Chapter 8: Combat

Combat Modifiers

Combat modifiers are bonuses and penalties that can affect an attacker’s accuracy and a defender’s armour class. Combat modifiers are applied when the situation within the game world calls for them. Combat Modifiers include cover, darkness, firing into melee, flanking, and more.

Combat modifiers are discussed in detail below.

Cover

Cover can help to protect a character by making them a difficult target to hit, especially from ranged attacks.

Effects of cover

A target that has cover gains a +4 bonus to their Armour Class (AC). This bonus stacks with other AC bonuses. Sometimes what a character scrambles for makes for poor cover and only gains a +2 AC bonus, as determined by the GM in the given situation.

Determining cover when using a grid map

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target’s square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature (person, mount), the target has cover (+4 to AC).

Types of cover

Stone walls, grave stones, large trees, ruins, vehicles, doorways, leaning around a corner can all offer cover in the right circumstances. Other things that are drawn on a grid map can probably be used as cover as well. Players just need to ask the GM about the large table, etc, that she just marked on the grid map.

Another person can be used as cover as well. Typically it is just another person unintentionally standing between you and your attacker. People and creatures are known as soft targets.

Using cover

It is usually a move action to get to cover. From there a character can fire from cover, gaining a bonus to their AC. Firing from cover (the attacker is adjacent to the cover) does not cause a penalty for the attacker.

A character that fires from cover is considered a viable target (even though characters must take turns, everything is generally happening all at once). A character who uses their move action to hide behind cover and does not attack that round gains total cover.

Total cover

If you don’t have any line of sight to your target he is considered to have total cover from you. You can’t designate an attack against a target that has total cover.

Blind fire

You can blind fire at an area that you think might contain your target. With blind fire, there is a base 40% chance of missing; roll percentile first before the normal attack roll. If the percentile roll is higher than 40%, then randomly determine which person within the room or area is actually targeted. Then make a normal attack, with a -6 penalty to hit (or -3 if the character has the Blind-fight feat). If the attack is successful, the wall or barrier obscuring the target provides 1d6 Damage Reduction (or higher) as determined by the Game Master.

GM note: Obviously the situation is the most important factor with blind fire. A character that isn’t where an attacker thinks they are can’t be hit. If the escaping character dives for additional cover once out of sight, then they would gain an additional partial cover bonus.

Melee cover

The cover rules make the most sense with regards to ranged combat. Still, there may be situations where two characters are sword fighting on either side of a table or pillar for example. The GM can add AC bonuses as needed in such a situation.

Other cover benefits

Most cover, depending on many factors, can be used to gain a bonus on a Hide check.

Fun over perfect precision

Cover is included to make combat situations more dynamic and memorable. Always try and keep it fast, simple and fun.

Sometimes the GM will use the outcome (dice roll) of an attack to further depict the environment, explaining, for example, how the positioning of the book shelf helped save a PC from a mighty swing. This is probably preferred to deeply scrutinizing every object in a setting for bonuses and penalties.

Firing into Melee

It can be difficult to line up a ranged target if that target is engaged in melee combat with another target. Firing in to melee causes a -4 penalty to hit. This penalty is negated if you have the Precise Shot feat.

The game is designed so that characters have a penalty to hit rather than worrying about the mechanics of friendly fire. This penalty can be overcome through expert training. Note that some special weapons make for poor choices in some situations. A scattershot weapon wouldn’t be used on a target holding a hostage even with the precise shot feat.

Double penalty

Note that the penalty for firing into melee can be in addition to the penalty to hit a target that has cover. For example, if a melee fighter on your team ran up a narrow hallway and engaged a enemy in combat, and you were behind the melee fighter, you would have two penalties to contend with: The first would be the -4 to hit for firing into melee. The second penalty would be the +4 AC bonus the target gets from the cover provided from your teammate. (Probably just easiest to take a -8 to hit, and leave the target's Armour Class alone.) The penalty from firing into melee can be negated with a feat, but the cover bonus can’t.

Helpless Defenders

A helpless opponent is someone who is bound, sleeping, paralyzed, unconscious, or otherwise at your mercy. A helpless defender can’t use any Dexterity bonus to AC and suffers a -5 to AC (as if their current Dexterity score was 1). The GM can add bonus damage to a character’s attack against a helpless defender. The bonus damage is typically +1d10.

Darkness and Blindness

Lowlight, partial darkness or partial blindness causes a -2 penalty to attacks and skills.

Complete darkness or complete blindness causes a -6 penalty to all attacks and a -2 Armour Class penalty. Some spells and power alterations can combat complete darkness. The feat Blind Fighting reduces all vision penalties to one half.

Concealment

A character that can’t be seen properly may gain a +2 bonus to their AC. For example, if a character were behind a bush. A bush isn’t as good as a wall, since it doesn’t stop an energy blast at all, but it is better than nothing.

A character cannot benefit from concealment and cover (there are often the same thing, one just has a chance of deflecting a shot, or soaking some damage).

Note that an enemy character, depending on the situation, may have to spot a concealed character before they can attack them. (Also note that the act of shooting at a target does not help hide checks.) A character normally gets an initial spot check for free when they first are within range of a hidden foe. Failing that, the GM may require a character spend a standard action if they need further spot checks.

Prone

Being prone causes a -2 penalty to hit with melee weapons. It also causes a -2 penalty to a defender’s Armour Class, providing the attacker is within 10 feet.

In some cases, the GM may rule that being prone adds to a defender’s AC against distant ranged attackers, somewhat like cover adds an AC bonus. A +2 bonus is typical.

Flanking

When making a melee attack, you get a +1 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by a character or creature friendly to you. If two characters friendly to you are in melee threat distance to your opponent (typically surrounding a target), you gain a +2 flanking bonus. The maximum flanking bonus is +2.