Advanced Combat Rules

On this page, you can find some other short but important combat rules to keep in mind whenever characters are engaged in battle.

Qualities and Effects

Many attacks or effects characters may be subjected to will have special effects, imparted either by Gear, Special rules, maneuvers, etc. You can use the table below to check what each effect does.

Stacking Effects

Certain effects that trigger on a hit or upon dealing damage to a target may require a test to determine if the target resists the effect.

For direct damage effects - Scorch(X), Frost(X), and Shock(X) - the target immediately takes (X) points of Direct Damage when hit by the effect. If any of the Direct Damage causes the target to lose Hit Points, this may trigger an additional effect that the target must roll to resist.

Whenever a target is hit by an effect that requires a test to resist, the character who inflicts it determines when the test is made. If they are hit with the same effect again, the test's difficulty increases to match the new number - and if the current difficulty already meets or exceeds it, it instead increases by 1.

If a target has already rolled to resist an effect, they automatically pass all tests against the same effect until the end of the current turn. Tests to resist an effect must occur in the same turn they are applied unless otherwise specified.

Some examples:

1. Character A hits Character B with a Knockdown(2) effect, then triggers the effect, forcing Character B to roll to resist Knockdown(2). If character A hits Character B with Knockdown(2) again before the end of their turn, Character B automatically succeeds the roll to resist it.

2. Character A hits Character B with a Knockdown(2) effect, then, before triggering the effect, uses their next AP to hit Character B with the Knockdown(2) effect again - increasing the test difficulty by 1. This would increase the difficulty of the test to Knockdown(3) when the effect is triggered.

3. Character A hits Character B with a Knockdown(2) effect, then, before triggering the effect, hits Character B with a Knockdown(4) effect. Since the new effect is higher than Knockdown(2), the test to resist the effect becomes Knockdown(4).

Combat Effects

When applying an effect, the effect will usually have either a number in Parenthesis which represents the difficulty to resist the effect, or an X.

On most effects, X means the difficulty is 1 for every 5 pts of damage dealt to the target (after armor). So for example; if an attack deals 25 damage with Knockback(X) and the target has 9 armor, the test against Knockback would have a difficulty of 3.

Characters hit must beat an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or be affected by 1 stack of the Acid temporary condition.
Characters hit must beat a Endurance (Fortitude X) or Insight (Perception X) test or receive the Blinded condition until the end of their next turn.
Characters hit must beat an Endurance (Fortitude X) test or receive a stack of the Corroded condition.
On a critical hit, if the target takes any damage to their HP from this weapon, they must beat an Endurance (Vitality X), to a maximum difficulty of 3, or take an automatic wound.
Taking your time with with this attack allows it to ignore the armor of barriers and structures as well degrade enemy armor by 1 point for every 5 points of damage absorbed by AV.
Characters hit must pass an Insight (Willpower X) test or be affected the Afraid condition.
Characters hit take X points of Direct Damage. If any of that damage reduces the target's HP, they must pass an Endurance (Fortitude) test based on the HP lost of receive the Slow condition.
Characters hit must pass an Endurance (Fortitude X)test or be pulled up to 15 feet towards the point of origin of the weapon or explosion (in case of a blast weapon) and is affected by the Prone condition.
Item descriptionCharacters hit may be affected by the Immobilized condition instead of damaged. Immobilized characters may use a Break action on their turn to attempt to beat the attacker in an opposed Strength/Dexterity (Grapple) test or be unable to perform any movement or free move actions. An enemy may only attempt to break free from this effect once per round. A gripped character can be dragged up to 15 feet as a 1 AP action if they lose an opposed Endurance(Fortitude) test vs their captor's Strength(Athletics)
Characters hit must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or be pushed back directly back 5 feet for every success they failed the test by. If a character is knocked back 15 feet or more and they collide with an object or another character, they take d3 points of direct damage per 5 feet traveled after the first 10. The character they collide with are hit by a damage test that deals 1D damage for every 5 feet traveled after the first 10.
Characters hit must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or receive the Prone condition.
Non-mechanical characters hit (other than cyborgs and implanted humans) must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) - to a maximum of 4 - or be knocked unconscious and Out of the Fight. If the target has the Stunned condition they have major disadvantage on the test.
Characters hit are automatically hit by attacks with the conductor quality until they spend 2 AP to remove the effect.
For X rounds, any area affected by this attack will be blanketed in powerful sonic and subsonic pulses. Each target starting their turn or entering the area for the first time in their turn must a Fortitude(Endurance 3) test or be affected by the Stunned condition.
Characters hit must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or be affected by the Poisoned condition.
Characters hit must pass an Insight(Willpower)(X) test or be afflicted by the Berserk condition until the end of their next turn.
Characters hit take X points of Direct Damage. If any of that damage reduces the target's HP, they must pass an Insight (Willpower) test based on the HP lost of receive the Afraid condition.
This ranged attack ignores stealth and cover as long as there is Line of Sight to the target.
This attack deals an additional +1D damage whenever you score a critical hit.
Characters hit take X points of Direct Damage. If any of that damage reduces the target's HP, they must pass an Endurance (Fortitude) test based on the HP lost of receive the Stunned condition. Mechanical units receive twice the direct HP damage from Shock.
Mechanical units (that are not cyborgs or implanted humans) in the area must pass a Fortitude(Endurance X) check or be knocked Out of the Fight for d3 rounds + 1 extra round for each success they failed the check by. A shutdown mechanical unit can be awakened if they take any damage or with an Intelligence(Mechacraft 2) Repair action.
Characters hit must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or receive the Slowed condition.
Characters hit must pass an Endurance(Fortitude X) test or receive the Stunned condition.
Characters hit gain the Vulnerable (+1) condition.

