User:TheFairyKing/sandbox

Fighting in the post-nuclear wasteland
"Violence never solved anything" so the old saying goes, and while it certainly can't solve everything, it can certainly solve most problems this side of the Apocalypse. Inevitably, whether your party wants to or not, they'll get into a fight, and this section details the mechanics and options of combat players have.

Initiative
Time is combat is divided into turns (generally considered six seconds long). During each turn, characters can take multiple actions of their choice by spending Action Points (AP). This total amount of AP refreshes at the beginning of each turn, and unspent points do not carry over.

Fights are not often stared fairly or obviously, so in the case that one or more combatants initiate an encounter without the other side being fully prepared, the combatant(s) initiating combat get a full turn of actions before their opponents can respond. After those actions are over, or when combat is initiated in a situation where all opponents are combat-ready, then initiative is rolled. Whether or not combatants(s) are able to foresee an ambush like this ahead of time, is an opposed Perception roll VS. the Sneak skill of the ambushing party. Any character that succeeds against this Sneak check, does not lose their first turn and may roll initiative immediately.

Initiative rolls are 1d10 + AGI + PER. Whoever has the highest roll acts first, the combatant with the second-highest roll acts second, and so forth, continuing until every party with initiative has acted. At that point, the turn is over, everyone's AP refreshes, and a new turn begins.

If any combatants roll the same total initiative, the one with the highest Agility acts first. If their Agility scores are identical, the one with the highest Luck acts first. If both combatant's Luck is still identical, they act simultaneously. The Game's Overseer should keep track of the sequence of simultaneous actions. i.e. if a character using an AP 2 weapon is going simultaneously with an enemy throwing an AP 5 Grenade, and the first character deals enough damage to kill the enemy in the first two attacks, then the enemy will die before they had time to arm their Grenade and throw. For ease of gameplay, a Game Master may opt to roll a single initiative for all enemy combatants using the average of their Agility scores.

Activate PipBoy Function
Characters who possess a PipBoy may with to activate features of their PipBoys during combat at times. Turning on or off the Pipboy’s light, accessing its Automapping program or any other installed or native program, costs 1 AP. This includes the most common in-combat Pipboy Function, activating the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). V.A.T.S. acts as a penalty reduction system for the turn it's activated. By defualt, V.A.T.S reduces up to 30 points of penalties per turn, and can be all used for one attack or spread out over many. i.e. The party is being assailed by raiders, and one of them has a Fatman! Not willing to let the raider get a chance to shoot, Joyce wants to fire her Anti-material rifle at the trigger mechanism on the weapon and cause it to go off in the raider's hands! Her sniper rifle mean's she would take no range penalties, but attempting to hit such a small part of the weapon, incurs a -70% penalty to her shot. Joyce decided to first activate V.A.T.S. for 1 AP and chooses to use all 30 points of reduction to make the shot at only -50%. Finally, Pipboys included a “heads up display” that allows a character to locate and assess targets. (Alert the wearer of targets within their 5 times their Perception in meters, including hiding creatures that are not completely obstructed by cover(stealth boys count as total cover) Activating the H.U.D. costs 2 AP but will last until turned off. Turning off H.U.D is a 0 AP action. AP COST: 1AP Activate Core Pipboy Function (i.e. V.A.T.S.). AP COST: 2AP Activate Pipboy H.U.D.

Attacking
The most common action any combatant will take is simply attacking with their weapon until their foe stops moving. The AP costs for attacking varies wildly depending on the weapon being used, and are listed in the weapon’s description on the Tiered Weapons List. AP COST: Variable

Basic Item Use
Using an item from your inventory, such as a Stimpack or chem, costs 2AP. Readily available items, like equipping holstered items (usually weapons) or worn clothing (like switching hats, or masks) costs 1AP less than the above cost. AP COST: 1AP Equip (weapons) or use Holstered Items AP COST: 2AP Equip (weapons) or use an item stored in inventory

Basic Movement
The Basic Movement action is the most common way to manoeuvre around the battlefield. Terrain conditions can impose a bonus or penalty to the character’s effective Agility for the purpose of movement rates. If moving through snow, for example, they would receive a penalty depending on the depth of the snow. If a character is carrying more than her Carry Weight allows, their effective Agility is reduced to 1. Carrying more than 150% of a character’s Carry Weight allowance will reduce their effective Agility to 0. If a character’s effective Agility is reduced to 0, the character cannot move. AP COST: 1AP for moving (END + [AGI x 2]) in meters.

Dodge
Once a player has decided they completed enough actions, they may use any amount of remaining AP to gain a dodge bonus that last until the start of their next turn. For AP spent this way, your opponents suffer a -15 penalty to hit. You can spend AP this way up to your Effective Agility score. AP COST: 1AP per -15 Penalty imposed.

