Capítulo 4: Diseño del Sistema
4.7 Conclusiones
In the chaos of combat, characters are usually concerned only with dealing out damage to their foe. There are, however, a variety of other actions that a character may perform during combat.
Called Combat Actions, the list below describes some of the most common and useful actions a character may attempt to perform.
Each example also includes advice on the best resolution method for the situation. Some of these actions are most suited to close melee engagements; others are appropriate to ranged attacks.
1Note: Combat Actions may be used in conjunction with individual attacks and with Combat Styles. However, many Combat Actions will replace the attack(s) gained by the style with those of the Combat Action. These Combat Actions are marked by an asterisk next to their names.
1Note: Certain combat actions can permit normal weapon attack sizes to be increased. These are Aimed Burst, Power Strike, and Well-aimed Shot. Successful uses of the Ambush, Dirty Fighting, and Sniping skills allow all damage cap limits to be ignored.
Aimed Burst*: This action requires a projectile or energy weapon capable of burst fire. When fired in burst mode, the weapon attack size is increased by 1 step and the shooter receives an OB bonus equal to the weapon’s Burst Bonus minus the weapon’s Recoil Penalty (if any). If the weapon is supported on a tripod or otherwise braced against recoil, the Recoil Penalty is ignored. Only one attack roll is made. This Combat Action requires a full round.
Careful Aim: If the character carefully aims a ranged weapon (modern or archaic) at a specific target, this Combat Action reduces any range penalties incurred by the character by 5 per full consecutive round of aiming. All rounds of aiming must be consecutive (no interruptions or breaks from Aiming), the target may not be moving faster than 5 meters per round, and the shooter must be able to maintain visual line-of-sight on the target at all times. Range penalties cannot be reduced below zero using this Combat Action.
Combat Crawl: Using this Combat Action, a character may move by rapid crawling at half Base Movement Rate (but treat as Run in terms of exhaustion) and retain the benefits of any cover or terrain. If there is no suitable cover, the character still receives a +10 bonus to Defensive Bonus due to reduced target area. It requires a full round to get into position to perform a Combat Crawl, unless the character has already used the Minimize Exposure Combat Action, in which case the character is already suitably positioned to begin a Combat Crawl.
Charging*: This special maneuver combines movement with a melee attack, with powerful results. Characters performing a Charging Combat Action do not receive the normal penalty to their attack as they would for an attack made while moving. The character must declare the Charge and must be able to move in a straight line towards the foe. If the character’s movement for the Charge involves turns or weaving around obstacles, then count only the movement distance after the last turn. A Charge requires
that the character move at least a minimum of 3m during the dash towards the opponent. Every meter moved during the Charge gives the character a +5 modifier to their Offensive Bonus (OB) and a -5 modifier to their Defensive Bonus (DB). The character is limited to moving no faster than a Run (2x Base Movement Rate), and the bonus from the Charge cannot exceed +50 OB/-50 DB. A Charge always ends with the character adjacent to the opponent charged.
1Note: If the target of the charge is wielding a projectile weapon, an energy weapon, pole arm or spear and is aware of the charge, they may make one attack against the charging attacker before the maneuver is resolved.
Delay Action: Characters can choose to delay taking their action to a later point in the round, which can be useful for situations where their actions depend on the actions of another person. For example, a cop has just shouted “Stop or I’ll shoot!” at a criminal.
The cop’s Initiative is higher than the criminal’s, but the cop does not want to shoot unless the criminal fails to stop. The cop uses Delay Action to wait until the criminal starts acting – if the criminal reaches for a gun, the cop can shoot him at that point in the round, if the criminal puts his hands up, the cop can then move in for an arrest.
Disarm Foe*: Instead of attacking with a melee weapon, a character may try to disarm an opponent by making a Maneuver Roll, adding his Agility bonus and a value equal to the number of skill ranks with the weapon wielded. The foe is required to make a Resistance Roll (modified by his melee weapon skill bonus, plus an additional +10 modifier) against the value found on the RR column of the Maneuver Table. If the foe is wielding a firearm or an energy weapon, the foe is required to make a Resistance Roll (plus an additional +10 modifier but without adding in his melee weapon skill bonus) against the value found on the RR column of the Maneuver Table. A failed roll results in the foe’s weapon landing 1-3 meters away in a random direction.
1Note: A Combat Style & Maneuver exists with the same name. The action described above, however, is one that may be performed by any character, but is often less successful than when performed by a character with the appropriate skill.
Disengage from Melee*: This Combat Action is used by a character to withdraw from a melee combat without being open to a melee attack. It takes 2 rounds to perform. During the first round, the character cannot attack and must Parry with 50%
of his OB (treat as a Full Parry for resolution). If he does not take damage from his foe during this round, the character will automatically get initiative on the next round and be able to make a Full Move away from foe (cannot use this to move past foe) without the foe being able to attack. The character may not purposely attack foe when performing this Combat Action.
1Note: This is not the only way to disengage from melee.
Other methods and/or skills may be used to accomplish the same effect.
