EDRulebook: 12 Combat

COMBAT OPTIONS

Earthdawn provides characters with a number of Combat Options that allow them to fiercely attack an opponent or hang back and act more defensively. These options provide the opportunity to vary your character’s fighting style: sometimes you may want your character to slug it out with an opponent, but other times it may be wiser to modify his approach. When a player wants to use one of the following Combat Options, he must declare this intention before making his Initiative Test for the round.

Remember, though, that most optional rules have a disadvantage as well as an advantage. Because they can complicate things, it’s often best to wait until players and gamemasters are very familiar with the game before throwing an optional wrench into the works.

AGGRESSIVE ATTACK

In an Aggressive Attack, the character attacks with a fierce rush and a flurry of blows. The aggressive attack gives the attacker a significant advantage in his attacks, but makes him suffer more damage. The Strain of an aggressive attack gives the character 1 point of damage. Add 3 steps to his or her Attack and Damage Tests. Because this attack is somewhat uncontrolled, the character gives less attention to his defense, which adds 3 steps to the Attack Test for any attacks made against him in that round. His opponent does not gain any advantages for the Damage Test.

Aggressive attacks must be made using melee weapons or in conjunction with unarmed attacks. Characters cannot make aggressive attacks with missile or throwing weapons.

ATTACKING TO KNOCKDOWN

Rather than attacking an opponent with the intent of causing damage, characters can attack an opponent to knock him down. This tactic is called Attacking to Knockdown. Such attacks follow the same procedure as any other attack, except that the Difficulty Number for the target’s Knockdown Test is the result of the Damage Test, modified for the target’s armor.

In his fight with a rampaging thundra beast, Targ Boneslicer decides he wants to try to knock the beast down. Targ makes a successful Attack Test, hitting the beast. He then makes his Damage Test, with a result of 18. The thundra beast has a natural Armor Rating of 7. For the creature’s Knockdown Test, the gamemaster uses a Difficulty Number of 11 (18 [Damage Test result] – 7 [beast’s Armor Rating] = 11).

ATTACKING TO STUN

Characters sometimes choose to make a potentially less-damaging attack on their target by declaring that they are attacking to stun an opponent. The attacking character makes the Attack Test and Damage Test as normal, with the following differences:

Stun damage cannot kill a character. If Stun damage sends a character’s Current Damage higher than his Death Rating, the character falls into a coma. The character comes out of the coma when his Current Damage falls to less than his Unconsciousness Rating.
A character can recover from Stun damage more easily than from normal damage, sometimes shaking it off through sheer will. The character adds his Willpower step to the first Recovery Test he makes after taking the Stun damage. (This bonus applies only to that Recovery Test.) The gamemaster may disallow this bonus if the character took 5 or fewer points of Stun damage since his last Recovery Test.

CALLED SHOT

A character can make an attack against a specific point on the body of his target, for example, striking a flaw in the target’s armor or hitting his weapon. Pinpointed attacks like this are known as Called Shots. When making a called shot, a character suffers a –3 step penalty to his Attack Test. If the Attack Test succeeds, the character struck the target where he intended.

DEFENSIVE STANCE

There will come a time when your character decides that living is more important than winning. When he or she makes that decision, your character can take a defensive posture that reduces his or her chance of being hit. When your character uses the Defensive Stance Combat Option, increase his Physical Defense Rating by +3. Like many other options in Earthdawn, the Defensive Stance has a disadvantage: when using this option, reduce all your character’s step numbers by –3. Defensive Stance may be used by any character in a fight.

GIVING GROUND

Skilled fighters often willingly trade ground to gain a defensive advantage. Only characters using the Unarmed Combat or Melee Weapons Talents can use Giving Ground.

For every 3 feet yielded, the character giving up ground increases his Physical Defense Rating by +1. A character may yield 3 feet for each rank of his talent or skill being used. The Strain of giving ground causes 1 point of damage.

The t’skrang Kricklen has a Rank 5 Melee Weapons Talent. Being a crafty fighter, the lanky lizard reassesses his situation from moment to moment and recognizes the tactical advantage of giving ground when the time is right. Kricklen may give up to 15 feet of ground in each Combat Round, and doing so would increase his Physical Defense by 5.

A character giving ground must declare how many feet he plans to yield. If the character wins the Initiative over his opponent, the player chooses the location to which his character moves when he gives ground. If the opponent wins the Initiative, he decides where the yielding character goes. A character giving ground will stop moving rather than go off a cliff, step into a boiling river, or run any other obviously deadly hazard. The character will, however, move right up to the edge of the hazard.

GOING INSIDE A SHIELD

Shields increase a character’s Physical Armor Rating. But shields cannot be everywhere. A character may declare that he is going inside his opponent’s shield, maneuvering to strike at a point where the opponent cannot defend with his shield.

The attacker attempting to go inside an opponent’s shield subtracts the shield’s Armor Rating from his Initiative Test result. If the attacker still has a higher Initiative than his opponent, he has gotten inside the target’s shield, and the defender loses the shield’s armor benefits. If the attacker now has a lower Initiative than his target, the defender whirled the shield in place to block the attack, striking before the attacker could complete his move. The attacker may still make an attack against the defender, but suffers a –2 step penalty to his Attack Test.

