDifferent Levels rules (p. 402). Weaponreach becomes very important! Dontworry about the relative height of twobattling flyers as long as theyre closeenough to engage at all.Defense: When a flyer retreats, hecan retreat out of the plane of anattack not merely away from hisattacker. If a flyer can hover, and hasenough space to move one step up ordown, he gets +1 over and above theusual retreating bonus when heretreats. To perform an AcrobaticDodge (p. 375), use Aerobatics skill.398SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSHIT LOCATIONWhen you strike at an enemy, youcan usually choose what part of hisbody to attack. Some body parts, orhit locations, are harder than othersto hit in a fight; some are more (orless) vulnerable to specific damagetypes. There are a few exceptions: Completely unaimed attacks Wild Swings, stabs in the dark,grenade fragments, etc. cannot delib-erately target a hit location. UseRandom Hit Location (p. 400) instead. Attacks that cover a large area such as an avalanche or a cone ofdragon fire make hit location irrele-vant. See Large-Area Injury (p. 400). Fatigue damage always ignoreshit location.Deciding Where to AttackWhere to hit a foe depends onmany things your skill, your foesarmor, and whether you want to killhim! A humanoid target has the loca-tions listed below (see the hit locationtables on pp.552-554 for non-humanoids). Each location gives thepenalty to attack rolls to hit that loca-tion (in parentheses), followed by anyspecial damage effects.Torso (0): The chest and abdomen.No penalty to hit, and no effect ondamage. This is the default target forattacks: if you dont specify a hit loca-tion, you are attacking the torso.Vitals (-3): The heart or lungs (fromthe front) or the kidneys (frombehind). Certain attacks can target thevitals for increased damage. Increasethe wounding modifier for an impal-ing or any piercing attack to 3.Increase the wounding modifier for atight-beam burning attack (see box) to2. Other attacks cannot target thevitals.Skull (-7): The part of the head thathouses the brain. The skull gets anextra DR 2, the wounding modifier forall attacks increases to 4, knockdownrolls are at -10, and critical hits use theCritical Head Blow Table (p. 556).Exception: None of these effects applyto toxic damage.Eye (-9): Impaling, piercing, andtight-beam burning attacks can specif-ically target the eye. Injury over HP/10blinds the eye; otherwise, treat as askull hit without the extra DR 2! (Aswith skull hits, toxic damage has nospecial effect.)Face (-5): The jaw, cheeks, nose,and ears. Many helmets have an openface, allowing this attack to ignorearmor DR! Knockdown rolls are at -5,and critical hits use the Critical HeadBlow Table. Corrosion damage (only)gets a 1.5 wounding modifier . . . andif it inflicts a major wound, it alsoblinds one eye (both eyes on damagegreater than full HP).Neck (-5): The neck and throat.Increase the wounding multiplier ofcrushing and corrosion attacks to1.5, and that of cutting damage to2. The GM may rule that anyonekilled by a cutting blow to the neck isdecapitated!Groin (-3): The lower torso. Jacketsand light armor dont always coverthis area. Treat as a torso hit, exceptthat human males (and the males ofsimilar species) suffer double the usualshock from crushing damage (to amaximum of -8), and get -5 to knock-down rolls.Arm or Leg (-2): A good way to dis-able without killing! Against a livingtarget, reduce the wounding multipli-er of large piercing, huge piercing, andimpaling damage to 1. Any majorwound (loss of over 1/2 HP from oneblow) cripples the limb but damagebeyond the minimum required toinflict a crippling injury is lost. Note:The penalty to hit an arm with a shieldis -4.Hands or Feet (-4): As for an arm orleg, but damage over 1/3 HP in oneblow inflicts a crippling major wound(excess damage is still lost). This givesyou a chance to cripple the foe withlittle real damage. However, your foemight just switch hands (or hop) andfinish you off! Note: The penalty to hita hand holding a shield is -8.Weapon (varies): The place to strikeif you need to take the foe unharmed,if you have to disarm a friend, or ifyou just want to show off. See Strikingat Weapons (p. 400).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS399Tight-Beam Burning AttacksA tight-beam burning attack is any ranged burning attack that isnta jet, cone, area-effect, explosion, or follow-up attack. For instance, alaser is a tight-beam burning attack, while a torch or a flamethrower isnot. Such attacks can target the eyes and vitals for bonus damage, butdivide damage by 10 for the purposes of Making Things Burn (p. 433)and Catching Fire (p. 434).Grappling and Hit LocationHalve hit location penalties (roundup) if you are grappling a body part its easier to grab a body part than tostrike it. This does not apply to grab-bing a weapon!Random Hit LocationYou never have to target a hit loca-tion you can always just strike atwhatever target presents itself. To doso, attack with no modifier for hitlocation. If you hit, and your foe failsto defend, roll 3d on the appropriatehit location table to find out where theblow fell; see Hit Location Tables(p. 552). The GM decides what table touse for non-humanoids.Use random hit location for a WildSwing (p.388), shooting blind(p. 389), suppression fire (p. 409),fragmentation damage (p. 414), andany other situation where the GMfeels targeting a location is unrealistic.If a random attack comes from direct-ly above, treat feet as hands andlegs as arms.Injury Tolerance and Hit LocationThe Injury Tolerance advantage(p. 60) can alter the effects of hit location.Diffuse or Homogenous: Ignore allknockdown or wounding modifiersfor hit location. (Eyes and limbs canstill be crippled.) All injuries use thewounding modifiers from Injury toUnliving, Homogenous, and DiffuseTargets (p. 380).No Brain: Hits to the skull get noextra knockdown or wounding modi-fier. Hits to the eye can cripple the eye;otherwise, treat them as face hits, notskull hits.No Eyes, No Head, or No Neck: Youlack the hit location(s) in question,and your foes cannot target it.No Vitals: Hits to the vitals or groinhave the same effect as torso hits.Unliving: Hit location has its usualeffect, save that piercing and impalingdamage to any location other than theeye, skull, or vitals uses the woundingmodifiers from Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.Large-Area InjurySome attacks affect much or mostof the victims body for instance,dragons breath, a bomb blast, a hugefire, or immersion in an acid pit. Inparticular, any damage described asbeing area effect or cone, and anyexternal explosion, inflicts large-areainjury.A melee attack from an attackerwhose Size Modifier exceeds that ofhis target by seven or more is also alarge-area injury if the attacker isstriking unarmed or with a weaponscaled to his body size. (If he wishesto target a hit location, his tiny vic-tim must be pinned or otherwiseimmobile.)Damage Resistance protects nor-mally against large-area injury but ifyour DR varies by location, youreffective DR is the average of yourtorso DR and the DR of the least pro-tected hit location exposed to theattack (which could still be yourtorso), rounding up. If your DR variesagainst different attacks, least pro-tected refers to the location with thelowest DR against that particular typeof attack.A location protected by cover ormasked by the body does not count asexposed to the attack. Against anexplosion or cone, only locations fac-ing the blast or cone are exposed (e.g.,if youre turned away, your face andeyes arent exposed). For damagecaused by immersion in a hazardousenvironment (e.g., fire or acid), onlythe immersed locations are exposed.Against a true area effect, all locationsare exposed.Dont modify large-area injury forhit location (that is, treat it as a torsohit) unless only one location isexposed. If a single limb (hand, arm,etc.) is exposed, damage in excess ofthat required to inflict a major woundis lost.Hit Location for Non-Humanoidsand VehiclesIt is impossible to supply hit loca-tion rules for every type of animal ormachine. Instead, we provide someguidelines: see Non-Humanoid HitLocation Tables (pp. 552-554) andVehicle Hit Location Table (pp. 554-555).STRIKINGAT WEAPONSYou might strike at a weaponbecause you want to take its user alive. . . or because the weapon is the onlything you can reach, or is less well-armored than its wielder.State whether you are striking todisarm or to break the weapon, andthen roll to hit. You are at -5 to hit areach C melee weapon (e.g., a knife)or a pistol; -4 to hit a melee weaponwith reach 1 (broadsword, mace, etc.)or a medium-sized firearm (e.g., a car-bine or sawed-off shotgun); and -3 tohit a melee weapon with reach 2+(spear, greatsword, polearm, etc.) or arifle. Attempts to disarm are generallyat an extra -2, but see next page.400SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSTargeting Chinks in ArmorYou may use a piercing, impaling, or tight-beam burning attack to tar-get joints or weak points in a suit of armor, vehicle, etc. Roll at -8 to hita chink in the foes torso armor, or at -10 for any other location (face,eyes, vitals, arm, etc.), instead of using the usual hit location penalty. Ifyou hit, halve DR. This is cumulative with any armor divisors.
|
Vitals (-3): The heart or lungs (fromthe front) or the kidneys (frombehind). Certain attacks can target thevitals for increased damage. Increasethe wounding modifier for an impal-ing or any piercing attack to 3.Increase the wounding modifier for atight-beam burning attack (see box) to2. Other attacks cannot target thevitals.Skull (-7): The part of the head thathouses the brain. The skull gets anextra DR 2, the wounding modifier forall attacks increases to 4, knockdownrolls are at -10, and critical hits use theCritical Head Blow Table (p. 556).Exception: None of these effects applyto toxic damage.Eye (-9): Impaling, piercing, andtight-beam burning attacks can specif-ically target the eye. Injury over HP/10blinds the eye; otherwise, treat as askull hit without the extra DR 2! (Aswith skull hits, toxic damage has nospecial effect.)Face (-5): The jaw, cheeks, nose,and ears. Many helmets have an openface, allowing this attack to ignorearmor DR! Knockdown rolls are at -5,and critical hits use the Critical HeadBlow Table. Corrosion damage (only)gets a 1.5 wounding modifier . . . andif it inflicts a major wound, it alsoblinds one eye (both eyes on damagegreater than full HP).Neck (-5): The neck and throat.Increase the wounding multiplier ofcrushing and corrosion attacks to1.5, and that of cutting damage to2. The GM may rule that anyonekilled by a cutting blow to the neck isdecapitated!Groin (-3): The lower torso. Jacketsand light armor dont always coverthis area. Treat as a torso hit, exceptthat human males (and the males ofsimilar species) suffer double the usualshock from crushing damage (to amaximum of -8), and get -5 to knock-down rolls.Arm or Leg (-2): A good way to dis-able without killing! Against a livingtarget, reduce the wounding multipli-er of large piercing, huge piercing, andimpaling damage to 1. Any majorwound (loss of over 1/2 HP from oneblow) cripples the limb but damagebeyond the minimum required toinflict a crippling injury is lost. Note:The penalty to hit an arm with a shieldis -4.Hands or Feet (-4): As for an arm orleg, but damage over 1/3 HP in oneblow inflicts a crippling major wound(excess damage is still lost). This givesyou a chance to cripple the foe withlittle real damage. However, your foemight just switch hands (or hop) andfinish you off! Note: The penalty to hita hand holding a shield is -8.Weapon (varies): The place to strikeif you need to take the foe unharmed,if you have to disarm a friend, or ifyou just want to show off. See Strikingat Weapons (p. 400).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS399Tight-Beam Burning AttacksA tight-beam burning attack is any ranged burning attack that isnta jet, cone, area-effect, explosion, or follow-up attack. For instance, alaser is a tight-beam burning attack, while a torch or a flamethrower isnot. Such attacks can target the eyes and vitals for bonus damage, butdivide damage by 10 for the purposes of Making Things Burn (p. 433)and Catching Fire (p. 434).Grappling and Hit LocationHalve hit location penalties (roundup) if you are grappling a body part its easier to grab a body part than tostrike it. This does not apply to grab-bing a weapon!Random Hit LocationYou never have to target a hit loca-tion you can always just strike atwhatever target presents itself. To doso, attack with no modifier for hitlocation. If you hit, and your foe failsto defend, roll 3d on the appropriatehit location table to find out where theblow fell; see Hit Location Tables(p. 552). The GM decides what table touse for non-humanoids.Use random hit location for a WildSwing (p.388), shooting blind(p. 389), suppression fire (p. 409),fragmentation damage (p. 414), andany other situation where the GMfeels targeting a location is unrealistic.If a random attack comes from direct-ly above, treat feet as hands andlegs as arms.Injury Tolerance and Hit LocationThe Injury Tolerance advantage(p. 60) can alter the effects of hit location.Diffuse or Homogenous: Ignore allknockdown or wounding modifiersfor hit location. (Eyes and limbs canstill be crippled.) All injuries use thewounding modifiers from Injury toUnliving, Homogenous, and DiffuseTargets (p. 380).No Brain: Hits to the skull get noextra knockdown or wounding modi-fier. Hits to the eye can cripple the eye;otherwise, treat them as face hits, notskull hits.No Eyes, No Head, or No Neck: Youlack the hit location(s) in question,and your foes cannot target it.No Vitals: Hits to the vitals or groinhave the same effect as torso hits.Unliving: Hit location has its usualeffect, save that piercing and impalingdamage to any location other than theeye, skull, or vitals uses the woundingmodifiers from Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.Large-Area InjurySome attacks affect much or mostof the victims body for instance,dragons breath, a bomb blast, a hugefire, or immersion in an acid pit. Inparticular, any damage described asbeing area effect or cone, and anyexternal explosion, inflicts large-areainjury.A melee attack from an attackerwhose Size Modifier exceeds that ofhis target by seven or more is also alarge-area injury if the attacker isstriking unarmed or with a weaponscaled to his body size. (If he wishesto target a hit location, his tiny vic-tim must be pinned or otherwiseimmobile.)Damage Resistance protects nor-mally against large-area injury but ifyour DR varies by location, youreffective DR is the average of yourtorso DR and the DR of the least pro-tected hit location exposed to theattack (which could still be yourtorso), rounding up. If your DR variesagainst different attacks, least pro-tected refers to the location with thelowest DR against that particular typeof attack.A location protected by cover ormasked by the body does not count asexposed to the attack. Against anexplosion or cone, only locations fac-ing the blast or cone are exposed (e.g.,if youre turned away, your face andeyes arent exposed). For damagecaused by immersion in a hazardousenvironment (e.g., fire or acid), onlythe immersed locations are exposed.Against a true area effect, all locationsare exposed.Dont modify large-area injury forhit location (that is, treat it as a torsohit) unless only one location isexposed. If a single limb (hand, arm,etc.) is exposed, damage in excess ofthat required to inflict a major woundis lost.Hit Location for Non-Humanoidsand VehiclesIt is impossible to supply hit loca-tion rules for every type of animal ormachine. Instead, we provide someguidelines: see Non-Humanoid HitLocation Tables (pp. 552-554) andVehicle Hit Location Table (pp. 554-555).STRIKINGAT WEAPONSYou might strike at a weaponbecause you want to take its user alive. . . or because the weapon is the onlything you can reach, or is less well-armored than its wielder.State whether you are striking todisarm or to break the weapon, andthen roll to hit. You are at -5 to hit areach C melee weapon (e.g., a knife)or a pistol; -4 to hit a melee weaponwith reach 1 (broadsword, mace, etc.)or a medium-sized firearm (e.g., a car-bine or sawed-off shotgun); and -3 tohit a melee weapon with reach 2+(spear, greatsword, polearm, etc.) or arifle. Attempts to disarm are generallyat an extra -2, but see next page.400SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSTargeting Chinks in ArmorYou may use a piercing, impaling, or tight-beam burning attack to tar-get joints or weak points in a suit of armor, vehicle, etc. Roll at -8 to hita chink in the foes torso armor, or at -10 for any other location (face,eyes, vitals, arm, etc.), instead of using the usual hit location penalty. Ifyou hit, halve DR. This is cumulative with any armor divisors.Striking at Weapons in TacticalCombat: A reach C weapon is in itswielders hex. A weapon with a one-yard reach is in the users hex and inthe hex directly in front of him. A 2- or3-yard weapon is in the two or threehexes directly in front of the user. Seethe diagram on p. 400. However, youcan always strike at a reach 2+weapon on your first turn after it wasused to attack or feint against you.Defending Your WeaponDodge: You can dodge normally toprotect your weapon.Parry: You can only parry usingthe weapon that was attacked andonly if its ready. If you have abroadsword in one hand and a knifein the other, and your foe targeted theknife, you cant parry with the sword.A parry represents turning yourweapon so that the foes blow missesor slides off harmlessly.Blocking: You cannot block anattack on your weapon.You may combine a dodge or aparry with a retreat to get the usualbonus. The Defense Bonus of a shieldprovides no benefit whatsoever.Knocking a Weapon AwayA strike to disarm is an attempt toknock or twist the weapon out of yourfoes grasp without damaging it. Onlya weapon that can parry can attemptto disarm, which limits disarming tounarmed attacks, melee weapons, andcertain thrown weapons. You have anextra -2 to hit unless you use a fencingweapon (main-gauche, rapier, saber,or smallsword).If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll a Quick Contest ofweapon skills with your foe; if youreattempting to knock away a missileweapon, your opponent rolls againstDX. Either of you may opt to make aST-based skill roll instead of the stan-dard DX-based one, if that would bebetter. You get +2 if you use Jitte/Sai orWhip skill (having it is not enough!).Your foe gets +2 if he is using a two-handed weapon.If you win, you disarm your foe; hisweapon flies one yard in a randomdirection. If your foe wins or ties, hekeeps his weapon, but it will beunready unless he won by 3 or more.If you roll a critical failure, you are theone disarmed!Breaking a WeaponYou can instead target a weaponwith the intent to chop through, shat-ter, or otherwise wreck it. You maymake such an attack with any weapon even a firearm.If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll your normal damageagainst his weapon. See Damage toObjects (p. 483) for effects. A weaponsweight and composition will deter-mine its DR and HP. (For weaponsbought as advantages, see GadgetLimitations, p. 116.)SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS401Subduing a FoeAt times, you want to subdue an enemy without killing him.Knockout gas, high-tech stunners, magic, and similar tricks are the bestways to take prisoners most weapons are entirely too final! But if youneed to defeat someone without harming him, and you have only ordi-nary weapons, you still have several options:Disarm him. You can do this by striking at his weapon to knock it out of his hand or break it. Of course, he might not surrender, eventhen . . .Pull your punches. You do not have to strike at full strength. You canchoose to use any ST value less than your own when you strike withbare hands or a melee weapon, thrown weapon, bow, or sling (but notwith a crossbow or a firearm). For example, if your normal ST is 10,you could strike at only ST 9 in order to deliver a lighter wound . . . ortap at ST 1 to touch your foe without doing any harm.Turn your blade. You can strike with the flat side of any swing/cut-ting weapon (sword, axe, etc.); this turns its usual cutting damage intocrushing damage. You can also poke with the blunt end of athrust/impaling weapon (spear, halberd, etc.); this reduces damage by 1point and makes damage crushing. Reversing a reach 2+ impalingweapon to attack with its blunt end requires a Ready maneuver.Pin him. If you can grapple your foe, you can pin him (seeUnarmed Combat, p. 370) and then tie him up. This takes about aminute with ropes, two seconds with ready handcuffs. For anotheroption, see Arm Lock (p. 403).Suffocate him. For details, see Choke or Strangle (p. 370), Choke Hold(p. 404), and Suffocation (p. 436).Strangulation and SmotheringIt is possible to render someone unconscious or even kill him through suffocation without inflicting significant HP damage. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.If you do not wish to choke your victim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), you must somehow prevent him from breathing, or restrict theflow of blood (and thus oxygen) to his brain, without crushing histhroat. If he is restrained, unconscious, or otherwise unresisting, youhave many options: hold his nose and mouth shut by hand, cover hisface with a pillow or similar object, or constrict either of his carotidarteries (on his neck).If you are conscious and being smothered, you can choose not toresist and feign unconsciousness. In most cases, you can only fool yourattacker if he has been smothering or strangling you for at least 10 sec-onds. You must make a Will roll to lie passively in the grip of anassailant who is suffocating you! Winning a Quick Contest of Acting vs.your attackers IQ may fool a hasty or squeamish foe into believingyoure unconscious.
|
Grappling and Hit LocationHalve hit location penalties (roundup) if you are grappling a body part its easier to grab a body part than tostrike it. This does not apply to grab-bing a weapon!Random Hit LocationYou never have to target a hit loca-tion you can always just strike atwhatever target presents itself. To doso, attack with no modifier for hitlocation. If you hit, and your foe failsto defend, roll 3d on the appropriatehit location table to find out where theblow fell; see Hit Location Tables(p. 552). The GM decides what table touse for non-humanoids.Use random hit location for a WildSwing (p.388), shooting blind(p. 389), suppression fire (p. 409),fragmentation damage (p. 414), andany other situation where the GMfeels targeting a location is unrealistic.If a random attack comes from direct-ly above, treat feet as hands andlegs as arms.Injury Tolerance and Hit LocationThe Injury Tolerance advantage(p. 60) can alter the effects of hit location.Diffuse or Homogenous: Ignore allknockdown or wounding modifiersfor hit location. (Eyes and limbs canstill be crippled.) All injuries use thewounding modifiers from Injury toUnliving, Homogenous, and DiffuseTargets (p. 380).No Brain: Hits to the skull get noextra knockdown or wounding modi-fier. Hits to the eye can cripple the eye;otherwise, treat them as face hits, notskull hits.No Eyes, No Head, or No Neck: Youlack the hit location(s) in question,and your foes cannot target it.No Vitals: Hits to the vitals or groinhave the same effect as torso hits.Unliving: Hit location has its usualeffect, save that piercing and impalingdamage to any location other than theeye, skull, or vitals uses the woundingmodifiers from Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.Large-Area InjurySome attacks affect much or mostof the victims body for instance,dragons breath, a bomb blast, a hugefire, or immersion in an acid pit. Inparticular, any damage described asbeing area effect or cone, and anyexternal explosion, inflicts large-areainjury.A melee attack from an attackerwhose Size Modifier exceeds that ofhis target by seven or more is also alarge-area injury if the attacker isstriking unarmed or with a weaponscaled to his body size. (If he wishesto target a hit location, his tiny vic-tim must be pinned or otherwiseimmobile.)Damage Resistance protects nor-mally against large-area injury but ifyour DR varies by location, youreffective DR is the average of yourtorso DR and the DR of the least pro-tected hit location exposed to theattack (which could still be yourtorso), rounding up. If your DR variesagainst different attacks, least pro-tected refers to the location with thelowest DR against that particular typeof attack.A location protected by cover ormasked by the body does not count asexposed to the attack. Against anexplosion or cone, only locations fac-ing the blast or cone are exposed (e.g.,if youre turned away, your face andeyes arent exposed). For damagecaused by immersion in a hazardousenvironment (e.g., fire or acid), onlythe immersed locations are exposed.Against a true area effect, all locationsare exposed.Dont modify large-area injury forhit location (that is, treat it as a torsohit) unless only one location isexposed. If a single limb (hand, arm,etc.) is exposed, damage in excess ofthat required to inflict a major woundis lost.Hit Location for Non-Humanoidsand VehiclesIt is impossible to supply hit loca-tion rules for every type of animal ormachine. Instead, we provide someguidelines: see Non-Humanoid HitLocation Tables (pp. 552-554) andVehicle Hit Location Table (pp. 554-555).STRIKINGAT WEAPONSYou might strike at a weaponbecause you want to take its user alive. . . or because the weapon is the onlything you can reach, or is less well-armored than its wielder.State whether you are striking todisarm or to break the weapon, andthen roll to hit. You are at -5 to hit areach C melee weapon (e.g., a knife)or a pistol; -4 to hit a melee weaponwith reach 1 (broadsword, mace, etc.)or a medium-sized firearm (e.g., a car-bine or sawed-off shotgun); and -3 tohit a melee weapon with reach 2+(spear, greatsword, polearm, etc.) or arifle. Attempts to disarm are generallyat an extra -2, but see next page.400SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSTargeting Chinks in ArmorYou may use a piercing, impaling, or tight-beam burning attack to tar-get joints or weak points in a suit of armor, vehicle, etc. Roll at -8 to hita chink in the foes torso armor, or at -10 for any other location (face,eyes, vitals, arm, etc.), instead of using the usual hit location penalty. Ifyou hit, halve DR. This is cumulative with any armor divisors.Striking at Weapons in TacticalCombat: A reach C weapon is in itswielders hex. A weapon with a one-yard reach is in the users hex and inthe hex directly in front of him. A 2- or3-yard weapon is in the two or threehexes directly in front of the user. Seethe diagram on p. 400. However, youcan always strike at a reach 2+weapon on your first turn after it wasused to attack or feint against you.Defending Your WeaponDodge: You can dodge normally toprotect your weapon.Parry: You can only parry usingthe weapon that was attacked andonly if its ready. If you have abroadsword in one hand and a knifein the other, and your foe targeted theknife, you cant parry with the sword.A parry represents turning yourweapon so that the foes blow missesor slides off harmlessly.Blocking: You cannot block anattack on your weapon.You may combine a dodge or aparry with a retreat to get the usualbonus. The Defense Bonus of a shieldprovides no benefit whatsoever.Knocking a Weapon AwayA strike to disarm is an attempt toknock or twist the weapon out of yourfoes grasp without damaging it. Onlya weapon that can parry can attemptto disarm, which limits disarming tounarmed attacks, melee weapons, andcertain thrown weapons. You have anextra -2 to hit unless you use a fencingweapon (main-gauche, rapier, saber,or smallsword).If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll a Quick Contest ofweapon skills with your foe; if youreattempting to knock away a missileweapon, your opponent rolls againstDX. Either of you may opt to make aST-based skill roll instead of the stan-dard DX-based one, if that would bebetter. You get +2 if you use Jitte/Sai orWhip skill (having it is not enough!).Your foe gets +2 if he is using a two-handed weapon.If you win, you disarm your foe; hisweapon flies one yard in a randomdirection. If your foe wins or ties, hekeeps his weapon, but it will beunready unless he won by 3 or more.If you roll a critical failure, you are theone disarmed!Breaking a WeaponYou can instead target a weaponwith the intent to chop through, shat-ter, or otherwise wreck it. You maymake such an attack with any weapon even a firearm.If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll your normal damageagainst his weapon. See Damage toObjects (p. 483) for effects. A weaponsweight and composition will deter-mine its DR and HP. (For weaponsbought as advantages, see GadgetLimitations, p. 116.)SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS401Subduing a FoeAt times, you want to subdue an enemy without killing him.Knockout gas, high-tech stunners, magic, and similar tricks are the bestways to take prisoners most weapons are entirely too final! But if youneed to defeat someone without harming him, and you have only ordi-nary weapons, you still have several options:Disarm him. You can do this by striking at his weapon to knock it out of his hand or break it. Of course, he might not surrender, eventhen . . .Pull your punches. You do not have to strike at full strength. You canchoose to use any ST value less than your own when you strike withbare hands or a melee weapon, thrown weapon, bow, or sling (but notwith a crossbow or a firearm). For example, if your normal ST is 10,you could strike at only ST 9 in order to deliver a lighter wound . . . ortap at ST 1 to touch your foe without doing any harm.Turn your blade. You can strike with the flat side of any swing/cut-ting weapon (sword, axe, etc.); this turns its usual cutting damage intocrushing damage. You can also poke with the blunt end of athrust/impaling weapon (spear, halberd, etc.); this reduces damage by 1point and makes damage crushing. Reversing a reach 2+ impalingweapon to attack with its blunt end requires a Ready maneuver.Pin him. If you can grapple your foe, you can pin him (seeUnarmed Combat, p. 370) and then tie him up. This takes about aminute with ropes, two seconds with ready handcuffs. For anotheroption, see Arm Lock (p. 403).Suffocate him. For details, see Choke or Strangle (p. 370), Choke Hold(p. 404), and Suffocation (p. 436).Strangulation and SmotheringIt is possible to render someone unconscious or even kill him through suffocation without inflicting significant HP damage. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.If you do not wish to choke your victim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), you must somehow prevent him from breathing, or restrict theflow of blood (and thus oxygen) to his brain, without crushing histhroat. If he is restrained, unconscious, or otherwise unresisting, youhave many options: hold his nose and mouth shut by hand, cover hisface with a pillow or similar object, or constrict either of his carotidarteries (on his neck).If you are conscious and being smothered, you can choose not toresist and feign unconsciousness. In most cases, you can only fool yourattacker if he has been smothering or strangling you for at least 10 sec-onds. You must make a Will roll to lie passively in the grip of anassailant who is suffocating you! Winning a Quick Contest of Acting vs.your attackers IQ may fool a hasty or squeamish foe into believingyoure unconscious.These rules add additional options and complexity to meleeattacks and defenses.ATTACKFROM ABOVEAmbush from above is a good sur-prise tactic. Roll a Quick Contest tosee if it works: your Stealth vs. the vic-tims Vision. A victim walking along atrail, alley, etc. is at -2 to notice some-one lurking above, unless he specifi-cally states he is looking in the trees,high windows, etc.; then he gets +2(but -2 to notice things on his ownlevel!). Peripheral Vision is of no spe-cial value in this situation.If you win the Quick Contest, yourvictim fails to spot you. He gets noactive defense against your attack! Atthe GMs option, a particularly unwaryindividual might freeze up; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).Even if you lose or your target iswarned your victims active defensesare at -2 against your attack. However,an alerted foe can take a Wait maneu-ver and make a stop thrust when youdrop (see Wait, p. 366).You can drop from any heightbefore attacking (a special kind ofstep). You have an extra -2 to hit.Regardless of the results of yourattack, you take falling damage if youdropped from more than two yards see Falling (p. 431). You may attemptan Acrobatics roll to reduce this.Natural ambushers-from-above (e.g.,jaguars) have Catfall (p. 41).You can opt to drop onto your vic-tim instead animals often attack thisway! Resolve damage to yourself andyour target sep-arately fromyour attack.Note that avictim is asoft thing toland on, unlesshe has DR 3+.COMBAT ATDIFFERENTLEVELSSuppose you want to jump onto atable and strike down at a foe? Orfight your way up a staircase? If youand your foe are at different levels, thevertical distance affects combat. Thisrule is for melee combat. For rangedweapons, see Firing Upward andDownward (p. 407).One foot of vertical difference, orless: Ignore it.Up to two feet of vertical difference:Ignore it unless you are using hit loca-tions. In that case, the higher fighterhas -2 to hit the feet or legs, and +1 tohit the head (skull, face, or eyes) orneck. The lower fighter has +2 to hitthe feet or legs, and -2 to hit the head.These modifiers are in addition to nor-mal hit location penalties.Up to three feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -1to any active defense, while the upperfighter is at +1 to his active defenses.Up to four feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -2to defend, while the upper fighter is at+2. The upper fighter cannot strike atthe lower fighters feet or legs.Up to five feet of vertical difference:The lower fighter cannot strike at theupper fighters head, and the upperfighter cannot strike at the lower fight-ers feet or legs. The lower fighter is at-3 to defend, while the upper fighter isat +3.Up to six feet of vertical difference:The upper fighter may only strike atthe lower fighters head. The lowerfighter may only strike at the upperfighters feet or legs. Neither gets anyspecial bonus or penalty to attack. Thelower fighter is at -3 to defend, whilethe upper fighter is at +3.402SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL MELEE COMBAT RULESSize Modifier and ReachIf your SM is greater than 0, youhave a longer reach with your arms.Increase the upper end of the reach ofany melee weapon according to thetable at right.You also get +1 to hit when you grap-ple per +1 SM advantage you have overyour target.Example: A giant with SM +3 gets +2to the upper end of reach a weaponwith reach 2-3 has reach 2-5 in hishands! If he grapples a human (SM 0),he gets +3 to hit. He gets no bonus tograpple another giant.SMReach+1+0*+2+1+3+2+4+3+5+5+6+7+7+10+8+15+9+20+10+30* A reach C weaponincreases to reach 1, butthere are no other effects.
|
Striking at Weapons in TacticalCombat: A reach C weapon is in itswielders hex. A weapon with a one-yard reach is in the users hex and inthe hex directly in front of him. A 2- or3-yard weapon is in the two or threehexes directly in front of the user. Seethe diagram on p. 400. However, youcan always strike at a reach 2+weapon on your first turn after it wasused to attack or feint against you.Defending Your WeaponDodge: You can dodge normally toprotect your weapon.Parry: You can only parry usingthe weapon that was attacked andonly if its ready. If you have abroadsword in one hand and a knifein the other, and your foe targeted theknife, you cant parry with the sword.A parry represents turning yourweapon so that the foes blow missesor slides off harmlessly.Blocking: You cannot block anattack on your weapon.You may combine a dodge or aparry with a retreat to get the usualbonus. The Defense Bonus of a shieldprovides no benefit whatsoever.Knocking a Weapon AwayA strike to disarm is an attempt toknock or twist the weapon out of yourfoes grasp without damaging it. Onlya weapon that can parry can attemptto disarm, which limits disarming tounarmed attacks, melee weapons, andcertain thrown weapons. You have anextra -2 to hit unless you use a fencingweapon (main-gauche, rapier, saber,or smallsword).If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll a Quick Contest ofweapon skills with your foe; if youreattempting to knock away a missileweapon, your opponent rolls againstDX. Either of you may opt to make aST-based skill roll instead of the stan-dard DX-based one, if that would bebetter. You get +2 if you use Jitte/Sai orWhip skill (having it is not enough!).Your foe gets +2 if he is using a two-handed weapon.If you win, you disarm your foe; hisweapon flies one yard in a randomdirection. If your foe wins or ties, hekeeps his weapon, but it will beunready unless he won by 3 or more.If you roll a critical failure, you are theone disarmed!Breaking a WeaponYou can instead target a weaponwith the intent to chop through, shat-ter, or otherwise wreck it. You maymake such an attack with any weapon even a firearm.If you hit and your foe fails todefend, roll your normal damageagainst his weapon. See Damage toObjects (p. 483) for effects. A weaponsweight and composition will deter-mine its DR and HP. (For weaponsbought as advantages, see GadgetLimitations, p. 116.)SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS401Subduing a FoeAt times, you want to subdue an enemy without killing him.Knockout gas, high-tech stunners, magic, and similar tricks are the bestways to take prisoners most weapons are entirely too final! But if youneed to defeat someone without harming him, and you have only ordi-nary weapons, you still have several options:Disarm him. You can do this by striking at his weapon to knock it out of his hand or break it. Of course, he might not surrender, eventhen . . .Pull your punches. You do not have to strike at full strength. You canchoose to use any ST value less than your own when you strike withbare hands or a melee weapon, thrown weapon, bow, or sling (but notwith a crossbow or a firearm). For example, if your normal ST is 10,you could strike at only ST 9 in order to deliver a lighter wound . . . ortap at ST 1 to touch your foe without doing any harm.Turn your blade. You can strike with the flat side of any swing/cut-ting weapon (sword, axe, etc.); this turns its usual cutting damage intocrushing damage. You can also poke with the blunt end of athrust/impaling weapon (spear, halberd, etc.); this reduces damage by 1point and makes damage crushing. Reversing a reach 2+ impalingweapon to attack with its blunt end requires a Ready maneuver.Pin him. If you can grapple your foe, you can pin him (seeUnarmed Combat, p. 370) and then tie him up. This takes about aminute with ropes, two seconds with ready handcuffs. For anotheroption, see Arm Lock (p. 403).Suffocate him. For details, see Choke or Strangle (p. 370), Choke Hold(p. 404), and Suffocation (p. 436).Strangulation and SmotheringIt is possible to render someone unconscious or even kill him through suffocation without inflicting significant HP damage. SeeSuffocation (p. 436) for details.If you do not wish to choke your victim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), you must somehow prevent him from breathing, or restrict theflow of blood (and thus oxygen) to his brain, without crushing histhroat. If he is restrained, unconscious, or otherwise unresisting, youhave many options: hold his nose and mouth shut by hand, cover hisface with a pillow or similar object, or constrict either of his carotidarteries (on his neck).If you are conscious and being smothered, you can choose not toresist and feign unconsciousness. In most cases, you can only fool yourattacker if he has been smothering or strangling you for at least 10 sec-onds. You must make a Will roll to lie passively in the grip of anassailant who is suffocating you! Winning a Quick Contest of Acting vs.your attackers IQ may fool a hasty or squeamish foe into believingyoure unconscious.These rules add additional options and complexity to meleeattacks and defenses.ATTACKFROM ABOVEAmbush from above is a good sur-prise tactic. Roll a Quick Contest tosee if it works: your Stealth vs. the vic-tims Vision. A victim walking along atrail, alley, etc. is at -2 to notice some-one lurking above, unless he specifi-cally states he is looking in the trees,high windows, etc.; then he gets +2(but -2 to notice things on his ownlevel!). Peripheral Vision is of no spe-cial value in this situation.If you win the Quick Contest, yourvictim fails to spot you. He gets noactive defense against your attack! Atthe GMs option, a particularly unwaryindividual might freeze up; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).Even if you lose or your target iswarned your victims active defensesare at -2 against your attack. However,an alerted foe can take a Wait maneu-ver and make a stop thrust when youdrop (see Wait, p. 366).You can drop from any heightbefore attacking (a special kind ofstep). You have an extra -2 to hit.Regardless of the results of yourattack, you take falling damage if youdropped from more than two yards see Falling (p. 431). You may attemptan Acrobatics roll to reduce this.Natural ambushers-from-above (e.g.,jaguars) have Catfall (p. 41).You can opt to drop onto your vic-tim instead animals often attack thisway! Resolve damage to yourself andyour target sep-arately fromyour attack.Note that avictim is asoft thing toland on, unlesshe has DR 3+.COMBAT ATDIFFERENTLEVELSSuppose you want to jump onto atable and strike down at a foe? Orfight your way up a staircase? If youand your foe are at different levels, thevertical distance affects combat. Thisrule is for melee combat. For rangedweapons, see Firing Upward andDownward (p. 407).One foot of vertical difference, orless: Ignore it.Up to two feet of vertical difference:Ignore it unless you are using hit loca-tions. In that case, the higher fighterhas -2 to hit the feet or legs, and +1 tohit the head (skull, face, or eyes) orneck. The lower fighter has +2 to hitthe feet or legs, and -2 to hit the head.These modifiers are in addition to nor-mal hit location penalties.Up to three feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -1to any active defense, while the upperfighter is at +1 to his active defenses.Up to four feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -2to defend, while the upper fighter is at+2. The upper fighter cannot strike atthe lower fighters feet or legs.Up to five feet of vertical difference:The lower fighter cannot strike at theupper fighters head, and the upperfighter cannot strike at the lower fight-ers feet or legs. The lower fighter is at-3 to defend, while the upper fighter isat +3.Up to six feet of vertical difference:The upper fighter may only strike atthe lower fighters head. The lowerfighter may only strike at the upperfighters feet or legs. Neither gets anyspecial bonus or penalty to attack. Thelower fighter is at -3 to defend, whilethe upper fighter is at +3.402SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL MELEE COMBAT RULESSize Modifier and ReachIf your SM is greater than 0, youhave a longer reach with your arms.Increase the upper end of the reach ofany melee weapon according to thetable at right.You also get +1 to hit when you grap-ple per +1 SM advantage you have overyour target.Example: A giant with SM +3 gets +2to the upper end of reach a weaponwith reach 2-3 has reach 2-5 in hishands! If he grapples a human (SM 0),he gets +3 to hit. He gets no bonus tograpple another giant.SMReach+1+0*+2+1+3+2+4+3+5+5+6+7+7+10+8+15+9+20+10+30* A reach C weaponincreases to reach 1, butthere are no other effects.Over six feet of vertical difference:Combat is impossible unless the fight-ers adopt some strange position; e.g.,the upper fighter lies down and reach-es over the edge. In that particularcase, he would effectively bring him-self three feet closer, and his foe couldstrike at his head and arm. The GMmay offer appropriate bonuses andpenalties for any odd tactics that theplayers employ.Effects of ReachIf your weapon or Size Modifiergives you more than one yard of reach,each yard past the first brings the foethree feet closer to you. This does notbring you any closer to your foe! Forexample, a greatsword (two-yardreach) would let you fight as if yourfoe were three feet closer. If you werestanding six feet below him, youwould fight as though he were onlythree feet higher. He would not enjoy asimilar benefit unless he, too, had longreach.Typical DistancesSet distances by common senseand mutual agreement (beforehand, ifpossible). Some examples: Ordinarystairs rise eight inches per step (forsimplicity, you may want to call themone foot). The seat of a chair is lessthan two feet tall. An ordinary diningtable is less than three feet tall. Thecounter in a shop is about four feettall. The hood of a car, or the bed of awagon, is about three feet tall. Theroof of a car, or the seat of a wagon, isover four feet tall.SPECIALUNARMEDCOMBATTECHNIQUESHere are some additional optionsfor unarmed fighters who are not con-tent merely to punch, kick, and grap-ple. Most require Brawling, Judo,Karate, or Wrestling skill. You canimprove your ability with some ofthese techniques see Sample CombatTechniques (p. 230).Arm LockAn arm lock is an attempt torestrain or cripple an opponent bytwisting his arm. It uses Judo orWrestling skill. To perform an armlock, you must have two hands freeand make a successful barehandedparry with Judo or Wrestling againstyour opponents melee attack.On your first turn following theparry, you may attempt to captureyour attackers arm if he is still withinone yard. This is an attack: step intoclose combat and roll against Judo orWrestling to hit. Your foe may use anyactive defense he can parry yourhand with a weapon! If his defensefails, you trap his arm in a lock.Your foe may attempt to break free(see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) on his next turn, but you are at+4 in the Quick Contest. If he loses, hehas a cumulative -1 on future attemptsto break free.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree you may try to damage thetrapped arm. Roll a Quick Contest: thehighest of your Judo, Wrestling, or STvs. the higher of your victims ST orHT. If you win, you inflict crushingdamage equal to your margin of victo-ry. The targets natural DR (unless ithas the Tough Skin limitation) and theDR of his rigid armor protect normal-ly. Flexible armor has no effect!If you cripple your victims arm, hedrops anything in that hand. You caninflict no further damage on a crip-pled limb, but you can continue to rollthe Contest each turn. If you win, yourtarget suffers shock and stunning justas if you had inflicted damage.The rolls to inflict damage arecompletely passive and do not countas attacks! You can simultaneouslymake close combat attacks on youropponent, who defends at -4 in addi-tion to any other penalties due to thedamage caused by the lock itself.You can also use this ability offen-sively. Instead of waiting to parry anattack, grapple your foe normally withJudo or Wrestling skill. If he fails tobreak free on his next turn, you mayattempt an arm lock on your nextturn, just as if you had parried hisattack.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS403
|
These rules add additional options and complexity to meleeattacks and defenses.ATTACKFROM ABOVEAmbush from above is a good sur-prise tactic. Roll a Quick Contest tosee if it works: your Stealth vs. the vic-tims Vision. A victim walking along atrail, alley, etc. is at -2 to notice some-one lurking above, unless he specifi-cally states he is looking in the trees,high windows, etc.; then he gets +2(but -2 to notice things on his ownlevel!). Peripheral Vision is of no spe-cial value in this situation.If you win the Quick Contest, yourvictim fails to spot you. He gets noactive defense against your attack! Atthe GMs option, a particularly unwaryindividual might freeze up; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).Even if you lose or your target iswarned your victims active defensesare at -2 against your attack. However,an alerted foe can take a Wait maneu-ver and make a stop thrust when youdrop (see Wait, p. 366).You can drop from any heightbefore attacking (a special kind ofstep). You have an extra -2 to hit.Regardless of the results of yourattack, you take falling damage if youdropped from more than two yards see Falling (p. 431). You may attemptan Acrobatics roll to reduce this.Natural ambushers-from-above (e.g.,jaguars) have Catfall (p. 41).You can opt to drop onto your vic-tim instead animals often attack thisway! Resolve damage to yourself andyour target sep-arately fromyour attack.Note that avictim is asoft thing toland on, unlesshe has DR 3+.COMBAT ATDIFFERENTLEVELSSuppose you want to jump onto atable and strike down at a foe? Orfight your way up a staircase? If youand your foe are at different levels, thevertical distance affects combat. Thisrule is for melee combat. For rangedweapons, see Firing Upward andDownward (p. 407).One foot of vertical difference, orless: Ignore it.Up to two feet of vertical difference:Ignore it unless you are using hit loca-tions. In that case, the higher fighterhas -2 to hit the feet or legs, and +1 tohit the head (skull, face, or eyes) orneck. The lower fighter has +2 to hitthe feet or legs, and -2 to hit the head.These modifiers are in addition to nor-mal hit location penalties.Up to three feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -1to any active defense, while the upperfighter is at +1 to his active defenses.Up to four feet of vertical difference:As above, but the lower fighter is at -2to defend, while the upper fighter is at+2. The upper fighter cannot strike atthe lower fighters feet or legs.Up to five feet of vertical difference:The lower fighter cannot strike at theupper fighters head, and the upperfighter cannot strike at the lower fight-ers feet or legs. The lower fighter is at-3 to defend, while the upper fighter isat +3.Up to six feet of vertical difference:The upper fighter may only strike atthe lower fighters head. The lowerfighter may only strike at the upperfighters feet or legs. Neither gets anyspecial bonus or penalty to attack. Thelower fighter is at -3 to defend, whilethe upper fighter is at +3.402SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL MELEE COMBAT RULESSize Modifier and ReachIf your SM is greater than 0, youhave a longer reach with your arms.Increase the upper end of the reach ofany melee weapon according to thetable at right.You also get +1 to hit when you grap-ple per +1 SM advantage you have overyour target.Example: A giant with SM +3 gets +2to the upper end of reach a weaponwith reach 2-3 has reach 2-5 in hishands! If he grapples a human (SM 0),he gets +3 to hit. He gets no bonus tograpple another giant.SMReach+1+0*+2+1+3+2+4+3+5+5+6+7+7+10+8+15+9+20+10+30* A reach C weaponincreases to reach 1, butthere are no other effects.Over six feet of vertical difference:Combat is impossible unless the fight-ers adopt some strange position; e.g.,the upper fighter lies down and reach-es over the edge. In that particularcase, he would effectively bring him-self three feet closer, and his foe couldstrike at his head and arm. The GMmay offer appropriate bonuses andpenalties for any odd tactics that theplayers employ.Effects of ReachIf your weapon or Size Modifiergives you more than one yard of reach,each yard past the first brings the foethree feet closer to you. This does notbring you any closer to your foe! Forexample, a greatsword (two-yardreach) would let you fight as if yourfoe were three feet closer. If you werestanding six feet below him, youwould fight as though he were onlythree feet higher. He would not enjoy asimilar benefit unless he, too, had longreach.Typical DistancesSet distances by common senseand mutual agreement (beforehand, ifpossible). Some examples: Ordinarystairs rise eight inches per step (forsimplicity, you may want to call themone foot). The seat of a chair is lessthan two feet tall. An ordinary diningtable is less than three feet tall. Thecounter in a shop is about four feettall. The hood of a car, or the bed of awagon, is about three feet tall. Theroof of a car, or the seat of a wagon, isover four feet tall.SPECIALUNARMEDCOMBATTECHNIQUESHere are some additional optionsfor unarmed fighters who are not con-tent merely to punch, kick, and grap-ple. Most require Brawling, Judo,Karate, or Wrestling skill. You canimprove your ability with some ofthese techniques see Sample CombatTechniques (p. 230).Arm LockAn arm lock is an attempt torestrain or cripple an opponent bytwisting his arm. It uses Judo orWrestling skill. To perform an armlock, you must have two hands freeand make a successful barehandedparry with Judo or Wrestling againstyour opponents melee attack.On your first turn following theparry, you may attempt to captureyour attackers arm if he is still withinone yard. This is an attack: step intoclose combat and roll against Judo orWrestling to hit. Your foe may use anyactive defense he can parry yourhand with a weapon! If his defensefails, you trap his arm in a lock.Your foe may attempt to break free(see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) on his next turn, but you are at+4 in the Quick Contest. If he loses, hehas a cumulative -1 on future attemptsto break free.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree you may try to damage thetrapped arm. Roll a Quick Contest: thehighest of your Judo, Wrestling, or STvs. the higher of your victims ST orHT. If you win, you inflict crushingdamage equal to your margin of victo-ry. The targets natural DR (unless ithas the Tough Skin limitation) and theDR of his rigid armor protect normal-ly. Flexible armor has no effect!If you cripple your victims arm, hedrops anything in that hand. You caninflict no further damage on a crip-pled limb, but you can continue to rollthe Contest each turn. If you win, yourtarget suffers shock and stunning justas if you had inflicted damage.The rolls to inflict damage arecompletely passive and do not countas attacks! You can simultaneouslymake close combat attacks on youropponent, who defends at -4 in addi-tion to any other penalties due to thedamage caused by the lock itself.You can also use this ability offen-sively. Instead of waiting to parry anattack, grapple your foe normally withJudo or Wrestling skill. If he fails tobreak free on his next turn, you mayattempt an arm lock on your nextturn, just as if you had parried hisattack.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS403Choke HoldThis Judo and Wrestling techniqueinvolves locking one forearm aroundthe targets neck and applying pres-sure to the windpipe. The more thevictim struggles, the tighter the chokebecomes. This can quickly subdue anopponent.To apply a choke hold, you mustgrapple your victim from behind usingboth hands. Treat this as a normalgrapple (see Grappling, p. 370), butroll against your Judo at -2 orWrestling at -3 to hit. A victim who isaware of you may attempt any legaldefense, but suffers the usual penaltiesfor an attack from behind.On your foes next turn and on sub-sequent turns, he may attempt tobreak free. You are at +5 in the QuickContest. But note that you controlyour victims neck and head not hisarms and legs. He can attack you witha Wild Swing (p. 388), Back Kick(p. 230), etc., at the usual -4 for beinggrappled.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree your victim loses 1 FP, perSuffocation (p. 436). If you wish, youmay choke him for crushing damageat the same time (see Actions After aGrapple, p. 370), and get +3 to ST forthis purpose.Elbow StrikeYou can attack an enemy behindyou in close combat by jabbing back-ward with your elbow. Roll againstBrawling-2 or Karate-2 to hit. There isno modifier for not facing the enemy,but apply an extra -1 to hit if you tar-get a specific hit location. On a hit, rollyour usual punching damage. Treat anelbow strike at a foe in front of you asa normal punch.Knee StrikeThis is a vicious, snapping blowwith the knee. Unlike a kick, it onlyhas reach C. Roll against Brawling-1or Karate-1 to hit. If you have grap-pled your target, he defends at -2 . . .and if you grappled from the front,you may attack his groin at no penal-ty! On a hit, roll your usual kickingdamage.Lethal StrikeThis is a blow that focuses all ofyour strength onto a single narrowpoint: a toe, a few stiffened fingers,etc. It is an option for any punch orkick with Karate. Roll against Karateto hit, but at -2 over and above anyother penalties. You get -1 to damage,but your blow is piercing instead ofcrushing. This lets you target the vitalsor eyes! There is a down side: theHurting Yourself rule (p. 379) applies ifyour target has DR 1+ (as opposed toDR 3+).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbThis brute-force technique consistsof grabbing and suddenly twisting thevictims head to break the neck, or alimb to dislocate or break it.You must first grapple your oppo-nent by the neck or desired limb usingboth hands; see Grappling (p. 370).Your victim may attempt to break freeon his turn. If he fails, then on yournext turn, roll a Quick Contest: yourST-4 vs. the higher of your victims STor HT. If you win, you inflictswing/crushing damage on the neck orlimb. Damage to the neck has theusual 1.5 wounding modifier for hitlocation. The targets natural DR(unless it has the Tough Skin limita-tion) and the DR of his rigid armorprotect normally. Flexible armor hasno effect!You may make repeated attemptson successive turns, but your oppo-nent may attack you or attempt tobreak free, subject to the usual limita-tions of being grappled.TramplingYou can trample a victim if yourSize Modifier exceeds his by 2 or more or by only 1, if hes lying prone andyoure not.Trampling is a melee attack: roll vs.the higher of DX or Brawling to hit.The victims only legal defense is adodge.If you hit, you inflictthrust/crushing damage based on yourST; if you have Hooves, add +1 per dieof damage.If you knock down a foe in a colli-sion or slam and keep on moving, youautomatically overrun and trampleyour opponent. Do not make anyattack or defense rolls roll damageimmediately, based on half your ST,rounded down.In all cases, if your SM exceedsyour victims by 3 or more, dont worryabout hit location your attack countsas a large-area injury (see Large-AreaInjury, p. 400).SPECIAL MELEEWEAPON RULESSome melee weapons are morecomplicated than others! Below aresome special cases.CloaksYou can snap a cloak in your oppo-nents face or use it to block his vision;treat either as a Feint (see Feint,p. 365). You can also use a cloak tograpple. Roll against Cloak skill to hit;reach is C, 1. Otherwise, treat this justlike an unarmed grapple (seeGrappling, p. 370).Fencing WeaponsThe ready position of a fighterusing Main-Gauche, Rapier, Saber, orSmallsword skill keeps his weaponpointed toward his foe at all times. As404SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSImprovised WeaponsYou sometimes want to hit a foe with something other than a realweapon. If so, the GM should treat the object as the weapon it resem-bles most closely: a stick would be a baton, light club, or quarterstaff; aheavy tool would be equivalent to a mace or a maul; a length of chainwould serve as a clumsy morningstar; and so on.If an improvised weapon is especially clumsy, add a penalty of -1 to-3 to hit or parry with it, or increase the minimum ST required. If it isshorter or lighter than a real weapon of the same type (or not verysharp, for a blade), reduce damage.
|
Over six feet of vertical difference:Combat is impossible unless the fight-ers adopt some strange position; e.g.,the upper fighter lies down and reach-es over the edge. In that particularcase, he would effectively bring him-self three feet closer, and his foe couldstrike at his head and arm. The GMmay offer appropriate bonuses andpenalties for any odd tactics that theplayers employ.Effects of ReachIf your weapon or Size Modifiergives you more than one yard of reach,each yard past the first brings the foethree feet closer to you. This does notbring you any closer to your foe! Forexample, a greatsword (two-yardreach) would let you fight as if yourfoe were three feet closer. If you werestanding six feet below him, youwould fight as though he were onlythree feet higher. He would not enjoy asimilar benefit unless he, too, had longreach.Typical DistancesSet distances by common senseand mutual agreement (beforehand, ifpossible). Some examples: Ordinarystairs rise eight inches per step (forsimplicity, you may want to call themone foot). The seat of a chair is lessthan two feet tall. An ordinary diningtable is less than three feet tall. Thecounter in a shop is about four feettall. The hood of a car, or the bed of awagon, is about three feet tall. Theroof of a car, or the seat of a wagon, isover four feet tall.SPECIALUNARMEDCOMBATTECHNIQUESHere are some additional optionsfor unarmed fighters who are not con-tent merely to punch, kick, and grap-ple. Most require Brawling, Judo,Karate, or Wrestling skill. You canimprove your ability with some ofthese techniques see Sample CombatTechniques (p. 230).Arm LockAn arm lock is an attempt torestrain or cripple an opponent bytwisting his arm. It uses Judo orWrestling skill. To perform an armlock, you must have two hands freeand make a successful barehandedparry with Judo or Wrestling againstyour opponents melee attack.On your first turn following theparry, you may attempt to captureyour attackers arm if he is still withinone yard. This is an attack: step intoclose combat and roll against Judo orWrestling to hit. Your foe may use anyactive defense he can parry yourhand with a weapon! If his defensefails, you trap his arm in a lock.Your foe may attempt to break free(see Actions After Being Grappled,p. 371) on his next turn, but you are at+4 in the Quick Contest. If he loses, hehas a cumulative -1 on future attemptsto break free.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree you may try to damage thetrapped arm. Roll a Quick Contest: thehighest of your Judo, Wrestling, or STvs. the higher of your victims ST orHT. If you win, you inflict crushingdamage equal to your margin of victo-ry. The targets natural DR (unless ithas the Tough Skin limitation) and theDR of his rigid armor protect normal-ly. Flexible armor has no effect!If you cripple your victims arm, hedrops anything in that hand. You caninflict no further damage on a crip-pled limb, but you can continue to rollthe Contest each turn. If you win, yourtarget suffers shock and stunning justas if you had inflicted damage.The rolls to inflict damage arecompletely passive and do not countas attacks! You can simultaneouslymake close combat attacks on youropponent, who defends at -4 in addi-tion to any other penalties due to thedamage caused by the lock itself.You can also use this ability offen-sively. Instead of waiting to parry anattack, grapple your foe normally withJudo or Wrestling skill. If he fails tobreak free on his next turn, you mayattempt an arm lock on your nextturn, just as if you had parried hisattack.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS403Choke HoldThis Judo and Wrestling techniqueinvolves locking one forearm aroundthe targets neck and applying pres-sure to the windpipe. The more thevictim struggles, the tighter the chokebecomes. This can quickly subdue anopponent.To apply a choke hold, you mustgrapple your victim from behind usingboth hands. Treat this as a normalgrapple (see Grappling, p. 370), butroll against your Judo at -2 orWrestling at -3 to hit. A victim who isaware of you may attempt any legaldefense, but suffers the usual penaltiesfor an attack from behind.On your foes next turn and on sub-sequent turns, he may attempt tobreak free. You are at +5 in the QuickContest. But note that you controlyour victims neck and head not hisarms and legs. He can attack you witha Wild Swing (p. 388), Back Kick(p. 230), etc., at the usual -4 for beinggrappled.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree your victim loses 1 FP, perSuffocation (p. 436). If you wish, youmay choke him for crushing damageat the same time (see Actions After aGrapple, p. 370), and get +3 to ST forthis purpose.Elbow StrikeYou can attack an enemy behindyou in close combat by jabbing back-ward with your elbow. Roll againstBrawling-2 or Karate-2 to hit. There isno modifier for not facing the enemy,but apply an extra -1 to hit if you tar-get a specific hit location. On a hit, rollyour usual punching damage. Treat anelbow strike at a foe in front of you asa normal punch.Knee StrikeThis is a vicious, snapping blowwith the knee. Unlike a kick, it onlyhas reach C. Roll against Brawling-1or Karate-1 to hit. If you have grap-pled your target, he defends at -2 . . .and if you grappled from the front,you may attack his groin at no penal-ty! On a hit, roll your usual kickingdamage.Lethal StrikeThis is a blow that focuses all ofyour strength onto a single narrowpoint: a toe, a few stiffened fingers,etc. It is an option for any punch orkick with Karate. Roll against Karateto hit, but at -2 over and above anyother penalties. You get -1 to damage,but your blow is piercing instead ofcrushing. This lets you target the vitalsor eyes! There is a down side: theHurting Yourself rule (p. 379) applies ifyour target has DR 1+ (as opposed toDR 3+).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbThis brute-force technique consistsof grabbing and suddenly twisting thevictims head to break the neck, or alimb to dislocate or break it.You must first grapple your oppo-nent by the neck or desired limb usingboth hands; see Grappling (p. 370).Your victim may attempt to break freeon his turn. If he fails, then on yournext turn, roll a Quick Contest: yourST-4 vs. the higher of your victims STor HT. If you win, you inflictswing/crushing damage on the neck orlimb. Damage to the neck has theusual 1.5 wounding modifier for hitlocation. The targets natural DR(unless it has the Tough Skin limita-tion) and the DR of his rigid armorprotect normally. Flexible armor hasno effect!You may make repeated attemptson successive turns, but your oppo-nent may attack you or attempt tobreak free, subject to the usual limita-tions of being grappled.TramplingYou can trample a victim if yourSize Modifier exceeds his by 2 or more or by only 1, if hes lying prone andyoure not.Trampling is a melee attack: roll vs.the higher of DX or Brawling to hit.The victims only legal defense is adodge.If you hit, you inflictthrust/crushing damage based on yourST; if you have Hooves, add +1 per dieof damage.If you knock down a foe in a colli-sion or slam and keep on moving, youautomatically overrun and trampleyour opponent. Do not make anyattack or defense rolls roll damageimmediately, based on half your ST,rounded down.In all cases, if your SM exceedsyour victims by 3 or more, dont worryabout hit location your attack countsas a large-area injury (see Large-AreaInjury, p. 400).SPECIAL MELEEWEAPON RULESSome melee weapons are morecomplicated than others! Below aresome special cases.CloaksYou can snap a cloak in your oppo-nents face or use it to block his vision;treat either as a Feint (see Feint,p. 365). You can also use a cloak tograpple. Roll against Cloak skill to hit;reach is C, 1. Otherwise, treat this justlike an unarmed grapple (seeGrappling, p. 370).Fencing WeaponsThe ready position of a fighterusing Main-Gauche, Rapier, Saber, orSmallsword skill keeps his weaponpointed toward his foe at all times. As404SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSImprovised WeaponsYou sometimes want to hit a foe with something other than a realweapon. If so, the GM should treat the object as the weapon it resem-bles most closely: a stick would be a baton, light club, or quarterstaff; aheavy tool would be equivalent to a mace or a maul; a length of chainwould serve as a clumsy morningstar; and so on.If an improvised weapon is especially clumsy, add a penalty of -1 to-3 to hit or parry with it, or increase the minimum ST required. If it isshorter or lighter than a real weapon of the same type (or not verysharp, for a blade), reduce damage.well, the fencing weapons used withthese skills are light and maneuver-able. These factors make it easy for afencer to recover from a parry or fallback in the face of an attack.With a fencing weapon, you get +3to Parry instead of the usual +1 whenyou retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Youalso suffer only half the usual penaltyfor multiple parries (see Parrying,p. 376). However, your Parry has apenalty equal to your encumbrancelevel, and you cannot parry flails at all.FlailsA weapon with a length of chainbetween the handle and the head is aflail. Because of the chain, a flail canwrap around a foes weapon or shieldwhen he tries to defend against it. Anyattempt to parry a flail is at -4; fencingweapons, with their light blades, can-not parry flails at all! Even a shield isless useful against a flail: all blocks areat -2.GarrotesA garrote is a cord or wire usedfor strangling. You can only use it onan unaware or helpless victim, andyou must attack from behind (thisoften requires Stealth rolls!).Once you are in position, rollagainst Garrote skill to hit. You musttarget the neck, at the usual -5 to hit.In most cases, your target is unaware,so you can safely make an All-OutAttack (Determined) for +4 to hit.The victim may attempt to parrywith his hand or a ready close-combatweapon, but he does so at -3. Unlesshe has Combat Reflexes, he is mostlikely mentally stunned, for an addi-tional -4 to his defense roll. On a suc-cess, he manages to put his hand orweapon between his throat and thegarrote. The hand takes no damageunless you are using a wire garrote.On the turn of the attack and everysubsequent turn, you may choke thevictim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), and get +3 to ST in the ensu-ing Quick Contest. Treat the damageas crushing (1.5 to the neck) for arope garrote, cutting (2 to the neck)for a wire one. In addition, your victimstarts to suffocate (see Suffocation,p. 436). To break free, the victim mustwin a Quick Contest of ST-5, Judo-3,or Wrestling-3 against your Garroteskill.An improvised garrote (almost anypiece of rope) gives -2 to skill. A wiregarrote must be equipped with han-dles, or you will take thrust/cuttingdamage to each hand!PicksMelee weapons that inflictswing/impaling damage picks,warhammers, etc. do a lot of dam-age, but may get stuck in your foe! Atthe start of the turn following anyattack that penetrates the foes DR andinflicts damage, you must either relin-quish your weapon and leave it stuckin your foe (a free action), or attempta ST roll to free it (a Ready maneuver).On a successful ST roll, yourweapon comes free. If it is one thatmust be readied after an attack (anyweapon with next to its ST statis-tic), you can ready it next turn. On afailure, it is stuck. You cant use it orready it and if you wish to move,youll have to let go. On later turns,you have two choices: let go of yourweapon or try another ST roll. Shouldyou ever get a critical failure on the STroll, the weapon is permanently stuck(but you can retrieve it from a fallenfoe after the battle).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS405Dirty TricksCreative players will constantly invent new combat tricks forinstance, throwing sand in the enemys face to blind him. This presentsa problem for the GM. On the one hand, creativity should be encour-aged; it makes the game more interesting. On the other hand, tricksonly work when theyre new and original. If sand in the face workedevery time, barbarian warriors would leave their swords at home andcarry bags of sand instead!The best solution is to let tricks work once maybe twice andthen assume that word has gotten around. If you, as the GM, think thatthe players clever idea is a good one, you should give it a fair chance towork. But remember that elaborate tricks can fail elaborately . . . andword gets around. The first Trojan horse was a great success. It hasntworked since then.IQ and Dirty TricksOften, the GM will find it appropriate to require an IQ roll when afighter attempts a clever trick. Depending on the circumstance, the GMmay: Make the trickster roll vs. his IQ to pull off the trick properly. Make the victim roll vs. his IQ to see through the trick. Require a Quick Contest of IQ to see who outsmarts whom.Theres no hard-and-fast rule! Just remember: nobody who takes anIQ 8 fighter should be allowed to play him as a genius!Liquids in the FaceThis is one of the most common dirty tricks. Treat liquid tossed inthe face as a thrown weapon with Acc 1 and Max 3. Remember the -5to target the face!On a critical hit, the liquid gets in the victims eyes, blinding him for1d seconds (the GM rolls secretly). On any other hit, the target maydefend normally but note that it is impossible to parry a liquid. If hefails to defend, he must make a Will roll to avoid flinching. On a failure,he flinches: -2 to further defenses that turn, and -2 to any DX or Senseroll on his next turn. On a success, the attack has no effect . . . unlessthe victim has Bad Temper!This assumes a relatively harmless substance, like beer. Acid, poison,etc. have their usual effects.
