AI:L Combat
Character Level Combat Rules, version 0.50 (2019/02/03)
Definitions
Round – a cycle of combat during which combatants take a turn
Turn – the point of a round where a character takes their actions
Challenge Target – the number a roll must meet or exceed for success
Threshold – The amount a roll must exceed the Challenge Target by for additional benefits, written as “Threshold #”. The default is 5, and is the threshold if no number is stated.
Zero Threshold – A Threshold roll starting from a Target of 0.
Limited Threshold – A Threshold roll that only provides its benefits once (default) or a limited number of times, as stated in the Threshold rules (example: Limited Threshold 5 (x2) for a bonus that can be applied only twice).
Advantage – A pool of bonuses that can be added to various rolls or spent to perform special actions
Edge – A limited kind of advantage that can only be used on a single action.
Initiative
Initiative is rolled at the start of each combat round.
The Stats and Skill rolled for initiative depend on the category of action a character intends to take.
- Physique + Athletics – close combat actions and other actions using Physique.
- Senses + Alertness – ranged combat actions and other actions using Senses.
- Intellect + Concentration – technical or social actions, including conversation and Thaumatech, and other actions using Intellect.
- Core Aether + Aether Channel – Etheric actions, including Willwork and Sorcery, and other actions using Core Aether
A character can change their category of action after their initiative roll, but it costs 1 Exploit of the target action category, and costs all their current advantage.
A character who beats every other Initiative roll made in a combat by a Limited Threshold of 5 gains 1 Advantage.
Weapons can add situational bonuses to initiative. Ranged weapons can take interrupt actions against melee attacks, regardless of initiative order.
Actions
Characters get one standard action and one move action during their turn. They may gain additional actions from spending exploits or advantage, activating traits, or from stances. Some combat actions can also be taken as part of a move action.
A character can spend exploits on their own turn, and can spend them on another character’s turn if they have a trait or stance that allows it (such as being in defensive stance).
Attacking consumes a characters action. An attack roll is made against an Accuracy Challenge. The basic accuracy challenge is 10, however this may be adjusted up or down depending on the nature of the target. Being larger is a definite advantage in close combat, but less so in ranged combat.
Accuracy Challenge
- 10: Base human value
- +5: Additional range increment
- -5: Point blank range
- +2: Target Moving
- +5: Target Sprinting/Shooter Moving
- +10: Shooter Sprinting
- +2: Light cover
- +4: Half Cover (1 hit location)
- +6: Full Cover (1-2 hit location)
- +10: Loophole (1-4 hit location
- +2: Poor Visibility
- +5: Very Poor Visibility
Cover
If a character is near cover they can elect to remain fully behind it. This prevents them from conducting ranged attacks in the direction blocked by the cover, but also prevents them from being hit by ranged attacks in turn (unless these can physically penetrate their cover).
On their turn a character can pop or lean out from cover as a move action, or can move back into it. Shooting from cover will usually allow a character to maintain the Full Cover bonus, with only head, upper chest and arms exposed.
Damage
When inflicting damage, the attacker rolls for hit location, amount of damage dealt, and then any wounds inflicted. The defender may roll saving throws, or other defensive abilities.
Hit Location
For characters, hit location is rolled on 1d6. The higher numbers represent harder to hit locations. There are several different hit location tables depending on the weapon used and the combat situation Ranged Attack
- 1-3: Torso
- 4: Legs
- 5: Arms
- 6: Head
Close Combat Attack
- 1-2: Arms
- 3: Legs
- 4-5: Torso
- 6: Head
After rolling for hit location an attacker can choose to strike a location lower on the table than the one they rolled. If cover would render it impossible to hit any location then the attack hits that cover and unless it is able to penetrate, does no damage.
An attacker can also attempt a “called shot” after making their attack but before rolling for hit location. Doing this allows them to spend 2 Advantage to add a +1 to the hit location roll.
Wounds
Characters gain Physical Stress in combat, but unless this stress also results in wounds its effects are short lived. PS resets at the end of the current combat, once all combatants are no longer rolling initiative. Wounds however do not reset, and must be healed with time and/or medical assistance.