Temporary Conditions

A character may be affected by Temporary Conditions in and sometimes out of combat, you can use the following table to identify the effects of these conditions. More unique temporary conditions can also be inflicted by some equipment or abilities, the rules for which will be included in the corresponding piece of gear or ability.

Common Temporary Conditions

Every turn, or every 6 seconds, the character receives 1 points of Direct Damage per stack of Acid (up to 3), and the Acid expires 1 minute after the last point was received. A character affected by acid after a battle does not re-fill their hit points until the acid has expired.
A character that is afraid cannot move closer to the source of their fear and any tests against the source of their fear have Major Disadvantage. The character can attempt an Insight[Willpower 2] test at the end of each of their turns to remove the condition.
Outside of combat, the character can attempt the test at the end of every minute instead.
A Berserk character will attempt to use all their AP to attack the closest enemy as long as they are able to do so, in lieu of any other actions. The character can normally attempt an Insight[Willpower 2] test at the end of each of their turns to remove the condition.
A blinded character has Major Disadvantage on all tests that require sight and cannot use Ranged attacks or Line of Sight dependent abilities.
Any attacks against a Corroded character gain a +X damage modifier (Up to 3). Corrosion needs to be removed over one hour with an Intelligence[Crafting 2] test or a Strength[Crafting 2] test, or may be neutralized with Soothall.
A Distracted character has a Disadvantage on their next Skill Test.
An encouraged character can add an Advantage to one skill test of their choosing until the end of their next turn.
An exhausted character has X disadvantages on all Strength, Endurance and Dexterity tests. A character's exhaustion level is reduced by 1 over a one hour rest, or fully reset over an 8 hour rest.
If a character reaches Exhaustion(5) they are knocked Out of the Fight until they can reduce their Exhaustion by at least 1 level.
A fatigued character has X disadvantages on all Insight, Intelligence and Charisma tests. A character's fatigue level is reduced by 1 over a one hour rest, or fully reset over an 8 hour rest.
If a character reaches Fatigued(5) they are knocked Out of the Fight until they can reduce their Fatigue by at least 1 level.
A character is flanked when they are being engaged by two or more enemy characters, attacked from their back arc or attacked by an enemy they are unaware of. Attacks against a character that is flanked have an advantage, some training, conditions and abilities require that characters are flanked in order to trigger.
A grappled character cannot use reactions nor any movement or free step actions and has Major Disadvantage on all Strength and Dexterity based skill tests - except those to break out of the grapple.
A hidden character has not been detected by enemies and cannot be directly targeted by attacks and abilities.
While Hidden, you are also Slowed.
An immobilized character cannot use any movement or free move actions.
Character has a Strength, Endurance or Dexterity Injury. Each injury has a different effect, if this character takes another Injury of the same type they receive a wound instead.
You automatically succeed on tests to Hide if you are out of Line of Sight. You have major advantage on tests to hide while in Line of Sight of enemies.
Attacking, using ECM, casting a Psionic ability, dealing or receiving damage while Invisible ends the condition unless otherwise specified by Gear or Abilities.
A paralyzed character cannot use any actions or reactions whatsoever and their Passive Evasion becomes 1.
