Combat

Combat is handled as a series of Combat Turns. Each turn is approximately 5 seconds of game time.

At this step, all the combat participants declare their actions. The action should be declared only in general, and not go into detail. For example a character may elect to attack, but doesn’t have to specify whom he will attack. The details of the action must be given only when the combatant is about to make it.

In order to find out who goes first in a combat turn, each participant rolls 1D6 and adds his Dexterity to the result. The one with the higher Initiative score goes first. If two combatants get the same Initiative score, they take their actions simultaneously.

If a combatant gets and Initiative total of 10 or higher, he can take another action in the combat turn. The second action is resolved after all the participants have taken their first action. If more than one combatant is allowed a second action, the order in which the actions are resolved is according to the Initiative score – the higher score goes first.

Please note than there are some cyberware or drugs that can increase character’s reflexes (like Reflex Booster for example). If a character is using one of these enhancements, they add their level to the initiative score.

Movement is resolved separately from any other action in a combat turn - a character can fire and run at the same turn. The only consideration is that when a character performs any other movement than walking, he must take a penalty to the other actions he performs in the turn.

A character can walk for up to 5 meters in a combat turn. If the character wants to move more than 5 meters, he must run. A running character can move up to 10 meters in a single turn, but must take a –1 penalty to all actions performed in the combat turn.

A character can crawl up to 2 meters per combat turn, but again he must take a –1 penalty to all actions performed.

Changing position is also considered movement for combat purposes and therefore can be done independently of any action taken in a combat turn. A character can fall prone without any penalty, but getting up will impose a –1 penalty to all actions in the turn.

Ranged Attack – This includes any action that involves attacks from a distance. Included are Firearms, Bows, Knives, Missiles, etc. The number of attacks allowed is usually 1 attack per turn. An exception is made with firearms. The number of attacks depend on the type of the firearm:

Close Combat – Any attack made by a hand held weapon or without any weapons.

Drawing – A drawing action is considered only half an action. This means that a character which is allowed 2 attacks per turn (using SA or FA weapons) can still fire one shot or burst. A character that is allowed only 1 attack (an SS weapon, a knife) can’t attack at the same round in which the weapon is drawn.

Drawing a weapon also imposes a –1 penalty to any attack made that combat turn.

A character can fast draw a weapon. If the character succeeds, the draw action took only a negligible amount of time, and the character can act in the turn as though he had the weapon in his hand from the beginning of the turn. If the character fails, the drawing action took the whole turn, and the character is not allowed the half action he would have gotten if he drew regularly. To resolve the fast draw, roll Dexterity (with reflex modifiers) with a difficulty number of 10.

Aiming – A character may elect to aim for a whole combat turn. Aiming gives the character a +2 bonus for the next attack he makes. Aiming is good only for one attack, even if the character is allowed more than one attack the next combat turn. After the first attack, the aim is ruined.

Reloading – It takes 1 turn to change a clip, or replace a belt. If the weapon uses single rounds (like a SS weapon) then 5 rounds can be loaded in a single turn.

A shot is solved just like any other action. Use the appropriate weapon skill with a difficulty number that is decided by the range of the attack. Each weapon has it’s own range categories (see the weapons table). The difficulty numbers are as follows:

Short Range – 10
Medium Range – 15
Long Range - 20
Extreme Range – 30

If a character uses a scope, the range category is reduced by the scope’s level. A scope is effective only when the character is aiming for at least 1 turn. For example a level 2 scope would reduce Long range to Short range. Note that the closest range a scope can reduce to is Short range.

There are several modifiers that can influence a shot. The modifiers are just like any other actions modifiers, which means they reduce or increase the level of the skill.

Here is a table that suggests basic modifiers for combat situations that are common. Other modifiers can apply just like they can apply to any other action.

Description	Modifier
Running	-1
Crawling	-1
Stunned or Wounded	-1
Drawing (without fast draw)	-1
Darkness: Partial Total	-1 -2
Cover: 50% 75%	-1 -2
Target Size: Very Small (10cm) Small (50 cm) Large (3 m) Very Large (10m)	-2 -1 +1 +2
Using laser sight	+1*
Using smart weapon	+1
Aiming	+2

Stunned or Woulded – If the attacker is stunned or wounded, he suffers a –1 penalty.

