Combat

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D10/WoD - Revised
This is a rewrite of the original combat rules for World of Darkness.

When playing World of Darkness (WoD), typically combat is initiated by the players or the GM, usually happening between NPC's and the PC's, but occasionally between PC's.

If the one who wishes to initiate a fight is a player, the player informs the GM that he wishes to initiate combat (this step is often skipped as it is often fairly obvious, though by the book, the player must dictate to the GM his terms of combat, i. e. what the purpose of starting the fight is, and voicing his rationale for picking it, this is to avoid fights that are based on misunderstandings between the player and the GM that would not have occurred between the two fighting parts).

The Bonus-Round
The first potential round of combat, is the bonus round. A bonus round only occurs when one part has the advantage over the other in a fight, allowing them to attack without the knowledge of the other part, so in other words, this round is for sneak-attacks. The characters who are carrying out the sneak-attack must roll initiative prior to launching their attack, so they know, between themselves, who will act first. Even if there is only a single participant in the bonus round, initiatve must be rolled, as it will likely carry over to the rest of the battle.

Initiative
When rolling initiative, you roll 1 dice, and add your initiative modifier to the result. If you roll a 10, it is rerolled but the additional number isn't added to the total unless there are special circumstances. If two people get the same initiative result, the one with the higher modifier wins. If both have the same modifier, they must necessarily also have the same dice-result as there are only two variables. In this case, the one with the higher dexterity goes first, if their dexterity is the same, roll an additional dice to settle who goes first (but as a rule of thumb, player characters should be allowed to act first in such a case). If both players have the same initiative mod, the same dexterity and both rolled 10, this is where they are allowed to use the second number to quickly settle who wins. If they are also the same, defer to previous ruling.

After initiative has been decided, it's time to progress to the actual rounds of combat (please note that sometimes characters might be acting in initiative, despite not actually being in combat, but simply because it's practical, though this article in particular is about combat specifically), but when a game is started, it should be decided which of the following options to resolve initiative order will be used:

Option A
The character with the highest initiative acts first, and then players act in accordance. (easier)

Option B
The character with the lowest initiative starts by declaring his/her actions, and all other players act in accordance. The player with the highest initiative get's to declare last, but act first. A character must take the action that he/she declared he/she would use, though they do have the option of NOT taking that action and instead going into full-defense. (slower but more tactical)

Regardless of what order of initiative is decided upon, proceed by following combat rules.

Defense
Defense is splint into two values:

Base defense
Base defense is equal to: (wits+dexterity)/2 rounded down. Your base defense constitutes how many times you can use your defense each round. If something states that it penalizes your defense, it will normally penalize your base defense if nothing else is said (such as equipment that gives a penalty to defense).

Active Defense
The dicepool that your roll when defending against someone. It's made up of your base-defense and a skill. If defending against ranged attacks, athletics is used. If unarmed and defending against an armed attack, athletics is also used. If armed and defending against an armed or unarmed attack, melee is used. If unarmed and defending against an unarmed attack, melee is used. Finally, an additional value that can be added to defense, is the defense bonus certain weapons offer. Bladed weapons such as swords (sharp weapons with a blade longer than your average axe-head) and pointy weapons such as spears and knifes are much easier to employ defensively, and thus all such weapons offer a defensive bonus even when not used defensively. This bonus is to be found in the notes of the particular weapons. hafted weapons such as batons and axes can also offer a defensive advantage due to their ability to block, especially unarmed and other blunt attacks, though this bonus is often only in the form of a +1 bonus or similar, due to having the option to just put the weapon between the opponent and one-self as a barrier.

Action points
When ever a character takes an action in combat, it costs action points. A player can never use more action points in one round, than his wits plus his dexterity, that isn't to say that he normally has this many available. Normally a character has a number of action points available equal to: (wits+dexterity)/2 rounded up.

Actions
To understand what actions are used for, it's necessary to understand what actions are available.

Free move-action
The free move action represents a characters ability to move around a bit. Any character who is standing up may move his speed in squares during his round, without any cost of action points. This movement can be interupted and doesn't need to be instant (i. e. the character can move a little bit, do something, move a little bit, do something again, then move once more ect. ). If prone, a character can only move one fourth of it's speed rounded up, and if crouching/staying low, the character can only move two thirds of it's speed, rounded up.

