Bulletproof Blues 3e EN:Actions: Difference between revisions
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There is no need to roll for routine tasks | There is no need to roll for routine tasks: characters automatically succeed at routine tasks. Similarly, there is usually no need to roll if there is no penalty for failure and/or no time limit: it might take months, but the character will succeed eventually. | ||
===Bonuses And Penalties=== | ===Bonuses And Penalties=== | ||
Revision as of 19:42, 3 January 2018
Now we come to the most complicated part of Bulletproof Blues: actions! There are a lot of rules here because we tried to address the most common actions a character would attempt. However, just because we wrote it down doesn't mean you have to use it, nor should you feel constrained from making a call if a situation arises that we did not anticipate. You should treat these rules as examples, not as restrictions on your own sense of fun and fair play.
If you can play a fun game of Bulletproof Blues without referring to these rules, you should. Applying your best judgement is often a better solution than trying to find a rule that applies to a specific situation. Remember that player choice, not the roll of the dice, drives the game.
Time And Distance
Time
Time is important. Without some way to keep track of time, everything would happen at once, and that would be terribly confusing.
Time in the game is usually divided into scenes. A scene typically starts when the characters arrive at a place, and ends when they leave. A scene could also be a period of time while the characters are together and moving toward a destination. In some cases, a scene might end even though the characters haven't moved at all, such as when they go to sleep, or when a fight ends and they begin talking about their plans for what to do next. Any time you feel would be a good time to "go to a commercial" or "start a new chapter", that's a good time to end the scene and start a new one.
If the characters are in combat or in some other tense situation, time seems to slow down, and every decision takes on a greater importance.
Combat time is divided into rounds. One combat round is six seconds, give or take, giving us ten rounds per minute. In a round, each character gets a turn. During their turn, a character can travel a distance up to their base movement (walking, typically) and still have time to do something useful (such as making an attack or using a skill) as well as engage in some banter with their teammates or anyone else nearby (such as telling one's lackeys to "run, you fools!"). We call these "movement actions", "task actions", and "roleplaying actions", respectively. A character can perform a task before, during, or after they move.
Example:
| Round 1 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
| Round 2 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
| Round 3 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
Movement
In a round, a character can normally move a distance in meters and still have time to take an action (such as an attack). This is referred to as the character's base speed. A character's base walking speed and base swimming speed are based on their Agility, and their standing long jump distance is based on their Brawn.
A character's running speed is double their walking speed, and their sprinting speed is six times their walking speed. Swimming may be used to "run" (make a double move) or "sprint" (move all-out), but jumping may not. However, with a running long jump, the character's ground movement is added to their long jump distance.
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| Brawn | Jump |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.5 m |
| 2 | 1 m |
| 3 | 2 m |
| 4 | 4 m |
| 5 | 8 m |
| 6 | 16 m |
| 7 | 30 m |
| 8 | 100 m |
| 9 | 300 m |
| 10 | 900 m |
A running character incurs a penalty (-3) on all non-Athletics skill rolls and ranged combat rolls. A sprinting character incurs a penalty (-3) on Athletics skill rolls and close combat combat rolls, and any non-Athletics skill rolls or ranged combat rolls made by a sprinting character automatically fail.
If the character is running or sprinting, they gain a defense bonus (+3).
Range Bands
There are five range bands: close, short, medium, long, and remote. Close range is the distance that a character can reach with their hands or with a hand-held weapon: anywhere from "in your face" up to about two meters. Short range is the distance that a character can easily reach with small hand-held weapons, or with thrown weapons with a bit of luck: up to ten meters. Medium range is too far for thrown weapons, but is within range of most small arms: up to fifty meters or so. Long range is too far for most handguns, but is within range of most rifles, with careful aim and a steady hand: up to 500 meters. A few weapons have even greater range, called "remote": these effectively have no maximum range.
Weapons and powers that are useful at a distance have an effective range given in their description. Attacking more distant targets is more difficult or impossible (at the GM's discretion). If the GM declares that the attack is possible, the attacker incurs an attack penalty (-3). See Rolling Dice for more information on task rolls and difficulty modifiers.
| Range | Typical weapons |
|---|---|
| Close | Fist, knife, club |
| Short (10 m) | Pistol, flamethrower, grenade |
| Medium (50 m) | Carbine, rifle |
| Long (500 m) | Sniper rifle, shoulder-fired missile |
| Remote | Long-range artillery, guided missile |
Order Of Play
Everything that happens in a round is assumed to occur more or less simultaneously, but the players can't all speak at once. To keep the game orderly, we need a way to determine the order in which characters act when combat starts.