Darkness – Different levels of darkness inhibit the attacker sight and make it harder for him to hit. Note that this modifier is for subjective darkness – a character with thermal vision can see the target clear even if in total darkness and would suffer no penalty to the attack, but the same character would be in partial darkness (-1 penalty) if the target is standing near a fireplace.

Cover – 50% cover is a target ducking behind a sofa or lying down. 75% cover is a target behind a wall curve with only the head and the firing hand exposed.

Target size – The bigger the target, the easier it is to hit it. The smaller the target, the harder it is to hit.

Using laser sight – Using a laser sight is just like the attacker was aiming, thus granting him a +1 bonus to the attack. When using autofire, usage of a laser sight is not effective.

Using smart weapon – If the attacker has a smart module on the weapon and a smart link, (either neural or optical) he is entitled to a +2 bonus.

Melee combat is either an attack with a cold weapon or without weapons. It is resolved the same way as a shot, but the difficulty number is always 10.

Dodging is the act of evading a ranged attack, while parrying is the act of evading a melee attack. A character has dodge/Parry dice equal to the Dodge skill. These dice are used for all the dodges and parrying a character does in a combat turn. The character renews his dice only at the beginning of a new turn.

Using dodge (or parry) dice means that the defender rolls D6 for every die spent on dodging (or parrying), sums up the results and the number is added to the difficulty number (a greater difficulty number representing the dodge or parry). Note that not more than 2 dodge (or parry) dice can be used for the one attack. The dodge dice are declared just prior to the rolling of the attack.

If a target is hit by an attack, he must find out how bad he was hurt. This is done by calculating the damage of the attack.

Each attack has a damage level. The target resists the damage using his Pain Resistance skill plus any Armor level that is worn by the target.

Roll damage dice equal to damage level and total them. Then roll the pain resistance dice and the armor dice and total them. If the resistance total was greater than or equal to the damage, no wounds are taken but the target is stunned for the remainder of the turn (a –1 penalty to ALL actions made that turn – including and further damage resistance). If the damage total is greater than the resistance, the target takes wounds equal to the difference between the rolls (see the damage section to understand what taking wounds means).

Grenades attacks are solved the same way as shooting, only they cause damage even if the attack failed.

A grenade attack is divided into two parts: the throwing attack, and the damage attack.

When throwing a grenade (the ‘throwing attack’), the attacker chooses where the grenade will land. The difficulty number is the same as for a normal attack – according to the range. If the attack succeeded, the grenade landed where it was supposed to land. If the attack failed, the grenade landed somewhere close to the designated location. The distance from the target location is 1D6 meters, and the direction is resolved using a D6: 1=forward, 4=backwards with other numbers going clockwise. For example 3=right and back and 5=left and forward.

Once the landing location is resolved, a separate ‘damage attack’ is made on each target in the area of explosion. A level of 4 is used for the grenade attack, and the difficulty number is found according to the range from each target. The damage ranges are different from the attack ranges for the grenade, so there are two range tables for each grenade – one for throwing the grenade, and one for the damage attack. The damage inflicted by the grenade ‘attack’ also varies according to the damage range, and is solved just like any other attack.

Note that a character can dodge a grenade ‘damage attack’ with dodge, but not the grenade throw itself.

Hening is running with all his speed, the two gang members are on his tail. Just as he turned the corner he realized his mistake. It was a dead end. Drawing his grenade he turned around to face his attackers. Gang Member A is holding a Baretta 96F and gang member B is holding a knife.

First of all participants declare their action. Hening will throw the grenade, the first gang member will shoot at Hening and the other gang member will run forward to close the distance between him and Hening.

Initiative is rolled:
Hening rolls a 5 and with a Dexterity of 4 gets a total of 9.
Gang member A rolls a 6 with a Dexterity of 3 gets a total of 9.
Gang member B rolls a 4 with a Dexterity of 4 gets a total of 8.