Reload
Unfortuanley, every gun runs out of ammo eventually, even melee weapons stop working if they have the Powered tag. Replacing those batteries, or slapping in a fresh magazine into your assault rifle takes time, but the amount of AP it takes, depends on the type of Weapon. AP COST: 1AP for single shotguns or guns with clips, drums or speed loaders. AP COST: 2AP for Revolvers, Bolt-Action, Lever-Action, and Pump-Action guns without speed loaders. AP COST: 3AP for Heavy Weapons, and powered Melee weapons

Unjam/De-glitch a Weapon
Whenever you critically fail at using most weapons, they jam or freeze, and must be fixed before being used again. Small guns and Big Guns are counted as having been Jammed whereas Energy weapons and Powered Melee weapons count as having been Glitched. While Unjamming a firearm can be difficult, it is often more apparent how to fix than a complex Energy weapon, as such they have different AP cost to fix. AP COST: 2 APTo Unjam a Small Gun or Big Gun. AP COST: 3 APTo De-glicth an Energy weapon or Powered Weapon. In the case of weapon Glitching, Gauss always counts as an Energy weapon.

Advanced Combat Actions
The actions above may be the most commonly used, but that does not mean advanced combat actions should be ignored. Their use cases are often times more specific and sometimes risky, but with the wide variety of shit you can accidentally step-on in the Wasteland, it's good to have a few tricks up your sleeve.

Charging
It’s possible to cover even more distance if you don’t care about turning or dodging, and when you Charge, you cover 5+END + (AGI x 2) in feet in a straight line per 1 AP spent, but you must take 2 AP if you wish to safely slow down enough to do another action. Until your next turn, anyone attacking you gets a +10% accuracy bonus per 1 AP you spent charging. Instead of slowing down safely however, you can chose to throw your momentumn into an opponent for greater damage. Any Slam, Tackle, or Flying Tackle immediately preceded by one or more consecutive Charge movements, you may add your END + (AGI x 2) as damage provided that you moved at least one full Charge. However, you take half that amount as Non-lethal Damages to yourself. Power-Armour protects against this damage. Charging is exhausting; the maximum number of successive charge actions you can take is equal to your (END / 2, rounded up). AP COST: 1 AP Per 1 +END + (AGI x 2) Meteres charged in a straight Line AP COST: 2 AP To stop a charge

Climbing
See that mountain? You can go there! But cna you fight there? Sure you can, it'll just be a little morew diffuclt. You can climb up STR+END+AGI/3 in meters for 3 AP assuming you can find places to grip. The Overseer may require an Agility or Survival roll to find purchase on trees, rocks, statues, and other objects not explicitly made for climbing. AP COST: 3 AP Per STR+END+AGL/3 Meteres climbed

Dropping/Crouching
Yikes! A vertibird is swooping low and you can see it's minigun lighting up, but there's nothing for cover but shrub bush! You better drop to the ground! Dropping this way cost 1 AP, while crouching or squatting costs no AP. Any cover bonus gained this way, will be as specified by the Overseer, But Generally Dropping behind cover is twice as effective as crouching behind it. AP COST: 0 APTo Crouch or Squat AP COST: 1 APTo Drop to the ground

Jumping
During movement, if there are small cracks or obstacles (less than a foot tall or across), the small jumps they require are made freely as part of the movement action. Attempting to run up and jump on board that vertibird as it clips your party, or jumping over a chasm with Red Cloud billowing below, is a dangerous move and requires the jump action. Jumping from a standstill cost 2 AP, whereas at the end of a movement action it only costs 1 AP. The maximum height any given character can jump is a quarter of their STR + AGI (rounded down) in feet. When the goal of the jump is distance, characters can leap half their STR + AGI (rounded down) in feet, with Charging adding a bonus equal to one quarter of the distance charged. Both of these can be bolstered by taking a temporary one point penalty to Endurance in order to add the END to the distance. The penalty goes away when you have time for a full night's rest, or have it healed medically. See, Healing SPECIAL damage. AP COST: 1 AP To jump up to (STR+AGL)/4 from movement AP COST: 2 AP To jump up to (STR+AGL)/4 from standstill AP COST: 1 AP To jump forwards to (STR+AGL)/2 from movement AP COST: 2 AP To jump forwards to (STR+AGL)/2 from standstill

Stand Up
Perhaps the first thing any charter ever learned as a baby, once upon a time, still requires AP to do in combat. Whether you intended to be on the ground or not, getting back on your in combat takes time and puts you at risk if you're in Melee range with enemies. If you attempt to do so, all foes within Melee range get a +10% to hit you until the start of your next turn. AP COST: 1 AP to stand up from a crouch. AP COST: 2 AP to stand up from Prone/laying down.

