Point Blank 15’ projectile
5’ thrown +1 Skill Step
Short 1 —
Medium 2 —1 Skill Step
Long 4 —3 Skill Step
Extreme 10 —6 Skill Step
R ules
Improvised Weapons: A good soldier always has a weapon handy, but it doesn’t always work out that way. When your character grabs a bottle, chair, stick, or other improvised weapon, ask the GM what rules apply. The more unwieldy the item, the greater the penalty (—1 to —4 Skill step generally). Most common items also have fairly small damage dice. On the other hand, the weapon does Basic, not just Stun damage (as fighting unarmed does).
The range increments listed in Chapter Five: Gear only apply when the weapon is used as intended, and is designed for such use. Heaving a pistol has nothing to do with the gun’s normal range increment. A pointy piece of metal may cause damage like a knife but it sure doesn’t throw like one. Again, improvised weapon rules apply and your GM decides the Skill step penalty depending on the range and the unwieldiness of the item.
Prone: Attacking while prone incurs a —2 Attribute step.
At or below the first increment, the attack is at close range and no modifier is applied. Beyond that, and up to double the range increment is medium range.
That range imposes a —1 Skill step. Up to four times the range increment is long range, and a —3 Skill step.
Beyond that lies extreme range. That attack suffers a
—6 Skill step. Your GM may decide that anything beyond 10 times the range increment is a waste of ammo (no chance of hitting). The Ranges Table summarizes.
Sneak Attack: Hit them where they ain’t looking.
Attacks from behind, or on an unaware target have an Easy (3) Difficulty, unless the target is moving erratically enough to warrant an Innate Defense roll.
This gets particularly ugly if the attacker has time to aim.
Throwing: Tossing a weapon designed for throwing (such as a throwing knife) is handled like any other ranged attack. The attack might use Strength or Agility, depending on the weapon. Chucking a rock or a grenade has an Average (7) Difficulty to hit the correct area if it’s no farther than 100 feet away. If the target is beyond 100 feet, the thrower also has to make a Strength + Athletics/Throwing (or other Skill) roll.
The maximum distance reachable is (100 + roll’s result) in feet. If that isn’t enough, the throw falls short. In that case, of if the thrower fails the roll to target the right area within range, it lands where the GM judges.
Two-Weapon Fighting: Fighting with two hands imposes a —2 Attribute step on the off-hand attack. The main hand attack is one action; the off-hand attack a second one.
Unarmed Combat: Much harder to kill someone by slugging him. Unarmed combat is resolved normally, but initial damage is all Stun type, instead of Basic type. Traits may alter the damage dealt.
When it comes to bonuses to damage dice, treat unarmed attacks as d0 Stun—any increase raises this to an actual die type.
Visibility: Smoke, fog, and dim light make tagging a target much harder. Darkness or blindness really messes you up.
Dim Light, Thin Smoke/Fog: —2 Skill step to all attacks or attempts to see beyond 10 feet (except spray fire).
Dark, Thick Smoke/Fog: —4 Skill step to all attacks or attempts to see beyond 10 feet (except spray fire).
Pitch Black, Blinded: Hard to hit something you can’t see. Gotta find some other way to find the target.
Make an Alertness + Perception/Hearing (or other sense) roll to attack someone under these conditions.
The Difficulty is Average (7) for a target who is shouting or making a lot of noise, Hard (11) for anyone talking or making a moderate amount of noise, Heroic (19) for someone not moving or making much noise, and Ridiculous (27) for someone making a stealth roll (the roll must also be higher than the target’s stealth roll).
That just gets the attacker a clue about where the target is. Hitting that target still requires a roll with a
—6 Skill step at range, or with a —4 Skill step in close combat.
d e f e n s e
Targets rarely just stand there and take it. That means the Difficulty of an attack is rarely the default Easy (3). The defender’s choices depend upon the situation and how much concentration is devoted to defense. As with attacks, most defenses combine an Attribute and a Skill.
Innate Defense: Keep your wits about you. You’ll live longer. If the target is aware of the attacker or the attack, or is moving around at walking speed or faster, he can roll Agility dice (unskilled, paired only with Traits or bonus dice from Plot Points) to raise the attack Difficulty. The GM might give him a +1 or +2 Agility step if his character is moving very quickly, in an unexpected direction, or through areas with some cover. Innate defense cannot be botched, but if the roll result is lower than three, use the lower number. It’s frakked up when you put yourself
C h a p t e r F o u r
in more danger trying to avoid danger. Innate defense rolls are nonactions.