A poisoned character has disadvantage on all Skill tests. Poison can be treated over an hour with an Intelligence[Medicine 3] test or removed with a Detoxer. After 8 hours, a character may attempt an Endurance[Fortitude 2] test to shake off the poison and on a failure, the Poison becomes an Endurance Wound instead. Additionally, if a character receives further poisoned while already poisoned, the difficulty of this test increases by 1, to a maximum of 5.
A character is considered prone if they are laying on the ground or on their knees. Prone characters' cover is increased by one degree and they have an advantage on ranged attacks and disadvantage on melee attacks. Any melee attack against a Prone character gains Major Advantage. Prone characters are also considered Flanked, so flanking them provides no further benefits.
A slowed character has their movement speed halved (rounded up).
A stunned character loses 1 Action Point at the beginning of their next turn, after which they are no longer stunned
A surprised character can take no actions, has no reactions and their passive evasion is set to 1 until the end of their next turn.
A taunted character must direct any attack they make during their turn at the enemy that taunted them, as long as it is safe and possible for them to do so.
A character using a Sneak Attack or attacks that use 2 or more AP (without the Blast, Template or Burst qualities) against a Vulnerable target can expend the quality to add +1D damage for each stack of Vulnerable on the target, up to +4D of damage.
Vulnerable expires after 1 minute or when expended.
The next attack that hits a warded character deals -1D damage for every stack of Warded on the character. Warded can only stack up to Warded(4).
Warded expires after 1 minute or when expended.
A wounded character has Disadvantage on all tests using their wounded characteristic until the wound is treated. Penalties from several wounds on the same characteristic do not stack.

Stamina and Exertion

Stamina is a resource character have to use in combat to increase their effectiveness or perform special actions known as Combat Maneuvers.

Whenever a character uses an action in combat which requires a test using Strength, Endurance or Dexterity, they can spend a point of Stamina to Exert, which mean they gain an advantage. If an action would require more than one test, characters can Exert in each test at the cost of one stamina per test. (This includes Damage tests that use a Strength or Dexterity).

A character can recover Stamina using expendable items, abilities or Rest actions in combat - furthermore, much like Hit Points, a character recovers all their Stamina after being out of combat and out of danger for at least one minute.

Additionally, its possible for a Character to Exert or use a Combat Maneuver even without Stamina;

A character at 0 Stamina can Exert on tests during their turn, but gain the Exhausted(+1) condition at the end of their turn.
A character at 0 Stamina can use a Combat Maneuver but they must pass a Fortitude(Endurance) test where the difficulty is the Stamina cost of the maneuver. If successful, the character uses the Maneuver and gains the Exhausted(+1) condition immediately afterwards.

You can find rules for exerting out of combat in the Playing the Game section.

Degrading Armor

Sometimes, characters will find themselves facing enemies that are extremely heavily armored, to the point where their weapons or attacks seem useless. Fortunately, no armor is impregnable and as armor takes more and more hits, it will start to degrade and lose its effectiveness. For every 10 points of damage armor absorbs from a single attack, its AV is reduced by 1, so the minimum armor a character can usually have is 9 AV.