Standing up and laying down
For a normal character, this only costs one action point. Crouching is free. A character can lay down for free at the risk of suffering 1 bashing damage (must succeed on a dexterity+athletics roll to avoid the damage) by taking a dive. When laying down, a character gains +2 concealment bonus against ranged attacks. Melee attacks against a prone target gain a +2 bonus, unless it's an attack of opportunity. When crouching, a character gets a +1 concealment bonus against ranged attacks, but melee attacks against the character gain a +1 bonus, unless it's an attack of opportunity.

Extra move-action
Spending a single action point, any character can move up to his dexterity in extra squares. This can only be done once per round.

Double move-action
Still retaining the defense rating, a character moves twice his movement speed. This prevents the character from spending any action points that round. If any action points have already been spent, the best the character can do is an extra move-action.

Defense action
There are several defense actions that can me taken:

Defensive fighting
The character spends half of his action points (rounded down) to raise his active defense by the same number.

Full defense
The character spends all of his action points to bolster his defenses, raising his active defense by the same number.

Focussed fighting
The character converts half of his base-defense to action points. Divide your base defense by two and round down, this number is what you subtract from your base defense, and also the amount of extra action points you gain.

All-out
The character sacrifices his base defense to raise his action points by same number. This maneuver is very dangerous as it leaves one defenseless.

Free action or Reflexive action
A free action or a reflexive action is any action the character takes that for some reason is free of cost. This is typically in conjunction with a merit that has been purchased, or with some sort of ability.

Attack
Attacks normally only cost 1 action points, but in certain situations, an attack might have a higher price.

Ranged attacks
Ranged attacks are carried out using the ranged-attack-value (RAV), which is equal to: (Agility+awareness)/2 rounded up. The dice roll is RAV+[relevant skill*]. *Relevant skills include Athletics for thrown weapons and bows/crossbows ect. and Firearms for gunpowder weapons and other weapons very similar to gunpowder weaponry in their functionability.

Melee attacks
Melee attacks are carried out using the melee-attack-value (MAV), which is equal to: (dexterity+strength)/2 rounded up. The dice roll is MAV+Melee. Melee attacks covers everything from grappling to assaulting someone unarmed or with a baseball bat, or even a sword or a chain-saw.

Attacks of opportunity In certain cases, it might be possible for a character to make an attack of opportunity on another character. A character who has retained at least half of his defense may once per round make a free attack of opportunity, but the free attack is made at a -2 penalty seeing as it's free and sort of represents a quick jab out of nothing. It's important to note, that an attack of opportunity can only be made in melee combat and can only be made if the character is ready to attack (weapon is readied, drawn and so forth), and if using a weapon that requires to be readied, the weapon will be unreadied after the attack of opportunity, which means that in many cases an attack of opportunity could end up being a tacticically unsound decision. If an unarmed character attacks an armed character, the armed character get's an attack of opportunity on the unarmed character. If a character with no defense rating moves from one square that is "threatened" by another character, to another square that is also threatened by the same character, it warrants an attack of opportunity. Attempting to use a ranged weapon in melee combat warrants and attack of opportunity. Standing up while in melee warrants an attack of opportunity, as does laying down.

Taking a ready action
A ready action means reserving action points to take a certain action at a later point or given an eventuality. Having taken a ready action means you get to act first if this eventuality occurs. It doesn't cost anything additional. The GM has the final say in what ready actions can be allowed, but examples include: "I will shoot him if he draws his weapon", "I shoot him if he moves", "I ready my axe in case someone comes through that door", "I press the botton if the lamp flashed red", "if he draws his weapon, I drop behind cover" and so forth.

Reloading a weapon
Reloading a weapon fed by an external magazine by dropping the previous magazine and inserting a new one that is carried somewhere that is easily accessible costs 1 action point. Reloading a revolver with quick-eject and using a speed-loader carried in an easily accessible place costs 1 action points, if lacking a speedloader see manual feed, if lacking quick eject, the gun can in most cases simply be tilted to gain same result. Reloading a bolt action or pump-action weapon costs 1 action point. Manually inserting new bullets into a weapon costs 1 action point per 6 bullets, but the actual rearming of the weapon (pulling the bolt back, opening the revolver, ect.) still costs an action point. Drawing an arrow and nocking it costs 1 action point, where as it costs two action points to reload a modern crossbow. If magazines or bullets aren't readily available, the GM will decide how many action points it costs to reload.

