Combat

When you get into an action sequence — usually a fight because there’s a lot of that in comics, but it doesn’t always have to be a fight — the rules get a little more rigid. That said, this system is meant to play fairly fast and loose. The best thing to do is imagine the scene in your head, and think, “If this were a movie, what would my Hero do right now?” And say you do that. Refer to the different types of attack and defensive maneuvers, and that should help you figure out how to make it happen and what to roll.

Secondary Traits

First of all, here are the important traits to remember:

Initiative Score

Initiative is a static score (not a Rank) calculated as the sum of the following:

• Agility Rank Number divided by 10
• Intuition Rank Number divided by 10
• Any bonuses from Talents (i.e. the Military Talent provides a +1 bonus to Initiative)
• If you have gear/power armor that provides increased speed (no matter how fast or how many movement modes), you get a +1 to your initiative score while using it
• If you have a power that provides an innate increase to your speed, you add that power’s Rank Number divided by 10
• If you have a power that increases your situational awareness (danger sense, heightened hearing or other senses, etc.), add your power’s Rank Number divided by 10

Round down, minimum score of 1

An average person is going to have a score of 1: AV 6 in both Agility and Intuition, no other traits that influence it, so 12 divided by 10, rounded down equals 1. Can’t get any lower than that!

Usually, you’ll find leader-type characters near the top: this is intentional so they can strategize with the rest of the team!

It’s a static score because that’s the easiest way to jump into fights fast: the GM will create an ordered list of characters and their initiative scores at the start of the session.

Optional Rule: Start Within the Order

You can always start at a different point in the initiative order if it makes sense to do so, such as if the villains successfully ambush the heroes (or vice versa). In that case, start with the first villain in the initiative sequence, and then continue to cycle through as normal. This cuts both ways: if a Hero clearly does something sudden, surprising, and that changes the tenor of a scene, start the initiative order with that Hero and then run through it in the proceeding order.

Health Score & Taking Damage

Every character has a Health score. It’s not a Rank, just a static number made up of the sum of your Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance Rank Numbers. If you take RM 30 Rank damage, you note 30 points in the Damage box on your character sheet. When you take more damage, just keep adding to the number in that box. Once that number matches or exceeds your Health, you’re in trouble.

Health and Damage primarily reflect your physical condition, while Resolve and Stress reflect your mental and emotional well-being. Resolve and Stress are detailed in Social Interaction.

You’ll find more on Health under the section on Health & Damage near the end of this chapter. First, let’s concentrate on doing damage in the first place.

Activities

On your turn, you can…

• Move
• Perform 1 interaction: talk, open or close a door, sip a hot coffee
• Perform 1 action: attack, defend, hold off, or do something cool On other people’s turns, you can…
• Converse with people, especially if it’s an appropriate response to their actions: “Ouch! Stop punching my face off!”
• Take a reaction IF AND ONLY IF you either…
  • Decide to defend as your action on your turn, or…
  • You have a power or gear that gives you a reaction. (You may be limited to a certain number of reactions, so keep that in mind. Your powers and gear will tell you.)

  Move

  There’s a whole chapter on movement. Basically, you can move 1-3 “areas” (an area is like a few yards) on your turn, unless you’re super-fast in which case your powers or gear tells you how far you can move. (See MOVEMENT & ENVIRONMENT.)

  Interaction

  Think of an interaction as a “free action.” They don’t require dice rolls and don’t take up much time. You can usually only do each one once (or for a short period of time) on your turn, but they do have to take place on your turn. Typical interactions are:

  • Manipulating a simple object that doesn’t require a roll to do so, such as…
  • Open an unlocked door
  • Pick up a dropped cell phone
  • Drink or eat
  • Stow your laptop in your backpack
  • Draw or sheathe a weapon
  • Actively look for someone or something that’s not terribly well hidden.
  • Focus on a conversation such that you can make use of the social interaction rules (see SOCIAL INTERACTION).

  Reaction

  Most Heroes can only use a reaction if they have chosen to defend as their action: in that case, you go fully defensive, concentrating on nothing but getting out of harm’s way.

  Otherwise, you don’t have any reactions. If you don’t see that word on your character sheet, don’t worry about it outside of going on the defensive.

  If you do have that word on your sheet, good for you! You can now react to someone else’s action on their turn and do something cool: your character sheet tells you what.

