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Chapter Five: CombatWhen STARGATE operatives come into conflict with xenos or even transplanted human cultures, combat can be the result. Although we seek to establish peaceful relations with those we encounter whenever possible, some groups and individuals are unable to reciprocate. As a rule of thumb, STARGATE operatives should use non-lethal force in any initial engagement with an unknown adversary unless lives are clearly at stake. Hopefully, any initial non-lethal combat can be overlooked in a subsequent peace process. This chapter explains the rules used in this simulation to govern combat. Put simply, it covers attacking, combat modifiers, reacting to attacks, damage, and healing. AttackingThere are two basic types of attacks described in this simulation: firearms combat and melee combat. They are governed respectively by the Firearms and Melee skills, along with whatever appropriate specializations within those skills that a character might possess. FirearmsEach "firearm"--which can include mechanical ranged weapons such as bow-and-arrow, catapult, and so forth--is described in game terms by its damage die code and its ranges (in meters). For example, 9mm Beretta M92: 4D, 3-10/30/120. The pistol causes 4D damage, and its ranges are 3-10 meters (short range), 11-30 meters (medium range), and 31-120 meters (long range). Anything closer than 3 meters is at point-blank range. The difficulty to attack a target with a firearm is determined by the target's range from the attacker: Point-Blank Very Easy Short Easy Medium Moderate Long Difficult Just like in the regular rules, once you know the difficulty, you have to pick a difficulty number. If the attack roll is equal to or greater than the difficulty number, the attack hits. Difficulty numbers can be modified by reaction skills and/or any number of modifiers. These topics are discussed later in this chapter. Estimating RangesRather than measuring out ranges meticulously every round, you can use estimates:
Note that these estimations are for handguns, which are designed for close-in use. As a rule of thumb, a character using a long-range firearm such as a rifle can drop the difficulty by one level in the above estimations. MeleeEach melee weapon--which can include knives, chairs, clubs, spears, and so forth--has a difficulty associated with its use: Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, or Heroic. (Pick a specific difficulty number for the attack.) If the attack roll is equal to or greater than the difficulty number, the attack hits. Difficulty numbers can be modified by reaction skills and/or any number of modifiers. These topics are discussed later in this chapter. Besides "weapons" as such, Melee also governs attacks that use no weapons other than the human body itself: punches, kicks, throws, and the like. The Martial Arts plus skill directly governs this kind of fighting; lacking that, Melee itself or simply the Flex attribute is used. These kinds of attacks have a basic difficulty of Very Easy, subject to modifiers as usual. The higher your level of skill, the more modifiers you'll overcome in making trickier unarmed attacks. Combat ModifiersThere are a number of special combat rules that supervisors can include in their games. Surprise. When characters are surprised, their attackers can automatically take their first action before the surprised side can act. The surprised side cannot use reaction skills against this first action. (To surprise a target, successfully perform an opposed roll of the attacker's Special Ops [Sneak] vs. the target's Savvy.) Drawing Weapons. A character may draw a weapon from a holster or shoulder it from a sling, but it counts as an action. Ammunition. Many weapons have an ammunition rating ("ammo"). When the weapon is fired as many times as its ammo rating, it is out of ammunition and must be reloaded. Unless specified otherwise, reloading takes one action. Fire Rate. Some weapons have a fire rate. (If there is no fire rate, the weapon can be fired as often in a round as the character wishes, with each firing counting as a separate action.) If the fire rate is a simple whole number (like 2 or 4), that is the maximum number of times that the weapon can be fired in a single round. If the fire rate is listed as a fraction, it means that the weapon can only be fired in some rounds. (A fire rate of 1/3, for example, would mean that the weapon can be fired once every three rounds.) Blast Radius. Some weapons--such as grenades and heavy weapons--have a blast radius. Everything within the blast radius is affected. If the blast radius includes several ranges, then the further away from the center of the blast a target is, the less