|
Choke HoldThis Judo and Wrestling techniqueinvolves locking one forearm aroundthe targets neck and applying pres-sure to the windpipe. The more thevictim struggles, the tighter the chokebecomes. This can quickly subdue anopponent.To apply a choke hold, you mustgrapple your victim from behind usingboth hands. Treat this as a normalgrapple (see Grappling, p. 370), butroll against your Judo at -2 orWrestling at -3 to hit. A victim who isaware of you may attempt any legaldefense, but suffers the usual penaltiesfor an attack from behind.On your foes next turn and on sub-sequent turns, he may attempt tobreak free. You are at +5 in the QuickContest. But note that you controlyour victims neck and head not hisarms and legs. He can attack you witha Wild Swing (p. 388), Back Kick(p. 230), etc., at the usual -4 for beinggrappled.On your next turn and on eachturn thereafter, until your foe breaksfree your victim loses 1 FP, perSuffocation (p. 436). If you wish, youmay choke him for crushing damageat the same time (see Actions After aGrapple, p. 370), and get +3 to ST forthis purpose.Elbow StrikeYou can attack an enemy behindyou in close combat by jabbing back-ward with your elbow. Roll againstBrawling-2 or Karate-2 to hit. There isno modifier for not facing the enemy,but apply an extra -1 to hit if you tar-get a specific hit location. On a hit, rollyour usual punching damage. Treat anelbow strike at a foe in front of you asa normal punch.Knee StrikeThis is a vicious, snapping blowwith the knee. Unlike a kick, it onlyhas reach C. Roll against Brawling-1or Karate-1 to hit. If you have grap-pled your target, he defends at -2 . . .and if you grappled from the front,you may attack his groin at no penal-ty! On a hit, roll your usual kickingdamage.Lethal StrikeThis is a blow that focuses all ofyour strength onto a single narrowpoint: a toe, a few stiffened fingers,etc. It is an option for any punch orkick with Karate. Roll against Karateto hit, but at -2 over and above anyother penalties. You get -1 to damage,but your blow is piercing instead ofcrushing. This lets you target the vitalsor eyes! There is a down side: theHurting Yourself rule (p. 379) applies ifyour target has DR 1+ (as opposed toDR 3+).Neck Snap or Wrench LimbThis brute-force technique consistsof grabbing and suddenly twisting thevictims head to break the neck, or alimb to dislocate or break it.You must first grapple your oppo-nent by the neck or desired limb usingboth hands; see Grappling (p. 370).Your victim may attempt to break freeon his turn. If he fails, then on yournext turn, roll a Quick Contest: yourST-4 vs. the higher of your victims STor HT. If you win, you inflictswing/crushing damage on the neck orlimb. Damage to the neck has theusual 1.5 wounding modifier for hitlocation. The targets natural DR(unless it has the Tough Skin limita-tion) and the DR of his rigid armorprotect normally. Flexible armor hasno effect!You may make repeated attemptson successive turns, but your oppo-nent may attack you or attempt tobreak free, subject to the usual limita-tions of being grappled.TramplingYou can trample a victim if yourSize Modifier exceeds his by 2 or more or by only 1, if hes lying prone andyoure not.Trampling is a melee attack: roll vs.the higher of DX or Brawling to hit.The victims only legal defense is adodge.If you hit, you inflictthrust/crushing damage based on yourST; if you have Hooves, add +1 per dieof damage.If you knock down a foe in a colli-sion or slam and keep on moving, youautomatically overrun and trampleyour opponent. Do not make anyattack or defense rolls roll damageimmediately, based on half your ST,rounded down.In all cases, if your SM exceedsyour victims by 3 or more, dont worryabout hit location your attack countsas a large-area injury (see Large-AreaInjury, p. 400).SPECIAL MELEEWEAPON RULESSome melee weapons are morecomplicated than others! Below aresome special cases.CloaksYou can snap a cloak in your oppo-nents face or use it to block his vision;treat either as a Feint (see Feint,p. 365). You can also use a cloak tograpple. Roll against Cloak skill to hit;reach is C, 1. Otherwise, treat this justlike an unarmed grapple (seeGrappling, p. 370).Fencing WeaponsThe ready position of a fighterusing Main-Gauche, Rapier, Saber, orSmallsword skill keeps his weaponpointed toward his foe at all times. As404SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSImprovised WeaponsYou sometimes want to hit a foe with something other than a realweapon. If so, the GM should treat the object as the weapon it resem-bles most closely: a stick would be a baton, light club, or quarterstaff; aheavy tool would be equivalent to a mace or a maul; a length of chainwould serve as a clumsy morningstar; and so on.If an improvised weapon is especially clumsy, add a penalty of -1 to-3 to hit or parry with it, or increase the minimum ST required. If it isshorter or lighter than a real weapon of the same type (or not verysharp, for a blade), reduce damage.well, the fencing weapons used withthese skills are light and maneuver-able. These factors make it easy for afencer to recover from a parry or fallback in the face of an attack.With a fencing weapon, you get +3to Parry instead of the usual +1 whenyou retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Youalso suffer only half the usual penaltyfor multiple parries (see Parrying,p. 376). However, your Parry has apenalty equal to your encumbrancelevel, and you cannot parry flails at all.FlailsA weapon with a length of chainbetween the handle and the head is aflail. Because of the chain, a flail canwrap around a foes weapon or shieldwhen he tries to defend against it. Anyattempt to parry a flail is at -4; fencingweapons, with their light blades, can-not parry flails at all! Even a shield isless useful against a flail: all blocks areat -2.GarrotesA garrote is a cord or wire usedfor strangling. You can only use it onan unaware or helpless victim, andyou must attack from behind (thisoften requires Stealth rolls!).Once you are in position, rollagainst Garrote skill to hit. You musttarget the neck, at the usual -5 to hit.In most cases, your target is unaware,so you can safely make an All-OutAttack (Determined) for +4 to hit.The victim may attempt to parrywith his hand or a ready close-combatweapon, but he does so at -3. Unlesshe has Combat Reflexes, he is mostlikely mentally stunned, for an addi-tional -4 to his defense roll. On a suc-cess, he manages to put his hand orweapon between his throat and thegarrote. The hand takes no damageunless you are using a wire garrote.On the turn of the attack and everysubsequent turn, you may choke thevictim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), and get +3 to ST in the ensu-ing Quick Contest. Treat the damageas crushing (1.5 to the neck) for arope garrote, cutting (2 to the neck)for a wire one. In addition, your victimstarts to suffocate (see Suffocation,p. 436). To break free, the victim mustwin a Quick Contest of ST-5, Judo-3,or Wrestling-3 against your Garroteskill.An improvised garrote (almost anypiece of rope) gives -2 to skill. A wiregarrote must be equipped with han-dles, or you will take thrust/cuttingdamage to each hand!PicksMelee weapons that inflictswing/impaling damage picks,warhammers, etc. do a lot of dam-age, but may get stuck in your foe! Atthe start of the turn following anyattack that penetrates the foes DR andinflicts damage, you must either relin-quish your weapon and leave it stuckin your foe (a free action), or attempta ST roll to free it (a Ready maneuver).On a successful ST roll, yourweapon comes free. If it is one thatmust be readied after an attack (anyweapon with next to its ST statis-tic), you can ready it next turn. On afailure, it is stuck. You cant use it orready it and if you wish to move,youll have to let go. On later turns,you have two choices: let go of yourweapon or try another ST roll. Shouldyou ever get a critical failure on the STroll, the weapon is permanently stuck(but you can retrieve it from a fallenfoe after the battle).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS405Dirty TricksCreative players will constantly invent new combat tricks forinstance, throwing sand in the enemys face to blind him. This presentsa problem for the GM. On the one hand, creativity should be encour-aged; it makes the game more interesting. On the other hand, tricksonly work when theyre new and original. If sand in the face workedevery time, barbarian warriors would leave their swords at home andcarry bags of sand instead!The best solution is to let tricks work once maybe twice andthen assume that word has gotten around. If you, as the GM, think thatthe players clever idea is a good one, you should give it a fair chance towork. But remember that elaborate tricks can fail elaborately . . . andword gets around. The first Trojan horse was a great success. It hasntworked since then.IQ and Dirty TricksOften, the GM will find it appropriate to require an IQ roll when afighter attempts a clever trick. Depending on the circumstance, the GMmay: Make the trickster roll vs. his IQ to pull off the trick properly. Make the victim roll vs. his IQ to see through the trick. Require a Quick Contest of IQ to see who outsmarts whom.Theres no hard-and-fast rule! Just remember: nobody who takes anIQ 8 fighter should be allowed to play him as a genius!Liquids in the FaceThis is one of the most common dirty tricks. Treat liquid tossed inthe face as a thrown weapon with Acc 1 and Max 3. Remember the -5to target the face!On a critical hit, the liquid gets in the victims eyes, blinding him for1d seconds (the GM rolls secretly). On any other hit, the target maydefend normally but note that it is impossible to parry a liquid. If hefails to defend, he must make a Will roll to avoid flinching. On a failure,he flinches: -2 to further defenses that turn, and -2 to any DX or Senseroll on his next turn. On a success, the attack has no effect . . . unlessthe victim has Bad Temper!This assumes a relatively harmless substance, like beer. Acid, poison,etc. have their usual effects.When the weapon comes free, itdoes half as much damage as it didgoing in. For example, if the originalwound was 4 points, it does another 2points. Failed ST rolls cause no extradamage.If your foe tries to move awaywhile your weapon is stuck in him,roll a Quick Contest of ST. If he wins,he pulls the weapon from your grasp!If you win, your foe cant move. On atie, the weapon comes free and doesdamage as above.ShieldsA shield is an excellent defenseagainst low-tech weapons, but you canalso use it offensively:Shield Bash: A shield bash is anordinary melee weapon attack. Ashield can only hit foes in your frontor shield-side hexes. See the MeleeWeapon Table (p. 271) for statistics.Shield Rush: A shield rush is anattempt to knock your foe down byrunning into him shield-first. SeeSlam (p. 368) for details. You cannotdo this with a buckler.WhipsWhips are effective disarmingweapons. When you strike to disarmwith a whip, you get +2 in the ensuingQuick Contest; see Knocking a WeaponAway (p. 401).You may try to entangle your oppo-nent instead of his weapon. Thisattack is at an extra -4 to hit, andinflicts no damage, but follows theLariat rules (p. 411) if successful.Whips are poor defensive weapons,and get -2 to Parry. Whips are alsounbalanced, and cannot attack andparry on the same turn and longwhips actually become unready afteran attack or a parry. It takes one turnto ready a two-yard whip, two turns toready a whip three yards or longer.Additional rules apply, dependingon the type of whip:Whip: You can crack an ordinarybullwhip this is the sound of the tipbreaking the sound barrier! Thisrequires an attack at -4 to skill, butinflicts +2 damage. Any whip blow ispainful: anyone who suffers a whipwound to his arm or hand must rollagainst Will, modified by the shockpenalty for the injury. On a failure, hedrops anything in that hand.Kusari: This is a weighted chain.You can adjust reach from 1 to 4 yardswith a Ready maneuver. Treat it as awhip when disarming, entanglingopponents, or readying. Treat it as aflail vs. enemy defenses: -2 to blockand -4 to parry. If someone parriesyour kusari with a weapon, make askill roll immediately. On a success,your kusari entangles his weapon. Afailure has no special effect; a criticalfailure means you drop the kusari!Your opponent may disentangle hisweapon on his turn. This requires afree hand and a DX roll. If he does not,you may make a disarm attempt onyour next turn without rolling to hitfirst: state that you are attempting todisarm and immediately roll theQuick Contest. This still counts as anattack. You cannot use a kusari ifthere is no headroom, or in an areafull of obstacles (nearby people countas obstacles). On a critical miss, a rollof 3, 4, 17, or 18 indicates that youhave hit yourself in the face!Monowire Whip: An ultra-techwhip made of superfine wire. A con-trol allows you to vary length from 1 to7 yards, changing both reach andready time. Adjusting the lengthrequires a Ready maneuver. Whenused to snare an opponent or aweapon, the whip cuts into its target,inflicting thrust+1d(10) cutting dam-age every turn it is pulled taut until thevictim escapes. A drop weapon criti-cal miss indicates that you have hityourself or a friend.406SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS
|
well, the fencing weapons used withthese skills are light and maneuver-able. These factors make it easy for afencer to recover from a parry or fallback in the face of an attack.With a fencing weapon, you get +3to Parry instead of the usual +1 whenyou retreat (see Retreat, p. 377). Youalso suffer only half the usual penaltyfor multiple parries (see Parrying,p. 376). However, your Parry has apenalty equal to your encumbrancelevel, and you cannot parry flails at all.FlailsA weapon with a length of chainbetween the handle and the head is aflail. Because of the chain, a flail canwrap around a foes weapon or shieldwhen he tries to defend against it. Anyattempt to parry a flail is at -4; fencingweapons, with their light blades, can-not parry flails at all! Even a shield isless useful against a flail: all blocks areat -2.GarrotesA garrote is a cord or wire usedfor strangling. You can only use it onan unaware or helpless victim, andyou must attack from behind (thisoften requires Stealth rolls!).Once you are in position, rollagainst Garrote skill to hit. You musttarget the neck, at the usual -5 to hit.In most cases, your target is unaware,so you can safely make an All-OutAttack (Determined) for +4 to hit.The victim may attempt to parrywith his hand or a ready close-combatweapon, but he does so at -3. Unlesshe has Combat Reflexes, he is mostlikely mentally stunned, for an addi-tional -4 to his defense roll. On a suc-cess, he manages to put his hand orweapon between his throat and thegarrote. The hand takes no damageunless you are using a wire garrote.On the turn of the attack and everysubsequent turn, you may choke thevictim (see Actions After a Grapple,p. 370), and get +3 to ST in the ensu-ing Quick Contest. Treat the damageas crushing (1.5 to the neck) for arope garrote, cutting (2 to the neck)for a wire one. In addition, your victimstarts to suffocate (see Suffocation,p. 436). To break free, the victim mustwin a Quick Contest of ST-5, Judo-3,or Wrestling-3 against your Garroteskill.An improvised garrote (almost anypiece of rope) gives -2 to skill. A wiregarrote must be equipped with han-dles, or you will take thrust/cuttingdamage to each hand!PicksMelee weapons that inflictswing/impaling damage picks,warhammers, etc. do a lot of dam-age, but may get stuck in your foe! Atthe start of the turn following anyattack that penetrates the foes DR andinflicts damage, you must either relin-quish your weapon and leave it stuckin your foe (a free action), or attempta ST roll to free it (a Ready maneuver).On a successful ST roll, yourweapon comes free. If it is one thatmust be readied after an attack (anyweapon with next to its ST statis-tic), you can ready it next turn. On afailure, it is stuck. You cant use it orready it and if you wish to move,youll have to let go. On later turns,you have two choices: let go of yourweapon or try another ST roll. Shouldyou ever get a critical failure on the STroll, the weapon is permanently stuck(but you can retrieve it from a fallenfoe after the battle).SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS405Dirty TricksCreative players will constantly invent new combat tricks forinstance, throwing sand in the enemys face to blind him. This presentsa problem for the GM. On the one hand, creativity should be encour-aged; it makes the game more interesting. On the other hand, tricksonly work when theyre new and original. If sand in the face workedevery time, barbarian warriors would leave their swords at home andcarry bags of sand instead!The best solution is to let tricks work once maybe twice andthen assume that word has gotten around. If you, as the GM, think thatthe players clever idea is a good one, you should give it a fair chance towork. But remember that elaborate tricks can fail elaborately . . . andword gets around. The first Trojan horse was a great success. It hasntworked since then.IQ and Dirty TricksOften, the GM will find it appropriate to require an IQ roll when afighter attempts a clever trick. Depending on the circumstance, the GMmay: Make the trickster roll vs. his IQ to pull off the trick properly. Make the victim roll vs. his IQ to see through the trick. Require a Quick Contest of IQ to see who outsmarts whom.Theres no hard-and-fast rule! Just remember: nobody who takes anIQ 8 fighter should be allowed to play him as a genius!Liquids in the FaceThis is one of the most common dirty tricks. Treat liquid tossed inthe face as a thrown weapon with Acc 1 and Max 3. Remember the -5to target the face!On a critical hit, the liquid gets in the victims eyes, blinding him for1d seconds (the GM rolls secretly). On any other hit, the target maydefend normally but note that it is impossible to parry a liquid. If hefails to defend, he must make a Will roll to avoid flinching. On a failure,he flinches: -2 to further defenses that turn, and -2 to any DX or Senseroll on his next turn. On a success, the attack has no effect . . . unlessthe victim has Bad Temper!This assumes a relatively harmless substance, like beer. Acid, poison,etc. have their usual effects.When the weapon comes free, itdoes half as much damage as it didgoing in. For example, if the originalwound was 4 points, it does another 2points. Failed ST rolls cause no extradamage.If your foe tries to move awaywhile your weapon is stuck in him,roll a Quick Contest of ST. If he wins,he pulls the weapon from your grasp!If you win, your foe cant move. On atie, the weapon comes free and doesdamage as above.ShieldsA shield is an excellent defenseagainst low-tech weapons, but you canalso use it offensively:Shield Bash: A shield bash is anordinary melee weapon attack. Ashield can only hit foes in your frontor shield-side hexes. See the MeleeWeapon Table (p. 271) for statistics.Shield Rush: A shield rush is anattempt to knock your foe down byrunning into him shield-first. SeeSlam (p. 368) for details. You cannotdo this with a buckler.WhipsWhips are effective disarmingweapons. When you strike to disarmwith a whip, you get +2 in the ensuingQuick Contest; see Knocking a WeaponAway (p. 401).You may try to entangle your oppo-nent instead of his weapon. Thisattack is at an extra -4 to hit, andinflicts no damage, but follows theLariat rules (p. 411) if successful.Whips are poor defensive weapons,and get -2 to Parry. Whips are alsounbalanced, and cannot attack andparry on the same turn and longwhips actually become unready afteran attack or a parry. It takes one turnto ready a two-yard whip, two turns toready a whip three yards or longer.Additional rules apply, dependingon the type of whip:Whip: You can crack an ordinarybullwhip this is the sound of the tipbreaking the sound barrier! Thisrequires an attack at -4 to skill, butinflicts +2 damage. Any whip blow ispainful: anyone who suffers a whipwound to his arm or hand must rollagainst Will, modified by the shockpenalty for the injury. On a failure, hedrops anything in that hand.Kusari: This is a weighted chain.You can adjust reach from 1 to 4 yardswith a Ready maneuver. Treat it as awhip when disarming, entanglingopponents, or readying. Treat it as aflail vs. enemy defenses: -2 to blockand -4 to parry. If someone parriesyour kusari with a weapon, make askill roll immediately. On a success,your kusari entangles his weapon. Afailure has no special effect; a criticalfailure means you drop the kusari!Your opponent may disentangle hisweapon on his turn. This requires afree hand and a DX roll. If he does not,you may make a disarm attempt onyour next turn without rolling to hitfirst: state that you are attempting todisarm and immediately roll theQuick Contest. This still counts as anattack. You cannot use a kusari ifthere is no headroom, or in an areafull of obstacles (nearby people countas obstacles). On a critical miss, a rollof 3, 4, 17, or 18 indicates that youhave hit yourself in the face!Monowire Whip: An ultra-techwhip made of superfine wire. A con-trol allows you to vary length from 1 to7 yards, changing both reach andready time. Adjusting the lengthrequires a Ready maneuver. Whenused to snare an opponent or aweapon, the whip cuts into its target,inflicting thrust+1d(10) cutting dam-age every turn it is pulled taut until thevictim escapes. A drop weapon criti-cal miss indicates that you have hityourself or a friend.406SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSThe following rules add extra detailin ranged combat situations.MALFUNCTIONSThis optional rule applies only tofirearms, grenades, and incendiaries.A malfunction is a mechanical fail-ure of the weapon; e.g., a misfire or ajam. Unlike a critical failure, a mal-function does not normally endangerthe user.For the purpose of this rule,firearms, grenades, and incendiarieshave a malfunction number, orMalf., a function of TL.TLMalf.3124145166 or higher17A fine or very fine firearm gets +1to Malf.; a cheap weapon gets -1.Specific types of weapons might havea higher or lower Malf., as indicatedin their descriptions. The GM is freeto lower a weapons Malf. for mis-treatment, lack of maintenance, ordamage.Regardless of the attackers skill, aweapon will malfunction instead offiring on any unmodified attack rollequal to or greater than its Malf. Theexact effects depend on the weapon.Firearm MalfunctionTableWhen a weapon malfunctions, roll3d on the following table:3-4 Mechanical or electrical problem.5-8 Misfire.9-11 Stoppage.12-14 Misfire.15-18 Mechanical or electrical prob-lem, and possible explosion.Mechanical or ElectricalProblemThe weapon fails to fire. A success-ful Armoury or IQ-based weapon skillroll (takes a Ready maneuver) candiagnose the problem. Once the prob-lem is known, make an Armoury skillroll to correct it. Each repair attempttakes one hour, and any critical failuredestroys the weapon.Grenades: This represents a fusingproblem: the weapon detonates 1dseconds late.MisfireThe weapon fails to fire. A suc-cessful Armory+2 or IQ-basedweapon skill roll (takes a Readymaneuver) can identify the problem.If the weapon is a revolver, the nextshot will fire normally. Otherwise,each attempt to fix the problemrequires three Ready maneuvers, twohands free, and a successfulArmoury+2 or IQ-based weapon skillroll. Critical failure causes a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades: The grenade is a dud,and will never explode.StoppageThe weapon fires one shot, thenjams or otherwise stops working.(Treat the fired shot as a normalattack.) Each attempt to clear thestoppage requires three Ready maneu-vers, two hands free, and a successfulArmoury roll, or IQ-based weaponskill roll at -4. A success fixes theweapon. Failure means it isnt fixedyet, but you can try again. Critical fail-ure causes a mechanical or electricalproblem.Beam weapons: Treat as a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades and other single-useweapons: The weapon is a dud; it willnever fire or explode.ExplosionAny TL3 firearm or TL4 grenade,breechloader, or repeating firearmmay blow up in the gunners face,inflicting 1d+2 cr ex [2d]. If theweapon uses an explosive warhead,use the warheads damage instead.TL5+ weapons do not explode treatas a mechanical or electrical problem.FIRING UPWARDAND DOWNWARDFiring downward increases the dis-tance you can throw or fire a projec-tile; firing upward decreases it. Thiseffect is unlikely to matter at short dis-tances, but can be important at longrange. Ignore it entirely for beamweapons like lasers!Firing Downward: For every twoyards of elevation you have over yourtarget, subtract one yard from theeffective distance, to a minimum ofhalf the realground distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards higher.Subtract 5 yards from effective range.You fire as though you were only 35yards away.)Firing Upward: For every yard ofelevation your target has over you, addone yard to the effective distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards lower. Add10 yards to effective range. You fire asthough you were 50 yards away.)COVERTo take cover behind an obstacle,simply move so that it is between youand your attacker. You might alsohave to kneel or lie prone, dependingon the obstacles height. Cover pro-tects one or more hit locations, mak-ing you harder to hit with rangedweapons.You must normally expose yourskull, eyes, face, and neck to see a tar-get. You must expose your weaponarm and hand to fire a one-handedweapon. You must normally exposeboth arms and hands to fire a two-handed weapon, plus half of yourtorso and vitals, unless you are firingthrough a narrow slit. Your groin, legs,and feet can remain hidden if thecover is sufficient to protect them. Youmight have to expose more of yourbody if the cover is partial, or if youare unable to kneel, sit, or lie pronebehind low cover.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS407SPECIAL RANGEDCOMBAT RULES
|
When the weapon comes free, itdoes half as much damage as it didgoing in. For example, if the originalwound was 4 points, it does another 2points. Failed ST rolls cause no extradamage.If your foe tries to move awaywhile your weapon is stuck in him,roll a Quick Contest of ST. If he wins,he pulls the weapon from your grasp!If you win, your foe cant move. On atie, the weapon comes free and doesdamage as above.ShieldsA shield is an excellent defenseagainst low-tech weapons, but you canalso use it offensively:Shield Bash: A shield bash is anordinary melee weapon attack. Ashield can only hit foes in your frontor shield-side hexes. See the MeleeWeapon Table (p. 271) for statistics.Shield Rush: A shield rush is anattempt to knock your foe down byrunning into him shield-first. SeeSlam (p. 368) for details. You cannotdo this with a buckler.WhipsWhips are effective disarmingweapons. When you strike to disarmwith a whip, you get +2 in the ensuingQuick Contest; see Knocking a WeaponAway (p. 401).You may try to entangle your oppo-nent instead of his weapon. Thisattack is at an extra -4 to hit, andinflicts no damage, but follows theLariat rules (p. 411) if successful.Whips are poor defensive weapons,and get -2 to Parry. Whips are alsounbalanced, and cannot attack andparry on the same turn and longwhips actually become unready afteran attack or a parry. It takes one turnto ready a two-yard whip, two turns toready a whip three yards or longer.Additional rules apply, dependingon the type of whip:Whip: You can crack an ordinarybullwhip this is the sound of the tipbreaking the sound barrier! Thisrequires an attack at -4 to skill, butinflicts +2 damage. Any whip blow ispainful: anyone who suffers a whipwound to his arm or hand must rollagainst Will, modified by the shockpenalty for the injury. On a failure, hedrops anything in that hand.Kusari: This is a weighted chain.You can adjust reach from 1 to 4 yardswith a Ready maneuver. Treat it as awhip when disarming, entanglingopponents, or readying. Treat it as aflail vs. enemy defenses: -2 to blockand -4 to parry. If someone parriesyour kusari with a weapon, make askill roll immediately. On a success,your kusari entangles his weapon. Afailure has no special effect; a criticalfailure means you drop the kusari!Your opponent may disentangle hisweapon on his turn. This requires afree hand and a DX roll. If he does not,you may make a disarm attempt onyour next turn without rolling to hitfirst: state that you are attempting todisarm and immediately roll theQuick Contest. This still counts as anattack. You cannot use a kusari ifthere is no headroom, or in an areafull of obstacles (nearby people countas obstacles). On a critical miss, a rollof 3, 4, 17, or 18 indicates that youhave hit yourself in the face!Monowire Whip: An ultra-techwhip made of superfine wire. A con-trol allows you to vary length from 1 to7 yards, changing both reach andready time. Adjusting the lengthrequires a Ready maneuver. Whenused to snare an opponent or aweapon, the whip cuts into its target,inflicting thrust+1d(10) cutting dam-age every turn it is pulled taut until thevictim escapes. A drop weapon criti-cal miss indicates that you have hityourself or a friend.406SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSThe following rules add extra detailin ranged combat situations.MALFUNCTIONSThis optional rule applies only tofirearms, grenades, and incendiaries.A malfunction is a mechanical fail-ure of the weapon; e.g., a misfire or ajam. Unlike a critical failure, a mal-function does not normally endangerthe user.For the purpose of this rule,firearms, grenades, and incendiarieshave a malfunction number, orMalf., a function of TL.TLMalf.3124145166 or higher17A fine or very fine firearm gets +1to Malf.; a cheap weapon gets -1.Specific types of weapons might havea higher or lower Malf., as indicatedin their descriptions. The GM is freeto lower a weapons Malf. for mis-treatment, lack of maintenance, ordamage.Regardless of the attackers skill, aweapon will malfunction instead offiring on any unmodified attack rollequal to or greater than its Malf. Theexact effects depend on the weapon.Firearm MalfunctionTableWhen a weapon malfunctions, roll3d on the following table:3-4 Mechanical or electrical problem.5-8 Misfire.9-11 Stoppage.12-14 Misfire.15-18 Mechanical or electrical prob-lem, and possible explosion.Mechanical or ElectricalProblemThe weapon fails to fire. A success-ful Armoury or IQ-based weapon skillroll (takes a Ready maneuver) candiagnose the problem. Once the prob-lem is known, make an Armoury skillroll to correct it. Each repair attempttakes one hour, and any critical failuredestroys the weapon.Grenades: This represents a fusingproblem: the weapon detonates 1dseconds late.MisfireThe weapon fails to fire. A suc-cessful Armory+2 or IQ-basedweapon skill roll (takes a Readymaneuver) can identify the problem.If the weapon is a revolver, the nextshot will fire normally. Otherwise,each attempt to fix the problemrequires three Ready maneuvers, twohands free, and a successfulArmoury+2 or IQ-based weapon skillroll. Critical failure causes a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades: The grenade is a dud,and will never explode.StoppageThe weapon fires one shot, thenjams or otherwise stops working.(Treat the fired shot as a normalattack.) Each attempt to clear thestoppage requires three Ready maneu-vers, two hands free, and a successfulArmoury roll, or IQ-based weaponskill roll at -4. A success fixes theweapon. Failure means it isnt fixedyet, but you can try again. Critical fail-ure causes a mechanical or electricalproblem.Beam weapons: Treat as a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades and other single-useweapons: The weapon is a dud; it willnever fire or explode.ExplosionAny TL3 firearm or TL4 grenade,breechloader, or repeating firearmmay blow up in the gunners face,inflicting 1d+2 cr ex [2d]. If theweapon uses an explosive warhead,use the warheads damage instead.TL5+ weapons do not explode treatas a mechanical or electrical problem.FIRING UPWARDAND DOWNWARDFiring downward increases the dis-tance you can throw or fire a projec-tile; firing upward decreases it. Thiseffect is unlikely to matter at short dis-tances, but can be important at longrange. Ignore it entirely for beamweapons like lasers!Firing Downward: For every twoyards of elevation you have over yourtarget, subtract one yard from theeffective distance, to a minimum ofhalf the realground distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards higher.Subtract 5 yards from effective range.You fire as though you were only 35yards away.)Firing Upward: For every yard ofelevation your target has over you, addone yard to the effective distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards lower. Add10 yards to effective range. You fire asthough you were 50 yards away.)COVERTo take cover behind an obstacle,simply move so that it is between youand your attacker. You might alsohave to kneel or lie prone, dependingon the obstacles height. Cover pro-tects one or more hit locations, mak-ing you harder to hit with rangedweapons.You must normally expose yourskull, eyes, face, and neck to see a tar-get. You must expose your weaponarm and hand to fire a one-handedweapon. You must normally exposeboth arms and hands to fire a two-handed weapon, plus half of yourtorso and vitals, unless you are firingthrough a narrow slit. Your groin, legs,and feet can remain hidden if thecover is sufficient to protect them. Youmight have to expose more of yourbody if the cover is partial, or if youare unable to kneel, sit, or lie pronebehind low cover.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS407SPECIAL RANGEDCOMBAT RULESIf your foe is partially behind cover,you have three options: Target a location that is notbehind cover. Your attack takes theusual hit location penalty. If the loca-tion is only half exposed, you have anextra -2 to hit. Roll randomly for hit location.Your attack takes no hit locationpenalty, but shots that hit a coveredlocation strike the cover instead. Forshots that hit a location that is onlyhalf exposed, roll 1d: on a roll of 4-6,the shot strikes cover, not the target. Ignore the cover and try to shootright through it! This is only likely tobe effective if you have a powerfulweapon or your target is behind lightcover. You have an extra -2 to hit.(Exception: If your foe is completelyconcealed by cover, you suffer theusual penalty for shooting blind, typi-cally -10.) The cover adds its coverDR against the attack. For structures,this is typically the barriers DR +(HP/4); see the Structural DamageTable (p. 558) and Cover DR Table(p. 559) for more information. For thecover DR of living things, see Over-penetration, below.Cover is normally only effectiveagainst ranged weapons, but certainobstacles might interfere with meleeattacks as well. You can fight across alow obstacle if your attacks have suffi-cient reach to strike past it. Thus, twofencers could duel across an interven-ing table, but could not strike eachothers legs or feet.OVERPENETRATIONWhen you inflict piercing, impal-ing, or tight-beam burning damagewith a ranged attack, there is achance that damage might passthrough your target and harm some-thing on the far side; e.g., an innocentbystander. Similarly, a powerfulattack might go right through cover(see Cover, above) or a shield (seeDamage to Shields, p. 484) or evenpenetrate a building or vehicle, dam-aging it and its occupants.The GM decides who is likely to behit due to overpenetration. A hit isautomatic if the second target isimmediately behind the first; e.g.,someone taking cover or blockingwith a shield. Otherwise, see Hittingthe Wrong Target(p.389) andOccupant Hit Table (p. 555) to deter-mine who is hit.An attack only overpenetrates if itsbasic damage exceeds the targetscover DR. To find this value, addtogether the target or covers DR onboth sides, for a person in armor andHP (for flesh), 1/2 HP (for a machine,vehicle, or other Unliving target), or1/4 HP (for a Homogenous object).Use the objects DR alone if its a thinslab, like a wall or a door. Finally,apply any armor divisor.If the attack does enough damageto penetrate cover DR, determine ifanyone on the other side is hit. If so,they get the cover DR plus their ownDR against the damage.Example: Special Agent Ira Grayspots an assassin with a rifle, andthrows himself in front of the VIP hesprotecting just as the gunman fires.The armor-piercing rifle bullet a7d(2) pi- attack hits him in the chest!The bullets basic damage is 20 points.Grays DR 8 ballistic vest stops only 4points due to the armor divisor of (2).Gray takes 16 points of penetratingdamage. Halved for small piercing,this inflicts an 8 HP wound. Whatabout the VIP? Grays vest gives DR16, since both sides count, and Grayhas 12 HP. The total cover DR is 28,halved for the armor divisor of (2) togive DR 14. Since the bullets basicdamage was 20, it overpenetrated. TheVIP wasnt wearing armor, so he takes6 points of damage, halved for smallpiercing, and suffers a 3 HP injury.Hes wounded, but not badly SpecialAgent Gray saved his life.SPECIAL RULESFOR RAPID FIREThe following additional rules arefor use in conjunction with Rapid Fire(p. 373). They only apply when mak-ing a ranged attack at RoF 2+.Automatic Weapons and Full-Auto OnlyAutomatic weapons firearmswith RoF 4+ use the Rapid Fire rules.Most can fire both controlled burstsand full auto (that is, for as long asthe trigger is held down).Some automatic weapons (e.g.,machine guns) can only fire full auto;they lack a semi-automatic or limit-ed-burst setting (selective fire). Aweapon that is full-auto only has a! after its RoF statistic. The onlyway to fire a short burst with such aweapon is to hold down the triggerfor a fraction of a second. MinimumRoF is one-quarter full RoF (roundup) or shots remaining, whichever isless.Rapid Fire vs. CloseStationary TargetsRapid fire generally results in onlya fraction of the shots fired hitting thetarget. This is realistic . . . except whenthe target is up close and unable tomove. This situation arises whenshooting your way through a wall,door, or parked car with a shotgun orassault rifle or when performing anexecution.408SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS
|
The following rules add extra detailin ranged combat situations.MALFUNCTIONSThis optional rule applies only tofirearms, grenades, and incendiaries.A malfunction is a mechanical fail-ure of the weapon; e.g., a misfire or ajam. Unlike a critical failure, a mal-function does not normally endangerthe user.For the purpose of this rule,firearms, grenades, and incendiarieshave a malfunction number, orMalf., a function of TL.TLMalf.3124145166 or higher17A fine or very fine firearm gets +1to Malf.; a cheap weapon gets -1.Specific types of weapons might havea higher or lower Malf., as indicatedin their descriptions. The GM is freeto lower a weapons Malf. for mis-treatment, lack of maintenance, ordamage.Regardless of the attackers skill, aweapon will malfunction instead offiring on any unmodified attack rollequal to or greater than its Malf. Theexact effects depend on the weapon.Firearm MalfunctionTableWhen a weapon malfunctions, roll3d on the following table:3-4 Mechanical or electrical problem.5-8 Misfire.9-11 Stoppage.12-14 Misfire.15-18 Mechanical or electrical prob-lem, and possible explosion.Mechanical or ElectricalProblemThe weapon fails to fire. A success-ful Armoury or IQ-based weapon skillroll (takes a Ready maneuver) candiagnose the problem. Once the prob-lem is known, make an Armoury skillroll to correct it. Each repair attempttakes one hour, and any critical failuredestroys the weapon.Grenades: This represents a fusingproblem: the weapon detonates 1dseconds late.MisfireThe weapon fails to fire. A suc-cessful Armory+2 or IQ-basedweapon skill roll (takes a Readymaneuver) can identify the problem.If the weapon is a revolver, the nextshot will fire normally. Otherwise,each attempt to fix the problemrequires three Ready maneuvers, twohands free, and a successfulArmoury+2 or IQ-based weapon skillroll. Critical failure causes a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades: The grenade is a dud,and will never explode.StoppageThe weapon fires one shot, thenjams or otherwise stops working.(Treat the fired shot as a normalattack.) Each attempt to clear thestoppage requires three Ready maneu-vers, two hands free, and a successfulArmoury roll, or IQ-based weaponskill roll at -4. A success fixes theweapon. Failure means it isnt fixedyet, but you can try again. Critical fail-ure causes a mechanical or electricalproblem.Beam weapons: Treat as a mechan-ical or electrical problem.Grenades and other single-useweapons: The weapon is a dud; it willnever fire or explode.ExplosionAny TL3 firearm or TL4 grenade,breechloader, or repeating firearmmay blow up in the gunners face,inflicting 1d+2 cr ex [2d]. If theweapon uses an explosive warhead,use the warheads damage instead.TL5+ weapons do not explode treatas a mechanical or electrical problem.FIRING UPWARDAND DOWNWARDFiring downward increases the dis-tance you can throw or fire a projec-tile; firing upward decreases it. Thiseffect is unlikely to matter at short dis-tances, but can be important at longrange. Ignore it entirely for beamweapons like lasers!Firing Downward: For every twoyards of elevation you have over yourtarget, subtract one yard from theeffective distance, to a minimum ofhalf the realground distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards higher.Subtract 5 yards from effective range.You fire as though you were only 35yards away.)Firing Upward: For every yard ofelevation your target has over you, addone yard to the effective distance.(Example: You are 40 yards away fromyour target, and 10 yards lower. Add10 yards to effective range. You fire asthough you were 50 yards away.)COVERTo take cover behind an obstacle,simply move so that it is between youand your attacker. You might alsohave to kneel or lie prone, dependingon the obstacles height. Cover pro-tects one or more hit locations, mak-ing you harder to hit with rangedweapons.You must normally expose yourskull, eyes, face, and neck to see a tar-get. You must expose your weaponarm and hand to fire a one-handedweapon. You must normally exposeboth arms and hands to fire a two-handed weapon, plus half of yourtorso and vitals, unless you are firingthrough a narrow slit. Your groin, legs,and feet can remain hidden if thecover is sufficient to protect them. Youmight have to expose more of yourbody if the cover is partial, or if youare unable to kneel, sit, or lie pronebehind low cover.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS407SPECIAL RANGEDCOMBAT RULESIf your foe is partially behind cover,you have three options: Target a location that is notbehind cover. Your attack takes theusual hit location penalty. If the loca-tion is only half exposed, you have anextra -2 to hit. Roll randomly for hit location.Your attack takes no hit locationpenalty, but shots that hit a coveredlocation strike the cover instead. Forshots that hit a location that is onlyhalf exposed, roll 1d: on a roll of 4-6,the shot strikes cover, not the target. Ignore the cover and try to shootright through it! This is only likely tobe effective if you have a powerfulweapon or your target is behind lightcover. You have an extra -2 to hit.(Exception: If your foe is completelyconcealed by cover, you suffer theusual penalty for shooting blind, typi-cally -10.) The cover adds its coverDR against the attack. For structures,this is typically the barriers DR +(HP/4); see the Structural DamageTable (p. 558) and Cover DR Table(p. 559) for more information. For thecover DR of living things, see Over-penetration, below.Cover is normally only effectiveagainst ranged weapons, but certainobstacles might interfere with meleeattacks as well. You can fight across alow obstacle if your attacks have suffi-cient reach to strike past it. Thus, twofencers could duel across an interven-ing table, but could not strike eachothers legs or feet.OVERPENETRATIONWhen you inflict piercing, impal-ing, or tight-beam burning damagewith a ranged attack, there is achance that damage might passthrough your target and harm some-thing on the far side; e.g., an innocentbystander. Similarly, a powerfulattack might go right through cover(see Cover, above) or a shield (seeDamage to Shields, p. 484) or evenpenetrate a building or vehicle, dam-aging it and its occupants.The GM decides who is likely to behit due to overpenetration. A hit isautomatic if the second target isimmediately behind the first; e.g.,someone taking cover or blockingwith a shield. Otherwise, see Hittingthe Wrong Target(p.389) andOccupant Hit Table (p. 555) to deter-mine who is hit.An attack only overpenetrates if itsbasic damage exceeds the targetscover DR. To find this value, addtogether the target or covers DR onboth sides, for a person in armor andHP (for flesh), 1/2 HP (for a machine,vehicle, or other Unliving target), or1/4 HP (for a Homogenous object).Use the objects DR alone if its a thinslab, like a wall or a door. Finally,apply any armor divisor.If the attack does enough damageto penetrate cover DR, determine ifanyone on the other side is hit. If so,they get the cover DR plus their ownDR against the damage.Example: Special Agent Ira Grayspots an assassin with a rifle, andthrows himself in front of the VIP hesprotecting just as the gunman fires.The armor-piercing rifle bullet a7d(2) pi- attack hits him in the chest!The bullets basic damage is 20 points.Grays DR 8 ballistic vest stops only 4points due to the armor divisor of (2).Gray takes 16 points of penetratingdamage. Halved for small piercing,this inflicts an 8 HP wound. Whatabout the VIP? Grays vest gives DR16, since both sides count, and Grayhas 12 HP. The total cover DR is 28,halved for the armor divisor of (2) togive DR 14. Since the bullets basicdamage was 20, it overpenetrated. TheVIP wasnt wearing armor, so he takes6 points of damage, halved for smallpiercing, and suffers a 3 HP injury.Hes wounded, but not badly SpecialAgent Gray saved his life.SPECIAL RULESFOR RAPID FIREThe following additional rules arefor use in conjunction with Rapid Fire(p. 373). They only apply when mak-ing a ranged attack at RoF 2+.Automatic Weapons and Full-Auto OnlyAutomatic weapons firearmswith RoF 4+ use the Rapid Fire rules.Most can fire both controlled burstsand full auto (that is, for as long asthe trigger is held down).Some automatic weapons (e.g.,machine guns) can only fire full auto;they lack a semi-automatic or limit-ed-burst setting (selective fire). Aweapon that is full-auto only has a! after its RoF statistic. The onlyway to fire a short burst with such aweapon is to hold down the triggerfor a fraction of a second. MinimumRoF is one-quarter full RoF (roundup) or shots remaining, whichever isless.Rapid Fire vs. CloseStationary TargetsRapid fire generally results in onlya fraction of the shots fired hitting thetarget. This is realistic . . . except whenthe target is up close and unable tomove. This situation arises whenshooting your way through a wall,door, or parked car with a shotgun orassault rifle or when performing anexecution.408SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSIf your target is totally immobile(for instance, an inanimate object, orsomeone who is completely restrainedor unconscious) and has a SizeModifier high enough to completelycounteract the range penalty, a suc-cessful attack roll means that half theshots fired (round up) hit. If the attacksucceeds by the weapons Recoil ormore, all of the shots hit.Example: When shooting at a doorwith SM +2, this rule would apply atany range up to 5 yards (range modifi-er -2). If the target were a man (SM 0),this would only apply at a range of upto 2 yards (range modifier 0) andonly if he were tied up or unconscious.Shotguns and Multiple ProjectilesA weapon with a RoF followed by amultiplier (e.g., RoF 39) fires shotsthat release multiple, smaller projec-tiles. The most common example is ashotgun. The first number is the num-ber of shots the weapon can actuallyfire; this is how much ammunition isused up. When resolving the attack,however, multiply shots fired by thesecond number to get the effective RoF.Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas RoF 39. He chooses to fire threetimes at a demon flapping towardhim. For the purpose of the Rapid Firerules, he his three shots are an attackat RoF 3 9 = 27, because each shellreleases multiple buckshot pellets.At extremely close range, multipleprojectiles dont have time to spread.This increases lethality! At ranges lessthan 10% of 1/2D, dont apply the RoFmultiplier to RoF. Instead, multiplyboth basic damage dice and the targetsDR by half that value (round down).Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas 1/2D 50, so once that demon fliesto within 5 yards, it is close enoughthat the pellets wont disperse much. IfOLeary fires three times, his RoF is 3,not 27. But since the attack is a 9multiple-projectile round, a 4 multi-plier applies to both basic damage andthe demons DR. The shotguns basicdamage is 1d+1, so OLeary rolls 4d+4for each hit (up to three, depending onhow well he rolls). However, thedemons DR 3 becomes DR 12 againstthe damage.Spraying FireA weapon fired at RoF 5+ canattack multiple targets. All the targetsmust be in the same general direction(within a 30 angle), and you mustengage them in succession fromright to left or from left to right, yourchoice.Announce how many shots youwill fire at each target before you rollto hit. You may split up your RoFhowever you wish. If the targets aremore than one yard apart, traversingbetween them wastes some shots. ForRoF 16 or less, you lose one shot foreach yard between targets. For RoF16+, you lose two shots per yard.These wasted shots may hit unin-tended targets (see Hitting the WrongTarget, p. 389).Make a separate attack roll againsteach target. Your effective RoF foreach attack is just the number of shotsyou fired at that target. Since aweapon is harder to control when youswing it to engage multiple targets,add +1 to effective Recoil for yourattack on the second target, +2 toRecoil when you engage the third tar-get, and so on.Example: Sgt. Kelly, Special AirService, kicks open the door and seesthree armed terrorists. With nohostages in sight, Kelly opens fire! Hisweapon is a 4.6mm PDW (see p. 278).He sprays fire at all three terrorists,using his weapons full RoF of 15. Thefirst two terrorists are standing 2yards apart; the third is 4 yards fromeither. Kelly fires 5 shots at the first,wastes 1 shot traversing to the second,fires 4 shots at him, wastes 3 shots tra-versing to the third, and fires his last 2shots. He resolves this as three sepa-rate rapid-fire attacks: one at RoF 5with the PDWs normal Recoil of 2,one at RoF 4 and Recoil 3, and one atRoF 2 and Recoil 4.Suppression FireIf you have a weapon with RoF 5+,you can lay down suppression fire.This involves holding down the triggerand hosing down an area with fire.This will affect anyone who enters thearea before the start of your next turn.There neednt be a target in the areawhen you start!To use suppression fire, select a tar-get zone two yards across at somepoint within your weapons range,take the All-Out Attack (SuppressionFire) maneuver, and start shooting.This maneuver takes an entire second;you can do nothing else that turn.Specify how many shots you arefiring, up to your weapons full RoF. Ifyour weapon has RoF 10+, you cansuppress multiple two-yard zones, aslong as they are adjacent and you fireat least five shots into each zone. Youreffective RoF in each zone is the num-ber of shots you fired into that zone,not your total shots.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS409
|
If your foe is partially behind cover,you have three options: Target a location that is notbehind cover. Your attack takes theusual hit location penalty. If the loca-tion is only half exposed, you have anextra -2 to hit. Roll randomly for hit location.Your attack takes no hit locationpenalty, but shots that hit a coveredlocation strike the cover instead. Forshots that hit a location that is onlyhalf exposed, roll 1d: on a roll of 4-6,the shot strikes cover, not the target. Ignore the cover and try to shootright through it! This is only likely tobe effective if you have a powerfulweapon or your target is behind lightcover. You have an extra -2 to hit.(Exception: If your foe is completelyconcealed by cover, you suffer theusual penalty for shooting blind, typi-cally -10.) The cover adds its coverDR against the attack. For structures,this is typically the barriers DR +(HP/4); see the Structural DamageTable (p. 558) and Cover DR Table(p. 559) for more information. For thecover DR of living things, see Over-penetration, below.Cover is normally only effectiveagainst ranged weapons, but certainobstacles might interfere with meleeattacks as well. You can fight across alow obstacle if your attacks have suffi-cient reach to strike past it. Thus, twofencers could duel across an interven-ing table, but could not strike eachothers legs or feet.OVERPENETRATIONWhen you inflict piercing, impal-ing, or tight-beam burning damagewith a ranged attack, there is achance that damage might passthrough your target and harm some-thing on the far side; e.g., an innocentbystander. Similarly, a powerfulattack might go right through cover(see Cover, above) or a shield (seeDamage to Shields, p. 484) or evenpenetrate a building or vehicle, dam-aging it and its occupants.The GM decides who is likely to behit due to overpenetration. A hit isautomatic if the second target isimmediately behind the first; e.g.,someone taking cover or blockingwith a shield. Otherwise, see Hittingthe Wrong Target(p.389) andOccupant Hit Table (p. 555) to deter-mine who is hit.An attack only overpenetrates if itsbasic damage exceeds the targetscover DR. To find this value, addtogether the target or covers DR onboth sides, for a person in armor andHP (for flesh), 1/2 HP (for a machine,vehicle, or other Unliving target), or1/4 HP (for a Homogenous object).Use the objects DR alone if its a thinslab, like a wall or a door. Finally,apply any armor divisor.If the attack does enough damageto penetrate cover DR, determine ifanyone on the other side is hit. If so,they get the cover DR plus their ownDR against the damage.Example: Special Agent Ira Grayspots an assassin with a rifle, andthrows himself in front of the VIP hesprotecting just as the gunman fires.The armor-piercing rifle bullet a7d(2) pi- attack hits him in the chest!The bullets basic damage is 20 points.Grays DR 8 ballistic vest stops only 4points due to the armor divisor of (2).Gray takes 16 points of penetratingdamage. Halved for small piercing,this inflicts an 8 HP wound. Whatabout the VIP? Grays vest gives DR16, since both sides count, and Grayhas 12 HP. The total cover DR is 28,halved for the armor divisor of (2) togive DR 14. Since the bullets basicdamage was 20, it overpenetrated. TheVIP wasnt wearing armor, so he takes6 points of damage, halved for smallpiercing, and suffers a 3 HP injury.Hes wounded, but not badly SpecialAgent Gray saved his life.SPECIAL RULESFOR RAPID FIREThe following additional rules arefor use in conjunction with Rapid Fire(p. 373). They only apply when mak-ing a ranged attack at RoF 2+.Automatic Weapons and Full-Auto OnlyAutomatic weapons firearmswith RoF 4+ use the Rapid Fire rules.Most can fire both controlled burstsand full auto (that is, for as long asthe trigger is held down).Some automatic weapons (e.g.,machine guns) can only fire full auto;they lack a semi-automatic or limit-ed-burst setting (selective fire). Aweapon that is full-auto only has a! after its RoF statistic. The onlyway to fire a short burst with such aweapon is to hold down the triggerfor a fraction of a second. MinimumRoF is one-quarter full RoF (roundup) or shots remaining, whichever isless.Rapid Fire vs. CloseStationary TargetsRapid fire generally results in onlya fraction of the shots fired hitting thetarget. This is realistic . . . except whenthe target is up close and unable tomove. This situation arises whenshooting your way through a wall,door, or parked car with a shotgun orassault rifle or when performing anexecution.408SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSIf your target is totally immobile(for instance, an inanimate object, orsomeone who is completely restrainedor unconscious) and has a SizeModifier high enough to completelycounteract the range penalty, a suc-cessful attack roll means that half theshots fired (round up) hit. If the attacksucceeds by the weapons Recoil ormore, all of the shots hit.Example: When shooting at a doorwith SM +2, this rule would apply atany range up to 5 yards (range modifi-er -2). If the target were a man (SM 0),this would only apply at a range of upto 2 yards (range modifier 0) andonly if he were tied up or unconscious.Shotguns and Multiple ProjectilesA weapon with a RoF followed by amultiplier (e.g., RoF 39) fires shotsthat release multiple, smaller projec-tiles. The most common example is ashotgun. The first number is the num-ber of shots the weapon can actuallyfire; this is how much ammunition isused up. When resolving the attack,however, multiply shots fired by thesecond number to get the effective RoF.Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas RoF 39. He chooses to fire threetimes at a demon flapping towardhim. For the purpose of the Rapid Firerules, he his three shots are an attackat RoF 3 9 = 27, because each shellreleases multiple buckshot pellets.At extremely close range, multipleprojectiles dont have time to spread.This increases lethality! At ranges lessthan 10% of 1/2D, dont apply the RoFmultiplier to RoF. Instead, multiplyboth basic damage dice and the targetsDR by half that value (round down).Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas 1/2D 50, so once that demon fliesto within 5 yards, it is close enoughthat the pellets wont disperse much. IfOLeary fires three times, his RoF is 3,not 27. But since the attack is a 9multiple-projectile round, a 4 multi-plier applies to both basic damage andthe demons DR. The shotguns basicdamage is 1d+1, so OLeary rolls 4d+4for each hit (up to three, depending onhow well he rolls). However, thedemons DR 3 becomes DR 12 againstthe damage.Spraying FireA weapon fired at RoF 5+ canattack multiple targets. All the targetsmust be in the same general direction(within a 30 angle), and you mustengage them in succession fromright to left or from left to right, yourchoice.Announce how many shots youwill fire at each target before you rollto hit. You may split up your RoFhowever you wish. If the targets aremore than one yard apart, traversingbetween them wastes some shots. ForRoF 16 or less, you lose one shot foreach yard between targets. For RoF16+, you lose two shots per yard.These wasted shots may hit unin-tended targets (see Hitting the WrongTarget, p. 389).Make a separate attack roll againsteach target. Your effective RoF foreach attack is just the number of shotsyou fired at that target. Since aweapon is harder to control when youswing it to engage multiple targets,add +1 to effective Recoil for yourattack on the second target, +2 toRecoil when you engage the third tar-get, and so on.Example: Sgt. Kelly, Special AirService, kicks open the door and seesthree armed terrorists. With nohostages in sight, Kelly opens fire! Hisweapon is a 4.6mm PDW (see p. 278).He sprays fire at all three terrorists,using his weapons full RoF of 15. Thefirst two terrorists are standing 2yards apart; the third is 4 yards fromeither. Kelly fires 5 shots at the first,wastes 1 shot traversing to the second,fires 4 shots at him, wastes 3 shots tra-versing to the third, and fires his last 2shots. He resolves this as three sepa-rate rapid-fire attacks: one at RoF 5with the PDWs normal Recoil of 2,one at RoF 4 and Recoil 3, and one atRoF 2 and Recoil 4.Suppression FireIf you have a weapon with RoF 5+,you can lay down suppression fire.This involves holding down the triggerand hosing down an area with fire.This will affect anyone who enters thearea before the start of your next turn.There neednt be a target in the areawhen you start!To use suppression fire, select a tar-get zone two yards across at somepoint within your weapons range,take the All-Out Attack (SuppressionFire) maneuver, and start shooting.This maneuver takes an entire second;you can do nothing else that turn.Specify how many shots you arefiring, up to your weapons full RoF. Ifyour weapon has RoF 10+, you cansuppress multiple two-yard zones, aslong as they are adjacent and you fireat least five shots into each zone. Youreffective RoF in each zone is the num-ber of shots you fired into that zone,not your total shots.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS409Once you start suppression fire,you must attack anyone friend or foe who enters the zone or a swath thatextends one yard to either side of aline drawn from you to the center ofthe zone. With the exception of penal-ties for target visibility, all normalattack modifiers apply including therapid-fire bonus for your effective RoFand any bonus for aiming prior to sup-pressing. Your final effective skill can-not exceed 6 + your rapid-fire bonusfor most weapons, or 8 + your rapid-fire bonus for vehicle- or tripod-mounted ones.If you hit, useRandom HitLocation (p. 400) you cannot target aparticular hit location with suppres-sion fire. This may result in someshots hitting cover (see Cover, p. 407).If all your shots somehow manage tostrike targets, you can score no furtherhits that turn.SPECIAL RANGEDWEAPONSCertain ranged weapons are spe-cial cases, and require additionalnotes.BolasThe bolas is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target can dodge orblock, but if he tries to parry, thebolas hits his parrying arm, witheffects as described below.(Exception: A successful parry with acutting weapon cuts the cords, ruin-ing the bolas!)You may aim a bolas at any bodypart. If it hits, it does its damage andwraps around its target. To escape, thevictim requires a free hand, and mustmake three successful DX rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll toescape at -3 for paws or at -6 forhooves.If you hit a weapon, or an arm orhand that is holding something, rolla Quick Contest: your Bolas skill vs.the targets ST. If you win, the targetdrops what hes carrying (this doesnot affect a shield strapped to thearm). If you hit a leg or foot, youentangle two legs; a running targetmust make a DX roll or fall, taking1d-2 damage. If you hit the neck, thebolas cuts off the targets breathing(see Suffocation, p. 436) until heescapes.CrossbowsWhen you buy a crossbow, youmust specify its ST. It takes two sec-onds to cock any crossbow of your STor less.A stronger bow does more dam-age but takes longer to cock. A cross-bow with ST 1 or 2 greater than yourown takes six seconds to cock. Acrossbow with ST 3 or 4 greater thanyours requires a goats foot deviceto cock (takes 20 seconds). You can-not cock a stronger crossbow, exceptusing slow mechanical devices. Youcan still fire it!Remember that in addition tococking time, it takes one turn toready a bolt unless you have Fast-Draw (Arrow) and one turn to loadthe bolt into the crossbow.Flaming ArrowsA flaming arrow is made by wrap-ping oil- or fat-soaked cloth, grass, etc.around the shaft just behind thearrowhead; it takes 10 seconds to pre-pare, and must be used within threeseconds of preparation. It is clumsy inflight, giving -2 to hit. If it hits, treat itas an arrow that does one point ofburning damage as a linked effect (seeLinked Effects, p. 381). The chance ofthe flame spreading depends on whatthe arrow strikes.Hand GrenadesIt takes a Ready maneuver to graba hand grenade from your belt, webgear, etc. To use it, you must arm it(pull the pin); this requires a secondReady maneuver. After that, you canthrow it normally.Most grenades have a fixed delay(typically under 5 seconds), but somedetonate on impact. If the grenade has410SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSuppression fire involves holding down the trigger and hosing down an area with fire. Thiswill affect anyone who enters the area before thestart of your next turn. There neednt be a target in the area when you start!