  The best example is when you get a free Shield Block defensive action every round because you wield a shield.

  That means that after you’ve already taken your action on your turn bashing the shield into a villain’s face, and someone attacks your or a nearby friend, you can leap in the way, attempting to absorb the attack. (Note that if you didn’t attack on your turn, and instead used the defend action for Shielding, you’d be able to use your shield to defend against a bunch of attacks, rather than just one. Sometimes a good defense is a good defense, ya know what I mean?)

  Actions

  There are four actions:

  • Attack
  • Defend
  • Hold Off
  • Do something else cool, like set a trap, hack a computer, thoroughly search for an invisible opponent, or push a nuclear missile through a portal.

  Attack

  You try to hurt someone, disable them, entangle them, or hit them with some other effect that makes them simmer down or bite the dust!

  There’s a bunch of different types of attack maneuvers, but generally speaking, they have the following effects depending on the color of the result you get when you make them, White, Green, Yellow, or Red.

  • White = you miss.
  • Green = you hit, dealing damage or the bare minimum effect.
  • Yellow = a telling blow, dealing damage +1R and/or potentially inflicting an additional effect on top of that. Examples include Bullseye, Slam, Stun, etc.
  • Red = an extraordinary success deals damage +2R or the maximum effect of the maneuver, with a potential additional effect, possibly knocking out or even outright killing someone, breaking something, or the like.

  Note! Those additional effects we mention aren’t 100% guaranteed: the opponent may have the opportunity to resist. There’s a whole section on this stuff later.

  Defend

  There are a few different defensive maneuvers, but the ones you most often see are:

  • Dodge: duck and cover! You roll Agility against each incoming attack to avoid it.
  • Block: try to soak up a hit with your raw strength, a shield, or some other protective gear.
  • Escape: slip out of a hold or grab.

  Hold Off

  This means you decide to attack, defend, or do something else cool at some point later in the round. You can interrupt an action (before it’s resolved!) and say, “My turn!” then choose whether you attack, defend, or do something else cool. But once you choose, that’s all you get to do.

  When you Hold Off, you choose when to move or perform any interaction(s): either during your turn before declaring to Hold Off, or once you interrupt and take your actions. You can’t do them at both times, however!

  Hold Off is awesome when paired with some of the advanced tactics later in this chapter, because you time your action with another Hero, like Double Team and Combined Attack, to deal more damage or have a better chance of affecting something. So if you think you can get some mileage out of that, read up on those rules.

  Do Something Cool

  This is a catchall for things that may or may not require rolls, may or may not cause damage, and…well, it’s really just up to the player and the GM to discuss how it works.

  Some examples might be hacking a database (Reason roll), directing dozens of civilians to the safest route away from the alien invaders (maybe a social roll of some kind if they are being stubborn), hotwiring a car (Reason roll), or poking around for clues such as where the Invisible Man is or if the safe is hidden behind a painting (Intuition roll).

  Action Descriptions

  Attack

  Now that you know the basics, let’s talk specifics. When you attack an opponent, you choose a specific maneuver based on your skills, weapons, or powers. Each maneuver comes with a type of damage or effect when you successfully hit someone or something with it.

  When you make an attack roll, the color result tells you what happens. A useful general rule, that applies to all damaging attacks, is as follows:

  • White = You miss and don’t deal damage or apply any special effects.
  • Green = You deal damage.
  • Yellow = You deal +1R damage.
  • Red = You deal +2R damage.

  This way when you roll a Yellow or better result on your attack, you have a chance of dealing more damage than normal! The additional effects (Stun, Slam, Kill, etc.) are described later in this chapter.

  Maneuver + Effect

  To resolve your attack, you simply describe what you want to do: punch a villain’s face, restrain them, throw a car at them, shoot them with your Electromagnetic Stun Rifle, blast them with a kinetic shockwave, or torch them with your heat rays. In every case, the game mechanics will land on two facets:

  • Maneuver: How you perform the attack.
  • Effect: How the attack affects the target(s).

  Maneuvers tell you what roll to make, and effects tell you what happens based on the color result of the roll. You want to keep in mind both: if you have a high Agility, then a Shooting Attack sounds like a good idea, until you realize that you could accidentally kill your target when really all you want to do is subdue them until the authorities arrive.

  Look out for consequences!