Swimming
Not a very common activet after the bombs dropped. Most water, if you can even find any, is eitehr higkey iraddited, filled with unsiglthy creatures form the depths, or both. However and whyever you found yoruself in a sitcuation wher you need to swim is your concern, how it mehcianlly works is this guides. Your swim speed is (STR+END+AGL) /3 in feet (Rounded down). AP COST: 2 AP Per (STR+END+AGL)/3

All-out-swing: You turn and give your target a powerful whack with both hands clasped in a fist. This basic Unarmed attack costs triple your Unarmed weapon AP to perform and cannot be parried. This attack can benefit from any hand-worn unarmed weapon so long as you are wearing the same weapon on both hands. Roll at +15% accuracy, and if successful, inflict double your normal unarmed damage to the target. So long as the target is not more than one size larger than you, the target must make a successful END roll to avoid being knocked down, with a penalty of 1 for every Stress Box Dealt. Whether successful or not, opponents gain a +10% accuracy bonus to strike you until your next turn for each time you swing.

Advanced Close-Quarters Moves
Break Free: To break free of someone choking or pinning you, you must win an opposed STR test at a cost of 35 AP for you.

Catch: A character may attempt to catch a flying or falling creature or object so long as the character can move into the path of that creature or object. Catching is an action that combines a movement action with an Unarmed skill check for the cost of that movement action +5 AP. A character who does not wish to be caught may attempt to avoid the catch with an Agility check with a penalty equal to -1 for every degree of success by which the Unarmed skill check succeeded, to a maximum of -3. (The effect of catching an object or creature depends on the circumstance and may require further rolls. Catching a grenade will stop the grenade’s travel; catching a flying vertibird isn’t going to stop it’s flight.)

Choke: You may attempt to choke an opponent into unconsciousness. This maneuver is most easily performed on an opponent you are pinning. Otherwise, the initial attack requires an attack roll at a -30 penalty and the opponent may attack or attempt to move while being choked. Opponents being choked suffer a -20 penalty to all attack rolls. While choking an opponent, you may take no other actions except attempting basic move actions, requiring you to maneuver your opponent with you. Movement distances for both you and your opponent are reduced by half and move actions are contested with opposed agility rolls. Successfully choking an opponent takes a number of turns equal to the opponent’s Endurance. A choked-out victim remains unconscious for ten minutes, after which she may make an Endurance roll to recover. If she fails, she may repeat this roll once per minute until she awakens.

Disarm: A difficult close combat maneuver meant to relieve an opponent of their weapon. Roll a contest of your Melee or Unarmed skill at a -40% penalty to accuracy against the opponent’s Melee skill. This can be improved by making it a precise strike. The AP cost is based off the weapon used.

Escape: A character who is being held but not bound, choked or pinned can attempt to dislodge herself from the hold. This attempt costs 20 AP and is a Strength or Agility check opposed by her opponent’s Strength check. If the opponent is attempting any other action (including being engaged in flight or other movement), the character gains a +2 bonus to the check. A character may attempt escape actions before their turn in the combat sequence by borrowing AP from their upcoming turn. However, doing so increases the cost to 25 AP.

Flying Tackle: You leap at your opponent attempting to knock them back then pin them to the ground. This risky maneuver costs triple your Unarmed weapon AP to perform and cannot be parried. If successful, this attack deals normal damage, plus it knocks them back as with a Slam and allows you to pin them. You must succeed at an opposed STR + AGI test with a bonus of +1 for every 10 damage before armor (max +5) that you inflicted with the attack. So long as the target is not more than one size larger than you, if you beat your opponent’s result, you knock your opponent to the ground and pin them. In addition, for every degree of success you achieve on the opposed roll, you deal 2 extra points of damage. If you fail any part of this attack, you take half normal unarmed damage and are automatically knocked down.

Parry: Attempt to deflect a close combat attack using a melee weapon or unarmed attack. Using the melee skill, ranged weapons can be used to parry at a -20% penalty to accuracy. Roll Melee or Unarmed skill and compare your margin of success to your opponent’s margin of success; defender wins on a tie unless the attacker got a critical success and the defender did not. You must have 15 AP remaining per opponent whose attacks you wish to parry.

Pin: If your opponent is laying on the ground, you may attempt to pin them. You must succeed at a STR + AGI test at a +2 bonus versus the target’s opposed STR + AGI test. A pinned opponent cannot move and is at a 30% penalty to any action other than breaking free. This maneuver costs 20 AP each turn you maintain it. Neither you nor your opponent can take a movement action during a pin.