|
If your target is totally immobile(for instance, an inanimate object, orsomeone who is completely restrainedor unconscious) and has a SizeModifier high enough to completelycounteract the range penalty, a suc-cessful attack roll means that half theshots fired (round up) hit. If the attacksucceeds by the weapons Recoil ormore, all of the shots hit.Example: When shooting at a doorwith SM +2, this rule would apply atany range up to 5 yards (range modifi-er -2). If the target were a man (SM 0),this would only apply at a range of upto 2 yards (range modifier 0) andonly if he were tied up or unconscious.Shotguns and Multiple ProjectilesA weapon with a RoF followed by amultiplier (e.g., RoF 39) fires shotsthat release multiple, smaller projec-tiles. The most common example is ashotgun. The first number is the num-ber of shots the weapon can actuallyfire; this is how much ammunition isused up. When resolving the attack,however, multiply shots fired by thesecond number to get the effective RoF.Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas RoF 39. He chooses to fire threetimes at a demon flapping towardhim. For the purpose of the Rapid Firerules, he his three shots are an attackat RoF 3 9 = 27, because each shellreleases multiple buckshot pellets.At extremely close range, multipleprojectiles dont have time to spread.This increases lethality! At ranges lessthan 10% of 1/2D, dont apply the RoFmultiplier to RoF. Instead, multiplyboth basic damage dice and the targetsDR by half that value (round down).Example: Father OLearys shotgunhas 1/2D 50, so once that demon fliesto within 5 yards, it is close enoughthat the pellets wont disperse much. IfOLeary fires three times, his RoF is 3,not 27. But since the attack is a 9multiple-projectile round, a 4 multi-plier applies to both basic damage andthe demons DR. The shotguns basicdamage is 1d+1, so OLeary rolls 4d+4for each hit (up to three, depending onhow well he rolls). However, thedemons DR 3 becomes DR 12 againstthe damage.Spraying FireA weapon fired at RoF 5+ canattack multiple targets. All the targetsmust be in the same general direction(within a 30 angle), and you mustengage them in succession fromright to left or from left to right, yourchoice.Announce how many shots youwill fire at each target before you rollto hit. You may split up your RoFhowever you wish. If the targets aremore than one yard apart, traversingbetween them wastes some shots. ForRoF 16 or less, you lose one shot foreach yard between targets. For RoF16+, you lose two shots per yard.These wasted shots may hit unin-tended targets (see Hitting the WrongTarget, p. 389).Make a separate attack roll againsteach target. Your effective RoF foreach attack is just the number of shotsyou fired at that target. Since aweapon is harder to control when youswing it to engage multiple targets,add +1 to effective Recoil for yourattack on the second target, +2 toRecoil when you engage the third tar-get, and so on.Example: Sgt. Kelly, Special AirService, kicks open the door and seesthree armed terrorists. With nohostages in sight, Kelly opens fire! Hisweapon is a 4.6mm PDW (see p. 278).He sprays fire at all three terrorists,using his weapons full RoF of 15. Thefirst two terrorists are standing 2yards apart; the third is 4 yards fromeither. Kelly fires 5 shots at the first,wastes 1 shot traversing to the second,fires 4 shots at him, wastes 3 shots tra-versing to the third, and fires his last 2shots. He resolves this as three sepa-rate rapid-fire attacks: one at RoF 5with the PDWs normal Recoil of 2,one at RoF 4 and Recoil 3, and one atRoF 2 and Recoil 4.Suppression FireIf you have a weapon with RoF 5+,you can lay down suppression fire.This involves holding down the triggerand hosing down an area with fire.This will affect anyone who enters thearea before the start of your next turn.There neednt be a target in the areawhen you start!To use suppression fire, select a tar-get zone two yards across at somepoint within your weapons range,take the All-Out Attack (SuppressionFire) maneuver, and start shooting.This maneuver takes an entire second;you can do nothing else that turn.Specify how many shots you arefiring, up to your weapons full RoF. Ifyour weapon has RoF 10+, you cansuppress multiple two-yard zones, aslong as they are adjacent and you fireat least five shots into each zone. Youreffective RoF in each zone is the num-ber of shots you fired into that zone,not your total shots.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS409Once you start suppression fire,you must attack anyone friend or foe who enters the zone or a swath thatextends one yard to either side of aline drawn from you to the center ofthe zone. With the exception of penal-ties for target visibility, all normalattack modifiers apply including therapid-fire bonus for your effective RoFand any bonus for aiming prior to sup-pressing. Your final effective skill can-not exceed 6 + your rapid-fire bonusfor most weapons, or 8 + your rapid-fire bonus for vehicle- or tripod-mounted ones.If you hit, useRandom HitLocation (p. 400) you cannot target aparticular hit location with suppres-sion fire. This may result in someshots hitting cover (see Cover, p. 407).If all your shots somehow manage tostrike targets, you can score no furtherhits that turn.SPECIAL RANGEDWEAPONSCertain ranged weapons are spe-cial cases, and require additionalnotes.BolasThe bolas is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target can dodge orblock, but if he tries to parry, thebolas hits his parrying arm, witheffects as described below.(Exception: A successful parry with acutting weapon cuts the cords, ruin-ing the bolas!)You may aim a bolas at any bodypart. If it hits, it does its damage andwraps around its target. To escape, thevictim requires a free hand, and mustmake three successful DX rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll toescape at -3 for paws or at -6 forhooves.If you hit a weapon, or an arm orhand that is holding something, rolla Quick Contest: your Bolas skill vs.the targets ST. If you win, the targetdrops what hes carrying (this doesnot affect a shield strapped to thearm). If you hit a leg or foot, youentangle two legs; a running targetmust make a DX roll or fall, taking1d-2 damage. If you hit the neck, thebolas cuts off the targets breathing(see Suffocation, p. 436) until heescapes.CrossbowsWhen you buy a crossbow, youmust specify its ST. It takes two sec-onds to cock any crossbow of your STor less.A stronger bow does more dam-age but takes longer to cock. A cross-bow with ST 1 or 2 greater than yourown takes six seconds to cock. Acrossbow with ST 3 or 4 greater thanyours requires a goats foot deviceto cock (takes 20 seconds). You can-not cock a stronger crossbow, exceptusing slow mechanical devices. Youcan still fire it!Remember that in addition tococking time, it takes one turn toready a bolt unless you have Fast-Draw (Arrow) and one turn to loadthe bolt into the crossbow.Flaming ArrowsA flaming arrow is made by wrap-ping oil- or fat-soaked cloth, grass, etc.around the shaft just behind thearrowhead; it takes 10 seconds to pre-pare, and must be used within threeseconds of preparation. It is clumsy inflight, giving -2 to hit. If it hits, treat itas an arrow that does one point ofburning damage as a linked effect (seeLinked Effects, p. 381). The chance ofthe flame spreading depends on whatthe arrow strikes.Hand GrenadesIt takes a Ready maneuver to graba hand grenade from your belt, webgear, etc. To use it, you must arm it(pull the pin); this requires a secondReady maneuver. After that, you canthrow it normally.Most grenades have a fixed delay(typically under 5 seconds), but somedetonate on impact. If the grenade has410SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSuppression fire involves holding down the trigger and hosing down an area with fire. Thiswill affect anyone who enters the area before thestart of your next turn. There neednt be a target in the area when you start!a delay, you can take one or two sec-onds to Aim (and hope no one shootsyou!) before you throw it. Otherwise,it is just barely possible for the enemyto pick up a grenade that lands next tohim and throw it back! It takes himone second to kneel down, one toready the grenade, one to throw . . .HarpoonsMost harpoons are barbed. Use therules under Picks (p. 405), except thatthe tether lets you attempt the ST rollto free the weapon at a distance. Aharpooned victim can move, but nofarther than the tethers length; to gofurther, he must win a Quick Contestof ST to pull the tether out of yourhands. He might have to beat ST 50(or even higher!) to escape if the teth-er is made of thick rope and tiedsecurely to something solid (e.g., aship).LariatsLike a harpoon, treat a lariat as athrown weapon, despite the fact thatyou hold onto one end. You may aim alariat at any body part. Your targetmay dodge or parry and if he suc-cessfully parries with a cuttingweapon, he damages the lariat as if hehad tried to cut it (see below). But if hetries to parry and fails, you automati-cally ensnare his parrying arm!If you hit the targets arm or torso,you ensnare it. On subsequent turns,you must take a Ready maneuver tokeep the victim snared. Roll a QuickContest of ST on your turn. If you win,you immobilize your opponent; if youlose, he pulls the lariat from yourgrasp.If you lasso the neck, use the samerules, but your victim is at -5 in theContest. If you win, the lariat cuts offthe victims breathing seeSuffocation (p. 436).If you rope the foot, the targetmust make a DX roll to remain stand-ing (this is instead of the Contestabove). He rolls at -4 if he was run-ning. If he falls, he takes 1d-4 damage or 1d-2 if he was running. On sub-sequent turns, use the rules above tokeep him entangled.You must keep the lariat taut at alltimes to immobilize or suffocate yourvictim. This requires a Ready maneu-ver each turn. If your horse is trainedto do this for you, substitute its ST foryours in the Quick Contest.To escape from a taut lariat, cut therope (DR 1, 2 HP). To escape from alimp lariat (including one pulled fromthe attackers grasp), use the rulesgiven under Bolas (p. 410).A lariat takes 1 turn per 5 yards toready after a miss. A typical lariat is 10yards long.Molotov Cocktails and Oil FlasksA Molotov cocktail (TL6) is a bot-tle filled with gasoline and fitted witha burning fuse often just a rag.Once you have it in hand, it takes aReady maneuver to light its fuse (ifyou have a torch or lighter) and anAttack maneuver to throw.In theory, the bottle bursts uponhitting a hard surface (anything withDR 3+), spilling the gasoline, whichimmediately catches fire. In reality,Molotov cocktails are notoriouslyunreliable. They have a Malf. of 12,regardless of tech level (seeMalfunctions, p. 407): on any attackroll of 12+, the fuse separates from thebottle in flight, the bottle fails tobreak, or the fuel doesnt ignite.If your target is a person, he maydodge or block, but not parry. If hedodges, the bottle shatters on theground at his feet. The same thinghappens if he fails to defend but doesnot have DR 3+ (the bottle bounces offwithout breaking). If he blocks, itbreaks on his shield.If your target is the ground, or ifyou targeted a person but hit theground instead, the Molotov cocktailsets fire to a one-yard radius; see Area-Effect Attacks (p. 413). On a battlemap, the target hex is filled withflame.If the Molotov cocktail bursts onthe target, it inflicts 3d burning dam-age, and then 1d burning damage persecond. Most DR protects at only 1/5value; sealed armor protects com-pletely. If you hit the targets shield, ittakes this damage instead, and thewielder may continue to use his shielduntil it is destroyed (the fire is on theoutside). Use the Damage to Shieldsrule (p. 484), or just assume that hemust discard his shield after the bat-tle. If you hit the ground, the flamedoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondin a one-yard radius. In all cases, theflame burns for 10d seconds.Greek fire (TL3) consists ofnaphtha a light petroleum productdistilled from crude oil, roughly simi-lar to gasoline mixed with fat or tarand saltpeter to make it sticky andburn hotter. It should be very expen-sive! Treat earthenware flasks filledwith Greek fire as Molotov cocktails.This is the classic fantasy oil flask.Below TL3, flammable, hot-burn-ing liquids are unavailable in realisticgame worlds.Note that these weapons are fragile.Roll 1d for each bottle if you fall; itbreaks on a roll of 1-4. A foe maystrike at a bottle on your belt (-5 tohit); it breaks automatically if hit.Either result soaks you in flammableliquid: any burning damage will setyou on fire!NetsA net is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target may dodge orparry it. If he successfully parries witha cutting weapon, he damages the net;treat a net of any size as a diffuseobject with DR 1 and normal HP forits weight. If the target fails to defend,he is entangled, and cannot move orattack until freed.To escape, the victim requires atleast one free hand, and must makethree successful DX-4 rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll atan extra -2, as do humans with onlyone hand available; rolls to escapefrom a small net are at +3. If the victimfails three consecutive rolls, hebecomes so entangled that he must becut free.It is also possible to escape a net bydamaging it. The victim can only useattacks with reach C, but they hitautomatically. Use the Breaking aWeapon rules (p. 401) but treat a netas diffuse (see Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets,p. 380).You may also use a small net as amelee weapon. It has a reach of 1 or 2yards. Handle the attack as per Lariats(above) and the victims attempt tobreak free as per Bolas (p. 410).FIREARMACCESSORIESThese rules cover the effects of thefirearm accessories mentioned inChapter 8.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS411
|
Once you start suppression fire,you must attack anyone friend or foe who enters the zone or a swath thatextends one yard to either side of aline drawn from you to the center ofthe zone. With the exception of penal-ties for target visibility, all normalattack modifiers apply including therapid-fire bonus for your effective RoFand any bonus for aiming prior to sup-pressing. Your final effective skill can-not exceed 6 + your rapid-fire bonusfor most weapons, or 8 + your rapid-fire bonus for vehicle- or tripod-mounted ones.If you hit, useRandom HitLocation (p. 400) you cannot target aparticular hit location with suppres-sion fire. This may result in someshots hitting cover (see Cover, p. 407).If all your shots somehow manage tostrike targets, you can score no furtherhits that turn.SPECIAL RANGEDWEAPONSCertain ranged weapons are spe-cial cases, and require additionalnotes.BolasThe bolas is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target can dodge orblock, but if he tries to parry, thebolas hits his parrying arm, witheffects as described below.(Exception: A successful parry with acutting weapon cuts the cords, ruin-ing the bolas!)You may aim a bolas at any bodypart. If it hits, it does its damage andwraps around its target. To escape, thevictim requires a free hand, and mustmake three successful DX rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll toescape at -3 for paws or at -6 forhooves.If you hit a weapon, or an arm orhand that is holding something, rolla Quick Contest: your Bolas skill vs.the targets ST. If you win, the targetdrops what hes carrying (this doesnot affect a shield strapped to thearm). If you hit a leg or foot, youentangle two legs; a running targetmust make a DX roll or fall, taking1d-2 damage. If you hit the neck, thebolas cuts off the targets breathing(see Suffocation, p. 436) until heescapes.CrossbowsWhen you buy a crossbow, youmust specify its ST. It takes two sec-onds to cock any crossbow of your STor less.A stronger bow does more dam-age but takes longer to cock. A cross-bow with ST 1 or 2 greater than yourown takes six seconds to cock. Acrossbow with ST 3 or 4 greater thanyours requires a goats foot deviceto cock (takes 20 seconds). You can-not cock a stronger crossbow, exceptusing slow mechanical devices. Youcan still fire it!Remember that in addition tococking time, it takes one turn toready a bolt unless you have Fast-Draw (Arrow) and one turn to loadthe bolt into the crossbow.Flaming ArrowsA flaming arrow is made by wrap-ping oil- or fat-soaked cloth, grass, etc.around the shaft just behind thearrowhead; it takes 10 seconds to pre-pare, and must be used within threeseconds of preparation. It is clumsy inflight, giving -2 to hit. If it hits, treat itas an arrow that does one point ofburning damage as a linked effect (seeLinked Effects, p. 381). The chance ofthe flame spreading depends on whatthe arrow strikes.Hand GrenadesIt takes a Ready maneuver to graba hand grenade from your belt, webgear, etc. To use it, you must arm it(pull the pin); this requires a secondReady maneuver. After that, you canthrow it normally.Most grenades have a fixed delay(typically under 5 seconds), but somedetonate on impact. If the grenade has410SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSuppression fire involves holding down the trigger and hosing down an area with fire. Thiswill affect anyone who enters the area before thestart of your next turn. There neednt be a target in the area when you start!a delay, you can take one or two sec-onds to Aim (and hope no one shootsyou!) before you throw it. Otherwise,it is just barely possible for the enemyto pick up a grenade that lands next tohim and throw it back! It takes himone second to kneel down, one toready the grenade, one to throw . . .HarpoonsMost harpoons are barbed. Use therules under Picks (p. 405), except thatthe tether lets you attempt the ST rollto free the weapon at a distance. Aharpooned victim can move, but nofarther than the tethers length; to gofurther, he must win a Quick Contestof ST to pull the tether out of yourhands. He might have to beat ST 50(or even higher!) to escape if the teth-er is made of thick rope and tiedsecurely to something solid (e.g., aship).LariatsLike a harpoon, treat a lariat as athrown weapon, despite the fact thatyou hold onto one end. You may aim alariat at any body part. Your targetmay dodge or parry and if he suc-cessfully parries with a cuttingweapon, he damages the lariat as if hehad tried to cut it (see below). But if hetries to parry and fails, you automati-cally ensnare his parrying arm!If you hit the targets arm or torso,you ensnare it. On subsequent turns,you must take a Ready maneuver tokeep the victim snared. Roll a QuickContest of ST on your turn. If you win,you immobilize your opponent; if youlose, he pulls the lariat from yourgrasp.If you lasso the neck, use the samerules, but your victim is at -5 in theContest. If you win, the lariat cuts offthe victims breathing seeSuffocation (p. 436).If you rope the foot, the targetmust make a DX roll to remain stand-ing (this is instead of the Contestabove). He rolls at -4 if he was run-ning. If he falls, he takes 1d-4 damage or 1d-2 if he was running. On sub-sequent turns, use the rules above tokeep him entangled.You must keep the lariat taut at alltimes to immobilize or suffocate yourvictim. This requires a Ready maneu-ver each turn. If your horse is trainedto do this for you, substitute its ST foryours in the Quick Contest.To escape from a taut lariat, cut therope (DR 1, 2 HP). To escape from alimp lariat (including one pulled fromthe attackers grasp), use the rulesgiven under Bolas (p. 410).A lariat takes 1 turn per 5 yards toready after a miss. A typical lariat is 10yards long.Molotov Cocktails and Oil FlasksA Molotov cocktail (TL6) is a bot-tle filled with gasoline and fitted witha burning fuse often just a rag.Once you have it in hand, it takes aReady maneuver to light its fuse (ifyou have a torch or lighter) and anAttack maneuver to throw.In theory, the bottle bursts uponhitting a hard surface (anything withDR 3+), spilling the gasoline, whichimmediately catches fire. In reality,Molotov cocktails are notoriouslyunreliable. They have a Malf. of 12,regardless of tech level (seeMalfunctions, p. 407): on any attackroll of 12+, the fuse separates from thebottle in flight, the bottle fails tobreak, or the fuel doesnt ignite.If your target is a person, he maydodge or block, but not parry. If hedodges, the bottle shatters on theground at his feet. The same thinghappens if he fails to defend but doesnot have DR 3+ (the bottle bounces offwithout breaking). If he blocks, itbreaks on his shield.If your target is the ground, or ifyou targeted a person but hit theground instead, the Molotov cocktailsets fire to a one-yard radius; see Area-Effect Attacks (p. 413). On a battlemap, the target hex is filled withflame.If the Molotov cocktail bursts onthe target, it inflicts 3d burning dam-age, and then 1d burning damage persecond. Most DR protects at only 1/5value; sealed armor protects com-pletely. If you hit the targets shield, ittakes this damage instead, and thewielder may continue to use his shielduntil it is destroyed (the fire is on theoutside). Use the Damage to Shieldsrule (p. 484), or just assume that hemust discard his shield after the bat-tle. If you hit the ground, the flamedoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondin a one-yard radius. In all cases, theflame burns for 10d seconds.Greek fire (TL3) consists ofnaphtha a light petroleum productdistilled from crude oil, roughly simi-lar to gasoline mixed with fat or tarand saltpeter to make it sticky andburn hotter. It should be very expen-sive! Treat earthenware flasks filledwith Greek fire as Molotov cocktails.This is the classic fantasy oil flask.Below TL3, flammable, hot-burn-ing liquids are unavailable in realisticgame worlds.Note that these weapons are fragile.Roll 1d for each bottle if you fall; itbreaks on a roll of 1-4. A foe maystrike at a bottle on your belt (-5 tohit); it breaks automatically if hit.Either result soaks you in flammableliquid: any burning damage will setyou on fire!NetsA net is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target may dodge orparry it. If he successfully parries witha cutting weapon, he damages the net;treat a net of any size as a diffuseobject with DR 1 and normal HP forits weight. If the target fails to defend,he is entangled, and cannot move orattack until freed.To escape, the victim requires atleast one free hand, and must makethree successful DX-4 rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll atan extra -2, as do humans with onlyone hand available; rolls to escapefrom a small net are at +3. If the victimfails three consecutive rolls, hebecomes so entangled that he must becut free.It is also possible to escape a net bydamaging it. The victim can only useattacks with reach C, but they hitautomatically. Use the Breaking aWeapon rules (p. 401) but treat a netas diffuse (see Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets,p. 380).You may also use a small net as amelee weapon. It has a reach of 1 or 2yards. Handle the attack as per Lariats(above) and the victims attempt tobreak free as per Bolas (p. 410).FIREARMACCESSORIESThese rules cover the effects of thefirearm accessories mentioned inChapter 8.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS411Bipods and TripodsIf a weapon has an attached bipod,a prone shooter may treat it as if itwere braced (see Aim, p. 364) andreduce its ST requirement to 2/3 nor-mal (round up). To open or close afolding bipod requires a Readymaneuver.A heavy weapon may be mounted,on a tripod or similar device. The gun-ner cannot move or step on any turnhe fires the weapon, but he can defendnormally. He may ignore the weaponsST requirement while it is on itsmount. Removing a weapon from itsmount, or reattaching it, requiresthree Ready maneuvers more, forsome very heavy weapons.Laser SightsThese devices use a low-poweredlaser beam to project an aiming dotonto the target. Some use a visiblebeam; others use a beam visible onlyto infrared or ultraviolet vision.Laser sights have a maximumrange at which they are effective;beyond that range, the dot is too dis-persed to be visible. If no maximumrange is given, assume the sightsrange is matched to the 1/2D range ofthe weapon on which it is mounted.If you can see your own aimingdot, you get +1 to hit, regardless ofwhether you took an Aim maneuver.But if the target can see it, he gets +1to Dodge! Activating a laser sight is afree action; specify whether its onbefore you Aim or Attack.ScopesA telescopic sight, or scope, givesa bonus to hit if you take an Aimmaneuver. With a fixed-power scope,you must Aim for at least as many sec-onds as the scopes bonus. With a vari-able-power scope, you may Aim forfewer seconds, but this reduces yourbonus by a like amount. Scopes arevariable-power unless otherwisenoted.A scope may be integral to aweapon, attached, or part of a vehiclessighting system. Telescopic Vision(p. 92) also gives a scope bonus. Youcan only use one scope (includingTelescopic Vision) at a time. Someadvanced scopes also function asnight-vision devices.SilencersA silencer muffles the sound ofgunshots. Someone several roomsaway indoors, or out of your line ofsight outdoors, gets a Hearing+5 rollto hear an unsilenced shot. This rollmay be at up to +4 for a high-poweredweapon or quiet environment, ordown to -4 for a low-powered gun ornoisy environment (GMs discretion).A typical silencer gives an extra -4,while the best commercial silencersmight give -6.Anyone who is in front of yourweapon and exposed and closeenough for you to attack with it auto-matically hears the shot even with asilencer. However, the silencer makesthe sound difficult to localize: the lis-tener must make an IQ roll (not aHearing roll) to deduce your locationunless youre in plain sight.Silencers are most common forauto pistols and submachine guns, butexist for many other weapons.GUIDEDAND HOMINGWEAPONSSome weapons can be steered, orsteer themselves, once launched. Thismakes it easier to hit distant targets!These weapons appear late in TL6,and are commonly available from TL7on. Most are rocket-propelled, save forunderwater torpedoes but magicalor exotic examples may exist in somegame worlds.Guided WeaponsA guided weapon is a projectilethat can receive steering commands inflight. This enables the firer to keep iton course. The weapon relies on theoperators skill to reach its target. Earlyguided missiles had to be steered bythe operator using a joystick. Modernsystems merely require him to keepthe launchers sights trained on the tar-get; the missile and launchers elec-tronics do the rest.Most reference works categorizeguided weapons according to how thelauncher communicates with the pro-jectile. For instance, a wire-guidedmissile or torpedo receives commandsvia thin wires that spool out behind theprojectile in flight, while a radio-guid-ed weapon receives commands viaradio. There are many other systems!Treat an attack with a guidedweapon exactly like any other rangedattack, except for these special rules:Aim: If you Aim a guided weaponbefore you Attack, you receive its Accbonus but you dont have to aim. Ifthe projectile takes multiple seconds toreach its target (see Time to Target,below), the attack is automaticallyaimed and gets its Acc bonus.Attack: If the target is within theweapons 1/2D range, the weapon canhit on the turn you fire it. Use anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver tofire. If the target is more distant, use aConcentrate maneuver and since theprojectile will be in flight for several412SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSemi-Active Homing WeaponsSemi-active laser or radar homing is common on TL7+ missiles.The seeker head on this type of projectile detects and homes in on thereflections of a laser or radar beam directed at the target. As for otherhoming weapons, the firer does not need to do anything once theweapon is launched. However, someone (the firer or an ally) must aima properly modulated laser or radar beam at the target until the mis-sile hits.Modern soldiers often sneak up close to their targets and use rifle-sized laser designators to direct laser-homing smart bombs ormissiles launched by distant aircraft or artillery. Designating a targetrequires continued Aim maneuvers and a DX-based roll againstForward Observer skill (p. 196); failure means the weapon misses itstarget.
|
a delay, you can take one or two sec-onds to Aim (and hope no one shootsyou!) before you throw it. Otherwise,it is just barely possible for the enemyto pick up a grenade that lands next tohim and throw it back! It takes himone second to kneel down, one toready the grenade, one to throw . . .HarpoonsMost harpoons are barbed. Use therules under Picks (p. 405), except thatthe tether lets you attempt the ST rollto free the weapon at a distance. Aharpooned victim can move, but nofarther than the tethers length; to gofurther, he must win a Quick Contestof ST to pull the tether out of yourhands. He might have to beat ST 50(or even higher!) to escape if the teth-er is made of thick rope and tiedsecurely to something solid (e.g., aship).LariatsLike a harpoon, treat a lariat as athrown weapon, despite the fact thatyou hold onto one end. You may aim alariat at any body part. Your targetmay dodge or parry and if he suc-cessfully parries with a cuttingweapon, he damages the lariat as if hehad tried to cut it (see below). But if hetries to parry and fails, you automati-cally ensnare his parrying arm!If you hit the targets arm or torso,you ensnare it. On subsequent turns,you must take a Ready maneuver tokeep the victim snared. Roll a QuickContest of ST on your turn. If you win,you immobilize your opponent; if youlose, he pulls the lariat from yourgrasp.If you lasso the neck, use the samerules, but your victim is at -5 in theContest. If you win, the lariat cuts offthe victims breathing seeSuffocation (p. 436).If you rope the foot, the targetmust make a DX roll to remain stand-ing (this is instead of the Contestabove). He rolls at -4 if he was run-ning. If he falls, he takes 1d-4 damage or 1d-2 if he was running. On sub-sequent turns, use the rules above tokeep him entangled.You must keep the lariat taut at alltimes to immobilize or suffocate yourvictim. This requires a Ready maneu-ver each turn. If your horse is trainedto do this for you, substitute its ST foryours in the Quick Contest.To escape from a taut lariat, cut therope (DR 1, 2 HP). To escape from alimp lariat (including one pulled fromthe attackers grasp), use the rulesgiven under Bolas (p. 410).A lariat takes 1 turn per 5 yards toready after a miss. A typical lariat is 10yards long.Molotov Cocktails and Oil FlasksA Molotov cocktail (TL6) is a bot-tle filled with gasoline and fitted witha burning fuse often just a rag.Once you have it in hand, it takes aReady maneuver to light its fuse (ifyou have a torch or lighter) and anAttack maneuver to throw.In theory, the bottle bursts uponhitting a hard surface (anything withDR 3+), spilling the gasoline, whichimmediately catches fire. In reality,Molotov cocktails are notoriouslyunreliable. They have a Malf. of 12,regardless of tech level (seeMalfunctions, p. 407): on any attackroll of 12+, the fuse separates from thebottle in flight, the bottle fails tobreak, or the fuel doesnt ignite.If your target is a person, he maydodge or block, but not parry. If hedodges, the bottle shatters on theground at his feet. The same thinghappens if he fails to defend but doesnot have DR 3+ (the bottle bounces offwithout breaking). If he blocks, itbreaks on his shield.If your target is the ground, or ifyou targeted a person but hit theground instead, the Molotov cocktailsets fire to a one-yard radius; see Area-Effect Attacks (p. 413). On a battlemap, the target hex is filled withflame.If the Molotov cocktail bursts onthe target, it inflicts 3d burning dam-age, and then 1d burning damage persecond. Most DR protects at only 1/5value; sealed armor protects com-pletely. If you hit the targets shield, ittakes this damage instead, and thewielder may continue to use his shielduntil it is destroyed (the fire is on theoutside). Use the Damage to Shieldsrule (p. 484), or just assume that hemust discard his shield after the bat-tle. If you hit the ground, the flamedoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondin a one-yard radius. In all cases, theflame burns for 10d seconds.Greek fire (TL3) consists ofnaphtha a light petroleum productdistilled from crude oil, roughly simi-lar to gasoline mixed with fat or tarand saltpeter to make it sticky andburn hotter. It should be very expen-sive! Treat earthenware flasks filledwith Greek fire as Molotov cocktails.This is the classic fantasy oil flask.Below TL3, flammable, hot-burn-ing liquids are unavailable in realisticgame worlds.Note that these weapons are fragile.Roll 1d for each bottle if you fall; itbreaks on a roll of 1-4. A foe maystrike at a bottle on your belt (-5 tohit); it breaks automatically if hit.Either result soaks you in flammableliquid: any burning damage will setyou on fire!NetsA net is a thrown entanglingweapon. The target may dodge orparry it. If he successfully parries witha cutting weapon, he damages the net;treat a net of any size as a diffuseobject with DR 1 and normal HP forits weight. If the target fails to defend,he is entangled, and cannot move orattack until freed.To escape, the victim requires atleast one free hand, and must makethree successful DX-4 rolls. Eachattempt counts as a Ready maneuver,during which time the victim maytake no other actions. Animals roll atan extra -2, as do humans with onlyone hand available; rolls to escapefrom a small net are at +3. If the victimfails three consecutive rolls, hebecomes so entangled that he must becut free.It is also possible to escape a net bydamaging it. The victim can only useattacks with reach C, but they hitautomatically. Use the Breaking aWeapon rules (p. 401) but treat a netas diffuse (see Injury to Unliving,Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets,p. 380).You may also use a small net as amelee weapon. It has a reach of 1 or 2yards. Handle the attack as per Lariats(above) and the victims attempt tobreak free as per Bolas (p. 410).FIREARMACCESSORIESThese rules cover the effects of thefirearm accessories mentioned inChapter 8.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS411Bipods and TripodsIf a weapon has an attached bipod,a prone shooter may treat it as if itwere braced (see Aim, p. 364) andreduce its ST requirement to 2/3 nor-mal (round up). To open or close afolding bipod requires a Readymaneuver.A heavy weapon may be mounted,on a tripod or similar device. The gun-ner cannot move or step on any turnhe fires the weapon, but he can defendnormally. He may ignore the weaponsST requirement while it is on itsmount. Removing a weapon from itsmount, or reattaching it, requiresthree Ready maneuvers more, forsome very heavy weapons.Laser SightsThese devices use a low-poweredlaser beam to project an aiming dotonto the target. Some use a visiblebeam; others use a beam visible onlyto infrared or ultraviolet vision.Laser sights have a maximumrange at which they are effective;beyond that range, the dot is too dis-persed to be visible. If no maximumrange is given, assume the sightsrange is matched to the 1/2D range ofthe weapon on which it is mounted.If you can see your own aimingdot, you get +1 to hit, regardless ofwhether you took an Aim maneuver.But if the target can see it, he gets +1to Dodge! Activating a laser sight is afree action; specify whether its onbefore you Aim or Attack.ScopesA telescopic sight, or scope, givesa bonus to hit if you take an Aimmaneuver. With a fixed-power scope,you must Aim for at least as many sec-onds as the scopes bonus. With a vari-able-power scope, you may Aim forfewer seconds, but this reduces yourbonus by a like amount. Scopes arevariable-power unless otherwisenoted.A scope may be integral to aweapon, attached, or part of a vehiclessighting system. Telescopic Vision(p. 92) also gives a scope bonus. Youcan only use one scope (includingTelescopic Vision) at a time. Someadvanced scopes also function asnight-vision devices.SilencersA silencer muffles the sound ofgunshots. Someone several roomsaway indoors, or out of your line ofsight outdoors, gets a Hearing+5 rollto hear an unsilenced shot. This rollmay be at up to +4 for a high-poweredweapon or quiet environment, ordown to -4 for a low-powered gun ornoisy environment (GMs discretion).A typical silencer gives an extra -4,while the best commercial silencersmight give -6.Anyone who is in front of yourweapon and exposed and closeenough for you to attack with it auto-matically hears the shot even with asilencer. However, the silencer makesthe sound difficult to localize: the lis-tener must make an IQ roll (not aHearing roll) to deduce your locationunless youre in plain sight.Silencers are most common forauto pistols and submachine guns, butexist for many other weapons.GUIDEDAND HOMINGWEAPONSSome weapons can be steered, orsteer themselves, once launched. Thismakes it easier to hit distant targets!These weapons appear late in TL6,and are commonly available from TL7on. Most are rocket-propelled, save forunderwater torpedoes but magicalor exotic examples may exist in somegame worlds.Guided WeaponsA guided weapon is a projectilethat can receive steering commands inflight. This enables the firer to keep iton course. The weapon relies on theoperators skill to reach its target. Earlyguided missiles had to be steered bythe operator using a joystick. Modernsystems merely require him to keepthe launchers sights trained on the tar-get; the missile and launchers elec-tronics do the rest.Most reference works categorizeguided weapons according to how thelauncher communicates with the pro-jectile. For instance, a wire-guidedmissile or torpedo receives commandsvia thin wires that spool out behind theprojectile in flight, while a radio-guid-ed weapon receives commands viaradio. There are many other systems!Treat an attack with a guidedweapon exactly like any other rangedattack, except for these special rules:Aim: If you Aim a guided weaponbefore you Attack, you receive its Accbonus but you dont have to aim. Ifthe projectile takes multiple seconds toreach its target (see Time to Target,below), the attack is automaticallyaimed and gets its Acc bonus.Attack: If the target is within theweapons 1/2D range, the weapon canhit on the turn you fire it. Use anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver tofire. If the target is more distant, use aConcentrate maneuver and since theprojectile will be in flight for several412SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSemi-Active Homing WeaponsSemi-active laser or radar homing is common on TL7+ missiles.The seeker head on this type of projectile detects and homes in on thereflections of a laser or radar beam directed at the target. As for otherhoming weapons, the firer does not need to do anything once theweapon is launched. However, someone (the firer or an ally) must aima properly modulated laser or radar beam at the target until the mis-sile hits.Modern soldiers often sneak up close to their targets and use rifle-sized laser designators to direct laser-homing smart bombs ormissiles launched by distant aircraft or artillery. Designating a targetrequires continued Aim maneuvers and a DX-based roll againstForward Observer skill (p. 196); failure means the weapon misses itstarget.seconds, you will also have to takeConcentrate maneuvers on one ormore subsequent turns.Modifiers: Treat a guided weaponas any other firearm when assessingmodifiers, but ignore range modi-fiers! Your target might have elec-tronic countermeasures (ECM) thatgive a penalty to hit. Details dependon the ECM and the guidance system,and are outside the scope of theBasic Set.Homing WeaponsA homing weapon is a projectilethat steers itself to the target. It has itsown homing sense called a seekerhead, on a missile that determineshow it tracks its target. This equates toa sensory advantage; e.g., an infrared-homing missile uses Infravision, whilea radar-homing missile uses ScanningSense (Radar). Some weapons havemultiple homing senses! Use theweapons homing sense(s) instead ofyour senses when assessing combatmodifiers; e.g., radar ignores darknessbut can be jammed.Homing weapons use the usualranged combat rules, with these mod-ifications:Preparation Time: Some launchersrequire several seconds to insert bat-teries, turn on and warm up electron-ic systems, etc. These activities requireReady maneuvers, but are already fac-tored into the time to ready a newshot, as listed with the Shots statistic.Aim: Your weapon must lock onto the target before you can fire. Thistakes an Aim maneuver, and usuallyrequires you to be able to see the tar-get. This special Aim maneuverrequires a roll against your weaponskill: Artillery (Guided Missile), forhoming missiles not Guns orGunner.Attack: Fire a homing weaponusing a Ready maneuver, not anAttack maneuver the projectileattacks on its own! If the target iswithin the weapons 1/2D range, theweapon attacks on the same turn; oth-erwise, see Time to Target, below.When you make the attack roll, do notroll against your skill to hit. Instead,use the weapons skill of 10, adding itsAcc if you made your skill roll forlock on.Modifiers: Homing missiles ignorerange modifiers and all modifiers foryour injury, movement, posture, etc.!Base visibility modifiers on the projec-tiles homing sense, not on your sens-es. Anything that jams this sense (e.g.,radar jammer vs. radar homing) givesa penalty to hit. All other ranged com-bat modifiers (for size, speed, etc.)apply normally.Time to TargetIf a guided or homing attack has a1/2D statistic, do not halve damage.Instead, read this as the attacks speedin yards/second. The projectile can hita target at up to its 1/2D range on theturn you launch it. It requires multipleturns to reach a more distant target.Defer the attack roll until the projec-tile actually reaches its target.The projectile continues to close ata speed equal to its 1/2D until it hastraveled a total distance equal to itsMax (that is, for Max/speed seconds,including the turn of firing). If it stillhas not hit, it will crash, self-destruct,etc. Thus, its possible to outrun aguided or homing attack . . . if yourefast enough!Some further special rules:Guided Weapons: Take aConcentrate maneuver each turn tosteer the weapon. Should you losesight of the target while the attack isen route, your attack misses automat-ically! You must make an Attack orAll-Out Attack (Determined) on theturn the projectile reaches the target.Resolve the attack as if you had firedthe weapon that turn. If you cannotmake an Attack or All-Out Attack, theprojectile will fly past the target andcrash.Homing Weapons: You are nolonger in control of the projectile onceyou launch it. It will home on its own.The projectile itself will take an Attackmaneuver on the turn that it reachesthe target.AREA ANDSPREADINGATTACKSSome attacks dragons breath, gasbombs, etc. affect a wide area.Damage from all such attacks uses theLarge-Area Injury rule (p. 400), unlessthe victim is so big that only a singlebody part is contained within the area.Area-Effect AttacksGas bombs, Molotov cocktails, andsimilar attacks including anythingwith the Area Effect enhancement(p. 102) affect everyone within aspecified radius. Damage does notusually decline with distance. On amiss, use the Scatter rule (see p. 414)to determine where the area is cen-tered. Active defenses dont protectagainst an area attack, but victimsmay dive for cover or retreat out of thearea; see Dodge and Drop (p. 377).Cone AttacksDragons fire, wide-beam micro-wave and sonic weapons, and any-thing with the Cone enhancement(p. 103) are examples of cone attacks.A cone attack requires a roll to hit . . .but it might still catch the target in thearea of effect on a miss! On a hit, thecone is on target; otherwise, use theScatter rule (see p. 414) to determine anew target point. Once you know thetarget point, imagine (or trace on abattle map) a line between the attack-er and that point. The cone spreads toeither side of this line, out to its maxi-mum range.A cone is one yard wide at its ori-gin, but increases in width at a rate ofspread equal to its specified maxi-mum width divided by its maximumrange. For instance, a cone with amaximum range of 100 yards and amaximum width of 5 yards wouldspread by one yard per 20 yards ofrange; out at 60 yards, it would bethree yards wide. If maximum widthis unspecified, assume the conespreads by one yard per yard of range.A cone affects everyone within itsarea, but anyone who is completelyscreened from the attacker by anobject or person is behind cover,which protects normally. Targets mayattempt a dodge defense to leave thearea or get to cover; see Dodge andDrop (p. 377).DissipationCertain cone and area attacks dissi-pate with distance. This is common forrealistic wide-area beam weapons andarea-effect burning attacks. Attackswith the Dissipation limitation(p. 112) also use these rules.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS413
|
Bipods and TripodsIf a weapon has an attached bipod,a prone shooter may treat it as if itwere braced (see Aim, p. 364) andreduce its ST requirement to 2/3 nor-mal (round up). To open or close afolding bipod requires a Readymaneuver.A heavy weapon may be mounted,on a tripod or similar device. The gun-ner cannot move or step on any turnhe fires the weapon, but he can defendnormally. He may ignore the weaponsST requirement while it is on itsmount. Removing a weapon from itsmount, or reattaching it, requiresthree Ready maneuvers more, forsome very heavy weapons.Laser SightsThese devices use a low-poweredlaser beam to project an aiming dotonto the target. Some use a visiblebeam; others use a beam visible onlyto infrared or ultraviolet vision.Laser sights have a maximumrange at which they are effective;beyond that range, the dot is too dis-persed to be visible. If no maximumrange is given, assume the sightsrange is matched to the 1/2D range ofthe weapon on which it is mounted.If you can see your own aimingdot, you get +1 to hit, regardless ofwhether you took an Aim maneuver.But if the target can see it, he gets +1to Dodge! Activating a laser sight is afree action; specify whether its onbefore you Aim or Attack.ScopesA telescopic sight, or scope, givesa bonus to hit if you take an Aimmaneuver. With a fixed-power scope,you must Aim for at least as many sec-onds as the scopes bonus. With a vari-able-power scope, you may Aim forfewer seconds, but this reduces yourbonus by a like amount. Scopes arevariable-power unless otherwisenoted.A scope may be integral to aweapon, attached, or part of a vehiclessighting system. Telescopic Vision(p. 92) also gives a scope bonus. Youcan only use one scope (includingTelescopic Vision) at a time. Someadvanced scopes also function asnight-vision devices.SilencersA silencer muffles the sound ofgunshots. Someone several roomsaway indoors, or out of your line ofsight outdoors, gets a Hearing+5 rollto hear an unsilenced shot. This rollmay be at up to +4 for a high-poweredweapon or quiet environment, ordown to -4 for a low-powered gun ornoisy environment (GMs discretion).A typical silencer gives an extra -4,while the best commercial silencersmight give -6.Anyone who is in front of yourweapon and exposed and closeenough for you to attack with it auto-matically hears the shot even with asilencer. However, the silencer makesthe sound difficult to localize: the lis-tener must make an IQ roll (not aHearing roll) to deduce your locationunless youre in plain sight.Silencers are most common forauto pistols and submachine guns, butexist for many other weapons.GUIDEDAND HOMINGWEAPONSSome weapons can be steered, orsteer themselves, once launched. Thismakes it easier to hit distant targets!These weapons appear late in TL6,and are commonly available from TL7on. Most are rocket-propelled, save forunderwater torpedoes but magicalor exotic examples may exist in somegame worlds.Guided WeaponsA guided weapon is a projectilethat can receive steering commands inflight. This enables the firer to keep iton course. The weapon relies on theoperators skill to reach its target. Earlyguided missiles had to be steered bythe operator using a joystick. Modernsystems merely require him to keepthe launchers sights trained on the tar-get; the missile and launchers elec-tronics do the rest.Most reference works categorizeguided weapons according to how thelauncher communicates with the pro-jectile. For instance, a wire-guidedmissile or torpedo receives commandsvia thin wires that spool out behind theprojectile in flight, while a radio-guid-ed weapon receives commands viaradio. There are many other systems!Treat an attack with a guidedweapon exactly like any other rangedattack, except for these special rules:Aim: If you Aim a guided weaponbefore you Attack, you receive its Accbonus but you dont have to aim. Ifthe projectile takes multiple seconds toreach its target (see Time to Target,below), the attack is automaticallyaimed and gets its Acc bonus.Attack: If the target is within theweapons 1/2D range, the weapon canhit on the turn you fire it. Use anAttack or All-Out Attack maneuver tofire. If the target is more distant, use aConcentrate maneuver and since theprojectile will be in flight for several412SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSemi-Active Homing WeaponsSemi-active laser or radar homing is common on TL7+ missiles.The seeker head on this type of projectile detects and homes in on thereflections of a laser or radar beam directed at the target. As for otherhoming weapons, the firer does not need to do anything once theweapon is launched. However, someone (the firer or an ally) must aima properly modulated laser or radar beam at the target until the mis-sile hits.Modern soldiers often sneak up close to their targets and use rifle-sized laser designators to direct laser-homing smart bombs ormissiles launched by distant aircraft or artillery. Designating a targetrequires continued Aim maneuvers and a DX-based roll againstForward Observer skill (p. 196); failure means the weapon misses itstarget.seconds, you will also have to takeConcentrate maneuvers on one ormore subsequent turns.Modifiers: Treat a guided weaponas any other firearm when assessingmodifiers, but ignore range modi-fiers! Your target might have elec-tronic countermeasures (ECM) thatgive a penalty to hit. Details dependon the ECM and the guidance system,and are outside the scope of theBasic Set.Homing WeaponsA homing weapon is a projectilethat steers itself to the target. It has itsown homing sense called a seekerhead, on a missile that determineshow it tracks its target. This equates toa sensory advantage; e.g., an infrared-homing missile uses Infravision, whilea radar-homing missile uses ScanningSense (Radar). Some weapons havemultiple homing senses! Use theweapons homing sense(s) instead ofyour senses when assessing combatmodifiers; e.g., radar ignores darknessbut can be jammed.Homing weapons use the usualranged combat rules, with these mod-ifications:Preparation Time: Some launchersrequire several seconds to insert bat-teries, turn on and warm up electron-ic systems, etc. These activities requireReady maneuvers, but are already fac-tored into the time to ready a newshot, as listed with the Shots statistic.Aim: Your weapon must lock onto the target before you can fire. Thistakes an Aim maneuver, and usuallyrequires you to be able to see the tar-get. This special Aim maneuverrequires a roll against your weaponskill: Artillery (Guided Missile), forhoming missiles not Guns orGunner.Attack: Fire a homing weaponusing a Ready maneuver, not anAttack maneuver the projectileattacks on its own! If the target iswithin the weapons 1/2D range, theweapon attacks on the same turn; oth-erwise, see Time to Target, below.When you make the attack roll, do notroll against your skill to hit. Instead,use the weapons skill of 10, adding itsAcc if you made your skill roll forlock on.Modifiers: Homing missiles ignorerange modifiers and all modifiers foryour injury, movement, posture, etc.!Base visibility modifiers on the projec-tiles homing sense, not on your sens-es. Anything that jams this sense (e.g.,radar jammer vs. radar homing) givesa penalty to hit. All other ranged com-bat modifiers (for size, speed, etc.)apply normally.Time to TargetIf a guided or homing attack has a1/2D statistic, do not halve damage.Instead, read this as the attacks speedin yards/second. The projectile can hita target at up to its 1/2D range on theturn you launch it. It requires multipleturns to reach a more distant target.Defer the attack roll until the projec-tile actually reaches its target.The projectile continues to close ata speed equal to its 1/2D until it hastraveled a total distance equal to itsMax (that is, for Max/speed seconds,including the turn of firing). If it stillhas not hit, it will crash, self-destruct,etc. Thus, its possible to outrun aguided or homing attack . . . if yourefast enough!Some further special rules:Guided Weapons: Take aConcentrate maneuver each turn tosteer the weapon. Should you losesight of the target while the attack isen route, your attack misses automat-ically! You must make an Attack orAll-Out Attack (Determined) on theturn the projectile reaches the target.Resolve the attack as if you had firedthe weapon that turn. If you cannotmake an Attack or All-Out Attack, theprojectile will fly past the target andcrash.Homing Weapons: You are nolonger in control of the projectile onceyou launch it. It will home on its own.The projectile itself will take an Attackmaneuver on the turn that it reachesthe target.AREA ANDSPREADINGATTACKSSome attacks dragons breath, gasbombs, etc. affect a wide area.Damage from all such attacks uses theLarge-Area Injury rule (p. 400), unlessthe victim is so big that only a singlebody part is contained within the area.Area-Effect AttacksGas bombs, Molotov cocktails, andsimilar attacks including anythingwith the Area Effect enhancement(p. 102) affect everyone within aspecified radius. Damage does notusually decline with distance. On amiss, use the Scatter rule (see p. 414)to determine where the area is cen-tered. Active defenses dont protectagainst an area attack, but victimsmay dive for cover or retreat out of thearea; see Dodge and Drop (p. 377).Cone AttacksDragons fire, wide-beam micro-wave and sonic weapons, and any-thing with the Cone enhancement(p. 103) are examples of cone attacks.A cone attack requires a roll to hit . . .but it might still catch the target in thearea of effect on a miss! On a hit, thecone is on target; otherwise, use theScatter rule (see p. 414) to determine anew target point. Once you know thetarget point, imagine (or trace on abattle map) a line between the attack-er and that point. The cone spreads toeither side of this line, out to its maxi-mum range.A cone is one yard wide at its ori-gin, but increases in width at a rate ofspread equal to its specified maxi-mum width divided by its maximumrange. For instance, a cone with amaximum range of 100 yards and amaximum width of 5 yards wouldspread by one yard per 20 yards ofrange; out at 60 yards, it would bethree yards wide. If maximum widthis unspecified, assume the conespreads by one yard per yard of range.A cone affects everyone within itsarea, but anyone who is completelyscreened from the attacker by anobject or person is behind cover,which protects normally. Targets mayattempt a dodge defense to leave thearea or get to cover; see Dodge andDrop (p. 377).DissipationCertain cone and area attacks dissi-pate with distance. This is common forrealistic wide-area beam weapons andarea-effect burning attacks. Attackswith the Dissipation limitation(p. 112) also use these rules.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS413In the case of a damaging attack(e.g., Innate Attack), damage declineswith the targets distance from the cen-ter of the area or the apex of the cone.For a cone, divide damage by thecones width in yards at the targetsdistance from the apex. For an areaeffect, divide damage by the distancein yards between the target and thecenter of the effect.For an attack that allows a HT rollto resist (e.g., Affliction), find thedamage divisor as above, but do notapply it to damage (if any). Instead,use the divisor as a bonus to the HTroll to resist; e.g., two yards from thecenter of an area effect, add +2 to HT.414SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSAttacking an AreaYou can deliberately attack an area of ground withan area-effect or explosive attack. For a Molotov cock-tail, grenade, etc., this means you lobbed it in a higharc. Roll to hit at +4. Theres no defense roll, but any-one in the area can dive for cover; see Dodge and Drop(p. 377).When an area-effect, cone, or explosive attack miss-es its target, its important to know where it actuallyends up!If you fail your attack roll, you missed your targetby a number of yards equal to your margin of failure,to a maximum of half the distance to the target (roundup). If the enemy dodges, use his margin of success todetermine distance instead.Exception: If your target was flying or underwater,or youre using the Artillery or Dropping skill to fireupon or bomb a target you cant see, you miss by yardsequal to the square of your margin of failure. This doesnot apply to a dodge.To determine the direction of your miss, roll onedie. Take the direction you are facing as a roll of 1, 60clockwise (the next facing, on a hex map) as a roll of 2,and so on. Your attack misses in that direction, by thenumber of yards determined above.EXPLOSIONSCertain attacks, such as handgrenades and Explosive Fireball spells,produce a blast when they hit. Suchattacks have the notation ex aftertheir damage type: cr ex for a crush-ing explosion, burn ex for a burningexplosion, and so on.In addition to doing the listed dam-age to whoever was struck directly, anexplosion inflicts collateral damageon everything within (2 dice of dam-age) yards. For instance, if an explo-sion does 6d2 damage, everyonewithin 24 yards is vulnerable although some might be lucky enoughto take little or no damage.The listed damage only applies asis to the target struck. For everythingelse caught in the blast, roll this dam-age but divide it by (3 distance inyards from the center of the blast),rounding down. Roll damage individ-ually (but the GM can save time byusing one roll for several NPCs). Usetorso armor to determine DR againstexplosion damage.If an explosive attack has an armordivisor, it does not apply to the collat-eral damage. For example, the shaped-charge warhead of an anti-tank rockethas an armor divisor of (10), but thisonly reduces the DR of a target it actu-ally strikes; those nearby get their fullDR against the blast.Explosions are considered incendi-ary attacks, and can start fires; seeCatching Fire (p. 434).Anyone caught in a blast mayattempt an active defense roll to divefor cover from the explosions collater-al damage and fragmentation; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).Fragmentation DamageMany grenades, bombs, andartillery shells have metal casingsdesigned to shatter when theyexplode, producing a storm of sharpfragments. Some are packed withScatter
|
seconds, you will also have to takeConcentrate maneuvers on one ormore subsequent turns.Modifiers: Treat a guided weaponas any other firearm when assessingmodifiers, but ignore range modi-fiers! Your target might have elec-tronic countermeasures (ECM) thatgive a penalty to hit. Details dependon the ECM and the guidance system,and are outside the scope of theBasic Set.Homing WeaponsA homing weapon is a projectilethat steers itself to the target. It has itsown homing sense called a seekerhead, on a missile that determineshow it tracks its target. This equates toa sensory advantage; e.g., an infrared-homing missile uses Infravision, whilea radar-homing missile uses ScanningSense (Radar). Some weapons havemultiple homing senses! Use theweapons homing sense(s) instead ofyour senses when assessing combatmodifiers; e.g., radar ignores darknessbut can be jammed.Homing weapons use the usualranged combat rules, with these mod-ifications:Preparation Time: Some launchersrequire several seconds to insert bat-teries, turn on and warm up electron-ic systems, etc. These activities requireReady maneuvers, but are already fac-tored into the time to ready a newshot, as listed with the Shots statistic.Aim: Your weapon must lock onto the target before you can fire. Thistakes an Aim maneuver, and usuallyrequires you to be able to see the tar-get. This special Aim maneuverrequires a roll against your weaponskill: Artillery (Guided Missile), forhoming missiles not Guns orGunner.Attack: Fire a homing weaponusing a Ready maneuver, not anAttack maneuver the projectileattacks on its own! If the target iswithin the weapons 1/2D range, theweapon attacks on the same turn; oth-erwise, see Time to Target, below.When you make the attack roll, do notroll against your skill to hit. Instead,use the weapons skill of 10, adding itsAcc if you made your skill roll forlock on.Modifiers: Homing missiles ignorerange modifiers and all modifiers foryour injury, movement, posture, etc.!Base visibility modifiers on the projec-tiles homing sense, not on your sens-es. Anything that jams this sense (e.g.,radar jammer vs. radar homing) givesa penalty to hit. All other ranged com-bat modifiers (for size, speed, etc.)apply normally.Time to TargetIf a guided or homing attack has a1/2D statistic, do not halve damage.Instead, read this as the attacks speedin yards/second. The projectile can hita target at up to its 1/2D range on theturn you launch it. It requires multipleturns to reach a more distant target.Defer the attack roll until the projec-tile actually reaches its target.The projectile continues to close ata speed equal to its 1/2D until it hastraveled a total distance equal to itsMax (that is, for Max/speed seconds,including the turn of firing). If it stillhas not hit, it will crash, self-destruct,etc. Thus, its possible to outrun aguided or homing attack . . . if yourefast enough!Some further special rules:Guided Weapons: Take aConcentrate maneuver each turn tosteer the weapon. Should you losesight of the target while the attack isen route, your attack misses automat-ically! You must make an Attack orAll-Out Attack (Determined) on theturn the projectile reaches the target.Resolve the attack as if you had firedthe weapon that turn. If you cannotmake an Attack or All-Out Attack, theprojectile will fly past the target andcrash.Homing Weapons: You are nolonger in control of the projectile onceyou launch it. It will home on its own.The projectile itself will take an Attackmaneuver on the turn that it reachesthe target.AREA ANDSPREADINGATTACKSSome attacks dragons breath, gasbombs, etc. affect a wide area.Damage from all such attacks uses theLarge-Area Injury rule (p. 400), unlessthe victim is so big that only a singlebody part is contained within the area.Area-Effect AttacksGas bombs, Molotov cocktails, andsimilar attacks including anythingwith the Area Effect enhancement(p. 102) affect everyone within aspecified radius. Damage does notusually decline with distance. On amiss, use the Scatter rule (see p. 414)to determine where the area is cen-tered. Active defenses dont protectagainst an area attack, but victimsmay dive for cover or retreat out of thearea; see Dodge and Drop (p. 377).Cone AttacksDragons fire, wide-beam micro-wave and sonic weapons, and any-thing with the Cone enhancement(p. 103) are examples of cone attacks.A cone attack requires a roll to hit . . .but it might still catch the target in thearea of effect on a miss! On a hit, thecone is on target; otherwise, use theScatter rule (see p. 414) to determine anew target point. Once you know thetarget point, imagine (or trace on abattle map) a line between the attack-er and that point. The cone spreads toeither side of this line, out to its maxi-mum range.A cone is one yard wide at its ori-gin, but increases in width at a rate ofspread equal to its specified maxi-mum width divided by its maximumrange. For instance, a cone with amaximum range of 100 yards and amaximum width of 5 yards wouldspread by one yard per 20 yards ofrange; out at 60 yards, it would bethree yards wide. If maximum widthis unspecified, assume the conespreads by one yard per yard of range.A cone affects everyone within itsarea, but anyone who is completelyscreened from the attacker by anobject or person is behind cover,which protects normally. Targets mayattempt a dodge defense to leave thearea or get to cover; see Dodge andDrop (p. 377).DissipationCertain cone and area attacks dissi-pate with distance. This is common forrealistic wide-area beam weapons andarea-effect burning attacks. Attackswith the Dissipation limitation(p. 112) also use these rules.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS413In the case of a damaging attack(e.g., Innate Attack), damage declineswith the targets distance from the cen-ter of the area or the apex of the cone.For a cone, divide damage by thecones width in yards at the targetsdistance from the apex. For an areaeffect, divide damage by the distancein yards between the target and thecenter of the effect.For an attack that allows a HT rollto resist (e.g., Affliction), find thedamage divisor as above, but do notapply it to damage (if any). Instead,use the divisor as a bonus to the HTroll to resist; e.g., two yards from thecenter of an area effect, add +2 to HT.414SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSAttacking an AreaYou can deliberately attack an area of ground withan area-effect or explosive attack. For a Molotov cock-tail, grenade, etc., this means you lobbed it in a higharc. Roll to hit at +4. Theres no defense roll, but any-one in the area can dive for cover; see Dodge and Drop(p. 377).When an area-effect, cone, or explosive attack miss-es its target, its important to know where it actuallyends up!If you fail your attack roll, you missed your targetby a number of yards equal to your margin of failure,to a maximum of half the distance to the target (roundup). If the enemy dodges, use his margin of success todetermine distance instead.Exception: If your target was flying or underwater,or youre using the Artillery or Dropping skill to fireupon or bomb a target you cant see, you miss by yardsequal to the square of your margin of failure. This doesnot apply to a dodge.To determine the direction of your miss, roll onedie. Take the direction you are facing as a roll of 1, 60clockwise (the next facing, on a hex map) as a roll of 2,and so on. Your attack misses in that direction, by thenumber of yards determined above.EXPLOSIONSCertain attacks, such as handgrenades and Explosive Fireball spells,produce a blast when they hit. Suchattacks have the notation ex aftertheir damage type: cr ex for a crush-ing explosion, burn ex for a burningexplosion, and so on.In addition to doing the listed dam-age to whoever was struck directly, anexplosion inflicts collateral damageon everything within (2 dice of dam-age) yards. For instance, if an explo-sion does 6d2 damage, everyonewithin 24 yards is vulnerable although some might be lucky enoughto take little or no damage.The listed damage only applies asis to the target struck. For everythingelse caught in the blast, roll this dam-age but divide it by (3 distance inyards from the center of the blast),rounding down. Roll damage individ-ually (but the GM can save time byusing one roll for several NPCs). Usetorso armor to determine DR againstexplosion damage.If an explosive attack has an armordivisor, it does not apply to the collat-eral damage. For example, the shaped-charge warhead of an anti-tank rockethas an armor divisor of (10), but thisonly reduces the DR of a target it actu-ally strikes; those nearby get their fullDR against the blast.Explosions are considered incendi-ary attacks, and can start fires; seeCatching Fire (p. 434).Anyone caught in a blast mayattempt an active defense roll to divefor cover from the explosions collater-al damage and fragmentation; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).Fragmentation DamageMany grenades, bombs, andartillery shells have metal casingsdesigned to shatter when theyexplode, producing a storm of sharpfragments. Some are packed withScatterextra material (pellets, nails, etc.) toenhance this effect.Fragmentation damage, if any,appears in brackets after explosivedamage; e.g., [2d] means 2d frag-mentation damage. Everyone within(5 dice of fragmentation damage)yards is vulnerable. For example, that[2d] attack would throw fragmentsout to 5 2 = 10 yards.The farther a target is from theblast, the less likely the fragments areto hit him. A hit is automatic if theexplosive attack actually strikes thetarget. The fragments attack everyoneelse in the area at skill 15. Only threemodifiers apply: the range modifierfor the distance from the center of theblast to the target, the modifier for thetargets posture (prone, etc.), and thetargets Size Modifier. It is possible forseveral fragments to hit! For everythree points by which the attack rollsucceeds, one additional fragmentstrikes the target.The only active defense againstfragments is to dive away from theexplosion that produced them; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).For each hit, roll hit location ran-domly. If that location is behind cover,the fragment hits cover.Fragmentation damage is cutting.Note that if an explosive attack has anarmor divisor, this does not apply tothe fragments it produces.Airbursts: Against an airburst, donot apply posture modifiers lyingprone under an airburst does notdecrease the body area exposed to therain of fragments! Only overheadcover protects.Incidental Fragmentation: Anexplosion with no listed fragmenta-tion damage can still create fragmentsif there is any loose or frangible mate-rial at the explosion site. Incidentalfragmentation damage ranges from1d-4 for ordinary earth to 1d for anexplosion on loose scrap.Hot Fragments: White phosphorus-type smoke warheads produce thiseffect. The fragments typically inflict1d(0.2) burning damage every 10 sec-onds for one minute.DemolitionSometimes the only way to dealwith a problem is to blow it up! If theadventurers are using or facingexplosives, the PCs or GM shoulddecide how many dice of damage inmultiples of 6d the blasting chargeis supposed to do, and what kind ofexplosive it is.Explosives normally do crushingdamage with the Explosion modifier(p. 104) and often the Fragmentationmodifier (p. 104).How Much Explosive? An explo-sion doing 6dn damage takes (nn)/4pounds of TNT. If you are using anexplosive other than TNT, divide the weight required by its relativeexplosive force (REF) see theRelative Explosive Force Table, below.How Big a Blast? Reverse the for-mula to determine how much damagea given weight of explosive will do:damage is 6d square root of (weightof explosive in lbs. 4 REF).Example: A 1920s Chicago safe-cracker plans to blast through a bankvault. Estimating the toughness of thevault (see p. 557), he decides he needs ablast that does 6d8 damage. Hes usingdynamite. The weight of dynamite heneeds is (8 8)/(4 0.8) = 20 lbs.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS415Relative Explosive Force TableTLTypeREFDescription3Serpentine Powder0.3Standard gunpowder, pre-1600.4Ammonium Nitrate0.4Common improvised explosive.4Black Powder0.4Standard gunpowder, 1600-1850.5Black Powder0.5Standard gunpowder, 1850-1890.6Diesel Fuel/Nitrate Fertilizer0.5Common improvised explosive.6Dynamite0.8Commercially available for mining, demolition.6TNT1.0The basic, stable, high explosive.6Amatol1.2TNT-ammonium nitrate. Fillsbombs & shells in WWII.6Nitroglycerine1.5Unstable! If dropped, detonates on 13+ on 3d.7Tetryl1.3Common for smaller explosive shells and bullets.7Composition B1.4Another common explosive filler.7C4 Plastic Explosive1.4Standard military and covert-ops explosive.9Octanitrocubane4Theoretical advanced explosive.10Stabilized Metallic Hydrogen6Exotic science-fiction explosive.Explosions in Other EnvironmentsOther Atmospheres: These rules assume Earth-normal air pressure.A thicker or thinner atmosphere enhances or reduces the blast effect.Underwater, divide collateral damage by range in yards instead of 3 range in yards. In a vacuum or trace atmosphere, with no medium tocarry the shockwave, damage comes only from the expanding gasesthemselves: divide damage by 10 range in yards.Contact Explosions: A person can throw himself on a grenade, etc. toprotect his friends; see Sacrificial Dodge and Drop, p. 377. He takes max-imum possible damage; his DR protects him normally. Everyone elsegets his torsos DR + HP as cover DR.Internal Explosions: If an explosive goes off inside someone e.g., afollow-up attack penetrates the targets DR, or a dragon swallows ahand grenade DR has no effect! In addition, treat the blast as an attackon the vitals, with a 3 wounding modifier.