  Maneuver Template

  Maneuvers are laid out as page spreads in order to keep the rules you need all in one place. This does mean you’ll see some duplication. Maneuvers are listed with a description, followed by a few sections: Range Notes on how close you have to be to use the maneuver.

  Ability

  Which ability is used to make the roll to see if you hit the target, plus any specific modifiers.

  Effect The effects of the different maneuvers. Note that some special effects — Slam, Stun, Kill — are described in a later section.

  Damage Modifiers

  When you see “Damage +1R” or the like, note that the +1R part modifies the Rank as normal, not the Rank Number.

  So if your base damage is your Strength Rank Number, and you roll a Yellow result which reads “Damage +1R” you will increase your Strength Rank by one, and use that new Rank Number to calculate the damage.

  Melee Combat

  You get in close in order to bludgeon or slice/stab your opponent either hand-to-hand or with a close-quarters melee weapon.

  Range You must be within the same area as your opponent, or you must move in order to close the distance.

  Ability You use your Fighting Rank to make the attack roll.

  Effect You deal damage based on the type of attack, either blunt (fists, clubs, pipes, nunchaku, quarterstaff, baseball bat, bricks, etc.) or edged damage (swords, spears, axes, claws, bites, chainsaws, etc.).

  Blunt Damage Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Slam
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Stun Base Damage You deal damage equal to your Strength Rank Number if unarmed, or the damage rating of the weapon if armed.

  Pull Your Punch

  When making blunt attacks, you may reduce the effect if you’d like. Choose one:

  • Deal less damage, choosing any number that’s less than your damage rating.
  • Reduce your color result.

  Edged Damage Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Stun
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Kill Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  You cannot reduce the damage or the color result of an attack that deals edged damage.

  Improvised Weapons

  If you use an improvised weapon such as a stop sign, lamp post, a brick, or whatever, it deals Strength +1R damage if the item’s Material Strength is equal or greater than your Strength. Otherwise, it probably just breaks because it’s too flimsy. See MOVEMENT & ENVIRONMENT for Material Strength ratings of common objects.

  Slam, Stun, Kill See Special Effects.

  Charge You rush toward your enemy in an attempt to smash or tackle them.

  Range You must move at least 1 area to attempt a Charging attack.

  Ability Use your Endurance for the attack roll. For each area you move before reaching the target, add +1R to your Endurance Rank for the attack roll, up to a maximum of +3R.

  Effect Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss + you travel an additional area in a straight line.
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Slam
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Stun Damage You deal damage equal to your Endurance +1R for each area you traveled through before hitting the target.

  Pull Your Punch

  When making a charge attack, you may reduce the damage to any number you wish, but you cannot change the color result.

  Slam, Stun See Special Effects.

  Wrestling

  You attempt to snatch away an item, weapon, or object (Grabbing), or ensnare your opponent (Grappling).

  Range You must be within the same area as your opponent, or you must move in order to close the distance.

  Ability You use your Strength to make the attack roll.

  Effect You may deal damage on certain results, up to your Strength Rank Number. Otherwise, the effects are based on the maneuver.

  Grabbing Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!*
  • Green = Take
  • Yellow = Grab
  • Red = Break

  *If the item was in someone else’s possession, they retain it. If not, it falls to the ground.

  Take

  You gain a hold of the item. If your Strength is equal or greater than the target’s Strength, you gain control of it.

  Otherwise they pull it free; treat it as a White result.

  Grab

  You grab and gain control of the item, regardless of your opponent’s Strength.

  Break

  You grab and gain control of the item, but risk breaking it. If your Strength is greater than the Material Strength of the object, it breaks.

  Regardless, if it has a button or trigger to activate an effect, it goes off, targeting a random person in the area (determined by the GM), and using AV 6 as the attack roll Rank, unless stated otherwise.

  Grappling

  Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Miss!
  • Yellow = Partial Hold
  • Red = Hold Partial Hold You get a hold of a limb, inflicting a -2R penalty on all of their rolls until they successfully use the Escape defensive maneuver. If your Strength is greater than theirs, they can no longer move on their turn. (But they can still act: if they don’t want to take the Escape action, they do whatever action they want, just at -2R.)