The most important factor in determining who acts before whom is situational awareness. If a character is not aware of their opponent, then they don't have a reason to attack. For example, if a player character is lurking on a rooftop and observes a gang of thieves breaking into a storehouse, there is no need to roll to see who goes first. The thieves are unaware that there is anyone to fight, so they continue carrying crates out of the storehouse. In the first round of combat, only the player character has an opportunity to act. Depending on what the player character does and how sneaky they are, it's possible that they might be the only one with an opportunity to act for several rounds. Only after the thieves become aware of the player character do they get the opportunity to act. At that point, the order of action in each round is the player character first, and then the thieves. If the combatants become aware of their adversaries in a set order, then that is the order in which they act in combat -- at least, until someone changes it.
Normally, characters take their actions in the same order that they have an opportunity to act. However, if the various combatants become aware of each other more or less simultaneously, or if you would prefer to roll dice to see who goes first, the players and the GM should each make a Perception roll at the beginning of the scene. Turns proceed each round from the highest roller to the lowest.
The environment always goes last in a round. Any falling objects (including characters) fall, and any uncontrolled vehicles move, after all characters have had the opportunity to use their actions. This does not include thrown projectiles or character-controlled vehicles. If any object or vehicle is under direct control by a character, then the object or vehicle will move when that character moves it. If a character chooses not to control a vehicle, then the vehicle will move at the end of the round.
If your character starts the scene by going last, either because your character was caught unaware or because you rolled poorly at the beginning of the scene, don't worry too much about it. Any character may delay their turn in a round, or force their next action to do something defensive.
Of course, this is all just an abstraction to make task resolution easier. In reality, everything that happens in a round occurs more or less simultaneously. The difference between going first in a round and going last in a round is less a matter of time and more a matter of who has the better awareness of the situation at that moment.
Delaying A Turn
If a player does not wish to use their character's turn when they have the opportunity, perhaps wanting to wait and see what an opponent does, the character may delay their turn, with the option of using it later in the round or on a successive round. The character may then interrupt another character's turn.
Delaying a turn does not alter the order of play. After the character has taken their turn, the order of play resumes its previous sequence.
Example:
Combat starts when Blueshift runs around a corner and sees Ganyeka, who is giving commands to his henchmen. The GM declares that the order of play is Blueshift, then Ganyeka, then Ganyeka's henchmen.
| Round 1 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the second round, Monolith runs around the corner, startling Ganyeka's henchmen because, wow, that guy is huge. The GM declares that the order of play is Blueshift, then Ganyeka, then Monolith, then Ganyeka's henchmen.
| Round 2 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the third round, Blueshift delays her turn, waiting to see what Monolith does. When it is Monolith's turn, he attempts to grapple with Ganyeka. Blueshift uses her delayed turn to assist Monolith by coordinating her attack with his.
| Round 3 | Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Blueshift's turn (delayed) Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the fourth round, order of play returns to its previous sequence.
| Round 4 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
Forcing An Action
Sometimes a character might need to take a desperate action before they have had the opportunity to take their turn in a round or after they have already taken their turn in a round. This is known as forcing the character's action. Forcing an action allows a character to sacrifice their next turn in order to block, dodge, dive clear, activate a defensive power, or take another purely defensive action. A forced action can also be used to take a defensive action on someone else's behalf, such as diving in front of an attack to protect an innocent bystander. The character may not force an action which the GM could construe as an attack, such as blocking a bullet with an opponent's unconscious body or running into someone. When a character forces their action, they sacrifice their next available turn, whether that action would be in the current round or on the next round. A character may only force an action once per round.
Because a forced action is always defensive, it always takes place at the appropriate time, either before or during the attack which triggered it. The attacker does not have the opportunity to "take back" their attack.
Forcing an action does not alter the order of play. After the character's next available turn has passed (the turn they sacrificed in order to take a defensive action sooner), the order of play resumes its previous sequence.
Example:
Continuing from the previous example, on the fifth round, the order of play is Blueshift, then Ganyeka, then Monolith, then Ganyeka's henchmen.
| Round 5 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the sixth round, Blueshift makes short work of two of Ganyeka's henchmen with a sweep attack. Ganyeka then pulls out a sinister-looking weapon, aims it at Monolith, and fires. Blueshift forces her next action to leap between Ganyeka and Monolith, taking the full brunt of Ganyeka's attack.
| Round 6 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Blueshift's turn (forced from round 7) Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the seventh round, Blueshift loses her turn because she forced it in the previous round.
| Round 7 | Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
On the eighth round, order of play returns to its previous sequence.
| Round 8 | Blueshift's turn Ganyeka's turn Monolith's turn Ganyeka's henchmen's turn |
Actions
There are four kinds of actions a character may perform during their turn in a round: free actions, movement actions, task actions, and roleplay actions. Under normal circumstances, a character can perform one movement action and one task action during their turn. In addition, a character can perform as many free actions and roleplay actions as the GM deems reasonable.
When it is not a character's turn, they can still react to events around them. Reactions can be attempted at any time, as often as the GM deems reasonable.
Free Action
A free action takes essentially no time. A character can't perform free actions until it is their turn to act in the round, but during their turn, they can perform as many free actions as the GM deems reasonable (perhaps as many as a half dozen). Typical free actions include activating a power (but not attacking with it), deactivating a power, dropping a weapon, crouching behind cover, standing up from a prone or seated position, and so on.
