Aberrant 2.0 Combat Alterations

Compressed Combat

This is a system used for less-narratively important fights, compressing the effect of a fight into one roll. Compressed combat uses (attack roll + base attack damage - enemy soak) for every character in question. In other words, it's (attribute + ability + damage - soak). For example, a police officer with Dexterity 3, Firearms 2 + 1 accuracy, weapon damage 6L, and soak 4L has a total of 12d and subtracts 4d from the opponent's pool. The opposing gangbanger with Dexterity 2, Firearms 2, weapon damage 5L, and soak 1L has a total of 9d and subtracts 1d from the opponent's pool. Automatic successes are removed first by "soak" in this system. If facing multiple opponents, use the highest opponent's soak.

In general, the henchmen rules should be used to model combatants. Up to the henchmen limit add to the dice pool, but each additional henchman past that is an effective extra health level for the character in question.

Modifiers

Listed below are some potential modifiers. Note that modifiers can never more than double the base (attack + damage) pool before soak is factored in.

• Higher Tactics than opponent: +1d
• Dodge pool higher than opponent attack pool: +1d
• Superior Position: +1-5d
• Cover: -1-3d to the opponent's pool (equal to normal +difficulty)
• Relevant Supporting Power: +1-5d

Quantum Powers

In general, if a quantum power is used for the attack pool, it is assumed that the power is used for the majority of combat. Maintenance and Concentration powers cost double, while multiply the cost of all Action powers by x5 and all Instant powers by x10. In the event that the character has an insufficient quantum pool for the use of all powers he/she chooses to apply, the character ends the combat with 0 points of remaining Quantum but suffers no other penalties.

Strange Interactions

Some powers may not have actual damage ratings, or may be resisted differently. In that case, the user's pool is either (2 * attack roll - enemy resistance pool) or (attack roll + damage roll - enemy resistance roll). Combat-relevant powers which may fall under this category are powers such as Dominate, Mental Blast, Biomanipulation, Entropic Manipulation, and various others. Powers which may be tangentially beneficial (such as say, telekinesis or Invisibility) add +1d to your basic combat roll for each dot in the power.

Forcefield and other sources of ablative soak subtract 1 success from the enemy attack roll per dot (+1 additional success subtracted for forcefield proper rather than a suite power), same with any power which increases attack difficulty. Any relevant defensive extras increase forcefield's success-subtracting properties.

Resolution

Timeframe

The timeframe of a compressed combat is equal to the highest (attribute + ability) dice pool of the combatants in question, in turns. Each dot of a Mega-Attribute counts as 2 dots of a normal attribute.

Victory

The winner is the side which rolls more total successes. The winning side achieve their intent, which should be a one sentence goal. "Driving the enemy to retreat" is a valid goal, or "I want to survive", or "I want to show dominance" or so on. A tie is resolved by base initiative-the character with the higher initiative wins the fight.

Damage and Death

The total successes rolled by a "side" equal the levels of damage a character takes. In the event that both characters take enough damage to be incapacitated or killed, the character with the higher base initiative survives on their last -4 health level, while the character with lower initiative is killed. Against multiple important opponents, total damage successes should be divided as seen fit (generally evenly).

The ability to win without rolling sufficient successes to kill an opponent means it is often possible, in compressed combat, that a victory is won before someone dies on one side. Most conflicts are not resolved with the death of one of the participants, after all. Fights "to the death" should generally be resolved normally, 'blow-by-blow'.

Mass Combat

These mass combat rules are enhancements which allow people to use extras and other things in large scale combat.

Henchmen

Henchmen are irrelevant, faceless mooks who don't even have the status of an extra. They are used as enhancements to the actions of a leader figure, who may benefit from up to (Charisma + Command) * 2 henchmen at a time during most situations. Certain situations (wide open battlefields with no cover) may increase the number of henchmen that can be effectively used, while tight quarters may reduce or even eliminate the option of using henchmen.

• Dice Pool: Each henchman adds to the commander's pool for attacks and defenses (the defensive bonus is generally represented by suppressive fire, fire and overwatch tactics, and other options that allow for increased survival rates). This bonus is generally +1d, but increases to +2d if the henchman in question has an attribute and ability total in that area over 7d. If the henchmen have Psi or Quantum powers (generally only for sub-aberrants and universally psi-capable aliens like Chromatics), this bonus is given to Psi usage as well, or adds to the dice pool for Quantum powers that both parties have.

• Damage: Each henchman adds +1 to the damage of the commander's weapon. Henchmen with bigger guns than the commander are considered to have Support Weapons, and have their own rules. In normal operation, they simply add to damage, firing their light weapons.

• Support Weapons: Instead of attacking himself, a commander can use a henchman's heavy weapon. This could be anything from molotov cocktails and AK-47s for the leader of a rioting mob armed with clubs and knives, to pulse cannons and plasma guns for a Trinity-era Legion strike team. This attack is made at full dice pool with henchmen accuracy/damage bonuses. Weapons capable of firing bursts are assumed to fire the largest possible burst they can. This attack can only be done once per combat per henchman equipped with a heavy weapon. The rest of the time, the henchman is assumed to be missing dramatically.

• Damage Soak: Until all henchmen are eliminated, the leader cannot be targeted. When targeting a squad with henchmen in it, the squad's soak is assumed to be the representative soak of the most numerous henchman type. Each point of damage dealt removes from play one of these henchmen, until only the commander is left and can be engaged normally. Some squads may be all-henchmen, which means the commander himself is eliminated like a henchman. Note that outside of area attacks, most henchmen don't die, they just surrender/drop their weapons and cower in fear/are too shocked or confused to contribute meaningfully for the fight. Well-trained and fanatical henchmen may divide losses by 2 or 3, being harder to intimidate into surrender, pin down, or incapacitate.