|
In the case of a damaging attack(e.g., Innate Attack), damage declineswith the targets distance from the cen-ter of the area or the apex of the cone.For a cone, divide damage by thecones width in yards at the targetsdistance from the apex. For an areaeffect, divide damage by the distancein yards between the target and thecenter of the effect.For an attack that allows a HT rollto resist (e.g., Affliction), find thedamage divisor as above, but do notapply it to damage (if any). Instead,use the divisor as a bonus to the HTroll to resist; e.g., two yards from thecenter of an area effect, add +2 to HT.414SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSAttacking an AreaYou can deliberately attack an area of ground withan area-effect or explosive attack. For a Molotov cock-tail, grenade, etc., this means you lobbed it in a higharc. Roll to hit at +4. Theres no defense roll, but any-one in the area can dive for cover; see Dodge and Drop(p. 377).When an area-effect, cone, or explosive attack miss-es its target, its important to know where it actuallyends up!If you fail your attack roll, you missed your targetby a number of yards equal to your margin of failure,to a maximum of half the distance to the target (roundup). If the enemy dodges, use his margin of success todetermine distance instead.Exception: If your target was flying or underwater,or youre using the Artillery or Dropping skill to fireupon or bomb a target you cant see, you miss by yardsequal to the square of your margin of failure. This doesnot apply to a dodge.To determine the direction of your miss, roll onedie. Take the direction you are facing as a roll of 1, 60clockwise (the next facing, on a hex map) as a roll of 2,and so on. Your attack misses in that direction, by thenumber of yards determined above.EXPLOSIONSCertain attacks, such as handgrenades and Explosive Fireball spells,produce a blast when they hit. Suchattacks have the notation ex aftertheir damage type: cr ex for a crush-ing explosion, burn ex for a burningexplosion, and so on.In addition to doing the listed dam-age to whoever was struck directly, anexplosion inflicts collateral damageon everything within (2 dice of dam-age) yards. For instance, if an explo-sion does 6d2 damage, everyonewithin 24 yards is vulnerable although some might be lucky enoughto take little or no damage.The listed damage only applies asis to the target struck. For everythingelse caught in the blast, roll this dam-age but divide it by (3 distance inyards from the center of the blast),rounding down. Roll damage individ-ually (but the GM can save time byusing one roll for several NPCs). Usetorso armor to determine DR againstexplosion damage.If an explosive attack has an armordivisor, it does not apply to the collat-eral damage. For example, the shaped-charge warhead of an anti-tank rockethas an armor divisor of (10), but thisonly reduces the DR of a target it actu-ally strikes; those nearby get their fullDR against the blast.Explosions are considered incendi-ary attacks, and can start fires; seeCatching Fire (p. 434).Anyone caught in a blast mayattempt an active defense roll to divefor cover from the explosions collater-al damage and fragmentation; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).Fragmentation DamageMany grenades, bombs, andartillery shells have metal casingsdesigned to shatter when theyexplode, producing a storm of sharpfragments. Some are packed withScatterextra material (pellets, nails, etc.) toenhance this effect.Fragmentation damage, if any,appears in brackets after explosivedamage; e.g., [2d] means 2d frag-mentation damage. Everyone within(5 dice of fragmentation damage)yards is vulnerable. For example, that[2d] attack would throw fragmentsout to 5 2 = 10 yards.The farther a target is from theblast, the less likely the fragments areto hit him. A hit is automatic if theexplosive attack actually strikes thetarget. The fragments attack everyoneelse in the area at skill 15. Only threemodifiers apply: the range modifierfor the distance from the center of theblast to the target, the modifier for thetargets posture (prone, etc.), and thetargets Size Modifier. It is possible forseveral fragments to hit! For everythree points by which the attack rollsucceeds, one additional fragmentstrikes the target.The only active defense againstfragments is to dive away from theexplosion that produced them; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).For each hit, roll hit location ran-domly. If that location is behind cover,the fragment hits cover.Fragmentation damage is cutting.Note that if an explosive attack has anarmor divisor, this does not apply tothe fragments it produces.Airbursts: Against an airburst, donot apply posture modifiers lyingprone under an airburst does notdecrease the body area exposed to therain of fragments! Only overheadcover protects.Incidental Fragmentation: Anexplosion with no listed fragmenta-tion damage can still create fragmentsif there is any loose or frangible mate-rial at the explosion site. Incidentalfragmentation damage ranges from1d-4 for ordinary earth to 1d for anexplosion on loose scrap.Hot Fragments: White phosphorus-type smoke warheads produce thiseffect. The fragments typically inflict1d(0.2) burning damage every 10 sec-onds for one minute.DemolitionSometimes the only way to dealwith a problem is to blow it up! If theadventurers are using or facingexplosives, the PCs or GM shoulddecide how many dice of damage inmultiples of 6d the blasting chargeis supposed to do, and what kind ofexplosive it is.Explosives normally do crushingdamage with the Explosion modifier(p. 104) and often the Fragmentationmodifier (p. 104).How Much Explosive? An explo-sion doing 6dn damage takes (nn)/4pounds of TNT. If you are using anexplosive other than TNT, divide the weight required by its relativeexplosive force (REF) see theRelative Explosive Force Table, below.How Big a Blast? Reverse the for-mula to determine how much damagea given weight of explosive will do:damage is 6d square root of (weightof explosive in lbs. 4 REF).Example: A 1920s Chicago safe-cracker plans to blast through a bankvault. Estimating the toughness of thevault (see p. 557), he decides he needs ablast that does 6d8 damage. Hes usingdynamite. The weight of dynamite heneeds is (8 8)/(4 0.8) = 20 lbs.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS415Relative Explosive Force TableTLTypeREFDescription3Serpentine Powder0.3Standard gunpowder, pre-1600.4Ammonium Nitrate0.4Common improvised explosive.4Black Powder0.4Standard gunpowder, 1600-1850.5Black Powder0.5Standard gunpowder, 1850-1890.6Diesel Fuel/Nitrate Fertilizer0.5Common improvised explosive.6Dynamite0.8Commercially available for mining, demolition.6TNT1.0The basic, stable, high explosive.6Amatol1.2TNT-ammonium nitrate. Fillsbombs & shells in WWII.6Nitroglycerine1.5Unstable! If dropped, detonates on 13+ on 3d.7Tetryl1.3Common for smaller explosive shells and bullets.7Composition B1.4Another common explosive filler.7C4 Plastic Explosive1.4Standard military and covert-ops explosive.9Octanitrocubane4Theoretical advanced explosive.10Stabilized Metallic Hydrogen6Exotic science-fiction explosive.Explosions in Other EnvironmentsOther Atmospheres: These rules assume Earth-normal air pressure.A thicker or thinner atmosphere enhances or reduces the blast effect.Underwater, divide collateral damage by range in yards instead of 3 range in yards. In a vacuum or trace atmosphere, with no medium tocarry the shockwave, damage comes only from the expanding gasesthemselves: divide damage by 10 range in yards.Contact Explosions: A person can throw himself on a grenade, etc. toprotect his friends; see Sacrificial Dodge and Drop, p. 377. He takes max-imum possible damage; his DR protects him normally. Everyone elsegets his torsos DR + HP as cover DR.Internal Explosions: If an explosive goes off inside someone e.g., afollow-up attack penetrates the targets DR, or a dragon swallows ahand grenade DR has no effect! In addition, treat the blast as an attackon the vitals, with a 3 wounding modifier.These rules cover attacks that dontsimply bash through the targets DR toinjure him.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is any attack thatcauses a baneful effect blindness,choking, stunning, etc. instead ofdamage. Examples include tear gas,stun guns, the Affliction advantage(p. 35), and most other nonlethalweapons and powers.The target of an affliction alwaysgets a modified HT roll to resist; e.g.,HT-3. His DR normally adds to thisroll; for instance, DR 1 gives +1 to HT.However, afflictions often have armordivisors or special penetration modi-fiers (see below) that bypass some orall of the targets DR. For example, DRgives no HT bonus against a follow-upaffliction if the carrier attack pene-trates DR.On a failed HT roll, the victim suf-fers the effects of the affliction: stun-ning for high-tech stun guns, chokingand partial blindness for tear gas, etc. See Afflictions (p. 428) for descrip-tions of the most common effects.Since afflictions represent a hugevariety of different attacks frombeam weapons to chemical agents topsionic mind blasts you should con-sult the footnotes to the relevantweapon table for full details.Linked Afflictions: Some attacksthat inflict ordinary damage have anaffliction linked to them. For exam-ple, a cattle prod does burning dam-age and requires the victim to make aHT-3 roll to avoid stunning. Anyonehit by such an attack must attempt hisresistance roll or suffer the affliction,regardless of whether any damage pen-etrates his DR.Side Effects: Certain damagingattacks cause an affliction as a sideeffect . . . if they inflict injury. The vic-tim gets a HT roll to resist, but typi-cally at -1 per 2 points of injury.SPECIALPENETRATIONMODIFIERSIn addition to armor divisors (see Armor Divisors and PenetrationModifiers, p. 378) and follow-upattacks (see Follow-Up Damage,p. 381), there are several other pene-tration modifiers:Blood Agent: The attack mustreach an open wound or mucousmembrane (eyes, open mouth, nose,etc.) to be effective. If it does not, ithas no effect at all. See Blood Agent(p. 110) for detailed rules.Contact Agent: This is most com-mon for contact poison, nerve gas,and exotic hand of death effects.The attack must touch bare skin orporous clothing to have any effect.Any DR stops it, unless the DR is lim-ited with Tough Skin. Exception: If theattack is an Area Effect (p. 102) orCone (p. 103), it affects everyone inthe area who lacks the Sealed advan-tage (either innate or granted by asealed suit).Respiratory Agent: The attackaffects only those who inhale it. DRhas no effect but the attack cannotharm those who are holding theirbreath, breathing supplied air (e.g., ina vacuum suit), or using a gas mask orrespirator. It is also totally ineffectiveagainst anyone who has either theDoesnt Breathe or Filter Lungsadvantage.Sense-Based: The attack is chan-neled through one or more of the vic-tims senses (e.g., vision or hearing),as specified for the attack. It can onlyaffect someone using the targetedsense. See Sense-Based (p. 109) fordetails.416SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL DAMAGE
|
extra material (pellets, nails, etc.) toenhance this effect.Fragmentation damage, if any,appears in brackets after explosivedamage; e.g., [2d] means 2d frag-mentation damage. Everyone within(5 dice of fragmentation damage)yards is vulnerable. For example, that[2d] attack would throw fragmentsout to 5 2 = 10 yards.The farther a target is from theblast, the less likely the fragments areto hit him. A hit is automatic if theexplosive attack actually strikes thetarget. The fragments attack everyoneelse in the area at skill 15. Only threemodifiers apply: the range modifierfor the distance from the center of theblast to the target, the modifier for thetargets posture (prone, etc.), and thetargets Size Modifier. It is possible forseveral fragments to hit! For everythree points by which the attack rollsucceeds, one additional fragmentstrikes the target.The only active defense againstfragments is to dive away from theexplosion that produced them; seeDodge and Drop (p. 377).For each hit, roll hit location ran-domly. If that location is behind cover,the fragment hits cover.Fragmentation damage is cutting.Note that if an explosive attack has anarmor divisor, this does not apply tothe fragments it produces.Airbursts: Against an airburst, donot apply posture modifiers lyingprone under an airburst does notdecrease the body area exposed to therain of fragments! Only overheadcover protects.Incidental Fragmentation: Anexplosion with no listed fragmenta-tion damage can still create fragmentsif there is any loose or frangible mate-rial at the explosion site. Incidentalfragmentation damage ranges from1d-4 for ordinary earth to 1d for anexplosion on loose scrap.Hot Fragments: White phosphorus-type smoke warheads produce thiseffect. The fragments typically inflict1d(0.2) burning damage every 10 sec-onds for one minute.DemolitionSometimes the only way to dealwith a problem is to blow it up! If theadventurers are using or facingexplosives, the PCs or GM shoulddecide how many dice of damage inmultiples of 6d the blasting chargeis supposed to do, and what kind ofexplosive it is.Explosives normally do crushingdamage with the Explosion modifier(p. 104) and often the Fragmentationmodifier (p. 104).How Much Explosive? An explo-sion doing 6dn damage takes (nn)/4pounds of TNT. If you are using anexplosive other than TNT, divide the weight required by its relativeexplosive force (REF) see theRelative Explosive Force Table, below.How Big a Blast? Reverse the for-mula to determine how much damagea given weight of explosive will do:damage is 6d square root of (weightof explosive in lbs. 4 REF).Example: A 1920s Chicago safe-cracker plans to blast through a bankvault. Estimating the toughness of thevault (see p. 557), he decides he needs ablast that does 6d8 damage. Hes usingdynamite. The weight of dynamite heneeds is (8 8)/(4 0.8) = 20 lbs.SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS415Relative Explosive Force TableTLTypeREFDescription3Serpentine Powder0.3Standard gunpowder, pre-1600.4Ammonium Nitrate0.4Common improvised explosive.4Black Powder0.4Standard gunpowder, 1600-1850.5Black Powder0.5Standard gunpowder, 1850-1890.6Diesel Fuel/Nitrate Fertilizer0.5Common improvised explosive.6Dynamite0.8Commercially available for mining, demolition.6TNT1.0The basic, stable, high explosive.6Amatol1.2TNT-ammonium nitrate. Fillsbombs & shells in WWII.6Nitroglycerine1.5Unstable! If dropped, detonates on 13+ on 3d.7Tetryl1.3Common for smaller explosive shells and bullets.7Composition B1.4Another common explosive filler.7C4 Plastic Explosive1.4Standard military and covert-ops explosive.9Octanitrocubane4Theoretical advanced explosive.10Stabilized Metallic Hydrogen6Exotic science-fiction explosive.Explosions in Other EnvironmentsOther Atmospheres: These rules assume Earth-normal air pressure.A thicker or thinner atmosphere enhances or reduces the blast effect.Underwater, divide collateral damage by range in yards instead of 3 range in yards. In a vacuum or trace atmosphere, with no medium tocarry the shockwave, damage comes only from the expanding gasesthemselves: divide damage by 10 range in yards.Contact Explosions: A person can throw himself on a grenade, etc. toprotect his friends; see Sacrificial Dodge and Drop, p. 377. He takes max-imum possible damage; his DR protects him normally. Everyone elsegets his torsos DR + HP as cover DR.Internal Explosions: If an explosive goes off inside someone e.g., afollow-up attack penetrates the targets DR, or a dragon swallows ahand grenade DR has no effect! In addition, treat the blast as an attackon the vitals, with a 3 wounding modifier.These rules cover attacks that dontsimply bash through the targets DR toinjure him.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is any attack thatcauses a baneful effect blindness,choking, stunning, etc. instead ofdamage. Examples include tear gas,stun guns, the Affliction advantage(p. 35), and most other nonlethalweapons and powers.The target of an affliction alwaysgets a modified HT roll to resist; e.g.,HT-3. His DR normally adds to thisroll; for instance, DR 1 gives +1 to HT.However, afflictions often have armordivisors or special penetration modi-fiers (see below) that bypass some orall of the targets DR. For example, DRgives no HT bonus against a follow-upaffliction if the carrier attack pene-trates DR.On a failed HT roll, the victim suf-fers the effects of the affliction: stun-ning for high-tech stun guns, chokingand partial blindness for tear gas, etc. See Afflictions (p. 428) for descrip-tions of the most common effects.Since afflictions represent a hugevariety of different attacks frombeam weapons to chemical agents topsionic mind blasts you should con-sult the footnotes to the relevantweapon table for full details.Linked Afflictions: Some attacksthat inflict ordinary damage have anaffliction linked to them. For exam-ple, a cattle prod does burning dam-age and requires the victim to make aHT-3 roll to avoid stunning. Anyonehit by such an attack must attempt hisresistance roll or suffer the affliction,regardless of whether any damage pen-etrates his DR.Side Effects: Certain damagingattacks cause an affliction as a sideeffect . . . if they inflict injury. The vic-tim gets a HT roll to resist, but typi-cally at -1 per 2 points of injury.SPECIALPENETRATIONMODIFIERSIn addition to armor divisors (see Armor Divisors and PenetrationModifiers, p. 378) and follow-upattacks (see Follow-Up Damage,p. 381), there are several other pene-tration modifiers:Blood Agent: The attack mustreach an open wound or mucousmembrane (eyes, open mouth, nose,etc.) to be effective. If it does not, ithas no effect at all. See Blood Agent(p. 110) for detailed rules.Contact Agent: This is most com-mon for contact poison, nerve gas,and exotic hand of death effects.The attack must touch bare skin orporous clothing to have any effect.Any DR stops it, unless the DR is lim-ited with Tough Skin. Exception: If theattack is an Area Effect (p. 102) orCone (p. 103), it affects everyone inthe area who lacks the Sealed advan-tage (either innate or granted by asealed suit).Respiratory Agent: The attackaffects only those who inhale it. DRhas no effect but the attack cannotharm those who are holding theirbreath, breathing supplied air (e.g., ina vacuum suit), or using a gas mask orrespirator. It is also totally ineffectiveagainst anyone who has either theDoesnt Breathe or Filter Lungsadvantage.Sense-Based: The attack is chan-neled through one or more of the vic-tims senses (e.g., vision or hearing),as specified for the attack. It can onlyaffect someone using the targetedsense. See Sense-Based (p. 109) fordetails.416SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL DAMAGESPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS417The following rules are shameless-ly unrealistic and strictly optional, butcan be fun in larger-than-life games!Bulletproof NudityPCs with Attractive or betterappearance can get a bonus to activedefenses simply by undressing! Anyoutfit that bares legs, chest, or midriffis +1. Just a loincloth or skimpyswimwear is +2. Topless females getan extra +1. Total nudity gives no fur-ther bonus to defense, but adds +1 toMove and +2 water Move.Cannon FodderThe GM may rule that minor NPCsare mere cannon fodder, with theseeffects:1. They automatically fail alldefense rolls . . . yet never All-OutAttack.2. They collapse (unconscious ordead) if any penetrating damage getsthrough DR. If they are unprotected,or if the heros attacks are such thatdamage would always penetrate,theres no need to roll damage at all. Inany event, dont bother keeping trackof HP!Cinematic ExplosionsIn reality, a grenade or anti-tankrocket will almost certainly kill anunarmored man. In cinematic com-bat, explosions do no direct damage!Ignore fragmentation, too. All a blastdoes is disarray clothing, blackenfaces, and (most importantly) causeknockback. Every yard of knockbackfrom a cinematic explosion causes atoken 1 HP of crushing damage.Cinematic KnockbackIn reality, guns cause little or noknockback. But in cinematic combat,a big gun can blast foes through win-dows and even walls! Work outknockback for a piercing attack justas if it were a crushing attack. Inaddition to rolling to see if he fallsdown, anyone who suffers knockbackfrom any attack must make an IQ rollor be mentally stunned on his nextturn. This roll is at -1 per yard ofknockback.Flesh WoundsImmediately after you suffer dam-age, you may declare that the attackthat damaged you (which can includemultiple hits, if the foe used rapid fire)was a glancing blow or just a fleshwound. This lets you ignore all but 1HP (or FP) of damage . . . at the cost ofone unspent character point. If youhave no unspent points, the GM mightlet you go into debt: he will subtractthese points from those you earn forthe adventure.Infinite AmmunitionPCs always have spare ammuni-tion or power cells. If they use up allthey are carrying, they immediatelyfind more. Furthermore, weaponsnever malfunction.Melee EtiquetteIf a PC chooses to fight unarmed orwith melee weapons, his opponentsalways face him one-on-one, one at atime. Unengaged NPCs can dancearound the fight uttering shrill cries ofencouragement, but wait their turn toattack.If the foe is a super-strong monsterthat could kill or maim the hero witha single blow, it rarely strikes to inflictdamage directly. Instead it slams thehero, or grabs him and tosses himaround!TV Action ViolenceIf struck by a potentially lethalattack (including a rapid-fire attackthat inflicts multiple hits), the herocan choose to convert his faileddefense roll into a success. This costshim 1 FP and he loses his next turn.The hero cannot spend FP to avoidunarmed attacks or melee or thrownweapon attacks that inflict crushingdamage (or no damage, such as agrapple), unless they would hit theskull or neck. Likewise, he cannotavert attacks on his weapons or non-living possessions.With this rule in effect, thoseinvolved in a fight with lethal weaponsduck for cover and are forced ontothe defensive until theyre exhausted.CINEMATIC COMBAT RULESDual-Weapon AttacksThis optional rule might be cinematic . . . but it is balanced enoughto use in a realistic campaign. The GM has the final say.If you have at least two hands, you can strike with two hands at onceusing an Attack maneuver instead of an All-Out Attack (Double) maneu-ver. Each hand can attack unarmed, with a one-handed melee weapon,or with a pistol. Of course, if your ST is high enough, you can wield atwo-handed weapon in one hand!Each attack is at -4 to hit, but you can learn the Dual-Weapon Attacktechnique (p. 230) to reduce this penalty. You have an extra -4 (total -8)with your off hand, unless you have Ambidexterity (p. 39) or learnOff-Hand Weapon Training (p. 232).Roll to hit separately for each hand. You can attack one target or two but to strike two foes with melee attacks, they must be adjacent. If youaim both attacks at a single opponent, he defends at -1 against them, ashis attention is divided!If you already have multiple attacks for instance, from an ExtraAttack (p. 53) you may trade only one of these for a Dual-WeaponAttack. All your remaining attacks must be simple, single-weaponattacks.
|
These rules cover attacks that dontsimply bash through the targets DR toinjure him.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is any attack thatcauses a baneful effect blindness,choking, stunning, etc. instead ofdamage. Examples include tear gas,stun guns, the Affliction advantage(p. 35), and most other nonlethalweapons and powers.The target of an affliction alwaysgets a modified HT roll to resist; e.g.,HT-3. His DR normally adds to thisroll; for instance, DR 1 gives +1 to HT.However, afflictions often have armordivisors or special penetration modi-fiers (see below) that bypass some orall of the targets DR. For example, DRgives no HT bonus against a follow-upaffliction if the carrier attack pene-trates DR.On a failed HT roll, the victim suf-fers the effects of the affliction: stun-ning for high-tech stun guns, chokingand partial blindness for tear gas, etc. See Afflictions (p. 428) for descrip-tions of the most common effects.Since afflictions represent a hugevariety of different attacks frombeam weapons to chemical agents topsionic mind blasts you should con-sult the footnotes to the relevantweapon table for full details.Linked Afflictions: Some attacksthat inflict ordinary damage have anaffliction linked to them. For exam-ple, a cattle prod does burning dam-age and requires the victim to make aHT-3 roll to avoid stunning. Anyonehit by such an attack must attempt hisresistance roll or suffer the affliction,regardless of whether any damage pen-etrates his DR.Side Effects: Certain damagingattacks cause an affliction as a sideeffect . . . if they inflict injury. The vic-tim gets a HT roll to resist, but typi-cally at -1 per 2 points of injury.SPECIALPENETRATIONMODIFIERSIn addition to armor divisors (see Armor Divisors and PenetrationModifiers, p. 378) and follow-upattacks (see Follow-Up Damage,p. 381), there are several other pene-tration modifiers:Blood Agent: The attack mustreach an open wound or mucousmembrane (eyes, open mouth, nose,etc.) to be effective. If it does not, ithas no effect at all. See Blood Agent(p. 110) for detailed rules.Contact Agent: This is most com-mon for contact poison, nerve gas,and exotic hand of death effects.The attack must touch bare skin orporous clothing to have any effect.Any DR stops it, unless the DR is lim-ited with Tough Skin. Exception: If theattack is an Area Effect (p. 102) orCone (p. 103), it affects everyone inthe area who lacks the Sealed advan-tage (either innate or granted by asealed suit).Respiratory Agent: The attackaffects only those who inhale it. DRhas no effect but the attack cannotharm those who are holding theirbreath, breathing supplied air (e.g., ina vacuum suit), or using a gas mask orrespirator. It is also totally ineffectiveagainst anyone who has either theDoesnt Breathe or Filter Lungsadvantage.Sense-Based: The attack is chan-neled through one or more of the vic-tims senses (e.g., vision or hearing),as specified for the attack. It can onlyaffect someone using the targetedsense. See Sense-Based (p. 109) fordetails.416SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONSSPECIAL DAMAGESPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS417The following rules are shameless-ly unrealistic and strictly optional, butcan be fun in larger-than-life games!Bulletproof NudityPCs with Attractive or betterappearance can get a bonus to activedefenses simply by undressing! Anyoutfit that bares legs, chest, or midriffis +1. Just a loincloth or skimpyswimwear is +2. Topless females getan extra +1. Total nudity gives no fur-ther bonus to defense, but adds +1 toMove and +2 water Move.Cannon FodderThe GM may rule that minor NPCsare mere cannon fodder, with theseeffects:1. They automatically fail alldefense rolls . . . yet never All-OutAttack.2. They collapse (unconscious ordead) if any penetrating damage getsthrough DR. If they are unprotected,or if the heros attacks are such thatdamage would always penetrate,theres no need to roll damage at all. Inany event, dont bother keeping trackof HP!Cinematic ExplosionsIn reality, a grenade or anti-tankrocket will almost certainly kill anunarmored man. In cinematic com-bat, explosions do no direct damage!Ignore fragmentation, too. All a blastdoes is disarray clothing, blackenfaces, and (most importantly) causeknockback. Every yard of knockbackfrom a cinematic explosion causes atoken 1 HP of crushing damage.Cinematic KnockbackIn reality, guns cause little or noknockback. But in cinematic combat,a big gun can blast foes through win-dows and even walls! Work outknockback for a piercing attack justas if it were a crushing attack. Inaddition to rolling to see if he fallsdown, anyone who suffers knockbackfrom any attack must make an IQ rollor be mentally stunned on his nextturn. This roll is at -1 per yard ofknockback.Flesh WoundsImmediately after you suffer dam-age, you may declare that the attackthat damaged you (which can includemultiple hits, if the foe used rapid fire)was a glancing blow or just a fleshwound. This lets you ignore all but 1HP (or FP) of damage . . . at the cost ofone unspent character point. If youhave no unspent points, the GM mightlet you go into debt: he will subtractthese points from those you earn forthe adventure.Infinite AmmunitionPCs always have spare ammuni-tion or power cells. If they use up allthey are carrying, they immediatelyfind more. Furthermore, weaponsnever malfunction.Melee EtiquetteIf a PC chooses to fight unarmed orwith melee weapons, his opponentsalways face him one-on-one, one at atime. Unengaged NPCs can dancearound the fight uttering shrill cries ofencouragement, but wait their turn toattack.If the foe is a super-strong monsterthat could kill or maim the hero witha single blow, it rarely strikes to inflictdamage directly. Instead it slams thehero, or grabs him and tosses himaround!TV Action ViolenceIf struck by a potentially lethalattack (including a rapid-fire attackthat inflicts multiple hits), the herocan choose to convert his faileddefense roll into a success. This costshim 1 FP and he loses his next turn.The hero cannot spend FP to avoidunarmed attacks or melee or thrownweapon attacks that inflict crushingdamage (or no damage, such as agrapple), unless they would hit theskull or neck. Likewise, he cannotavert attacks on his weapons or non-living possessions.With this rule in effect, thoseinvolved in a fight with lethal weaponsduck for cover and are forced ontothe defensive until theyre exhausted.CINEMATIC COMBAT RULESDual-Weapon AttacksThis optional rule might be cinematic . . . but it is balanced enoughto use in a realistic campaign. The GM has the final say.If you have at least two hands, you can strike with two hands at onceusing an Attack maneuver instead of an All-Out Attack (Double) maneu-ver. Each hand can attack unarmed, with a one-handed melee weapon,or with a pistol. Of course, if your ST is high enough, you can wield atwo-handed weapon in one hand!Each attack is at -4 to hit, but you can learn the Dual-Weapon Attacktechnique (p. 230) to reduce this penalty. You have an extra -4 (total -8)with your off hand, unless you have Ambidexterity (p. 39) or learnOff-Hand Weapon Training (p. 232).Roll to hit separately for each hand. You can attack one target or two but to strike two foes with melee attacks, they must be adjacent. If youaim both attacks at a single opponent, he defends at -1 against them, ashis attention is divided!If you already have multiple attacks for instance, from an ExtraAttack (p. 53) you may trade only one of these for a Dual-WeaponAttack. All your remaining attacks must be simple, single-weaponattacks.The life of an adventurer is not all song and glory. You get tired. Youget your clothes dirty. You might actually get hurt or even worse,killed!Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.Read on . . .INJURIESWounds and ailments cause injury: a (usually) tempo-rary loss of Hit Points. Thus, your HP score measures yourability to sustain injury; see Hit Points (p. 16).Injury often results from penetrating damage: thedamage left after Damage Resistance is subtracted fromthe basic damage of an attack. However, disease, overex-ertion, and the like can cause injury without damage.If any injury reduces you to 0 or fewer HP, you will soon fallunconscious. You can even go to negative HP . . . but if you gotoo far, you risk death. For the average man, the differencebetween full HP and negative HP is one or two swordblows or bullets. This is realistic . . . and dramatic.Even in cinematic battles, heroes rarely shrug offdozens of blows. Instead, they avoid being hit.Armor helps . . . but fights can be deadly, so thinkbefore you act!The life of an adventurer is notall song and glory. You get tired.You get your clothes dirty. Youmight actually get hurt or evenworse, killed! Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.418INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUECHAPTER FOURTEENINJURIES,ILLNESS, ANDFATIGUE
|
SPECIAL COMBAT SITUATIONS417The following rules are shameless-ly unrealistic and strictly optional, butcan be fun in larger-than-life games!Bulletproof NudityPCs with Attractive or betterappearance can get a bonus to activedefenses simply by undressing! Anyoutfit that bares legs, chest, or midriffis +1. Just a loincloth or skimpyswimwear is +2. Topless females getan extra +1. Total nudity gives no fur-ther bonus to defense, but adds +1 toMove and +2 water Move.Cannon FodderThe GM may rule that minor NPCsare mere cannon fodder, with theseeffects:1. They automatically fail alldefense rolls . . . yet never All-OutAttack.2. They collapse (unconscious ordead) if any penetrating damage getsthrough DR. If they are unprotected,or if the heros attacks are such thatdamage would always penetrate,theres no need to roll damage at all. Inany event, dont bother keeping trackof HP!Cinematic ExplosionsIn reality, a grenade or anti-tankrocket will almost certainly kill anunarmored man. In cinematic com-bat, explosions do no direct damage!Ignore fragmentation, too. All a blastdoes is disarray clothing, blackenfaces, and (most importantly) causeknockback. Every yard of knockbackfrom a cinematic explosion causes atoken 1 HP of crushing damage.Cinematic KnockbackIn reality, guns cause little or noknockback. But in cinematic combat,a big gun can blast foes through win-dows and even walls! Work outknockback for a piercing attack justas if it were a crushing attack. Inaddition to rolling to see if he fallsdown, anyone who suffers knockbackfrom any attack must make an IQ rollor be mentally stunned on his nextturn. This roll is at -1 per yard ofknockback.Flesh WoundsImmediately after you suffer dam-age, you may declare that the attackthat damaged you (which can includemultiple hits, if the foe used rapid fire)was a glancing blow or just a fleshwound. This lets you ignore all but 1HP (or FP) of damage . . . at the cost ofone unspent character point. If youhave no unspent points, the GM mightlet you go into debt: he will subtractthese points from those you earn forthe adventure.Infinite AmmunitionPCs always have spare ammuni-tion or power cells. If they use up allthey are carrying, they immediatelyfind more. Furthermore, weaponsnever malfunction.Melee EtiquetteIf a PC chooses to fight unarmed orwith melee weapons, his opponentsalways face him one-on-one, one at atime. Unengaged NPCs can dancearound the fight uttering shrill cries ofencouragement, but wait their turn toattack.If the foe is a super-strong monsterthat could kill or maim the hero witha single blow, it rarely strikes to inflictdamage directly. Instead it slams thehero, or grabs him and tosses himaround!TV Action ViolenceIf struck by a potentially lethalattack (including a rapid-fire attackthat inflicts multiple hits), the herocan choose to convert his faileddefense roll into a success. This costshim 1 FP and he loses his next turn.The hero cannot spend FP to avoidunarmed attacks or melee or thrownweapon attacks that inflict crushingdamage (or no damage, such as agrapple), unless they would hit theskull or neck. Likewise, he cannotavert attacks on his weapons or non-living possessions.With this rule in effect, thoseinvolved in a fight with lethal weaponsduck for cover and are forced ontothe defensive until theyre exhausted.CINEMATIC COMBAT RULESDual-Weapon AttacksThis optional rule might be cinematic . . . but it is balanced enoughto use in a realistic campaign. The GM has the final say.If you have at least two hands, you can strike with two hands at onceusing an Attack maneuver instead of an All-Out Attack (Double) maneu-ver. Each hand can attack unarmed, with a one-handed melee weapon,or with a pistol. Of course, if your ST is high enough, you can wield atwo-handed weapon in one hand!Each attack is at -4 to hit, but you can learn the Dual-Weapon Attacktechnique (p. 230) to reduce this penalty. You have an extra -4 (total -8)with your off hand, unless you have Ambidexterity (p. 39) or learnOff-Hand Weapon Training (p. 232).Roll to hit separately for each hand. You can attack one target or two but to strike two foes with melee attacks, they must be adjacent. If youaim both attacks at a single opponent, he defends at -1 against them, ashis attention is divided!If you already have multiple attacks for instance, from an ExtraAttack (p. 53) you may trade only one of these for a Dual-WeaponAttack. All your remaining attacks must be simple, single-weaponattacks.The life of an adventurer is not all song and glory. You get tired. Youget your clothes dirty. You might actually get hurt or even worse,killed!Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.Read on . . .INJURIESWounds and ailments cause injury: a (usually) tempo-rary loss of Hit Points. Thus, your HP score measures yourability to sustain injury; see Hit Points (p. 16).Injury often results from penetrating damage: thedamage left after Damage Resistance is subtracted fromthe basic damage of an attack. However, disease, overex-ertion, and the like can cause injury without damage.If any injury reduces you to 0 or fewer HP, you will soon fallunconscious. You can even go to negative HP . . . but if you gotoo far, you risk death. For the average man, the differencebetween full HP and negative HP is one or two swordblows or bullets. This is realistic . . . and dramatic.Even in cinematic battles, heroes rarely shrug offdozens of blows. Instead, they avoid being hit.Armor helps . . . but fights can be deadly, so thinkbefore you act!The life of an adventurer is notall song and glory. You get tired.You get your clothes dirty. Youmight actually get hurt or evenworse, killed! Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.418INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUECHAPTER FOURTEENINJURIES,ILLNESS, ANDFATIGUEINJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE419GENERAL INJURY: LOST HITPOINTSRepeated wounding eventuallycauses anyone or anything to weakenand collapse, even if no single injury isvery great. The chart below summa-rizes the effects of being at low or neg-ative HP. All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your HP left You are reeling from your wounds.Halve your Move and Dodge(round up).0 HP or less You are in immediatedanger of collapse. In addition tothe above effects, make a HT roll atthe start of your next turn, at -1 perfull multiple of HP below zero.Failure means you fall unconscious(or simply stop working, if youwerent truly alive or conscious inthe first place); see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). Successmeans you can act normally, butmust roll again every turn to con-tinue functioning. Exception: If youchoose Do Nothing on your turn,and do not attempt any defenserolls, you can remain consciouswithout rolling. Roll only on turnsduring which you attempt adefense roll or choose a maneuverother than Do Nothing.-1HP In addition to the aboveeffects, make an immediate HT rollor die. (If you fail by only 1 or 2,youre dying, but not dead seeMortal Wounds, p. 423). If you suc-ceed, you can still talk, fight, etc.,as above (until you fail a HT rolland collapse). Roll again each timeyou suffer injury equal to a furthermultiple of your HP, whether as aresult of one wound or many. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, youmust roll to avoid death at -11 HP.If you survive, you must roll againat -22 HP, -33 HP, and so on . . .-5HP You die immediately. Youhave lost a total of 6 times your HP!Nobody can survive that muchinjury.-10HP Total bodily destruction, ifthis makes sense given the sourceof the damage 200 points ofarrow wounds leave a messy butrecognizable corpse; 200 points offire injury leaves nothing but anunrecognizable lump of charcoal.The difference can be important insettings where resurrection, reani-mation, etc. are possible!SHOCKWhenever you suffer injury,reduce your DX and IQ by the num-ber of HP you lost to a maximumpenalty of -4, regardless of yourinjuries on your next turn only. Thiseffect, called shock, is temporary;your attributes return to normal onthe turn after that.Shock affects DX- and IQ-basedskills, but not active defenses or otherdefensive reactions; see TemporaryAttribute Penalties (p. 421). Therefore,on the turn after you are badly hurt, itis often a good idea to try flight or All-Out Defense instead of an immediatecounterattack!High HP and Shock: If you have 20or more Hit Points, your shock penal-ty is -1 per HP/10 of injury (drop allfractions). Thus, if you have 20-29 HP,its -1 per 2 HP lost; if you have 30-39HP, its -1 per 3 HP lost, and so forth.The maximum penalty is still -4.Example of InjuryFiendish Friedrick has HT 12 and HP 14. He has theill fortune to be trapped in a dead-end corridor by ahorde of orcs. He fights valiantly, but the monsterskeep coming.The first wound Friedrick receives is a spear thrustthat inflicts 4 HP of injury. This reduces him to 10 HP.He will have a -4 shock penalty on his next turn.Then the orc leader swings a halberd. The GM isusing hit locations, and says the orc strikes atFriedricks right arm. Friedrick fails to block and suf-fers 11 HP of injury. This is over Friedricks HP/2, so itcripples his arm. But injury to a limb cant exceed theminimum required to cripple it. For Friedrick, HP/2 is7. Damage over HP/2 is 8 HP, so he only loses 8 HP.Now he is at 2 HP . . . and has the One Arm disadvan-tage!Since a crippling wound is also a major wound,Friedrick must make a HT roll to avoid being stunnedand knocked down. If he fails by 5 or more, he couldeven pass out! Luckily, he succeeds. Hell have a -4shock penalty (the maximum) next turn, but he cankeep on fighting. He picks up his axe left-handed . . .However, Friedrick now has less than 1/3 his HPleft. His movements slow and falter: he is at half Moveand Dodge.Soon, Friedrick takes another blow. This inflicts 2HP of injury, reducing him to 0 HP. At the beginning ofhis next turn, he rolls vs. HT and succeeds! Grimly, hehangs on to consciousness. Despite the -2 for shock, heslays another orc. For two more turns, he makes suc-cessful HT rolls. He is wounded again, dropping to -3HP, but fights on. But on his third turn, he fails his HTroll and instantly falls unconscious.Friedrick has desecrated the orcs sacred burialgrounds, so theyre mad. They keep hacking at himafter he falls! When he reaches -14 HP, he must roll vs.HT or die. He succeeds . . . and the orcs keep hacking.At -28 HP, and again at -42 HP, he must make anotherHT roll to survive. Each time, he rolls a 12 or less andclings to life. But the orcs keep hacking. Eventually,Friedrick reaches -70 HP (-5HP) and dies automati-cally.Only strong magic can help Friedrick now! And ifthe angry orcs keep hacking until he is at -140 HP(-10HP), there wont even be a body to revive justFriedrickburger.
|
The life of an adventurer is not all song and glory. You get tired. Youget your clothes dirty. You might actually get hurt or even worse,killed!Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.Read on . . .INJURIESWounds and ailments cause injury: a (usually) tempo-rary loss of Hit Points. Thus, your HP score measures yourability to sustain injury; see Hit Points (p. 16).Injury often results from penetrating damage: thedamage left after Damage Resistance is subtracted fromthe basic damage of an attack. However, disease, overex-ertion, and the like can cause injury without damage.If any injury reduces you to 0 or fewer HP, you will soon fallunconscious. You can even go to negative HP . . . but if you gotoo far, you risk death. For the average man, the differencebetween full HP and negative HP is one or two swordblows or bullets. This is realistic . . . and dramatic.Even in cinematic battles, heroes rarely shrug offdozens of blows. Instead, they avoid being hit.Armor helps . . . but fights can be deadly, so thinkbefore you act!The life of an adventurer is notall song and glory. You get tired.You get your clothes dirty. Youmight actually get hurt or evenworse, killed! Fortunately, all these problems can be cured. Even death.418INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUECHAPTER FOURTEENINJURIES,ILLNESS, ANDFATIGUEINJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE419GENERAL INJURY: LOST HITPOINTSRepeated wounding eventuallycauses anyone or anything to weakenand collapse, even if no single injury isvery great. The chart below summa-rizes the effects of being at low or neg-ative HP. All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your HP left You are reeling from your wounds.Halve your Move and Dodge(round up).0 HP or less You are in immediatedanger of collapse. In addition tothe above effects, make a HT roll atthe start of your next turn, at -1 perfull multiple of HP below zero.Failure means you fall unconscious(or simply stop working, if youwerent truly alive or conscious inthe first place); see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). Successmeans you can act normally, butmust roll again every turn to con-tinue functioning. Exception: If youchoose Do Nothing on your turn,and do not attempt any defenserolls, you can remain consciouswithout rolling. Roll only on turnsduring which you attempt adefense roll or choose a maneuverother than Do Nothing.-1HP In addition to the aboveeffects, make an immediate HT rollor die. (If you fail by only 1 or 2,youre dying, but not dead seeMortal Wounds, p. 423). If you suc-ceed, you can still talk, fight, etc.,as above (until you fail a HT rolland collapse). Roll again each timeyou suffer injury equal to a furthermultiple of your HP, whether as aresult of one wound or many. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, youmust roll to avoid death at -11 HP.If you survive, you must roll againat -22 HP, -33 HP, and so on . . .-5HP You die immediately. Youhave lost a total of 6 times your HP!Nobody can survive that muchinjury.-10HP Total bodily destruction, ifthis makes sense given the sourceof the damage 200 points ofarrow wounds leave a messy butrecognizable corpse; 200 points offire injury leaves nothing but anunrecognizable lump of charcoal.The difference can be important insettings where resurrection, reani-mation, etc. are possible!SHOCKWhenever you suffer injury,reduce your DX and IQ by the num-ber of HP you lost to a maximumpenalty of -4, regardless of yourinjuries on your next turn only. Thiseffect, called shock, is temporary;your attributes return to normal onthe turn after that.Shock affects DX- and IQ-basedskills, but not active defenses or otherdefensive reactions; see TemporaryAttribute Penalties (p. 421). Therefore,on the turn after you are badly hurt, itis often a good idea to try flight or All-Out Defense instead of an immediatecounterattack!High HP and Shock: If you have 20or more Hit Points, your shock penal-ty is -1 per HP/10 of injury (drop allfractions). Thus, if you have 20-29 HP,its -1 per 2 HP lost; if you have 30-39HP, its -1 per 3 HP lost, and so forth.The maximum penalty is still -4.Example of InjuryFiendish Friedrick has HT 12 and HP 14. He has theill fortune to be trapped in a dead-end corridor by ahorde of orcs. He fights valiantly, but the monsterskeep coming.The first wound Friedrick receives is a spear thrustthat inflicts 4 HP of injury. This reduces him to 10 HP.He will have a -4 shock penalty on his next turn.Then the orc leader swings a halberd. The GM isusing hit locations, and says the orc strikes atFriedricks right arm. Friedrick fails to block and suf-fers 11 HP of injury. This is over Friedricks HP/2, so itcripples his arm. But injury to a limb cant exceed theminimum required to cripple it. For Friedrick, HP/2 is7. Damage over HP/2 is 8 HP, so he only loses 8 HP.Now he is at 2 HP . . . and has the One Arm disadvan-tage!Since a crippling wound is also a major wound,Friedrick must make a HT roll to avoid being stunnedand knocked down. If he fails by 5 or more, he couldeven pass out! Luckily, he succeeds. Hell have a -4shock penalty (the maximum) next turn, but he cankeep on fighting. He picks up his axe left-handed . . .However, Friedrick now has less than 1/3 his HPleft. His movements slow and falter: he is at half Moveand Dodge.Soon, Friedrick takes another blow. This inflicts 2HP of injury, reducing him to 0 HP. At the beginning ofhis next turn, he rolls vs. HT and succeeds! Grimly, hehangs on to consciousness. Despite the -2 for shock, heslays another orc. For two more turns, he makes suc-cessful HT rolls. He is wounded again, dropping to -3HP, but fights on. But on his third turn, he fails his HTroll and instantly falls unconscious.Friedrick has desecrated the orcs sacred burialgrounds, so theyre mad. They keep hacking at himafter he falls! When he reaches -14 HP, he must roll vs.HT or die. He succeeds . . . and the orcs keep hacking.At -28 HP, and again at -42 HP, he must make anotherHT roll to survive. Each time, he rolls a 12 or less andclings to life. But the orcs keep hacking. Eventually,Friedrick reaches -70 HP (-5HP) and dies automati-cally.Only strong magic can help Friedrick now! And ifthe angry orcs keep hacking until he is at -140 HP(-10HP), there wont even be a body to revive justFriedrickburger.MAJOR WOUNDSA major wound is any singleinjury of greater than 1/2 your HP. Ifyou are using hit locations, a lesserinjury that cripples a body part alsocounts as a major wound seeCrippling Injury (below). Any majorwound requires a HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning (see below).KNOCKDOWNAND STUNNINGWhenever you suffer a majorwound, and whenever you are struckin the head (skull, face, or eye) or vitalsfor enough injury to cause a shockpenalty (see Shock, p. 419), you mustmake an immediate HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning.Modifiers: -5 for a major wound tothe face or vitals (or to the groin, on ahumanoid male); -10 for a majorwound to the skull or eye; +3 for HighPain Threshold, or -4 for Low PainThreshold.On a success, you suffer no penaltybeyond ordinary shock.On a failure, youre stunned; seeEffects of Stun, below. You fall prone (ifyou werent already), and if you wereholding anything, you drop it. Thiseffect is called knockdown, and isntthe same as knockback (see p. 378).On a failure by 5 or more, or anycritical failure, you fall unconscious!See Recovering from Unconsciousness(p. 423).Those with Injury Tolerance (p. 60)suffer reduced effects: No Brain meansthat skull, face, and eye injuries dontcause knockdown or stunning unlessthey are major wounds and eventhen, the roll is at no special penalty.No Vitals means that vitals and groininjuries dont cause knockdown orstunning unless they are majorwounds, in which case the roll has nospecial penalties. Homogenous andDiffuse include No Brain and NoVitals.Effects of StunA failed knockdown roll can causestun, as can certain critical hitresults and some afflictions. If you arestunned, you must Do Nothing onyour next turn. You may perform anyactive defense while stunned, but yourdefense rolls are at -4 and you cannotretreat.At the end of your turn, you mayroll against HT. On a success, yourecover from stun and can act nor-mally on subsequent turns. On a fail-ure, you remain stunned; your nextmaneuver must also be Do Nothing,but you get another roll at the end ofthat turn . . . and so on, until yourecover from stun.Mental Stun: If you are surprised,you might be mentally stunned; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).This sort of stunning works asdescribed above, but you must makean IQ roll, not a HT roll, to snap out ofit. Youre not hurt youre confused!CRIPPLINGINJURYWhen using hit locations, sufficientinjury to a limb, extremity, or eye maycripple it. This requires a single injurythat exceeds a certain fraction of thetargets HP. For humans andhumanoids, these thresholds are:420INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEOptional Rules for InjuryThese rules add realism, and give heroes with med-ical skills or healing abilities exciting tasks to perform but they also require extra record keeping, so they areoptional.BleedingIf you are injured, you may continue to lose HP tobleeding. At the end of every minute after beingwounded, make a HT roll, at -1 per 5 HP lost. On a fail-ure, you bleed for a loss of 1 HP. On a critical failure,you bleed for 3 HP. On a critical success, the bleedingstops completely. On an ordinary success, you do notbleed this minute, but must continue to roll everyminute. If you do not bleed for three consecutive min-utes, the bleeding stops for good. Otherwise, you orsomeone else will need to make a First Aid roll to stopthe bleeding; see First Aid (p. 424).The GM decides which wounds bleed. Cutting,impaling, and piercing wounds usually bleed; crushingwounds generally dont, but there are always excep-tions. Minor burning and corrosion injury does notbleed significantly: the damage sears the flesh, cauter-izing the wound and preventing blood loss. However, ifsuch injury causes a major wound, treat it as a bleed-ing wound, oozing blood plasma until properly treated.Accumulated WoundsIt normally takes a single injury over HP/3 to cripplean extremity or over HP/2 to cripple a limb. For extrarealism, you can keep track of injury by hit location, inwhich case total injury over HP/3 or HP/2, as appropri-ate, cripples the body part. Be aware that this leads tocomplicated record keeping! One good way to handlethis is to make tally marks by the affected body part onthe characters picture.Excess injury is still lost under this rule. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, a total of 6 HP of injurycripples your arm. Ignore further injury, except for thepurpose of determining dismemberment. Repeatedblows to a limb or extremity cannot kill you.Last WoundsIt can happen that a sorely wounded hero isknocked out, or even killed, by a 1 HP blow to the foot.There are those who find this unrealistic. If you wish,use this optional rule: once you have less than 1/3 yourHP left, you can totally ignore any wound to a limb orextremity unless: (a) it is a critical hit; (b) it is enoughto cripple that body part; or (c) it inflicts injury equalto 1/3 your HP or more at once.
|
INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE419GENERAL INJURY: LOST HITPOINTSRepeated wounding eventuallycauses anyone or anything to weakenand collapse, even if no single injury isvery great. The chart below summa-rizes the effects of being at low or neg-ative HP. All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your HP left You are reeling from your wounds.Halve your Move and Dodge(round up).0 HP or less You are in immediatedanger of collapse. In addition tothe above effects, make a HT roll atthe start of your next turn, at -1 perfull multiple of HP below zero.Failure means you fall unconscious(or simply stop working, if youwerent truly alive or conscious inthe first place); see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). Successmeans you can act normally, butmust roll again every turn to con-tinue functioning. Exception: If youchoose Do Nothing on your turn,and do not attempt any defenserolls, you can remain consciouswithout rolling. Roll only on turnsduring which you attempt adefense roll or choose a maneuverother than Do Nothing.-1HP In addition to the aboveeffects, make an immediate HT rollor die. (If you fail by only 1 or 2,youre dying, but not dead seeMortal Wounds, p. 423). If you suc-ceed, you can still talk, fight, etc.,as above (until you fail a HT rolland collapse). Roll again each timeyou suffer injury equal to a furthermultiple of your HP, whether as aresult of one wound or many. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, youmust roll to avoid death at -11 HP.If you survive, you must roll againat -22 HP, -33 HP, and so on . . .-5HP You die immediately. Youhave lost a total of 6 times your HP!Nobody can survive that muchinjury.-10HP Total bodily destruction, ifthis makes sense given the sourceof the damage 200 points ofarrow wounds leave a messy butrecognizable corpse; 200 points offire injury leaves nothing but anunrecognizable lump of charcoal.The difference can be important insettings where resurrection, reani-mation, etc. are possible!SHOCKWhenever you suffer injury,reduce your DX and IQ by the num-ber of HP you lost to a maximumpenalty of -4, regardless of yourinjuries on your next turn only. Thiseffect, called shock, is temporary;your attributes return to normal onthe turn after that.Shock affects DX- and IQ-basedskills, but not active defenses or otherdefensive reactions; see TemporaryAttribute Penalties (p. 421). Therefore,on the turn after you are badly hurt, itis often a good idea to try flight or All-Out Defense instead of an immediatecounterattack!High HP and Shock: If you have 20or more Hit Points, your shock penal-ty is -1 per HP/10 of injury (drop allfractions). Thus, if you have 20-29 HP,its -1 per 2 HP lost; if you have 30-39HP, its -1 per 3 HP lost, and so forth.The maximum penalty is still -4.Example of InjuryFiendish Friedrick has HT 12 and HP 14. He has theill fortune to be trapped in a dead-end corridor by ahorde of orcs. He fights valiantly, but the monsterskeep coming.The first wound Friedrick receives is a spear thrustthat inflicts 4 HP of injury. This reduces him to 10 HP.He will have a -4 shock penalty on his next turn.Then the orc leader swings a halberd. The GM isusing hit locations, and says the orc strikes atFriedricks right arm. Friedrick fails to block and suf-fers 11 HP of injury. This is over Friedricks HP/2, so itcripples his arm. But injury to a limb cant exceed theminimum required to cripple it. For Friedrick, HP/2 is7. Damage over HP/2 is 8 HP, so he only loses 8 HP.Now he is at 2 HP . . . and has the One Arm disadvan-tage!Since a crippling wound is also a major wound,Friedrick must make a HT roll to avoid being stunnedand knocked down. If he fails by 5 or more, he couldeven pass out! Luckily, he succeeds. Hell have a -4shock penalty (the maximum) next turn, but he cankeep on fighting. He picks up his axe left-handed . . .However, Friedrick now has less than 1/3 his HPleft. His movements slow and falter: he is at half Moveand Dodge.Soon, Friedrick takes another blow. This inflicts 2HP of injury, reducing him to 0 HP. At the beginning ofhis next turn, he rolls vs. HT and succeeds! Grimly, hehangs on to consciousness. Despite the -2 for shock, heslays another orc. For two more turns, he makes suc-cessful HT rolls. He is wounded again, dropping to -3HP, but fights on. But on his third turn, he fails his HTroll and instantly falls unconscious.Friedrick has desecrated the orcs sacred burialgrounds, so theyre mad. They keep hacking at himafter he falls! When he reaches -14 HP, he must roll vs.HT or die. He succeeds . . . and the orcs keep hacking.At -28 HP, and again at -42 HP, he must make anotherHT roll to survive. Each time, he rolls a 12 or less andclings to life. But the orcs keep hacking. Eventually,Friedrick reaches -70 HP (-5HP) and dies automati-cally.Only strong magic can help Friedrick now! And ifthe angry orcs keep hacking until he is at -140 HP(-10HP), there wont even be a body to revive justFriedrickburger.MAJOR WOUNDSA major wound is any singleinjury of greater than 1/2 your HP. Ifyou are using hit locations, a lesserinjury that cripples a body part alsocounts as a major wound seeCrippling Injury (below). Any majorwound requires a HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning (see below).KNOCKDOWNAND STUNNINGWhenever you suffer a majorwound, and whenever you are struckin the head (skull, face, or eye) or vitalsfor enough injury to cause a shockpenalty (see Shock, p. 419), you mustmake an immediate HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning.Modifiers: -5 for a major wound tothe face or vitals (or to the groin, on ahumanoid male); -10 for a majorwound to the skull or eye; +3 for HighPain Threshold, or -4 for Low PainThreshold.On a success, you suffer no penaltybeyond ordinary shock.On a failure, youre stunned; seeEffects of Stun, below. You fall prone (ifyou werent already), and if you wereholding anything, you drop it. Thiseffect is called knockdown, and isntthe same as knockback (see p. 378).On a failure by 5 or more, or anycritical failure, you fall unconscious!See Recovering from Unconsciousness(p. 423).Those with Injury Tolerance (p. 60)suffer reduced effects: No Brain meansthat skull, face, and eye injuries dontcause knockdown or stunning unlessthey are major wounds and eventhen, the roll is at no special penalty.No Vitals means that vitals and groininjuries dont cause knockdown orstunning unless they are majorwounds, in which case the roll has nospecial penalties. Homogenous andDiffuse include No Brain and NoVitals.Effects of StunA failed knockdown roll can causestun, as can certain critical hitresults and some afflictions. If you arestunned, you must Do Nothing onyour next turn. You may perform anyactive defense while stunned, but yourdefense rolls are at -4 and you cannotretreat.At the end of your turn, you mayroll against HT. On a success, yourecover from stun and can act nor-mally on subsequent turns. On a fail-ure, you remain stunned; your nextmaneuver must also be Do Nothing,but you get another roll at the end ofthat turn . . . and so on, until yourecover from stun.Mental Stun: If you are surprised,you might be mentally stunned; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).This sort of stunning works asdescribed above, but you must makean IQ roll, not a HT roll, to snap out ofit. Youre not hurt youre confused!CRIPPLINGINJURYWhen using hit locations, sufficientinjury to a limb, extremity, or eye maycripple it. This requires a single injurythat exceeds a certain fraction of thetargets HP. For humans andhumanoids, these thresholds are:420INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEOptional Rules for InjuryThese rules add realism, and give heroes with med-ical skills or healing abilities exciting tasks to perform but they also require extra record keeping, so they areoptional.BleedingIf you are injured, you may continue to lose HP tobleeding. At the end of every minute after beingwounded, make a HT roll, at -1 per 5 HP lost. On a fail-ure, you bleed for a loss of 1 HP. On a critical failure,you bleed for 3 HP. On a critical success, the bleedingstops completely. On an ordinary success, you do notbleed this minute, but must continue to roll everyminute. If you do not bleed for three consecutive min-utes, the bleeding stops for good. Otherwise, you orsomeone else will need to make a First Aid roll to stopthe bleeding; see First Aid (p. 424).The GM decides which wounds bleed. Cutting,impaling, and piercing wounds usually bleed; crushingwounds generally dont, but there are always excep-tions. Minor burning and corrosion injury does notbleed significantly: the damage sears the flesh, cauter-izing the wound and preventing blood loss. However, ifsuch injury causes a major wound, treat it as a bleed-ing wound, oozing blood plasma until properly treated.Accumulated WoundsIt normally takes a single injury over HP/3 to cripplean extremity or over HP/2 to cripple a limb. For extrarealism, you can keep track of injury by hit location, inwhich case total injury over HP/3 or HP/2, as appropri-ate, cripples the body part. Be aware that this leads tocomplicated record keeping! One good way to handlethis is to make tally marks by the affected body part onthe characters picture.Excess injury is still lost under this rule. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, a total of 6 HP of injurycripples your arm. Ignore further injury, except for thepurpose of determining dismemberment. Repeatedblows to a limb or extremity cannot kill you.Last WoundsIt can happen that a sorely wounded hero isknocked out, or even killed, by a 1 HP blow to the foot.There are those who find this unrealistic. If you wish,use this optional rule: once you have less than 1/3 yourHP left, you can totally ignore any wound to a limb orextremity unless: (a) it is a critical hit; (b) it is enoughto cripple that body part; or (c) it inflicts injury equalto 1/3 your HP or more at once.Limb (arm, leg, wing, striker, orprehensile tail): Injury over HP/2.Extremity (hand, foot, tail, fin, orextraneous head): Injury over HP/3.Eye: Injury over HP/10.It is sometimes possible to cripplea body part with less damage or nodamage at all; e.g., with a specific crit-ical hit result.A blow to a limb or extremity cannever cause more injury than the min-imum required to cripple that bodypart. For example, if a man has 10 HPand suffers 9 points of injury to hisright arm, he loses only 6 HP theminimum required to cripple his arm.Exception: No such limit applies to theeyes!Dismemberment: If injury to a bodypart before applying the above limitwas at least twice what was needed tocripple it, the body part is not justcrippled but destroyed. A cuttingattack or explosion severs a limb orextremity; otherwise, its irrevocablycrushed, burned, etc.Crippling Extra LimbsIf you have more than two of a par-ticular limb (arm, leg, etc.), a cripplingblow is injury over HP/(number oflimbs of that kind); e.g., if you havefour arms, injury over HP/4 cripplesan arm.If you have more than two of agiven extremity (hand, foot, etc.), acrippling blow is injury over HP/(1.5 number of extremities of that kind);e.g., if you have four feet, injury overHP/6 cripples a foot.Effects of Crippling InjuryAny crippling injury is also a majorwound, and requires a HT roll forknockdown and stunning; seeKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Below are some additional effects spe-cific to particular body parts; all theseeffects apply to dismemberment aswell. These last until the fight is over,and possibly longer see Duration ofCrippling Injuries (p. 422).Hand: You drop anything you werecarrying in that hand. If you wereusing two or more hands to hold an object, roll vs. DX to avoid drop-ping it. You cannot hold anything(e.g., a weapon) in that hand. You canwear a shield on that arm and use it toblock, but you cannot attack with it.Until healed, you have the One Handdisadvantage (p. 147).Arm: As for a crippled hand . . . but while someone with a crippledhand could at least carry something inthe crook of the arm, you cannot use acrippled arm to carry anything! Youdo not drop a shield on that arm(unless the arm is severed), but you cannot use it to block and sinceits just hanging in front of you, reduceits usual Defense Bonus by one. Untilhealed, you have the One Arm disad-vantage (p. 147).Foot: You fall down! You cannotstand or walk without a crutch orsomething to lean on. You can stillfight if you brace yourself against a wall. If you have nothing to lean on,you may assume a kneeling or sittingposture. Until healed, you have the Lame (Crippled Legs) disadvan-tage (p. 141).Leg: You fall down! You can stillfight if you assume a sitting or lyingposture. Until healed, you have theLame (Missing Legs) disadvantage(p. 141).Eye: You are blind in that eye. Untilhealed, you have the One Eye (p. 147)disadvantage or Blindness (p. 124), ifyou lose all your eyes unless youhave some substitute for eyes.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE421Patient StatusHospitals often describe a patient as being in Good, Fair, Serious, orCritical condition. Heres how these familiar terms equate with injuryin GURPS.Good: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators areexcellent; patient is conscious. This means he has 1/2 or more his fullHP; e.g., an average human (10 HP) with 5 to 10 HP remaining.Fair: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators arefavorable; patient is conscious but in moderate to severe discomfort. Hehas at least 1 HP, but less than 1/2 his full HP; e.g., the same person at1 to 4 HP.Serious: Vital signs may be unstable or outside normal limits; indi-cators are questionable; patient is badly injured or acutely ill, and maybe unconscious. He is at 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP; e.g., our vic-tim at -9 to 0 HP.Critical: Vital signs are unstable and outside normal limits; indica-tors are unfavorable; patient is often unconscious, and may not survive.He is at -1HP or worse; e.g., our patient at -10 HP or below.Temporary Attribute PenaltiesShock, afflictions, and many other things can temporarily lower yourattributes. ST reductions affect the damage you inflict with muscle-powered weapons. IQ penalties apply equally to Will and Per. However,there are no other effects on secondary characteristics; for instance, ST,DX, and HT reductions do not affect HP, Basic Speed, Basic Move, orFP.An attribute penalty always reduces skills governed by the loweredattribute by a like amount. For example, -2 to IQ would give -2 to all IQ-based skills (and to all Per- and Will-based skills, since IQ reductionslower Per and Will).Exception: Defensive reactions that dont require a maneuver to per-form active defenses, resistance rolls, Fright Checks, etc. never suf-fer penalties for attribute reductions. For instance, -2 to DX would notaffect Block, Dodge, or Parry.Note that permanent attribute losses require recalculation of all sec-ondary attributes and skills!