Blocking: Keep your guard up. Blocking, or parrying, intercepts an opponent’s attack with a limb, object, weapon, or shield. Roll Agility + close combat Skill/Specialty; if the character happens have a shield of some sort, use Melee Combat/Shield with a +1 to +4 Skill steps. The result is the attacker’s Difficulty. Blocking is an action that occurs in response to another character’s action.
It’s possible to block a weapon while unarmed, it just ain’t smart. If successful, the defender suffers damage (minus armor, if any) from the damage die the weapon would have inflicted on a hit. Better than getting stabbed someplace more vital, but it still hurts like hell.
Guns and ranged attacks can’t be blocked. If the shield is sturdy enough, it might provide cover though.
Dodging: You live longer if you stay out of an enemy’s line of fire. Ducking, leaning, sidestepping, jumping to the side—all that is called dodging. Roll Agility + Athletics/Dodge.
Dodging counts as an action. Your GM may allow your character to throw himself to the ground as a nonaction, but no further movement or dodging is possible that turn. Hitting the dirt is rolled as a regular dodge. After that, the character is prone. Hitting the dirt gets you out of the way fast, but can cause problems later.
Cover: Want to keep your insides where they belong? Find and use cover. Put a hard object, as large as possible, between you and danger. Cover doesn’t use rolls; it adds a flat number to a character’s defense, depending upon how much concealment exists. Hard objects also protect against explosive damage. Four levels exist:
Light Cover: Up to half the body is covered. This adds 4 to the defense Difficulty. Remove one die of explosive damage.
Medium Cover: More than half the target is safe. Add 8 to the defense Difficulty. Drop two dice of explosive damage.
Heavy Cover: Almost all the defender is protected.
Add 12 to the defense Difficulty. Three dice of explosive damage are left off.
Total Cover: Target can’t be hit. If a hit is possible for some reason (defender is peeking through a hole in a bulkhead), or might do damage anyway (a heavy, but portable piece of metal could push back on the target), add 16 to the defense Difficulty. Explosive
damage loses four dice.
Cover bonuses only applies if the GM deems the blocking object tough enough. Substances that conceal but don’t block fully are treated as armor, with an armor rating determined by the GM based on the type of material.
Called shots to a visible target behinnd cover only receive half the normal difficulty increase due to cover. For example, if an attacker shoots at someone’s head poking up from behind Medium cover would have an difficulty increase of +12 (+8 for the cover, and half of +8 for the called shot). The GM may adjust the difficulty based on a specific situation.
Prone: In a firefight, being face first in the mud is safer than being upright out in the open. Still, it’s no picnic. You can’t dodge when your prone, or use innate defense. Being prone is generally the equivalent of light cover. Also, being flat on your back is a real liability against close combat attacks. An attacker gains a +2 Skill step. At the GM’s discretion, blocking may not be possible.
Protective Gear: If you can’t stay behind large, hard objects, strapping on Kevlar and wearing your protection around is the way to go. Armor doesn’t stop you from getting hit like cover does, it just makes the hurt less bad. The heavier the armor, the more hindrance it imposes.
Chapter Five: Gear lists the Armor Rating of certain types of armor. The GM determines the Armor Rating of any ad hoc armor (e.g., an object that isn’t hard enough to amount to cover). The Armor Rating is subtracted from any damage inflicted. Wound damage is reduced first, then Stun damage.
A Colonial marine wearing a combat helmet (4W protection) takes a shot to the head. The blow does 2 Wounds and 3 Stun damage. The helmet shuts down the 2 Wound and 2 Stun. The remaining Stun damage gets through, but is little more than a bruise.
Attacks that garner Exceptional Success ignore armor.
Heavier body armor interferes with movement, range of motion, and perception. Such armor lists a step penalty that is applied to Agility, Alertness, or any other rolls the GM deems proper. The penalties shouldn’t be applied blindly however. Your GM should take into account the type of armor and the circumstances. A combat helmet might interfere with perception rolls, but it wouldn’t affect attacks, dodging, running, or other movement. On the other hand, a full suit of body armor that includes gloves makes fine manipulation, like that required to repair something or pick a lock, much more difficult.
R ules
s P e C i a l s i T u a T i o n s
Combat is chaotic, frightening, and impossible to predict. And then you get the unusual situations.
Here’s a few of them.