For example, if a character has 21 points of armor and takes an attack that deals 30 points of damage. The armor would absorb 21 points of that damage, the remaining 9 would go through to DR or HP, and the armor would degrade by 2 points, down to 19 AV.

Armor damaged in such way can get properly repaired whenever the character visits a settlements, town or location with the facilities to do so. On the field or in the middle of a mission, degraded sets of Armor can receive some emergency repairs from a Mechacrafter equipped with a toolbox or smithing tools with an Strength[Crafting] or Intelligence[Crafting] test, with each success repairing 1 point of AV or DR, but each test to do so takes 1 hour.

On the other hand, any AV or DR a character gains from gene mods, traits or training is considered Natural and is recovered over a long rest. Whenever a character completes a Long Rest, a character’s AV and DR automatically repairs up to the minimum (usually 9 and 0 respectively) plus whatever natural AV and DR they have.

Burst Attacks

Some weapons have a special quality called Burst. This means the weapon is able to fire a barrage of projectiles at the enemy. Since rolling a full attack for each shot would be too time consuming, you may use the following steps to resolve a Burst Attack;

Select a point within your weapon’s range.
All targets (friendly and hostile!) within 10 feet of that point may be hit by the Burst. (If a target is at least 50% within the area, they are hit by the burst).
Expend 2 rounds of ammunition from the weapon for each target of the attack. If you do not have enough ammunition to hit all targets, only the closest targets for which you have ammunition are hit.
Apply advantages, disadvantages and damage modifiers to the attack. If some targets would be affected by conditions and not others (for example, disadvantages from stealth and cover, additional damage dice from conditions, etc) roll those separately so you can count their successes only against applicable targets.
Make a single attack test and single damage test for the attack. All targets whose evasion you match or beat take the corresponding damage - targets you fail to hit take half damage instead. Bursts cannot inflict critical hits and do not threaten targets other than the ones within the area.

A character normally can only make one Burst fire attack on their turn, though some enemies may be able to do more than one.

Area of Effect Attacks

Some weapons, such as grenades, missiles, flamethrowers, etc., may affect a large area and every character within. These weapons will have either the Blast or Template quality.

Blast weapons affect an depending the type of blast they are, as shown in the graphic below. Blast (1) weapons affect everything within 5 feet of their point of impact whereas Blast (2) weapons have a radius of 10 feet, and so on.

When using a blast weapon, the central point of the blast (marked with a red dot in the example) must be within the range of the weapon. Once the central point is determined, the character must pass an Aim test against a GM determined difficulty. You can use the following indicators to determine the difficulty, to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5;

There are obstacles or cover between the character and the chosen point (+1 difficulty)
The chosen point is more than 20 feet away from the character. (+1 difficulty)
Visibility is low around the chosen point through smoke, darkness, fog, etc. (+1 difficulty).
The character is on difficult terrain, on a moving vehicle, in water, climbing or on otherwise unstable ground. (+1 difficulty).
The chosen point is on difficult terrain, on a moving vehicle, in water, in water or on otherwise unstable ground (+1 difficulty)

If the test fails, the blast will scatter in a direction determined by 1d6 with 1 being directly north and 4 being directly south as shown in the illustration;

If the character failed by 1 success, the center point of the blast will move 1d3 times 5 feet.
If the character failed by 2 or more successes, the center point of the blast will move 1d6 times 5 feet.

It is possible for a weapon to scatter out of range. If the weapon hits a wall or similar obstacle while scattering, it stops there.

Template weapons, on the other hand, work by drawing a single, straight line directly away from the shooter, in the direction they are facing. The starting point of the line can be anywhere up to the max range of the weapon and the length of the line is determined by the weapon quality. So, for example a Template (2) weapon would affect ten feet in a line, whereas a Template (5) weapon would affect 25 feet.