Movement Action
With a movement action, a character may move the distance permitted by their Agility and/or Brawn (depending on whether they are running, swimming, jumping, or running and jumping), or they may use a movement power to move up to the distance that the power allows. With the GM's permission, the character may instead perform any equivalent action: opening an access hatch, squeezing the throttle on a motorcycle, or what have you.
Movement does not generally require a roll, although the GM may require an Athletics roll if there is some obstacle to the character's free movement (distractions, inclement weather, uneven ground, etc.).
Task Action
With a task action, a character may attempt to perform one task. This could be attempting a skill roll, attempting to attack an opponent in combat, activating a power and attacking someone with it, or a similar activity. Under normal circumstances, a character can perform a task before, during, or after they move.
Roleplay Action
Like a free action, a roleplay action takes essentially no time. During their turn, the character can perform as many roleplay actions as the GM deems reasonable (perhaps as many as a half dozen). Typical roleplay actions include banter with the character's teammates, making fun of an enemy's name or costume, or declaring that the opponent "shall not pass".
Unlike free actions, a character can usually perform roleplay actions at any time, whether it is their turn or not. Bulletproof Blues makes roleplaying an explicit action during combat to encourage players to roleplay. In the heat of combat, it can be easy to forget that roleplaying is an essential part of the game.
Reaction
Reactions are usually responses to something another character does, and are usually made at the request of the GM. A character can perform reactions at any time, as often as the GM deems reasonable.
Rolling Dice
When a character attempts a task, and the outcome is either contested or there is some random element involved, the player rolls 2d6, counts the dots, and adds the result to the character's action value (AV), plus an optional bonus (+3) or penalty (-3). This roll is compared to 2d6 plus a difficulty value (DV), plus an optional bonus (+3) or penalty (-3). If the player's roll equals or exceeds the target number, the character's attempt succeeds.
Action Value
A character's action value (AV) is usually equal to the attribute they are using to accomplish the task at hand, plus the rank of the equipment being used, if any. For example, if a character is attempting to climb a sheer cliff, the character's action value is usually equal to their Brawn plus the rank of their climbing equipment. However, the relevant attribute might change depending on the circumstances. For example, following someone through a crowded marketplace might depend on a character's Stealth skill based on their Agility, while moving silently through a darkened building might call for a character's Stealth skill based on their Perception.
In combat, the character's action value is often called their "attack value" -- the two terms are functionally interchangeable. In close combat, the action value of a character is equal to their Brawn plus the rank of their weapon. In ranged combat, the action value of a character is equal to their Agility plus the rank of their weapon.
Difficulty Value
The difficulty value (DV) depends on whether or not the task at hand is opposed by another character: whether someone or something is actively working against the character.
Opposed Tasks
If the character is actively competing against an opponent, the difficulty value (DV) is usually equal to the opponent's relevant attribute plus the rank of their equipment, if any. As with the action value, the attribute used for the difficulty value might change depending on the circumstances.
A defender with a higher defense value is harder to hit, more resistant to injury, or both. In combat, the defense value (DV) of the target is equal to their relevant defense attribute (Brawn for close combat, Agility for ranged combat) plus the rank of their armor or energy shields.
Multiple layers of defense value do not stack -- only the highest defense value applies.
Unopposed Tasks
If no one is actively working against the character, the GM simply sets a difficulty value (DV). In most cases, if the GM requires the player to roll dice to accomplish an unopposed task, it's because the GM has deemed that task "challenging". Challenging tasks have a difficulty value of 3. More difficult tasks have a higher difficulty value.
| Difficulty value | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
| -- | Routine | Perform a familiar task under ordinary conditions |
| 3 | Challenging | Perform a familiar task under hostile conditions, or an unfamiliar task under ordinary conditions |
| 6 | Frustrating | Perform an unfamiliar task under hostile conditions, or an esoteric task under ordinary conditions |
| 9 | Nigh-impossible | Perform an esoteric task under hostile conditions |
There is no need to roll for routine tasks: characters automatically succeed at routine tasks. Similarly, there is usually no need to roll if there is no penalty for failure and/or no time limit: it might take months, but the character will succeed eventually.
Bonuses And Penalties
If the circumstances of the conflict favor one side or the other, the side with the circumstantial advantage receives a bonus. A circumstance which favors the attacker grants a bonus to the task roll (often called an "attack bonus" when the conflict is a violent one). A circumstance which favors the defender imposes a difficulty modifier (typically called a "defense bonus" when the conflict is violent).