Drawing a weapon
Drawing a weapon costs 1 action point, but drawing a weapon doesn't necessarily mean that the weapon has been readied. In order to draw a weapon, the weapon must be easily accessible, and it must be within reach. A character can only draw a weapon that is essentially within his own square, but most often this refers to something on his person. Examples can be grabbing a rifle that is hanging by a strap, pulling a gun from a holster or drawing a sword from it's scabbard. If a weapon is less available, or carried in an inconvenient way, the GM will decide how many action points it costs to draw it.

Readying a weapon
Weapons that are size 3 or larger and all two handed weapons must be readied before use. Readying a weapon means assuming a fighting position with the weapon. A lowered rifle isn't ready to fire, a person leaning on his baseball bat isn't ready to swing. Readying a weapon costs 1 action point. The higher cost of using such weapons in combat represents having to ready the weapon again after each successful attack. Firearems without an excessive recoil or extreme size do not need to be readied again after an attack, as long as attacks are occuring within short range, but they do need to be readied for the first attack.

Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Soldiers_on_patrol_in_Korengal_Valley.jpgCarrying a weapon in ready position
It's possible to carry a weapon in a nearly-ready position, but this is very obvious and not necessarily relaxed, and it also means that the subject's hands will not be free.

Special considerations
Various minor concerns that did not fit in the other headlines

Safety off
Switching the safety off on a weapon costs 1 action point, the exception being if a character has at least 2 dots in firearms and has Weapon Training with the particular weapon group, or 3 dots in firearms.

Switching fire-mode
A weapon with multiple fire-modes usually has a fire-selector. Using a fire selector to swap between fire-modes is usually done with the same botton/lever/switch that is used to apply safety, therefor the same rules apply as with safety off.

Double-action vs. Single action
Most weapons are single-action, meaning that they need to be armed and loaded before they can fire, but many weapons are auto-loaders today, meaning they use, typically gas pressure, to reload themselves after a shot has been dicharged, also rearming themselves in the process. Double action weapons are mostly found among older designs of auto-loader handguns and revolvers, where as almost all auto-loader rifles are single-action (I haven't heard of a double-action rifle). The tricky part is, that some revolvers are single-action which means they need to be cocked after each shot and this counts as reloading the weapon.

Special circumstances in combat
These are situations or things to take into account during combat

Reach
A normal character can reach the squares that surrounds him, but armed with a long weapon or if the character was considerably bigger than a normal human, he could reach further than that.

Threaten fields
A character always threatens the squares he can reach, and this area is considered his threaten field.

Being in melee
If a character is standing in another character's threaten field, both characters are considered "in melee", even though it isn't a certainty that both characters can reach each other.

Flanking
If a character is being flanked, meaning that there is an opponent roughly on either side of him (both opponents may deviate with one square and still count as flanking), that character may only use his base defense against both targets, not his active defense.

Designated targets (optional rule)
This rule is optional (not suited for games where combat is largely unimportant), but it is intended to be used with these rules. When ever a character attackes someone else, he must designate a target. The torso is the only target that doesn't levy any penalty at all, legs and arms each yield a -1 penalty. Hands, feet and joints are at a -2 penalty. The head and groin are both at -3. Smaller targets, such as eyes, the heart, the kidneys and so forth are at a -4 penalty. Note that damage done to the, for instance, the arm is still recorded as regular damage, it just has some specific side-effects. Alone, the designated target system doesn't do much, except puts more importance on armor-coverage and some side effects listed below:

Arms (-1)
If more damage is dealt to an arm than target's stamina, target incurs a penalty of -1 to all actions carried out that requires both arms, and -3 to all actions carried out with that arm alone. Everytime a point of damage is dealt to an arm, the character who is hit must roll dexterity+stamina to keep hold of any item.

Legs (-1)

If damage is dealt to a leg, speed is impaired by -1 for each point of damage the leg has taken and the ability to run is lost entire if one leg recieves more damage than the defender's stamina rating, and the defender loses the ability to stand if that holds true for both legs. Every time damage is done to a leg, the character who is hit must roll dexterity+stamina to remain standing or fall prone (suffering 1 bashing damage, unless a successful dexterity+athletics roll is made.

Head (-3) 

Knock out is possible. Instant kill is possible (GM has final say in this). Further more, when attacking the head, the opponent may add 50% (rounded down) to his defense action and his active defense can never fall below his base defense when defending against the head. If the opponent is flatfooted due to unawareness, he will still not have defense against an attack to the head, but in situations where the opponent has lost his defense due to having simply spent his base defense, he is still allowed defense actions with a dicepool equal to his base defense against attacks aimed at the head.

