Combat!

Weapons
The following list contains every weapon I could come up with, grouped into certain types. Each weapon has its attack base bonus and damage for HTH, Ranged Normal or Entangling attacks. Weapons can carry Entangling attacks onto their HTH/RN attack, but it requires a special shot for each of the attacks (2 rolls for HTH/RN, plus 2 rolls for the carrier entangle), which leads to a lot of rolls and a lower chance to hit. +2/HTH+1d6

Weapon Type	HTH	RN	Entangle	Examples
Blades
Throwing blades		+3/HTH+1 (Ax2)		Shuriken, Darts
Knife	+1/HTH+1d2	+1/HTH+1d2(A)		Tanto, Dagger, Stiletto
Long Knife	+2/HTH+1d3	+0/HTH+1 (1/2A)		Ninja-to, Main-gauche
Short Sword	+2/HTH+1d4			Wakazashi, Machete, Gladius
Sword	+3/HTH+1d6			Broadsword, Rapier, Cutlass
Long Sword	+2/HTH+1d8			Longsword, Scimitar
1 1/2 Hand Sword	+2/HTH+1d8+1			Katana, Bastard Sword
2 Hand Sword	+1/HTH+1d10			Claymore, Headsman's Blade
Poles
Short Staff (1')	+1/HTH+1d3	+2/HTH+d3 (Ax2)		Tonfa, Billy Club
Medium Staff (3')	+d/HTH+1d4			Jo Stick
Staff (5')	+3/HTH+1d6			Staff
Long Staff (7')	+2/HTH+1d8			Bo Stick
Medium Spear (3')	+2/HTH+1d6	+2/HTH+1d6 (Ax2)		Javelin
Spear (5')	+3/HTH+1d8	+2/HTH+1d6 (A)	Spear, Trident
Long Spear	+2/HTH+1d10			Naganata, Halberd
Clubs
Dusters	+0/HTH+1d2			Brass Knuckles
Light Club	+1/HTH+ad3			Belaying Pin, Club
Medium Club	+2/HTH+1d4			Warhammer, Horseman's Mace
Heavy Club	+2/HTH+1d6			Morningstar, Footman's Mace
Pierce/Cleave
Light Axe	+1/HTH+1d6	+1/HTH+1d4 (A)		Hatchet, Tomahawk
Heavy Axe	+2/HTH+1d8			Battleaxe
Light Pick	+1/HTH+1d8			Kama, Horseman's Pick
Heavy Pick	+0/HTH+1d10			Footman's Pick
Flails
Light Chain	+3/HTH+1d2	+1/HTH+1 (Ax2)	-2/1d6	Manriki-Gusari
Heavy Chain	+2/HTH+1d4	+0/HTH+1d2 (A)	-4/ad8	Kau-Sin-Ke
Flail				Western Flails
Nunchaku	+3/HTH+1d6			Nuchaku, 3 piece rod
Whip	+2/HTH+1		+0/1d6	Bullwhip, 20' range

Ranged Weapons
The chart below covers weapons that are only good at range, as opposed to the weapons above, which can be thrown. This includes boomerangs to shotguns.
     Now is as good a time as any to talk about effective range vs. maximum range. Your effective range is the distance you can attack—most handguns have a range of Agility x 10, which for most people comes out to 110 feet. Now, bullets can go a lot farther than that, but past that range your chance to hit drops to virtually nil—you just aren't a good enough shot. Those people with careers and hobbies that include ranged weapon training can swap their career/hobby score with agility bonus for their agility when determining range. Technology (telescopic and laser scopes) can increase that range as well. Of course, having power facets to increase your effective range can work wonders....
     This is rather simplistic, of course, but guns are a very small part of the game, and I don't want to spend too much time dealing with them and their ramifications.

