RolePlay Wiki

Combat

Combat Reference Sheets:
1-Page Reference - Includes options for Advantage and Triumph
2-Page reference - Includes Starship information

Combat takes place over a number of combat rounds with each participant taking a single turn per round. This typically involves folk trying to kill other folk.

For the sake of posting simplicity, the characters will act  on a single initiative count followed by the enemies. We will see how well this works and adjust accordingly.

Combat starts with a Simple (0D) Cool or Vigilance check from both sides. In the current format a single check will be made by the GM, based on the highest Cool or Vigilance in the party and enemy group.

Characters may perform a number of activities over the course of their turn. These are called Incidentals, Maneuvers, and Actions. Each one will be tackle separately below.

Incidentals (i.e., "Free Action")
Incidentals are minor actions that characters may perform that take little effort or time. These include:

• Speaking to another character.
  
• Dropping an item held in one's hands.
  
• Releasing someone the character is holding.
  
• Minor movements such as shifting position, peeking around a corner, or looking behind a person.

Maneuvers (i.e., "Move Action")
Maneuvers are activities not complex enough to warrant a skill check, but do involve time and effort from the characters.

Characters are allowed one maneuver per turn. However, a character may suffer two strain to take an additional maneuver on their turn. Other sources may also grant extra maneuvers for free. Regardless of the source, a single character may not perform more than two maneuvers during their turn.

Maneuvers include:

• Aiming a weapon to gain a Boost die (1B or ) on their next combat check. Characters may Aim for up to two consecutive maneuvers to gain 2B or on their next combat check.
  
• Target a specific item carried by the target or a specific part of the target. Shoot a weapon from his opponent's hand, cripple a limb, etc. If the character spends one maneuver aiming to do this, his next combat check suffers 2S or . If they spend two consecutive maneuvers aiming they instead suffer 1S or .
  
• Assist an Engaged ally to add 1B () to the Engaged ally's next check. Several characters can assist one character to add multiple B () dice but all award bonus dice must be used on the assisted character's next check.
  
• Assume a guarded stance, adding 1S () to any combat checks he makes until the end of his next turn. However, he also gains Melee Defense 1 until the end of his next turn.
  
• Interact with the environment such as moving a large item, opening or closing a door, or taking cover. Taking cover gives a character Ranged Defense 1 until they move out of cover or the situation changes where they would no longer benefit from that cover.
  
• Manage gear - draw, holster, ready or load a weapon, draw something from storage or put it away, etc.
  
• Mount or dismount a domesticated animal or a vehicle or gunnery station.
  
• Move - movement and range bands are special and will be covered separately. See below.

Actions (i.e., Standard Action)
Characters may only perform one action per turn. Some characters may have abilities allowing them to perform an action as a maneuver. This does not violate the limit of one action per turn, however, as the action now counts as a maneuver.

There are several things the character can do with their action:

• Exchange the action for a maneuver - this does not cost strain, but does count against the two maneuver limit.
  
• Activate an ability or talent - see its text for details.
  
• Activate a Force power
  
• Perform a skill check
  
• Drop prone, or stand up from prone. Dropping prone imposes 1S () on all ranged attacks targeting the character. However, all melee attacks targeting the character add 1B ()
  
• Perform a combat check - see below.

Perform A Combat Check
The difficulty of a combat check depends upon several factors, including the weapon and skill being used as well as the target's range.

1. Declare an attack and select targets: declare the attack and what weapon will be used. This will determine the skill to be rolled.
   
2. Assemble the dice pool - Gather the dice for the skill being used, then add the difficulty dice.
   
   • Melee attacks always have a difficulty of Average (2D or ).
     
   • Ranged attacks have difficulty based on their range.
     

     Range Band	Difficulty
     Engaged	Easy (1D or ), plus modifiers based on skill used.
     Short	Easy (1D or )
     Medium	Average (2D or )
     Long	Hard (3D or )
     Extreme	Daunting (4D or )

   
   
   
3. Add Defense, Skill, and other modifiers
   
   • If using Ranged (Light) while Engaged, add 1D ()
     
   • If using Ranged (Heavy) while Engaged, add 2D ()
     
   • Add any dice gained from Aim, Assist, Guarded Stance, etc.
     
   • Add 1S () per point of Melee or Ranged Defense, if applicable.
     
   • Add 1B () per point of Accurate on a weapon.
     
   • Add 1B () if Engaged with a ranged attacker.
     
   • Upgrade 1D to 1C ( to ) if using a Ranged weapon and the target is Engaged with the attack's allies.
   
   
4. Make the check. The attack hits if it has at least 1 Success in the pool. Damage is equal to any remaining Successes (even if it's just the one that made the check succeed) plus the damage of the weapon. If the attack affects multiple targets, the additional damage is also dealt to each target.
   
5. Resolve Advantage and Triumph - Advantage and Triumph allow for multiple special effects, including activating Critical Injuries and and other special effects. Some examples are on the cheat sheet.
   
6. Resolve Threat and Despair - bad things happen when Threat and Despair are rolled. Typically the GM will handle these, though players are welcome to their own interpretations if they fall in line with similar costs.
   
7. Reduce damage, apply to wound threshold, apply critical injures - When a character suffers damage they reduce the damage received by their Soak value. Any damage that remains after Soak is applied directly to their wounds. If the result after Soak is zero or less, then the character suffers no wounds. If the character suffers multiple hits from an attack, his Soak applies to each hit.
   

Movement and Ranges
Edge of the Empire uses broad terms to define distances between objects.

There are five range bands: Engaged, Short, Medium, Long and Extreme.

Engaged - One maneuver to move from Engaged to Short or from Short to Engaged with a specific target. Engaged is a special subset of Short.
Close enough to touch or interact with. This is a special subset of Short. Characters are Engaged when they spend a Maneuver to move from Short to Engaged with a specific character, essentially engaging in combat. This is also why it costs a Maneuver to move from Engaged to Short; it represents disengaging from combat, avoid a return blow, etc.

Short - One Maneuver to move from Short to Medium.
Short range is up to several meters between targets. Two people in short range can talk comfortably without raising their voices.

Medium - Two Maneuvers to move from Medium to Long.
Medium range can be up to several dozen meters away. Two people in Medium range of each other need to talk loudly to hear each other.

Long - Two Maneuvers to move from Long to Extreme.
Long range is further than a few dozen meters. Two people in long range of each other need to yell loudly to hear each other. In most cases, a character cannot close the distance from Long range to Short in a single round as it would require three maneuvers.

Extreme
The farthest range at which two targets can interact. Two people at extreme range may not be able to hear each other even if they shout.