Hands and feet (-2)

Hands and feet yield identical results with arms and legs respectively, but but the rolls to remain standing or keep hold of an item are halved.

Joints (-2)

See hands and feet.

Groin and solar-plexus (-3)

Stun is possible.

Organ (-4) 

Special function usually.

Eye (-4)

Every point of damage caused to an eye causes a penalty equal to the damage to perception checks that are based on visual input. If the eye takes more damage than the defender has stamina, the eye can no longer be used, cutting the defenders perception pool in half for visual inputs, and if both eyes are damaged in such fashion, the target can still see vaguely, but cannot make perception checks based in visual inputs anymore.

Special Health system (optional - but always with designated targets)
The special health system at first glance might seem as if it changes combat drastically. It doesn't truly, it simply adds more variables. The special health system implements wound types, and special rules for when these wound types start getting serious. A target can still only take an amount of damage equal ti his stamina+size (and any other relevant factors) before he has to make a stamina+resolve roll every time he takes further damage, not to fall unconscious.

<h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Blunt force

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Commonly referred to as "bashing", blunt force damage has the potential to cause broken bones. Every point of damage that a body part recieves beyond the targets stamina rating represents damage to the bone structure. The penalties applied to various actions from having taken damage to specific body parts will not go away until the bones are fully healed, and broken bones heal slowly. Every point of "broken bone" damage heals over the course of 2 weeks for a normal human. Blunt force can only kill a person if applied to the neck, spine or head. If a person receives more damage than twice his stamina rating to any body part, any further damage is added as laceration damage. Blunt force damage deals penalty damage at a reduced rate, and as such it takes two points of blunt force damage to cause a -1 penalty.

<h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Laceration

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">A laceration (commonly called “lethal damage”) has the potential to cause bleeding damage and much faster disables the opponent. Every point of laceration damage taken to a body part beyond the victim's stamina rating causes a violent bleeding (so if two points are taken beyond stamina, it's two violent bleedings). Every violent bleeding. A violent bleeding must be treated within minutes of having suffered it, or the subject bleeds out. Damage within the stamina threshold still causes a bit of bleeding, but not violent bleeding. It must still be treated, otherwise the wound will get infected and it will not heal. If a single body part recieves twice the owner's stamina rating in laceration damage, further damage dealt will be blunt force. <h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Totally damaged

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">A bodypart that has recieved twice the owner's stamina rating in both blunt force and laceration damage will fall off or be destroyed to the point where it needs acute surgery to be saved.

<h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Electricity 

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Electricity is a hard nut to crack. There are several dangers to take into account when it comes to electricity, one is the fact that it disturbs the natural electrical signals in the body, another is the heart rhythm, but for the most part, electricity that causes actual damage causes burning. I will need to research this more before I can write something meaningful here! <h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Burning/corrosion

<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Burning and corrosion is for the most part just an irritation, though it tends to cause crippling pain. Like with blunt force, it only causes penalties at half rate. It upgrades immediately upon exceeding the stamina rating to laceration damage, note that it UPGRADES, unlike other damage types, it doesn't carry over into something different. <h4 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Conditions <p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Certain conditions occur upon gaining a certain amount of successes. <h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Knocked down <p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">When someone deals more damage than their target's size (before armor subtracts). This causes a knock-down instantly and a dexterity+athletics roll may be made to avoid one additional bashing damage from hitting the ground hard. <h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Knocked out <p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">When someone deals more damage than their target's stamina to the head (before armor subtracts). Target must roll stamina+resolve to remain conscious. If the target fails, the knocked down condition is also applied. <h5 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Stunned <p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">When someone deals more damage than their target's stamina, to the solar plexus or the groin. Target must roll stamina+resolve to avoid being stunned. Failure results in losing next round. <h3 lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Combat moves <p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Various combat moves listed for your convenience