Both Hening and gang member A go simultaneously. First of all the fire attack of gang member A will be resolved. The range is 15 meters and is Medium range (difficulty 10) for the Baretta 96F. The gang member has a skill level of 4 with firearms and is using a laser sight, which adds a +1 to his roll. Hening will use 2 dice for dodging and he rolls 2+4=6. The new difficulty number is 16. The gang member rolls 5D6 and gets a 15 – a miss. Another shot is taken by the gang member (since he is using a SA weapon he is entitled to 2 shots) only this time Hening will use only 1 dodge die (he is saving the 4^th die just in case he’ll need it later). The dodge roll is 3 and the difficulty number for the gang member is 13. The roll (5D6) is made with a result of 14 – a hit! The damage level of the Baretta 96F is 6. Hening has Pain Resistance of 4 and is wearing a Light Kevlar Vest (armor level 2). The gang member rolls 6D6 for a total of 22 while Hening rolls 6D6 for a total of 23. Hening’s resistance roll was good so he is only stunned for the remainder of the turn.

Now it’s time for Hening’s grenade throw. Since the gang member shot was simultaneous with the grenade throw, Hening is not stunned yet (He will not suffer the –1 penalty). Hening is aiming between the gang members – a 15 meters distance, which are Long range for the grenade so Hening will need a 15 as a difficulty number. Hening’s throwing weapons skill is 4, so he rolls 4D6 to a total of 12 – a miss. A 1D6 is rolled for the distance with a result of 3, and a 1D6 is rolled for the direction with a result of 2. The grenade didn’t land between the gang members as planned but at 3 meters distance away and to the right. Now an attack is made with 4D6 against each gang member. Gang member A was to the right so the grenade is 2 meters away from him – Short range with a target number of 5. He uses 2 dice for dodge (trying to flatten himself on the ground) and rolls a total of 6. Hening rolls 4D6 for the grenade and gets a 13 which is higher than 11 – a hit. Damage level is 10 for Short range and Pain Resistance of the gang member is 5 with an armor level 2. 10D6 are rolled for damage to a stunning total of 45! The resistance roll of 7D6 totals only to 25 that results in 20 wounds (a difference of 20 points). Gang member A’s Strength is 4, so his Health is 12 – this means that his Temporary Health is –8 and he is unconscious and bleeding to death (he will loose 1 wound every minute so he will have a Temporary Health of –12 in 4 minutes and then he’ll die).

Next we need to resolve the grenade attack on Gang member B. He is 5 meters away from the grenade which is Long range – difficulty 15. The gang member uses 2 dice for dodge and rolls a 10 which raises the difficulty number to 25. Hening rolls 4D6 for the grenade attack and gets only 15, which is a miss.

Since gang member B didn’t attack, but only ran, he is now 5 meters away from Hening.

This turn Hening will fast draw his knife, while the gang member will close the distance running and will attack Hening.

Initiative is rolled:
Hening rolls a 3 and with a Dexterity of 4 gets a total of 7.
Gang member B rolls a 5 with a Dexterity of 4 gets a total of 9.

The gang member attacks first. He is at –1 to his attack because he is running. His skill with armed weapons is 4, which gives him 3D6 for his attack. Hening decides to allocate 2 dice for parry and rolls a total of 5 which raises the difficulty to 15 (10 is the basic difficulty for melee combat). The gang member rolls a 14 – not enough.

Now Hening rolled his Dexterity of 4 for his fast draw attempt. He scores a 13 and manages to fast draw. He now attacks. His skill with armed weapons is 5, which gives him 5D6. The gang member uses 2 dice for parry and rolls 8. Hening rolled 21 for his attack, which is more than the needed 18. The damage level for a knife is Strength+1 which is 4. Pain resistance for the gang member is 3 and with an armor of 2 he rolls 5D6 for a total of 15. Hening rolls 19 for the damage and the gang member is wounded for 4 wounds (4 points difference).

The gang member sees that the odds are not in his favor and decides to run. Hening decided to let him go and the combat is over.

Single Shot (SS)	1 attack per turn.
Semi Automatic (SA)	Up to 2 separate attacks per turn.
Full Automatic (FA)	Up to 2 bursts per turn. Each burst shoots 5 rounds. A penalty of –2 is applied to the shot (due to recoil) but a +2 is added to the damage level (due to the burst being made of 5 rounds).