For example, if the attacker is invisible (which normally grants a +3 task roll bonus) and the target of the attack is surprised (which normally grants a +3 task roll bonus), the attacker would gain a +3 bonus, not +6. Similarly, if the attacker is sprinting (which normally imposes a +6 difficulty modifier) and the defender is also sprinting (which normally imposes a +3 difficulty modifier), this would impose a +6 difficulty modifier, not +9.
| Attack bonus | Circumstance |
|---|---|
| +0 | Defender is walking (base movement speed) |
| +1 | Defender is prone; attacker is adjacent |
| +3 | Defender can't see the attacker |
| +3 | Defender is restrained |
| +3 | Defender is surprised |
| +6 | Defender is completely blind |
| +6 | Defender is unconscious or helpless |
| Defense bonus | Circumstance |
|---|---|
| +0 | Attacker is walking (base movement speed) |
| +1 | Defender has partial cover |
| +1 | Defender is prone; attacker is non-adjacent and using a ranged attack |
| +3 | Attacker can't see the defender |
| +3 | Attacker is restrained |
| +3 | Attacker is running (base move x2) |
| +3 | Defender is sprinting (base move x6) |
| +3 | Attacking a held item |
| +6 | Attacker is completely blind |
| +6 | Attacker is sprinting (base move x6) |
Extended Tasks
Some tasks are more complex or time-consuming than can reasonably be resolved with a single task roll. For example, constructing a starship and racing through a city would be extended tasks. When attempting an extended task, the GM sets a task difficulty and the required number of successes. The GM might also set a maximum number of attempts, to indicate tasks which have a time limit or a penalty for failure, such as disarming a bomb before it explodes. In extended opposed tasks, such as a competition between rival scientists to create a cure for a disease, the first person or team to achieve the required number of successful task rolls succeeds at the task.
Some extended tasks might benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. For example, disabling an alien doomsday weapon would obviously benefit from engineering expertise, but a keen understanding of alien psychology or linguistics could also be helpful. This allows characters with different skills to combine their efforts to accomplish the task.
Failure
Failing a task roll, particularly a skill roll, is not the end of the world. A failed attempt may not give the character the result they wanted, but it should not mean the game grinds to a halt. Rather than having a failed skill attempt be a dead-end, it should mean that the desired outcome has a greater cost, or perhaps the desired outcome has undesirable side effects. Remember that success and failure are both paths to the same goal: to make the game more fun. Failure is okay. Boredom is not.
For example, Grimknight is trying to intimidate a low-level ASGARD technician into revealing details about the organization's plans to distribute a new, highly addictive psychoactive chemical disguised as an energy drink. The GM sets the difficulty of this task to 12, but Grimknight's player rolls a 9. Rather than having this be the end of this line of inquiry, the GM has several options.
- Quid pro quo: The technician will give Grimknight the information, but only if Grimknight gives the technician something in exchange. This could be something as prosaic as money, but with an operative of ASGARD the cost is more likely to be something rare or unique, such as blueprints for an experimental device or a sample of Grimknight's DNA.
- Red herring: The technician tells Grimknight what he wants to hear, but the information is not true or it leads Grimknight off on a wild goose chase. If the technician is clever, he may send Grimknight after a local Aegis cell that has been causing problems for ASGARD.
- Stirring the pot: Grimknight gets the information, but his activities attract attention. A rival organization, the Jade Moon Society, learns of ASGARD's psychoactive energy drink as a result of Grimknight's activities, and they try to beat him to the prize. Alternately, the rival organization might use Grimknight as a stalking horse, allowing Grimknight and ASGARD to fight each other so that the Jade Moon Society will have an easier time taking the spoils from the winner.
- Alerting the enemy: Grimknight gets the information, but ASGARD learns of Grimknight's interest in their activities and they begin to make preparations against him. It could even be that the technician was intended to be captured by Grimknight all along in order to set him up for an ambush!
Combat
Attack
Attacks generally have three steps: a task roll to affect the target, subtraction of the defender's protection value (PV) from the damage rating (DR) of the attack, and the determination of the effect on the target. Attacks require a task action by the attacker. See Actions for more details.
Combining Attacks
Multiple characters can gang up on an opponent to increase the damage they inflict when they hit. In order to gang up and combine their damage, each character's attack must use the same attribute to target their attack and inflict the same type of damage. For example, two characters using Blast could gang up even if their Blast powers are dissimilar (an ice blast and a wind blast, for example), but a character using a Mind Blast would not be able to gang up with them since Mind Blast is targeted using Will rather than Agility.
All of the characters ganging up on an opponent must strike simultaneously. The successful attack which would inflict the most damage (or have the greatest effect, for non-damaging powers) provides the base damage (or effect) for the combined attack. Each additional successful attack increases the damage rating of the combined attack by +1.
Coordinating Attacks
Multiple characters can work together to increase their chances of hitting an opponent. One character will actually make the attack, and the rest of the characters will attempt to assist them. Each character wishing to assist with the attack attempts a challenging task roll (task difficulty 12) using the appropriate attribute (usually Brawn or Agility). Each successful task roll increases the attack bonus of the attack by +1. The character who actually rolls to hit the target provides the base damage (or effect) for the coordinated attack. If the character who actually rolls to hit the target fails their task roll, the entire coordinated attack fails.