Initiating a grapple
You can only initiate a grapple with someone you're in melee with, and only if you can reach them without the aid of a weapon. The only exception to this, is the tackle-move. Initiating a grapple with someone immediately grants them a number of action points equal to however many defense points they had left, as they lose their defense upon being grappled. This makes grappling someone who has already spend most of their action points a good strategy. Grappling someone costs one action point under normal circumstances, and following that, both opponents continously simultaenously make attack rolls against each other (subtracting or adding the the difference in strength and size between the two opponents on each roll), each roll costing 1 action point. The winner of a roll is the one who scores the most successes, and that character gets to perform a grappling maneuver (take the opponent prone, turn a weapon against the opponent, disarm the opponent, pin the opponent, hurt the opponent, go prone and force opponent prone as well or end the grapple). In a grapple, if a character finds that his opponents are no longer conscious for what ever reason, the grapple is terminated. If the grapple is at any point terminated (for instance by one of the grapplers using the break-free maneuver), that character may spend 1 action point to convert all or some of his remaining action points back into defense. If a grapple isn't resolved in the first round of grappling, this procedure is repeated when the grappling character with the highest initiative has his turn. A grappled character takes his actions in the turn of the the grappling character with the higher initiative (the exception possibly being the first round of grappling which is always taken in the turn of the character who initiated the grapple). This maneuver counts as an unarmed attack, unless the attacker has a weapon that allows this maneuver to be performed with the weapon, which means that it warrants an attack of opportunity if the opponent is armed. Following grappling moves exist:

Break free
The most essential move. Causes the character to break out of the grapple-hold established by the other character and release his own hold. The grapple is terminated.

Go prone
Both characters go prone, but while the character performing the move doesn't have to roll to avoid bashing damage, the character who is taken prone needs to roll dexterity+athletics to avoid suffering 1 bashing damage from falling hard.

Pinning
When pinning a character, he is prevented from taking any grapple-actions other than attempting to break free. Even if he breaks free, he only breaks the "pinned" condition. The character pinning the other is in a similar situation though, and cannot take any actions except maintaining the pin, though if pinning someone, he may optionally terminate the grapple without rolling for it, as he is in control.

Hurting the opponent
Allows you to make an attack roll inside the grapple.

Grab weapon
Using this move prevents the opponent from using the weapon against you inside a grapple. This is only relevant if the opponent has control of a weapon.

Control weapon
You gain control of a grabbed weapon. Only relevant if opponent also has the weapon grabbed.

Disarm
The opponent no longer has the weapon "grabbed" when this move is used.

Bullrush
You push your opponent a number of squares. Roll strength to see how many. Can be used to bash the opponent into an object. This in addition causes a number of bashing damage equal to the successes gained on the strength roll. Cannot bash an opponent this way if dragging him (bullrush can also be used against a prone opponent, but only if the character attempting to use bullrush is standing).

Charge attacks
If a character can reach another character after a double-move action then the moving character may make a single attack against the other character. This is called a charge attack, and is the exception to the rule about the double-move action. There is no advantage to a charge attack, other than that it's technically a free attack.

Tackle
Causing bashing damage equal to the strength and size difference between the two opponents, plus the size of the winner and one additional bashing damage to the loser if the loser doesn't pass a dexterity+athletics roll, from hitting the ground hard. This maneuver counts as an unarmed attack, which means that it warrants an attack of opportunity if the opponent is armed. Essentially the grapple variant of a charge attack where a grapple is iniated instead of a regular attack roll being made (done exactly the same way however), the exception being that there are only four possible outcomes:

Outcome A
The attack fails and the attacker finds himself in one of the squares surrounding the opponent of the attackers choice.

Outcome B
The attack succeeds, but the opponent wins the subsequent grapple check, and the attacker is thrown prone and the grapple is terminated.

Outcome C
The attack succeds, and both go prone, and a grapple is initiated.

Outcome D
Neither wins the initial grapple check (both get zero successes), and it transitions into a regular grapple.

Tackle-pass
This maneuver is also of the charge family, allowing a character to pass through another character without suffering attacks of opportunity for the squares he passes on the opposite site of the opponent, note that it doesn't protect against attacks of opportunity from threatened squares on the side of the opponent that the attacker is facing. This is also done by initiating a grapple. If the opponent wins, the attacker is stopped, and the opponent may make a grapple maneuver as normal and it transitions into a regular grapple. If the attacker wins, the opponent is thrown prone, and the attacker may pass through his fields. If it's a draw, the attacker passes through, but the opponent isn't knocked prone. This maneuver counts as an unarmed attack, which means that it warrants an attack of opportunity if the opponent is armed.