Weapon Type	RN	Entangle	Examples
Ranged, Muscle	All range Ax5
Boomerang	+2/HTH+1
Bola	+3/HTH+1d2	+0/1d4+1
Ranged, Launched	All range Ax10
Sling	+1/HTH+1d2		Whirling leather w/stone
Slingshot	+2/HTH+1d3		Wrist rocket
Shortbow	+3/HTH+1d4
Longbow	+2/HTH+1d6		Diaku, compound bow
Hand crossbow	+1/HTH+1d2		Look Ma! Drow!
Light crossbow	+3/HTH+1d4
Heavy crossbow	+2/HTH+1d8
Firearms
Hold-out Pistol	+1/1d4+1 (Ax5)		Derringer
Low Caliber Pistol	+2/1d6 (Ax10)		5.45 MM, .22, .25 acp
Mid-Caliber Pistol	+3/1d8 (Ax10)		.32, .38, 9mm
High Caliber Pistol	+2/1d10 (Ax10)		.257, .44, .45
Low Caliber Rifle	+3/1d8 (Ax20)		7mm, .30-06, .303
Mid-Caliber Rifle	+4/1d10 (Ax20)		.223 armalight, 7.62 NATO
High Caliber Rifle	+3/1d12 (Ax20)		14.5 SOV, .50 Browning
Low Gauge Shotgun	+3/1d10 (Ax5)		12 gauge
Slug	+2/2d6 (Ax10)
High Gauge Shotgun	+2/2d6 (Ax5)		16 gauge
Slug	+1/2d8 (Ax10)
Sawed Off Shotgun	+6/2d8 (A)/ 2d6 (Ax3)/ 1d6 (Ax5)

Aaaah heck with it, just hit him with the lamp post!
Sometimes it just isn't possible, convenient or effective to hit your target barehanded or even with a weapon—you might not have one handy, or the only handy one might be the one he is using, or you just want to do whole heaping tons o' damage. The solution is to pick up a makeshift weapon—grab the biggest thing you can lift, and hit him with it. For super-strong characters, this can get into some pretty hefty things—motorcycles, cars, buses, trains, etc.
     A quick look at this chart and the weapons chart shows that picking up small items isn't near as useful as using weapons—the damage is lower because the items are bulky, not designed for combat and generally unwieldy, as opposed to weapons, which are none of those things. Starting in the second column, the balance shifts as the makeshift weapons do more damage than any available weapon. This serves to correct the apparent imbalance of HTH damage vs. Energy attack damage, up to doubling the damage of the Super Strength characters if they a) have something heavy enough and b) don't mind trashing the environment.
     If you decide to throw a non-conventional weapon, the effective range is your agility x5, and the maximum range is the pound difference between your capacity and the object thrown, divided by 10 (this seems really short, but it assumes the weapon is unwieldy—the GM may modify this depending on the weapon). It attacks as ranged normal, and does 1/2 the damage it would have done HTH—which can still be a lot.

Time Costs
While the initiative system is unchanged (since it works so darn well) I did think some clarification how long it took to do things was in order. Thus, here's a handy list. This is also pretty well unchanged, but just some clarification.

• Thought means that the character can just do it, at any point, in or out of combat.
• Effort means that the character can do it with a moment's concentration, can only be done during the character's action in combat.
• Movement means that the character can't perform other movement while doing this, but can launch an attack.
• Attack means that the character is doing this as their attack, or in lieu of an attack, though they can still move freely.
• Action means that the character can't do anything else during the action—whatever they are attempting takes all of their concentration.
• Delayed means that the character can't do anything during this action or the next—when the power actually goes off. This is a weakness, but indicates powers that the character has to build up to use, or something like a slow shape-shifting process.