Distracting
Distraction can be used by a character to mislead an enemy into dropping their guard. Distracting an opponent requires a Will roll against the Will of the opponent. If the distraction is successful, the next attack against the distracted opponent on the following round receives a +3 attack bonus.
SIDEBAR: Why Will?
Using Will for distracting an opponent may seem counterintuitive. Wouldn't Brawn or Perception seem more appropriate? Not at all. Distracting an opponent -- whether in physical combat (such as a gunfight), psychic combat (such as a battle of wills), or in a social conflict (such as a marital dispute) -- isn't about how good you are in a fight or how good you are at noticing things. Anyone who has ever seen a talented stage magician at work knows that the real "trick" to most illusions is getting the audience to look where the magician wants them to look. In game system terms, that's a classic Will vs. Will task roll.
Additionally, one of the main reasons we added the distraction maneuver to Bulletproof Blues was to help characters with low physical attributes cope with combat. Characters with high physical attributes don't usually need to resort to distraction. Characters with high Will, on the other hand, are exactly the type of characters that need to use tactics like distraction.
Grappling
A grapple involves using one's extremities to hold or restrain another character. The maximum mass the character can effectively grapple is based on the rank of their Brawn. Find the rank of their Brawn in the Benchmarks table and look up the corresponding value in the "Lifts" column.
Grappling requires a Brawn roll against the Brawn of the intended target. Grappling inanimate objects is generally automatic, unless the GM wants to make it difficult for some reason. To break free of the Grapple, the defender must make a successful task roll using their Brawn or Agility attribute (whichever is greater) against the attacker's Brawn or Agility (whichever is greater). For example, if a character is being held by an attacker with rank 6 Brawn, they would need to make a Brawn (or Agility) task roll against 2d6 + 6. If the defender has Telekinesis, they may use the rank of their Telekinesis in lieu of their Brawn or Agility to break free.
If the defender succeeds at the task roll to break free, they may use their remaining movement action.
Characters being grappled are considered "restrained". A restrained character is not helpless, but they can't use normal movement until they break free of the grapple. Attacking the held character is easier (attackers gain a +3 attack bonus when attacking the held character), and their attacks are easier to avoid (defenders gain a +3 defense bonus when the held character attacks them).
If the attacker wishes to exert strength or leverage in an attempt to hurt the grappled character, this causes Endurance damage, and the damage rating (DR) of this attack is equal to the attacker's rank in Brawn or Agility (whichever is greater). Any power or equipment that provides protection from Endurance damage, such as Invulnerability and Force Field, reduces the amount of damage the held character takes from the attack. The protection value (PV) of the protection power is subtracted from the damage rating of the grapple. The remaining damage is subtracted from the target's Endurance. Characters with human level Brawn or Agility (rank 3 or less) inflict stunning damage with their grappling attacks. A character with rank 3 Brawn or Agility would have damage rating 3, and any damage inflicted would be stunning, and therefore temporary. A character with rank 4 Brawn or Agility would have damage rating 4, and the damage inflicted would be normal. See Stunning for more details.
If the attacker wishes to move or throw the grappled character, the distance the attacker may move the defender is based on the Brawn of the attacker and the mass of the defender. First, look up the mass of the defender or object to be moved in the "Lifts" column of the Benchmarks table (rounding to the nearest weight value), and find the corresponding rank for that weight. Subtract that rank from the Brawn of the attacker, and look up that resulting rank in the Benchmarks table. Find the corresponding distance in the "Throws" column. This is how far the attacker could throw an object of that weight. This rank is also the damage rating (DR) of the impact if the attacker makes the defender hit a solid object such as a wall or the ground. Particularly soft or yielding surfaces can reduce the impact damage by as much as half.
Example:
Ganyeka has Brawn 5 and wants to throw Widow, whom he has successfully grappled. Widow weighs 148 pounds, which would be rank 1 in the "Lifts" column in the Benchmarks table. Subtracting 1 from Ganyeka's rank 5 Brawn, we find that Ganyeka can throw Widow 50 feet.
Instead, he throws her at a nearby brick wall. The impact has a damage rating of 4, which is the rank of 50 feet in the "Throws" column in the Benchmarks table. After subtracting Widow's rank 2 Invulnerability, she takes 2 Endurance damage from hitting the wall, and so she subtracts 2 from her current Endurance. The wall, being brick, has rank 5 Invulnerability, and is undamaged by having Widow thrown at it.
Ramming
A ramming attack involves using the velocity of the attacker to increase the damage inflicted. Ramming requires the attacker to use their movement action to travel directly toward the target, followed by a hand-to-hand attack. The ramming attack itself requires a Brawn roll against the Brawn of the intended target, and the target receives a +1 defense bonus against the ramming attack. The damage rating of the ramming attack is equal to the attacker's rank in Brawn + 1 or the rank of the attacker's movement power, whichever is greater. Ramming may be called by various names depending on the technique the attacker uses, such as "flying tackle", "charge", or "pounce".