Charging Bullrush
A bullrush is a grapple move, used to move an opponent from one square to another. Just like "pinning", "disarming", "break free" and such, it's a regular grapple move and can always be used, unless both the character wishing to attempt it is prone, also moving a prone character using the "bullrush" move can only move said character 1 square, regardless of how many successes were obtained on the roll, as opposed to if done to a standing character in which case the character is moved 1 square per success gained. As a special rule (which is why this move get's it's own mention), bullrush can be initiated in cojuction with a tackle. This maneuver counts as an unarmed attack, which means that it warrants an attack of opportunity if the opponent is armed.

Trip attack
Attempting to trip an oppponent without iniating a grapple. This maneuver, unless the attacker has a weapon that can be used for this, counts as an unarmed attack, which means that it warrants an attack of opportunity if the opponent is armed. Tripping an opponent results in the opponent falling prone if successful, which is a huge advantage in melee combat. A trip attack is an unarmed attack that targets the legs, but it deals no damage (except potentially the 1 bashing damage from falling prone, if the opponent fails his reflexive dexterity+athletics roll), and apart from that, there are no special considerations to make. Anyone can attempt a trip attack.

Taunt
Taunting costs 1 action point and is followed by a manipulations+subterfuge roll, a manipulation+persuasion roll or an intimidation+presence roll. The opponent must roll composure+empathy to counter. If the taunter wins, the opponent is forced to either stop the fight entirely, flee or attack the taunting character for a number of rounds equal to how many successes the taunter got. If already attacking the taunting character, the opponent must go all out for a number of rounds equal to how many successes the taunter got.

Aerial attacks
Primarily referring to melee attacks, as I'd say it's practically impossible to make an aerial ranged attack (but, you know... That's just like, my opinion man). It needs to be stated that "grounding" is important when doing a melee attack. Flying spin kicks and power-leap-attacks from fantasy games all look extremely powerful and flashy, but the truth is that when attacking, a lot of power comes from "grounding". You often see marital artists falling prone after delivering a high kick, because they're too inflexible (or too short) to deliver a high enough kick without going up on the ball of their foot, and then the lack of balance from being on one leg kicks in and puts them on the floor. Aerial attacks provide a typically unexpected attack angle, but not much more than that. You will probably notice that your arms are inconveniently placed on your upper body, so attempting an aerial attack without jumping head first will mean that you need to somehow, in a very short time, assume a flat position in the air, or only deliver the attack until you have landed. Most people will choose the second option, or even better, land on their opponent. As you may or may not sense, this suddenly became a lot about science, and for that very reason, I'm quite simply not goint to instate any rules about aerial attacks, except that they fail if the attacker fails a dexterity+athletics roll, and also that a stamina+composure roll is necessary if the attacker took damage from the fall.

Auto-fire
Auto-fire is possible with weapons that has the autofire function inbuilt.

General rules of automatic fire
Auto fire is divided into sequences. A sequence is normally 3 bullets, but you can choose to fire less, and if using the Long Burst option, there might be additional bullets per sequence. You make an attack roll for each bullet fired, but the opponent, if allowed his defense, only rolls defense once, and that roll applies to the entire sequence and any further sequences made against the same character (if long bursting), but the character is allowed a new defense roll if the shooter is making separate controlled bursts. If the shooter using auto-fire is at any point reduced to a chance die, the roll is an automatic miss. Penalties from using autofire are cumulative. Strength requirements go up when using automatic fire, by one for controlled bursts and by 2 for long bursts.

Controlled burst
A controlled burst is 3 or 2 bullets fired using automatic fire. This is called a "sequence" of automatic fire. Using this option allows the user to essentially make several attack rolls spending only the action points required for a single attack. It's entirely possible to use this attack several times in a turn, and after each controlled burst, the penalties from automatic fire are reset.

A long-burst
When long bursting, the shooter first decides how many sequenes he/she wishes to fire. The normal action point price is still paid for each sequence the shooter decides to fire, but every sequence after the first one gains an additional two bullets (the sequence is longer) that are still fired separately by separate attack rolls. The down side is that the penalties aren't reset when the first sequence ends.

Spray-and-pray
When long-bursting, each sequence can be directed against a new target, if the final shot of the previous sequence was sacrificed (not rolled, still fired). This represents the bullets that miss in between targets.

Weapons and Automatic fire
Various types of weaponry that are capable of automatic fire have differing benefits and drawbacks.