Dodge: Any character may attempt to Dodge during their turn, using 2x their Agility bonus (or Acrobatics/Tumbling skill bonus, whichever is higher). The character makes a Maneuver Roll and then receives a +50 (modified by the Bonus result of the Maneuver roll) to their DB against one attack. The bonus received from a Dodge can never be lower than 50 (unless the character fumbles in which case the bonus is 0); ignore any negative results on the Maneuver Table. This Combat Action takes a full round to perform.
Dodging Fire: This Combat Action requires the character to have a full-sized shield (riot or blast shield), hard cover, or reinforced cover to duck behind. It simulates a character quickly moving (part of) his head and his weapon hand out of cover, snapping off a shot (not an aimed or spread burst), and then ducking behind the cover fast. The character may increase their Defensive Bonus against ranged attacks (including Projectile and Energy attacks) by allocating any amount of their OB to their DB. For every two points of OB transferred, the character gains 1 point of DB.
Escape Blast: This Combat Action is usable at any time when a character needs to escape the blast radius of a grenade, bomb, or similar device. The character must be aware that a blast is about to take place, normally by succeeding at a Combat Perception maneuver. If the character has not taken his action for the round, he may change that action from what has been declared to the Escape Blast action. If he has already taken his action for the round, he may still elect to perform the Escape Blast Combat Action. The character makes a Medium All-or-Nothing maneuver roll, adding 2x his Agility bonus (or Acrobatics/Tumbling skill bonus, whichever is higher), and a special bonus of +20 if he has not yet acted in this round. If the character succeeds, he can leap or dive up to 2x his Base Movement Rate away from his current location. If this is enough to take the character outside the blast radius, he will suffer no harm. If the character fails or the blast radius is too large, then the character suffers the ill effects of the blast. After attempting this action, the character must spend the following round reorienting himself and may take no offensive action.
Full Parry*: This full defensive maneuver places the total value of a character’s OB (using a melee weapon or unarmed attack) towards their DB with an additional +10 bonus to the overall DB against all melee attacks from a single foe. (See also Parry below.)
To successfully use a Full Parry, make a d100 roll. If the result falls within the fumble range of the wielded weapon, a fumble has occurred and the character does not gain the Parry or the special bonus. If the result is within the Open-Ended High range, another roll is made. The total of both rolls is treated as an attack against a foe with no OB (i.e. perhaps the foe impaled himself on your weapon). In this particular instance the benefits of the Parry are still gained, but a sudden twist of fate ends with an unintentional attack against the foe!
Hold at Bay: There may be times when a character simply wishes to impede the progress of a foe rather than damage him. A character cannot be locked in melee combat with the foe and must have a melee weapon of greater length than the one wielded by the foe. Spears and pole arms receive an automatic +20 modifier to this Maneuver. The character must make a Maneuver Roll, adding his skill bonus with the weapon as a modifier to the roll, and consulting the RR column to determine the value the foe must resist.
The foe then has three options to select from:
P
Beat aside the weapon and attack – The foe makes a Maneuver Roll using some or all of their OB as the modifier in an attempt to surpass the RR column value of the Maneuver Table. A successful roll allows the foe to attack the character normally, using any remainder of his original OB.P
Bypass the character – The foe uses either the sum of his Quickness and Agility bonuses, or his Acrobatics/Tumbling skill bonus (whichever is higher), in an attempt to surpass the RR value from the Maneuver Table. A successful roll results in the foe bypassing the character and continuing on his way.P
Tumbling Attack – For this Maneuver, the foe uses either half the total bonus of his Quickness and Agility bonuses, or half of his Acrobatics/Tumbling skill bonus (whichever is higher), in an attempt to beat the Resistance Roll. A successful roll allows the foe to attack the character with half of his OB.Knockdown*: A character can make a Maneuver Roll, using the combined stat bonuses from Strength, Agility, and Quickness for this attack. If the Percentage result is 100 (or higher), the foe is forced to make a RR (adding 2x his Agility bonus) versus the result gained from the RR column of the Maneuver table. A failure results in the foe being knocked prone (treat as Foe Downed).
Minimize Exposure: A character can reduce his exposure to ranged weapon fire by hunkering down into a prone position, even without the benefit of cover or terrain. Getting into this position takes a full round (unless the character has just finished a Combat Crawl), but gives the character a +20 bonus to Defensive Bonus for as long as the character can maintain this position. If the character has just completed a Combat Crawl, he may adopt the Minimize Exposure pose without a preparation round. This Combat Action should not be used in melee combat.
Move & Attack*: This Combat Action allows the character to move and attack in the same round. The character receives a -5 modifier to his OB for every 1m or portion of 1m that is moved.
If the character moves 5m and attacks, he receives a -25 to his OB for moving three increments (5m = -25). If the character is moving at a pace faster than a run, he receives another -10 for
each Pace above a Run. If the character is moving at a Sprint (that is, 2 Paces above a run) he receives an additional -20 to his OB, in addition to the -25 for moving 5m.