Slamming
A slam or takedown involves using a target's mass and velocity against them so that they fall to the ground. Slams are only effective against targets whose feet are on the ground to begin with. A slam can represent an aikido throw, a leg sweep, a judo hip toss, or even tripping someone with an umbrella, depending on the attacker's fighting style.
A slam requires a Brawn roll against the Brawn of the intended target. If the slam attack is successful, the defender falls to the ground and may be injured by the impact. The damage rating of this attack is normally equal to the attacker's rank in Agility. Characters with human level Agility (rank 3 or less) inflict stunning damage with their slams. A character with rank 3 Agility would have damage rating 3, and any damage inflicted would be temporary. See Stunning for more details.
If the defender was moving, the damage rating of this attack is equal to the defender's rank in their movement power or the attacker's rank in Agility, whichever is greater. If the defender's rank in their movement power is 3 or less, the slam inflicts stunning damage.
Sweep Attacks
A sweep attack permits a character to make a hand-to-hand attack against everyone within reach. A sweep attack requires a single Brawn roll against the Brawn of each of the intended targets. Each defender receives a +3 defense bonus against the sweep attack. The damage rating of the sweep attack is equal to the attacker's rank in Brawn.
Taunting
Taunts can be used to goad an opponent into attacking. Taunting requires a Will roll against the Will of the character being taunted. If the taunt is successful, then the target of the taunt will use their next available action to attack the taunting character. If that attack misses the taunting character, the attack will instead strike whatever or whomever is directly behind the taunting character.
Defense
Defending against an attack typically has two parts: determining the difficulty against which the attacker must roll to successfully hit the target, and withstanding the damage that results from a successful task roll to hit. Avoiding an attack is referred to as defense, while the ability of a target to withstand all or part of the damage is called protection. Invulnerability and Force Field, for example, provide a protection value (PV) equal to the rank of the power.
If the target of an attack is unconscious or unable to move freely to avoid the attack, the attacker gains a +6 attack bonus. This applies to powers such as Telepathy in addition to more overtly damaging powers such as Blast.
Blocking
During their turn, or as a forced action, a character may use a task action to attempt to block an attack against them. The defender may continue attempting to block additional attacks until their next action.
A block might entail using brute force to withstand the attack, or it might involve using finesse to harmlessly divert an attack away: the choice is up to the player. To attempt a block, the player attempts a Brawn roll against the rank of the attacker's power or weapon. For example, if the attacker had rank a 9 Blast, the task difficulty to block it would be 2d6 + 9. If the defender has expertise with blocking, they gain a +3 bonus on their Brawn roll.
Normally, only attacks which inflict Endurance damage may be blocked. However, if the defender has the same power as the attacker, they may use that power to attempt to block. For example, a defender with Telepathy may use their Telepathy to attempt to block the Telepathy of an attacker. With the GM's permission, a character may attempt to block with a power that has a similar theme or power source. For example, a GM might permit a character to use their Telepathy to attempt to block an attacker's Mind Control.
A character chooses to block after determining if the attack will successfully hit: there is no need to block an attack that misses. A successful block completely negates the attack. An unsuccessful block has no effect on the attack.
Dodging
During their turn, or as a forced action, a character may use a task action to attempt to dodge an attack against them. The defender may continue attempting to dodge additional attacks until their next action.
To attempt a dodge, the player attempts an Agility task roll against the rank of the attacker's power or weapon. For example, if the attacker had rank a 9 Blast, the task difficulty to dodge it would be 2d6 + 9. If the defender has expertise with dodging, they gain a +3 bonus on their Agility task roll.
Normally, only attacks which inflict Endurance damage may be dodged. However, if the defender has the same power as the attacker, they may use that power to attempt to dodge. For example, a defender with Telepathy may use their Telepathy to attempt to dodge the Telepathy of an attacker. With the GM's permission, a character may attempt to dodge with a power that has a similar theme or power source. For example, a GM might permit a character to use their Telepathy to attempt to dodge an attacker's Mind Control.
A character chooses to dodge after determining if the attack will successfully hit: there is no need to dodge an attack that misses. A successful dodge completely negates the attack. An unsuccessful dodge has no effect on the attack.
SIDEBAR: Why Power Rank?
Basing the task difficulty of blocking and dodging on the rank of the attacker's power or weapon might seem strange to you. Wouldn't it make more sense to make these rolls against the attacker's Brawn or Agility? We base these rolls on the rank of the attacker's power for two reasons.
First, a character only chooses to block or dodge if the attack has already hit them, which means that there has already been a Brawn or Agility roll, and the attacker rolled well enough to hit. There is a good chance that a second roll would have a similar outcome, so we base the block and dodge rolls on the rank of the attacker's power or weapon in order to give the defender a chance to change the odds, particularly against attackers with very high Brawn and Agility.
Second, the rank of a power is more than just how much damage it does. The power's rank also reflects the character's skill and finesse in using that power. By basing block and dodge on the rank of the power, we take into account how much control the attacker has over the power in addition to how much sheer force they are using.