  Hold You gain a full grappling hold on the target, immobilizing them and dealing damage equal to your Strength Rank Number. They may only make the Escape action on their turn; they may make no other actions or movement. Maintaining the hold is an interaction for you. If you maintain the hold, you may deal your Strength Rank Number in damage as part of this interaction on each of your turns that the hold is maintained. This means you still get an action, too…

  Pull Your Punch When making a grapple attack, you may reduce the damage to any number you wish, but you cannot change the color result.

  Thrown Attacks You throw a projectile, dealing damage based on whether it’s blunt or edged.

  Range The attack has a range listed in areas. This is its maximum range. Each area the projectile passes through up to that point incurs a -1R penalty to the attack roll.

  Ability You use your Agility to make the attack roll, with the penalty noted above.

  Effect You deal damage based on the type of attack, either blunt (throwing baton, brick, baseball, car, lamp post, etc.) or edged damage (throwing knife, shuriken, thrown spear, dart, throwing axe, etc.).

  Blunt Damage

  Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Bullseye
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Stun Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  Hold Back

  When making a thrown blunt attack, you may reduce the damage to any number you wish, but you cannot change the color result.

  Edged Damage

  Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Stun
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Kill Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  You cannot reduce the damage or the color result of an attack that deals edged damage.

  Miss!

  On a miss, the GM may roll to see if it hits a randomly determined bystander.

  Improvised Weapons

  If you use an improvised weapon such as a stop sign, lamp post, a brick, or whatever, it deals Strength +1R damage if the item’s Material Strength is equal or greater than your Strength. Otherwise, it probably just breaks because it’s too flimsy. See MOVEMENT & ENVIRONMENT for Material Strength ratings of common objects.

  Bullseye, Stun, Kill See Special Effects.

  Ranged Attacks

  You fire a projectile weapon such as a gun or bow (Shooting), or project a form of energy or concussive force to deal damage (Energy/Force Attacks).

  Range The attack has a range listed in areas. This is its maximum range. Each area the projectile passes through up to that point incurs a -1R penalty to the attack roll.

  Ability You use your Agility to make the attack roll, with the penalty noted above.

  Effect You deal damage, plus special effects, based on the type of attack: shooting, energy, or force.

  Shooting Attack Shooting Attacks are defined by a projectile fired from a weapon, giving said projectile more force and penetrating power than if it were thrown. Guns, bows, crossbows, etc. fall under this. Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Bullseye
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Kill Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  Energy Attack

  Energy doesn’t usually have kinetic force behind it: fire, lasers, electricity, etc. Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Bullseye
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Kill Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  Force Attack

  The primary difference from an energy attack is that a force attack has kinetic force: concussive explosions, force fields, and repulsor blasts. Your color result determines the effect.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Bullseye
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Stun Base Damage You deal damage equal to the attack or weapon’s listed damage Rank Number.

  Miss!

  On a miss, the GM may roll to see if it hits a randomly determined bystander.

  Hold Back When making an Energy or Force Attack, you may reduce the damage to any number you wish, but you cannot change the color result. You cannot do either for a Shooting Attack.

  Bullseye, Stun, Kill See Special Effects.

  Special Effects Many maneuvers have special effects in addition to the old standby “damage your opponent.” The ones shared by many maneuvers are described below.

  Bullseye

  You didn’t just hit, you hit exactly the spot you wanted to, inflicting more than just damage!

  A Bullseye result allows you to “call your shot” and hit something interesting like a weak point, something a person’s holding, the lever that activates the Doomsday Device, or whatever. You are encouraged to describe it in a fun manner, and you and the GM collaborate on a neat extra effect like:

  • Shooting a gun out of someone’s hand.
  • Lashing someone’s arm or weapon to a nearby light post.
  • Knocking out a specific system on power armor or vehicles, such as the sensors, or blowing out a tire or stabilizer.

  This is a license to consider an alternative effect other than damage (though you may certainly deal damage, as well). Using Slams or Stuns as a useful template, you might hit a rocket pack and effectively “Slam” your opponent into another area. An aimed shot at someone’s head might effectively “Stun” them. If something is viable on a Yellow result under another maneuver, then it’s fair game if the GM says so. But you can only ever choose one effect in addition to dealing damage.

  This is not a license to employ the Kill result, or increase the damage of an effect. Since Kills only happen on a Red result, you can’t achieve that. Same with Break (Grab) and Hold (Grappling): these are Red results, so if you Bullseye an enemy’s gun, you shoot it out of their hand…but they can still recover it and use it later on. It’s not broken. If you entangle their limb, they might have a -2 penalty while wrapped up (as for a Partial Hold), but aren’t completely immobilized.