|
MAJOR WOUNDSA major wound is any singleinjury of greater than 1/2 your HP. Ifyou are using hit locations, a lesserinjury that cripples a body part alsocounts as a major wound seeCrippling Injury (below). Any majorwound requires a HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning (see below).KNOCKDOWNAND STUNNINGWhenever you suffer a majorwound, and whenever you are struckin the head (skull, face, or eye) or vitalsfor enough injury to cause a shockpenalty (see Shock, p. 419), you mustmake an immediate HT roll to avoidknockdown and stunning.Modifiers: -5 for a major wound tothe face or vitals (or to the groin, on ahumanoid male); -10 for a majorwound to the skull or eye; +3 for HighPain Threshold, or -4 for Low PainThreshold.On a success, you suffer no penaltybeyond ordinary shock.On a failure, youre stunned; seeEffects of Stun, below. You fall prone (ifyou werent already), and if you wereholding anything, you drop it. Thiseffect is called knockdown, and isntthe same as knockback (see p. 378).On a failure by 5 or more, or anycritical failure, you fall unconscious!See Recovering from Unconsciousness(p. 423).Those with Injury Tolerance (p. 60)suffer reduced effects: No Brain meansthat skull, face, and eye injuries dontcause knockdown or stunning unlessthey are major wounds and eventhen, the roll is at no special penalty.No Vitals means that vitals and groininjuries dont cause knockdown orstunning unless they are majorwounds, in which case the roll has nospecial penalties. Homogenous andDiffuse include No Brain and NoVitals.Effects of StunA failed knockdown roll can causestun, as can certain critical hitresults and some afflictions. If you arestunned, you must Do Nothing onyour next turn. You may perform anyactive defense while stunned, but yourdefense rolls are at -4 and you cannotretreat.At the end of your turn, you mayroll against HT. On a success, yourecover from stun and can act nor-mally on subsequent turns. On a fail-ure, you remain stunned; your nextmaneuver must also be Do Nothing,but you get another roll at the end ofthat turn . . . and so on, until yourecover from stun.Mental Stun: If you are surprised,you might be mentally stunned; seeSurprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).This sort of stunning works asdescribed above, but you must makean IQ roll, not a HT roll, to snap out ofit. Youre not hurt youre confused!CRIPPLINGINJURYWhen using hit locations, sufficientinjury to a limb, extremity, or eye maycripple it. This requires a single injurythat exceeds a certain fraction of thetargets HP. For humans andhumanoids, these thresholds are:420INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEOptional Rules for InjuryThese rules add realism, and give heroes with med-ical skills or healing abilities exciting tasks to perform but they also require extra record keeping, so they areoptional.BleedingIf you are injured, you may continue to lose HP tobleeding. At the end of every minute after beingwounded, make a HT roll, at -1 per 5 HP lost. On a fail-ure, you bleed for a loss of 1 HP. On a critical failure,you bleed for 3 HP. On a critical success, the bleedingstops completely. On an ordinary success, you do notbleed this minute, but must continue to roll everyminute. If you do not bleed for three consecutive min-utes, the bleeding stops for good. Otherwise, you orsomeone else will need to make a First Aid roll to stopthe bleeding; see First Aid (p. 424).The GM decides which wounds bleed. Cutting,impaling, and piercing wounds usually bleed; crushingwounds generally dont, but there are always excep-tions. Minor burning and corrosion injury does notbleed significantly: the damage sears the flesh, cauter-izing the wound and preventing blood loss. However, ifsuch injury causes a major wound, treat it as a bleed-ing wound, oozing blood plasma until properly treated.Accumulated WoundsIt normally takes a single injury over HP/3 to cripplean extremity or over HP/2 to cripple a limb. For extrarealism, you can keep track of injury by hit location, inwhich case total injury over HP/3 or HP/2, as appropri-ate, cripples the body part. Be aware that this leads tocomplicated record keeping! One good way to handlethis is to make tally marks by the affected body part onthe characters picture.Excess injury is still lost under this rule. Forinstance, if you have 11 HP, a total of 6 HP of injurycripples your arm. Ignore further injury, except for thepurpose of determining dismemberment. Repeatedblows to a limb or extremity cannot kill you.Last WoundsIt can happen that a sorely wounded hero isknocked out, or even killed, by a 1 HP blow to the foot.There are those who find this unrealistic. If you wish,use this optional rule: once you have less than 1/3 yourHP left, you can totally ignore any wound to a limb orextremity unless: (a) it is a critical hit; (b) it is enoughto cripple that body part; or (c) it inflicts injury equalto 1/3 your HP or more at once.Limb (arm, leg, wing, striker, orprehensile tail): Injury over HP/2.Extremity (hand, foot, tail, fin, orextraneous head): Injury over HP/3.Eye: Injury over HP/10.It is sometimes possible to cripplea body part with less damage or nodamage at all; e.g., with a specific crit-ical hit result.A blow to a limb or extremity cannever cause more injury than the min-imum required to cripple that bodypart. For example, if a man has 10 HPand suffers 9 points of injury to hisright arm, he loses only 6 HP theminimum required to cripple his arm.Exception: No such limit applies to theeyes!Dismemberment: If injury to a bodypart before applying the above limitwas at least twice what was needed tocripple it, the body part is not justcrippled but destroyed. A cuttingattack or explosion severs a limb orextremity; otherwise, its irrevocablycrushed, burned, etc.Crippling Extra LimbsIf you have more than two of a par-ticular limb (arm, leg, etc.), a cripplingblow is injury over HP/(number oflimbs of that kind); e.g., if you havefour arms, injury over HP/4 cripplesan arm.If you have more than two of agiven extremity (hand, foot, etc.), acrippling blow is injury over HP/(1.5 number of extremities of that kind);e.g., if you have four feet, injury overHP/6 cripples a foot.Effects of Crippling InjuryAny crippling injury is also a majorwound, and requires a HT roll forknockdown and stunning; seeKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Below are some additional effects spe-cific to particular body parts; all theseeffects apply to dismemberment aswell. These last until the fight is over,and possibly longer see Duration ofCrippling Injuries (p. 422).Hand: You drop anything you werecarrying in that hand. If you wereusing two or more hands to hold an object, roll vs. DX to avoid drop-ping it. You cannot hold anything(e.g., a weapon) in that hand. You canwear a shield on that arm and use it toblock, but you cannot attack with it.Until healed, you have the One Handdisadvantage (p. 147).Arm: As for a crippled hand . . . but while someone with a crippledhand could at least carry something inthe crook of the arm, you cannot use acrippled arm to carry anything! Youdo not drop a shield on that arm(unless the arm is severed), but you cannot use it to block and sinceits just hanging in front of you, reduceits usual Defense Bonus by one. Untilhealed, you have the One Arm disad-vantage (p. 147).Foot: You fall down! You cannotstand or walk without a crutch orsomething to lean on. You can stillfight if you brace yourself against a wall. If you have nothing to lean on,you may assume a kneeling or sittingposture. Until healed, you have the Lame (Crippled Legs) disadvan-tage (p. 141).Leg: You fall down! You can stillfight if you assume a sitting or lyingposture. Until healed, you have theLame (Missing Legs) disadvantage(p. 141).Eye: You are blind in that eye. Untilhealed, you have the One Eye (p. 147)disadvantage or Blindness (p. 124), ifyou lose all your eyes unless youhave some substitute for eyes.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE421Patient StatusHospitals often describe a patient as being in Good, Fair, Serious, orCritical condition. Heres how these familiar terms equate with injuryin GURPS.Good: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators areexcellent; patient is conscious. This means he has 1/2 or more his fullHP; e.g., an average human (10 HP) with 5 to 10 HP remaining.Fair: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators arefavorable; patient is conscious but in moderate to severe discomfort. Hehas at least 1 HP, but less than 1/2 his full HP; e.g., the same person at1 to 4 HP.Serious: Vital signs may be unstable or outside normal limits; indi-cators are questionable; patient is badly injured or acutely ill, and maybe unconscious. He is at 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP; e.g., our vic-tim at -9 to 0 HP.Critical: Vital signs are unstable and outside normal limits; indica-tors are unfavorable; patient is often unconscious, and may not survive.He is at -1HP or worse; e.g., our patient at -10 HP or below.Temporary Attribute PenaltiesShock, afflictions, and many other things can temporarily lower yourattributes. ST reductions affect the damage you inflict with muscle-powered weapons. IQ penalties apply equally to Will and Per. However,there are no other effects on secondary characteristics; for instance, ST,DX, and HT reductions do not affect HP, Basic Speed, Basic Move, orFP.An attribute penalty always reduces skills governed by the loweredattribute by a like amount. For example, -2 to IQ would give -2 to all IQ-based skills (and to all Per- and Will-based skills, since IQ reductionslower Per and Will).Exception: Defensive reactions that dont require a maneuver to per-form active defenses, resistance rolls, Fright Checks, etc. never suf-fer penalties for attribute reductions. For instance, -2 to DX would notaffect Block, Dodge, or Parry.Note that permanent attribute losses require recalculation of all sec-ondary attributes and skills!Nonhuman Body PartsExtra Arms: If you have three or more arms, acrippled arm (hand) simply reduces the numberof arms (hands) you can use. You only suffer anactual disadvantage if reduced to fewer than twoarms (hands).Extra Head: If an extraneous head is crippled,you lose the benefits of that Extra Head; see ExtraHead (p. 54).Extra Legs: If you have threeor more legs, see Extra Legs(p. 54) for the effects of a crip-pled foot or leg.Striker: You cannot use yourStriker to attack. If your Striker isalso a wing or a tail, see below foradditional effects.Tail: Any advantages the tailprovides (e.g., Extra Arm orStriker) no longer function. Aswell, your balance is off: -1 DX,except for close manual tasks. Ifyoure a swimmer or wingedflyer, the DX penalty is -2 andyou are at half your usual wateror air Move (which will alsohalve your top speed withEnhanced Move).Wing: If you have Flight (Winged), youcannot fly and if you were airborne,you fall. If your wing is also a Striker,you cannot use it to attack.Duration of Crippling InjuriesIf you suffer a cripplinginjury, make a HT roll to see howserious it is. For battlefieldinjuries, roll at the end of combat.Success means the crippling is temporary, failure means its last-ing, and critical failure means its permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent dont bother rolling!Temporary Crippling: Until you are back at fullHP, you suffer the disadvantages describedunder Effects of Crippling Injury, above. Onceyou are fully healed, these effects disappear.Lasting Crippling: You suffered a broken bone,badly torn (or burned) muscle, or other lingeringdamage. Roll 1d. This is the number of months itwill take for the injury to heal fully. (If the injuryis treated by a physician, subtract 3 from the rollat medical TL7+, 2 at TL6, or 1 at TL5 but theperiod of healing is never less than one month.)Permanent Crippling: You lose the use of thatbody part. It is either nonfunctional or gone.Either way, you acquire a new disadvantage (One422INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE
|
Limb (arm, leg, wing, striker, orprehensile tail): Injury over HP/2.Extremity (hand, foot, tail, fin, orextraneous head): Injury over HP/3.Eye: Injury over HP/10.It is sometimes possible to cripplea body part with less damage or nodamage at all; e.g., with a specific crit-ical hit result.A blow to a limb or extremity cannever cause more injury than the min-imum required to cripple that bodypart. For example, if a man has 10 HPand suffers 9 points of injury to hisright arm, he loses only 6 HP theminimum required to cripple his arm.Exception: No such limit applies to theeyes!Dismemberment: If injury to a bodypart before applying the above limitwas at least twice what was needed tocripple it, the body part is not justcrippled but destroyed. A cuttingattack or explosion severs a limb orextremity; otherwise, its irrevocablycrushed, burned, etc.Crippling Extra LimbsIf you have more than two of a par-ticular limb (arm, leg, etc.), a cripplingblow is injury over HP/(number oflimbs of that kind); e.g., if you havefour arms, injury over HP/4 cripplesan arm.If you have more than two of agiven extremity (hand, foot, etc.), acrippling blow is injury over HP/(1.5 number of extremities of that kind);e.g., if you have four feet, injury overHP/6 cripples a foot.Effects of Crippling InjuryAny crippling injury is also a majorwound, and requires a HT roll forknockdown and stunning; seeKnockdown and Stunning (p. 420).Below are some additional effects spe-cific to particular body parts; all theseeffects apply to dismemberment aswell. These last until the fight is over,and possibly longer see Duration ofCrippling Injuries (p. 422).Hand: You drop anything you werecarrying in that hand. If you wereusing two or more hands to hold an object, roll vs. DX to avoid drop-ping it. You cannot hold anything(e.g., a weapon) in that hand. You canwear a shield on that arm and use it toblock, but you cannot attack with it.Until healed, you have the One Handdisadvantage (p. 147).Arm: As for a crippled hand . . . but while someone with a crippledhand could at least carry something inthe crook of the arm, you cannot use acrippled arm to carry anything! Youdo not drop a shield on that arm(unless the arm is severed), but you cannot use it to block and sinceits just hanging in front of you, reduceits usual Defense Bonus by one. Untilhealed, you have the One Arm disad-vantage (p. 147).Foot: You fall down! You cannotstand or walk without a crutch orsomething to lean on. You can stillfight if you brace yourself against a wall. If you have nothing to lean on,you may assume a kneeling or sittingposture. Until healed, you have the Lame (Crippled Legs) disadvan-tage (p. 141).Leg: You fall down! You can stillfight if you assume a sitting or lyingposture. Until healed, you have theLame (Missing Legs) disadvantage(p. 141).Eye: You are blind in that eye. Untilhealed, you have the One Eye (p. 147)disadvantage or Blindness (p. 124), ifyou lose all your eyes unless youhave some substitute for eyes.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE421Patient StatusHospitals often describe a patient as being in Good, Fair, Serious, orCritical condition. Heres how these familiar terms equate with injuryin GURPS.Good: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators areexcellent; patient is conscious. This means he has 1/2 or more his fullHP; e.g., an average human (10 HP) with 5 to 10 HP remaining.Fair: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits; indicators arefavorable; patient is conscious but in moderate to severe discomfort. Hehas at least 1 HP, but less than 1/2 his full HP; e.g., the same person at1 to 4 HP.Serious: Vital signs may be unstable or outside normal limits; indi-cators are questionable; patient is badly injured or acutely ill, and maybe unconscious. He is at 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP; e.g., our vic-tim at -9 to 0 HP.Critical: Vital signs are unstable and outside normal limits; indica-tors are unfavorable; patient is often unconscious, and may not survive.He is at -1HP or worse; e.g., our patient at -10 HP or below.Temporary Attribute PenaltiesShock, afflictions, and many other things can temporarily lower yourattributes. ST reductions affect the damage you inflict with muscle-powered weapons. IQ penalties apply equally to Will and Per. However,there are no other effects on secondary characteristics; for instance, ST,DX, and HT reductions do not affect HP, Basic Speed, Basic Move, orFP.An attribute penalty always reduces skills governed by the loweredattribute by a like amount. For example, -2 to IQ would give -2 to all IQ-based skills (and to all Per- and Will-based skills, since IQ reductionslower Per and Will).Exception: Defensive reactions that dont require a maneuver to per-form active defenses, resistance rolls, Fright Checks, etc. never suf-fer penalties for attribute reductions. For instance, -2 to DX would notaffect Block, Dodge, or Parry.Note that permanent attribute losses require recalculation of all sec-ondary attributes and skills!Nonhuman Body PartsExtra Arms: If you have three or more arms, acrippled arm (hand) simply reduces the numberof arms (hands) you can use. You only suffer anactual disadvantage if reduced to fewer than twoarms (hands).Extra Head: If an extraneous head is crippled,you lose the benefits of that Extra Head; see ExtraHead (p. 54).Extra Legs: If you have threeor more legs, see Extra Legs(p. 54) for the effects of a crip-pled foot or leg.Striker: You cannot use yourStriker to attack. If your Striker isalso a wing or a tail, see below foradditional effects.Tail: Any advantages the tailprovides (e.g., Extra Arm orStriker) no longer function. Aswell, your balance is off: -1 DX,except for close manual tasks. Ifyoure a swimmer or wingedflyer, the DX penalty is -2 andyou are at half your usual wateror air Move (which will alsohalve your top speed withEnhanced Move).Wing: If you have Flight (Winged), youcannot fly and if you were airborne,you fall. If your wing is also a Striker,you cannot use it to attack.Duration of Crippling InjuriesIf you suffer a cripplinginjury, make a HT roll to see howserious it is. For battlefieldinjuries, roll at the end of combat.Success means the crippling is temporary, failure means its last-ing, and critical failure means its permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent dont bother rolling!Temporary Crippling: Until you are back at fullHP, you suffer the disadvantages describedunder Effects of Crippling Injury, above. Onceyou are fully healed, these effects disappear.Lasting Crippling: You suffered a broken bone,badly torn (or burned) muscle, or other lingeringdamage. Roll 1d. This is the number of months itwill take for the injury to heal fully. (If the injuryis treated by a physician, subtract 3 from the rollat medical TL7+, 2 at TL6, or 1 at TL5 but theperiod of healing is never less than one month.)Permanent Crippling: You lose the use of thatbody part. It is either nonfunctional or gone.Either way, you acquire a new disadvantage (One422INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEHand, Lame, etc., as appropriate). Youget no extra character points for this!It simply lowers your point value. Insome settings, even this degree ofinjury is curable; see RepairingPermanent Crippling Injuries (p. 424).MORTAL WOUNDSIf you fail a HT roll to avoid deathby 1 or 2, you dont drop dead, but suf-fer a mortal wound. This is a woundso severe that your internal injuriesmight kill you even after you stopbleeding.If you are mortally wounded, youare instantly incapacitated. You mayor may not be conscious (GMs deci-sion). If you suffer further injury andmust make another HT roll to avoiddeath, any failure kills you.While mortally wounded, you mustmake a HT roll every half-hour to avoiddeath. On any failure, you die. On a suc-cess, you linger for another half-hour then roll again. On a critical success,you pull through miraculously: you areno longer mortally wounded (but youare still incapacitated).If youre alive but mortally wound-ed, surgery may be able to stabilizeyour condition see Stabilizing aMortal Wound (p. 424). At TL6+, trau-ma maintenance can keep you alivewhile waiting for surgery. This involvesCPR, oxygen, transfusions, etc. Insteadof rolling vs. HT every half-hour, rollagainst the higher of your HT or yourcaregivers Physician skill every hour or every day, if you are on a heart-lungmachine or similar life support. Youdo not need to roll at all if youre putinto magical or ultra-tech suspendedanimation!If you recover from a mortal wound,make a HT roll. On a failure, you lose apoint of HT permanently. On a criticalfailure, the GM may apply theWounded disadvantage (p. 162) orsome other effect (e.g., reduced appear-ance due to scarring).DEATHIf your character is killed, you maystill wish to keep track of furtherinjury. In certain futuristic or magicalworlds, the dead can be brought backto life by prompt treatment, as long asthe body is mostly intact (not reducedto -10HP).Instant DeathDecapitation, a cut throat, etc. cankill anyone, regardless of HT and HP.If a helpless or unconscious person isattacked in an obviously lethal way,hes dead. Dont bother to roll for dam-age, calculate remaining HP, etc. Justassume that he drops to -5HP.This does not apply to a merelyunaware victim. If you sneak upbehind a sentry with a knife, you cantautomatically kill him. Game it outrealistically. Target the vitals or neck.Since its a surprise attack, he wont behitting back: make an All-Out attack!Your attack roll will almost certainlysucceed. Your victim gets no activedefense at all. You will probably inflictenough injury to incapacitate or killhim. But it isnt automatic.Dying ActionsWhen a PC or important NPC iskilled in any but the most sudden andthorough fashion, the GM shouldallow a dying action. If this is a finalblow at the enemy, it should take nomore than a turn. If its a deathbedspeech, the GM should stretch time alittle bit for dramatic purposes! This has nothing to do with realism,but its fun.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE423RECOVERYThe Injuries rules may seem harsh,but dont despair . . . you can get better!RECOVERINGFROMUNCONSCIOUSNESSFailure by 5 or more on a knock-down roll, a failed HT roll to stay con-scious at 0 HP or less, and many otherthings (e.g., certain critical hits) canleave you unconscious. It is up to theGM to decide whether you are trulyunconscious or just totally incapacitat-ed by pain and injury but either way,you cant do anything. You recover asfollows: If you have 1 or more HP remain-ing, you awaken automatically in 15minutes. At 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP,make a HT roll to awaken every hour.Once you succeed, you can act normal-ly. You do not have to roll against HTevery second to remain consciousunless you receive new injury. But sinceyou are below 1/3 your HP, you are athalf Move and Dodge. At -1HP or below, you are in badshape. You get a single HT roll toawaken after 12 hours. If you succeed,you regain consciousness and can actas described above. But if you fail, youwont regain consciousness withoutmedical treatment use the rulesgiven underStabilizing a MortalWound (p. 424). Until you receivehelp, you must roll vs. HT every 12hours; if you fail, you die.Now stand aside. Tis but a scratch.A scratch? Your arms off.No it isnt.Then whats that?. . . Ive had worse. King Arthur and the Black Knight,Monty Python and the Holy Grail
|
Nonhuman Body PartsExtra Arms: If you have three or more arms, acrippled arm (hand) simply reduces the numberof arms (hands) you can use. You only suffer anactual disadvantage if reduced to fewer than twoarms (hands).Extra Head: If an extraneous head is crippled,you lose the benefits of that Extra Head; see ExtraHead (p. 54).Extra Legs: If you have threeor more legs, see Extra Legs(p. 54) for the effects of a crip-pled foot or leg.Striker: You cannot use yourStriker to attack. If your Striker isalso a wing or a tail, see below foradditional effects.Tail: Any advantages the tailprovides (e.g., Extra Arm orStriker) no longer function. Aswell, your balance is off: -1 DX,except for close manual tasks. Ifyoure a swimmer or wingedflyer, the DX penalty is -2 andyou are at half your usual wateror air Move (which will alsohalve your top speed withEnhanced Move).Wing: If you have Flight (Winged), youcannot fly and if you were airborne,you fall. If your wing is also a Striker,you cannot use it to attack.Duration of Crippling InjuriesIf you suffer a cripplinginjury, make a HT roll to see howserious it is. For battlefieldinjuries, roll at the end of combat.Success means the crippling is temporary, failure means its last-ing, and critical failure means its permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent dont bother rolling!Temporary Crippling: Until you are back at fullHP, you suffer the disadvantages describedunder Effects of Crippling Injury, above. Onceyou are fully healed, these effects disappear.Lasting Crippling: You suffered a broken bone,badly torn (or burned) muscle, or other lingeringdamage. Roll 1d. This is the number of months itwill take for the injury to heal fully. (If the injuryis treated by a physician, subtract 3 from the rollat medical TL7+, 2 at TL6, or 1 at TL5 but theperiod of healing is never less than one month.)Permanent Crippling: You lose the use of thatbody part. It is either nonfunctional or gone.Either way, you acquire a new disadvantage (One422INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEHand, Lame, etc., as appropriate). Youget no extra character points for this!It simply lowers your point value. Insome settings, even this degree ofinjury is curable; see RepairingPermanent Crippling Injuries (p. 424).MORTAL WOUNDSIf you fail a HT roll to avoid deathby 1 or 2, you dont drop dead, but suf-fer a mortal wound. This is a woundso severe that your internal injuriesmight kill you even after you stopbleeding.If you are mortally wounded, youare instantly incapacitated. You mayor may not be conscious (GMs deci-sion). If you suffer further injury andmust make another HT roll to avoiddeath, any failure kills you.While mortally wounded, you mustmake a HT roll every half-hour to avoiddeath. On any failure, you die. On a suc-cess, you linger for another half-hour then roll again. On a critical success,you pull through miraculously: you areno longer mortally wounded (but youare still incapacitated).If youre alive but mortally wound-ed, surgery may be able to stabilizeyour condition see Stabilizing aMortal Wound (p. 424). At TL6+, trau-ma maintenance can keep you alivewhile waiting for surgery. This involvesCPR, oxygen, transfusions, etc. Insteadof rolling vs. HT every half-hour, rollagainst the higher of your HT or yourcaregivers Physician skill every hour or every day, if you are on a heart-lungmachine or similar life support. Youdo not need to roll at all if youre putinto magical or ultra-tech suspendedanimation!If you recover from a mortal wound,make a HT roll. On a failure, you lose apoint of HT permanently. On a criticalfailure, the GM may apply theWounded disadvantage (p. 162) orsome other effect (e.g., reduced appear-ance due to scarring).DEATHIf your character is killed, you maystill wish to keep track of furtherinjury. In certain futuristic or magicalworlds, the dead can be brought backto life by prompt treatment, as long asthe body is mostly intact (not reducedto -10HP).Instant DeathDecapitation, a cut throat, etc. cankill anyone, regardless of HT and HP.If a helpless or unconscious person isattacked in an obviously lethal way,hes dead. Dont bother to roll for dam-age, calculate remaining HP, etc. Justassume that he drops to -5HP.This does not apply to a merelyunaware victim. If you sneak upbehind a sentry with a knife, you cantautomatically kill him. Game it outrealistically. Target the vitals or neck.Since its a surprise attack, he wont behitting back: make an All-Out attack!Your attack roll will almost certainlysucceed. Your victim gets no activedefense at all. You will probably inflictenough injury to incapacitate or killhim. But it isnt automatic.Dying ActionsWhen a PC or important NPC iskilled in any but the most sudden andthorough fashion, the GM shouldallow a dying action. If this is a finalblow at the enemy, it should take nomore than a turn. If its a deathbedspeech, the GM should stretch time alittle bit for dramatic purposes! This has nothing to do with realism,but its fun.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE423RECOVERYThe Injuries rules may seem harsh,but dont despair . . . you can get better!RECOVERINGFROMUNCONSCIOUSNESSFailure by 5 or more on a knock-down roll, a failed HT roll to stay con-scious at 0 HP or less, and many otherthings (e.g., certain critical hits) canleave you unconscious. It is up to theGM to decide whether you are trulyunconscious or just totally incapacitat-ed by pain and injury but either way,you cant do anything. You recover asfollows: If you have 1 or more HP remain-ing, you awaken automatically in 15minutes. At 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP,make a HT roll to awaken every hour.Once you succeed, you can act normal-ly. You do not have to roll against HTevery second to remain consciousunless you receive new injury. But sinceyou are below 1/3 your HP, you are athalf Move and Dodge. At -1HP or below, you are in badshape. You get a single HT roll toawaken after 12 hours. If you succeed,you regain consciousness and can actas described above. But if you fail, youwont regain consciousness withoutmedical treatment use the rulesgiven underStabilizing a MortalWound (p. 424). Until you receivehelp, you must roll vs. HT every 12hours; if you fail, you die.Now stand aside. Tis but a scratch.A scratch? Your arms off.No it isnt.Then whats that?. . . Ive had worse. King Arthur and the Black Knight,Monty Python and the Holy GrailNATURALRECOVERYRest lets you recover lost HP,unless the damage is of a type thatspecifically does not heal naturally(for an example, see Illness, p. 442). Atthe end of each day of rest and decentfood, make a HT roll. On a success,you recover 1 HP. The GM may give apenalty if conditions are bad, or abonus if conditions are very good.FIRST AIDThe two main uses for First Aidskill (p. 195) are bandaging and treat-ing shock.BandagingIt takes one minute to apply pres-sure or a tourniquet to stop bleeding.This restores 1 HP.Using the Bleeding rule (p. 420),someone who is wounded but receivesa successful First Aid roll within oneminute of his injury loses no HP tobleeding. A later roll will prevent fur-ther HP loss.Treating ShockAfter bandaging, the aid-giver maytake extra time to apply a more elabo-rate dressing and treat the victim forshock. He must keep the victimwarm, comfortable, calm, and still.After the time indicated on the FirstAid Table, he may roll against First Aidskill.On a success, the medic rolls asindicated on the table to see howmany HP the victim recovers mini-mum 1 HP. A critical success restoresthe maximum possible HP! This rollincludes the 1 HP for bandaging; thus,a roll of 1 HP restores no further HP.On a critical failure, the victimloses 2 HP instead of recovering anyHP at all!SURGERYSurgery can physically repair dam-age to the body, but its risky at low TLs especially prior to the invention ofanesthesia (mid-TL5) and blood typ-ing (TL6). See Surgery skill (p. 223)for general modifiers and for theeffects of a failed skill roll. Some addi-tional rules:Equipment: Basic equipment gives-6 at TL1, -5 at TL2-3, -4 at TL4, -2 atTL5, and +(TL-6) at TL6+. Equipmentquality further modifies the roll; seeEquipment Modifiers (p. 345). Themodifiers for TL5+ surgery assumethat anesthetic is available. If it isnt,apply a -2 penalty to skill. This isinstead of the usual -1 for a missingitem.Infection: Before TL5 (and, at theGMs option, even during much ofTL5), antiseptic practice is poor.Check for infection (see Infection,p. 444) after any surgery.Stabilizing a Mortal WoundEach attempt takes one hour. Theroll is at -2 if the patient is at -3HP orworse, or -4 if hes at -4HP or worse.On a failure, repeated attempts areallowed, at a cumulative -2 perattempt. If the victim dies on the table,resuscitation may be possible; seeResuscitation (p. 425).Repairing LastingCrippling InjuriesIt is possible to fix a lasting crip-pling injury (see Duration of CripplingInjuries, p. 422) through surgeryrather than leaving it to heal on itsown. This takes 2 hours. On a success,measure the injurys remaining recov-ery time in weeks rather than months.But on a critical failure, the injurybecomes permanent!Repairing PermanentCrippling InjuriesRadical surgery can fix certain per-manent crippling injuries at TL7+;exact details are up to the GM. Thisoften requires prosthetic or transplantparts, which might be costly or hard tofind. At TL7-8, the procedure mightonly restore partial functionality. Thiskind of operation is also tricky: -3 orworse to skill. On a failure, the patientneeds 1d months to recover beforeanother attempt is possible.MEDICAL CAREAnyone under the care of a competent physician (Physician skill12+) gets +1 on all rolls for naturalrecovery.The healer may also make aPhysician roll to cure the patient.Only one physician may roll perpatient, but a single physician cancare for up to 200 patients. The exactnumber of patients a physician canattend to and the frequency withwhich he may roll to cure themdepend on the TL of his Physicianskill; see the Medical Help Table,below. On a success, the patientrecovers 1 HP; on a critical success,he recovers 2 HP. This is in additionto natural healing. However, a criti-cal failure costs the patient 1 HP!High-tech physicians depend heav-ily on equipment but still receive good424INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFirst Aid TableTech LevelTime per VictimHP Restored0-130 minutes1d-42-330 minutes1d-3430 minutes1d-2520 minutes1d-26-720 minutes1d-1810 minutes1d9+10 minutes1d+1High HP and HealingThe healing rates given for natural recovery, first aid, magical heal-ing spells, the Regeneration advantage, etc. assume someone withhuman-scale Hit Points; that is, with fewer than 20 HP. Those withmore HP heal in proportion to their HP score. Multiply HP healed by 2at 20-29 HP, by 3 at 30-39 HP, by 4 at 40-49 HP, and so on, with eachfull 10 HP adding 1 to the multiple.
|
Hand, Lame, etc., as appropriate). Youget no extra character points for this!It simply lowers your point value. Insome settings, even this degree ofinjury is curable; see RepairingPermanent Crippling Injuries (p. 424).MORTAL WOUNDSIf you fail a HT roll to avoid deathby 1 or 2, you dont drop dead, but suf-fer a mortal wound. This is a woundso severe that your internal injuriesmight kill you even after you stopbleeding.If you are mortally wounded, youare instantly incapacitated. You mayor may not be conscious (GMs deci-sion). If you suffer further injury andmust make another HT roll to avoiddeath, any failure kills you.While mortally wounded, you mustmake a HT roll every half-hour to avoiddeath. On any failure, you die. On a suc-cess, you linger for another half-hour then roll again. On a critical success,you pull through miraculously: you areno longer mortally wounded (but youare still incapacitated).If youre alive but mortally wound-ed, surgery may be able to stabilizeyour condition see Stabilizing aMortal Wound (p. 424). At TL6+, trau-ma maintenance can keep you alivewhile waiting for surgery. This involvesCPR, oxygen, transfusions, etc. Insteadof rolling vs. HT every half-hour, rollagainst the higher of your HT or yourcaregivers Physician skill every hour or every day, if you are on a heart-lungmachine or similar life support. Youdo not need to roll at all if youre putinto magical or ultra-tech suspendedanimation!If you recover from a mortal wound,make a HT roll. On a failure, you lose apoint of HT permanently. On a criticalfailure, the GM may apply theWounded disadvantage (p. 162) orsome other effect (e.g., reduced appear-ance due to scarring).DEATHIf your character is killed, you maystill wish to keep track of furtherinjury. In certain futuristic or magicalworlds, the dead can be brought backto life by prompt treatment, as long asthe body is mostly intact (not reducedto -10HP).Instant DeathDecapitation, a cut throat, etc. cankill anyone, regardless of HT and HP.If a helpless or unconscious person isattacked in an obviously lethal way,hes dead. Dont bother to roll for dam-age, calculate remaining HP, etc. Justassume that he drops to -5HP.This does not apply to a merelyunaware victim. If you sneak upbehind a sentry with a knife, you cantautomatically kill him. Game it outrealistically. Target the vitals or neck.Since its a surprise attack, he wont behitting back: make an All-Out attack!Your attack roll will almost certainlysucceed. Your victim gets no activedefense at all. You will probably inflictenough injury to incapacitate or killhim. But it isnt automatic.Dying ActionsWhen a PC or important NPC iskilled in any but the most sudden andthorough fashion, the GM shouldallow a dying action. If this is a finalblow at the enemy, it should take nomore than a turn. If its a deathbedspeech, the GM should stretch time alittle bit for dramatic purposes! This has nothing to do with realism,but its fun.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE423RECOVERYThe Injuries rules may seem harsh,but dont despair . . . you can get better!RECOVERINGFROMUNCONSCIOUSNESSFailure by 5 or more on a knock-down roll, a failed HT roll to stay con-scious at 0 HP or less, and many otherthings (e.g., certain critical hits) canleave you unconscious. It is up to theGM to decide whether you are trulyunconscious or just totally incapacitat-ed by pain and injury but either way,you cant do anything. You recover asfollows: If you have 1 or more HP remain-ing, you awaken automatically in 15minutes. At 0 HP or worse, but above -1HP,make a HT roll to awaken every hour.Once you succeed, you can act normal-ly. You do not have to roll against HTevery second to remain consciousunless you receive new injury. But sinceyou are below 1/3 your HP, you are athalf Move and Dodge. At -1HP or below, you are in badshape. You get a single HT roll toawaken after 12 hours. If you succeed,you regain consciousness and can actas described above. But if you fail, youwont regain consciousness withoutmedical treatment use the rulesgiven underStabilizing a MortalWound (p. 424). Until you receivehelp, you must roll vs. HT every 12hours; if you fail, you die.Now stand aside. Tis but a scratch.A scratch? Your arms off.No it isnt.Then whats that?. . . Ive had worse. King Arthur and the Black Knight,Monty Python and the Holy GrailNATURALRECOVERYRest lets you recover lost HP,unless the damage is of a type thatspecifically does not heal naturally(for an example, see Illness, p. 442). Atthe end of each day of rest and decentfood, make a HT roll. On a success,you recover 1 HP. The GM may give apenalty if conditions are bad, or abonus if conditions are very good.FIRST AIDThe two main uses for First Aidskill (p. 195) are bandaging and treat-ing shock.BandagingIt takes one minute to apply pres-sure or a tourniquet to stop bleeding.This restores 1 HP.Using the Bleeding rule (p. 420),someone who is wounded but receivesa successful First Aid roll within oneminute of his injury loses no HP tobleeding. A later roll will prevent fur-ther HP loss.Treating ShockAfter bandaging, the aid-giver maytake extra time to apply a more elabo-rate dressing and treat the victim forshock. He must keep the victimwarm, comfortable, calm, and still.After the time indicated on the FirstAid Table, he may roll against First Aidskill.On a success, the medic rolls asindicated on the table to see howmany HP the victim recovers mini-mum 1 HP. A critical success restoresthe maximum possible HP! This rollincludes the 1 HP for bandaging; thus,a roll of 1 HP restores no further HP.On a critical failure, the victimloses 2 HP instead of recovering anyHP at all!SURGERYSurgery can physically repair dam-age to the body, but its risky at low TLs especially prior to the invention ofanesthesia (mid-TL5) and blood typ-ing (TL6). See Surgery skill (p. 223)for general modifiers and for theeffects of a failed skill roll. Some addi-tional rules:Equipment: Basic equipment gives-6 at TL1, -5 at TL2-3, -4 at TL4, -2 atTL5, and +(TL-6) at TL6+. Equipmentquality further modifies the roll; seeEquipment Modifiers (p. 345). Themodifiers for TL5+ surgery assumethat anesthetic is available. If it isnt,apply a -2 penalty to skill. This isinstead of the usual -1 for a missingitem.Infection: Before TL5 (and, at theGMs option, even during much ofTL5), antiseptic practice is poor.Check for infection (see Infection,p. 444) after any surgery.Stabilizing a Mortal WoundEach attempt takes one hour. Theroll is at -2 if the patient is at -3HP orworse, or -4 if hes at -4HP or worse.On a failure, repeated attempts areallowed, at a cumulative -2 perattempt. If the victim dies on the table,resuscitation may be possible; seeResuscitation (p. 425).Repairing LastingCrippling InjuriesIt is possible to fix a lasting crip-pling injury (see Duration of CripplingInjuries, p. 422) through surgeryrather than leaving it to heal on itsown. This takes 2 hours. On a success,measure the injurys remaining recov-ery time in weeks rather than months.But on a critical failure, the injurybecomes permanent!Repairing PermanentCrippling InjuriesRadical surgery can fix certain per-manent crippling injuries at TL7+;exact details are up to the GM. Thisoften requires prosthetic or transplantparts, which might be costly or hard tofind. At TL7-8, the procedure mightonly restore partial functionality. Thiskind of operation is also tricky: -3 orworse to skill. On a failure, the patientneeds 1d months to recover beforeanother attempt is possible.MEDICAL CAREAnyone under the care of a competent physician (Physician skill12+) gets +1 on all rolls for naturalrecovery.The healer may also make aPhysician roll to cure the patient.Only one physician may roll perpatient, but a single physician cancare for up to 200 patients. The exactnumber of patients a physician canattend to and the frequency withwhich he may roll to cure themdepend on the TL of his Physicianskill; see the Medical Help Table,below. On a success, the patientrecovers 1 HP; on a critical success,he recovers 2 HP. This is in additionto natural healing. However, a criti-cal failure costs the patient 1 HP!High-tech physicians depend heav-ily on equipment but still receive good424INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFirst Aid TableTech LevelTime per VictimHP Restored0-130 minutes1d-42-330 minutes1d-3430 minutes1d-2520 minutes1d-26-720 minutes1d-1810 minutes1d9+10 minutes1d+1High HP and HealingThe healing rates given for natural recovery, first aid, magical heal-ing spells, the Regeneration advantage, etc. assume someone withhuman-scale Hit Points; that is, with fewer than 20 HP. Those withmore HP heal in proportion to their HP score. Multiply HP healed by 2at 20-29 HP, by 3 at 30-39 HP, by 4 at 40-49 HP, and so on, with eachfull 10 HP adding 1 to the multiple.basic training; therefore, a TL6+physician performs as though he wereTL6 if he has to make do without thegadgetry to which he is accustomed,as long as the surroundings are clean.RESUSCITATIONReviving a drowning, asphyxiation,or heart attack victim requiresresuscitation. Make a successfulPhysician/TL7+ roll or a FirstAid/TL7+ roll at -4. Each attempt takesone minute. Repeated attempts arepossible, but there is almost always atime limit.Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) and rescue breathing, widelytaught after 1960, are more effectivethan earlier forms of resuscitation.First Aid rolls (but not default rolls) torevive victims of drowning or asphyxi-ation are at -2 instead of -4.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE425Medical Help TableMedicalFrequencyPatientsTLof Rollsper Doctor0There are no physicians.Get well by yourself.1-3Weekly104Every 3 days105Every 2 days156Daily207Daily258Daily5092 daily50103 daily50114 daily10012+5 daily200It just so happensthat your friend hereis only MOSTLYdead. Theres a bigdifference betweenmostly dead and alldead. Miracle Max,The PrincessBrideUltra-Tech DrugsMiraculous drugs are a staple of science-fiction medicine. Below isa quick-and-dirty system for designing TL9+ drugs.Effects: Select one or more attribute modifiers, advantages, or dis-advantages to represent the drugs effects and (usually bad) side effects.Most medical drugs give Rapid Healing, Resistant to Disease, HTbonuses, or similar benefits. Some mitigate disadvantages, cancelingthem for the drugs duration (e.g., a psychiatric drug might suppressDelusions and Paranoia). A few provide unique effects, such as healinglost HP or FP.Duration: Select the duration of the effects. Standard durations areshort-term (lasts [25 - HT] minutes), medium-term ([25 - HT]/4 hours),long-term (one full day), or very long-term (up to a week). Multiple dosesgenerally extend duration rather than increasing effect; e.g., two dosesof a long-term drug last two days.Potency: The subject gets a HT roll to resist disadvantages and othernegative effects. The drugs potency is a modifier to this roll. Assumethat each doubling of dosage gives an extra -1 to the roll.Form: A drug may be a pill, injection, aerosol, contact agent, oraerosol contact agent. Many drugs are available in multiple forms. Mostpills require 30 minutes or more to take effect, but can be dissolved indrinks. Contact agents (e.g., patches) take at least 5 minutes. Aerosolsand injections take effect almost immediately.Cost: This can vary, but heres a rule of thumb. Sum the absolutepoint values of all traits the drug adds or removes. Multiply the sum bya base cost for duration: $2 for short-term, $10 for medium-term, $50for long-term, or $250 for very long-term. For drugs that heal, use thepoint cost of HP or FP, as appropriate, and treat permanent healing aslong-term. Potency modifies price: double cost for each -1 to HT rolls.Multiply final cost by 2 for aerosols or contact agents, by 10 for aerosolcontact agents.LC: This will vary by society and with the nature of the drug. Medicaldrugs are typically LC3. Drugs perceived as socially harmful might beLC2 or even LC1.Example: A truth drug that forces the subject to roll HT-3 or suffer-4 to Will for (25 - HT) minutes would cost 20 (point value) $2 (short-term) 8 (potency) 1 (injection) = $320 per dose. It would probablyonly be available to spies: LC2.
|
NATURALRECOVERYRest lets you recover lost HP,unless the damage is of a type thatspecifically does not heal naturally(for an example, see Illness, p. 442). Atthe end of each day of rest and decentfood, make a HT roll. On a success,you recover 1 HP. The GM may give apenalty if conditions are bad, or abonus if conditions are very good.FIRST AIDThe two main uses for First Aidskill (p. 195) are bandaging and treat-ing shock.BandagingIt takes one minute to apply pres-sure or a tourniquet to stop bleeding.This restores 1 HP.Using the Bleeding rule (p. 420),someone who is wounded but receivesa successful First Aid roll within oneminute of his injury loses no HP tobleeding. A later roll will prevent fur-ther HP loss.Treating ShockAfter bandaging, the aid-giver maytake extra time to apply a more elabo-rate dressing and treat the victim forshock. He must keep the victimwarm, comfortable, calm, and still.After the time indicated on the FirstAid Table, he may roll against First Aidskill.On a success, the medic rolls asindicated on the table to see howmany HP the victim recovers mini-mum 1 HP. A critical success restoresthe maximum possible HP! This rollincludes the 1 HP for bandaging; thus,a roll of 1 HP restores no further HP.On a critical failure, the victimloses 2 HP instead of recovering anyHP at all!SURGERYSurgery can physically repair dam-age to the body, but its risky at low TLs especially prior to the invention ofanesthesia (mid-TL5) and blood typ-ing (TL6). See Surgery skill (p. 223)for general modifiers and for theeffects of a failed skill roll. Some addi-tional rules:Equipment: Basic equipment gives-6 at TL1, -5 at TL2-3, -4 at TL4, -2 atTL5, and +(TL-6) at TL6+. Equipmentquality further modifies the roll; seeEquipment Modifiers (p. 345). Themodifiers for TL5+ surgery assumethat anesthetic is available. If it isnt,apply a -2 penalty to skill. This isinstead of the usual -1 for a missingitem.Infection: Before TL5 (and, at theGMs option, even during much ofTL5), antiseptic practice is poor.Check for infection (see Infection,p. 444) after any surgery.Stabilizing a Mortal WoundEach attempt takes one hour. Theroll is at -2 if the patient is at -3HP orworse, or -4 if hes at -4HP or worse.On a failure, repeated attempts areallowed, at a cumulative -2 perattempt. If the victim dies on the table,resuscitation may be possible; seeResuscitation (p. 425).Repairing LastingCrippling InjuriesIt is possible to fix a lasting crip-pling injury (see Duration of CripplingInjuries, p. 422) through surgeryrather than leaving it to heal on itsown. This takes 2 hours. On a success,measure the injurys remaining recov-ery time in weeks rather than months.But on a critical failure, the injurybecomes permanent!Repairing PermanentCrippling InjuriesRadical surgery can fix certain per-manent crippling injuries at TL7+;exact details are up to the GM. Thisoften requires prosthetic or transplantparts, which might be costly or hard tofind. At TL7-8, the procedure mightonly restore partial functionality. Thiskind of operation is also tricky: -3 orworse to skill. On a failure, the patientneeds 1d months to recover beforeanother attempt is possible.MEDICAL CAREAnyone under the care of a competent physician (Physician skill12+) gets +1 on all rolls for naturalrecovery.The healer may also make aPhysician roll to cure the patient.Only one physician may roll perpatient, but a single physician cancare for up to 200 patients. The exactnumber of patients a physician canattend to and the frequency withwhich he may roll to cure themdepend on the TL of his Physicianskill; see the Medical Help Table,below. On a success, the patientrecovers 1 HP; on a critical success,he recovers 2 HP. This is in additionto natural healing. However, a criti-cal failure costs the patient 1 HP!High-tech physicians depend heav-ily on equipment but still receive good424INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFirst Aid TableTech LevelTime per VictimHP Restored0-130 minutes1d-42-330 minutes1d-3430 minutes1d-2520 minutes1d-26-720 minutes1d-1810 minutes1d9+10 minutes1d+1High HP and HealingThe healing rates given for natural recovery, first aid, magical heal-ing spells, the Regeneration advantage, etc. assume someone withhuman-scale Hit Points; that is, with fewer than 20 HP. Those withmore HP heal in proportion to their HP score. Multiply HP healed by 2at 20-29 HP, by 3 at 30-39 HP, by 4 at 40-49 HP, and so on, with eachfull 10 HP adding 1 to the multiple.basic training; therefore, a TL6+physician performs as though he wereTL6 if he has to make do without thegadgetry to which he is accustomed,as long as the surroundings are clean.RESUSCITATIONReviving a drowning, asphyxiation,or heart attack victim requiresresuscitation. Make a successfulPhysician/TL7+ roll or a FirstAid/TL7+ roll at -4. Each attempt takesone minute. Repeated attempts arepossible, but there is almost always atime limit.Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) and rescue breathing, widelytaught after 1960, are more effectivethan earlier forms of resuscitation.First Aid rolls (but not default rolls) torevive victims of drowning or asphyxi-ation are at -2 instead of -4.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE425Medical Help TableMedicalFrequencyPatientsTLof Rollsper Doctor0There are no physicians.Get well by yourself.1-3Weekly104Every 3 days105Every 2 days156Daily207Daily258Daily5092 daily50103 daily50114 daily10012+5 daily200It just so happensthat your friend hereis only MOSTLYdead. Theres a bigdifference betweenmostly dead and alldead. Miracle Max,The PrincessBrideUltra-Tech DrugsMiraculous drugs are a staple of science-fiction medicine. Below isa quick-and-dirty system for designing TL9+ drugs.Effects: Select one or more attribute modifiers, advantages, or dis-advantages to represent the drugs effects and (usually bad) side effects.Most medical drugs give Rapid Healing, Resistant to Disease, HTbonuses, or similar benefits. Some mitigate disadvantages, cancelingthem for the drugs duration (e.g., a psychiatric drug might suppressDelusions and Paranoia). A few provide unique effects, such as healinglost HP or FP.Duration: Select the duration of the effects. Standard durations areshort-term (lasts [25 - HT] minutes), medium-term ([25 - HT]/4 hours),long-term (one full day), or very long-term (up to a week). Multiple dosesgenerally extend duration rather than increasing effect; e.g., two dosesof a long-term drug last two days.Potency: The subject gets a HT roll to resist disadvantages and othernegative effects. The drugs potency is a modifier to this roll. Assumethat each doubling of dosage gives an extra -1 to the roll.Form: A drug may be a pill, injection, aerosol, contact agent, oraerosol contact agent. Many drugs are available in multiple forms. Mostpills require 30 minutes or more to take effect, but can be dissolved indrinks. Contact agents (e.g., patches) take at least 5 minutes. Aerosolsand injections take effect almost immediately.Cost: This can vary, but heres a rule of thumb. Sum the absolutepoint values of all traits the drug adds or removes. Multiply the sum bya base cost for duration: $2 for short-term, $10 for medium-term, $50for long-term, or $250 for very long-term. For drugs that heal, use thepoint cost of HP or FP, as appropriate, and treat permanent healing aslong-term. Potency modifies price: double cost for each -1 to HT rolls.Multiply final cost by 2 for aerosols or contact agents, by 10 for aerosolcontact agents.LC: This will vary by society and with the nature of the drug. Medicaldrugs are typically LC3. Drugs perceived as socially harmful might beLC2 or even LC1.Example: A truth drug that forces the subject to roll HT-3 or suffer-4 to Will for (25 - HT) minutes would cost 20 (point value) $2 (short-term) 8 (potency) 1 (injection) = $320 per dose. It would probablyonly be available to spies: LC2.Running long distances, usingextra effort, being suffocated, castingmagic spells, and many other thingscan cause fatigue: a temporary lossof Fatigue Points. Your Fatigue Points(FP) score starts out equal to your HT,but you can modify this; see FatiguePoints (p. 16). Just as injury representsphysical trauma and comes off of HP,fatigue represents lost energy andreduces FP. When you lose FP, keeptrack of it on your character sheet.LOST FATIGUEPOINTSThe chart below summarizes theeffects of being at low or negative FP.All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your FP left You arevery tired. Halve your Move,Dodge, and ST (round up). Thisdoes not affect ST-based quantities,such as HP and damage.0 FP or less You are on the verge ofcollapse. If you suffer furtherfatigue, each FP you lose also caus-es 1 HP of injury. Thus, fatiguefrom starvation, dehydration, etc.will eventually kill you and youcan work yourself to death! To doanything besides talk or rest, youmust make a Will roll; in combat,roll before each maneuver otherthan Do Nothing. On a success,you can act normally. You can useFP to cast spells, etc., and if you aredrowning, you can continue tostruggle, but you suffer the usual 1HP per FP lost. On a failure, youcollapse, incapacitated, and can donothing until you recover to posi-tive FP. On a critical failure, makean immediate HT roll. If you fail,you suffer a heart attack; seeMortal Conditions (p. 429).-1FP You fall unconscious. Whileunconscious, you recover lost FP atthe same rate as for normal rest.You awaken when you reach posi-tive FP. Your FP can never fallbelow this level. After this stage,any FP cost comes off your HPinstead!FATIGUE COSTSThe following activities commonlyresult in FP loss.Fighting a BattleAny battle that lasts more than 10seconds will cost FP you expendenergy quickly when you fight foryour life! Those who make no attackor defense rolls during the fight areexempt from this fatigue, but otheractions (e.g., casting magic spells) stillhave their usual FP cost. Assess thefollowing costs at the end of the battle:No Encumbrance: 1 FP.Light Encumbrance: 2 FP.Medium Encumbrance: 3 FP.Heavy Encumbrance: 4 FP.Extra-Heavy Encumbrance: 5 FP.If the day is hot, add 1 FP to theabove or 2 FP for anyone in platearmor, an overcoat, etc. Full-coveragearmor at TL9+ is climate-controlled.This counts as a cooling system, andnegates the penalties for hot weather.These costs are per battle, not per10 seconds of battle. A very long battlemay cost more (GMs decision), but itwould have to run for 2 or 3 minutes(120 to 180 turns!) before extra FPcosts would be realistic.HikingUse the FP costs for fighting a bat-tle, but assess them per hour of roadtravel; e.g., one hour of marching withlight encumbrance costs 2 FP (3 FP ona hot day). If the party enters combatwhile on the march, assume theyvebeen walking for an hour, unlessevents dictate otherwise, and assessfatigue accordingly.OverexertionCarrying more than extra-heavyencumbrance, or pushing/pulling avery heavy load, costs 1 FP per second(see Lifting and Moving Things, p. 353).For FP costs for other forms of heavyexertion, see Extra Effort (p. 356).Running or SwimmingEvery 15 seconds of sprinting, orminute of paced running or swim-ming, requires a HT roll to avoid los-ing 1 FP. Encumbrance has no directeffect on this, but you run or swimmore slowly. See Running (p. 354) andSwimming (p. 354).Special AbilitiesMost magic spells (see Chapter 5),many advantages (such as Healing,p. 59), and a few cinematic skills (forinstance, Power Blow, p. 215) cost FPto use, as does any trait with the CostsFatigue limitation (p. 111).STARVATION ANDDEHYDRATIONWhen you buy equipment, dontforget food! The travelers rationsunder Camping and Survival Gear(p. 288) are the minimum necessary tokeep you healthy on the road; missingeven one meal weakens you.Note to the GM: If keeping up withthe partys meals doesnt sound likefun, feel free to ignore this whole sec-tion. Travel is much more hazardous ifyou have to keep track of food andwater!StarvationA human needs three meals perday. For each meal you miss, take 1FP. You can only recover starvationfatigue with a day of rest: no fightingor travel, and three full meals. Eachday of rest makes up for three skippedmeals.DehydrationIn temperate areas, where water iseasy to come by, assume that you canrenew your supplies as needed. But ifwater is in short supply, watch out! Ahuman (or elf, dwarf, etc.) needs 2quarts of water a day 3 in hot cli-mates, 5 in the heat of the desert! Ifyou get less than you need, you lose 1FP every eight hours. If you drink lessthan a quart a day, you lose an extra 1FP and 1 HP per day. You can regainall FP lost to dehydration after a day ofrest with ample water supplies. Yourecover lost HP at the usual rate.MISSED SLEEPThe average human can functionfor a 16-hour day. He must then rest426INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFATIGUE
|
basic training; therefore, a TL6+physician performs as though he wereTL6 if he has to make do without thegadgetry to which he is accustomed,as long as the surroundings are clean.RESUSCITATIONReviving a drowning, asphyxiation,or heart attack victim requiresresuscitation. Make a successfulPhysician/TL7+ roll or a FirstAid/TL7+ roll at -4. Each attempt takesone minute. Repeated attempts arepossible, but there is almost always atime limit.Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) and rescue breathing, widelytaught after 1960, are more effectivethan earlier forms of resuscitation.First Aid rolls (but not default rolls) torevive victims of drowning or asphyxi-ation are at -2 instead of -4.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE425Medical Help TableMedicalFrequencyPatientsTLof Rollsper Doctor0There are no physicians.Get well by yourself.1-3Weekly104Every 3 days105Every 2 days156Daily207Daily258Daily5092 daily50103 daily50114 daily10012+5 daily200It just so happensthat your friend hereis only MOSTLYdead. Theres a bigdifference betweenmostly dead and alldead. Miracle Max,The PrincessBrideUltra-Tech DrugsMiraculous drugs are a staple of science-fiction medicine. Below isa quick-and-dirty system for designing TL9+ drugs.Effects: Select one or more attribute modifiers, advantages, or dis-advantages to represent the drugs effects and (usually bad) side effects.Most medical drugs give Rapid Healing, Resistant to Disease, HTbonuses, or similar benefits. Some mitigate disadvantages, cancelingthem for the drugs duration (e.g., a psychiatric drug might suppressDelusions and Paranoia). A few provide unique effects, such as healinglost HP or FP.Duration: Select the duration of the effects. Standard durations areshort-term (lasts [25 - HT] minutes), medium-term ([25 - HT]/4 hours),long-term (one full day), or very long-term (up to a week). Multiple dosesgenerally extend duration rather than increasing effect; e.g., two dosesof a long-term drug last two days.Potency: The subject gets a HT roll to resist disadvantages and othernegative effects. The drugs potency is a modifier to this roll. Assumethat each doubling of dosage gives an extra -1 to the roll.Form: A drug may be a pill, injection, aerosol, contact agent, oraerosol contact agent. Many drugs are available in multiple forms. Mostpills require 30 minutes or more to take effect, but can be dissolved indrinks. Contact agents (e.g., patches) take at least 5 minutes. Aerosolsand injections take effect almost immediately.Cost: This can vary, but heres a rule of thumb. Sum the absolutepoint values of all traits the drug adds or removes. Multiply the sum bya base cost for duration: $2 for short-term, $10 for medium-term, $50for long-term, or $250 for very long-term. For drugs that heal, use thepoint cost of HP or FP, as appropriate, and treat permanent healing aslong-term. Potency modifies price: double cost for each -1 to HT rolls.Multiply final cost by 2 for aerosols or contact agents, by 10 for aerosolcontact agents.LC: This will vary by society and with the nature of the drug. Medicaldrugs are typically LC3. Drugs perceived as socially harmful might beLC2 or even LC1.Example: A truth drug that forces the subject to roll HT-3 or suffer-4 to Will for (25 - HT) minutes would cost 20 (point value) $2 (short-term) 8 (potency) 1 (injection) = $320 per dose. It would probablyonly be available to spies: LC2.Running long distances, usingextra effort, being suffocated, castingmagic spells, and many other thingscan cause fatigue: a temporary lossof Fatigue Points. Your Fatigue Points(FP) score starts out equal to your HT,but you can modify this; see FatiguePoints (p. 16). Just as injury representsphysical trauma and comes off of HP,fatigue represents lost energy andreduces FP. When you lose FP, keeptrack of it on your character sheet.LOST FATIGUEPOINTSThe chart below summarizes theeffects of being at low or negative FP.All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your FP left You arevery tired. Halve your Move,Dodge, and ST (round up). Thisdoes not affect ST-based quantities,such as HP and damage.0 FP or less You are on the verge ofcollapse. If you suffer furtherfatigue, each FP you lose also caus-es 1 HP of injury. Thus, fatiguefrom starvation, dehydration, etc.will eventually kill you and youcan work yourself to death! To doanything besides talk or rest, youmust make a Will roll; in combat,roll before each maneuver otherthan Do Nothing. On a success,you can act normally. You can useFP to cast spells, etc., and if you aredrowning, you can continue tostruggle, but you suffer the usual 1HP per FP lost. On a failure, youcollapse, incapacitated, and can donothing until you recover to posi-tive FP. On a critical failure, makean immediate HT roll. If you fail,you suffer a heart attack; seeMortal Conditions (p. 429).-1FP You fall unconscious. Whileunconscious, you recover lost FP atthe same rate as for normal rest.You awaken when you reach posi-tive FP. Your FP can never fallbelow this level. After this stage,any FP cost comes off your HPinstead!FATIGUE COSTSThe following activities commonlyresult in FP loss.Fighting a BattleAny battle that lasts more than 10seconds will cost FP you expendenergy quickly when you fight foryour life! Those who make no attackor defense rolls during the fight areexempt from this fatigue, but otheractions (e.g., casting magic spells) stillhave their usual FP cost. Assess thefollowing costs at the end of the battle:No Encumbrance: 1 FP.Light Encumbrance: 2 FP.Medium Encumbrance: 3 FP.Heavy Encumbrance: 4 FP.Extra-Heavy Encumbrance: 5 FP.If the day is hot, add 1 FP to theabove or 2 FP for anyone in platearmor, an overcoat, etc. Full-coveragearmor at TL9+ is climate-controlled.This counts as a cooling system, andnegates the penalties for hot weather.These costs are per battle, not per10 seconds of battle. A very long battlemay cost more (GMs decision), but itwould have to run for 2 or 3 minutes(120 to 180 turns!) before extra FPcosts would be realistic.HikingUse the FP costs for fighting a bat-tle, but assess them per hour of roadtravel; e.g., one hour of marching withlight encumbrance costs 2 FP (3 FP ona hot day). If the party enters combatwhile on the march, assume theyvebeen walking for an hour, unlessevents dictate otherwise, and assessfatigue accordingly.OverexertionCarrying more than extra-heavyencumbrance, or pushing/pulling avery heavy load, costs 1 FP per second(see Lifting and Moving Things, p. 353).For FP costs for other forms of heavyexertion, see Extra Effort (p. 356).Running or SwimmingEvery 15 seconds of sprinting, orminute of paced running or swim-ming, requires a HT roll to avoid los-ing 1 FP. Encumbrance has no directeffect on this, but you run or swimmore slowly. See Running (p. 354) andSwimming (p. 354).Special AbilitiesMost magic spells (see Chapter 5),many advantages (such as Healing,p. 59), and a few cinematic skills (forinstance, Power Blow, p. 215) cost FPto use, as does any trait with the CostsFatigue limitation (p. 111).STARVATION ANDDEHYDRATIONWhen you buy equipment, dontforget food! The travelers rationsunder Camping and Survival Gear(p. 288) are the minimum necessary tokeep you healthy on the road; missingeven one meal weakens you.Note to the GM: If keeping up withthe partys meals doesnt sound likefun, feel free to ignore this whole sec-tion. Travel is much more hazardous ifyou have to keep track of food andwater!StarvationA human needs three meals perday. For each meal you miss, take 1FP. You can only recover starvationfatigue with a day of rest: no fightingor travel, and three full meals. Eachday of rest makes up for three skippedmeals.DehydrationIn temperate areas, where water iseasy to come by, assume that you canrenew your supplies as needed. But ifwater is in short supply, watch out! Ahuman (or elf, dwarf, etc.) needs 2quarts of water a day 3 in hot cli-mates, 5 in the heat of the desert! Ifyou get less than you need, you lose 1FP every eight hours. If you drink lessthan a quart a day, you lose an extra 1FP and 1 HP per day. You can regainall FP lost to dehydration after a day ofrest with ample water supplies. Yourecover lost HP at the usual rate.MISSED SLEEPThe average human can functionfor a 16-hour day. He must then rest426INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFATIGUEfor an eight-hour sleep period. LessSleep (p. 65) shortens this sleep peri-od, thereby increasing useful daylength; Extra Sleep (p. 136) and Sleepy(p. 154) do the opposite. Getting lesssleep than your sleep period costs FPthat you can only recover by sleeping.Interruptions, noise, and disadvan-tages such as Chronic Pain (p. 126),Insomniac (p. 140), Light Sleeper(p. 142), and Nightmares (p. 144) canreduce the quality of your sleep. Ingame terms, your sleep counts asfewer hours or none at all.Those who have the Doesnt Sleepadvantage (p. 50) can ignore this entiresection!Staying Up LateIf youve been awake for more thanyour normal day (typically 16 hours),you start to get tired. You lose 1 FP ifyou fail to go to sleep, and 1 FP perquarter-day (usually four hours) youstay awake after that.If youve lost half or more of yourFP to lack of sleep, you must make aWill roll every two hours you spendinactive (e.g., standing watch). On afailure, you fall asleep, sleeping untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls. Those withthe Slow Riser disadvantage (p. 155)get an extra -1.If youre down to less than 1/3your FP due to lack of sleep, roll asabove once per 30 minutes of inac-tion or two hours of action. This canbe very dangerous!Getting Up EarlyIf you sleep for less than your fullsleep period, youll still be tired whenyou wake up. Subtract twice the hoursof missed sleep from your day to deter-mine how long you can stay awake.For example, if your sleep period iseight hours and you sleep only sixhours, youve missed two hours ofsleep. You will suffer the effects of stay-ing up late after only 12 hours: yourusual 16-hour day, minus four hours(twice your hours of missed sleep).RECOVERINGFROM FATIGUEYou can recover ordinary lost FPby resting quietly. Reading, talking,and thinking are all right; walkingaround, or anything more strenuous,is not. Lost FP return at the rate of 1FP per 10 minutes of rest. The GMmay allow you to regain one extra FPif you eat a decent meal while resting.Certain drugs, magic potions, etc. canrestore missing FP, as can spells suchas Lend Energy and Recover Energy(see p. 248).You can only recover from fatiguecaused by missed sleep by sleeping forat least one full sleep period. Thisrestores 1 FP. Further uninterruptedsleep restores 1 FP per hour.You need food or water to recoverFP lost to starvation or dehydration;seeStarvation and Dehydration(above).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE427ForagingIn hospitable terrain, you can supplement your supplies by forag-ing for food. On any day, each character can forage as the party trav-els. A successful Survival or Naturalist roll collects enough edibleplants and berries for one meal. (On a 17, you poisoned yourself. Rollvs. HT. On a success, you lose 1 HP; otherwise, lose 1d HP. On an 18,you shared with your friends: the whole party suffers each PC rollsindependently.)In suitable terrain, a successful skill roll with a missile weapon (at-4) bags a rabbit or similar creature, providing meat for two meals.Near water or at sea, a successful Fishing roll has similar results.Each forager gets one Survival or Naturalist roll and one missile orFishing roll per day.Alternatively, the party can take some time off from travel and dosome serious foraging. Each character can make five Survival orNaturalist rolls and five missile or Fishing rolls per day. Foragers cansmoke meat and fish over a fire and add it to the regular store ofrations.The GM can impose penalties in areas with little plant or animal life(e.g., -3 in snow, -6 in desert), and cumulative penalties for repeatedforaging in an area.