Having Partial Cover
If a character is hiding behind an obstruction that conceals at least half of their body from an attacker, the character is said to have partial cover. A character with partial cover is more difficult to hit. The defender gains a +1 defense bonus, which increases the difficulty of the attacker's task roll by +1.
Diving For Cover
Attacks which are particularly large, such as a thrown car or bus, are much more difficult to avoid. The only way to avoid such attacks is to not be under them when they land. If a character is about to be hit by a large attack, they can take a forced action to dive for cover. When diving for cover, the character moves to the nearest open ground beyond the area of the attack or behind the nearest cover, and ends up on the ground prone. A character may perform a forced action to dive for cover from an ordinary attack, if they want, but since it leaves the character prone and vulnerable, and it sacrifices their next action, doing so is probably unwise.
If the nearest safe area or cover is too far away for the character to reach it with an all-out move, then there is no benefit to diving for cover. Sorry.
Being Prone
A prone character is easier for adjacent attackers to hit, but harder to hit with ranged, non-adjacent attacks. If the defender is prone and the attacker is adjacent or engaging in hand-to-hand combat, the attacker receives a +1 attack bonus on their task roll to hit the defender. If the defender is prone and the attacker is non-adjacent and using a ranged attack, the defender gains a +1 defense bonus, which increases the difficulty of the attacker's task roll by +1.
Damage
Once the attacker successfully makes their task roll to affect the target, the damage rating (DR) of the attack is applied against the defender's protection value (PV).
In hand-to-hand combat, an unarmed character's damage rating is equal to their rank in Brawn. Characters with human level Brawn (rank 3 or less) inflict stunning damage with their unarmed hand-to-hand attacks. For example, a character with rank 3 Brawn would have damage rating 3, and any damage inflicted would be stunning, and therefore temporary. A character with rank 4 Brawn, however, would have damage rating 4, and the damage inflicted would be normal. See Stunning for more details.
Hand-to-hand weapons such as clubs and knives have a damage rating equal to the rank of the weapon or the character's Brawn rank + 1, whichever is greater. A knife with damage rating 1 wielded by a character with rank 2 Brawn would have an effective damage rating of 3. Using a weapon allows a character with Brawn of 3 or less to inflict normal damage rather than stunning damage.
The damage rating of a ranged attack is generally equal to the rank of the power or weapon being used.
Exploding, penetrating, and stunning attacks modify how much damage is caused or how a character defends against it.
Exploding
An exploding attack causes its damage to everyone within a certain range of the target. Because an exploding attack does not need to be aimed at a specific target, the difficulty of the task roll is 9.
The damage rating of the explosion diminishes with distance from the center. The damage rating is at its full value within half of the total radius, and at one-half of its full value in the remainder of the explosion. For example, a typical fragmentation grenade would have a damage rating of 5 from the center out to a radius of 25 feet (half its total radius), and a damage rating of 3 from 25 feet out to the limit of its radius of 50 feet.
Penetrating
Damage from a penetrating attack ignores 50% of the defender's protection (round in defender's favor).
Stunning
Damage from a stunning attack is temporary. Record it separately; it all comes back after the fight is over, when the character has had a chance to rest and recuperate.
Protection
After determining the effective damage rating (DR) of the attack, that total is applied against the target's protection value (PV). The protection value is subtracted from the damage rating, and any remaining damage is subtracted from target's appropriate attribute (typically Endurance).
Endurance damage and Endurance protection are the most common, but some attacks inflict other forms of damage, and require other forms of protection. For example, a character attacked with Reason Drain would need some form of protection against Reason damage (Attribute Invulnerability, for example).
Multiple layers of the same type of protection do not stack: only the greatest protection value applies. For example, a character with rank 6 Invulnerability would not benefit from a rank 5 Force Field, nor from wearing an armored vest that provides rank 2 Invulnerability.
Recovery
After a chance to rest and recuperate (maybe half an hour), an injured character recovers half the endurance they have recently lost. After that, injuries normally heal only with extended rest or with medical care. With this rest or medical care, the character will regain one Endurance per day; without it, they will regain one Endurance per week.
If the character has taken some other form of damage, such as damage to one of their abilities or powers, this damage is temporary. It all comes back after the fight is over, when the character has had a chance to rest and recuperate.
Death
If a character's Endurance is reduced to zero, they are rendered unconscious. If a character's Endurance is reduced to the negative of its starting value (-6 for a character whose normal Endurance is 6, for example), death is the most likely result. However, if most of the damage was mental rather than physical, the character may be rendered comatose for an indefinite period of time.
Even if the character dies, there is precedent in the Kalos Universe for death not being final. Depending on the character, their background, and the needs of the story, death may be temporary or merely a transitional phase. For example, when Dryad was killed during the Audobon Park Massacre, her oak tree on the grounds of the Vanguard headquarters seemed to die as well. It was only later when Doctor Morpheus joined Vanguard that it was discovered that her tree was not dead, but merely dormant, setting the stage for Dryad's eventual return.