  Resisting Bullseye Effects

  Your target can’t resist a Bullseye effect itself. However, if you use Bullseye to create an effect that normally has a way to resist it (such as a Slam or Stun), then those rules take precedence.

  Kill

  You have mortally wounded your opponent…they might die, regardless of their current Damage!

  Resistance When subject to a Kill, first compare the attack’s Rank to your Body Armor or other protection. If their attack is greater (i.e. you take damage), then make an Endurance roll. Otherwise, ignore the Kill.

  Effect The result of the Endurance roll tells you what happens.

  • White = Endurance Loss: You are unconscious and begin dying..
  • Green = KO 1-10: You are knocked out for 1d10 rounds.
  • Yellow or Red = No: You’re fine.

  Slam

  You’ve been hit by an attack that might knock you through the air!

  Resistance

  When subject to a Slam, first compare the attack’s Rank to your Body Armor or other protection. If their attack is greater (i.e. you take damage), then make an Endurance roll. Otherwise, ignore the Slam.

  Effect The result of the Endurance roll tells you what happens.

  • White = Grand Slam: You go flying! Starting at Null on the Uni-Table, count up a number of Ranks equal to the difference between your Endurance Rank and your opponent’s damage Rank. Reference this Rank on the Land/Water Speed section of the Speed Table to see how many areas you are flung, minimum 1 area.
  • Green = Slam: You are pushed into an adjacent area of the attacker’s choice.
  • Yellow = Stagger: You stumble but remain in the same area.
  • Red = No: You remain planted where you are.

  On any results except for Red, if there’s a wall, pit, debris, crowds, or other environmental features in the area you end in (even if it’s the same one you’re in because you were Staggered), your attacker can choose to knock you into them. The effects of these are usually left to the GM to devise. (Crowds and clutter are described in MOVEMENT AND ENVIRONMENT.)

  Describing a Slam

  A Slam successful result doesn’t strictly mean that a character was walloped hard enough to fly through multiple Areas. While that’s certainly one interpretation, it may not make sense for characters who aren’t super strong. Slams can be described as any variation of the following:

  • You reel backwards.
  • After being hit, your opponent throws you aside.
  • You stumble several feet, unable to catch your footing.
  • You slide across the ground.
  • You skip across the ground, like skipping a rock.
  • You bounce off of several obstacles as you go staggering backwards.

  Stun

  You are hit so hard you have the wind — or your consciousness — knocked right outta ya.

  Resistance

  When subject to a Stun, first compare the attack’s Rank to your Body Armor or other protection. If their attack is greater (i.e. you take damage), then make an Endurance roll. Otherwise, ignore the Stun.

  Effect The result of the Endurance roll tells you what happens.

  • White = 1-10: You fall prone and roll one 10-sided die, and that’s the number of rounds you’re out of it.
  • Green = 1: You are dazed, still on your feet but unable to act for one round.
  • Yellow or Red = No: You’re fine.

  A stunned character cannot act, but it’s up to them whether they are fully unconscious or not. Either way, they are confused, don’t move or defend themselves, and can’t meaningfully communicate in any form.

  Advanced Attack Tactics

  Use the following maneuvers and situations to maximize your teamwork, attacks and abilities.

  Aiming You take aim on your intended target as your action. On the following round you get an additional +1R on your attack roll.

  Attacking Multiple Targets When making a melee blunt or edged attack, energy attack, or force attack, you target multiple adjacent opponents in the same area as you. Make a single attack roll at -4R then resolve the effects individually.

  Blindsiding If you get the drop on an opponent — attacking from hiding, while invisible, etc. — you gain a +2R on your attack roll. Attacking an opponent you cannot sense (due to darkness, powers, etc.) applies a -2R penalty on your attack rolls.

  Combined Attacks As your action, declare that you will combine attacks with another character in order to punch through an enemy’s defenses or increase the effect of a special attack. Doing so gives you a reaction on an ally’s turn where you make an Agility roll. If successful, your ally’s action receives a bonus to damage based on your color result:

  White = no bonus, Green = +1R, Yellow = +2R, Red = +3R.