SPLITTING MOVEMENT (OPTIONAL)

The gamemaster decides whether or not to use this Combat Option, and should feel free to disallow this rule as too disruptive to the game. This option allows all characters, not just mounted characters, to split their movement during a Combat Round. A character could use part of his Combat Movement to approach a target, make an attack, and then use the rest of his Combat Movement to move away, as in the Charging Attack and Swooping Attack described above.

A character who uses the splitting movement option suffers a –2 penalty to his Physical Defense Rating. This penalty remains in effect for the duration of the Combat Round in which the character split his movement, and is cumulative with any other penalties the character suffers in that round.

USING SHIELDS

Many characters use shields when engaging in melee combat. Shields add a bonus to a character’s Physical Armor Rating, and make it harder for attackers to succeed at Armor-Defeating Hits (see below). The following section provides special rules for shield use. Note that some of the rules are optional; both players and gamemaster should review them and agree on whether to use these rules before beginning to play.

[Skull Shield]

MYSTIC ARMOR BONUS

Many types of shields add bonuses to a character’s Mystic Armor Rating when the character is using the shield in combat. Simply carrying the shield does not provide the bonus; the shield must be used in a defensive manner.

SPELL DEFENSE BONUS

Many types of shields add to a character’s Spell Defense Rating. As long as a character is using the shield, he has the advantage of the Spell Defense bonus. The character must actually be using the shield, not just carrying it or wearing it. The magic occurs when the character uses the shield in a defensive posture; the effect issues in part from the shield and in part from the defender. An attacker going inside such a shield does not affect the defender’s Spell Defense, unless the attacker is using a special talent.

SHATTERING A SHIELD (OPTIONAL)

A character uses this optional rule in an attempt to shatter an opponent’s shield. If the Attack Test result is equal to or higher than the Difficulty Number, the attack hits the shield. The attacker makes a Damage Test. If the result is equal to or higher than the shield’s Shatter Threshold (see Goods and Services), the shield shatters. The attack must inflict the necessary amount of damage in one blow to overcome the Shatter Threshold, just as when a character suffers a Wound. An Armor-Defeating Hit aimed directly against a shield breaks the shield, making it useless.

SHIELDS VS. ARMOR-DEFEATING HITS (OPTIONAL)

In addition to increasing a character’s Armor Rating, a shield can also make it more difficult for the character’s opponents to strike him with Armor-Defeating Hits. Characters using this optional rule increase the Difficulty Number for an Armor-Defeating Hit by one-half the shield’s Armor Bonus. Round any fractions up.

If a character successfully gets inside an opponent’s shield, the defender loses all benefits of the shield, including the optional bonus of this rule. See Going Inside a Shield, above.

Me’gana, the elven Swordmaster, is using a buckler as a shield, which gives her an Armor Bonus of +1. Me’gana’s Physical Defense is 10. According to the Success Level Table, an attacker would need to roll 19 in an Attack Test to strike Me’gana with an Armor-Defeating Hit. Her buckler increases this number to 20. Using the buckler gives Me’gana a slight advantage in defending against Armor-Defeating Hits. That slim advantage might just make the difference.

SITUATION MODIFIERS

A character most often relies on his wits, skills, and talents to make his way successfully through his life and adventures. Yet even the best-prepared adventurer sometimes finds himself at the mercy of circumstances beyond his control.

A number of these circumstances can occur during combat and affect a character’s performance. Known as situation modifiers, these conditions directly affect combatants’ Attack Tests and Physical Defense Ratings. The effects of specific situations are described below, and the specific modifiers are summarized in the Situation Modifier Table.

BLINDSIDE ATTACK

When a defender cannot see his attacker in order to react to an attack, the attacker gains a Blindside Attack Bonus. This bonus adds +2 steps to the attacker’s step for the Attack Test. Blindside attacks include attacking from the rear, attacking a blinded character, or attacking using surprise from an ambush (see Surprise). The attacker must be able to see his target to use the blindside attack bonus.

DARKNESS

Characters who find themselves fighting in the dark but who do not have any type of night vision must reduce the step of all their tests by –3. This penalty applies only to situations in which the disadvantage is natural darkness. Darkness caused by spells or creatures may reduce characters’ step numbers even further. This step penalty does not apply to Knockdown Tests.

HARRIED

As described in Melee Combat, a character under simultaneous attack by 4 or more melee opponents is considered Harried. Also considered Harried are characters being swarmed by many smaller creatures. Harried characters reduce the step of all their tests by 2. This penalty also applies to Knockdown Tests.

KNOCKED DOWN

A character who is knocked down (see Make Knockdown Test) subtracts –3 from both his Physical and Spell Defense Ratings. Knocked-down characters also reduce the step of all tests by –3. These penalties remain in effect until the character is back on his feet. In certain situations the gamemaster may also consider applying this penalty to a character’s Social Defense.