damage the weapon does. Called Shots. Attackers can make a "called shot" against a small target, such as a specific part of a target's body or shooting a weapon out of a target's hand. Add +1D to the difficulty for a target 10 to 50 centimeters long. Add +4D to the difficulty for a target 1 to 10 centimeters long. Add +8D to the difficulty for a target less than a centimeter long. Visibility. Characters are harder to hit when they're harder to see. If visibility is affected, the attacker suffers modifiers to the difficulty level of the attack as follows: Light smoke +1D Thick smoke +2D Very thick smoke +4D Poor light +1D Moonlit night +2D Complete darkness +4D Cover. Characters can hide behind solid objects, which makes them harder to hit--they've got cover. (Such objects may also provide protection, described in the next section, depending on how well the attacker rolls against the covered target.) The following modifiers are applied to the attacker's difficulty number: 25% covered +1D 50% covered +2D 75% covered +4D 100% covered cannot be hit until protection is removed Protection. Sturdy objects may provide protection from attack. If the attacker rolled well enough to beat the basic difficulty, but not enough to beat the added cover modifier described in the previous section, that means the attack hit whatever the character is hiding behind. Roll the attack's damage against the protection's body ranking: Flimsy wooden door 1D Standard wooden door 2D Standard metal door 3D Reinforced door; car door 4D Concrete wall 5D If the damage roll is lower than the body ranking roll, the protection is not damaged at all and the target suffers no damage. If the damage roll is equal to or greater than the protection's body ranking roll, find the difference on the chart below to see how much damage goes through to injure the target character. 0-3 no damage to target 4-8 4D 9-12 2D 13-15 1D 16+ full damage to target Armor. Armor is protection worn on the body. In game terms, armor simply adds to a character's Body roll when resisting damage. (It doesn't add to any other Body rolls.) Some types of armor may protect better against some types of attacks than others. The different armor types are described in the "Weapons and Equipment" chapter. Throwing ModifiersWeapons that are thrown at a target are subject to their own modifiers. The basic difficulty remains that listed for the specific weapon, but the following modifiers may be used by the supervisor to better represent the situation at hand. Range. The thrower's difficulty level is increased or decreased based on the range of the target, as follows: Point-Blank -1D Short -- Medium +1D Long +2D Deviation. If the thrower misses with the attack, the weapon goes somewhere else. First, Roll a D6. The result tells you which direction the weapon deviated, according to the nearby diagram. Then, determine how far the weapon went from its intended target, in meters: roll 1D6 for point-blank or short range, 2D6 for medium range, or 3D6 for long range. XXX DEVIATION DIAGRAM, AS PER STAR WARS P. 92 XXX Reacting to AttacksWhen someone attacks you, you can try to get out of the way. That's where reaction skills come in. (As explained in the previous chapter--"The Rules"--you can use a reaction skill at any time.) The main reaction skill is Dodge, which can be used to attempt to avoid any sort of attack, whether it's firearms or melee. (The Dodge plus skill Acrobatics does the same, but offers additional non-reactive options for the user. We'll just refer to Dodge generically in this section.) There are two types of reactions: regular reactions and full reactions. The differences in their modifiers are explained in the previous chapter. The differences in their results are as follows. Regular Reactions. These are made in addition to whatever other actions you're taking this round. To dodge, you make a Dodge skill roll. (Don't forget to add penalties for multiple actions, if any.) The result of the roll is the attacker's new difficulty number, taking the place of whatever number the supervisor would otherwise have used--even if the new number is lower than what would have otherwise been the case. Full Reactions. These are made instead of whatever other actions you would have taken for the rest of this round. To dodge, you make a Dodge skill roll. (Again, don't forget multiple-action modifiers, if any.) The result of the roll is added to the attacker's difficulty number. DamageWhen an attack hits, the attacker rolls damage. The three basic types of damage rolls are as follows:
Once the damage roll is made, the target rolls his Body dice to resist damage. If the target's Body roll is higher than the damage roll, no damage is dealt--the attack failed. If the damage roll is higher, find the difference on the following table: 0-3 Stunned 4-8 Wounded 9-12 Incapacitated 13-15 Mortally Wounded 16+ Killed A Stunned character suffers a penalty of -1D to skill and attribute rolls for the rest of the round and for the next round. A stun no longer penalizes a character's actions after the second round, but the character remains at the "stunned" level of injury for half an hour unless the character does nothing but rest for one minute. If a character has multiple, concurrent "stunned" injuries equal to the number of Body dice he has (ignoring any partials such as +1 or +2), then the latest stun injury knocks the character unconscious for 2D minutes. Another character making a Medicine (First Aid) roll at Easy difficulty can revive an unconscious character, removing the most recent "stunned" injury. For example: Joe has a Body ranking of 4D+2. He's received three "stunned" injury results in the last thirty minutes, none of which have worn off yet. When he receives a fourth one, he's matched the number of Body dice he has (4), so he falls unconscious. Another character successfully performs Medicine (First Aid) on him and he regains consciousness, once again back to three "stunned" injuries. A Wounded character falls prone and can take no actions for the rest of the round. The character suffers a penalty of -1D to skill and attribute rolls until he heals. A character who is wounded a second time while still suffering from a "wounded" injury is considered wounded twice. A character who is wounded twice falls prone can can take no actions for the rest of the round. The character suffers a penalty of -2D to all skill and attribute rolls until he is healed. A character who is wounded a third time while already wounded twice is incapacitated. An Incapacitated character falls prone and is knocked unconscious for 1D10 minutes. The character--even when conscious again--can't do anything until healed. An incapacitated character who is wounded or incapacitated again becomes mortally wounded. Another character making a successful Medicine (First Aid) check can revive an incapacitated character. The character regains consciousness if still knocked out, but is groggy, cannot use skills, and can only move in slow steps. A Mortally Wounded character falls prone and is unconscious. The character can't regain consciousness until healed. The character may die. At the end of each round, roll 2D. If the roll is less than the number of rounds that the character has been mortally wounded, the character dies. (In other words, a mortally wounded character will definitely die in twelve rounds.) Another character making a successful Medicine (First Aid) roll can "stabilize" a mortally wounded character. The character is still mortally wounded but will survive if he receives professional medical attention in a hospital or clinic; otherwise, he dies. A Killed character is dead. HealingHealing--as opposed to First Aid, which merely offers temporary help--requires serious time spent doing nothing but recuperating. Characters should do their healing in a hospital or clinic, but sometimes this isn't possible. "Medical Healing" covers healing done in a professional medical environment, while "Natural Healing" covers on-your-own recuperation. Medical HealingTime spent in a hospital or clinic, under a doctor's care, greatly speeds the healing process and makes relapses much less likely. Specific rules for medical healing appear in the description of the Medicine skill, but in brief, the user of the Medicine skill gets one attempt per day and if successful, the wounded character erases the highest wound point--dropping from Mortally Wounded to Incapacitated, from Incapacitated to Wounded Twice, from Wounded Twice to Wounded, from Wounded to Stunned, and then to health. Natural HealingA character can heal naturally, without medical attention, but this process is both slower and much riskier than medical healing. The character must rest a specified amount of time and then can make a Body roll, as per the following tables. A Wounded character must rest for three days before rolling to heal. 2-4 worsens to wounded twice 5-6 remains wounded 7+ fully healed A Wounded Twice character must rest for three days before rolling to heal. 2-4 worsens to incapacitated 5-6 remains wounded twice 7+ improves to wounded An Incapacitated character must rest for two weeks before rolling to heal. 2-6 worsens to mortally wounded 7-8 remains incapacitated 9+ improves to wounded twice A Mortally Wounded character must rest for one month (30 days) before rolling to heal. 2-6 character dies 7-8 remains mortally wounded 9+ improves to incapacitated |
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