Precise Strike: You may spend up to your (PER x 3) AP making a carefully aimed strike, shot, or burst, gaining a +1% bonus to accuracy per AP point spent. You may spend this AP at the end of one turn to apply to an attack at the beginning of your next turn, provided that attack is your first action on that turn. This action cannot be used for a “Wild” attack.

Slam: You slam your body into your target, sending the target flying. This basic Unarmed attack costs double your Unarmed weapon AP to perform and cannot be parried. The only unarmed weapons that can be used for this attack are helmets and body spikes. Otherwise, the AP and damage are based on a bare-bodied attack. If successful, this attack deals normal damage. Then make an opposed STR check with a bonus of +1 for every 10 damage before armor (max +5) that you inflicted with the attack. For every degree of success you achieve on the opposed roll, you hurl the target 1 meter in any direction, so long as the target is not more than one size larger than you. Should your target contact a solid object before the end of her movement, she and the object take +1d10 damage per meter of remaining movement. Should the damage from knockback exceed the object's HP, the object breaks and the target continues moving whatever distance remains. If you fail any part of this attack, roll an Agility check to stay upright.

Trip: Using either a Melee weapon or an Unarmed attack, you attempt to knock your opponent’s legs out from under them. Counts as a Normal Action but does no damage. Roll STR+ d10 versus your opponent’s AGI + d10. If your result is higher, your opponent is knocked down. If your target if flying, you may use a trip action to attempt to hit an opponent’s wing to destabilize her flight, causing freefall.

Wild Swing: If a character must use one or more move actions in order to be able to attack an opponent and is left without enough AP to attack, but they still have some AP left unspent, they may expend all remaining AP to make one Wild Swing attack with any readied melee weapon or an unarmed attack. This poorly aimed attack has a penalty of -1% accuracy to hit for every point of AP that the character is short.

React
Once a turn, you can choose to hold a single action in order to react to others. For instance, a guard might be staring out into the night, watching a lonely stretch of roadway. If the guard became aware of multiple enemies but didn’t have a line of sight to them, they could chose to hold their action and attempt to react as enemies became visible while dashing from cover to cover. Changing what you are reacting to, or changing the react action, adds an extra 10 AP to the action and a -10% penalty to accuracy. Changing multiple times accrues cumulative penalties.

Suppression Fire: Instead of attacking a specific target, a weapon capable of performing a Full Auto attack can be used to attempt to pin opponents behind cover. Ammo is expended as normal for a Full Auto attack. In general only one corner of a building or both sides of a small obstruction like a cart can be covered. Any opponent in the suppressed area who expends AP while at least partially exposed (e.g. returning fire or moving out of cover) is automatically attacked once (at normal Full Auto penalties) for every 15AP they spend while not in full cover. These attacks are resolved exactly as if coming from an automatic weapon with RoF: 1. Obviously once all bullets have either hit or missed, no further suppression can occur. Actions performed while exposed to suppression fire (including shooting back) are at a -10% penalty to skill since random fire is rather distracting.

Precise Shot: You may spend up to your (PER x 3) AP making a carefully aimed strike, shot, or burst, gaining a +1% bonus to accuracy per AP point spent. You may spend this AP at the end of one turn to apply to an attack at the beginning of your next turn, provided that attack is your first action on that turn. This action cannot be used for a “Wild” attack. Tackle: You grapple a target to the ground. This basic Unarmed maneuver costs double your Unarmed weapon AP to perform and cannot be parried. If successful, this attack deals half normal damage. Then make a STR check opposed by your target’s STR or AGI (defender’s choice). So long as the target is not more than one size larger than you, if you beat your opponent’s result, you knock your opponent to the ground and pin them. If you fail any part of this attack, roll an Agility check to stay upright.

Full Auto: Using an automatic weapon you roll a number of times equal to the weapon’s RoF and expend twice that many bullets. Each shot is at a -(5 x ROF) penalty to accuracy, and if you are under Strength for the weapon, there is an additional -10% accuracy to hit for every roll. For every success, if the result is odd, one bullet hits, whereas if the result is even, two bullets hit. This is the basic action attack for weapons with a Rate of Fire.

Burst Fire: Using an automatic (or Burst) weapon you roll an attack at -10% accuracy to hit if you are under Strength for the weapon. If you hit, you do 3 time damage. Counts as a Normal Action.

Wild Shot: If a character using a ranged weapon takes one or more move actions in order to move into a position that provides a better percentage chance to hit and is left without enough AP to make the attack, but the character still has some AP left unspent, she may expend all remaining AP to make one Wild Shot attack. This poorly aimed attack has a penalty of -1% accuracy to hit for every point of AP that the character is short.