  Divebomb

  A character charging from the air (via flight, etc.), dropping straight down, gains a +4R bonus on their attack roll.

  Double-Teaming Any time you attack a character that is currently subject to a Partial Hold or Hold from an ally, you get a +2R to your attack.

  Groundstrike To make an Energy Attack on a target without the risk of a possible Kill result, you instead strike the ground beneath them (or any other surface they are in contact with). Your Energy Attack must have a Rank that is higher than the Material Strength of the surface you are striking. If so, make your attack using the Force Attack results instead of Energy Attack, but you deal damage equal to the Material Strength of the surface targeted instead of your normal damage.

  Point-Blank Range When you make a Shooting Attack against a helpless target (such as one restrained by a hold, tied up, or unconscious) who is next to you, unobstructed by a crowded or cluttered situation, you gain +2R to your attack roll and increase the color result by one (maximum of Red).

  Shockwave If your Strength is at least two Ranks greater than the Material Strength of the ground, you may affect a large area by creating an earthquake-like effect. Make a Strength roll, and everyone (and everything) other than you within 1 area of you applies the following effects individually.

  Damage is based on your Strength Rank Number.

  • White = Miss!
  • Green = Damage
  • Yellow = Damage +1R, plus Slam
  • Red = Damage +2R, plus Stun

  Defend

  Normally, you are assumed to be ducking and weaving to a certain degree. That’s why opponents have to roll to hit you, and why being subject to a grappling hold is very bad for you.

  If you want to be extra careful, you can move and interact on your turn normally, but take the Defend action, which is effectively nothing else on your turn. You may then use any defensive maneuvers described below as a reaction, as many times as you like. (Exception: Escape works differently.)

  The Defend action is most useful if you have no other way of affecting the outcome of a fight, or find yourself in special circumstances. One example is when you are subject to a Grappling hold: you cannot take any actions or move at all, except to use the Escape maneuver. Another example would be if you want to shield an ally from an attack: you can use the Shield special defensive maneuver to do that.

  Finally, there are some powers or gear that give you a “free” defensive reaction. In these cases, they’ll tell you what happens, but it usually means you don’t have to take the Defend action to use them: you act normally on your turn, plus you can use one of the defensive maneuvers as a reaction.

  The most common maneuver is Dodge, which is presented first. Special defensive maneuvers presented afterward include Blocking (and Shielding), Catching, and Escaping.

  Dodge

  You attempt to get out of the way of an incoming attack.

  Useful Against Incoming attacks targeted at you. Attacks that affect an entire area cannot be dodged.

  Effect Make an Agility roll as soon as you are targeted by an applicable attack as a reaction. You dodge each attack individually. If you take the Defend action, you can dodge any number of attacks in between your turns. Otherwise you are limited by the ability that gives you this reaction.

  The color of the result determines what happens:

  • White = Stepped Right Into It! Increase the attack’s color result by one (Green | Yellow | Red).
  • Green = Roll with the Impact! Reduce the attack’s color result by one (Red | Yellow | Green | White).
  • Yellow or Red = Dodge! You evade the attack completely.

  Block You attempt to absorb the impact of an attack through brute strength.

  Useful Against Incoming attacks targeted at you. Attacks that affect an entire area cannot be blocked.

  Effect Make a Fighting roll as soon as you are targeted by an applicable attack as a reaction. If you have a protective item (an item designed to block attacks, like a shield), or an improvised item (such as a door, trash can lid, etc.) use its Material Strength as Body Armor. If you don’t have such an item, the color of the result determines how much effective body armor you receive. This body armor works like the power Body Armor: you subtract the Rank Number from any damage you take, to a minimum of zero (0).

  • White = Fail! Increase the attack’s color result by one (Green | Yellow | Red).
  • Green = You gain body armor equal to the Material Strength of your shield, or your Strength -4R.
  • Yellow = You gain body armor equal to the Material Strength of your shield, or your Strength -2R.
  • Red = You gain body armor equal to the Material Strength +1R of your shield, or your own Strength +1R.

  If you already have the Body Armor power (or gear that grants it), you use the higher rating only; it doesn’t stack. (So, this power isn’t great if you already have Body Armor that’s rated near or above your Strength.)

  Shield

  You leap in front of an attack aimed at an ally (or anything else you’re willing to protect with your body)!

  Useful Against Any attack.