Evasion
Evasion is your character's constant minus to be hit, functioning in the same way as Heightened Defense (you must be able to see the attack coming, and you must have room to move). This is the bonus you get just for basic awareness in combat, and is not so much replacing the dodge system as it is replacing the modifier that Agility used to have on hit points.
     To replace the old dodge/evasion rules I offer up this—fully defensive stance (which we'll just call a Dodge). For 1 Attack you can set up a Dodge, where you do everything possible to get the hell out of the way of incoming attacks. This costs 1 fatigue, lasts until your equivalent action next turn (If you set it up on you second action of this turn, it lasts till your second action of next turn, protecting you against everyone who rolled a higher initiative than you next turn), and gives you an additional -4 Evasion. All the standard Evasion rules apply, like needing somewhere to move to and having to sense the attack.
     In addition to the fatigue cost for setting up the Dodge, attacking while you're in a fully defensive stance costs +1 fatigue per action you attack—it's just those sorts of shift in activity that stress out your system (according to Jay anyway, whom I trust on matters martial). Dodging and attacking can get tiring quickly. Also note that setting up the dodge costs just an attack, not an action—you can dodge and move simultaneously.

Chance to Hit
Your chance to hit is calculated in the following order: Your base chance (12 or less for most, 6 or less for ranged normal, 9 or less for HTH), plus any bonuses for powers or weapons. This number is called your attack base, and you can record it on your sheet to save time. This number is applied to the defense chart. Take the defense chart number and add your accuracy to it, then subtract your opponent's Evasion. That's your target number—roll that or less.
     This means that any defense type will wipe out your power and weapon bonuses, WHICH ONLY MAKES SENSE! It is not easier to hit someone though a force field if you are using a baseball bat rather than your fist. Of course, it is possible to layer Power Facets on your Heightened Expertise or natural weaponry, so the bonuses apply after the defensive modification. Warning! That's really effective, and should consequently be rare and expensive.

Roll with Attack
If you take damage from an attack, you can spend a point of fatigue to reduce the damage taken by half. You will still take damage to your hit (and possibly wound) points, but not nearly as much. This is usually a good idea, as fatigue comes back a lot faster than HP or WP. Obviously, this can't be used on attacks against your fatigue score.

Taking Damage
OK, I'm going to set this up in a sequence of events to make things clear. Well, clearer. This system is admittedly somewhat complex, but it is realistic without, I hope, being burdensome. Some of this is repeated from the discussion on Heath and Genre Conventions.

• You get hit, and the attacker rolls damage.
• If you have Invulnerability, Armor, or opt to roll with the attack (see above) the damage rolled is reduced appropriately. Remember that rolling with an attack costs 1 Fatigue.
• The damage, after modification, is recorded against to your Hit Points (in most cases; some powers directly attack wounds, others directly attack fatigue).
• Compare the damage taken to your Wound Threshold. If it is higher, any points above that threshold are ALSO applied to wounds.
• Each Point of Fatigue accumulated indicates the taxing of your energy reserves. A character who has accumulated as many Fatigue points as her Fatigue score is utterly exhausted and collapses (but doesn't necessarily fall asleep). Fatigue accumulated past the characters total from a single attack is ignored. If the character takes fatigue from ANOTHER attack, she falls unconscious.
  • A character who has accumulated more than half their Fatigue total from a single attack has to save on d% vs. Endurance or Willpower or become stunned, losing their next action.
  • A character who has accumulated 3/4 as many Fatigue points as her Fatigue score has a 2 point penalty on all rolls. (Getting tired...)
  • A Costumed Adventurer with appropriate power facets who has maxed out of Fatigue can make checks against her End/Will to continue to act as if she were merely tired, but these become more difficult for each action (starting at d20 and getting worse from there).
  • Costumed adventurers without appropriate power facets maxed out of Fatigue can also choose to act by taking Hit Points of damage, 1 per action, plus the Fatigue cost of the actions if any. These require the same End/Will checks as above.
• Each Hit Point accumulated indicates the casual damage to your body—bruises, cuts, scrapes, and so on. HP accumulated past your total from a single attack is ignored. A character who has accumulated as many Hit points as her HP score is unconscious. If the character takes HP from ANOTHER attack, her Would Threshold is Halved against that damage.
  • A character who has accumulated more than half their HP total in damage from a single attack has to save on d% vs. Endurance or Willpower or fall unconscious.
  • A character who has accumulated more than 3/4 of their total Hit Points in damage is severely battered, and is at a 2 point penalty on all rolls.
  • A Costumed Adventurer with appropriate Power Facets who has maxed out of HP can make checks against her Will/End to continue to act as if she were merely battered, but these become increasingly more difficult for each action (starting at d20 and getting worse from there).
  • Costumed Adventurers without appropriate power facets maxed out of HP can also choose to act as if only Battered by taking Wound Points of damage, 1 per action. Note that this starts stacking penalties upon penalties. This still required saves vs. Will/End as listed above.
• Each Wound Point accumulated indicates the serious damage to your body—broken bones, internal bleeding, concussions, etc. WP accumulated past your total from a single attack is irrelevant. A character who has accumulated as many Wound Points as her WP score is comatose. If the character takes WP from ANOTHER attack that would not normally be applied to HP, then the damage is done to HP instead; otherwise, the accumulation of more WP is meaningless
  • A character who has accumulated more than 4 Wound Points from a single attack has to save on d% vs. Endurance or Willpower or fall unconscious.
  • Each point of wounds taken is a 1 point penalty on all rolls.
  • A character who has accumulated more than 4 WP has to save vs. Wil/End on d20 every action to avoid unconsciousness. If the character has accumulated more than 9 WP, those saves are on d%
  • A character out of HP and WP is dead.