Whether death is final for a character also depends on how they died. Did the manner of their death leave any room for doubt? Might their powers provide a way for them to return from the circumstances that killed them? And most importantly, did their death have an important impact on the story? The way a character dies may be their most defining moment; if so, it would cheat them and the story for their death to be temporary. Still, there is always a loophole if you need one. The most important thing to remember about death is that it should never be decided by a roll of the dice.
Plot Points
Each player begins each game session with one plot point. A player gains a plot point when one of their character's complications causes a serious problem for them during the game, or as a reward when they do something particularly entertaining or interesting, or when they cooperate with the GM to make things more difficult for the characters. Plot points are spent for an automatic success, to gain a temporary increase in power, to gain a temporary power, or to alter the game world in some way.
Gaining Plot Points
Players receive plot points for helping make the game more fun, and they spend them to make their character more effective. Each player starts each game session with one plot point, and should get one or two more during each game session. It's in the players' best interests to spend these plot points before the end of the game session, because any unspent plot points do not carry over to the next game (unless the GM makes an exception).
Plot points shouldn't be given to a player just for roleplaying their character -- they should be doing that anyway. The GM should give out a plot point when the player does something really exceptional or inventive, or when the player volunteers for their character to suffer some dramatic setback. The player might even suggest ways that their character's complications can come into play, giving the GM an opportunity to ramp up the tension. The GM can also reward a player for roleplaying in accordance with their character's motivations when it's not in the character's best interests to do so.
It's important for the GM to remember that while plot points are a reward for making the game fun, they also make the characters more powerful. A game in which plots points are handed out by the handful will have a much different feel than one in which they are given out sparingly. It's probably reasonable for each player to receive two or three plot points over the course of a typical three or four hour game session.
Spending Plot Points
The examples listed here are the most common uses for plot points, but they aren't the only ones. If a player wants to spend a plot point to make something fun happen, and it has about the same impact on the game as these examples, the GM should consider permitting it. For example, let's say an invasion of lava pygmies has caused extensive damage to a street, destroyed a few cars, and melted a mailbox. If a character with time control powers wanted to spend a plot point to reverse time and undo this damage after the lava pygmies have been repelled, should the GM permit it? Sure! It's fun, and it doesn't unbalance the game.
Automatic Success
An automatic success is just that: the player spends a plot point, and their character succeeds at the current task roll. This can be a skill roll, or it can be an attempt to hit in combat. The GM may forbid the use of a plot point to achieve an automatic success if the task is simply impossible.
An automatic success lasts as long as the effects of the roll would normally last.
Inspiration
Despite the best intentions of the GM, sometimes players get stuck. All of the leads have been followed, all of the witnesses have been interviewed, and the players are oblivious to the obvious solution the GM has given them to their dilemma. When all else fails, a player can spend a plot point to make an intuitive leap and receive a hint from the GM on what to do next.
If the GM finds this happening with any regularity, it might be worthwhile for them to make their plots a bit less challenging.
Power Boost
A power boost increases one of the character's attributes one. A character with Brawn 5 could gain a temporary boost to Brawn 6, or a character with Power 7 could gain a temporary boost to Power 8. Power boost can also be used to add a power enhancement to a power. For example, a character with Blast could use a power boost to add the Seeking power enhancement.
Power boosts usually only last for one round, but they might last as long as a scene if that seems to make sense and the GM agrees.
Power Stunt
A power stunt permits a character to use their current powers in new and creative ways. For example, a character with Ice Blast might use a power stunt to hack into a computer by freezing its memory, giving them the Computing skill, based on their Power rather than on their Reason. A character with Force Field might use a power stunt to turn their force field into a force blade (Strike). The outcome of a power stunt is not automatically successful: the player still needs to roll to determine the outcome, if the outcome is contested or subject to some uncontrolled factor. A character who used a power stunt to gain Computing would still need to make a Computing roll in order to hack the computer.
Power stunts usually only last for one round, but they might last as long as a scene if that seems to make sense and the GM agrees. For example, if a character with Time Control used a power stunt to gain Extra Attacks, then the Extra Attacks power should last until the end of the scene or until the Extra Attacks are used, whichever comes first.
Rally
Under normal circumstances, an injured character recovers half the endurance they have recently lost after they have had a chance to rest and recuperate (maybe half an hour). Spending a plot point allows a character to rally, and recover as though they'd had a half-hour's worth of rest.
Retcon
"Retcon" is short for "retroactive continuity": changing the past in some way that supports the current needs of the plot. This can involve the realization that a needed resource is available, but had previously been overlooked ("Oh, what I wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak"), or it can take the form of a character revealing a previously unknown era in their history, thus giving them new background skills ("As a matter of fact, I spent my senior year of high school studying in Japan").
A good retcon should not overtly violate what has been established in the game: it should build on what has been established in a fun and inventive way.
Retcons are essentially permanent.