Multiple Parry: This Combat Action may be used with any melee weapon. The character may divide his OB among multiple parries against melee or unarmed attacks. He may parry up to one attacker for every 10 ranks (or portion thereof) he has in his weapon skill. When making multiple parries, the character may not also attack in the same round. For each parry the character must assign a portion of his OB, which gets added to his DB against that one attacker. The character must make an unmodified roll for each parry. If the roll falls within the Fumble Range for the weapon, then the character has fumbled and may not make any more parries that round in addition to receiving the results of the fumble. If the roll is a 99 or 100, then treat it as open-ended, and make a second roll and use the total of both rolls as an unmodified attack against the person being parried. This also means that the character may not make any more parries for the round.
Parry: A character may increase their Defensive Bonus against melee attacks by allocating any amount of their OB to their DB.
Characters transferring their entire OB are said to be attempting a Full Parry (as listed above). A character’s Parry total is applied to all melee attacks directed at them from a single foe. Parrying characters need an (improvised) melee weapon or be using unarmed combat skills to parry.
Press & Melee: This combat action allows the character to move up to 2m and still make a melee attack. This attack is made with a -5 modifier.
Power Strike*: This Combat Action may be used with any melee weapon. The character gets a -20 to his attack for the round and if the attack is successful, he gets to add an additional +10 to the modification for weapon size. This modification may allow the critical result to exceed the normal damage cap for the weapon.
Shield Bash: A character bearing a shield can, in dire straits, use it as a weapon, making an attack roll using the DB value of the shield as the OB for the attack. (Do not count any Ablative Add-on or Kinetic Add-Add-on bAdd-onus to the shield’s DB.) Unfortunately, performing this sort of action negates the DB bonus for the shield for that round. This particular action may only be performed by characters with the Shield Training Talent. The Shield Bash attack replaces a character’s normal attack action for that round.
Riot and Blast Shield Bashes do Medium Martial Arts Sweeps/
Unbalancing criticals.
Spread Burst: This action requires a projectile or energy weapon capable of burst fire. When fired in the spread burst pattern, the wielder may shoot at multiple targets within a 15 degree arc.
Targets must be adjacent (with no one else between them). There must be no more than one target per three shots/bolts in the burst. A –30 OB penalty is incurred for each additional target (after the first). However, the shooter receives an OB bonus equal to the weapon’s Burst Bonus minus the weapon’s Recoil Penalty (if any). If the weapon is supported on a tripod or otherwise braced against recoil, the Recoil Penalty is ignored. The weapon attack
size is not increased in Spread Burst fire. Only one attack roll is made. This Combat Action requires a full round.
Subdual: At times, characters may wish to strike a foe using a melee weapon without utilizing their entire force for the blow, in an effort to disable or subdue a target. This action receives a -20 modifier to the attack roll. Should the attack still result in severe damaging effects, the character may adjust the result to any other lesser critical on the same table at their leisure.
Sudden Dive: This Combat Action is usable at any time whenever there is an object or terrain that a character may use as cover. The cover must be within 2x the character’s Base Movement Rate. If the character has not taken his action for the round, he may change that action from what has been declared to this action. If he has already taken his action for the round, he may still elect to perform a Sudden Dive for cover. The character makes a maneuver roll, adding 2x his Agility bonus (or Acrobatics/
Tumbling skill bonus, whichever is higher), and a special bonus of +20 if he has not yet acted in this round, looking up the result on the Percentage column of the Maneuver Table. The Percentage result is the fraction of the cover DB that the character may claim that round, e.g. Pieter gets 70% on an attempt to dive for half hard cover and can claim 70% of its +50 bonus or +35. Results over 100% are counted as 100%. The character must spend the next round reorienting himself in his cover after a successful use of this Combat Action. Fail or Fumble results represent a failure to reach the cover in time.
Sudden Dodge: This Combat Action is usable at any time.
If the character has not taken his action for the round, he may change that action from what has been declared to this action. If he has already taken his action for the round, he may still elect to perform a Sudden Dodge. However in doing so, he is also committed to performing a Sudden Dodge on the following round as well, giving up all other actions. Once a Sudden Dodge has been declared, the character makes a Maneuver Roll using 2 x his Agility Bonus (or Acrobatics/Tumbling skill, whichever is higher).
The character then receives 25 plus the result from the Bonus column of the Maneuver Table to their DB. Treat all negative results from the bonus column as if they gave a bonus of zero.
Suppression Fire*: This action requires a projectile or energy weapon capable of burst fire, and can only be used at distances of up to two range increments.
At point-blank range, a 45-degree arc is covered At up to 1 range increment, a 30-degree arc is covered At up to 2 range increments, a 15-degree arc is covered
The character makes a Suppression Fire maneuver using the weapon skill on the Bonus column of the Maneuver Table. Anyone in the target area suffers an attack where the Bonus result is the OB (added to a standard attack roll).
This Combat Action requires a full round.
Well-aimed Shot*: This Combat Action may be used with any ranged weapon. It represents the character trying to hit a more vulnerable part of the target. The character gets a -20 to his attack for the round and if the attack is successful, he gets to add an additional +10 to the modification for weapon size. This modification may allow the critical result to exceed the normal damage cap for the weapon.