SURPRISE

From time to time, characters and creatures appear in unexpected places. This may be an intentional tactic, as when a group plans an ambush, or an accidental encounter, as when a creature suddenly appears from behind a tree in the forest. In either case, the characters and/or creatures caught off guard by such a situation are considered Surprised.

Surprised characters or creatures cannot act during the Combat Round in which they are surprised. They also suffer a penalty of –3 to their Physical and Spell Defense Ratings for the same round. The effect of surprise ends as soon as the next Combat Round begins. In certain situations the gamemaster may also wish to apply this this penalty to a character’s Social Defense.

A group of adventuring companions are trudging wearily through the forest when they suddenly come face to face with Icewing the dragon! Needless to say, the characters are surprised by this unusual event. As the characters try to recover their normally fierce demeanor, Icewing casually decides to intimidate the party. The gamemaster (being the cruel fellow that he is) decides that the adventurers, in addition to suffering penalties to their Physical and Spell Defense Ratings, will also lose points of Social Defense.

To determine whether a character is surprised, use the following procedure. Each character caught off guard makes a Perception Test using a Difficulty Number based on the situation, usually the Dexterity step of the character or creature encountered. If the group is surprised by more than one character or creature, use the lowest Attribute step number in the group as the Difficulty Number.

SITUATION MODIFIER TABLE

	Attack Test Modifier	Physical Defense Modifier
Blindside	+2 steps	—
Darkness	–3 steps	—
Harried	–2 steps	—
Knocked Down	–3 steps	–3 (also to Spell Defense)
Surprise	No Test Allowed	–3 (also to Spell Defense)

EFFECTS OF INJURY

Players must expect their characters to suffer injuries during their adventures in Earthdawn. Some of the rules regarding injury appeared earlier in the Combat section (see Check for Wounds). This section provides the nitty gritty.

RECOVERING FROM DAMAGE

A character makes Recovery Tests to reduce, or “heal,” the damage he takes. A character who takes no damage does not need to make a Recovery Test. Each character has a number of Recovery Tests available each day, determined by his or her Toughness Attribute (see Creating A Character). A character cannot “save” Recovery Tests from one day to the next. Use ’em or lose ’em.

An injured character must make one of his Recovery Tests upon waking from a full night’s rest. Characters with only 1 Recovery Test available each day can only recover damage after a full night’s rest. Characters with 1 Recovery Test every 2 days must rest for 2 nights, and make the test on the second morning. Characters with more than 1 Recovery Test available per day may spend the remaining Recovery Tests as they wish if they meet the following conditions:

At least 1 hour passes between Recovery Tests.
The character can spend 1 minute without engaging in physical activity or taking damage. The Recovery Test can be made at the end of that minute.

Characters must wait at least one hour after engaging in combat before they can make a Recovery Test. This hour must be spent in a state of relative rest; the character cannot undergo any strenuous physical activity during this time. The only exception to this rule regards unconscious characters.

Unconscious Characters
An unconscious character may make a Recovery Test 1 minute after he falls unconscious. Once conscious, the character must wait another hour before he can make further Recovery Tests.

Reviving Unconscious Characters
If another character attempts to revive an unconscious character, the unconscious character can make one of his available Recovery Tests at that time, even if a minute has not yet passed since he fell unconscious. Regardless of the outcome of the test, the unconscious character recovers enough Damage Points to regain consciousness. His Current Damage becomes 1 point less than his Unconsciousness Rating.

WOUNDS

Characters suffer no ill effects from Current Damage. Damage only affects a character’s ability to function when it results in a Wound.

Wounds slow a character’s recovery. When a Wounded character makes a Recovery Test, he reduces the amount of damage he recovers by 1 point for each Wound. For example, Farliv, the elven Archer, has taken some heavy hits. He is currently suffering 2 Wounds and 12 points of damage. Farliv makes a Recovery Test with a result of 10. Because he has 2 Wounds, Farliv can only recover 8 points.

Healing Wounds

Wounds are difficult to heal. Only a Recovery Test made after a full night’s rest (see Recovering From Damage, above) can heal a Wound. A character naturally heals one Wound a day under the following conditions:

The character is not suffering any Current Damage. Even 1 point of Current Damage stops a Wound from healing.
The character uses 1 Recovery Test. Even if he has no Current Damage, the character must make a Recovery Test to heal a Wound. Curses or other circumstances that prevent a character from making morning Recovery Tests keep Wounds from healing.

Wound Effects (Optional)

Wound Effects are best used after the players and gamemaster become familiar with the basic rules of the game. This optional rule adds more realism to the game, but also requires more bookkeeping on the part of the players.

With this option, a character can take 1 Wound without suffering any immediate side effects. When a character takes a second Wound, and again for all subsequent Wounds, reduce the character’s step numbers by –1 step. For example, if a character takes 2 Wounds, reduce all his step numbers by –1. If he takes 4 Wounds, reduce all his step numbers by –3. This penalty applies to all tests the character makes, except Recovery Tests. The character makes all Recovery Tests using his or her normal Recovery dice.