Combat Quick Reference
The Combat Turn
Combat unfolds in Combat Turns of 3 seconds each (20 per minute). Every character rolls Initiative (Reaction + Intuition + hits) at the start of a fight; the resulting Initiative Score sets turn order, highest going first. Characters with cyberware, magic, or other boosts get multiple Initiative Passes in a single Combat Turn (most characters cap at 4 passes), acting again each time their score comes up. Ties act simultaneously unless it matters, in which case Edge, Initiative, or Reaction breaks the tie.
Taking damage during a turn immediately applies wound modifiers to a character’s remaining Initiative Score, potentially reshuffling who acts next. Rolling a glitch on the Initiative Test drops a character to the back of any tie; a critical glitch also costs an extra action.
Combat turn sequence
Each Combat Turn is really a loop within a loop: every combatant acts once per Initiative Pass (in Initiative order, highest first), passes repeat for anyone with extra actions (up to 4), and then the whole thing starts over with fresh Initiative rolls for the next turn. When a combatant’s action is an attack or a spell, that single “Action Phase” step expands into the resolution flow shown above (or the magic combat flow in the magic summary).
Actions
On her Action Phase a character may take:
- One Complex Action, or
- Two Simple Actions, or
- One Simple Action + one Free Action swapped in for the other Simple Action
…plus one Free Action per Initiative Pass, taken whenever convenient.
- Free Actions: speaking a phrase, dropping an item, dropping prone, gesturing, changing a linked device’s mode, calling a shot before firing, etc.
- Simple Actions: firing a weapon once (single-shot/semi-auto/burst), reloading a clip, taking aim, standing up, sprinting, using a simple object/skill.
- Complex Actions: full-auto fire, melee/unarmed attacks, going on Full Defense, using a complex object, reloading non-clip weapons, most skill uses.
Delayed/Interrupt Actions let a character hold an action to react later in the same pass (going before whoever they interrupt) or even “buy ahead” against their next turn’s first action (e.g., to go on Full Defense with no action left).
Movement
Characters walk or run based on metatype (e.g., a human runs 25 m/turn, a troll 35 m/turn). Running gives a −2 dice pool penalty to most tests except charging and defense. Sprinting (a Simple Action + Running test) adds distance but risks Fatigue damage over time.
Resolving an Attack
- Declare the attack and the defense method.
- Apply modifiers — range, cover, movement, wounds, visibility, called shots, etc.
- Opposed Test: attacker rolls Combat Skill + linked attribute; defender rolls an appropriate defense pool (Reaction for ranged, a parry/block/dodge skill for melee, or Full Defense for either). More attacker hits than defender hits = a hit; ties favor the defender (though they still count as a “grazing” contact for touch-based effects).
- Compare Armor: net hits add to the weapon’s base Damage Value (DV); the target’s Armor (with the attack’s Armor Penetration applied) determines whether the hit becomes Physical or Stun damage.
- Damage Resistance Test: defender rolls Body + Armor; each hit reduces DV by 1.
- Apply Damage to the Condition Monitor and check for Knockdown.
Combat resolution flow
flowchart TD
A["Declare attack & defense<br/>Spend the appropriate action"] --> B["Ranged attack<br/>Skill + Agility vs Reaction"]
A --> C["Melee attack<br/>Vs parry, block, or dodge"]
B --> D["Opposed test<br/>Compare hits; ties favor defender"]
C --> D
D --> E["Attack misses<br/>No damage dealt"]
D --> F["Attack hits<br/>Net hits added to Damage Value"]
F --> G["Compare DV to Armor<br/>Low DV vs Armor becomes Stun"]
G --> H["Damage resistance test<br/>Body + Armor; each hit cuts DV by 1"]
H --> I["Apply damage; check Knockdown<br/>Wound modifiers apply per 3 boxes"]Ranged and melee attacks both resolve as an Opposed Test, just with different skills and defense options feeding into it. A tie always favors the defender, so the attack simply misses. A hit’s net hits raise the Damage Value before Armor (and Armor Penetration) decide whether it lands as Physical or gets knocked down to Stun, and only then does the defender roll to resist it.
Ranged Combat
Range bands (Short/Medium/Long/Extreme) are set per weapon and impose escalating dice pool penalties. Common modifiers: attacker running (−2), attacker in melee (−3), firing from a moving vehicle (−3), smartlink (+2) or laser sight (+1, not both), aimed shots (+1 per Simple Action spent), blind fire (−6), multiple targets (−2 per extra target), and recoil (worse with each shot/burst fired that phase, reducible with recoil compensation or gyro-stabilization). Firearms fire in single-shot, semi-auto (2 shots/phase), burst-fire (narrow raises damage, wide lowers the defender’s pool), or full-auto (long and full bursts, heaviest recoil, biggest payoff). Grenades and rockets scatter from their intended point unless the attack roll is very accurate, then deal area-effect blast damage that fades with distance.
Grenades, Rockets & Missiles
These are area-effect weapons resolved in two steps: first figure out where the thing actually lands (Scatter), then work out the Blast it does to everyone nearby.