Stockless weapons

A weapon without a stock doubles it's penalties even at short range, tripples penalties at medium range and quadrouples penalties at long range. Firing automatic fire without a stock doesn't necessarily need to be that difficult, many stock-less automatic weapons are SMG's and doesn't deliver the same recoil that an assault rifle would,

Weapon with a stock

Weapons with a stock are more suited for automatic fire in close-quater combat than weapons without a stock. As such, they double penalties at medium range and tripple them at long range, but only the normal penalties apply at short range.

Weapon with bipods

A weapon using bipods (such as a SAW or an LSW) with automatic fire double the penalties at long range. At short range there are no penalties at all for automatic fire for the first sequence, normal penalties apply after the first sequence (controlled bursts are entirely free of penalties), and normal penalties apply at medium range. This is a tried and true system, but the drawback is that using bipods requires laying down optimally, or using some sort of cover that the bipods can lean against or rest upon, and this isn't easy to find.

Mounted weapons

Using a mounted weapon to deliver automatic fire is the best solution, when doing this, the weapon never recieves any penalties what so ever from automatic fire on short range, on medium range, the first sequence is free of penalties, and normal penalties apply at long range. Mounted guns are of course not very practical or mobile, which is their greatest disadvantage.

Calibers and automatic fire

This section often refers to "normal penalties" for automatic fire. These penalties are determind by the caliber of the weapon, but seeing as I don't want to bore anyone with a long caliber cataglogue which will undoubtedly be confusing due to the difficult science of guns (mostly made confusing by Britain and the USA both using Imperial caliber measurements and the fact that they refer to certain ammution types the same way they would refer to calibers. Words like "magnum" and company names are misused constantly leading to more even more confusion.

This is why I'll organize the penalty according to gun type (taken from the Weapons article):

Pistol light, Pistol Medium and SMG small

These weapons offer the smallest penalties, of -1 per consecutive shot fired.

SMG large, Shotgun (12 gauge),  Assault Rifle (5.56x45 NATO aka .223 Rem and 7.62x51 NATO aka .308 Win) and pistol heavy 

These weapons add a -2 penalty per consecutive shot fired.

Pistol heaviest, rifle (30.06 and harder recoil) and anything above (.50 BMG and so forth)

These very heavy recoil weapons add a -3 penalty after each shot.

Hipfire
Firing a gun without first aiming it is called hipfire. Using guns is considerably more technical than people might assume, and in firefights, most bullets miss. The ones that don't aren't any less lethal though. When hipfiring, the shooter uses his dexterity instead of RAV with weapons he is trained with (has the weapon training merit for), but only half his dexterity rounded up, when using weapons he isn't trained with. Hipfire can only be done on point-blank range. Hipfire is advantagous because it saves an action point, but disadvantagous because it becomes completely random what body part of the target you hit (GM random rolls or at his discretion it's just for simplicity the torso). It's certainly possible to to autofire when using hipfire.

Point blank range
Point blank range is a ballistic term that describes a distance at which the projectile doesn't change it's elevation, but in this system, it means within 10 squares + the shooters awareness, though point blank range can never be further than short range.

Aiming
Aiming costs an action point, and scoped weapons cannot be aimed at a target within point blank range (see hipfire for information on point blank range). Aiming is necessary when shooting beyond point blank range. Aiming uses RAV when shooter is standing or crouching or prone, unless shooter is deploying bipods or a mount, at which point manual dexterity becomes a very small part of shooting, and awareness is used instead. Aiming has no other advantages, except allowing designation of targets.

Aiming and readying weapons
Not all weapons need to be readied, but many weapons need to be re-aimed. If a firearm needs to be readied again after each shot, it doesn't also need to be re-aimed, the exception being anti-material rifles and weapons with similar recoil.

Suppressing fire
Suppressing fire is a special technique which essentially allows a character using ranged weapons to threaten fields away from himself. When laying down suppressing fire, a character fires a number of shots (either using auto-fire, or by spending more action points to single-fire several times), and that number of shots dictates how many squares he can threaten, though said squares must be connected to each other. Suppressing fire just requires a successful firearms+strength roll instead of firearms+dexterity, and is normally not penalized as the target is usually just "an area", and as such there isn't talk of an actual attack. Anyone who is caught within the suppressed area isn't hit unless they're defenseless and outside of cover (in which case it counts as if they moved giving the shooter a free attack of opportunity). Someone caught inside a suppressed field who shoots back at the suppressing shooter also levies an attack of opportunity on themselves.

Space Age Science Fiction Setting
For now, this section only holds information on Star Ship combat.