  Effect Shield is a special form of Block. As a reaction, choose a single attack aimed at someone (or something) else in the same area as you and make an Agility roll. If successful, you become the target of the attack and immediately make a Block maneuver.

  Catch

  You’re either awaiting a pass from the quarterback or you otherwise know something’s headed your way, and you want to snatch it out of the air.

  Useful Against Falling people, objects thrown to you, attacks thrown or fired at you*.

  *Trying to catch something used as an attack against you is very difficult. You must have a minimum Agility in order to even attempt this, per the table below. Catching Table Attack Min. Agility Thrown projectiles RM (30) Large fired projectiles (arrows) AM (50) Small fired projectiles (bullets) UN (100) Effect Make an Agility roll as a reaction when you are near where someone or something is falling, or are targeted to receive a thrown object, or are targeted by thrown or shooting attacks. The color of the result determines what happens:
  • • • White = Auto-hit: The thing hits you, and affects you normally, or if a falling person/object, hits you as if charging you.
      • Green = Miss: Unless it was targeting you, in which case it hits you and resolves the attack normally.
      • Yellow = Damage: You catch the thing, but deal your Strength Rank Number in damage to it.
      • Red = Catch: You catch the thing with no ill effects to you or it.

  You may only use the Catch maneuver as a reaction once until your next turn. And generally, you can only catch a single person or thing at a time, so make it count! (The GM is free to rule you can catch more at once if they are falling/thrown such that they remain very close together.) Improvised Shields Note that improvised shield devices are always rendered useless the first time they successfully shield you; items built for defense can be used again and again, unless they are actively targeted to be destroyed.

  If using the optional rules about destroying objects (see MOVEMENT & ENVIRONMENT), assume items built to act as shields don’t take damage from an attack unless specifically targeted themselves.

  If you prefer a more “realistic” (i.e. complex) approach, assume a shield-like object takes 25% of the damage delivered by an attack, but only if the attack is rated equal or higher than the Material Strength of the object.

  Escape

  When you are held in a grapple hold or entangled by some object or power, this is your one chance to slip free.

  Useful Against Grappling, abilities that entangle.

  Effect Escaping is a special form of defense you are forced to make when you are the subject of a hold (from a Grappling maneuver) or entangled by gear or powers. On your turn, make a Strength roll when subjected to an applicable attack. The color of the result determines what happens.

  • • • White = Fail!
      • Green = Fail!
      • Yellow = You break free, but remain in the same area you were restrained in.
      • Red = You break free, and may immediately move up to 1 area away, and you may make an attack or perform another action you’d normally be able to do on your turn, but with a -2R penalty.

  You may only make a single Escape attempt on your turn. Notably, you can only ever be subjected to a single grappling or entangling effect: the worst/most powerful one is the one you need to break free from, if it ever matters that you have multiple potential sources.

  Health & Damage

  As previously mentioned, your Health is a static score that is the sum of your FASE abilities: Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance. It is a measure of your physical condition, including stamina, durability, flexibility, and more generalized well-being. Injury, disease, toxins, exhaustion, extreme temperatures, and so on all affect your Health, usually by dealing damage.

  Damage is tracked as a cumulative number. Normally, you start most scenarios without any damage, but you accrue it as the situations previously mentioned affect you. You record any damage you take, and as you take more, you add it to the current damage. If you somehow heal or recover, you subtract that from your current damage.

  When you hit something with an attack, you deal damage, usually defined by a Rank Number. Punching? Deal your Strength Rank Number as damage. A really strong character deals 40 damage because their Strength is IN 40. A typical person off the street, on the other hand, probably deals 6 damage for their AV 6 Strength.

  Laser Blasts might use your power armor’s targeting system to hit an opponent, which is AM 50! But on a successful attack, the rays themselves only deal 30 damage because they are rated at RM 30. Your individual powers, gear, and so on will usually note what you roll for the attack roll, and then what you use for the damage number. If it doesn’t specify and only has one Rank and Rank Number, use that for both.

  Recording Damage You might prefer to have damage subtract from your character’s Health, rather than accumulate and then compare it to their Health. That’s okay, too! All you have to remember is:

  • • • Your character is knocked out when their Health is zero.
      • There’s no such thing as having negative Health.
      • Healing improves your Health, removing damage, but you (usually) cannot recover more Health than your original maximum.