There are several ways of inflicting a wound; capping a Health Level, damage wound effects, and special attacks.
When a character takes more damage than the PS of their current health level they have the option to “cap” the damage. Capping the damage means they will suffer no additional damage after the last PS in their current HL is filled. However, capping damage means they will suffer a wound in return. This wound is based on the wound effects of the damage they capped.
When damage using d6 is rolled, every result of a “6” results in a wound. When damage is rolled using a d10, the attack automatically inflicts a wound, based on the attack’s effects.
Wounds are either Light, Serious, or Mortal. A light wound will heal on its own without treatment, a serious wound requires medical attention, and a Mortal wound will be fatal without medical attention.
At the end of a battle the number of wounds a character is suffering is tallied and a d10 is rolled. Depending on the number, one of the wounds the character is suffering from will be turned into a Light, Serious, or Mortal wound. If a 10 is rolled, then another wound roll is made based on another wound the character is suffering from. The selection of which wound a character suffers from is based on which inflicted the most damage to them.
- 1-5: No lingering wound
- 6-10: Light Wound (1/2 effect)
- 11-15: Serious Wound
- 16+: Mortal wound
This roll can be reduced with a Zero Threshold Intellect + medical roll.
If a wound is not removed at the end of a battle it is lingering. The effects of lingering wounds can be reduced, or even completely suppressed with medical treatment.
Damage and Wound Types
Pain (all other wound types also inflict pain)
-1 to all rolls (can be overridden with exploits/rolls/medical assistance)
Piercing/Penetrating
-1 to maximum PS for each HL (count double for lingering effects, head hits are Stressful/Critical)
Burning
1d6 extra PS damage
Shock/Slashing
-1 Exploit (WP for head, Adrenaline for Torso and legs, Senses for arms)
Etheric
-2 to Aura, or -1 to Core Aether if no Aura
Traumatic/Stunned
-1 turn, permanently lose health levels if lingering
Armour Effects
Armour Piercing adds a multiplier to the damage dice. The value of the armour is then subtracted from the multiplied result. If the value exceeds that of the armour then the result from the damage dice without the multiplier is applied to the person or object inside the armour.
Armour Negating weapons ignore armour up to a certain value, unless certain conditions are met which cancel the negating effect. After the armour negating effect is applied, any leftover armour value subtracts from the result of the damage die.
Normal weapons simply roll the damage dice and then subtract the armour value, applying any remainder to the target beneath the armour.
Ranged Combat
Personal ranged combat is primarily conducted with firearms and is extremely lethal. Gunfire is difficult to dodge, characters caught in the open are extremely vulnerable, and much of a gunfight involves fighting from cover, or attempting to flank around enemy cover.
Ranged combat naturally builds advantage from aiming, from engaging targets without cover, and from certain stance bonusses (like Overwatch), and from ammunition exploit expenditures.
Shooting at a target in light cover or less grants 1 advantage to the shooter (whether they hit or not). Ending a round in Overwatch stance grants 2 advantage. Once a round a character can also expend one Focus for 2 advantage and one ammunition for 2 advantage as interrupt actions.
Ranged Combat Stances
Ranged combat has three basic stances – Overwatch, Snapshooting and ready. Stances are selected at the start of a character’s combat action. Once declared a stance persists over subsequent turns and rounds until it changes. Certain special abilities allow a character to change stances before, during or after their turn. Certain actions (by the character or an opponent) can also take an opponent out of a stance.
Overwatch stance adds any gained advantage to accuracy. A character in overwatch must declare a 180 degree arc and is prepared to engage any enemy in that arc. After their turn is over, they may take an action in any subsequent turn as an interrupt. They may spend 1 Focus to gain an interrupt attack ahead of any enemy move or combat action. Overwatch stance persists until the character ends it by adopting another stance, evading or moving. If a character remains in overwatch at the end of a round they gain 2 advantage.