Star Ship Combat
Star Ship Combat is currently the only thing listed under this headline.

Initiating Star Ship Combat
Combat is initiated in exactly the same way as normal combat - One participant declares the wish to initiate combat.

In the event that the other (receiving party) isn't aware that combat is initiated, the first round is fought with participation from only one side - and then both parties proceed to roll initiative.

The pilot always uses his/her initiative modifier, but it cannot exceed the agility of the vessel in question.

Firing ship weapons
A pilot can fire one weapon while also steering the ship, but additional gunners or ATC modules are needed to fire additional weapons. A pilot takes a penalty to using their weapon for each ship class above fighter that they are flying.

Even in a shuttle, it's the norm to have a co-pilot who handles the gunning while the pilot focuses on flying.

To shoot an enemy vessel, use RAV+Combat and make appropriate modifications. It's practically impossible for a gunner to aim a weapon at enemy ship systems without someone performing a successful scan of the enemy ship.

Many weapons need reloading after being fired - a pilot cannot operate such a weapon without a dedicated loader. A gunner can, however, as the gunner has two actions - but can only attack once. It doesn't require a gunnery talent to be a loader, so anyone on the ship who literally has nothing better to do during combat could assist in such a capacity.

Electronic Warfare
It's possible to hack the enemy ship and disable some of their systems, but this is a very difficult process requiring an extended roll opposed by the enemy. It's fairly easy to protect against electronic warfare, it simply requires a full shutdown of all wireless signals - but this also prevents any form of scanning, making combat virtually impossible.

Scanning the enemy ship
Scanning the enemy ship is important to find - and keep track of - weak points. However, if the enemy ship also has a tech expert on deck, they will actively try to counter the attempts to scan the ship by scrambling their own energy signature and sending out false readings.

Scanning is also important to reveal that an enemy ship is about to use a weapon. It's necessary to be aware that an enemy is firing in order to be able to dodge. Fighters and shuttles are small enough that they ignore this rule, and they can dodge regardless.

A tech expert can only perform two actions per round. Advanced Scanners make it possible to detect incoming attacks automatically, freeing up an action, allowing a single tech expert to both protect against hacking and scan for enemy weaknesses.

A successful scan allows the scanner to bypass an amount of ship armor and/or shield equal to the amount of successes the scanner received above the defenders. This information can be shared among allies.

Attempting a dodge
Ships larger than a shuttle require an engineer to actively be able to dodge, because power needs to shift faster than can be handled by the electronic system, and often in very unsafe ways. The pilot can roll a pilot check, but no more than the ship's agility rating, to dodge.

In order to be allowed to dodge on a larger ship, the engineer must perform a successful repair check.

A pilot can also only take two actions per round, meaning they can only dodge two attacks - A co-pilot would be able to dodge an additional two, but the engineer can also only perform two actions per turn.

The yacht class is the largest ship that can perform a dodge without an engineer.

The yacht class can lift it's restrictions on agility using a successful repair check - so can a shuttle (hypothetically - it's a rarely seen maneuver for shuttles though) and even a fighter - but obviously there is no engine room on a fighter, which means that the only option is having a droid installed on the fighter (as frequently seen in Star Wars movies).

A dodge is rolled versus a ships gunnery roll.

Other Maneuvers
These other maneuvers are used to entirely escape combat, primarily.

Panic Jump
A navigator on board a ship in battle (or under similar time pressure) can attempt to rush calculations to jump. The easiest thing to do is reverse the previous jump and go back where the ship came from, which will require an extended roll target equal to 10 successes. Each roll is a round of combat. The navigator can also try to plot a course towards the strongest energy signature (nearest star), which is much more unsafe, having a target success of 15.

If the navigator knows the local space, he might be able to gain a bonus to his roll.

Evasion
The pilot can try to directly outmaneuver the enemy ship and escape. A ships speed is equal to the ships "class" plus it's hyperdrive level. Shuttles are class 1 fighters are class 2, but following that the progression order follows the size increase of ship classes.

In order to perform an evasion, the ship trying to evade must actually be at least equally as fast as the enemy ship. There is no bonus to the evasion roll for being fast, it's a pilot check versus a pilot check - though note that the enemy pilot can follow the evading ship reflexively and doesn't lose an action on it, but the pilot trying to evade does however waste an action on it.

However, if one ship is faster than the other, the pilot on the faster ship can attempt evasive maneuvers every round for free.