Delivery: A grenade can be thrown (Throwing Weapons) or fired from a grenade launcher (Heavy Weapons); rockets and missiles come out of the same kind of launcher. Grenade launchers have a 5-meter minimum range — mini-grenades don’t arm until they’ve traveled that far, and disarming that safety takes an Armorer + Logic (4, 10 minutes) Extended Test. A thrown or launched grenade detonates on the thrower’s next Initiative Pass (or immediately, if it has an airburst link).
Determine Scatter:
- Make a standard ranged attack test (Agility + Throwing Weapons/Heavy Weapons) opposed by the target, or a Success Test if just targeting a location.
- Roll direction randomly (1D6 against a scatter diagram) and roll the base scatter distance: 1D6 m for a standard thrown grenade, 2D6 m for an aerodynamic grenade or an airburst round, 3D6 m for a grenade launcher, 4D6 m for a rocket or missile.
- Reduce that distance by 1 m per net hit (standard grenades) or 2 m per net hit (aerodynamic grenades, launched grenades, rockets, and missiles). Missiles get a further 1 m reduction per point of their Sensor rating. A result of 0 or less means a direct hit; extra net hits beyond that don’t add anything more.
Missile targeting works a bit differently from a straight launcher shot: the firer rolls Heavy Weapons + the missile’s Sensor rating (or Gunnery + Sensor if fired from a vehicle), and a vehicle target’s Signature applies as a dice pool modifier.
Blast Effects: Once you know where it landed, roll a Body + Impact Armor damage resistance test for everyone in the blast (the weapon’s Armor Penetration applies to that Impact Armor first). Damage Value drops off with distance from the blast point at a rate set by the weapon type — see the table below. Impact armor is what protects against missile, rocket, and grenade attacks.
| Type | Damage Code | AP | Blast / DV falloff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flash-Bang | 6S | −3 | 10 m radius |
| Flash-Pak | Special | — | Special |
| Fragmentation (grenade) | 12P(f) | +5 | −1 DV per meter |
| High Explosive (grenade) | 10P | −2 | −2 DV per meter |
| Gas | Chemical | — | 10 m radius |
| Smoke / Thermal Smoke | — | — | 10 m radius |
| Fragmentation (rocket/missile) | 16P(f) | +5 | −1 DV per meter |
| High Explosive (rocket/missile) | 14P | −2 | −2 DV per meter |
| Anti-Vehicle (rocket/missile) | 16P | −2 (−6 vs. vehicles) | −4 DV per meter |
Barriers & confined spaces: A blast that hits a wall or door first checks whether the barrier itself is destroyed. If the barrier holds, the blast is channeled or reflects back the way it came (anyone caught by a rebounding shockwave takes it as a second, separate hit); if the barrier falls, the explosion continues past it, and anything beyond only benefits from the barrier’s Armor bonus, not full protection.
Melee Combat
Attacker rolls Combat Skill + Agility; defender parries (weapon skill + Reaction), blocks (Unarmed Combat + Reaction), dodges (Dodge + Reaction), or goes on Full Defense. Reach, multiple attackers, called shots, and subduing/grappling all have their own modifiers. A successful grapple can pin a target for follow-up damage or knockdown each turn until they break free.
Full Defense
A character can dedicate an action (even as an interrupt) to add a defensive skill’s dice to whichever defense roll applies — the trade-off is using up an action.
Damage
Damage is tracked as Physical (guns, blades, explosions — slow to heal) or Stun (fists, stun weapons, drain, fatigue — heals fast but can still drop someone). Each weapon’s Damage Code (e.g., 7/−1) lists DV and Armor Penetration. Condition Monitor size scales with Body (Physical) or Willpower (Stun). Every 3 boxes of cumulative damage on a track imposes a cumulative −1 wound modifier to nearly everything, including Initiative. Filling a track knocks a character out (Stun) or puts her at death’s door (Physical); overflow beyond the track by more than the character’s Body means death. Special damage types — acid, cold, electricity, fire — have their own resistance rules (usually half Impact armor).
Vehicles & Chase Combat
Vehicles get their own Body, Armor, Handling, Sensor, Speed, and Initiative (equal to the controller’s, or Pilot + Response if unmanned/autonomous). Everyday driving needs no roll; risky maneuvers require a Vehicle Test (Reaction + Vehicle skill +/− Handling) against a threshold set by difficulty and terrain. Tactical vehicle combat plays like normal combat; Chase Combat abstracts high-speed multi-vehicle pursuits into Chase Turns, Engagement Ranges (Short/Medium/Long/Extreme), and driver “stunts” like Break Off, Cut Off, Ram, and Maneuver. Ramming, called shots on components (like tires), Gunnery for mounted weapons, and Sensor-based targeting (passive or active) round out vehicular combat; see also the companion drones & piloting summary.
Other Combat Factors
- Surprise: an Initiative Test at the fight’s start determines who can act against whom in the first pass.
- Barriers: have their own Barrier Rating that acts like Armor/Body for cover and demolition purposes.
- Knockdown, Called Shots, Interception, and Subduing each have dedicated dice pool rules for called-out combat maneuvers.