Physical objects that grant full cover interrupt Area of Effect attacks they are between a character and the source of the blast. Area of Effect attacks do not roll to hit, they automatically strike anyone within the line, however, characters that are not prone or paralyzed can attempt a Dexterity[Evasion 2] test to half the damage dealt by the attack, though the difficulty of the test may vary depending on the attack and the character using it.

A character normally can only make one Blast or Template attack on their turn, though some enemies may be able to do more than one.

Blast 1

Blast 2

Takedowns

It is entirely possible that a group might manage to kill an enemy, even a powerful one, with a single well-placed shot. If a party manages to sneak undetected past sleeping guards, kill the alarms and the lights, then move in and try to slit their throats they might be able to end the enemy group before there is even a need to call for Initiative. For situations such as these, it is recommended that GMs use Takedown rules.

Takedowns are one or more Skill Challenges or even Guile Encounters to represent the steps required to defeat or neutralize the enemy without engaging in combat or even having to kill them. A Takedown might be a single, medium difficulty skill challenge to restrain and tie-up a sleeping grunt, or several strung together to deal with a powerful or influential, well protected figure. You can use the following table for suggestions on how to determine how many skills challenges a take-down attempt might need and what the difficulty for them might be. It is also recommended that advantages are granted to the players for using their character’s backgrounds, contacts and specialties to gain an edge during the takedown attempt.

  
    Steps (Number of Skill Challenges and/or Guile Encounters starting from 1)
  
    Target has a dedication security force, bodyguards, or henchmen.
    +1
  
    Target is on the move or in an unmapped location.
    +1
  
    Target is a seasoned or powerful warrior.
    +1
  
    Target is an influential, famous, or important figure.
    +1

Steps (Number of Skill Challenges and/or Guile Encounters starting from 1)
Target has a dedication security force, bodyguards, or henchmen.	+1
Target is on the move or in an unmapped location.	+1
Target is a seasoned or powerful warrior.	+1
Target is an influential, famous, or important figure.	+1

  
    Skill Challenge/Guile Encounter Difficulty (starting at 4, minimum of 2)
  
    The target is not hostile or distrustful of the group.
    -1
  
    The group is familiar with the target's location.
    -1
  
    The target is wounded or otherwise impaired.
    -1
  
    The group is familiar with the target's itinerary.
    -1
  
    Another group is helping with the takedown directly or indirectly.
    -1
  
    The target is aware the group is moving against them.
    +1
  
    The target is aware they are in danger.
    +1
  
    The target is geared for combat.
    +1
  
    The target is not alone.
    +1
  
    The target is in a vehicle or a defensible position.
    +1
  
    The group has to prepare in a rush.
    +1

Skill Challenge/Guile Encounter Difficulty (starting at 4, minimum of 2)
The target is not hostile or distrustful of the group.	-1
The group is familiar with the target's location.	-1
The target is wounded or otherwise impaired.	-1
The group is familiar with the target's itinerary.	-1
Another group is helping with the takedown directly or indirectly.	-1
The target is aware the group is moving against them.	+1
The target is aware they are in danger.	+1
The target is geared for combat.	+1
The target is not alone.	+1
The target is in a vehicle or a defensible position.	+1
The group has to prepare in a rush.	+1

Remember that one failed skill challenge or guile encounter won't necessary ruin the takedown attempt, but may increase the difficulty of the final takedown itself. It is also entirely possible that the target might be entirely too powerful, resilient or skilled to be taken down in a single attempt.

GMs should reward a successful (or partially successful) takedown attempt - while it might not be possible to defeat the big bad with a single skill challenge, if the group prepared properly and successful executed heir plans the GM can apply one of the following effects in the final confrontation;

The Target starts the encounter with an Injury.
The Target starts the encounter with a Wound.
The Target starts the encounter with fewer hit points.
The Target starts the encounter unarmed or missing some significant piece of gear.
The Target is Surprised for the first round of the encounter.

Combat Maneuvers

Combat Maneuvers are special actions characters can use in combat, though some are available to all characters, many require specialized training to perform. A character can normally use a single combat maneuver each turn.