  So, just treat your Health as your “Maximum Health” and use the Damage box to show your “Current Health.”

  Knocked Out!

  When you suffer the effects of a Kill result, it doesn’t matter what your current Health is. You resolve the Kill result to see what happens.

  Otherwise, when your current damage equals your Health score, you immediately fall unconscious and are knocked out (KO). Make an Endurance roll as if subjected to a Kill result (results reprinted here):

  • • • White = Endurance Loss: You are unconscious and begin dying.
      • Green = KO 1-10: You are knocked unconscious for 1d10 rounds.
      • Yellow = No: You’re fine.
      • Red = No: You’re fine.

  If you remain unconscious but are not dying, you simply remain out cold until you recover (see Recovery). An unconscious character cannot act, and isn’t aware of what’s going on around them at all.

  I Don’t Want to Kill Them Some maneuvers allow you to pull your punch, or otherwise deal less than the listed damage. What happens if you just want to knock out the villains without risking killing them? Whenever you are likely to deal enough damage to KO your opponent, it is okay for the GM to simply rule that you deal enough damage to knock an opponent out rather than causing them to roll to see if they start dying.

  Hit ‘em While They’re Down If you are unconscious but not currently dying, and then you are subjected to any other attacks, you don’t take additional damage, but you do immediately begin dying. There’s no such thing as going over your Health in damage.

  Dying When you are dying, you temporarily lose an Endurance rank each round on your turn, and remain unconscious. If you are not stabilized (see below), you die for really real once you reach NULL 0 Endurance.

  Stabilizing a Dying Character There are two ways to stave off death, not counting special powers and gear that tell you otherwise.

  Treatment If another character spends their action tending to you, they can make a Reason roll, stopping the Endurance loss if they succeed. A character with First Aid or Medicine Talents can do this without a roll, they just use their action.

  Karma You can spend 15 Karma to stave off your Endurance loss for 1 round. You may do this as many times as you have Karma to pay for it.

  Recovery If you’re unconscious but not currently dying, you’ll wake up at the end of the 1d10 rounds with whatever your current Health is.

  If you awaken and still have damage equal to your Health, make another Endurance roll (at your current, potentially reduced Endurance Rank): if you fail you remain unconscious for 1d10 minutes. Repeat the roll at the end of that duration, and if you succeed you awaken and recover damage equal to your Endurance Rank Number, otherwise you’re out for 1d10 more minutes. Rinse and repeat.

  Every hour of rest (not necessarily sleep; you can perform light activity) allows you to heal more damage equal to your Endurance Rank Number.

  Every week of light activity allows you to recover one lost Endurance Rank. If you have access to trained, equipped medical care, then this increases to one Rank per day of light activity under medical care.

  Optional Rule: Lingering Injuries

  You or the GM may rule that you have lingering injuries.

  Until you recover your full Endurance Ranks, you may choose to make any roll at -2R and gain 1 Karma.

  Summary

  • • 1. When you get into a fight, the order in which people act is based on their Initiative: highest goes first, then in descending order.
      2. …Unless the GM rules otherwise. It’s okay to start somewhere other than with the highest if the situation (an ambush, a feint or sleight, etc.) dictates.

  When it’s your turn to act, you can perform:

  • • 1. a. 1 move
      2. b. 1 action
      3. c. 1+ interactions (simple actions like opening a door)

  Your action can be…:

  • • • a. Attack
      • b. Defend
      • c. Hold Off
      • d. Do something else cool

  When it’s not your turn and someone tries to do something to you, you’re at the mercy of their dice roll, unless…

  • • • a. you took the Defend action
      • b. you have a power or ability that gives you a reaction.

  When you roll to perform actions like attacks and defensive maneuvers, the color of your dice roll result — White, Green, Yellow, or Red — tells you (A) how well you did, and (B) if you get to inflict some additional effect.

  Most “additional benefits” can be resisted. Even so, you get to describe how cool you are when you do them.

  When you get hurt, increase the number in your Damage box on your datafile by the amount of damage.

  If you suffer a Kill result and fail your Endurance roll, or find yourself with damage equal to your Health, you might start dying.

  Dying characters lose Endurance Ranks temporarily. At NULL, you’re dead-dead.

  Recovering from damage requires rest. Recovering lost Endurance Ranks requires a lot more rest.