The Defense Chart
What follows is the modified defense chart—there are new attacks and defense types, and a distinction between Passive and Active Defenses. Passive defenses are the top part of the chart. These are defenses that indicate that the attack has no doubt 'hit' the target (or alt least passed through where the target is), it has had absolutely no effect. The GM can feel free to ignore passive defense when the attacker is just trying to touch the target without damaging or grabbing - this does not work in all instances, of course, but it is a useful distinction in most.
     Active Defenses are those that block, redirect or otherwise prevent the attack from touching or passing through the defender's body. The attack may be thrown off course, vaporized or otherwise altered, but it doesn't touch the defender at all.

Definitions

• Bio: These are any attacks that manipulate the targets bio-aura. This is not considered a penetrating attack.
• Chem: Any acidic, toxic of poisonous attacks are considered "chemical"
• Cold: Attacks based on the absence of heat -- they do not include ice entangles, which are handled as "Entan".
• Disnt: Attacks that totally vaporize or destroy the target. Against bio-auras, they causs cellular breakdown.
• Energ: This attack type covers all generic energy attacks. This also includes Lasers generated by light powers.
• Entan: This covers attacks that are made not to do damage, but to encase the target with a hindering material.
• Flame: Attacks based on the presence of heat.
• Force: Attacks made with solidified force (specifically, force fields).
• Grav: Any attacks made with gravity -- either gravity 'blasts' or attempting to modify targets effective weight.
• HTH: Armed and unarmed melee combat.
• Impac: Any attacks made with a single burst of concussive force. This include psychokinteic blasts.
• Light: Attacks based on the generation of bright light. This does not include lasers, which are Energy attacks.
• Lgnth: Any attacks made with electricity.
• Mgnt: Attacks made with magnetic force. This does not include the 'grabbing' of metals, which is Psych.
• Psych: This attack type covers all attempts to lock onto and grab objects with distance manipulations.
• Range: Conventional ranged weaponry.
• Sonic: Attacks based on the presence of extreme noise. This does not include sound-as-vibration attacks.
• Tele: Any attacks that require making mental contact with the target.
• Trans: Attacks that transform the target. This is a penetrating attack unless the power states otherwise.
• Vibe: Attacks made with vibrations of force to buffet or shatter target.

Defense Chart - will open in new browser window (isn't this page long enough already?).

   

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