|
Running long distances, usingextra effort, being suffocated, castingmagic spells, and many other thingscan cause fatigue: a temporary lossof Fatigue Points. Your Fatigue Points(FP) score starts out equal to your HT,but you can modify this; see FatiguePoints (p. 16). Just as injury representsphysical trauma and comes off of HP,fatigue represents lost energy andreduces FP. When you lose FP, keeptrack of it on your character sheet.LOST FATIGUEPOINTSThe chart below summarizes theeffects of being at low or negative FP.All effects are cumulative.Less than 1/3 your FP left You arevery tired. Halve your Move,Dodge, and ST (round up). Thisdoes not affect ST-based quantities,such as HP and damage.0 FP or less You are on the verge ofcollapse. If you suffer furtherfatigue, each FP you lose also caus-es 1 HP of injury. Thus, fatiguefrom starvation, dehydration, etc.will eventually kill you and youcan work yourself to death! To doanything besides talk or rest, youmust make a Will roll; in combat,roll before each maneuver otherthan Do Nothing. On a success,you can act normally. You can useFP to cast spells, etc., and if you aredrowning, you can continue tostruggle, but you suffer the usual 1HP per FP lost. On a failure, youcollapse, incapacitated, and can donothing until you recover to posi-tive FP. On a critical failure, makean immediate HT roll. If you fail,you suffer a heart attack; seeMortal Conditions (p. 429).-1FP You fall unconscious. Whileunconscious, you recover lost FP atthe same rate as for normal rest.You awaken when you reach posi-tive FP. Your FP can never fallbelow this level. After this stage,any FP cost comes off your HPinstead!FATIGUE COSTSThe following activities commonlyresult in FP loss.Fighting a BattleAny battle that lasts more than 10seconds will cost FP you expendenergy quickly when you fight foryour life! Those who make no attackor defense rolls during the fight areexempt from this fatigue, but otheractions (e.g., casting magic spells) stillhave their usual FP cost. Assess thefollowing costs at the end of the battle:No Encumbrance: 1 FP.Light Encumbrance: 2 FP.Medium Encumbrance: 3 FP.Heavy Encumbrance: 4 FP.Extra-Heavy Encumbrance: 5 FP.If the day is hot, add 1 FP to theabove or 2 FP for anyone in platearmor, an overcoat, etc. Full-coveragearmor at TL9+ is climate-controlled.This counts as a cooling system, andnegates the penalties for hot weather.These costs are per battle, not per10 seconds of battle. A very long battlemay cost more (GMs decision), but itwould have to run for 2 or 3 minutes(120 to 180 turns!) before extra FPcosts would be realistic.HikingUse the FP costs for fighting a bat-tle, but assess them per hour of roadtravel; e.g., one hour of marching withlight encumbrance costs 2 FP (3 FP ona hot day). If the party enters combatwhile on the march, assume theyvebeen walking for an hour, unlessevents dictate otherwise, and assessfatigue accordingly.OverexertionCarrying more than extra-heavyencumbrance, or pushing/pulling avery heavy load, costs 1 FP per second(see Lifting and Moving Things, p. 353).For FP costs for other forms of heavyexertion, see Extra Effort (p. 356).Running or SwimmingEvery 15 seconds of sprinting, orminute of paced running or swim-ming, requires a HT roll to avoid los-ing 1 FP. Encumbrance has no directeffect on this, but you run or swimmore slowly. See Running (p. 354) andSwimming (p. 354).Special AbilitiesMost magic spells (see Chapter 5),many advantages (such as Healing,p. 59), and a few cinematic skills (forinstance, Power Blow, p. 215) cost FPto use, as does any trait with the CostsFatigue limitation (p. 111).STARVATION ANDDEHYDRATIONWhen you buy equipment, dontforget food! The travelers rationsunder Camping and Survival Gear(p. 288) are the minimum necessary tokeep you healthy on the road; missingeven one meal weakens you.Note to the GM: If keeping up withthe partys meals doesnt sound likefun, feel free to ignore this whole sec-tion. Travel is much more hazardous ifyou have to keep track of food andwater!StarvationA human needs three meals perday. For each meal you miss, take 1FP. You can only recover starvationfatigue with a day of rest: no fightingor travel, and three full meals. Eachday of rest makes up for three skippedmeals.DehydrationIn temperate areas, where water iseasy to come by, assume that you canrenew your supplies as needed. But ifwater is in short supply, watch out! Ahuman (or elf, dwarf, etc.) needs 2quarts of water a day 3 in hot cli-mates, 5 in the heat of the desert! Ifyou get less than you need, you lose 1FP every eight hours. If you drink lessthan a quart a day, you lose an extra 1FP and 1 HP per day. You can regainall FP lost to dehydration after a day ofrest with ample water supplies. Yourecover lost HP at the usual rate.MISSED SLEEPThe average human can functionfor a 16-hour day. He must then rest426INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEFATIGUEfor an eight-hour sleep period. LessSleep (p. 65) shortens this sleep peri-od, thereby increasing useful daylength; Extra Sleep (p. 136) and Sleepy(p. 154) do the opposite. Getting lesssleep than your sleep period costs FPthat you can only recover by sleeping.Interruptions, noise, and disadvan-tages such as Chronic Pain (p. 126),Insomniac (p. 140), Light Sleeper(p. 142), and Nightmares (p. 144) canreduce the quality of your sleep. Ingame terms, your sleep counts asfewer hours or none at all.Those who have the Doesnt Sleepadvantage (p. 50) can ignore this entiresection!Staying Up LateIf youve been awake for more thanyour normal day (typically 16 hours),you start to get tired. You lose 1 FP ifyou fail to go to sleep, and 1 FP perquarter-day (usually four hours) youstay awake after that.If youve lost half or more of yourFP to lack of sleep, you must make aWill roll every two hours you spendinactive (e.g., standing watch). On afailure, you fall asleep, sleeping untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls. Those withthe Slow Riser disadvantage (p. 155)get an extra -1.If youre down to less than 1/3your FP due to lack of sleep, roll asabove once per 30 minutes of inac-tion or two hours of action. This canbe very dangerous!Getting Up EarlyIf you sleep for less than your fullsleep period, youll still be tired whenyou wake up. Subtract twice the hoursof missed sleep from your day to deter-mine how long you can stay awake.For example, if your sleep period iseight hours and you sleep only sixhours, youve missed two hours ofsleep. You will suffer the effects of stay-ing up late after only 12 hours: yourusual 16-hour day, minus four hours(twice your hours of missed sleep).RECOVERINGFROM FATIGUEYou can recover ordinary lost FPby resting quietly. Reading, talking,and thinking are all right; walkingaround, or anything more strenuous,is not. Lost FP return at the rate of 1FP per 10 minutes of rest. The GMmay allow you to regain one extra FPif you eat a decent meal while resting.Certain drugs, magic potions, etc. canrestore missing FP, as can spells suchas Lend Energy and Recover Energy(see p. 248).You can only recover from fatiguecaused by missed sleep by sleeping forat least one full sleep period. Thisrestores 1 FP. Further uninterruptedsleep restores 1 FP per hour.You need food or water to recoverFP lost to starvation or dehydration;seeStarvation and Dehydration(above).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE427ForagingIn hospitable terrain, you can supplement your supplies by forag-ing for food. On any day, each character can forage as the party trav-els. A successful Survival or Naturalist roll collects enough edibleplants and berries for one meal. (On a 17, you poisoned yourself. Rollvs. HT. On a success, you lose 1 HP; otherwise, lose 1d HP. On an 18,you shared with your friends: the whole party suffers each PC rollsindependently.)In suitable terrain, a successful skill roll with a missile weapon (at-4) bags a rabbit or similar creature, providing meat for two meals.Near water or at sea, a successful Fishing roll has similar results.Each forager gets one Survival or Naturalist roll and one missile orFishing roll per day.Alternatively, the party can take some time off from travel and dosome serious foraging. Each character can make five Survival orNaturalist rolls and five missile or Fishing rolls per day. Foragers cansmoke meat and fish over a fire and add it to the regular store ofrations.The GM can impose penalties in areas with little plant or animal life(e.g., -3 in snow, -6 in desert), and cumulative penalties for repeatedforaging in an area.Besides the ordinary combat risksof swords, guns, and spells, adventur-ers commonly face other hazards.ACIDAcids range from extremely weakto extremely strong (e.g., hydrochlo-ric, perchloric, nitric, and sulfuricacids). Most laboratory acids are dan-gerous only to the eyes, but strong orhighly concentrated acids can burnthrough equipment and flesh. Forgame purposes, treat strong alkalisjust like strong acids.If the victim is splashed with strongacid, he suffers 1d-3 points of corro-sion damage. If the acid splashes onhis face, he must make a HT roll toavoid eye damage. On a failure, or ona direct hit to the eyes, the damage isto his eyes. Use the Crippling Injuryrules (p. 420) to see whether he isblinded and if so, whether the blind-ness is permanent. On a critical fail-ure, permanent blindness is certain(acquire the Blindness disadvantage,p. 124).If the victim is immersed in acid, hetakes 1d-1 corrosion damage per sec-ond. If his face is immersed, he mustalso roll for eye damage (see above)every second.If the victim swallows acid, hetakes 3d damage at the rate of 1 HPper 15 minutes. A successful Physicianor Poisons roll can halt this damage;treatment requires 2d minutes.Used against a locks pins or othersmall, vulnerable items, acid requires3d minutes to eat through the item.A vial of acid powerful enough toproduce these effects is a TL3 item,and costs $10.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is a harmful effectother than direct injury or fatigue,usually the result of an attack, hazard,illness, magic spell, or toxin. In mostcases, the victim gets a HT roll toresist, and only suffers the afflictionon a failure. Duration depends on thecause; see the relevant disease, haz-ard, poison, spell, or weapon descrip-tion for details.Irritating ConditionsCoughing or Sneezing: You are at -3to DX and -1 to IQ, and cannot useStealth.Drowsy: You are on the verge offalling asleep. Make a Will roll everytwo hours you spend inactive. On afailure, you fall asleep, and sleep untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls.Drunk: You are highly intoxicated:-2 to DX and IQ, and -4 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by two levels, if youhave it.Euphoria: You have a -3 penalty toall DX, IQ, skill, and self-control rolls.Nauseated: You have -2 to all attrib-ute and skill rolls, and -1 to activedefenses. As well, roll vs. HT after youeat, are exposed to a foul odor, fail aFright Check, or are stunned, andevery hour in free fall or in any situa-tion where you might suffer motionsickness. A rich meal in the past hourgives -2; anti-nausea remedies give +2.On a failure, you vomit for (25 - HT)seconds treat as Retching, below.Pain: You have a penalty to all DX,IQ, skill, and self-control rolls. This is-2 for Moderate Pain, -4 for SeverePain, and -6 for Terrible Pain. HighPain Threshold halves these penalties;Low Pain Threshold doubles them.Tipsy: You are slightly intoxicated:-1 to DX and IQ, and -2 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by one level, if youhave it.IncapacitatingConditionsAll of these afflictions prevent youfrom taking voluntary action for theduration. In addition to their othereffects, youre effectively stunned (-4 toactive defenses). In combat, you mustDo Nothing on your turn. If an afflic-tion lets you drop, you can sit, kneel, goprone, etc. if standing, or go prone ifkneeling or sitting. If it lets you stagger,you can drop, change facing, or step orcrawl one yard. In all cases, you arestill effectively stunned.Agony: You are conscious but insuch terrible pain that you can donothing but moan or scream. If stand-ing or sitting, you fall down. While theaffliction endures, you lose 1 FP perminute or fraction thereof. After yourecover, anyone who can crediblythreaten you with a resumption of thepain gets +3 to Interrogation andIntimidation skill rolls. Low PainThreshold doubles the FP loss and tor-ture bonus. High Pain Threshold letsyou overcome the agony enough tofunction, but at -3 to DX and IQ.Choking: You are unable to breatheor speak. You may do nothing butdrop. While the choking endures, yousuffer the effects of suffocation (seeSuffocation, p. 436). If you have anobject lodged in your throat, a friendcan try a First Aid roll to clear it; roll at-2 before TL7. Each attempt takes 2seconds. If you have Doesnt Breatheor Injury Tolerance (Homogenous),you cannot choke!Daze: You are conscious if you arestanding, you remain upright but youcan do nothing. If you are struck,slapped, or shaken, you recover onyour next turn.Ecstasy: Youre incapacitated withoverwhelming pleasure. Treat asAgony, but neither Low PainThreshold nor High Pain Thresholdhas any effect and instead of a bonusfor torture, someone offering to con-tinue the pleasure gets +3 to anyInfluence roll! If you have Killjoy,youre immune.428INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEHAZARDSI laugh in the face of danger, and then I hideuntil it goes away. Xander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
|
for an eight-hour sleep period. LessSleep (p. 65) shortens this sleep peri-od, thereby increasing useful daylength; Extra Sleep (p. 136) and Sleepy(p. 154) do the opposite. Getting lesssleep than your sleep period costs FPthat you can only recover by sleeping.Interruptions, noise, and disadvan-tages such as Chronic Pain (p. 126),Insomniac (p. 140), Light Sleeper(p. 142), and Nightmares (p. 144) canreduce the quality of your sleep. Ingame terms, your sleep counts asfewer hours or none at all.Those who have the Doesnt Sleepadvantage (p. 50) can ignore this entiresection!Staying Up LateIf youve been awake for more thanyour normal day (typically 16 hours),you start to get tired. You lose 1 FP ifyou fail to go to sleep, and 1 FP perquarter-day (usually four hours) youstay awake after that.If youve lost half or more of yourFP to lack of sleep, you must make aWill roll every two hours you spendinactive (e.g., standing watch). On afailure, you fall asleep, sleeping untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls. Those withthe Slow Riser disadvantage (p. 155)get an extra -1.If youre down to less than 1/3your FP due to lack of sleep, roll asabove once per 30 minutes of inac-tion or two hours of action. This canbe very dangerous!Getting Up EarlyIf you sleep for less than your fullsleep period, youll still be tired whenyou wake up. Subtract twice the hoursof missed sleep from your day to deter-mine how long you can stay awake.For example, if your sleep period iseight hours and you sleep only sixhours, youve missed two hours ofsleep. You will suffer the effects of stay-ing up late after only 12 hours: yourusual 16-hour day, minus four hours(twice your hours of missed sleep).RECOVERINGFROM FATIGUEYou can recover ordinary lost FPby resting quietly. Reading, talking,and thinking are all right; walkingaround, or anything more strenuous,is not. Lost FP return at the rate of 1FP per 10 minutes of rest. The GMmay allow you to regain one extra FPif you eat a decent meal while resting.Certain drugs, magic potions, etc. canrestore missing FP, as can spells suchas Lend Energy and Recover Energy(see p. 248).You can only recover from fatiguecaused by missed sleep by sleeping forat least one full sleep period. Thisrestores 1 FP. Further uninterruptedsleep restores 1 FP per hour.You need food or water to recoverFP lost to starvation or dehydration;seeStarvation and Dehydration(above).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE427ForagingIn hospitable terrain, you can supplement your supplies by forag-ing for food. On any day, each character can forage as the party trav-els. A successful Survival or Naturalist roll collects enough edibleplants and berries for one meal. (On a 17, you poisoned yourself. Rollvs. HT. On a success, you lose 1 HP; otherwise, lose 1d HP. On an 18,you shared with your friends: the whole party suffers each PC rollsindependently.)In suitable terrain, a successful skill roll with a missile weapon (at-4) bags a rabbit or similar creature, providing meat for two meals.Near water or at sea, a successful Fishing roll has similar results.Each forager gets one Survival or Naturalist roll and one missile orFishing roll per day.Alternatively, the party can take some time off from travel and dosome serious foraging. Each character can make five Survival orNaturalist rolls and five missile or Fishing rolls per day. Foragers cansmoke meat and fish over a fire and add it to the regular store ofrations.The GM can impose penalties in areas with little plant or animal life(e.g., -3 in snow, -6 in desert), and cumulative penalties for repeatedforaging in an area.Besides the ordinary combat risksof swords, guns, and spells, adventur-ers commonly face other hazards.ACIDAcids range from extremely weakto extremely strong (e.g., hydrochlo-ric, perchloric, nitric, and sulfuricacids). Most laboratory acids are dan-gerous only to the eyes, but strong orhighly concentrated acids can burnthrough equipment and flesh. Forgame purposes, treat strong alkalisjust like strong acids.If the victim is splashed with strongacid, he suffers 1d-3 points of corro-sion damage. If the acid splashes onhis face, he must make a HT roll toavoid eye damage. On a failure, or ona direct hit to the eyes, the damage isto his eyes. Use the Crippling Injuryrules (p. 420) to see whether he isblinded and if so, whether the blind-ness is permanent. On a critical fail-ure, permanent blindness is certain(acquire the Blindness disadvantage,p. 124).If the victim is immersed in acid, hetakes 1d-1 corrosion damage per sec-ond. If his face is immersed, he mustalso roll for eye damage (see above)every second.If the victim swallows acid, hetakes 3d damage at the rate of 1 HPper 15 minutes. A successful Physicianor Poisons roll can halt this damage;treatment requires 2d minutes.Used against a locks pins or othersmall, vulnerable items, acid requires3d minutes to eat through the item.A vial of acid powerful enough toproduce these effects is a TL3 item,and costs $10.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is a harmful effectother than direct injury or fatigue,usually the result of an attack, hazard,illness, magic spell, or toxin. In mostcases, the victim gets a HT roll toresist, and only suffers the afflictionon a failure. Duration depends on thecause; see the relevant disease, haz-ard, poison, spell, or weapon descrip-tion for details.Irritating ConditionsCoughing or Sneezing: You are at -3to DX and -1 to IQ, and cannot useStealth.Drowsy: You are on the verge offalling asleep. Make a Will roll everytwo hours you spend inactive. On afailure, you fall asleep, and sleep untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls.Drunk: You are highly intoxicated:-2 to DX and IQ, and -4 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by two levels, if youhave it.Euphoria: You have a -3 penalty toall DX, IQ, skill, and self-control rolls.Nauseated: You have -2 to all attrib-ute and skill rolls, and -1 to activedefenses. As well, roll vs. HT after youeat, are exposed to a foul odor, fail aFright Check, or are stunned, andevery hour in free fall or in any situa-tion where you might suffer motionsickness. A rich meal in the past hourgives -2; anti-nausea remedies give +2.On a failure, you vomit for (25 - HT)seconds treat as Retching, below.Pain: You have a penalty to all DX,IQ, skill, and self-control rolls. This is-2 for Moderate Pain, -4 for SeverePain, and -6 for Terrible Pain. HighPain Threshold halves these penalties;Low Pain Threshold doubles them.Tipsy: You are slightly intoxicated:-1 to DX and IQ, and -2 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by one level, if youhave it.IncapacitatingConditionsAll of these afflictions prevent youfrom taking voluntary action for theduration. In addition to their othereffects, youre effectively stunned (-4 toactive defenses). In combat, you mustDo Nothing on your turn. If an afflic-tion lets you drop, you can sit, kneel, goprone, etc. if standing, or go prone ifkneeling or sitting. If it lets you stagger,you can drop, change facing, or step orcrawl one yard. In all cases, you arestill effectively stunned.Agony: You are conscious but insuch terrible pain that you can donothing but moan or scream. If stand-ing or sitting, you fall down. While theaffliction endures, you lose 1 FP perminute or fraction thereof. After yourecover, anyone who can crediblythreaten you with a resumption of thepain gets +3 to Interrogation andIntimidation skill rolls. Low PainThreshold doubles the FP loss and tor-ture bonus. High Pain Threshold letsyou overcome the agony enough tofunction, but at -3 to DX and IQ.Choking: You are unable to breatheor speak. You may do nothing butdrop. While the choking endures, yousuffer the effects of suffocation (seeSuffocation, p. 436). If you have anobject lodged in your throat, a friendcan try a First Aid roll to clear it; roll at-2 before TL7. Each attempt takes 2seconds. If you have Doesnt Breatheor Injury Tolerance (Homogenous),you cannot choke!Daze: You are conscious if you arestanding, you remain upright but youcan do nothing. If you are struck,slapped, or shaken, you recover onyour next turn.Ecstasy: Youre incapacitated withoverwhelming pleasure. Treat asAgony, but neither Low PainThreshold nor High Pain Thresholdhas any effect and instead of a bonusfor torture, someone offering to con-tinue the pleasure gets +3 to anyInfluence roll! If you have Killjoy,youre immune.428INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEHAZARDSI laugh in the face of danger, and then I hideuntil it goes away. Xander, Buffy the Vampire SlayerHallucinating: You can try to act,but you must roll vs. Will before eachsuccess roll. On a success, you merelysuffer 2d seconds of disorientation.This gives -2 on success rolls. On a fail-ure, you actually hallucinate for 1dminutes. In this case, the penalty is -5.The GM is free to specify the details ofyour hallucinations, which need not bevisual. On a critical failure, you freakout for 3d minutes. You might do any-thing! The GM rolls 3d: the higher theroll, the more dangerous your action.Paralysis: You cannot move any vol-untary muscles, and fall over if you arenot in a balanced position. You remainconscious, and can still use advantagesor spells that require neither speechnor movement.Retching: You are conscious butvomiting (or suffering dry heaves). Youcan try to act, but you will be at -5 toDX, IQ, and Per, and automatically failat any action that requires aConcentrate maneuver. At the end ofthe retching spell, you lose 1 FP. Yougain no benefit from recent meals ororal medication youve thrown it up.Seizure: You suffer a fit of somekind. Your limbs tremble uncontrol-lably, you fall down if standing, andyou cannot speak or think clearly. Youcan do nothing. At the end of theseizure, you lose 1d FP.Unconsciousness: You are knockedout, just as if you had suffered injury.Mortal ConditionsComa: You collapse just as if youhad been wounded to -1HP or belowand passed out; see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). You get asingle HT roll to awaken after 12hours. On a failure, you wont recoverwithout medical treatment. Until youreceive treatment, roll vs. HT every 12hours. On any failure, you die.Heart Attack: Your heart stopsfunctioning (cardiac arrest). Youimmediately drop to -1FP. Regardlessof your current HP, you will die inHT/3 minutes unless resuscitated seeResuscitation (p. 425). If you survive,you will be at 0 HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Missing HP healnormally. If you die and it matterswhat your HP total was, treat this asdeath at -1HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Injury Tolerance(Diffuse, Homogenous, or No Vitals)grants immunity to this affliction.ATMOSPHERICPRESSURERegardless of its composition, anatmosphere may be difficult or impos-sible to breathe if its pressure is wrong.We measure air pressure in atmos-pheres (atm.); 1 atm. is air pressure atsea level on Earth.Trace (up to 0.01 atm.): Treat anatmosphere this thin as vacuum (seeVacuum, p. 437).Very Thin (up to 0.5 atm.): The airis too thin to breathe. Earths atmos-phere becomes very thin above20,000. If you lack protection (e.g., theDoesnt Breathe advantage, or a respi-rator and oxygen tanks), you suffocate see Suffocation (p. 436). Vision rollsare at -2 without eye protection.Thin (0.51-0.8 atm.): Earths atmos-phere is thin between 6,000 and20,000. Thin air is breathable if oxy-gen is present in Earthlike percent-ages, but it is hard on unprotectedindividuals. Increase all fatigue costsfor exertion by 1 FP. Vision rolls are at-1 without eye protection. Finally, any-one who breathes thin air for an houror more must check for altitude sick-ness. Make a daily HT roll at +4.Critical success means acclimatiza-tion do not roll again. Successmeans no effect today. Failure meansheadaches, nausea, etc., giving -2 toDX and IQ. Critical failure means thevictim falls into a coma after 1d hours;see Mortal Conditions (above). Rollagainst Physician skill once per day torevive the victim before he dies.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE429Hazardous AtmospheresEarths atmosphere is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen (plus 1% com-prising a number of other gases). Visitors to other planets (and victimsof lab accidents or death traps) might encounter other atmospheres,most of which are unsafe for humans without proper protection. Ofcourse, breathable air for humans might be deadly for nonhumans,and vice versa!Corrosive: The atmosphere reacts with exposed flesh. Those with theSealed advantage are safe; those in sealed suits might be safe, but somegases eat away at seals. Small concentrations in otherwise breathableair require a roll at HT to HT-4 every minute to avoid 1 point of corro-sion damage. Victims suffer coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) after los-ing 1/3 their HP, blindness (as the disadvantage) after losing 2/3 theirHP. Atmospheres made up mostly of corrosive gases have effects com-parable to immersion in acid (see Acid, p. 428) and count as suffocat-ing. Corrosives include ammonia and nitrides. Chlorine and fluorineare extremely corrosive and toxic!Toxic: The atmosphere is poisonous. Individuals without respirators,Doesnt Breathe, Filter Lungs, etc. are susceptible. Ordinary airborneindustrial pollutants might require a daily HT roll to avoid 1 point oftoxic damage. Lethal gases would call for a HT-2 to HT-6 roll everyminute to avoid 1 point of toxic damage. If such gases make up most ofthe atmosphere, they inflict at least 1d toxic damage per 15 seconds (noresistance possible) and count as suffocating. A typical toxic gas is car-bon monoxide. Chlorine and fluorine are deadly in tiny concentrations,and also corrosive.Suffocating: The atmosphere is unbreathable. For humans, thismeans it lacks oxygen. Those without Doesnt Breathe or an air supplystart to suffocate (see Suffocation, p. 436). Hydrogen, methane, andnitrogen are all suffocating. As noted above, an atmosphere made upmostly of corrosive or toxic gases is suffocating as well but these usu-ally kill so rapidly that suffocation becomes irrelevant.
|
Besides the ordinary combat risksof swords, guns, and spells, adventur-ers commonly face other hazards.ACIDAcids range from extremely weakto extremely strong (e.g., hydrochlo-ric, perchloric, nitric, and sulfuricacids). Most laboratory acids are dan-gerous only to the eyes, but strong orhighly concentrated acids can burnthrough equipment and flesh. Forgame purposes, treat strong alkalisjust like strong acids.If the victim is splashed with strongacid, he suffers 1d-3 points of corro-sion damage. If the acid splashes onhis face, he must make a HT roll toavoid eye damage. On a failure, or ona direct hit to the eyes, the damage isto his eyes. Use the Crippling Injuryrules (p. 420) to see whether he isblinded and if so, whether the blind-ness is permanent. On a critical fail-ure, permanent blindness is certain(acquire the Blindness disadvantage,p. 124).If the victim is immersed in acid, hetakes 1d-1 corrosion damage per sec-ond. If his face is immersed, he mustalso roll for eye damage (see above)every second.If the victim swallows acid, hetakes 3d damage at the rate of 1 HPper 15 minutes. A successful Physicianor Poisons roll can halt this damage;treatment requires 2d minutes.Used against a locks pins or othersmall, vulnerable items, acid requires3d minutes to eat through the item.A vial of acid powerful enough toproduce these effects is a TL3 item,and costs $10.AFFLICTIONSAn affliction is a harmful effectother than direct injury or fatigue,usually the result of an attack, hazard,illness, magic spell, or toxin. In mostcases, the victim gets a HT roll toresist, and only suffers the afflictionon a failure. Duration depends on thecause; see the relevant disease, haz-ard, poison, spell, or weapon descrip-tion for details.Irritating ConditionsCoughing or Sneezing: You are at -3to DX and -1 to IQ, and cannot useStealth.Drowsy: You are on the verge offalling asleep. Make a Will roll everytwo hours you spend inactive. On afailure, you fall asleep, and sleep untilyou are awakened or get a full nightssleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX,IQ, and self-control rolls.Drunk: You are highly intoxicated:-2 to DX and IQ, and -4 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by two levels, if youhave it.Euphoria: You have a -3 penalty toall DX, IQ, skill, and self-control rolls.Nauseated: You have -2 to all attrib-ute and skill rolls, and -1 to activedefenses. As well, roll vs. HT after youeat, are exposed to a foul odor, fail aFright Check, or are stunned, andevery hour in free fall or in any situa-tion where you might suffer motionsickness. A rich meal in the past hourgives -2; anti-nausea remedies give +2.On a failure, you vomit for (25 - HT)seconds treat as Retching, below.Pain: You have a penalty to all DX,IQ, skill, and self-control rolls. This is-2 for Moderate Pain, -4 for SeverePain, and -6 for Terrible Pain. HighPain Threshold halves these penalties;Low Pain Threshold doubles them.Tipsy: You are slightly intoxicated:-1 to DX and IQ, and -2 to self-controlrolls except those to resist Cowardice.Reduce Shyness by one level, if youhave it.IncapacitatingConditionsAll of these afflictions prevent youfrom taking voluntary action for theduration. In addition to their othereffects, youre effectively stunned (-4 toactive defenses). In combat, you mustDo Nothing on your turn. If an afflic-tion lets you drop, you can sit, kneel, goprone, etc. if standing, or go prone ifkneeling or sitting. If it lets you stagger,you can drop, change facing, or step orcrawl one yard. In all cases, you arestill effectively stunned.Agony: You are conscious but insuch terrible pain that you can donothing but moan or scream. If stand-ing or sitting, you fall down. While theaffliction endures, you lose 1 FP perminute or fraction thereof. After yourecover, anyone who can crediblythreaten you with a resumption of thepain gets +3 to Interrogation andIntimidation skill rolls. Low PainThreshold doubles the FP loss and tor-ture bonus. High Pain Threshold letsyou overcome the agony enough tofunction, but at -3 to DX and IQ.Choking: You are unable to breatheor speak. You may do nothing butdrop. While the choking endures, yousuffer the effects of suffocation (seeSuffocation, p. 436). If you have anobject lodged in your throat, a friendcan try a First Aid roll to clear it; roll at-2 before TL7. Each attempt takes 2seconds. If you have Doesnt Breatheor Injury Tolerance (Homogenous),you cannot choke!Daze: You are conscious if you arestanding, you remain upright but youcan do nothing. If you are struck,slapped, or shaken, you recover onyour next turn.Ecstasy: Youre incapacitated withoverwhelming pleasure. Treat asAgony, but neither Low PainThreshold nor High Pain Thresholdhas any effect and instead of a bonusfor torture, someone offering to con-tinue the pleasure gets +3 to anyInfluence roll! If you have Killjoy,youre immune.428INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEHAZARDSI laugh in the face of danger, and then I hideuntil it goes away. Xander, Buffy the Vampire SlayerHallucinating: You can try to act,but you must roll vs. Will before eachsuccess roll. On a success, you merelysuffer 2d seconds of disorientation.This gives -2 on success rolls. On a fail-ure, you actually hallucinate for 1dminutes. In this case, the penalty is -5.The GM is free to specify the details ofyour hallucinations, which need not bevisual. On a critical failure, you freakout for 3d minutes. You might do any-thing! The GM rolls 3d: the higher theroll, the more dangerous your action.Paralysis: You cannot move any vol-untary muscles, and fall over if you arenot in a balanced position. You remainconscious, and can still use advantagesor spells that require neither speechnor movement.Retching: You are conscious butvomiting (or suffering dry heaves). Youcan try to act, but you will be at -5 toDX, IQ, and Per, and automatically failat any action that requires aConcentrate maneuver. At the end ofthe retching spell, you lose 1 FP. Yougain no benefit from recent meals ororal medication youve thrown it up.Seizure: You suffer a fit of somekind. Your limbs tremble uncontrol-lably, you fall down if standing, andyou cannot speak or think clearly. Youcan do nothing. At the end of theseizure, you lose 1d FP.Unconsciousness: You are knockedout, just as if you had suffered injury.Mortal ConditionsComa: You collapse just as if youhad been wounded to -1HP or belowand passed out; see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). You get asingle HT roll to awaken after 12hours. On a failure, you wont recoverwithout medical treatment. Until youreceive treatment, roll vs. HT every 12hours. On any failure, you die.Heart Attack: Your heart stopsfunctioning (cardiac arrest). Youimmediately drop to -1FP. Regardlessof your current HP, you will die inHT/3 minutes unless resuscitated seeResuscitation (p. 425). If you survive,you will be at 0 HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Missing HP healnormally. If you die and it matterswhat your HP total was, treat this asdeath at -1HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Injury Tolerance(Diffuse, Homogenous, or No Vitals)grants immunity to this affliction.ATMOSPHERICPRESSURERegardless of its composition, anatmosphere may be difficult or impos-sible to breathe if its pressure is wrong.We measure air pressure in atmos-pheres (atm.); 1 atm. is air pressure atsea level on Earth.Trace (up to 0.01 atm.): Treat anatmosphere this thin as vacuum (seeVacuum, p. 437).Very Thin (up to 0.5 atm.): The airis too thin to breathe. Earths atmos-phere becomes very thin above20,000. If you lack protection (e.g., theDoesnt Breathe advantage, or a respi-rator and oxygen tanks), you suffocate see Suffocation (p. 436). Vision rollsare at -2 without eye protection.Thin (0.51-0.8 atm.): Earths atmos-phere is thin between 6,000 and20,000. Thin air is breathable if oxy-gen is present in Earthlike percent-ages, but it is hard on unprotectedindividuals. Increase all fatigue costsfor exertion by 1 FP. Vision rolls are at-1 without eye protection. Finally, any-one who breathes thin air for an houror more must check for altitude sick-ness. Make a daily HT roll at +4.Critical success means acclimatiza-tion do not roll again. Successmeans no effect today. Failure meansheadaches, nausea, etc., giving -2 toDX and IQ. Critical failure means thevictim falls into a coma after 1d hours;see Mortal Conditions (above). Rollagainst Physician skill once per day torevive the victim before he dies.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE429Hazardous AtmospheresEarths atmosphere is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen (plus 1% com-prising a number of other gases). Visitors to other planets (and victimsof lab accidents or death traps) might encounter other atmospheres,most of which are unsafe for humans without proper protection. Ofcourse, breathable air for humans might be deadly for nonhumans,and vice versa!Corrosive: The atmosphere reacts with exposed flesh. Those with theSealed advantage are safe; those in sealed suits might be safe, but somegases eat away at seals. Small concentrations in otherwise breathableair require a roll at HT to HT-4 every minute to avoid 1 point of corro-sion damage. Victims suffer coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) after los-ing 1/3 their HP, blindness (as the disadvantage) after losing 2/3 theirHP. Atmospheres made up mostly of corrosive gases have effects com-parable to immersion in acid (see Acid, p. 428) and count as suffocat-ing. Corrosives include ammonia and nitrides. Chlorine and fluorineare extremely corrosive and toxic!Toxic: The atmosphere is poisonous. Individuals without respirators,Doesnt Breathe, Filter Lungs, etc. are susceptible. Ordinary airborneindustrial pollutants might require a daily HT roll to avoid 1 point oftoxic damage. Lethal gases would call for a HT-2 to HT-6 roll everyminute to avoid 1 point of toxic damage. If such gases make up most ofthe atmosphere, they inflict at least 1d toxic damage per 15 seconds (noresistance possible) and count as suffocating. A typical toxic gas is car-bon monoxide. Chlorine and fluorine are deadly in tiny concentrations,and also corrosive.Suffocating: The atmosphere is unbreathable. For humans, thismeans it lacks oxygen. Those without Doesnt Breathe or an air supplystart to suffocate (see Suffocation, p. 436). Hydrogen, methane, andnitrogen are all suffocating. As noted above, an atmosphere made upmostly of corrosive or toxic gases is suffocating as well but these usu-ally kill so rapidly that suffocation becomes irrelevant.Dense (1.21-1.5 atm.): The air isbreathable, with some discomfort: -1to all HT rolls, unless you have a pres-sure suit. If the air contains more than50% oxygen, you must wear a reduc-ing respirator that lowers oxygen par-tial pressure, or suffer -2 to DX due tocoughing and lung damage.Very Dense (1.51+ atm.): Asdense, but a reducing respirator isrequired if the air is more than 10%oxygen. Usually quite hot from green-house effects.Superdense (10+ atm.): As verydense, but the atmospheric pressureis so great that it can actually crushsomeone who is not native to it, unlesshe has Pressure Support or an armoredsuit that provides this advantage; seePressure (p. 435). Visitors to Venus, ordeep inside Jupiter, experience hun-dreds of atmospheres of pressure! Suchatmospheres are often poisonous,which presents a separate problem.These rules assume you are nativeto 1 atm. and can function normallyat 0.81-1.2 atm. If your native pres-sure differs from 1 atm., multiply allthe pressure ranges above by yournative pressure in atm. For example,if youre native to 0.5 atm., a denseatmosphere for you would be 0.61-0.75 atm. and a thin one would be0.26-0.4 atm.COLDCold can be deadly, but only magicor superscience can produce coldquickly enough to cause damage incombat. Armor offers its usual DRagainst such instant cold attacks,but it must be insulated or heated toshield against prolonged exposure toambient cold.Make a HT or HT-based Survival(Arctic) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes in normal freezingweather. For most humans, thismeans temperatures below 35F, butsee Temperature Tolerance (p. 93). Inlight wind (10+ mph), roll every 15minutes. In strong wind (30+ mph),roll every 10 minutes. Additionally,strong wind can dramatically reducethe effective temperature (the windchill factor). Also see the modifiersbelow:Modifier toSituationHT RollLight or no clothing-5Ordinary winter clothing+0Arctic clothing+5Heated suit+10Wet clothesadditional -5Every 10 below 0F effective temperature-1Failure costs 1 FP. As usual, onceyou go below 0 FP, you will start tolose 1 HP per FP. Recovery of FP orHP lost to cold requires adequate shel-ter and a heat source (flame, electricheat, body warmth, etc.).Thermal Shock: Sudden immersionin icy waters (e.g., any of Earthsoceans far from the equator) or a cryo-genic environment can cause death bythermal shock. Note that impurewater (e.g., saltwater oceans) can bebelow the usual freezing temperature!If you are wearing a completely water-proof dry suit, you are only affectedas per normal freezing. Otherwise, rollagainst HT once per minute of immer-sion. Do not modify this for clothing.On a success, you lose 1 FP. On a fail-ure, you lose FP equal to the margin offailure. Dont forget to check fordrowning as well!COLLISIONSAND FALLSWhen a moving object hits anotherobject, this is a collision. Use the rulesbelow for ramming attempts, acciden-tal crashes, falls, and dropped objects.Damage from CollisionsAn object or persons Hit Pointsand velocity determine collision dam-age. Mass only matters indirectly:massive objects usually have high HP,but it would hurt more to collide witha locomotive than with a pillow of thesame mass! HP take into account bothmass and structural strength.Velocity is how fast the characteror object is moving in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard per second).Velocity could be anything up toMove. It might exceed Move when div-ing or falling; seeHigh-SpeedMovement (p. 394).An object in a collision inflictsdice of crushing damage equal to (HP velocity)/100. If this is less than 1d,treat fractions up to 0.25 as 1d-3,fractions up to 0.5 as 1d-2, and anylarger fraction as 1d-1. Otherwise,round fractions of 0.5 or more up to afull die.If an object is bullet-shaped, sharp,or spiked, it does half damage, but thisdamage is piercing, cutting, or impal-ing, rather than crushing.430INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE
|
Hallucinating: You can try to act,but you must roll vs. Will before eachsuccess roll. On a success, you merelysuffer 2d seconds of disorientation.This gives -2 on success rolls. On a fail-ure, you actually hallucinate for 1dminutes. In this case, the penalty is -5.The GM is free to specify the details ofyour hallucinations, which need not bevisual. On a critical failure, you freakout for 3d minutes. You might do any-thing! The GM rolls 3d: the higher theroll, the more dangerous your action.Paralysis: You cannot move any vol-untary muscles, and fall over if you arenot in a balanced position. You remainconscious, and can still use advantagesor spells that require neither speechnor movement.Retching: You are conscious butvomiting (or suffering dry heaves). Youcan try to act, but you will be at -5 toDX, IQ, and Per, and automatically failat any action that requires aConcentrate maneuver. At the end ofthe retching spell, you lose 1 FP. Yougain no benefit from recent meals ororal medication youve thrown it up.Seizure: You suffer a fit of somekind. Your limbs tremble uncontrol-lably, you fall down if standing, andyou cannot speak or think clearly. Youcan do nothing. At the end of theseizure, you lose 1d FP.Unconsciousness: You are knockedout, just as if you had suffered injury.Mortal ConditionsComa: You collapse just as if youhad been wounded to -1HP or belowand passed out; see Recovering fromUnconsciousness (p. 423). You get asingle HT roll to awaken after 12hours. On a failure, you wont recoverwithout medical treatment. Until youreceive treatment, roll vs. HT every 12hours. On any failure, you die.Heart Attack: Your heart stopsfunctioning (cardiac arrest). Youimmediately drop to -1FP. Regardlessof your current HP, you will die inHT/3 minutes unless resuscitated seeResuscitation (p. 425). If you survive,you will be at 0 HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Missing HP healnormally. If you die and it matterswhat your HP total was, treat this asdeath at -1HP or your current HP,whichever is worse. Injury Tolerance(Diffuse, Homogenous, or No Vitals)grants immunity to this affliction.ATMOSPHERICPRESSURERegardless of its composition, anatmosphere may be difficult or impos-sible to breathe if its pressure is wrong.We measure air pressure in atmos-pheres (atm.); 1 atm. is air pressure atsea level on Earth.Trace (up to 0.01 atm.): Treat anatmosphere this thin as vacuum (seeVacuum, p. 437).Very Thin (up to 0.5 atm.): The airis too thin to breathe. Earths atmos-phere becomes very thin above20,000. If you lack protection (e.g., theDoesnt Breathe advantage, or a respi-rator and oxygen tanks), you suffocate see Suffocation (p. 436). Vision rollsare at -2 without eye protection.Thin (0.51-0.8 atm.): Earths atmos-phere is thin between 6,000 and20,000. Thin air is breathable if oxy-gen is present in Earthlike percent-ages, but it is hard on unprotectedindividuals. Increase all fatigue costsfor exertion by 1 FP. Vision rolls are at-1 without eye protection. Finally, any-one who breathes thin air for an houror more must check for altitude sick-ness. Make a daily HT roll at +4.Critical success means acclimatiza-tion do not roll again. Successmeans no effect today. Failure meansheadaches, nausea, etc., giving -2 toDX and IQ. Critical failure means thevictim falls into a coma after 1d hours;see Mortal Conditions (above). Rollagainst Physician skill once per day torevive the victim before he dies.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE429Hazardous AtmospheresEarths atmosphere is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen (plus 1% com-prising a number of other gases). Visitors to other planets (and victimsof lab accidents or death traps) might encounter other atmospheres,most of which are unsafe for humans without proper protection. Ofcourse, breathable air for humans might be deadly for nonhumans,and vice versa!Corrosive: The atmosphere reacts with exposed flesh. Those with theSealed advantage are safe; those in sealed suits might be safe, but somegases eat away at seals. Small concentrations in otherwise breathableair require a roll at HT to HT-4 every minute to avoid 1 point of corro-sion damage. Victims suffer coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) after los-ing 1/3 their HP, blindness (as the disadvantage) after losing 2/3 theirHP. Atmospheres made up mostly of corrosive gases have effects com-parable to immersion in acid (see Acid, p. 428) and count as suffocat-ing. Corrosives include ammonia and nitrides. Chlorine and fluorineare extremely corrosive and toxic!Toxic: The atmosphere is poisonous. Individuals without respirators,Doesnt Breathe, Filter Lungs, etc. are susceptible. Ordinary airborneindustrial pollutants might require a daily HT roll to avoid 1 point oftoxic damage. Lethal gases would call for a HT-2 to HT-6 roll everyminute to avoid 1 point of toxic damage. If such gases make up most ofthe atmosphere, they inflict at least 1d toxic damage per 15 seconds (noresistance possible) and count as suffocating. A typical toxic gas is car-bon monoxide. Chlorine and fluorine are deadly in tiny concentrations,and also corrosive.Suffocating: The atmosphere is unbreathable. For humans, thismeans it lacks oxygen. Those without Doesnt Breathe or an air supplystart to suffocate (see Suffocation, p. 436). Hydrogen, methane, andnitrogen are all suffocating. As noted above, an atmosphere made upmostly of corrosive or toxic gases is suffocating as well but these usu-ally kill so rapidly that suffocation becomes irrelevant.Dense (1.21-1.5 atm.): The air isbreathable, with some discomfort: -1to all HT rolls, unless you have a pres-sure suit. If the air contains more than50% oxygen, you must wear a reduc-ing respirator that lowers oxygen par-tial pressure, or suffer -2 to DX due tocoughing and lung damage.Very Dense (1.51+ atm.): Asdense, but a reducing respirator isrequired if the air is more than 10%oxygen. Usually quite hot from green-house effects.Superdense (10+ atm.): As verydense, but the atmospheric pressureis so great that it can actually crushsomeone who is not native to it, unlesshe has Pressure Support or an armoredsuit that provides this advantage; seePressure (p. 435). Visitors to Venus, ordeep inside Jupiter, experience hun-dreds of atmospheres of pressure! Suchatmospheres are often poisonous,which presents a separate problem.These rules assume you are nativeto 1 atm. and can function normallyat 0.81-1.2 atm. If your native pres-sure differs from 1 atm., multiply allthe pressure ranges above by yournative pressure in atm. For example,if youre native to 0.5 atm., a denseatmosphere for you would be 0.61-0.75 atm. and a thin one would be0.26-0.4 atm.COLDCold can be deadly, but only magicor superscience can produce coldquickly enough to cause damage incombat. Armor offers its usual DRagainst such instant cold attacks,but it must be insulated or heated toshield against prolonged exposure toambient cold.Make a HT or HT-based Survival(Arctic) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes in normal freezingweather. For most humans, thismeans temperatures below 35F, butsee Temperature Tolerance (p. 93). Inlight wind (10+ mph), roll every 15minutes. In strong wind (30+ mph),roll every 10 minutes. Additionally,strong wind can dramatically reducethe effective temperature (the windchill factor). Also see the modifiersbelow:Modifier toSituationHT RollLight or no clothing-5Ordinary winter clothing+0Arctic clothing+5Heated suit+10Wet clothesadditional -5Every 10 below 0F effective temperature-1Failure costs 1 FP. As usual, onceyou go below 0 FP, you will start tolose 1 HP per FP. Recovery of FP orHP lost to cold requires adequate shel-ter and a heat source (flame, electricheat, body warmth, etc.).Thermal Shock: Sudden immersionin icy waters (e.g., any of Earthsoceans far from the equator) or a cryo-genic environment can cause death bythermal shock. Note that impurewater (e.g., saltwater oceans) can bebelow the usual freezing temperature!If you are wearing a completely water-proof dry suit, you are only affectedas per normal freezing. Otherwise, rollagainst HT once per minute of immer-sion. Do not modify this for clothing.On a success, you lose 1 FP. On a fail-ure, you lose FP equal to the margin offailure. Dont forget to check fordrowning as well!COLLISIONSAND FALLSWhen a moving object hits anotherobject, this is a collision. Use the rulesbelow for ramming attempts, acciden-tal crashes, falls, and dropped objects.Damage from CollisionsAn object or persons Hit Pointsand velocity determine collision dam-age. Mass only matters indirectly:massive objects usually have high HP,but it would hurt more to collide witha locomotive than with a pillow of thesame mass! HP take into account bothmass and structural strength.Velocity is how fast the characteror object is moving in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard per second).Velocity could be anything up toMove. It might exceed Move when div-ing or falling; seeHigh-SpeedMovement (p. 394).An object in a collision inflictsdice of crushing damage equal to (HP velocity)/100. If this is less than 1d,treat fractions up to 0.25 as 1d-3,fractions up to 0.5 as 1d-2, and anylarger fraction as 1d-1. Otherwise,round fractions of 0.5 or more up to afull die.If an object is bullet-shaped, sharp,or spiked, it does half damage, but thisdamage is piercing, cutting, or impal-ing, rather than crushing.430INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEImmovable ObjectsIf a moving object hits a stationaryobject that is too big to push aside like the ground, a mountain, or an ice-berg it inflicts its usual collisiondamage on that object and on itself. Ifthe obstacle is breakable, the movingobject cannot inflict or take moredamage than the obstacles HP + DR.Hard Objects: If the immovableobject is hard, use twice the HP of themoving object to calculate damage.Clay, concrete, ordinary soil, and sandare all hard, as is a building, moun-tain, or similar obstacle.Soft Objects: If the immovableobject is soft e.g., forest litter, hay,swamp, or water damage is normal.However, elastic objects (mattresses,nets, airbags, etc.) give extra DRagainst collision damage, rangingfrom DR 2 for a feather bed to DR 10for a safety net, trampoline, or airbag.When striking water or a similar fluid,a successful Swimming roll (or vehiclecontrol roll, if ditching a vehicle)means a clean dive that negates alldamage. This roll is at a penalty forvelocity; use the speed penalty fromthe Size and Speed/Range Table (p. 550).FallingA fall is a collision with an immov-able object: the ground. Find yourvelocity when you hit using the FallingVelocity Table.Example: Bill is pushed out a fifth-story window. He falls 17 yards. Whenhe hits the street, his velocity is 19yards/second. Bill has 10 HP, but heuses twice this because he hit a hardsurface. Damage is (2 10 19)/100 =3.8d, which rounds up to 4d crushing.Falls and Armor: All armor, flexibleor not (but not innate DR), counts asflexible for the purpose of calculat-ing blunt trauma from falling damage.Thus, even if the victim has enougharmor DR to stop the falling damage,he suffers 1 HP of injury per 5 pointsof falling damage. See Flexible Armorand Blunt Trauma (p. 379).Controlled Falls: If you are free tomove, you can use Acrobatics skill toland properly. On a success, reducefalling distance by five yards when cal-culating velocity. If falling into water,you can do this or attempt a properdive (see above) decide which first!Terminal Velocity: Terminal veloci-ty is the maximum speed a fallingobject can achieve before air resist-ance negates further accelerationunder gravity. Air resistance is rela-tively negligible for distances shownon the table, but increases drasticallyfor longer falls.Terminal velocity varies greatly byobject. For human-shaped objects onEarth, it is 60-100 yards/second. Usethe low end for a spread-eagled fall,the high end for a swan dive. Fordense objects (e.g., rocks) or stream-lined objects, it can be 200 yards/sec-ond or more!The terminal velocity rules assumeEarth-normal gravity (1G) and atmos-pheric pressure (1 atm.). Multiply ter-minal velocity by the square root ofgravity in Gs. Then divide it by thesquare root of pressure in atm. Thus,gravity under 1G, or pressure above 1atm., reduces terminal velocity; gravi-ty over 1G, or pressure below 1 atm.,increases it. Note that terminal veloci-ty is unlimited in a vacuum!Damage from Falling ObjectsIf an object falls on someone, findits velocity on the table above and cal-culate damage as for an ordinary col-lision. To hit someone with a droppedobject, use Dropping skill (p. 189).Most dropped objects will have Acc 1.Your target cannot avoid the objectunless he knows its coming. If hesaware of it, he can dodge.A falling object with a SizeModifier equal to or greater than thatof whoever it lands on impedes thevictims movement. He may move onlyone yard on his next turn, and hisactive defenses are -3. These penaltiesresult from bulk, not mass, so ST isirrelevant.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE431Falling Velocity TableFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocity1 yard513-14 yards1735-37 yards2868-71 yards392 yards715 yards1838-39 yards2972-75 yards403 yards816-17 yards1940-42 yards3076-79 yards414 yards918-19 yards2043-45 yards3180-82 yards425 yards1020-21 yards2146-48 yards3283-86 yards436 yards1122-23 yards2249-51 yards3387-90 yards447 yards1224-25 yards2352-54 yards3491-95 yards458 yards1326-27 yards2455-57 yards3596-99 yards469 yards1428-29 yards2558-61 yards36100-103 yards4710-11 yards1530-32 yards2662-64 yards37104-108 yards4812 yards1633-34 yards2765-67 yards38109-112 yards49Alternatively, calculate velocity in yards per second as the square root of (21.4 g distance fallen in yards), where g isthe local gravity in Gs (g = 1 on Earth). Round to the nearest whole number.Hit Location from a FallIf using hit locations, roll randomly for the hit location damaged ina fall. If the injury is to an extremity or a limb, do not ignore injury inexcess of that required to cripple it. Instead, subtract the full amountfrom HP! If the fall would cripple a limb, roll 1d. On 5-6, all limbs ofthat type are crippled, although there is no extra injury.
|
Dense (1.21-1.5 atm.): The air isbreathable, with some discomfort: -1to all HT rolls, unless you have a pres-sure suit. If the air contains more than50% oxygen, you must wear a reduc-ing respirator that lowers oxygen par-tial pressure, or suffer -2 to DX due tocoughing and lung damage.Very Dense (1.51+ atm.): Asdense, but a reducing respirator isrequired if the air is more than 10%oxygen. Usually quite hot from green-house effects.Superdense (10+ atm.): As verydense, but the atmospheric pressureis so great that it can actually crushsomeone who is not native to it, unlesshe has Pressure Support or an armoredsuit that provides this advantage; seePressure (p. 435). Visitors to Venus, ordeep inside Jupiter, experience hun-dreds of atmospheres of pressure! Suchatmospheres are often poisonous,which presents a separate problem.These rules assume you are nativeto 1 atm. and can function normallyat 0.81-1.2 atm. If your native pres-sure differs from 1 atm., multiply allthe pressure ranges above by yournative pressure in atm. For example,if youre native to 0.5 atm., a denseatmosphere for you would be 0.61-0.75 atm. and a thin one would be0.26-0.4 atm.COLDCold can be deadly, but only magicor superscience can produce coldquickly enough to cause damage incombat. Armor offers its usual DRagainst such instant cold attacks,but it must be insulated or heated toshield against prolonged exposure toambient cold.Make a HT or HT-based Survival(Arctic) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes in normal freezingweather. For most humans, thismeans temperatures below 35F, butsee Temperature Tolerance (p. 93). Inlight wind (10+ mph), roll every 15minutes. In strong wind (30+ mph),roll every 10 minutes. Additionally,strong wind can dramatically reducethe effective temperature (the windchill factor). Also see the modifiersbelow:Modifier toSituationHT RollLight or no clothing-5Ordinary winter clothing+0Arctic clothing+5Heated suit+10Wet clothesadditional -5Every 10 below 0F effective temperature-1Failure costs 1 FP. As usual, onceyou go below 0 FP, you will start tolose 1 HP per FP. Recovery of FP orHP lost to cold requires adequate shel-ter and a heat source (flame, electricheat, body warmth, etc.).Thermal Shock: Sudden immersionin icy waters (e.g., any of Earthsoceans far from the equator) or a cryo-genic environment can cause death bythermal shock. Note that impurewater (e.g., saltwater oceans) can bebelow the usual freezing temperature!If you are wearing a completely water-proof dry suit, you are only affectedas per normal freezing. Otherwise, rollagainst HT once per minute of immer-sion. Do not modify this for clothing.On a success, you lose 1 FP. On a fail-ure, you lose FP equal to the margin offailure. Dont forget to check fordrowning as well!COLLISIONSAND FALLSWhen a moving object hits anotherobject, this is a collision. Use the rulesbelow for ramming attempts, acciden-tal crashes, falls, and dropped objects.Damage from CollisionsAn object or persons Hit Pointsand velocity determine collision dam-age. Mass only matters indirectly:massive objects usually have high HP,but it would hurt more to collide witha locomotive than with a pillow of thesame mass! HP take into account bothmass and structural strength.Velocity is how fast the characteror object is moving in yards per sec-ond (2 mph = 1 yard per second).Velocity could be anything up toMove. It might exceed Move when div-ing or falling; seeHigh-SpeedMovement (p. 394).An object in a collision inflictsdice of crushing damage equal to (HP velocity)/100. If this is less than 1d,treat fractions up to 0.25 as 1d-3,fractions up to 0.5 as 1d-2, and anylarger fraction as 1d-1. Otherwise,round fractions of 0.5 or more up to afull die.If an object is bullet-shaped, sharp,or spiked, it does half damage, but thisdamage is piercing, cutting, or impal-ing, rather than crushing.430INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEImmovable ObjectsIf a moving object hits a stationaryobject that is too big to push aside like the ground, a mountain, or an ice-berg it inflicts its usual collisiondamage on that object and on itself. Ifthe obstacle is breakable, the movingobject cannot inflict or take moredamage than the obstacles HP + DR.Hard Objects: If the immovableobject is hard, use twice the HP of themoving object to calculate damage.Clay, concrete, ordinary soil, and sandare all hard, as is a building, moun-tain, or similar obstacle.Soft Objects: If the immovableobject is soft e.g., forest litter, hay,swamp, or water damage is normal.However, elastic objects (mattresses,nets, airbags, etc.) give extra DRagainst collision damage, rangingfrom DR 2 for a feather bed to DR 10for a safety net, trampoline, or airbag.When striking water or a similar fluid,a successful Swimming roll (or vehiclecontrol roll, if ditching a vehicle)means a clean dive that negates alldamage. This roll is at a penalty forvelocity; use the speed penalty fromthe Size and Speed/Range Table (p. 550).FallingA fall is a collision with an immov-able object: the ground. Find yourvelocity when you hit using the FallingVelocity Table.Example: Bill is pushed out a fifth-story window. He falls 17 yards. Whenhe hits the street, his velocity is 19yards/second. Bill has 10 HP, but heuses twice this because he hit a hardsurface. Damage is (2 10 19)/100 =3.8d, which rounds up to 4d crushing.Falls and Armor: All armor, flexibleor not (but not innate DR), counts asflexible for the purpose of calculat-ing blunt trauma from falling damage.Thus, even if the victim has enougharmor DR to stop the falling damage,he suffers 1 HP of injury per 5 pointsof falling damage. See Flexible Armorand Blunt Trauma (p. 379).Controlled Falls: If you are free tomove, you can use Acrobatics skill toland properly. On a success, reducefalling distance by five yards when cal-culating velocity. If falling into water,you can do this or attempt a properdive (see above) decide which first!Terminal Velocity: Terminal veloci-ty is the maximum speed a fallingobject can achieve before air resist-ance negates further accelerationunder gravity. Air resistance is rela-tively negligible for distances shownon the table, but increases drasticallyfor longer falls.Terminal velocity varies greatly byobject. For human-shaped objects onEarth, it is 60-100 yards/second. Usethe low end for a spread-eagled fall,the high end for a swan dive. Fordense objects (e.g., rocks) or stream-lined objects, it can be 200 yards/sec-ond or more!The terminal velocity rules assumeEarth-normal gravity (1G) and atmos-pheric pressure (1 atm.). Multiply ter-minal velocity by the square root ofgravity in Gs. Then divide it by thesquare root of pressure in atm. Thus,gravity under 1G, or pressure above 1atm., reduces terminal velocity; gravi-ty over 1G, or pressure below 1 atm.,increases it. Note that terminal veloci-ty is unlimited in a vacuum!Damage from Falling ObjectsIf an object falls on someone, findits velocity on the table above and cal-culate damage as for an ordinary col-lision. To hit someone with a droppedobject, use Dropping skill (p. 189).Most dropped objects will have Acc 1.Your target cannot avoid the objectunless he knows its coming. If hesaware of it, he can dodge.A falling object with a SizeModifier equal to or greater than thatof whoever it lands on impedes thevictims movement. He may move onlyone yard on his next turn, and hisactive defenses are -3. These penaltiesresult from bulk, not mass, so ST isirrelevant.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE431Falling Velocity TableFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocity1 yard513-14 yards1735-37 yards2868-71 yards392 yards715 yards1838-39 yards2972-75 yards403 yards816-17 yards1940-42 yards3076-79 yards414 yards918-19 yards2043-45 yards3180-82 yards425 yards1020-21 yards2146-48 yards3283-86 yards436 yards1122-23 yards2249-51 yards3387-90 yards447 yards1224-25 yards2352-54 yards3491-95 yards458 yards1326-27 yards2455-57 yards3596-99 yards469 yards1428-29 yards2558-61 yards36100-103 yards4710-11 yards1530-32 yards2662-64 yards37104-108 yards4812 yards1633-34 yards2765-67 yards38109-112 yards49Alternatively, calculate velocity in yards per second as the square root of (21.4 g distance fallen in yards), where g isthe local gravity in Gs (g = 1 on Earth). Round to the nearest whole number.Hit Location from a FallIf using hit locations, roll randomly for the hit location damaged ina fall. If the injury is to an extremity or a limb, do not ignore injury inexcess of that required to cripple it. Instead, subtract the full amountfrom HP! If the fall would cripple a limb, roll 1d. On 5-6, all limbs ofthat type are crippled, although there is no extra injury.Collision AngleThe angle at which you hit adjustsvelocity, affecting damage. This isespecially true in collisions betweentwo moving objects!Head-On: In a head-on collisionbetween two moving objects, collisionvelocity is the sum of the objectsvelocities. The slower object cannotinflict more dice of damage than thefaster one.Rear-End: If a faster object over-takes and strikes a slower one, colli-sion velocity is that of the strikingobject minus that of the struck object.The struck object cannot inflict moredice of damage than the striking one.Side-On Collisions and Falls: If amoving object strikes a stationary one,or strikes a moving object side-on, col-lision velocity is that of the striking orfalling object. The struck object can-not inflict more dice of damage thanthe striking or falling one.Example: A car with 60 HP, movingat 50 mph (velocity 25), strikes apedestrian with 10 HP. The pedestrianwas fleeing from the car at Move 5, sothis is a rear-end collision. Collisionvelocity is 25 (car) - 5 (pedestrian) =20. The car inflicts (60 20)/100 = 12dcrushing damage on the pedestrian;the pedestrian inflicts (10 20)/100 =2d crushing damage on the car.OverrunsIf the Size Modifier of the strikingobject in a collision exceeds that of thestruck object by two or more (e.g., acar hitting a man) the striking objectoverruns the struck object. Thisinflicts additional crushing damage:roll thrust damage for ST equal to halfthe striking objects HP (or half its STscore, if it has one). Even a slow-moving elephant or a tank can crushsomeone who doesnt get out of theway. This rule does not apply to falls.Anything with a ST attribute candeliberately trample as well; seeTrampling (p. 404).Whiplash and CollisionAnyone inside an object that comesto a sudden stop in a fall or a collision(a falling elevator, a crashing car, etc.)takes damage. Find the speed lost inthe stop and work out falling dam-age for this velocity. Seatbelts or strapsgive DR 5 vs. this damage; airbags giveDR 10. In a collision involving an openvehicle, also work out knockback fromthis damage for those who werentstrapped in. This is how far they fly . . .ELECTRICITYIf an uninsulated person is exposedto electricity, he may receive a shock.The effects of electric shock are highlyvariable, ranging from momentarystunning to instant death! This sectionhelps the GM assess these effects if acharacter receives a shock during anadventure. If a specific attack or sce-nario gives different rules, they over-ride the guidelines below.All electrical damage falls into oneof two classes: nonlethal or lethal.Against either, metallic armor (e.g.,plate armor) provides only DR 1 andif the wearer is grounded, he actuallyattracts electrical attacks, giving theattacker +2 to hit.Nonlethal ElectricalDamageHigh-voltage, low-power shocksare unlikely to kill, but can stun thevictim or even render him uncon-scious. This is called nonlethal elec-trical damage. Examples includeelectric stun weapons, realistic elec-tric fences, and static shocks on acool, dry day. The GM should requirean immediate HT roll wheneversomeone is zapped.Modifiers: From +2 for a short cir-cuit in a battery-powered gadget downto -3 or -4 for a specially designed stunweapon. Nonmetallic armor gives abonus equal to its DR but surfaceshocks (e.g., from a cattle prod) tendto flow over armor rather thanthrough it, and have an armor divisorof (0.5), while energy weaponsdesigned to arc through armor havean armor divisor of (2) or even (5).On a failure, the victim is stunned.An instantaneous jolt (static electrici-ty, electrolaser, etc.) stuns for one sec-ond, after which time the victim mayroll vs. HT once per second to recover.A continuous shock (stun gun, electricfence, etc.) stuns for as long as the vic-tim is in contact with the source, andfor (20 - HT) seconds after that, with aminimum of 1 second. After this time,the victim may roll vs. HT each secondto recover. The basic HT modifier forthe strength of the shock (but not forDR) applies to all recovery rolls.Electromuscular Disruption (EMD):Some ultra-tech weapons deliver amore powerful current that inducesconvulsions. The HT roll is at -5, and ifthe victim fails, he is knocked downand paralyzed instead of merelystunned. Otherwise, the effects are asabove.Lethal ElectricalDamageHigh-power shocks cook flesh andinflict real damage; they can even stopthe victims heart! This is called lethalelectrical damage. Examples includepower mains, lightning bolts (naturaland magical), and cinematic electricfences.Lethal electric shocks inflict burningdamage: only 1d-3 to 3d around thehouse, but 6d on up for lightning, trans-mission lines, etc. A victim who suffersany injury must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he falls unconscious for as long as thecurrent is applied, and for (20 - HT)minutes afterward, with a minimum of1 minute. He will be at -2 DX for anoth-er (20 - HT) minutes when he recovers.Failure by 5 or more, or any critical fail-ure, results in a heart attack; see MortalConditions (p. 429). Lethal electrical432INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEIn a collision involving an open vehicle, workout knockback for those who werent strappedin. This is how far they fly . . .
|
Immovable ObjectsIf a moving object hits a stationaryobject that is too big to push aside like the ground, a mountain, or an ice-berg it inflicts its usual collisiondamage on that object and on itself. Ifthe obstacle is breakable, the movingobject cannot inflict or take moredamage than the obstacles HP + DR.Hard Objects: If the immovableobject is hard, use twice the HP of themoving object to calculate damage.Clay, concrete, ordinary soil, and sandare all hard, as is a building, moun-tain, or similar obstacle.Soft Objects: If the immovableobject is soft e.g., forest litter, hay,swamp, or water damage is normal.However, elastic objects (mattresses,nets, airbags, etc.) give extra DRagainst collision damage, rangingfrom DR 2 for a feather bed to DR 10for a safety net, trampoline, or airbag.When striking water or a similar fluid,a successful Swimming roll (or vehiclecontrol roll, if ditching a vehicle)means a clean dive that negates alldamage. This roll is at a penalty forvelocity; use the speed penalty fromthe Size and Speed/Range Table (p. 550).FallingA fall is a collision with an immov-able object: the ground. Find yourvelocity when you hit using the FallingVelocity Table.Example: Bill is pushed out a fifth-story window. He falls 17 yards. Whenhe hits the street, his velocity is 19yards/second. Bill has 10 HP, but heuses twice this because he hit a hardsurface. Damage is (2 10 19)/100 =3.8d, which rounds up to 4d crushing.Falls and Armor: All armor, flexibleor not (but not innate DR), counts asflexible for the purpose of calculat-ing blunt trauma from falling damage.Thus, even if the victim has enougharmor DR to stop the falling damage,he suffers 1 HP of injury per 5 pointsof falling damage. See Flexible Armorand Blunt Trauma (p. 379).Controlled Falls: If you are free tomove, you can use Acrobatics skill toland properly. On a success, reducefalling distance by five yards when cal-culating velocity. If falling into water,you can do this or attempt a properdive (see above) decide which first!Terminal Velocity: Terminal veloci-ty is the maximum speed a fallingobject can achieve before air resist-ance negates further accelerationunder gravity. Air resistance is rela-tively negligible for distances shownon the table, but increases drasticallyfor longer falls.Terminal velocity varies greatly byobject. For human-shaped objects onEarth, it is 60-100 yards/second. Usethe low end for a spread-eagled fall,the high end for a swan dive. Fordense objects (e.g., rocks) or stream-lined objects, it can be 200 yards/sec-ond or more!The terminal velocity rules assumeEarth-normal gravity (1G) and atmos-pheric pressure (1 atm.). Multiply ter-minal velocity by the square root ofgravity in Gs. Then divide it by thesquare root of pressure in atm. Thus,gravity under 1G, or pressure above 1atm., reduces terminal velocity; gravi-ty over 1G, or pressure below 1 atm.,increases it. Note that terminal veloci-ty is unlimited in a vacuum!Damage from Falling ObjectsIf an object falls on someone, findits velocity on the table above and cal-culate damage as for an ordinary col-lision. To hit someone with a droppedobject, use Dropping skill (p. 189).Most dropped objects will have Acc 1.Your target cannot avoid the objectunless he knows its coming. If hesaware of it, he can dodge.A falling object with a SizeModifier equal to or greater than thatof whoever it lands on impedes thevictims movement. He may move onlyone yard on his next turn, and hisactive defenses are -3. These penaltiesresult from bulk, not mass, so ST isirrelevant.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE431Falling Velocity TableFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocityFallVelocity1 yard513-14 yards1735-37 yards2868-71 yards392 yards715 yards1838-39 yards2972-75 yards403 yards816-17 yards1940-42 yards3076-79 yards414 yards918-19 yards2043-45 yards3180-82 yards425 yards1020-21 yards2146-48 yards3283-86 yards436 yards1122-23 yards2249-51 yards3387-90 yards447 yards1224-25 yards2352-54 yards3491-95 yards458 yards1326-27 yards2455-57 yards3596-99 yards469 yards1428-29 yards2558-61 yards36100-103 yards4710-11 yards1530-32 yards2662-64 yards37104-108 yards4812 yards1633-34 yards2765-67 yards38109-112 yards49Alternatively, calculate velocity in yards per second as the square root of (21.4 g distance fallen in yards), where g isthe local gravity in Gs (g = 1 on Earth). Round to the nearest whole number.Hit Location from a FallIf using hit locations, roll randomly for the hit location damaged ina fall. If the injury is to an extremity or a limb, do not ignore injury inexcess of that required to cripple it. Instead, subtract the full amountfrom HP! If the fall would cripple a limb, roll 1d. On 5-6, all limbs ofthat type are crippled, although there is no extra injury.Collision AngleThe angle at which you hit adjustsvelocity, affecting damage. This isespecially true in collisions betweentwo moving objects!Head-On: In a head-on collisionbetween two moving objects, collisionvelocity is the sum of the objectsvelocities. The slower object cannotinflict more dice of damage than thefaster one.Rear-End: If a faster object over-takes and strikes a slower one, colli-sion velocity is that of the strikingobject minus that of the struck object.The struck object cannot inflict moredice of damage than the striking one.Side-On Collisions and Falls: If amoving object strikes a stationary one,or strikes a moving object side-on, col-lision velocity is that of the striking orfalling object. The struck object can-not inflict more dice of damage thanthe striking or falling one.Example: A car with 60 HP, movingat 50 mph (velocity 25), strikes apedestrian with 10 HP. The pedestrianwas fleeing from the car at Move 5, sothis is a rear-end collision. Collisionvelocity is 25 (car) - 5 (pedestrian) =20. The car inflicts (60 20)/100 = 12dcrushing damage on the pedestrian;the pedestrian inflicts (10 20)/100 =2d crushing damage on the car.OverrunsIf the Size Modifier of the strikingobject in a collision exceeds that of thestruck object by two or more (e.g., acar hitting a man) the striking objectoverruns the struck object. Thisinflicts additional crushing damage:roll thrust damage for ST equal to halfthe striking objects HP (or half its STscore, if it has one). Even a slow-moving elephant or a tank can crushsomeone who doesnt get out of theway. This rule does not apply to falls.Anything with a ST attribute candeliberately trample as well; seeTrampling (p. 404).Whiplash and CollisionAnyone inside an object that comesto a sudden stop in a fall or a collision(a falling elevator, a crashing car, etc.)takes damage. Find the speed lost inthe stop and work out falling dam-age for this velocity. Seatbelts or strapsgive DR 5 vs. this damage; airbags giveDR 10. In a collision involving an openvehicle, also work out knockback fromthis damage for those who werentstrapped in. This is how far they fly . . .ELECTRICITYIf an uninsulated person is exposedto electricity, he may receive a shock.The effects of electric shock are highlyvariable, ranging from momentarystunning to instant death! This sectionhelps the GM assess these effects if acharacter receives a shock during anadventure. If a specific attack or sce-nario gives different rules, they over-ride the guidelines below.All electrical damage falls into oneof two classes: nonlethal or lethal.Against either, metallic armor (e.g.,plate armor) provides only DR 1 andif the wearer is grounded, he actuallyattracts electrical attacks, giving theattacker +2 to hit.Nonlethal ElectricalDamageHigh-voltage, low-power shocksare unlikely to kill, but can stun thevictim or even render him uncon-scious. This is called nonlethal elec-trical damage. Examples includeelectric stun weapons, realistic elec-tric fences, and static shocks on acool, dry day. The GM should requirean immediate HT roll wheneversomeone is zapped.Modifiers: From +2 for a short cir-cuit in a battery-powered gadget downto -3 or -4 for a specially designed stunweapon. Nonmetallic armor gives abonus equal to its DR but surfaceshocks (e.g., from a cattle prod) tendto flow over armor rather thanthrough it, and have an armor divisorof (0.5), while energy weaponsdesigned to arc through armor havean armor divisor of (2) or even (5).On a failure, the victim is stunned.An instantaneous jolt (static electrici-ty, electrolaser, etc.) stuns for one sec-ond, after which time the victim mayroll vs. HT once per second to recover.A continuous shock (stun gun, electricfence, etc.) stuns for as long as the vic-tim is in contact with the source, andfor (20 - HT) seconds after that, with aminimum of 1 second. After this time,the victim may roll vs. HT each secondto recover. The basic HT modifier forthe strength of the shock (but not forDR) applies to all recovery rolls.Electromuscular Disruption (EMD):Some ultra-tech weapons deliver amore powerful current that inducesconvulsions. The HT roll is at -5, and ifthe victim fails, he is knocked downand paralyzed instead of merelystunned. Otherwise, the effects are asabove.Lethal ElectricalDamageHigh-power shocks cook flesh andinflict real damage; they can even stopthe victims heart! This is called lethalelectrical damage. Examples includepower mains, lightning bolts (naturaland magical), and cinematic electricfences.Lethal electric shocks inflict burningdamage: only 1d-3 to 3d around thehouse, but 6d on up for lightning, trans-mission lines, etc. A victim who suffersany injury must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he falls unconscious for as long as thecurrent is applied, and for (20 - HT)minutes afterward, with a minimum of1 minute. He will be at -2 DX for anoth-er (20 - HT) minutes when he recovers.Failure by 5 or more, or any critical fail-ure, results in a heart attack; see MortalConditions (p. 429). Lethal electrical432INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEIn a collision involving an open vehicle, workout knockback for those who werent strappedin. This is how far they fly . . .damage also causes surge effects invictims who have the Electrical disad-vantage (p. 134).Localized Injury: Attacks that dontaffect the targets entire body includ-ing most magical electricity attacks cause pain and burns, but not uncon-sciousness or cardiac arrest. Treat thisas normal burning damage, except thatthe victim must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he is stunned for one second, afterwhich time he may roll vs. HT once persecond to recover. If the injury is to thearm or hand, he must also make a Willroll or drop anything carried in thathand.FLAMEExposure to flame inflicts burningdamage. See Wounding Modifiers andInjury (p. 379) and Hit Location(p. 398) for wounding effects. Beloware some additional special rules.Fire SourcesAdventurers often encounter flam-ing oil (see Molotov Cocktails and OilFlasks, p. 411), high-tech weapons,Innate Attacks, and battle magic (seeFire Spells, p. 246) . . . not to mentionthe burning rubble these attacks leavebehind!If you spend part of a turn in a fire(e.g., running through the flames), youtake 1d-3 burning damage. If youspend all of a turn in a fire of ordinaryintensity or if you are on fire youtake 1d-1 damage per second. Veryintense fires inflict more damage; forinstance, molten metal or a furnacewould inflict 3d per second! Use Large-Area Injury (p. 400) in all cases.Continued exposure to a fire canresult in intense heat that can rapidlyfatigue you even if the flames them-selves cannot penetrate your DR. SeeHeat (p. 434).Incendiary Attacks: Any attack withthe Incendiary damage modifier(p. 105) does one point of burningdamage in addition to its other dam-age; in effect, it has a one-point linkedburning attack. Examples includetorches (see Torches and Flashlights,p. 394) and flaming arrows (seeFlaming Arrows, p. 410). High-techtracer bullets also qualify.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE433Making Things BurnMaterials are grouped into six flammability classes, based on theamount of burning or incendiary damage needed to set them aflame:Super-Flammable (e.g., black powder, ether): Negligible damage(candle flame).Highly Flammable (e.g., alcohol, paper, tinder): 1 point.Flammable (e.g., dry wood, kindling, oil): 3 points.Resistant (e.g., seasoned wood, clothing, rope, leather): 10 points.Highly Resistant (e.g., green wood, flesh): 30 points.Nonflammable (e.g., brick, metal, rock, fireproof synthetics): N/A.A fire source (including any incendiary attack) that inflicts the list-ed amount of burning damage in a single damage roll ignites the mate-rial immediately. Divide damage by 10 for tight-beam burning attacks.If the flame fails to ignite the material immediately, but could do so onits best damage roll, roll damage once per second for as long as it is incontact. Even if the flame is incapable of inflicting enough damage onits best roll, it may set things afire with prolonged contact. Roll 3d forevery 10 seconds of contact. Materials one category up (e.g., Flammablematerials taking 1 point per second) catch fire on a 16 or less; those twocategories up (e.g., Flammable materials touching a candle flame)catch on a 6 or less.Once a material starts burning, it may ignite adjacent materials.Make separate rolls for it based on the fires damage (1d-1 per secondfor an ordinary fire).