Snapshooting adds any gained advantage to initiative and ranged AC. A character who is snapshooting can maintain the stance while moving. The dodge threshold for a character who is snapshooting is lowered by 1. If a character in Snapshooting stance fires on another charcter’s turn they can spend an Adrenaline exploit at the end of the turn to take a move action. Hitting the Deck will still remove the snapshooting stance.
Ready is the basic firearms stance and adds any gained advantage to accuracy. It can be maintained while conducting a normal move action but not while running. A character who reloads their weapon will enter the ready stance.
Combat Actions
Dodge
As an interrupt a character can perform a Dodge using Physique + Athletics. Dodging is a Zero Threshold 5 defensive action, with each success adding +1 to a character’s AC. Dodging costs one action. Heroes can declare their dodge after their opponent has made the attack roll.
Characters with ranged weapons and going on ranged initiative dodge close combat attacks at Threshold 3.
Reload
Reloading refreshes the ammo exploit counter of a weapon and can be done as part of a move action. Reloading will reset a character’s combat advantage to 0.
Aim
Aiming is one of the primary means of gaining advantage. An aim is made as a combat action and is a roll to hit, at a threshold of 5. For each threshold success the character gains 1 advantage. Cover does not affect the aim roll, but it can be dodged to reduce its effectiveness. Weapons can only be aimed once unless they have targeting aids that allow for multiple turns of aiming. Some weapons also have aids that reduce the threshold for aiming.
Hit the Deck
As an interrupt, once a turn a character can Hit the Deck, gaining an +5 to AC against ranged combat attacks for the remainder of the current combat turn. This can be done in conjunction with a dodge and/or can be used to move into full cover. Hitting the Deck does not take an action, but costs a character all their advantage. As with a dodge, Heroes can declare this action after their opponent has rolled to hit.
Ammunition Exploits
Expending ammunition is one of the main methods for firearms users to conduct special moves.
Double Tap
A character with can spend one ammunition to fire two shots in rapid succession. Calculation against AC for the first shot is done normally, while the second is calculated on a Limited Threshold of 5 + Weapon Recoil (x1). Evasive actions can still cause the second shot to miss, even if they cannot avoid the first.
Burst
A burst is a special kind of double tap only available to automatic weapons. The character can expend multiple points of ammunition, to increase the Limited Threshold by 1 per ammunition expended, potentially scoring three or more hits in a single attack.
Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire spends ammunition for a +2 Edge bonus which is added to the hit roll. Fully automatic weapons can spend multiple points of ammunition in this manner up to their rate or until they run out, but they only gain +1 Edge per advantage spent. This can be combined with other maneuvers.
Sustained Fire
Sustained fire is conducted to hit all targets in a designated area, and can only be conducted with fully automatic weapons, or through the coordination of multiple shooters. For two points of ammunition a fully automatic weapon can put sustained fire over one 5m area for the rest of the round. A roll to hit can be made against all targets moving through that area, subtracting the weapons recoil from the hit roll. Multiple points of ammunition can be spent to expend this target area, but it must be contiguous and cannot exceed 20m long. Larger automatic weapons can affect larger areas.
Advantage Special Maneuvers
2 Advantage – Kill Shot
After rolling to hit but before rolling damage, a character can choose to spend 2 or more advantage to increase the damage dealt. An additional 1d6 damage is added for every 4 damage dice, so a weapon with 1-4 damage die would add 1d6, while one with 5-8 would add 2d6, and so on. The special maneuver can be activated multiple times on the same damage roll. Note that these additional damage dice are only added once. Additional shots, such as those gained from double tap or burst, will not benefit.
2 Advantage - Called Shot
After rolling to hit but before rolling for hit location and attacker can spend Advantage to make a called shot. Doing this allows them to spend 2 Advantage to add a +1 to the hit location roll. This special maneuever can be activated multiple times, and affects all shots made with that attack.
10 Advantage - Kill Zone
When making a Sustained Fire attack the character can expend 10 advantage and all remaining ammunition to strike an area encompassing the theoretical maximum targetable area of their weapon.