• Area Vulnerability: Area attacks have increased effect on squads. Generally, all post-soak damage is doubled for area attacks, although particularly large ones may triple or even quadruple post-soak effects on henchman squads. Area attacks are dangerous things against groups, and the shock and noise can often scare poorly-trained henchmen into surrendering.

Warfare

The Warfare rules roughly model that there is a war going on around you, and that you are not the only participants in this battle.

Force Attributes

All forces have three attributes generally rated from 1-10:

• Size: Size represents the size of a fighting force, and roughly how much firepower they can bring to bear. Every level of Size represents roughly 2 times the number of people above it, with Size 1 being roughly platoon-level (~40 men). Size 5 is therefore a roughly battalion sized unit while Size 10 is ~20,000 combat personnel, or roughly an entire Corps. Size grants numerous advantages.
• Firepower: How much firepower a force can bring to bear and how good it is at surviving it. Firepower is the lethal damage that a successful attack on the party by an opposing armed force deals, ignoring soak. Soak is ignored because higher priority targets get more firepower-a tank or Nova gets engaged by RPGs and artillery, while infantry are generally not hit by things like mass 155mm howitzer bombardment or the like.
• Skill: A unit's skill is how well it handles its weapons. This is its base dice pool for most purposes. The unit's skill rating is used for attacks of opportunity. Skill is an average of personal combat skill, tactical acumen, and organizational efficiency.

All forces also have at least two tracks and possibly three rated from 0-10:

• Morale: A unit's morale is essentially a unit's willpower track. A unit may spend 1 Morale to add 1 success to all actions the unit takes in that round.
• Support: How much "off-board" firepower a unit possesses. A unit with Support 0 has no actual support and has to make do. A unit with Support 5+ is generally a first world military with more than enough firepower to throw at any issue it wants to. 1 point of this track can be spent to add the permanent support track size to the Skill dice pool, and add 1 automatic success to firepower rolls. Certain types of support may have additional effects such as tactical nuclear weapons turning damage aggravated or tactical recon assets adding +1 to accuracy for all enemy attacks on the turn.
• Power: Certain forces are predominantly made up of creatures with Psi or Quantum-based powers. These forces have an attribute, roughly representative of their rating in that ability. A horde of sub-Aberrants has Power 1, while an all-Doyen force would have Power 10.

Attacks of Opportunity

The military setup above is not intended for high-level conflict resolutions-it is intended to modify the low-level situation around the party. As such, the first thing the larger war does is add attacks of opportunity.

A unit gets as many attacks of opportunity as its Size, representing the hordes of men and materiel found in a battle and how they often can engage important targets, but only up to (Intelligence + Command) attacks of opportunity can be used on the battlefield. Other attacks tend to be wasted on lower-priority targets, bogged down by clever enemy feints, or fired off but used ineffectively.

These attacks use a unit's Skill + Size + Support (if support is used) versus the enemy's Wits + Tactics as a defense. Success deals post-soak damage dice equal to Firepower + Size, ignoring soak or other factors (the rationale for such is given above). Note that against squads, these attacks are always considered Area attacks, with an x3 multiplier.

For ease of resolution, the attack/damage pools can be divided by 3, then rounded up.

Power Overwhelming

Some units have a Power track. The Power track is an abstraction of the force's ability to alter the battlefield via psionic or quantum means. This track has various uses.

• Boost: A commander can spend 1 point from the Power track and roll its permanent rating. Successes temporarily increase the effectiveness of all units with the same powers, adding a temporary +1 Psi for 1 turn for Psions. For Quantum users, this instead adds +1 to power rating and +1 to Quantum for the same turn.
• Recharge: A commander can spend 1 point from the power track to add 1 Quantum or Psi to all his soldiers. This is a narrative fiat. The soldiers under his command aren't actually recharged-it's just that with others to assist in the fight, they never had to push quite as hard in the first place.
• Firepower: A commander can use his force's noetic or quantum ability as support, with identical rules, save replacing Support for Power. The combined actions of dozens of Psions or Novas can be incredible. High-magnitude storms, rains of fire or lightning, suddenly overcharging everyone's weapons beyond normal abilities, summoned giant robot attacks, so on and so forth. This can be used alongside Support as well, for truly awe-inspiring levels of carnage.

Quantity is Quality

The larger a unit is, the deadlier it is, even if outdated and poorly led, numbers can be effective. The net difference in size can add several complications on the tactical scale.

• Reduced Defense: Even on the tactical scale, the sheer number of threats arrayed by a numerically superior foe can be a deadly distraction. Most of them might not even be engaging, but they are still potential threats. The net size difference inflicts a +1 difficulty penalty per point to any defensive or awareness rolls. It's not so hard for a group of commandos to sneak past you when you're a platoon surrounded by 20,000 men.
• Reduced Morale: A horde of foes is a very visceral threat, an unending swarm of foes heading down like locusts. Each point of size may be used to reduce the smaller unit's Morale track by 1. This affects temporary and permanent Morale.
• Attacks of Opportunity: As seen above, a unit's size plays a significant role in the lethality of attacks of opportunity. Large numbers of even poorly trained combatants can rapidly attrition small, elite units to nothingness.