|
Collision AngleThe angle at which you hit adjustsvelocity, affecting damage. This isespecially true in collisions betweentwo moving objects!Head-On: In a head-on collisionbetween two moving objects, collisionvelocity is the sum of the objectsvelocities. The slower object cannotinflict more dice of damage than thefaster one.Rear-End: If a faster object over-takes and strikes a slower one, colli-sion velocity is that of the strikingobject minus that of the struck object.The struck object cannot inflict moredice of damage than the striking one.Side-On Collisions and Falls: If amoving object strikes a stationary one,or strikes a moving object side-on, col-lision velocity is that of the striking orfalling object. The struck object can-not inflict more dice of damage thanthe striking or falling one.Example: A car with 60 HP, movingat 50 mph (velocity 25), strikes apedestrian with 10 HP. The pedestrianwas fleeing from the car at Move 5, sothis is a rear-end collision. Collisionvelocity is 25 (car) - 5 (pedestrian) =20. The car inflicts (60 20)/100 = 12dcrushing damage on the pedestrian;the pedestrian inflicts (10 20)/100 =2d crushing damage on the car.OverrunsIf the Size Modifier of the strikingobject in a collision exceeds that of thestruck object by two or more (e.g., acar hitting a man) the striking objectoverruns the struck object. Thisinflicts additional crushing damage:roll thrust damage for ST equal to halfthe striking objects HP (or half its STscore, if it has one). Even a slow-moving elephant or a tank can crushsomeone who doesnt get out of theway. This rule does not apply to falls.Anything with a ST attribute candeliberately trample as well; seeTrampling (p. 404).Whiplash and CollisionAnyone inside an object that comesto a sudden stop in a fall or a collision(a falling elevator, a crashing car, etc.)takes damage. Find the speed lost inthe stop and work out falling dam-age for this velocity. Seatbelts or strapsgive DR 5 vs. this damage; airbags giveDR 10. In a collision involving an openvehicle, also work out knockback fromthis damage for those who werentstrapped in. This is how far they fly . . .ELECTRICITYIf an uninsulated person is exposedto electricity, he may receive a shock.The effects of electric shock are highlyvariable, ranging from momentarystunning to instant death! This sectionhelps the GM assess these effects if acharacter receives a shock during anadventure. If a specific attack or sce-nario gives different rules, they over-ride the guidelines below.All electrical damage falls into oneof two classes: nonlethal or lethal.Against either, metallic armor (e.g.,plate armor) provides only DR 1 andif the wearer is grounded, he actuallyattracts electrical attacks, giving theattacker +2 to hit.Nonlethal ElectricalDamageHigh-voltage, low-power shocksare unlikely to kill, but can stun thevictim or even render him uncon-scious. This is called nonlethal elec-trical damage. Examples includeelectric stun weapons, realistic elec-tric fences, and static shocks on acool, dry day. The GM should requirean immediate HT roll wheneversomeone is zapped.Modifiers: From +2 for a short cir-cuit in a battery-powered gadget downto -3 or -4 for a specially designed stunweapon. Nonmetallic armor gives abonus equal to its DR but surfaceshocks (e.g., from a cattle prod) tendto flow over armor rather thanthrough it, and have an armor divisorof (0.5), while energy weaponsdesigned to arc through armor havean armor divisor of (2) or even (5).On a failure, the victim is stunned.An instantaneous jolt (static electrici-ty, electrolaser, etc.) stuns for one sec-ond, after which time the victim mayroll vs. HT once per second to recover.A continuous shock (stun gun, electricfence, etc.) stuns for as long as the vic-tim is in contact with the source, andfor (20 - HT) seconds after that, with aminimum of 1 second. After this time,the victim may roll vs. HT each secondto recover. The basic HT modifier forthe strength of the shock (but not forDR) applies to all recovery rolls.Electromuscular Disruption (EMD):Some ultra-tech weapons deliver amore powerful current that inducesconvulsions. The HT roll is at -5, and ifthe victim fails, he is knocked downand paralyzed instead of merelystunned. Otherwise, the effects are asabove.Lethal ElectricalDamageHigh-power shocks cook flesh andinflict real damage; they can even stopthe victims heart! This is called lethalelectrical damage. Examples includepower mains, lightning bolts (naturaland magical), and cinematic electricfences.Lethal electric shocks inflict burningdamage: only 1d-3 to 3d around thehouse, but 6d on up for lightning, trans-mission lines, etc. A victim who suffersany injury must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he falls unconscious for as long as thecurrent is applied, and for (20 - HT)minutes afterward, with a minimum of1 minute. He will be at -2 DX for anoth-er (20 - HT) minutes when he recovers.Failure by 5 or more, or any critical fail-ure, results in a heart attack; see MortalConditions (p. 429). Lethal electrical432INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEIn a collision involving an open vehicle, workout knockback for those who werent strappedin. This is how far they fly . . .damage also causes surge effects invictims who have the Electrical disad-vantage (p. 134).Localized Injury: Attacks that dontaffect the targets entire body includ-ing most magical electricity attacks cause pain and burns, but not uncon-sciousness or cardiac arrest. Treat thisas normal burning damage, except thatthe victim must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he is stunned for one second, afterwhich time he may roll vs. HT once persecond to recover. If the injury is to thearm or hand, he must also make a Willroll or drop anything carried in thathand.FLAMEExposure to flame inflicts burningdamage. See Wounding Modifiers andInjury (p. 379) and Hit Location(p. 398) for wounding effects. Beloware some additional special rules.Fire SourcesAdventurers often encounter flam-ing oil (see Molotov Cocktails and OilFlasks, p. 411), high-tech weapons,Innate Attacks, and battle magic (seeFire Spells, p. 246) . . . not to mentionthe burning rubble these attacks leavebehind!If you spend part of a turn in a fire(e.g., running through the flames), youtake 1d-3 burning damage. If youspend all of a turn in a fire of ordinaryintensity or if you are on fire youtake 1d-1 damage per second. Veryintense fires inflict more damage; forinstance, molten metal or a furnacewould inflict 3d per second! Use Large-Area Injury (p. 400) in all cases.Continued exposure to a fire canresult in intense heat that can rapidlyfatigue you even if the flames them-selves cannot penetrate your DR. SeeHeat (p. 434).Incendiary Attacks: Any attack withthe Incendiary damage modifier(p. 105) does one point of burningdamage in addition to its other dam-age; in effect, it has a one-point linkedburning attack. Examples includetorches (see Torches and Flashlights,p. 394) and flaming arrows (seeFlaming Arrows, p. 410). High-techtracer bullets also qualify.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE433Making Things BurnMaterials are grouped into six flammability classes, based on theamount of burning or incendiary damage needed to set them aflame:Super-Flammable (e.g., black powder, ether): Negligible damage(candle flame).Highly Flammable (e.g., alcohol, paper, tinder): 1 point.Flammable (e.g., dry wood, kindling, oil): 3 points.Resistant (e.g., seasoned wood, clothing, rope, leather): 10 points.Highly Resistant (e.g., green wood, flesh): 30 points.Nonflammable (e.g., brick, metal, rock, fireproof synthetics): N/A.A fire source (including any incendiary attack) that inflicts the list-ed amount of burning damage in a single damage roll ignites the mate-rial immediately. Divide damage by 10 for tight-beam burning attacks.If the flame fails to ignite the material immediately, but could do so onits best damage roll, roll damage once per second for as long as it is incontact. Even if the flame is incapable of inflicting enough damage onits best roll, it may set things afire with prolonged contact. Roll 3d forevery 10 seconds of contact. Materials one category up (e.g., Flammablematerials taking 1 point per second) catch fire on a 16 or less; those twocategories up (e.g., Flammable materials touching a candle flame)catch on a 6 or less.Once a material starts burning, it may ignite adjacent materials.Make separate rolls for it based on the fires damage (1d-1 per secondfor an ordinary fire).Catching FireA single hit that inflicts at least 3points of basic burning damageignites part of the victims clothing.(The Ignite Fire spell does this at itsthird level of effect; see p. 246). Thisdoes 1d-4 burning damage per secondand is distracting (-2 to DX, unless thedamage simply cannot harm the tar-get). To put out the fire, the victimmust beat it with his hands. Thisrequires a DX roll, and each attempttakes a Ready maneuver.A single hit that inflicts 10 or morepoints of basic burning damageignites all of the victims clothes. Thisdoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondand is very distracting (-3 to DX,except when rolling to put out thefire). To put out the fire, the victimmust roll on the ground. This requiresa DX roll, and each attempt takes threeReady maneuvers. Jumping intowater takes only one second, andautomatically extinguishes the fire.If a wooden shield takes 10 or morepoints of burning damage in one sec-ond, the bearer is at -2 to DX, andtakes 1d-5 burning damage per seconduntil he gets rid of it.In all cases, remember to applyshock penalties to DX if the flameinflicts injury!The above guidelines assume ordi-nary clothing. Armor is good protec-tion against fire; clothing worn overarmor (e.g., a surcoat) might burn, butthe armors DR reduces the damagenormally. Clothing that is wet or wornunder armor is almost impossible toignite, and wont stay lit. On the otherhand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, and soon, ignite if they take even 1 point ofburning damage!Remember to divide damage fromtight-beam burning attacks by 10when applying the rules above.GRAVITY ANDACCELERATIONA change in gravity can be harmful.These rules describe health effects; seeDifferent Gravity (p. 350) for the effectsof gravity on common tasks.Space AdaptationSyndrome (Space Sickness)Those who are not native to micro-or zero gravity (free fall) maybecome nauseated and disoriented bythe constant falling sensation. Rollagainst the higher of HT or Free Fallwhen you first enter free fall. TheSpace Sickness disadvantage (p. 156)gives -4.On a success, you are unaffected.On a failure, you are nauseated (seeAfflictions, p. 428), which may triggervomiting. If you begin to retch whilewearing a vacc suit, you may choke;treat this as drowning (see Swimming,p. 354). Roll against the better of HT orFree Fall every 8 hours to recover. Ifyou suffer from Space Sickness, youcannot adapt!High AccelerationMake a HT roll whenever you expe-rience a sudden acceleration (G-force) of at least 2.5 times your homegravity. Treat a home gravity under0.1G as 0.1G for this purpose.Modifiers: -2 per doubling of accel-eration (-2 at 5 home gravity, -4 at10, and so on); +2 if seated or lyingprone, or -2 if upside down.On a failure, you lose FP equal toyour margin of failure. On a criticalfailure, you also black out for 10 sec-onds times your margin of failure.A sudden acceleration may throwyou against a solid object. If this happens, treat it as a collision withthat object at a velocity equal to 10 G-force of the acceleration.HEATIn ordinary hot weather, you willexperience no ill effects if you stay inthe shade and dont move aroundmuch. But if you are active in temper-atures in the top 10 of your comfortzone or above over 80F, for humanswithout Temperature Tolerance (p. 93) make a HT or HT-based Survival(Desert) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes.Modifiers: A penalty equal to yourencumbrance level (-1 for Light, -2 forMedium, and so on); -1 per extra 10heat.Failure costs 1 FP. On a critical fail-ure, you suffer heat stroke: lose 1d FP.As usual, if you go below 0 FP, youstart to lose 1 HP per FP. You cannotrecover FP or HP lost to heat until youmove into cooler surroundings.In addition, at temperatures up to30 over your comfort zone (91-120for humans), you lose an extra 1 FPwhenever you lose FP to exertion ordehydration. At temperatures up to 60over your comfort zone (121-150 forhumans), this becomes an extra 2 FP.Intense Heat: Human skin starts toburn at 160; see Flame (p. 433) fordamage. Even if no damage pene-trates your DR, you will rapidly over-heat if the ambient temperature ismore than 6 your comfort zoneswidth over your comfort zone (e.g., ina fire). After 3 DR seconds, make aHT roll every second. On a failure, youlose 1 FP. Your DR provides its usualprotection against burning damage,but it has no effect on this FP loss.Sunburn: After a day of full sun onunprotected skin, an albino will benear death and a light-skinnedCaucasian will be very uncomfortable(1d-3 damage). Darker-skinned indi-viduals may itch, but arent in muchdanger. Details are up to the GM.Armor: Armor prevents sunburnand provides its full DR against burn-ing damage but only armor that pro-vides Temperature Tolerance (throughinsulation or a cooling system) canprevent FP loss due to heat. This fea-ture is standard on battlesuits andTL9+ combat armor.434INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEClothing that is wet or worn under armor isalmost impossible to ignite, and wont stay lit.On the other hand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, andso on, ignite if they take even 1 point of burningdamage!
|
damage also causes surge effects invictims who have the Electrical disad-vantage (p. 134).Localized Injury: Attacks that dontaffect the targets entire body includ-ing most magical electricity attacks cause pain and burns, but not uncon-sciousness or cardiac arrest. Treat thisas normal burning damage, except thatthe victim must make a HT roll at -1 per2 points of injury suffered. On a failure,he is stunned for one second, afterwhich time he may roll vs. HT once persecond to recover. If the injury is to thearm or hand, he must also make a Willroll or drop anything carried in thathand.FLAMEExposure to flame inflicts burningdamage. See Wounding Modifiers andInjury (p. 379) and Hit Location(p. 398) for wounding effects. Beloware some additional special rules.Fire SourcesAdventurers often encounter flam-ing oil (see Molotov Cocktails and OilFlasks, p. 411), high-tech weapons,Innate Attacks, and battle magic (seeFire Spells, p. 246) . . . not to mentionthe burning rubble these attacks leavebehind!If you spend part of a turn in a fire(e.g., running through the flames), youtake 1d-3 burning damage. If youspend all of a turn in a fire of ordinaryintensity or if you are on fire youtake 1d-1 damage per second. Veryintense fires inflict more damage; forinstance, molten metal or a furnacewould inflict 3d per second! Use Large-Area Injury (p. 400) in all cases.Continued exposure to a fire canresult in intense heat that can rapidlyfatigue you even if the flames them-selves cannot penetrate your DR. SeeHeat (p. 434).Incendiary Attacks: Any attack withthe Incendiary damage modifier(p. 105) does one point of burningdamage in addition to its other dam-age; in effect, it has a one-point linkedburning attack. Examples includetorches (see Torches and Flashlights,p. 394) and flaming arrows (seeFlaming Arrows, p. 410). High-techtracer bullets also qualify.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE433Making Things BurnMaterials are grouped into six flammability classes, based on theamount of burning or incendiary damage needed to set them aflame:Super-Flammable (e.g., black powder, ether): Negligible damage(candle flame).Highly Flammable (e.g., alcohol, paper, tinder): 1 point.Flammable (e.g., dry wood, kindling, oil): 3 points.Resistant (e.g., seasoned wood, clothing, rope, leather): 10 points.Highly Resistant (e.g., green wood, flesh): 30 points.Nonflammable (e.g., brick, metal, rock, fireproof synthetics): N/A.A fire source (including any incendiary attack) that inflicts the list-ed amount of burning damage in a single damage roll ignites the mate-rial immediately. Divide damage by 10 for tight-beam burning attacks.If the flame fails to ignite the material immediately, but could do so onits best damage roll, roll damage once per second for as long as it is incontact. Even if the flame is incapable of inflicting enough damage onits best roll, it may set things afire with prolonged contact. Roll 3d forevery 10 seconds of contact. Materials one category up (e.g., Flammablematerials taking 1 point per second) catch fire on a 16 or less; those twocategories up (e.g., Flammable materials touching a candle flame)catch on a 6 or less.Once a material starts burning, it may ignite adjacent materials.Make separate rolls for it based on the fires damage (1d-1 per secondfor an ordinary fire).Catching FireA single hit that inflicts at least 3points of basic burning damageignites part of the victims clothing.(The Ignite Fire spell does this at itsthird level of effect; see p. 246). Thisdoes 1d-4 burning damage per secondand is distracting (-2 to DX, unless thedamage simply cannot harm the tar-get). To put out the fire, the victimmust beat it with his hands. Thisrequires a DX roll, and each attempttakes a Ready maneuver.A single hit that inflicts 10 or morepoints of basic burning damageignites all of the victims clothes. Thisdoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondand is very distracting (-3 to DX,except when rolling to put out thefire). To put out the fire, the victimmust roll on the ground. This requiresa DX roll, and each attempt takes threeReady maneuvers. Jumping intowater takes only one second, andautomatically extinguishes the fire.If a wooden shield takes 10 or morepoints of burning damage in one sec-ond, the bearer is at -2 to DX, andtakes 1d-5 burning damage per seconduntil he gets rid of it.In all cases, remember to applyshock penalties to DX if the flameinflicts injury!The above guidelines assume ordi-nary clothing. Armor is good protec-tion against fire; clothing worn overarmor (e.g., a surcoat) might burn, butthe armors DR reduces the damagenormally. Clothing that is wet or wornunder armor is almost impossible toignite, and wont stay lit. On the otherhand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, and soon, ignite if they take even 1 point ofburning damage!Remember to divide damage fromtight-beam burning attacks by 10when applying the rules above.GRAVITY ANDACCELERATIONA change in gravity can be harmful.These rules describe health effects; seeDifferent Gravity (p. 350) for the effectsof gravity on common tasks.Space AdaptationSyndrome (Space Sickness)Those who are not native to micro-or zero gravity (free fall) maybecome nauseated and disoriented bythe constant falling sensation. Rollagainst the higher of HT or Free Fallwhen you first enter free fall. TheSpace Sickness disadvantage (p. 156)gives -4.On a success, you are unaffected.On a failure, you are nauseated (seeAfflictions, p. 428), which may triggervomiting. If you begin to retch whilewearing a vacc suit, you may choke;treat this as drowning (see Swimming,p. 354). Roll against the better of HT orFree Fall every 8 hours to recover. Ifyou suffer from Space Sickness, youcannot adapt!High AccelerationMake a HT roll whenever you expe-rience a sudden acceleration (G-force) of at least 2.5 times your homegravity. Treat a home gravity under0.1G as 0.1G for this purpose.Modifiers: -2 per doubling of accel-eration (-2 at 5 home gravity, -4 at10, and so on); +2 if seated or lyingprone, or -2 if upside down.On a failure, you lose FP equal toyour margin of failure. On a criticalfailure, you also black out for 10 sec-onds times your margin of failure.A sudden acceleration may throwyou against a solid object. If this happens, treat it as a collision withthat object at a velocity equal to 10 G-force of the acceleration.HEATIn ordinary hot weather, you willexperience no ill effects if you stay inthe shade and dont move aroundmuch. But if you are active in temper-atures in the top 10 of your comfortzone or above over 80F, for humanswithout Temperature Tolerance (p. 93) make a HT or HT-based Survival(Desert) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes.Modifiers: A penalty equal to yourencumbrance level (-1 for Light, -2 forMedium, and so on); -1 per extra 10heat.Failure costs 1 FP. On a critical fail-ure, you suffer heat stroke: lose 1d FP.As usual, if you go below 0 FP, youstart to lose 1 HP per FP. You cannotrecover FP or HP lost to heat until youmove into cooler surroundings.In addition, at temperatures up to30 over your comfort zone (91-120for humans), you lose an extra 1 FPwhenever you lose FP to exertion ordehydration. At temperatures up to 60over your comfort zone (121-150 forhumans), this becomes an extra 2 FP.Intense Heat: Human skin starts toburn at 160; see Flame (p. 433) fordamage. Even if no damage pene-trates your DR, you will rapidly over-heat if the ambient temperature ismore than 6 your comfort zoneswidth over your comfort zone (e.g., ina fire). After 3 DR seconds, make aHT roll every second. On a failure, youlose 1 FP. Your DR provides its usualprotection against burning damage,but it has no effect on this FP loss.Sunburn: After a day of full sun onunprotected skin, an albino will benear death and a light-skinnedCaucasian will be very uncomfortable(1d-3 damage). Darker-skinned indi-viduals may itch, but arent in muchdanger. Details are up to the GM.Armor: Armor prevents sunburnand provides its full DR against burn-ing damage but only armor that pro-vides Temperature Tolerance (throughinsulation or a cooling system) canprevent FP loss due to heat. This fea-ture is standard on battlesuits andTL9+ combat armor.434INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEClothing that is wet or worn under armor isalmost impossible to ignite, and wont stay lit.On the other hand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, andso on, ignite if they take even 1 point of burningdamage!PRESSUREAdventurers are most likely toencounter extreme pressure in super-dense atmospheres (see AtmosphericPressure, p. 429) or deep underwater(where pressure increases by about 1atmosphere per 33 of depth).Pressures in excess of your native pres-sure 1 atm., for a human are notalways immediately lethal, but presentserious risks.Over 2 native pressure: You riskthe bends (see below) if you experi-ence over 2 native pressure and thenreturn to normal pressure. WithPressure Support 1, the bends are onlya risk when returning from over 10 native pressure. With PressureSupport 2 or 3, you are immune to thebends.Over 10 native pressure: You maybe crushed! On initial exposure andevery minute thereafter, roll vs. HT at abasic +3, but -1 per 10 native pres-sure. If you fail, you suffer HP of injuryequal to your margin of failure. If yourSize Modifier is +2 or more, multiplyinjury by SM. With Pressure Support2, read this as Over 100 native pres-sure and -1 per 100 native pres-sure. With Pressure Support 3, youare immune to pressure.The BendsWhen you are breathing air thathas been compressed (e.g., usingscuba gear), your blood and tissuesabsorb some of the nitrogen gas in thecompressed air. When you return tonormal pressure, or decompress,this nitrogen escapes, forming smallbubbles in the blood and muscles.This can result in joint pains, dizzyspells, possibly even death. Thesesymptoms are known as the bends.You risk the bends if you return tonormal pressure after experiencingpressure greater than twice yournative pressure (or 10 times nativepressure, with Pressure Support 1).To avoid this, you must decompressslowly, spending time at intermediatepressures to allow the nitrogen toescape harmlessly.Divers and mountaineers use pre-cise tables to determine decompres-sion times based on time spent at agiven pressure. For game purposes, atup to 2 atm. (about 33 underwater), ahuman can operate for any amount oftime and return without risk. At up to2.5 atm. (50 depth), a human cansafely operate for up to 80 minutesand return without requiring slowdecompression. Greater pressuresreduce the safe time without slowdecompression: at 4 atm. (100depth), its about 22 minutes; at 5.5+atm. (150 depth), there is no safeperiod.Safe decompression involves slow-ly lowering the pressure, either natu-rally (e.g., a diver deliberately takinghours to reach the surface) or in adecompression chamber. The timerequired increases with both pressureand exposure time. It can be severalhours or even days.If you fail to decompress slowlyenough, make a HT roll. Critical suc-cess means no ill effects. Successmeans severe joint pain, causingagony (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428); roll vs. HT hourly to recover.Failure means unconsciousness orpainful paralysis; roll vs. HT hourly toregain consciousness, with each fail-ure causing 1d of injury. Once con-scious, you suffer joint pain, asdescribed above. Critical failureresults in painful death. Recom-pression to the highest pressure expe-rienced lets you roll at HT+4 everyfive minutes to recover from alleffects short of death.An instant pressure reduction canalso result in explosive decompres-sion; see Vacuum (p. 437) for details.All effects are cumulative!RADIATIONRadiation threatens high-techheroes in the form of solar flares, cos-mic rays, nuclear accidents, radioac-tive materials, and lethal weapons(nuclear bombs, particle beams, etc.).Exposure is measured in rads. Themore rads received, the greater thechance of ill effects.Whenever a character is exposed toradiation, the GM should note boththe dose and the date. Each dosediminishes separately from all others;it starts to heal after 30 days, at therate of 10 rads per day. However, 10%of the original dose never heals (exceptvia ultra-tech, magic, etc.).Example:A reactor technicianspends a day in a hot environmentand receives a 200-rad dose. After 30days, that particular dose starts to healat 10 rads/day. After another 18 days,the remaining dose is 20 rads 10% of200 rads and stops healing.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE435Radiation HazardsCosmic Rays: A constant hazard for space travelers. Inflict 1rad/week. Only massive shielding protects people.Fallout: Small radioactive particles, such as those produced by aground-burst nuclear bomb. Inflicts 2-5 rads/minute within a few hoursof the blast, and several rads/hour over the next day. If you breathe orswallow fallout (in contaminated food or water), the ingested materialdelivers a continuing dose (see below).Fission Plant Accident: 1,000 rads/hour or more! This is only in closeproximity (e.g., the reactor room); divide dose by the square of the dis-tance in yards from the source.Ingested Radioactive Material: Plutonium, radium-226, uranium-235, etc. Even tiny doses can cause 1 rad/day to several rads/minute,depending on the isotope. (Some radioactive materials, such as pluto-nium, are also extremely toxic!)Innate Attack: An attack with the Radiation damage modifier(p. 105) delivers one rad per point of damage rolled.Nuclear Blast: One-megaton fission air or space burst at 2,000 yards:6,600 rads!
|
Catching FireA single hit that inflicts at least 3points of basic burning damageignites part of the victims clothing.(The Ignite Fire spell does this at itsthird level of effect; see p. 246). Thisdoes 1d-4 burning damage per secondand is distracting (-2 to DX, unless thedamage simply cannot harm the tar-get). To put out the fire, the victimmust beat it with his hands. Thisrequires a DX roll, and each attempttakes a Ready maneuver.A single hit that inflicts 10 or morepoints of basic burning damageignites all of the victims clothes. Thisdoes 1d-1 burning damage per secondand is very distracting (-3 to DX,except when rolling to put out thefire). To put out the fire, the victimmust roll on the ground. This requiresa DX roll, and each attempt takes threeReady maneuvers. Jumping intowater takes only one second, andautomatically extinguishes the fire.If a wooden shield takes 10 or morepoints of burning damage in one sec-ond, the bearer is at -2 to DX, andtakes 1d-5 burning damage per seconduntil he gets rid of it.In all cases, remember to applyshock penalties to DX if the flameinflicts injury!The above guidelines assume ordi-nary clothing. Armor is good protec-tion against fire; clothing worn overarmor (e.g., a surcoat) might burn, butthe armors DR reduces the damagenormally. Clothing that is wet or wornunder armor is almost impossible toignite, and wont stay lit. On the otherhand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, and soon, ignite if they take even 1 point ofburning damage!Remember to divide damage fromtight-beam burning attacks by 10when applying the rules above.GRAVITY ANDACCELERATIONA change in gravity can be harmful.These rules describe health effects; seeDifferent Gravity (p. 350) for the effectsof gravity on common tasks.Space AdaptationSyndrome (Space Sickness)Those who are not native to micro-or zero gravity (free fall) maybecome nauseated and disoriented bythe constant falling sensation. Rollagainst the higher of HT or Free Fallwhen you first enter free fall. TheSpace Sickness disadvantage (p. 156)gives -4.On a success, you are unaffected.On a failure, you are nauseated (seeAfflictions, p. 428), which may triggervomiting. If you begin to retch whilewearing a vacc suit, you may choke;treat this as drowning (see Swimming,p. 354). Roll against the better of HT orFree Fall every 8 hours to recover. Ifyou suffer from Space Sickness, youcannot adapt!High AccelerationMake a HT roll whenever you expe-rience a sudden acceleration (G-force) of at least 2.5 times your homegravity. Treat a home gravity under0.1G as 0.1G for this purpose.Modifiers: -2 per doubling of accel-eration (-2 at 5 home gravity, -4 at10, and so on); +2 if seated or lyingprone, or -2 if upside down.On a failure, you lose FP equal toyour margin of failure. On a criticalfailure, you also black out for 10 sec-onds times your margin of failure.A sudden acceleration may throwyou against a solid object. If this happens, treat it as a collision withthat object at a velocity equal to 10 G-force of the acceleration.HEATIn ordinary hot weather, you willexperience no ill effects if you stay inthe shade and dont move aroundmuch. But if you are active in temper-atures in the top 10 of your comfortzone or above over 80F, for humanswithout Temperature Tolerance (p. 93) make a HT or HT-based Survival(Desert) roll, whichever is better, every30 minutes.Modifiers: A penalty equal to yourencumbrance level (-1 for Light, -2 forMedium, and so on); -1 per extra 10heat.Failure costs 1 FP. On a critical fail-ure, you suffer heat stroke: lose 1d FP.As usual, if you go below 0 FP, youstart to lose 1 HP per FP. You cannotrecover FP or HP lost to heat until youmove into cooler surroundings.In addition, at temperatures up to30 over your comfort zone (91-120for humans), you lose an extra 1 FPwhenever you lose FP to exertion ordehydration. At temperatures up to 60over your comfort zone (121-150 forhumans), this becomes an extra 2 FP.Intense Heat: Human skin starts toburn at 160; see Flame (p. 433) fordamage. Even if no damage pene-trates your DR, you will rapidly over-heat if the ambient temperature ismore than 6 your comfort zoneswidth over your comfort zone (e.g., ina fire). After 3 DR seconds, make aHT roll every second. On a failure, youlose 1 FP. Your DR provides its usualprotection against burning damage,but it has no effect on this FP loss.Sunburn: After a day of full sun onunprotected skin, an albino will benear death and a light-skinnedCaucasian will be very uncomfortable(1d-3 damage). Darker-skinned indi-viduals may itch, but arent in muchdanger. Details are up to the GM.Armor: Armor prevents sunburnand provides its full DR against burn-ing damage but only armor that pro-vides Temperature Tolerance (throughinsulation or a cooling system) canprevent FP loss due to heat. This fea-ture is standard on battlesuits andTL9+ combat armor.434INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEClothing that is wet or worn under armor isalmost impossible to ignite, and wont stay lit.On the other hand, fancy dresses, lace cuffs, andso on, ignite if they take even 1 point of burningdamage!PRESSUREAdventurers are most likely toencounter extreme pressure in super-dense atmospheres (see AtmosphericPressure, p. 429) or deep underwater(where pressure increases by about 1atmosphere per 33 of depth).Pressures in excess of your native pres-sure 1 atm., for a human are notalways immediately lethal, but presentserious risks.Over 2 native pressure: You riskthe bends (see below) if you experi-ence over 2 native pressure and thenreturn to normal pressure. WithPressure Support 1, the bends are onlya risk when returning from over 10 native pressure. With PressureSupport 2 or 3, you are immune to thebends.Over 10 native pressure: You maybe crushed! On initial exposure andevery minute thereafter, roll vs. HT at abasic +3, but -1 per 10 native pres-sure. If you fail, you suffer HP of injuryequal to your margin of failure. If yourSize Modifier is +2 or more, multiplyinjury by SM. With Pressure Support2, read this as Over 100 native pres-sure and -1 per 100 native pres-sure. With Pressure Support 3, youare immune to pressure.The BendsWhen you are breathing air thathas been compressed (e.g., usingscuba gear), your blood and tissuesabsorb some of the nitrogen gas in thecompressed air. When you return tonormal pressure, or decompress,this nitrogen escapes, forming smallbubbles in the blood and muscles.This can result in joint pains, dizzyspells, possibly even death. Thesesymptoms are known as the bends.You risk the bends if you return tonormal pressure after experiencingpressure greater than twice yournative pressure (or 10 times nativepressure, with Pressure Support 1).To avoid this, you must decompressslowly, spending time at intermediatepressures to allow the nitrogen toescape harmlessly.Divers and mountaineers use pre-cise tables to determine decompres-sion times based on time spent at agiven pressure. For game purposes, atup to 2 atm. (about 33 underwater), ahuman can operate for any amount oftime and return without risk. At up to2.5 atm. (50 depth), a human cansafely operate for up to 80 minutesand return without requiring slowdecompression. Greater pressuresreduce the safe time without slowdecompression: at 4 atm. (100depth), its about 22 minutes; at 5.5+atm. (150 depth), there is no safeperiod.Safe decompression involves slow-ly lowering the pressure, either natu-rally (e.g., a diver deliberately takinghours to reach the surface) or in adecompression chamber. The timerequired increases with both pressureand exposure time. It can be severalhours or even days.If you fail to decompress slowlyenough, make a HT roll. Critical suc-cess means no ill effects. Successmeans severe joint pain, causingagony (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428); roll vs. HT hourly to recover.Failure means unconsciousness orpainful paralysis; roll vs. HT hourly toregain consciousness, with each fail-ure causing 1d of injury. Once con-scious, you suffer joint pain, asdescribed above. Critical failureresults in painful death. Recom-pression to the highest pressure expe-rienced lets you roll at HT+4 everyfive minutes to recover from alleffects short of death.An instant pressure reduction canalso result in explosive decompres-sion; see Vacuum (p. 437) for details.All effects are cumulative!RADIATIONRadiation threatens high-techheroes in the form of solar flares, cos-mic rays, nuclear accidents, radioac-tive materials, and lethal weapons(nuclear bombs, particle beams, etc.).Exposure is measured in rads. Themore rads received, the greater thechance of ill effects.Whenever a character is exposed toradiation, the GM should note boththe dose and the date. Each dosediminishes separately from all others;it starts to heal after 30 days, at therate of 10 rads per day. However, 10%of the original dose never heals (exceptvia ultra-tech, magic, etc.).Example:A reactor technicianspends a day in a hot environmentand receives a 200-rad dose. After 30days, that particular dose starts to healat 10 rads/day. After another 18 days,the remaining dose is 20 rads 10% of200 rads and stops healing.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE435Radiation HazardsCosmic Rays: A constant hazard for space travelers. Inflict 1rad/week. Only massive shielding protects people.Fallout: Small radioactive particles, such as those produced by aground-burst nuclear bomb. Inflicts 2-5 rads/minute within a few hoursof the blast, and several rads/hour over the next day. If you breathe orswallow fallout (in contaminated food or water), the ingested materialdelivers a continuing dose (see below).Fission Plant Accident: 1,000 rads/hour or more! This is only in closeproximity (e.g., the reactor room); divide dose by the square of the dis-tance in yards from the source.Ingested Radioactive Material: Plutonium, radium-226, uranium-235, etc. Even tiny doses can cause 1 rad/day to several rads/minute,depending on the isotope. (Some radioactive materials, such as pluto-nium, are also extremely toxic!)Innate Attack: An attack with the Radiation damage modifier(p. 105) delivers one rad per point of damage rolled.Nuclear Blast: One-megaton fission air or space burst at 2,000 yards:6,600 rads!Effects of Radiation on Living ThingsWhen a living being accumulatesat least 1 rad (but no more than onceper day, for continued exposure to agiven source), he must make a HT roll.On the Radiation Effects Table, below,find his current accumulated dose inthe Accumulated Dose column.Apply the modifier in the HT col-umn to his HT roll. Then roll the dice.Use the first result in the Effects col-umn on a critical success, the secondon a success, the third on a failure,and the last on a critical failure.Radiation Effects TableAccumulated DoseHTEffects1-10 rads+0//A/B11-20 rads+0/A/B/C21-40 rads+0A/B/C/D41-80 rads-1A/B/C/D81-160 rads-3A/B/C/D161-800 rads-4A/B/C/D800-4,000 rads-5C/D/E/EOver 4,000 rads-5D/E/E/E: The dose has no obvious effect,but doses continue to accumulate.A: Radiation burns and chronicsomatic damage. HT hours after irra-diation, suffer 1d of injury and gainLow Pain Threshold for one week(those with High Pain Threshold losethis instead). If you recover, make twomore HT rolls with the modifier onthe table: one to avoid sterility, theother to avoid gaining the TerminallyIll (1 year) disadvantage. Gain eithercondition only on a critical failure.B: Hematopoietic syndrome. As A,but as well, after HT hours you arenauseated (see Irritating Conditions,p. 428) for a further (40 - HT) hours;lose 1d each from DX, IQ, and FP; andacquire the Hemophilia disadvantage.Each day, make a HT roll with themodifier on the table. On a criticalsuccess, you heal 2 points each of DX,IQ, and FP; on a success, you recover1 point of each; on a failure, there isno improvement; and on a critical fail-ure, you lose 1 point of each and arenauseated that day. After recoveringall lost DX, IQ, and FP, you no longersuffer from Hemophilia or need tomake daily HT rolls.C: Gastrointestinal syndrome. As B,but in 1d/2 weeks, you also lose allbody hair and must make daily HTrolls. On a critical failure, you suffer1d points of injury; on a failure, 2points of injury; on a success, 1 pointof injury; and on a critical success,injury stops and normal recovery canoccur (and hair starts to grow back).Until injury stops, you haveSusceptible to Disease -3 (p. 158) andsuffer from nausea. If you lose morethan 2/3 of your HP to radiation, yourteeth and nails start to fall out.D: Terminal radiation sickness. AsC, except HP loss begins in 1d/2 days,and even a critical success wont stopdaily HP loss it only postpones it fora day. Death is certain.E: Rapid cerebrovascular death.After one hour, you lose 1d from eachof DX, IQ, and FP; take 1d of injury;gain Hemophilia, Low PainThreshold, and Susceptible to Disease-3; and are nauseated. Make an hourlyHT roll. Critical failure means instantdeath from brain hemorrhage; failuremeans loss of another 2 points of DX,IQ, and FP, and 2 more points ofinjury; success means 1 extra point ofeach; critical success mean no declinethat hour.Other Effects: In addition to theseeffects, a single dose of 200+ rads caus-es sterility and blindness for 1dmonths; a dose of 500+ rads makes itpermanent. An accumulated dose of100+ rads increases the risk of birthdefects. Should you become a parent,make a HT roll, at +3 if you are male.On a failure, the child has some sort ofbirth defect (GMs option).Radiation andNonhumansThe above effects apply to humansand most other mammals. Other crea-tures may have Radiation Tolerance(p. 79).Machines are not affected unlessthey have the Electrical disadvantage(p. 134). Each time such a machineaccumulates a dose of 100 rads, makea HT roll at a basic +4, -1 per 100 radsaccumulated dose. On a failure, itceases to function until repaired. On acritical failure, it is destroyed (anydata stored on it is also lost).Radiation ProtectionAny material between you and theradiation source grants a ProtectionFactor (PF) that reduces your receiveddose. Divide your dose by PF; e.g., PF100 means 1/100 the dose. Half aninch of lead, 1.5 inches of steel, or 750yards of air has PF 2; a yard of waterhas PF 8; a yard of earth has PF 27;and a yard of concrete has PF 64.Shielding protects differentlyagainst certain types of radiation.Radiation from solar flares and plane-tary radiation belts (like the Van Allenbelt) is mostly free electrons and alphaparticles: multiply PF by 20. Againstcosmic rays, divide PF by 100!Radiation TreatmentAll costs below are per treatment.At TL7, drugs are available that canhalve your effective rad dosage if adose ($500) is taken 1-3 hours inadvance. Chelating drugs are alsoavailable to get radioactive fallout outof your system; a dose ($500) halvesexposure after 3 days and eliminates itentirely after a week. This has noeffect on radiation already absorbed!At TL8, advanced chelating drugs($500) encapsulate and remove falloutin 12 hours.At TL9, advanced anti-radiationdrugs or cell-repair nanotechnology($1,000) can give +3 to all HT rolls vs.radiation for 2 weeks.At TL10+, cell-repair nanotech orrejuvenation technology might beable to completely repair the ravagesof radiation, provided the victim isstill alive.SEASICKNESSThose aboard a seagoing vessel(excluding large, modern vessels withroll stabilizers) must check for sea-sickness on their first day afloat. Usethe rules for the Motion Sickness dis-advantage (p. 144) but if you lackthat disadvantage, you roll at HT+5,and with a success by 5 or more, or acritical success, you suffer no illeffects at all.SUFFOCATIONIf you completely lack air seeActions After a Grapple (p. 370), ChokeHold (p. 371), and Holding Your Breath(p. 351) for examples you lose 1 FPper second. If you are drowning aftera failed Swimming roll, you can getsome air, but you also inhale water:roll vs. Swimming every five seconds;436INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE
|
PRESSUREAdventurers are most likely toencounter extreme pressure in super-dense atmospheres (see AtmosphericPressure, p. 429) or deep underwater(where pressure increases by about 1atmosphere per 33 of depth).Pressures in excess of your native pres-sure 1 atm., for a human are notalways immediately lethal, but presentserious risks.Over 2 native pressure: You riskthe bends (see below) if you experi-ence over 2 native pressure and thenreturn to normal pressure. WithPressure Support 1, the bends are onlya risk when returning from over 10 native pressure. With PressureSupport 2 or 3, you are immune to thebends.Over 10 native pressure: You maybe crushed! On initial exposure andevery minute thereafter, roll vs. HT at abasic +3, but -1 per 10 native pres-sure. If you fail, you suffer HP of injuryequal to your margin of failure. If yourSize Modifier is +2 or more, multiplyinjury by SM. With Pressure Support2, read this as Over 100 native pres-sure and -1 per 100 native pres-sure. With Pressure Support 3, youare immune to pressure.The BendsWhen you are breathing air thathas been compressed (e.g., usingscuba gear), your blood and tissuesabsorb some of the nitrogen gas in thecompressed air. When you return tonormal pressure, or decompress,this nitrogen escapes, forming smallbubbles in the blood and muscles.This can result in joint pains, dizzyspells, possibly even death. Thesesymptoms are known as the bends.You risk the bends if you return tonormal pressure after experiencingpressure greater than twice yournative pressure (or 10 times nativepressure, with Pressure Support 1).To avoid this, you must decompressslowly, spending time at intermediatepressures to allow the nitrogen toescape harmlessly.Divers and mountaineers use pre-cise tables to determine decompres-sion times based on time spent at agiven pressure. For game purposes, atup to 2 atm. (about 33 underwater), ahuman can operate for any amount oftime and return without risk. At up to2.5 atm. (50 depth), a human cansafely operate for up to 80 minutesand return without requiring slowdecompression. Greater pressuresreduce the safe time without slowdecompression: at 4 atm. (100depth), its about 22 minutes; at 5.5+atm. (150 depth), there is no safeperiod.Safe decompression involves slow-ly lowering the pressure, either natu-rally (e.g., a diver deliberately takinghours to reach the surface) or in adecompression chamber. The timerequired increases with both pressureand exposure time. It can be severalhours or even days.If you fail to decompress slowlyenough, make a HT roll. Critical suc-cess means no ill effects. Successmeans severe joint pain, causingagony (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428); roll vs. HT hourly to recover.Failure means unconsciousness orpainful paralysis; roll vs. HT hourly toregain consciousness, with each fail-ure causing 1d of injury. Once con-scious, you suffer joint pain, asdescribed above. Critical failureresults in painful death. Recom-pression to the highest pressure expe-rienced lets you roll at HT+4 everyfive minutes to recover from alleffects short of death.An instant pressure reduction canalso result in explosive decompres-sion; see Vacuum (p. 437) for details.All effects are cumulative!RADIATIONRadiation threatens high-techheroes in the form of solar flares, cos-mic rays, nuclear accidents, radioac-tive materials, and lethal weapons(nuclear bombs, particle beams, etc.).Exposure is measured in rads. Themore rads received, the greater thechance of ill effects.Whenever a character is exposed toradiation, the GM should note boththe dose and the date. Each dosediminishes separately from all others;it starts to heal after 30 days, at therate of 10 rads per day. However, 10%of the original dose never heals (exceptvia ultra-tech, magic, etc.).Example:A reactor technicianspends a day in a hot environmentand receives a 200-rad dose. After 30days, that particular dose starts to healat 10 rads/day. After another 18 days,the remaining dose is 20 rads 10% of200 rads and stops healing.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE435Radiation HazardsCosmic Rays: A constant hazard for space travelers. Inflict 1rad/week. Only massive shielding protects people.Fallout: Small radioactive particles, such as those produced by aground-burst nuclear bomb. Inflicts 2-5 rads/minute within a few hoursof the blast, and several rads/hour over the next day. If you breathe orswallow fallout (in contaminated food or water), the ingested materialdelivers a continuing dose (see below).Fission Plant Accident: 1,000 rads/hour or more! This is only in closeproximity (e.g., the reactor room); divide dose by the square of the dis-tance in yards from the source.Ingested Radioactive Material: Plutonium, radium-226, uranium-235, etc. Even tiny doses can cause 1 rad/day to several rads/minute,depending on the isotope. (Some radioactive materials, such as pluto-nium, are also extremely toxic!)Innate Attack: An attack with the Radiation damage modifier(p. 105) delivers one rad per point of damage rolled.Nuclear Blast: One-megaton fission air or space burst at 2,000 yards:6,600 rads!Effects of Radiation on Living ThingsWhen a living being accumulatesat least 1 rad (but no more than onceper day, for continued exposure to agiven source), he must make a HT roll.On the Radiation Effects Table, below,find his current accumulated dose inthe Accumulated Dose column.Apply the modifier in the HT col-umn to his HT roll. Then roll the dice.Use the first result in the Effects col-umn on a critical success, the secondon a success, the third on a failure,and the last on a critical failure.Radiation Effects TableAccumulated DoseHTEffects1-10 rads+0//A/B11-20 rads+0/A/B/C21-40 rads+0A/B/C/D41-80 rads-1A/B/C/D81-160 rads-3A/B/C/D161-800 rads-4A/B/C/D800-4,000 rads-5C/D/E/EOver 4,000 rads-5D/E/E/E: The dose has no obvious effect,but doses continue to accumulate.A: Radiation burns and chronicsomatic damage. HT hours after irra-diation, suffer 1d of injury and gainLow Pain Threshold for one week(those with High Pain Threshold losethis instead). If you recover, make twomore HT rolls with the modifier onthe table: one to avoid sterility, theother to avoid gaining the TerminallyIll (1 year) disadvantage. Gain eithercondition only on a critical failure.B: Hematopoietic syndrome. As A,but as well, after HT hours you arenauseated (see Irritating Conditions,p. 428) for a further (40 - HT) hours;lose 1d each from DX, IQ, and FP; andacquire the Hemophilia disadvantage.Each day, make a HT roll with themodifier on the table. On a criticalsuccess, you heal 2 points each of DX,IQ, and FP; on a success, you recover1 point of each; on a failure, there isno improvement; and on a critical fail-ure, you lose 1 point of each and arenauseated that day. After recoveringall lost DX, IQ, and FP, you no longersuffer from Hemophilia or need tomake daily HT rolls.C: Gastrointestinal syndrome. As B,but in 1d/2 weeks, you also lose allbody hair and must make daily HTrolls. On a critical failure, you suffer1d points of injury; on a failure, 2points of injury; on a success, 1 pointof injury; and on a critical success,injury stops and normal recovery canoccur (and hair starts to grow back).Until injury stops, you haveSusceptible to Disease -3 (p. 158) andsuffer from nausea. If you lose morethan 2/3 of your HP to radiation, yourteeth and nails start to fall out.D: Terminal radiation sickness. AsC, except HP loss begins in 1d/2 days,and even a critical success wont stopdaily HP loss it only postpones it fora day. Death is certain.E: Rapid cerebrovascular death.After one hour, you lose 1d from eachof DX, IQ, and FP; take 1d of injury;gain Hemophilia, Low PainThreshold, and Susceptible to Disease-3; and are nauseated. Make an hourlyHT roll. Critical failure means instantdeath from brain hemorrhage; failuremeans loss of another 2 points of DX,IQ, and FP, and 2 more points ofinjury; success means 1 extra point ofeach; critical success mean no declinethat hour.Other Effects: In addition to theseeffects, a single dose of 200+ rads caus-es sterility and blindness for 1dmonths; a dose of 500+ rads makes itpermanent. An accumulated dose of100+ rads increases the risk of birthdefects. Should you become a parent,make a HT roll, at +3 if you are male.On a failure, the child has some sort ofbirth defect (GMs option).Radiation andNonhumansThe above effects apply to humansand most other mammals. Other crea-tures may have Radiation Tolerance(p. 79).Machines are not affected unlessthey have the Electrical disadvantage(p. 134). Each time such a machineaccumulates a dose of 100 rads, makea HT roll at a basic +4, -1 per 100 radsaccumulated dose. On a failure, itceases to function until repaired. On acritical failure, it is destroyed (anydata stored on it is also lost).Radiation ProtectionAny material between you and theradiation source grants a ProtectionFactor (PF) that reduces your receiveddose. Divide your dose by PF; e.g., PF100 means 1/100 the dose. Half aninch of lead, 1.5 inches of steel, or 750yards of air has PF 2; a yard of waterhas PF 8; a yard of earth has PF 27;and a yard of concrete has PF 64.Shielding protects differentlyagainst certain types of radiation.Radiation from solar flares and plane-tary radiation belts (like the Van Allenbelt) is mostly free electrons and alphaparticles: multiply PF by 20. Againstcosmic rays, divide PF by 100!Radiation TreatmentAll costs below are per treatment.At TL7, drugs are available that canhalve your effective rad dosage if adose ($500) is taken 1-3 hours inadvance. Chelating drugs are alsoavailable to get radioactive fallout outof your system; a dose ($500) halvesexposure after 3 days and eliminates itentirely after a week. This has noeffect on radiation already absorbed!At TL8, advanced chelating drugs($500) encapsulate and remove falloutin 12 hours.At TL9, advanced anti-radiationdrugs or cell-repair nanotechnology($1,000) can give +3 to all HT rolls vs.radiation for 2 weeks.At TL10+, cell-repair nanotech orrejuvenation technology might beable to completely repair the ravagesof radiation, provided the victim isstill alive.SEASICKNESSThose aboard a seagoing vessel(excluding large, modern vessels withroll stabilizers) must check for sea-sickness on their first day afloat. Usethe rules for the Motion Sickness dis-advantage (p. 144) but if you lackthat disadvantage, you roll at HT+5,and with a success by 5 or more, or acritical success, you suffer no illeffects at all.SUFFOCATIONIf you completely lack air seeActions After a Grapple (p. 370), ChokeHold (p. 371), and Holding Your Breath(p. 351) for examples you lose 1 FPper second. If you are drowning aftera failed Swimming roll, you can getsome air, but you also inhale water:roll vs. Swimming every five seconds;436INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEfailure costs 1 FP (see Swimming,p. 354).At 0 FP, you must make a Will roll every second or fall unconscious.You are likely to die unless rescued(see Lost Fatigue Points, p. 426).Regardless of FP or HP, you die afterfour minutes without air.If you get clean air before you die,you stop losing FP and start to recov-er FP at the usual rate (see Recoveringfrom Fatigue, p. 427). If you areunconscious, you awaken once youhave 1 FP. If you were drowning, a res-cuer must also make a First Aid roll toget the water out of your lungs inorder to save you see Resuscitation(p. 425).If you went without air for morethan two minutes, roll vs. HT to avoidpermanent brain damage: -1 to IQ.VACUUMVacuum is the absence of air butthese rules also apply in trace atmos-pheres, where there is almost no air. Ifyou are exposed to vacuum withoutprotection (e.g., a vacc suit or theVacuum Support advantage), the fol-lowing rules apply.Breathing Vacuum: You cant holdyour breath in vacuum and you mayrupture your lungs if you try (1d ofinjury). If you exhale and leave yourmouth open, you can operate on theoxygen in your blood for half the timelisted under Holding Your Breath(p. 351). After that, you begin to suffo-cate (see Suffocation, p. 436).Explosive Decompression: Whenan area suddenly goes from normalpressure to little or none (ablowout), body fluids boil, bloodvessels rupture, and eardrums pop.Take 1d of injury immediately, androll vs. HT to avoid the bends (see TheBends, p. 435). Also roll vs. HT+2 foreach eye; failure means One Eye orBlindness, as appropriate. Finally, rollvs. HT-1 to avoid Hard of Hearing.Use the Duration of Crippling Injuriesrules (p. 422) to determine how longthese disadvantages last.Extreme Temperatures: Vacuumitself is neither cold nor hot, but inthe absence of air, surfaces in shadowwill eventually grow very cold, whilethose in sunlight will become extreme-ly hot. For example, on the moon with its month-long day the tem-perature can range from -243F (atnight) to 225F (at noon).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE437POISONPoison can show up on weapons;on darts, needles, or spikes in traps; infood or drink offered by a treacherousfoe; and anywhere else you did notexpect it. Human foes are not the onlyones who can poison you. Snakes,insects, and certain other creatureshave natural poison (usually bloodagents) and eating the wrong plantor animal may treat you to a dose ofdigestive poison.DESCRIBINGPOISONSA poisons description includes itsname, means of delivery, delay, resist-ance roll, effects (injury and symp-toms), and cost per dose and possi-bly notes on what constitutes adose, how to use or conceal the poi-son, and how to treat it (including anyantidotes).A poison can have multiple sets ofeffects. For example, tear gas is both arespiratory agent (with one set ofeffects) and a vision-based agent (withother effects).DeliveryA given poison might reach its vic-tim in any of several ways:Blood Agent: The poison mustreach a mucous membrane (eyes,open mouth, nose, etc.) or an openwound. If it is sprayed or spat, it mustactually strike one of these vulnerableareas (so a spitting cobra must targetthe face). If it is delivered as a gas orwide-area spray, only those with theSealed advantage (p. 82) or with oneof Doesnt Breathe (p. 49) or FilterLungs (p. 55) and one of NictitatingMembrane (p. 71) or Protected Vision(p. 78) are immune. These advan-tages might be natural or provided byequipment.Contact Agent: The poison must beinhaled or touch skin to take effect. Ifit is use to poison a melee weapon, theweapon must hit an unarmored andunclad hit location for the poison toaffect the target. If it is delivered as agas or wide-area spray, it affects every-one in the area who lacks the Sealedadvantage (whether natural or provid-ed by a suit, vehicle, etc.).Digestive Agent: The victim mustswallow the poison. This is typical ofpoisonous plants and toxic substancessuch as arsenic. If the poison has aslight but distinctive taste (e.g.,cyanide), the GM can allow the victima Taste roll or Perception-basedPoisons roll at a basic -2, but +2 perdoubling of dosage to notice it intime. Poisons that are easier to detectgive a bonus; those that are harder todetect, or whose taste is masked bysuitable food or drink, give a penalty.To force someone to swallow a poisonrather than spit it out, you must grap-ple him by the head or neck and main-tain your hold for 10 seconds.Follow-Up Poison: The poison mustbe placed on a piercing or impalingweapon, or injected using a hollowprojectile, hypodermic needle, etc. Ifthe weapon penetrates DR and doesany damage, it delivers the poison.Most follow-up poisons are simplyblood or contact agents injected intothe body.Respiratory Agent: The poison is agas that only affects those who inhaleit into their lungs. Delivery is usuallyvia an area or cone attack (e.g., gasgrenade, spray gun, or dragonsbreath), but an entire atmospherecould be poisonous! Only DoesntBreathe and Filter Lungs protect com-pletely against respiratory agents buta victim who makes a Sense roll tonotice the poison in time may hold hisbreath (see Holding Your Breath,p. 351). Unconscious or stunned vic-tims inhale automatically. An impro-vised mask, such as a wet towel overthe face, gives +1 to HT to resist.
|
Effects of Radiation on Living ThingsWhen a living being accumulatesat least 1 rad (but no more than onceper day, for continued exposure to agiven source), he must make a HT roll.On the Radiation Effects Table, below,find his current accumulated dose inthe Accumulated Dose column.Apply the modifier in the HT col-umn to his HT roll. Then roll the dice.Use the first result in the Effects col-umn on a critical success, the secondon a success, the third on a failure,and the last on a critical failure.Radiation Effects TableAccumulated DoseHTEffects1-10 rads+0//A/B11-20 rads+0/A/B/C21-40 rads+0A/B/C/D41-80 rads-1A/B/C/D81-160 rads-3A/B/C/D161-800 rads-4A/B/C/D800-4,000 rads-5C/D/E/EOver 4,000 rads-5D/E/E/E: The dose has no obvious effect,but doses continue to accumulate.A: Radiation burns and chronicsomatic damage. HT hours after irra-diation, suffer 1d of injury and gainLow Pain Threshold for one week(those with High Pain Threshold losethis instead). If you recover, make twomore HT rolls with the modifier onthe table: one to avoid sterility, theother to avoid gaining the TerminallyIll (1 year) disadvantage. Gain eithercondition only on a critical failure.B: Hematopoietic syndrome. As A,but as well, after HT hours you arenauseated (see Irritating Conditions,p. 428) for a further (40 - HT) hours;lose 1d each from DX, IQ, and FP; andacquire the Hemophilia disadvantage.Each day, make a HT roll with themodifier on the table. On a criticalsuccess, you heal 2 points each of DX,IQ, and FP; on a success, you recover1 point of each; on a failure, there isno improvement; and on a critical fail-ure, you lose 1 point of each and arenauseated that day. After recoveringall lost DX, IQ, and FP, you no longersuffer from Hemophilia or need tomake daily HT rolls.C: Gastrointestinal syndrome. As B,but in 1d/2 weeks, you also lose allbody hair and must make daily HTrolls. On a critical failure, you suffer1d points of injury; on a failure, 2points of injury; on a success, 1 pointof injury; and on a critical success,injury stops and normal recovery canoccur (and hair starts to grow back).Until injury stops, you haveSusceptible to Disease -3 (p. 158) andsuffer from nausea. If you lose morethan 2/3 of your HP to radiation, yourteeth and nails start to fall out.D: Terminal radiation sickness. AsC, except HP loss begins in 1d/2 days,and even a critical success wont stopdaily HP loss it only postpones it fora day. Death is certain.E: Rapid cerebrovascular death.After one hour, you lose 1d from eachof DX, IQ, and FP; take 1d of injury;gain Hemophilia, Low PainThreshold, and Susceptible to Disease-3; and are nauseated. Make an hourlyHT roll. Critical failure means instantdeath from brain hemorrhage; failuremeans loss of another 2 points of DX,IQ, and FP, and 2 more points ofinjury; success means 1 extra point ofeach; critical success mean no declinethat hour.Other Effects: In addition to theseeffects, a single dose of 200+ rads caus-es sterility and blindness for 1dmonths; a dose of 500+ rads makes itpermanent. An accumulated dose of100+ rads increases the risk of birthdefects. Should you become a parent,make a HT roll, at +3 if you are male.On a failure, the child has some sort ofbirth defect (GMs option).Radiation andNonhumansThe above effects apply to humansand most other mammals. Other crea-tures may have Radiation Tolerance(p. 79).Machines are not affected unlessthey have the Electrical disadvantage(p. 134). Each time such a machineaccumulates a dose of 100 rads, makea HT roll at a basic +4, -1 per 100 radsaccumulated dose. On a failure, itceases to function until repaired. On acritical failure, it is destroyed (anydata stored on it is also lost).Radiation ProtectionAny material between you and theradiation source grants a ProtectionFactor (PF) that reduces your receiveddose. Divide your dose by PF; e.g., PF100 means 1/100 the dose. Half aninch of lead, 1.5 inches of steel, or 750yards of air has PF 2; a yard of waterhas PF 8; a yard of earth has PF 27;and a yard of concrete has PF 64.Shielding protects differentlyagainst certain types of radiation.Radiation from solar flares and plane-tary radiation belts (like the Van Allenbelt) is mostly free electrons and alphaparticles: multiply PF by 20. Againstcosmic rays, divide PF by 100!Radiation TreatmentAll costs below are per treatment.At TL7, drugs are available that canhalve your effective rad dosage if adose ($500) is taken 1-3 hours inadvance. Chelating drugs are alsoavailable to get radioactive fallout outof your system; a dose ($500) halvesexposure after 3 days and eliminates itentirely after a week. This has noeffect on radiation already absorbed!At TL8, advanced chelating drugs($500) encapsulate and remove falloutin 12 hours.At TL9, advanced anti-radiationdrugs or cell-repair nanotechnology($1,000) can give +3 to all HT rolls vs.radiation for 2 weeks.At TL10+, cell-repair nanotech orrejuvenation technology might beable to completely repair the ravagesof radiation, provided the victim isstill alive.SEASICKNESSThose aboard a seagoing vessel(excluding large, modern vessels withroll stabilizers) must check for sea-sickness on their first day afloat. Usethe rules for the Motion Sickness dis-advantage (p. 144) but if you lackthat disadvantage, you roll at HT+5,and with a success by 5 or more, or acritical success, you suffer no illeffects at all.SUFFOCATIONIf you completely lack air seeActions After a Grapple (p. 370), ChokeHold (p. 371), and Holding Your Breath(p. 351) for examples you lose 1 FPper second. If you are drowning aftera failed Swimming roll, you can getsome air, but you also inhale water:roll vs. Swimming every five seconds;436INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEfailure costs 1 FP (see Swimming,p. 354).At 0 FP, you must make a Will roll every second or fall unconscious.You are likely to die unless rescued(see Lost Fatigue Points, p. 426).Regardless of FP or HP, you die afterfour minutes without air.If you get clean air before you die,you stop losing FP and start to recov-er FP at the usual rate (see Recoveringfrom Fatigue, p. 427). If you areunconscious, you awaken once youhave 1 FP. If you were drowning, a res-cuer must also make a First Aid roll toget the water out of your lungs inorder to save you see Resuscitation(p. 425).If you went without air for morethan two minutes, roll vs. HT to avoidpermanent brain damage: -1 to IQ.VACUUMVacuum is the absence of air butthese rules also apply in trace atmos-pheres, where there is almost no air. Ifyou are exposed to vacuum withoutprotection (e.g., a vacc suit or theVacuum Support advantage), the fol-lowing rules apply.Breathing Vacuum: You cant holdyour breath in vacuum and you mayrupture your lungs if you try (1d ofinjury). If you exhale and leave yourmouth open, you can operate on theoxygen in your blood for half the timelisted under Holding Your Breath(p. 351). After that, you begin to suffo-cate (see Suffocation, p. 436).Explosive Decompression: Whenan area suddenly goes from normalpressure to little or none (ablowout), body fluids boil, bloodvessels rupture, and eardrums pop.Take 1d of injury immediately, androll vs. HT to avoid the bends (see TheBends, p. 435). Also roll vs. HT+2 foreach eye; failure means One Eye orBlindness, as appropriate. Finally, rollvs. HT-1 to avoid Hard of Hearing.Use the Duration of Crippling Injuriesrules (p. 422) to determine how longthese disadvantages last.Extreme Temperatures: Vacuumitself is neither cold nor hot, but inthe absence of air, surfaces in shadowwill eventually grow very cold, whilethose in sunlight will become extreme-ly hot. For example, on the moon with its month-long day the tem-perature can range from -243F (atnight) to 225F (at noon).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE437POISONPoison can show up on weapons;on darts, needles, or spikes in traps; infood or drink offered by a treacherousfoe; and anywhere else you did notexpect it. Human foes are not the onlyones who can poison you. Snakes,insects, and certain other creatureshave natural poison (usually bloodagents) and eating the wrong plantor animal may treat you to a dose ofdigestive poison.DESCRIBINGPOISONSA poisons description includes itsname, means of delivery, delay, resist-ance roll, effects (injury and symp-toms), and cost per dose and possi-bly notes on what constitutes adose, how to use or conceal the poi-son, and how to treat it (including anyantidotes).A poison can have multiple sets ofeffects. For example, tear gas is both arespiratory agent (with one set ofeffects) and a vision-based agent (withother effects).DeliveryA given poison might reach its vic-tim in any of several ways:Blood Agent: The poison mustreach a mucous membrane (eyes,open mouth, nose, etc.) or an openwound. If it is sprayed or spat, it mustactually strike one of these vulnerableareas (so a spitting cobra must targetthe face). If it is delivered as a gas orwide-area spray, only those with theSealed advantage (p. 82) or with oneof Doesnt Breathe (p. 49) or FilterLungs (p. 55) and one of NictitatingMembrane (p. 71) or Protected Vision(p. 78) are immune. These advan-tages might be natural or provided byequipment.Contact Agent: The poison must beinhaled or touch skin to take effect. Ifit is use to poison a melee weapon, theweapon must hit an unarmored andunclad hit location for the poison toaffect the target. If it is delivered as agas or wide-area spray, it affects every-one in the area who lacks the Sealedadvantage (whether natural or provid-ed by a suit, vehicle, etc.).Digestive Agent: The victim mustswallow the poison. This is typical ofpoisonous plants and toxic substancessuch as arsenic. If the poison has aslight but distinctive taste (e.g.,cyanide), the GM can allow the victima Taste roll or Perception-basedPoisons roll at a basic -2, but +2 perdoubling of dosage to notice it intime. Poisons that are easier to detectgive a bonus; those that are harder todetect, or whose taste is masked bysuitable food or drink, give a penalty.To force someone to swallow a poisonrather than spit it out, you must grap-ple him by the head or neck and main-tain your hold for 10 seconds.Follow-Up Poison: The poison mustbe placed on a piercing or impalingweapon, or injected using a hollowprojectile, hypodermic needle, etc. Ifthe weapon penetrates DR and doesany damage, it delivers the poison.Most follow-up poisons are simplyblood or contact agents injected intothe body.Respiratory Agent: The poison is agas that only affects those who inhaleit into their lungs. Delivery is usuallyvia an area or cone attack (e.g., gasgrenade, spray gun, or dragonsbreath), but an entire atmospherecould be poisonous! Only DoesntBreathe and Filter Lungs protect com-pletely against respiratory agents buta victim who makes a Sense roll tonotice the poison in time may hold hisbreath (see Holding Your Breath,p. 351). Unconscious or stunned vic-tims inhale automatically. An impro-vised mask, such as a wet towel overthe face, gives +1 to HT to resist.Sense-Based Agent: The poisonaffects the victim through a specificsense. It has no effect on those wholack that sense or have appropriateprotection. A smell-based agent is usu-ally a foul stench that induces nausea;suitable protection is nose plugs, a res-pirator, or the Protected Sense (Smell)advantage. A vision-based agent isgenerally a cloud of gas that irritatesthe eyes; appropriate protection is agas mask, goggles, or the ProtectedSense (Vision) advantage. See Sense-Based (p. 109).DelayMost poisons require a few sec-onds to several hours to take effect.This is nearly always true for digestiveagents. Delays given are for victims withSize Modifier 0. The victims size mod-ifies delay: each +1 to SM doubles thedelay; each -1 to SM halves the delay.For example, if the delay is 1 hour,someone with SM -2 is affected in only15 minutes.Resistance RollSome poisons give the victim a HTroll to resist. Make this roll after thedelay, if any, has passed. There is oftena modifier: a mild poison might callfor a HT+2 roll, while one that isalmost impossible to resist mightrequire a HT-8 roll! HT to HT-4 is typ-ical. DR never affects this roll.If youre in a poisonous environ-ment (like a gas cloud or toxic atmos-phere) and make your initial HT roll,you must roll again once per seconduntil the poison affects you or youleave the area. If the poison has adelay, roll after each delay periodinstead.Some poisons are specific to cer-tain species and do not affect others.Others are easier or harder for partic-ular species to resist. These effects areup to the GM.Effects of PoisonThe most common effect of poisonis toxic or fatigue damage. Mild poi-sons might only inflict 1 HP or FP;more severe poisons might inflict 1dor more. DR has no effect on this dam-age. These HP and FP losses heal nor-mally, but if the poison is cyclic (seebelow), no healing is possible untilafter the final cycle!Damaging poisons sometimesaffect their victims gradually, causingdamage each time a specified intervalof time passes. The description ofsuch a poison specifies the length ofthis interval and the total number ofcycles. The interval may vary fromone second (for a fast-acting agent) to one day (for a slow poison). Thetotal number of cycles may be two toseveral dozen.If a resistible poison is cyclic, thevictim gets a new HT roll to resistevery cycle. On a success, he shakesoff the poison; on a failure, an addi-tional cycle of damage occurs. Notethat even a poison that inflicts 1 HP ofinjury per day can be lethal if its hardto resist and lasts for two dozen cycles!A poison always has some symp-toms. The basic damage includessymptoms such as swelling, headache,and fever. Poisons that inflict toxicdamage may have more severe symp-toms that occur automatically afterthe poison causes enough injury (usu-ally 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 of the victims HP).For example, a poison might result inblindness once the victim loses 1/2 hisHP. Symptoms vanish when the vic-tims HP rise above this threshold.Some poisons cause effects otherthan injury or fatigue, includingattribute penalties, irritating or inca-pacitating conditions (see Afflictions,p. 428), temporary disadvantages, oreven the removal of existing advan-tages (e.g., an alchemical poison thatnegates Magery). The victim usuallygets a resistance roll against theseeffects, and the effects always have aspecific duration. The default dura-tion is a number of minutes equal tothe margin of failure on the resistanceroll. In a poisonous environment, afailed resistance roll means the effectslast for as long as youre in the envi-ronment plus the duration.Cost Per DoseIt is up to the GM whether a par-ticular poison is for sale it might beimpossible to extract in a usefulform, or the authorities might wantto keep it off the market. If a poisonis available, its cost often reflects howdifficult it is to obtain, not its effec-tiveness. In most game worlds, peo-ple who sell poisons are criminals. Allof these factors make cost per dosehighly variable. See Poison Examples(p. 439) for suggestions . . . but theGM is free to use whatever prices hefeels are reasonable.DosageThe statistics given in a poisonsdescription always assume one dose:enough poison to produce thedescribed effects in one victim. Someadditional notes:Contact Agents: One dose of a con-tact agent coats or affects a single hitlocation.Gases and Sprays: One dose of arespiratory agent, or a blood or con-tact agent in gas or spray form, affectsone hit location on one victim. For arespiratory agent, this must be theface. Ten doses are enough to affecteveryone in a room (say, a 2-yardradius).438INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUESpecial DeliveryTwo qualifiers can apply to several of the standard means of delivery:Cumulative: A poison may be mild in low concentrations but becomeharmful with continued exposure. The GM must decide how muchexposure constitutes a dose. This might be time-based (e.g., a toxicatmosphere that requires an hour of exposure) or based on the victimsbulk or body mass (ST/10 ounces of liquid, HP/5 pills, etc.). See Drinkingand Intoxication (p. 439) for a detailed example.Persistent Gas: A respiratory agent or area-effect blood or contactagent typically persists for 10 seconds or more, depending on wind.Some contact agents leave a poisonous residue on exposed surfaces untiltheyre washed away.
|
failure costs 1 FP (see Swimming,p. 354).At 0 FP, you must make a Will roll every second or fall unconscious.You are likely to die unless rescued(see Lost Fatigue Points, p. 426).Regardless of FP or HP, you die afterfour minutes without air.If you get clean air before you die,you stop losing FP and start to recov-er FP at the usual rate (see Recoveringfrom Fatigue, p. 427). If you areunconscious, you awaken once youhave 1 FP. If you were drowning, a res-cuer must also make a First Aid roll toget the water out of your lungs inorder to save you see Resuscitation(p. 425).If you went without air for morethan two minutes, roll vs. HT to avoidpermanent brain damage: -1 to IQ.VACUUMVacuum is the absence of air butthese rules also apply in trace atmos-pheres, where there is almost no air. Ifyou are exposed to vacuum withoutprotection (e.g., a vacc suit or theVacuum Support advantage), the fol-lowing rules apply.Breathing Vacuum: You cant holdyour breath in vacuum and you mayrupture your lungs if you try (1d ofinjury). If you exhale and leave yourmouth open, you can operate on theoxygen in your blood for half the timelisted under Holding Your Breath(p. 351). After that, you begin to suffo-cate (see Suffocation, p. 436).Explosive Decompression: Whenan area suddenly goes from normalpressure to little or none (ablowout), body fluids boil, bloodvessels rupture, and eardrums pop.Take 1d of injury immediately, androll vs. HT to avoid the bends (see TheBends, p. 435). Also roll vs. HT+2 foreach eye; failure means One Eye orBlindness, as appropriate. Finally, rollvs. HT-1 to avoid Hard of Hearing.Use the Duration of Crippling Injuriesrules (p. 422) to determine how longthese disadvantages last.Extreme Temperatures: Vacuumitself is neither cold nor hot, but inthe absence of air, surfaces in shadowwill eventually grow very cold, whilethose in sunlight will become extreme-ly hot. For example, on the moon with its month-long day the tem-perature can range from -243F (atnight) to 225F (at noon).INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE437POISONPoison can show up on weapons;on darts, needles, or spikes in traps; infood or drink offered by a treacherousfoe; and anywhere else you did notexpect it. Human foes are not the onlyones who can poison you. Snakes,insects, and certain other creatureshave natural poison (usually bloodagents) and eating the wrong plantor animal may treat you to a dose ofdigestive poison.DESCRIBINGPOISONSA poisons description includes itsname, means of delivery, delay, resist-ance roll, effects (injury and symp-toms), and cost per dose and possi-bly notes on what constitutes adose, how to use or conceal the poi-son, and how to treat it (including anyantidotes).A poison can have multiple sets ofeffects. For example, tear gas is both arespiratory agent (with one set ofeffects) and a vision-based agent (withother effects).DeliveryA given poison might reach its vic-tim in any of several ways:Blood Agent: The poison mustreach a mucous membrane (eyes,open mouth, nose, etc.) or an openwound. If it is sprayed or spat, it mustactually strike one of these vulnerableareas (so a spitting cobra must targetthe face). If it is delivered as a gas orwide-area spray, only those with theSealed advantage (p. 82) or with oneof Doesnt Breathe (p. 49) or FilterLungs (p. 55) and one of NictitatingMembrane (p. 71) or Protected Vision(p. 78) are immune. These advan-tages might be natural or provided byequipment.Contact Agent: The poison must beinhaled or touch skin to take effect. Ifit is use to poison a melee weapon, theweapon must hit an unarmored andunclad hit location for the poison toaffect the target. If it is delivered as agas or wide-area spray, it affects every-one in the area who lacks the Sealedadvantage (whether natural or provid-ed by a suit, vehicle, etc.).Digestive Agent: The victim mustswallow the poison. This is typical ofpoisonous plants and toxic substancessuch as arsenic. If the poison has aslight but distinctive taste (e.g.,cyanide), the GM can allow the victima Taste roll or Perception-basedPoisons roll at a basic -2, but +2 perdoubling of dosage to notice it intime. Poisons that are easier to detectgive a bonus; those that are harder todetect, or whose taste is masked bysuitable food or drink, give a penalty.To force someone to swallow a poisonrather than spit it out, you must grap-ple him by the head or neck and main-tain your hold for 10 seconds.Follow-Up Poison: The poison mustbe placed on a piercing or impalingweapon, or injected using a hollowprojectile, hypodermic needle, etc. Ifthe weapon penetrates DR and doesany damage, it delivers the poison.Most follow-up poisons are simplyblood or contact agents injected intothe body.Respiratory Agent: The poison is agas that only affects those who inhaleit into their lungs. Delivery is usuallyvia an area or cone attack (e.g., gasgrenade, spray gun, or dragonsbreath), but an entire atmospherecould be poisonous! Only DoesntBreathe and Filter Lungs protect com-pletely against respiratory agents buta victim who makes a Sense roll tonotice the poison in time may hold hisbreath (see Holding Your Breath,p. 351). Unconscious or stunned vic-tims inhale automatically. An impro-vised mask, such as a wet towel overthe face, gives +1 to HT to resist.Sense-Based Agent: The poisonaffects the victim through a specificsense. It has no effect on those wholack that sense or have appropriateprotection. A smell-based agent is usu-ally a foul stench that induces nausea;suitable protection is nose plugs, a res-pirator, or the Protected Sense (Smell)advantage. A vision-based agent isgenerally a cloud of gas that irritatesthe eyes; appropriate protection is agas mask, goggles, or the ProtectedSense (Vision) advantage. See Sense-Based (p. 109).DelayMost poisons require a few sec-onds to several hours to take effect.This is nearly always true for digestiveagents. Delays given are for victims withSize Modifier 0. The victims size mod-ifies delay: each +1 to SM doubles thedelay; each -1 to SM halves the delay.For example, if the delay is 1 hour,someone with SM -2 is affected in only15 minutes.Resistance RollSome poisons give the victim a HTroll to resist. Make this roll after thedelay, if any, has passed. There is oftena modifier: a mild poison might callfor a HT+2 roll, while one that isalmost impossible to resist mightrequire a HT-8 roll! HT to HT-4 is typ-ical. DR never affects this roll.If youre in a poisonous environ-ment (like a gas cloud or toxic atmos-phere) and make your initial HT roll,you must roll again once per seconduntil the poison affects you or youleave the area. If the poison has adelay, roll after each delay periodinstead.Some poisons are specific to cer-tain species and do not affect others.Others are easier or harder for partic-ular species to resist. These effects areup to the GM.Effects of PoisonThe most common effect of poisonis toxic or fatigue damage. Mild poi-sons might only inflict 1 HP or FP;more severe poisons might inflict 1dor more. DR has no effect on this dam-age. These HP and FP losses heal nor-mally, but if the poison is cyclic (seebelow), no healing is possible untilafter the final cycle!Damaging poisons sometimesaffect their victims gradually, causingdamage each time a specified intervalof time passes. The description ofsuch a poison specifies the length ofthis interval and the total number ofcycles. The interval may vary fromone second (for a fast-acting agent) to one day (for a slow poison). Thetotal number of cycles may be two toseveral dozen.If a resistible poison is cyclic, thevictim gets a new HT roll to resistevery cycle. On a success, he shakesoff the poison; on a failure, an addi-tional cycle of damage occurs. Notethat even a poison that inflicts 1 HP ofinjury per day can be lethal if its hardto resist and lasts for two dozen cycles!A poison always has some symp-toms. The basic damage includessymptoms such as swelling, headache,and fever. Poisons that inflict toxicdamage may have more severe symp-toms that occur automatically afterthe poison causes enough injury (usu-ally 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 of the victims HP).For example, a poison might result inblindness once the victim loses 1/2 hisHP. Symptoms vanish when the vic-tims HP rise above this threshold.Some poisons cause effects otherthan injury or fatigue, includingattribute penalties, irritating or inca-pacitating conditions (see Afflictions,p. 428), temporary disadvantages, oreven the removal of existing advan-tages (e.g., an alchemical poison thatnegates Magery). The victim usuallygets a resistance roll against theseeffects, and the effects always have aspecific duration. The default dura-tion is a number of minutes equal tothe margin of failure on the resistanceroll. In a poisonous environment, afailed resistance roll means the effectslast for as long as youre in the envi-ronment plus the duration.Cost Per DoseIt is up to the GM whether a par-ticular poison is for sale it might beimpossible to extract in a usefulform, or the authorities might wantto keep it off the market. If a poisonis available, its cost often reflects howdifficult it is to obtain, not its effec-tiveness. In most game worlds, peo-ple who sell poisons are criminals. Allof these factors make cost per dosehighly variable. See Poison Examples(p. 439) for suggestions . . . but theGM is free to use whatever prices hefeels are reasonable.DosageThe statistics given in a poisonsdescription always assume one dose:enough poison to produce thedescribed effects in one victim. Someadditional notes:Contact Agents: One dose of a con-tact agent coats or affects a single hitlocation.Gases and Sprays: One dose of arespiratory agent, or a blood or con-tact agent in gas or spray form, affectsone hit location on one victim. For arespiratory agent, this must be theface. Ten doses are enough to affecteveryone in a room (say, a 2-yardradius).438INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUESpecial DeliveryTwo qualifiers can apply to several of the standard means of delivery:Cumulative: A poison may be mild in low concentrations but becomeharmful with continued exposure. The GM must decide how muchexposure constitutes a dose. This might be time-based (e.g., a toxicatmosphere that requires an hour of exposure) or based on the victimsbulk or body mass (ST/10 ounces of liquid, HP/5 pills, etc.). See Drinkingand Intoxication (p. 439) for a detailed example.Persistent Gas: A respiratory agent or area-effect blood or contactagent typically persists for 10 seconds or more, depending on wind.Some contact agents leave a poisonous residue on exposed surfaces untiltheyre washed away.Poisoned Weapons: One dose of afollow-up poison envenoms the tip ofa piercing or impaling weapon, or fillsa hypo. Poisoning the edge of aweapon, so that a cutting attack candeliver it, requires three doses peryard of reach. Most poisons on bladesonly last for one successful strike orthree blocked or parried ones. Missesand dodged attacks do not rub off thepoison.Varying the Dosage: It is possible tovary the dosage of a digestive agent ora follow-up poison delivered by hypo-dermic. Each doubling of dosage (andcost!) halves the delay and interval,doubles damage, gives -2 to HT rolls toresist, and gives +2 to all rolls to detectthe poison (including the victimsSense rolls, and any Diagnosis orForensics roll made to investigate thevictims symptoms or death). Usingless than one full dose may reversethese modifiers or simply make thepoison ineffective, at the GMs option.TreatmentIf the poison has a delay, there maybe time to treat the victim before hesuffers any ill effects. Since he will notyet be showing symptoms, he must beaware of his predicament in order toseek help!A poisonous animal bite is usuallyobvious but the GM may require aNaturalist roll to realize that an ani-mal is venomous. Sucking the poisonfrom the wound takes a minute,requires a First Aid or Physician roll at-2, and gives +2 on HT rolls to resist.If the victim suspects a digestiveagent, he or a friend can induce vom-iting to expel the poison. This takes 10seconds, calls for a First Aid orPhysician roll, and gives +2 to resistthe poison. But for some poisons,vomiting is a bad idea it can increaseinjury!It might also be possible to take anantidote. Antidotes exist for only a fewpoisons. Where they do exist, they areusually specific to the poison. The cor-rect antidote gives the victim a bonusto HT rolls to resist the poison, or evencompletely halts the poison.Medical procedures chelation,gastric lavage, intravenous fluids, oxy-genation, etc. can also give a HTbonus, but only if the treatment suitsthe poison. Such measures require aPhysician roll. The HT bonus neverexceeds TL/2 (round up, minimum+1).To learn whether it is safe to inducevomiting, or which antidotes or proce-dures to use, you must identify thepoison. This is tricky before symp-toms appear! The GM may requirerolls against Poisons (to identify aresidue on a dart, in a glass, etc.),Naturalist (to identify a venomousanimal), or even Intimidation (to forcethe poisoner to reveal what he used).Once the victim takes damage,symptoms appear. At this point, aDiagnosis or Poisons roll can identifythe poison. If the poison is cyclic, thecorrect antidote or medical proce-dures can help prevent further dam-age, providing their bonus to futureHT rolls.DRINKING ANDINTOXICATIONIf you drink too much alcohol in ashort period of time, you may becomeintoxicated. Keep track of how manydrinks you consume each hour. Forsimplicity, one drink is a full mug orcan of beer (12 oz.), a full glass of wine(4-5 oz.), or a shot of spirits (1.5 oz.).At the end of any hour duringwhich you consume more than ST/4drinks, roll against the higher of HT orCarousing. If you continue to drink,continue to roll once per hour.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE439Poison ExamplesArsenic (TL1): A digestive agent with a one-hourdelay and a HT-2 roll to resist. Inflicts 1d toxic damage,repeating at hourly intervals for eight cycles. $1/dose.LC1.Cobra Venom (TL0): A follow-up poison with a one-minute delay and a HT-3 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxicdamage, repeating at hourly intervals for six cycles. Avictim who loses 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 HP has -2, -4, or -6 DX,respectively. $10/dose. LC1.Cyanide (TL4): This fast-acting poison is deadly inany form. As a follow-up poison or respiratory agent, ithas no delay. As a contact or digestive agent, it has a 15-minute delay. In all cases, there is no HT roll to resist!Inflicts 4d toxic damage. $2/dose. LC1.Mustard Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andcontact agent. As a contact agent, it has no delay and aHT-4 roll to resist, and inflicts 1 point of toxic damage,repeating at 8-hour intervals for 24 cycles. As a respira-tory agent, it has a two-hour delay and a HT-1 roll toresist, and inflicts 1d toxic damage, repeating at one-hour intervals for six cycles. $10/dose. LC0.Nerve Gas (TL6): An area-effect contact agent withno delay and a HT-6 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxic dam-age, repeating at one-minute intervals for six cycles. Anerve gas usually causes agony, paralysis, retching, orseizure as well; see Afflictions (p. 428) $20/dose. LC0.Smoke: Ordinary smoke is an area-effect respiratoryagent with a 10-second delay and a HT roll to resist.Causes coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) for the timespent in the smoke plus one minute times the marginof failure. Dense smoke can cause actual damage. LC4.Tear Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andvision-based agent. As a respiratory agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes coughing (seeAfflictions, p. 428). As a vision-based agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes blindness.Both effects endure for the time spent in the gas plusone minute times the margin of failure. Tear gas isopaque: Vision rolls are at -1 to -3 per affected yard.$10/dose. LC2.Individuals unprepared for mustard, nerve, or teargas may have to make Fright Checks!
|
Sense-Based Agent: The poisonaffects the victim through a specificsense. It has no effect on those wholack that sense or have appropriateprotection. A smell-based agent is usu-ally a foul stench that induces nausea;suitable protection is nose plugs, a res-pirator, or the Protected Sense (Smell)advantage. A vision-based agent isgenerally a cloud of gas that irritatesthe eyes; appropriate protection is agas mask, goggles, or the ProtectedSense (Vision) advantage. See Sense-Based (p. 109).DelayMost poisons require a few sec-onds to several hours to take effect.This is nearly always true for digestiveagents. Delays given are for victims withSize Modifier 0. The victims size mod-ifies delay: each +1 to SM doubles thedelay; each -1 to SM halves the delay.For example, if the delay is 1 hour,someone with SM -2 is affected in only15 minutes.Resistance RollSome poisons give the victim a HTroll to resist. Make this roll after thedelay, if any, has passed. There is oftena modifier: a mild poison might callfor a HT+2 roll, while one that isalmost impossible to resist mightrequire a HT-8 roll! HT to HT-4 is typ-ical. DR never affects this roll.If youre in a poisonous environ-ment (like a gas cloud or toxic atmos-phere) and make your initial HT roll,you must roll again once per seconduntil the poison affects you or youleave the area. If the poison has adelay, roll after each delay periodinstead.Some poisons are specific to cer-tain species and do not affect others.Others are easier or harder for partic-ular species to resist. These effects areup to the GM.Effects of PoisonThe most common effect of poisonis toxic or fatigue damage. Mild poi-sons might only inflict 1 HP or FP;more severe poisons might inflict 1dor more. DR has no effect on this dam-age. These HP and FP losses heal nor-mally, but if the poison is cyclic (seebelow), no healing is possible untilafter the final cycle!Damaging poisons sometimesaffect their victims gradually, causingdamage each time a specified intervalof time passes. The description ofsuch a poison specifies the length ofthis interval and the total number ofcycles. The interval may vary fromone second (for a fast-acting agent) to one day (for a slow poison). Thetotal number of cycles may be two toseveral dozen.If a resistible poison is cyclic, thevictim gets a new HT roll to resistevery cycle. On a success, he shakesoff the poison; on a failure, an addi-tional cycle of damage occurs. Notethat even a poison that inflicts 1 HP ofinjury per day can be lethal if its hardto resist and lasts for two dozen cycles!A poison always has some symp-toms. The basic damage includessymptoms such as swelling, headache,and fever. Poisons that inflict toxicdamage may have more severe symp-toms that occur automatically afterthe poison causes enough injury (usu-ally 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 of the victims HP).For example, a poison might result inblindness once the victim loses 1/2 hisHP. Symptoms vanish when the vic-tims HP rise above this threshold.Some poisons cause effects otherthan injury or fatigue, includingattribute penalties, irritating or inca-pacitating conditions (see Afflictions,p. 428), temporary disadvantages, oreven the removal of existing advan-tages (e.g., an alchemical poison thatnegates Magery). The victim usuallygets a resistance roll against theseeffects, and the effects always have aspecific duration. The default dura-tion is a number of minutes equal tothe margin of failure on the resistanceroll. In a poisonous environment, afailed resistance roll means the effectslast for as long as youre in the envi-ronment plus the duration.Cost Per DoseIt is up to the GM whether a par-ticular poison is for sale it might beimpossible to extract in a usefulform, or the authorities might wantto keep it off the market. If a poisonis available, its cost often reflects howdifficult it is to obtain, not its effec-tiveness. In most game worlds, peo-ple who sell poisons are criminals. Allof these factors make cost per dosehighly variable. See Poison Examples(p. 439) for suggestions . . . but theGM is free to use whatever prices hefeels are reasonable.DosageThe statistics given in a poisonsdescription always assume one dose:enough poison to produce thedescribed effects in one victim. Someadditional notes:Contact Agents: One dose of a con-tact agent coats or affects a single hitlocation.Gases and Sprays: One dose of arespiratory agent, or a blood or con-tact agent in gas or spray form, affectsone hit location on one victim. For arespiratory agent, this must be theface. Ten doses are enough to affecteveryone in a room (say, a 2-yardradius).438INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUESpecial DeliveryTwo qualifiers can apply to several of the standard means of delivery:Cumulative: A poison may be mild in low concentrations but becomeharmful with continued exposure. The GM must decide how muchexposure constitutes a dose. This might be time-based (e.g., a toxicatmosphere that requires an hour of exposure) or based on the victimsbulk or body mass (ST/10 ounces of liquid, HP/5 pills, etc.). See Drinkingand Intoxication (p. 439) for a detailed example.Persistent Gas: A respiratory agent or area-effect blood or contactagent typically persists for 10 seconds or more, depending on wind.Some contact agents leave a poisonous residue on exposed surfaces untiltheyre washed away.Poisoned Weapons: One dose of afollow-up poison envenoms the tip ofa piercing or impaling weapon, or fillsa hypo. Poisoning the edge of aweapon, so that a cutting attack candeliver it, requires three doses peryard of reach. Most poisons on bladesonly last for one successful strike orthree blocked or parried ones. Missesand dodged attacks do not rub off thepoison.Varying the Dosage: It is possible tovary the dosage of a digestive agent ora follow-up poison delivered by hypo-dermic. Each doubling of dosage (andcost!) halves the delay and interval,doubles damage, gives -2 to HT rolls toresist, and gives +2 to all rolls to detectthe poison (including the victimsSense rolls, and any Diagnosis orForensics roll made to investigate thevictims symptoms or death). Usingless than one full dose may reversethese modifiers or simply make thepoison ineffective, at the GMs option.TreatmentIf the poison has a delay, there maybe time to treat the victim before hesuffers any ill effects. Since he will notyet be showing symptoms, he must beaware of his predicament in order toseek help!A poisonous animal bite is usuallyobvious but the GM may require aNaturalist roll to realize that an ani-mal is venomous. Sucking the poisonfrom the wound takes a minute,requires a First Aid or Physician roll at-2, and gives +2 on HT rolls to resist.If the victim suspects a digestiveagent, he or a friend can induce vom-iting to expel the poison. This takes 10seconds, calls for a First Aid orPhysician roll, and gives +2 to resistthe poison. But for some poisons,vomiting is a bad idea it can increaseinjury!It might also be possible to take anantidote. Antidotes exist for only a fewpoisons. Where they do exist, they areusually specific to the poison. The cor-rect antidote gives the victim a bonusto HT rolls to resist the poison, or evencompletely halts the poison.Medical procedures chelation,gastric lavage, intravenous fluids, oxy-genation, etc. can also give a HTbonus, but only if the treatment suitsthe poison. Such measures require aPhysician roll. The HT bonus neverexceeds TL/2 (round up, minimum+1).To learn whether it is safe to inducevomiting, or which antidotes or proce-dures to use, you must identify thepoison. This is tricky before symp-toms appear! The GM may requirerolls against Poisons (to identify aresidue on a dart, in a glass, etc.),Naturalist (to identify a venomousanimal), or even Intimidation (to forcethe poisoner to reveal what he used).Once the victim takes damage,symptoms appear. At this point, aDiagnosis or Poisons roll can identifythe poison. If the poison is cyclic, thecorrect antidote or medical proce-dures can help prevent further dam-age, providing their bonus to futureHT rolls.DRINKING ANDINTOXICATIONIf you drink too much alcohol in ashort period of time, you may becomeintoxicated. Keep track of how manydrinks you consume each hour. Forsimplicity, one drink is a full mug orcan of beer (12 oz.), a full glass of wine(4-5 oz.), or a shot of spirits (1.5 oz.).At the end of any hour duringwhich you consume more than ST/4drinks, roll against the higher of HT orCarousing. If you continue to drink,continue to roll once per hour.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE439Poison ExamplesArsenic (TL1): A digestive agent with a one-hourdelay and a HT-2 roll to resist. Inflicts 1d toxic damage,repeating at hourly intervals for eight cycles. $1/dose.LC1.Cobra Venom (TL0): A follow-up poison with a one-minute delay and a HT-3 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxicdamage, repeating at hourly intervals for six cycles. Avictim who loses 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 HP has -2, -4, or -6 DX,respectively. $10/dose. LC1.Cyanide (TL4): This fast-acting poison is deadly inany form. As a follow-up poison or respiratory agent, ithas no delay. As a contact or digestive agent, it has a 15-minute delay. In all cases, there is no HT roll to resist!Inflicts 4d toxic damage. $2/dose. LC1.Mustard Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andcontact agent. As a contact agent, it has no delay and aHT-4 roll to resist, and inflicts 1 point of toxic damage,repeating at 8-hour intervals for 24 cycles. As a respira-tory agent, it has a two-hour delay and a HT-1 roll toresist, and inflicts 1d toxic damage, repeating at one-hour intervals for six cycles. $10/dose. LC0.Nerve Gas (TL6): An area-effect contact agent withno delay and a HT-6 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxic dam-age, repeating at one-minute intervals for six cycles. Anerve gas usually causes agony, paralysis, retching, orseizure as well; see Afflictions (p. 428) $20/dose. LC0.Smoke: Ordinary smoke is an area-effect respiratoryagent with a 10-second delay and a HT roll to resist.Causes coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) for the timespent in the smoke plus one minute times the marginof failure. Dense smoke can cause actual damage. LC4.Tear Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andvision-based agent. As a respiratory agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes coughing (seeAfflictions, p. 428). As a vision-based agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes blindness.Both effects endure for the time spent in the gas plusone minute times the margin of failure. Tear gas isopaque: Vision rolls are at -1 to -3 per affected yard.$10/dose. LC2.Individuals unprepared for mustard, nerve, or teargas may have to make Fright Checks!Modifiers: -1 per drink over ST/4that hour; -2 on an empty stomach, or+1 if you have recently eaten; +2 forthe Alcohol Tolerance perk (p. 100), or-2 for the Alcohol Intolerance quirk(p. 165).Each failure shifts you one levelfrom sober to tipsy to drunk to uncon-scious (drunken stupor) to coma; seeAfflictions (p. 428) for details. A criti-cal failure drops you two levels: soberto drunk, tipsy to unconscious, ordrunk to coma. If penalties reduceyour roll to 2 or less, critical failuremeans you drop three levels!Remember that any roll 10 or moreabove effective skill is a critical failure;e.g., a roll of 11+ against a modifiedHT of 1.Pink Elephants: If you are drunk,make one additional HT+4 roll. On afailure, you are also hallucinating (seeIncapacitating Conditions, p. 428).The Heaves: If you are drunk andkeep drinking, your body will try topurge itself of the alcohol (which is atoxin, after all!). When a failed HT rollindicates that you would fall uncon-scious or into a coma, make a second,unmodified HT roll. On a success, youvomit up the alcohol instead of pass-ing out; treat this as retching (p. 429).On a critical failure, however, you passout and then retch; treat this as chok-ing (p. 428).Sobering Up: To sober up, you mustfirst stop drinking. After half as manyhours as the total number of drinksyou consumed, roll vs. HT. Variousremedies may give a bonus. On a suc-cess, you move one step toward sober.Continue to roll each time this manyhours pass until you are sober.Exception: To recover from a coma,you need medical help!Hangovers: If you are tipsy orworse, you must roll vs. HT when youstop drinking, at -2 if youre drunk or-4 if youre unconscious. On a failure,you will suffer a hangover. This kicksin 1d hours after the end of the drink-ing session or on awakening, if youpass out or fall asleep before this time and lasts hours equal to your marginof failure. During this time, you willsuffer from moderate pain (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) andacquire Low Pain Threshold (or loseHigh Pain Threshold, if you have it).The GM may decide that preventativetreatment (including drinking plentyof water and possibly taking a mildanalgesic) gives you a bonus to thisroll.ADDICTIVEDRUGSThe habitual use of a mind-alteringsubstance can lead to dependency.Abusers have the Addiction disadvan-tage (p. 122), and may suffer with-drawal (see box) if forced to go with-out the drug.Below are rules for three commonclasses of addictive drugs. Note thatthese are also poisons. If someonetakes a large dose, follow all the usualrules for poison on pp. 437-439, exceptwhere specified otherwise.StimulantsStimulants elevate the users moodand energy level . . . temporarily.Potent ones e.g., amphetamine restore 1d FP, and give Doesnt Sleepand Overconfidence (12). Theseeffects endure for (12 - HT) hours,minimum one hour. After that time,the user loses twice the FP he recov-ered (e.g., if his FP jumped from 8 to10, he drops to 6 FP), and gains thedisadvantages Bad Temper (12) andChronic Depression (9) for an equallength of time.If the user takes multiple doses in24 hours, he must roll vs. HT after thesecond and later doses, at a cumula-tive -1 per dose after the first. On acritical failure, he suffers a heartattack (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).Stimulants are cheap and onlyslightly addictive. If they are legal,stimulant addiction is a MinorAddiction (-1 point); if they are illegal,it is a -5-point Addiction.HallucinogensHallucinogens e.g., LSD andmescaline cause disorientation, 440INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEDrug WithdrawalUse these rules when you try to give up an Addiction, either volun-tarily or because you are broke, imprisoned, or in a place where yourdrug just isnt available.Withdrawal is a painful process that requires a series of daily with-drawal rolls. It normally takes 14 successful rolls to shake the habit(thus, it always takes at least two weeks), but the GM is free to vary this.Should you manage to withdraw, you must buy off your Addictiondisadvantage immediately.The effects of withdrawal rolls depend on whether the drug is phys-iologically or psychologically addictive.Physiological Dependency: Your body has come to rely on the drug!Make daily withdrawal rolls against HT (maximum 13). Each successputs you a day closer to shaking off your Addiction. The results of fail-ure depend on whether the drug is available. If it is, you give in and takea dose; if you still want to try to withdraw, you must restart the processfrom day one. If the drug is not available, you take 1 HP of injury andmay continue the process . . . but that day doesnt count toward the 14successful rolls needed to withdraw. You cannot naturally recover HPlost to withdrawal until you either succeed or abandon the attempt.Psychological Dependency: Youve convinced yourself that you can-not function without the drug. Make withdrawal rolls against Will(maximum 13). Use the physiological dependency rules, except that ifyou fail a roll and the drug is unavailable, you dont take injury. Instead,you gain -1 point of drug-related quirks, chosen by the GM. These van-ish if you give in and take a dose of the drug (but then you must restartthe process). If you dont give in, these quirks grow into progressivelymore severe mental disadvantages. If you make 14 successful Will rolls,you withdraw but you must make one final Will roll. On a failure, youkeep any quirks or disadvantages incurred along the way!
|
Poisoned Weapons: One dose of afollow-up poison envenoms the tip ofa piercing or impaling weapon, or fillsa hypo. Poisoning the edge of aweapon, so that a cutting attack candeliver it, requires three doses peryard of reach. Most poisons on bladesonly last for one successful strike orthree blocked or parried ones. Missesand dodged attacks do not rub off thepoison.Varying the Dosage: It is possible tovary the dosage of a digestive agent ora follow-up poison delivered by hypo-dermic. Each doubling of dosage (andcost!) halves the delay and interval,doubles damage, gives -2 to HT rolls toresist, and gives +2 to all rolls to detectthe poison (including the victimsSense rolls, and any Diagnosis orForensics roll made to investigate thevictims symptoms or death). Usingless than one full dose may reversethese modifiers or simply make thepoison ineffective, at the GMs option.TreatmentIf the poison has a delay, there maybe time to treat the victim before hesuffers any ill effects. Since he will notyet be showing symptoms, he must beaware of his predicament in order toseek help!A poisonous animal bite is usuallyobvious but the GM may require aNaturalist roll to realize that an ani-mal is venomous. Sucking the poisonfrom the wound takes a minute,requires a First Aid or Physician roll at-2, and gives +2 on HT rolls to resist.If the victim suspects a digestiveagent, he or a friend can induce vom-iting to expel the poison. This takes 10seconds, calls for a First Aid orPhysician roll, and gives +2 to resistthe poison. But for some poisons,vomiting is a bad idea it can increaseinjury!It might also be possible to take anantidote. Antidotes exist for only a fewpoisons. Where they do exist, they areusually specific to the poison. The cor-rect antidote gives the victim a bonusto HT rolls to resist the poison, or evencompletely halts the poison.Medical procedures chelation,gastric lavage, intravenous fluids, oxy-genation, etc. can also give a HTbonus, but only if the treatment suitsthe poison. Such measures require aPhysician roll. The HT bonus neverexceeds TL/2 (round up, minimum+1).To learn whether it is safe to inducevomiting, or which antidotes or proce-dures to use, you must identify thepoison. This is tricky before symp-toms appear! The GM may requirerolls against Poisons (to identify aresidue on a dart, in a glass, etc.),Naturalist (to identify a venomousanimal), or even Intimidation (to forcethe poisoner to reveal what he used).Once the victim takes damage,symptoms appear. At this point, aDiagnosis or Poisons roll can identifythe poison. If the poison is cyclic, thecorrect antidote or medical proce-dures can help prevent further dam-age, providing their bonus to futureHT rolls.DRINKING ANDINTOXICATIONIf you drink too much alcohol in ashort period of time, you may becomeintoxicated. Keep track of how manydrinks you consume each hour. Forsimplicity, one drink is a full mug orcan of beer (12 oz.), a full glass of wine(4-5 oz.), or a shot of spirits (1.5 oz.).At the end of any hour duringwhich you consume more than ST/4drinks, roll against the higher of HT orCarousing. If you continue to drink,continue to roll once per hour.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE439Poison ExamplesArsenic (TL1): A digestive agent with a one-hourdelay and a HT-2 roll to resist. Inflicts 1d toxic damage,repeating at hourly intervals for eight cycles. $1/dose.LC1.Cobra Venom (TL0): A follow-up poison with a one-minute delay and a HT-3 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxicdamage, repeating at hourly intervals for six cycles. Avictim who loses 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 HP has -2, -4, or -6 DX,respectively. $10/dose. LC1.Cyanide (TL4): This fast-acting poison is deadly inany form. As a follow-up poison or respiratory agent, ithas no delay. As a contact or digestive agent, it has a 15-minute delay. In all cases, there is no HT roll to resist!Inflicts 4d toxic damage. $2/dose. LC1.Mustard Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andcontact agent. As a contact agent, it has no delay and aHT-4 roll to resist, and inflicts 1 point of toxic damage,repeating at 8-hour intervals for 24 cycles. As a respira-tory agent, it has a two-hour delay and a HT-1 roll toresist, and inflicts 1d toxic damage, repeating at one-hour intervals for six cycles. $10/dose. LC0.Nerve Gas (TL6): An area-effect contact agent withno delay and a HT-6 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxic dam-age, repeating at one-minute intervals for six cycles. Anerve gas usually causes agony, paralysis, retching, orseizure as well; see Afflictions (p. 428) $20/dose. LC0.Smoke: Ordinary smoke is an area-effect respiratoryagent with a 10-second delay and a HT roll to resist.Causes coughing (see Afflictions, p. 428) for the timespent in the smoke plus one minute times the marginof failure. Dense smoke can cause actual damage. LC4.Tear Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory andvision-based agent. As a respiratory agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes coughing (seeAfflictions, p. 428). As a vision-based agent, it has nodelay and a HT-2 roll to resist, and causes blindness.Both effects endure for the time spent in the gas plusone minute times the margin of failure. Tear gas isopaque: Vision rolls are at -1 to -3 per affected yard.$10/dose. LC2.Individuals unprepared for mustard, nerve, or teargas may have to make Fright Checks!Modifiers: -1 per drink over ST/4that hour; -2 on an empty stomach, or+1 if you have recently eaten; +2 forthe Alcohol Tolerance perk (p. 100), or-2 for the Alcohol Intolerance quirk(p. 165).Each failure shifts you one levelfrom sober to tipsy to drunk to uncon-scious (drunken stupor) to coma; seeAfflictions (p. 428) for details. A criti-cal failure drops you two levels: soberto drunk, tipsy to unconscious, ordrunk to coma. If penalties reduceyour roll to 2 or less, critical failuremeans you drop three levels!Remember that any roll 10 or moreabove effective skill is a critical failure;e.g., a roll of 11+ against a modifiedHT of 1.Pink Elephants: If you are drunk,make one additional HT+4 roll. On afailure, you are also hallucinating (seeIncapacitating Conditions, p. 428).The Heaves: If you are drunk andkeep drinking, your body will try topurge itself of the alcohol (which is atoxin, after all!). When a failed HT rollindicates that you would fall uncon-scious or into a coma, make a second,unmodified HT roll. On a success, youvomit up the alcohol instead of pass-ing out; treat this as retching (p. 429).On a critical failure, however, you passout and then retch; treat this as chok-ing (p. 428).Sobering Up: To sober up, you mustfirst stop drinking. After half as manyhours as the total number of drinksyou consumed, roll vs. HT. Variousremedies may give a bonus. On a suc-cess, you move one step toward sober.Continue to roll each time this manyhours pass until you are sober.Exception: To recover from a coma,you need medical help!Hangovers: If you are tipsy orworse, you must roll vs. HT when youstop drinking, at -2 if youre drunk or-4 if youre unconscious. On a failure,you will suffer a hangover. This kicksin 1d hours after the end of the drink-ing session or on awakening, if youpass out or fall asleep before this time and lasts hours equal to your marginof failure. During this time, you willsuffer from moderate pain (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) andacquire Low Pain Threshold (or loseHigh Pain Threshold, if you have it).The GM may decide that preventativetreatment (including drinking plentyof water and possibly taking a mildanalgesic) gives you a bonus to thisroll.ADDICTIVEDRUGSThe habitual use of a mind-alteringsubstance can lead to dependency.Abusers have the Addiction disadvan-tage (p. 122), and may suffer with-drawal (see box) if forced to go with-out the drug.Below are rules for three commonclasses of addictive drugs. Note thatthese are also poisons. If someonetakes a large dose, follow all the usualrules for poison on pp. 437-439, exceptwhere specified otherwise.StimulantsStimulants elevate the users moodand energy level . . . temporarily.Potent ones e.g., amphetamine restore 1d FP, and give Doesnt Sleepand Overconfidence (12). Theseeffects endure for (12 - HT) hours,minimum one hour. After that time,the user loses twice the FP he recov-ered (e.g., if his FP jumped from 8 to10, he drops to 6 FP), and gains thedisadvantages Bad Temper (12) andChronic Depression (9) for an equallength of time.If the user takes multiple doses in24 hours, he must roll vs. HT after thesecond and later doses, at a cumula-tive -1 per dose after the first. On acritical failure, he suffers a heartattack (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).Stimulants are cheap and onlyslightly addictive. If they are legal,stimulant addiction is a MinorAddiction (-1 point); if they are illegal,it is a -5-point Addiction.HallucinogensHallucinogens e.g., LSD andmescaline cause disorientation, 440INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEDrug WithdrawalUse these rules when you try to give up an Addiction, either volun-tarily or because you are broke, imprisoned, or in a place where yourdrug just isnt available.Withdrawal is a painful process that requires a series of daily with-drawal rolls. It normally takes 14 successful rolls to shake the habit(thus, it always takes at least two weeks), but the GM is free to vary this.Should you manage to withdraw, you must buy off your Addictiondisadvantage immediately.The effects of withdrawal rolls depend on whether the drug is phys-iologically or psychologically addictive.Physiological Dependency: Your body has come to rely on the drug!Make daily withdrawal rolls against HT (maximum 13). Each successputs you a day closer to shaking off your Addiction. The results of fail-ure depend on whether the drug is available. If it is, you give in and takea dose; if you still want to try to withdraw, you must restart the processfrom day one. If the drug is not available, you take 1 HP of injury andmay continue the process . . . but that day doesnt count toward the 14successful rolls needed to withdraw. You cannot naturally recover HPlost to withdrawal until you either succeed or abandon the attempt.Psychological Dependency: Youve convinced yourself that you can-not function without the drug. Make withdrawal rolls against Will(maximum 13). Use the physiological dependency rules, except that ifyou fail a roll and the drug is unavailable, you dont take injury. Instead,you gain -1 point of drug-related quirks, chosen by the GM. These van-ish if you give in and take a dose of the drug (but then you must restartthe process). If you dont give in, these quirks grow into progressivelymore severe mental disadvantages. If you make 14 successful Will rolls,you withdraw but you must make one final Will roll. On a failure, youkeep any quirks or disadvantages incurred along the way!hallucinations, and fits of paranoia.They may induce psychologicaldependency, but not physiologicaladdiction.Most of these drugs are taken oral-ly and require about 20 minutes towork. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user starts hallucinating(see Incapacitating Conditions, p. 428).This lasts for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. After that time, the usermay roll vs. HT-2 once per hour toshake off the drugs influence.Addiction is typically worth -10points if the drugs are legal, -15 pointsotherwise.DepressantsDepressants induce drowsiness,lassitude, and (in large doses) insensi-bility. All offer a HT roll to resist. Aswith any poison, a large dose gives apenalty see Dosage (p. 438). Massivedoses may lead to overdose (see box).Commonly abused depressantsinclude:Sedatives: These include sleep aids,anti-anxiety drugs, and many psychi-atric drugs. A typical sedative is takenorally and requires 20 minutes to takeeffect. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user becomes drowsy (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) for hoursequal to the margin of failure.Habitual users need larger and largerdoses to produce the same effect,increasing the risk of overdose.Sedatives are cheap and highly addic-tive. If the user acquires them legally,he has a -5-point Addiction; otherwise,he has a -10-point Addiction.Painkillers: Potent painkillers, suchas morphine, are used to treat chronicor surgical pain. Abuse is often theunintended result of legitimate use.Taken orally, there is a delay of 20minutes; injected, there is no delay.Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. On a failure, theuser acquires the High Pain Threshold(p. 59) and Unfazeable (p. 95) advan-tages, and the Laziness disadvantage(p. 142), and experiences euphoria(see Irritating Conditions, p. 428). Alleffects last for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. Painkillers powerfulenough to produce these effects areexpensive and totally addictive.Addiction is worth -15 points if thedrugs are legal, -20 points otherwise.Heroin: This opium derivative hasfew legitimate uses. It is typicallyinjected, in which case there is nodelay. Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. Failureincapacitates the user for hours equalto the margin of failure treat this asecstasy (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428). In addition to the usual risk ofoverdose, there is always the chancethe heroin was cut with toxic filler;effects are up to the GM. Heroin isvery expensive, incapacitating, totallyaddictive, and illegal; Addiction toheroin is a -40-point disadvantage.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE441OverdoseAnyone who takes two or more doses of depressants risks an over-dose. This definitely includes taking a single dose of two or moredepressants! Any alcohol at all counts as an extra dose. Drug interac-tions can kill . . .Overdose occurs on a critical failure on any resistance roll for mul-tiple doses. As with any poison, each doubling of dosage gives -2 toresistance rolls and as for all success rolls, a roll of 10 or more aboveeffective skill is a critical failure. For instance, heroin offers a HT-4 rollto resist. If a HT 10 man takes a double dose, his effective HT is 10 - 4- 2 = 4. He overdoses on a 14 or higher.Overdose causes unconsciousness for hours equal to the margin offailure. As well, the drug acts as a poison with a resistance roll equal toits usual resistance roll (the most difficult roll, for two or more drugs);e.g., HT-4, for heroin. It inflicts 1 point of toxic damage, repeating at 15-minute intervals for 24 cycles. If the victim reaches -1HP, he slips intoa coma (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).
|
Modifiers: -1 per drink over ST/4that hour; -2 on an empty stomach, or+1 if you have recently eaten; +2 forthe Alcohol Tolerance perk (p. 100), or-2 for the Alcohol Intolerance quirk(p. 165).Each failure shifts you one levelfrom sober to tipsy to drunk to uncon-scious (drunken stupor) to coma; seeAfflictions (p. 428) for details. A criti-cal failure drops you two levels: soberto drunk, tipsy to unconscious, ordrunk to coma. If penalties reduceyour roll to 2 or less, critical failuremeans you drop three levels!Remember that any roll 10 or moreabove effective skill is a critical failure;e.g., a roll of 11+ against a modifiedHT of 1.Pink Elephants: If you are drunk,make one additional HT+4 roll. On afailure, you are also hallucinating (seeIncapacitating Conditions, p. 428).The Heaves: If you are drunk andkeep drinking, your body will try topurge itself of the alcohol (which is atoxin, after all!). When a failed HT rollindicates that you would fall uncon-scious or into a coma, make a second,unmodified HT roll. On a success, youvomit up the alcohol instead of pass-ing out; treat this as retching (p. 429).On a critical failure, however, you passout and then retch; treat this as chok-ing (p. 428).Sobering Up: To sober up, you mustfirst stop drinking. After half as manyhours as the total number of drinksyou consumed, roll vs. HT. Variousremedies may give a bonus. On a suc-cess, you move one step toward sober.Continue to roll each time this manyhours pass until you are sober.Exception: To recover from a coma,you need medical help!Hangovers: If you are tipsy orworse, you must roll vs. HT when youstop drinking, at -2 if youre drunk or-4 if youre unconscious. On a failure,you will suffer a hangover. This kicksin 1d hours after the end of the drink-ing session or on awakening, if youpass out or fall asleep before this time and lasts hours equal to your marginof failure. During this time, you willsuffer from moderate pain (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) andacquire Low Pain Threshold (or loseHigh Pain Threshold, if you have it).The GM may decide that preventativetreatment (including drinking plentyof water and possibly taking a mildanalgesic) gives you a bonus to thisroll.ADDICTIVEDRUGSThe habitual use of a mind-alteringsubstance can lead to dependency.Abusers have the Addiction disadvan-tage (p. 122), and may suffer with-drawal (see box) if forced to go with-out the drug.Below are rules for three commonclasses of addictive drugs. Note thatthese are also poisons. If someonetakes a large dose, follow all the usualrules for poison on pp. 437-439, exceptwhere specified otherwise.StimulantsStimulants elevate the users moodand energy level . . . temporarily.Potent ones e.g., amphetamine restore 1d FP, and give Doesnt Sleepand Overconfidence (12). Theseeffects endure for (12 - HT) hours,minimum one hour. After that time,the user loses twice the FP he recov-ered (e.g., if his FP jumped from 8 to10, he drops to 6 FP), and gains thedisadvantages Bad Temper (12) andChronic Depression (9) for an equallength of time.If the user takes multiple doses in24 hours, he must roll vs. HT after thesecond and later doses, at a cumula-tive -1 per dose after the first. On acritical failure, he suffers a heartattack (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).Stimulants are cheap and onlyslightly addictive. If they are legal,stimulant addiction is a MinorAddiction (-1 point); if they are illegal,it is a -5-point Addiction.HallucinogensHallucinogens e.g., LSD andmescaline cause disorientation, 440INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEDrug WithdrawalUse these rules when you try to give up an Addiction, either volun-tarily or because you are broke, imprisoned, or in a place where yourdrug just isnt available.Withdrawal is a painful process that requires a series of daily with-drawal rolls. It normally takes 14 successful rolls to shake the habit(thus, it always takes at least two weeks), but the GM is free to vary this.Should you manage to withdraw, you must buy off your Addictiondisadvantage immediately.The effects of withdrawal rolls depend on whether the drug is phys-iologically or psychologically addictive.Physiological Dependency: Your body has come to rely on the drug!Make daily withdrawal rolls against HT (maximum 13). Each successputs you a day closer to shaking off your Addiction. The results of fail-ure depend on whether the drug is available. If it is, you give in and takea dose; if you still want to try to withdraw, you must restart the processfrom day one. If the drug is not available, you take 1 HP of injury andmay continue the process . . . but that day doesnt count toward the 14successful rolls needed to withdraw. You cannot naturally recover HPlost to withdrawal until you either succeed or abandon the attempt.Psychological Dependency: Youve convinced yourself that you can-not function without the drug. Make withdrawal rolls against Will(maximum 13). Use the physiological dependency rules, except that ifyou fail a roll and the drug is unavailable, you dont take injury. Instead,you gain -1 point of drug-related quirks, chosen by the GM. These van-ish if you give in and take a dose of the drug (but then you must restartthe process). If you dont give in, these quirks grow into progressivelymore severe mental disadvantages. If you make 14 successful Will rolls,you withdraw but you must make one final Will roll. On a failure, youkeep any quirks or disadvantages incurred along the way!hallucinations, and fits of paranoia.They may induce psychologicaldependency, but not physiologicaladdiction.Most of these drugs are taken oral-ly and require about 20 minutes towork. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user starts hallucinating(see Incapacitating Conditions, p. 428).This lasts for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. After that time, the usermay roll vs. HT-2 once per hour toshake off the drugs influence.Addiction is typically worth -10points if the drugs are legal, -15 pointsotherwise.DepressantsDepressants induce drowsiness,lassitude, and (in large doses) insensi-bility. All offer a HT roll to resist. Aswith any poison, a large dose gives apenalty see Dosage (p. 438). Massivedoses may lead to overdose (see box).Commonly abused depressantsinclude:Sedatives: These include sleep aids,anti-anxiety drugs, and many psychi-atric drugs. A typical sedative is takenorally and requires 20 minutes to takeeffect. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user becomes drowsy (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) for hoursequal to the margin of failure.Habitual users need larger and largerdoses to produce the same effect,increasing the risk of overdose.Sedatives are cheap and highly addic-tive. If the user acquires them legally,he has a -5-point Addiction; otherwise,he has a -10-point Addiction.Painkillers: Potent painkillers, suchas morphine, are used to treat chronicor surgical pain. Abuse is often theunintended result of legitimate use.Taken orally, there is a delay of 20minutes; injected, there is no delay.Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. On a failure, theuser acquires the High Pain Threshold(p. 59) and Unfazeable (p. 95) advan-tages, and the Laziness disadvantage(p. 142), and experiences euphoria(see Irritating Conditions, p. 428). Alleffects last for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. Painkillers powerfulenough to produce these effects areexpensive and totally addictive.Addiction is worth -15 points if thedrugs are legal, -20 points otherwise.Heroin: This opium derivative hasfew legitimate uses. It is typicallyinjected, in which case there is nodelay. Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. Failureincapacitates the user for hours equalto the margin of failure treat this asecstasy (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428). In addition to the usual risk ofoverdose, there is always the chancethe heroin was cut with toxic filler;effects are up to the GM. Heroin isvery expensive, incapacitating, totallyaddictive, and illegal; Addiction toheroin is a -40-point disadvantage.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE441OverdoseAnyone who takes two or more doses of depressants risks an over-dose. This definitely includes taking a single dose of two or moredepressants! Any alcohol at all counts as an extra dose. Drug interac-tions can kill . . .Overdose occurs on a critical failure on any resistance roll for mul-tiple doses. As with any poison, each doubling of dosage gives -2 toresistance rolls and as for all success rolls, a roll of 10 or more aboveeffective skill is a critical failure. For instance, heroin offers a HT-4 rollto resist. If a HT 10 man takes a double dose, his effective HT is 10 - 4- 2 = 4. He overdoses on a 14 or higher.Overdose causes unconsciousness for hours equal to the margin offailure. As well, the drug acts as a poison with a resistance roll equal toits usual resistance roll (the most difficult roll, for two or more drugs);e.g., HT-4, for heroin. It inflicts 1 point of toxic damage, repeating at 15-minute intervals for 24 cycles. If the victim reaches -1HP, he slips intoa coma (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).Maladies and strange diseases mayaffect adventurers in far-off lands . . .or even at home. The search for a cure whether for the Princess wastingdisease, an alien plague, or a terroristsbioweapon is a wonderful plotdevice. The invention of diseases is anexcellent opportunity for the GM toexercise a morbid sort of creativity.Magical or technological items, theResistant advantage (p. 80), and highHT can all protect you from disease.Risks are greatest in warm, moistareas. If you catch something, youwont know until the symptoms startto show . . . the GM makes your roll toavoid it!DISEASEMost diseases are caused bymicroorganisms and spread by infect-ed people or animals but some haveother causes!News about disease-ridden areastravels fast; a successful CurrentAffairs roll can alert adventurers to thepresence of disease in a region.Spotting locals suffering from symp-toms requires a Perception-basedDiagnosis or Physician roll. And in anarea where animals are carrying a dis-ease that people can catch, investiga-tors would need to examine an infect-ed specimen and make a successfulVeterinary roll to realize the danger.Defining a DiseaseDiseases are defined in much thesame way as poisons (see Poison,p. 437). For each disease the PCsencounter, the GM should specify:Vector: How the disease spreads.Diseases are generally blood, contact,digestive, or respiratory agents. Theseterms mean just what they do for poi-sons; see Delivery (p. 437).Resistance Roll: The HT roll toavoid the disease. Anyone exposedmust roll, possibly at a penalty. Mostdiseases allow a roll at HT to HT-6.The means of exposure can modifythis roll; see Contagion (p. 443). On asuccess, the victim does not contract442INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEILLNESS
|
hallucinations, and fits of paranoia.They may induce psychologicaldependency, but not physiologicaladdiction.Most of these drugs are taken oral-ly and require about 20 minutes towork. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user starts hallucinating(see Incapacitating Conditions, p. 428).This lasts for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. After that time, the usermay roll vs. HT-2 once per hour toshake off the drugs influence.Addiction is typically worth -10points if the drugs are legal, -15 pointsotherwise.DepressantsDepressants induce drowsiness,lassitude, and (in large doses) insensi-bility. All offer a HT roll to resist. Aswith any poison, a large dose gives apenalty see Dosage (p. 438). Massivedoses may lead to overdose (see box).Commonly abused depressantsinclude:Sedatives: These include sleep aids,anti-anxiety drugs, and many psychi-atric drugs. A typical sedative is takenorally and requires 20 minutes to takeeffect. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On afailure, the user becomes drowsy (seeIrritating Conditions, p. 428) for hoursequal to the margin of failure.Habitual users need larger and largerdoses to produce the same effect,increasing the risk of overdose.Sedatives are cheap and highly addic-tive. If the user acquires them legally,he has a -5-point Addiction; otherwise,he has a -10-point Addiction.Painkillers: Potent painkillers, suchas morphine, are used to treat chronicor surgical pain. Abuse is often theunintended result of legitimate use.Taken orally, there is a delay of 20minutes; injected, there is no delay.Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. On a failure, theuser acquires the High Pain Threshold(p. 59) and Unfazeable (p. 95) advan-tages, and the Laziness disadvantage(p. 142), and experiences euphoria(see Irritating Conditions, p. 428). Alleffects last for hours equal to the mar-gin of failure. Painkillers powerfulenough to produce these effects areexpensive and totally addictive.Addiction is worth -15 points if thedrugs are legal, -20 points otherwise.Heroin: This opium derivative hasfew legitimate uses. It is typicallyinjected, in which case there is nodelay. Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. Failureincapacitates the user for hours equalto the margin of failure treat this asecstasy (see Incapacitating Conditions,p. 428). In addition to the usual risk ofoverdose, there is always the chancethe heroin was cut with toxic filler;effects are up to the GM. Heroin isvery expensive, incapacitating, totallyaddictive, and illegal; Addiction toheroin is a -40-point disadvantage.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE441OverdoseAnyone who takes two or more doses of depressants risks an over-dose. This definitely includes taking a single dose of two or moredepressants! Any alcohol at all counts as an extra dose. Drug interac-tions can kill . . .Overdose occurs on a critical failure on any resistance roll for mul-tiple doses. As with any poison, each doubling of dosage gives -2 toresistance rolls and as for all success rolls, a roll of 10 or more aboveeffective skill is a critical failure. For instance, heroin offers a HT-4 rollto resist. If a HT 10 man takes a double dose, his effective HT is 10 - 4- 2 = 4. He overdoses on a 14 or higher.Overdose causes unconsciousness for hours equal to the margin offailure. As well, the drug acts as a poison with a resistance roll equal toits usual resistance roll (the most difficult roll, for two or more drugs);e.g., HT-4, for heroin. It inflicts 1 point of toxic damage, repeating at 15-minute intervals for 24 cycles. If the victim reaches -1HP, he slips intoa coma (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).Maladies and strange diseases mayaffect adventurers in far-off lands . . .or even at home. The search for a cure whether for the Princess wastingdisease, an alien plague, or a terroristsbioweapon is a wonderful plotdevice. The invention of diseases is anexcellent opportunity for the GM toexercise a morbid sort of creativity.Magical or technological items, theResistant advantage (p. 80), and highHT can all protect you from disease.Risks are greatest in warm, moistareas. If you catch something, youwont know until the symptoms startto show . . . the GM makes your roll toavoid it!DISEASEMost diseases are caused bymicroorganisms and spread by infect-ed people or animals but some haveother causes!News about disease-ridden areastravels fast; a successful CurrentAffairs roll can alert adventurers to thepresence of disease in a region.Spotting locals suffering from symp-toms requires a Perception-basedDiagnosis or Physician roll. And in anarea where animals are carrying a dis-ease that people can catch, investiga-tors would need to examine an infect-ed specimen and make a successfulVeterinary roll to realize the danger.Defining a DiseaseDiseases are defined in much thesame way as poisons (see Poison,p. 437). For each disease the PCsencounter, the GM should specify:Vector: How the disease spreads.Diseases are generally blood, contact,digestive, or respiratory agents. Theseterms mean just what they do for poi-sons; see Delivery (p. 437).Resistance Roll: The HT roll toavoid the disease. Anyone exposedmust roll, possibly at a penalty. Mostdiseases allow a roll at HT to HT-6.The means of exposure can modifythis roll; see Contagion (p. 443). On asuccess, the victim does not contract442INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUEILLNESSthe disease. On a failure, he does, buthe gets further rolls once per cycle to throw off the disease.Delay: This is the incubation period the time between initial exposure tothe disease and the appearance of thefirst symptoms in those who fail toresist. This is 24 hours for a genericdisease, but can vary considerably forreal-life diseases.Damage: The diseases effects ingame terms. This is typically 1 point oftoxic damage, but it might be higher up to 1d for virulent diseases. DRdoes not protect against disease!Symptoms (fever, sneezing, coughing,spots, rash, etc.) appear after the sub-ject starts to suffer injury. Injury fromdisease will not heal naturally until thevictim makes his HT roll to recover!Cycles: Like a cyclic poison, a dis-ease damages its victim at regularintervals until he makes a HT roll or amaximum number of cycles passes.The default interval between HTrolls is one day. The number of cyclesvaries with the deadliness of the dis-ease; for instance, a potentially fataldisease might only inflict 1 HP percycle but endure for 20-30 cycles.Symptoms: A disease can causeattribute penalties, temporary disad-vantages, etc. after the victim loses aspecified fraction (typically 1/3, 1/2,2/3, or all) of his HP to it.Contagion: Some diseases are mild-ly or highly contagious althoughsometimes not until after the incuba-tion period.The combination of resistance roll,damage, and cycles determines dead-liness. By carefully selecting thesestatistics, the GM can distinguishbetween a virulent but mild flu thatends in a day or two (24-hour delay,HT-2, 1 point of toxic damage, 12-hourinterval, six cycles) and a slower butusually fatal disease (72-hour delay,HT-5, 1 point of toxic damage, dailyinterval, 30 cycles).DiagnosisOnce the symptoms of a disease become apparent, identifica-tion requires a successful roll against Diagnosis or Expert Skill(Epidemiology) or Veterinary, for ananimal illness. This cannot identify atotally new illness, but a good rollmight give enough information toallow treatment.TreatmentAppropriate remedies herbs,drugs, etc. can provide a bonus tothe cyclic HT rolls to shake off certaindiseases. At TL6+, antibiotics (e.g.,penicillin) give +3 to recover frommost bacterial diseases. At any TL, aphysicians care provides the samebonuses to recover from disease that itgives to recover from injuries (seeMedical Care, p. 424).However, some diseases are drug-resistant, in which case ordinarymedicine gives no bonus. At TL7+,drug treatments can often mitigatethe effects of such illnesses usuallyby reducing damage or lengtheninginterval but these arent cures.Radiation treatment, gene therapy,nanotech, magic, and psi might stillwork, however.Immunity andSusceptibilityDifferential Susceptibility: Membersof a given ethnicity, sex, or race maybe more or less susceptible to a partic-ular disease. For instance, the GMmight decide that dwarves areimmune to the Purple Shakes, andthat elves get +2 on their HT rollsagainst it . . . but that the mortalityrate among male giants is 100% unlessthey are treated within two days. Asuccessful Diagnosis or Physician rollreveals differential susceptibility, ifapplicable.Natural Immunity: Some individu-als are simply immune to a specificdisease. If the GM rolls a 3 or 4 foryour first attempt to resist a disease,you are immune! He should note thisfact and not tell you under normalcircumstances, you have no real wayof knowing about your immunity.INJURIES, ILLNESS, AND FATIGUE443Most diseases are caused by microorganismsand spread by infected people or animals butsome have other causes!ContagionIf you enter a disease-ridden area or encounter a disease carrier,make a HT roll at the end of the day to resist the disease. On a failure,you catch the disease! Modifiers to this roll include the diseases basicvirulence modifier and the least advantageous applicable modifier fromthis list:Avoided all contact with possible victims: +4.Entered dwelling or shop of victim: +3.Spoke with victim at close quarters: +2.Touched victim briefly: +1.Used victims clothes, blankets, etc.: +0.Ate victims cooked flesh (animal, we hope!): +0.Ate victims raw flesh (ditto!!): -1.Prolonged contact with living victim: -2.Kissing or other intimate contact with victim: -3.Proper precautions masks, antiseptics, etc. provide a bonus tothose who know and understand them. The GM should consider limit-ing such measures to PCs from cultures that understand the germ theory of disease (late TL5).
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.