Attack Skills

Attack Rules

Ranged Attacks

A weapons stat block will have an entry for range:  

• 1/2D  -   This is the range up to which your weapon deals full damage, after this distance the attack deals ½ it’s normal damage

• Max  -  This is the maximum effective range of an attack, after which it deal no damage

For example: 1/2D 10, Max 100, indicating that attacks up to 10 yards deal full damage, past 10 yards the attack deals 1/2 damage, and that the maximum range is 100.
Note that range, size, and speed penalties to hit also effect these attacks.

Wounding Modifiers

Any damage left over after subtracting DR from basic damage is “penetrating damage.” If there is any penetrating damage, multiply it by the attack’s “wounding modifier.” This is a multiplier that depends on damage type:

The damage after this multiplier determines the injury: the HP lost by the target. Round fractions down, but the minimum injury is 1 HP for any attack that penetrates DR at all.
Reduce the victim’s current HP total by the injury sustained.

Example: Filthy Pierre is struck by an axe, which does cutting damage. His attacker’s basic damage roll is 7, but Pierre is wearing DR 2 leather armor, so he suffers 5 points of penetrating damage. Multiplying by 1.5 for cutting damage, Pierre ends up losing 7.5 HP, which rounds to 7 HP – a nasty wound!

Where you were hit may further affect the wounding modifier; see Hit Location. The rules above assume a hit to the torso or face.

Hit Locations

When you strike at an enemy, you can usually choose what part of his body to attack. Some body parts, or “hit locations,” are harder than others to hit in a fight; some are more (or less) vulnerable to specific damage types. There are a few exceptions: • Completely unaimed attacks – Wild Swings, stabs in the dark, grenade fragments, etc. – cannot deliberately target a hit location. Use Random Hit Location instead. 

• Attacks that cover a large area –such as an avalanche or a cone of dragon fire – make hit location irrelevant. See Large-Area Injury.

• Fatigue damage always ignores hit location.

Deciding Where to Attack

"Called Shots"

Where to hit a foe depends on many things – your skill, your foe’s armor, and whether you want to kill him! A humanoid target has the locations listed below (see the hit location tables on pp. 552-554 for non-humanoids). Each location gives the penalty to attack rolls to hit that location (in parentheses), followed by any special damage effects. 

• Torso (0): The chest and abdomen.
  No penalty to hit, and no effect on damage. This is the default target for attacks: if you don’t specify a hit location, you are attacking the torso.

• Vitals (-3): The heart or lungs (from the front) or the kidneys (from behind).
  Certain attacks can target the vitals for increased damage. Increase the wounding modifier for an impaling or any piercing attack to *3. Increase the wounding modifier for a tight-beam burning attack (see box) to *2. Other attacks cannot target the vitals.

• Skull (-7): The part of the head that houses the brain.
  The skull gets an extra DR 2, the wounding modifier for all attacks increases to *4, knockdown rolls are at -10, and critical hits use the Critical Head Blow Table.
  Exception: None of these effects apply to toxic damage. 

• Eye (-9): Small squishy weak points found in most humanoids.
  Impaling, piercing, and tight-beam burning attacks can specifically target the eye. Injury over HP/10 blinds the eye; otherwise, treat as a skull hit without the extra DR 2! (As with skull hits, toxic damage has no special effect.)

• Face (-5): The jaw, cheeks, nose, and ears.
  Many helmets have an open face, allowing this attack to ignore armor DR! Knockdown rolls are at -5, and critical hits use the Critical Head Blow Table. Corrosion damage (only) gets a *1.5 wounding modifier . . . and if it inflicts a major wound, it also blinds one eye (both eyes on damage greater than full HP).

• Neck (-5): The neck and throat.
  Increase the wounding multiplier of crushing and corrosion attacks to *1.5, and that of cutting damage to *2. The GM may rule that anyone killed by a cutting blow to the neck is decapitated!

• Groin (-3): The lower torso.
  Jackets and light armor don’t always cover this area. Treat as a torso hit, except that human males (and the males of similar species) suffer double the usual shock from crushing damage (to a maximum of -8), and get -5 to knockdown rolls. 

• Arm or Leg (-2): Limbs of any kind reall.
  A good way to disable without killing! Against a living target, reduce the wounding multiplier of large piercing, huge piercing, and impaling damage to *1. Any major wound (loss of over 1/2 HP from one blow) cripples the limb – but damage beyond the minimum required to inflict a crippling injury is lost.
  Note: The penalty to hit an arm with a shield is -4.

• Hands or Feet (-4): The complex and often delecate bits at the end of a limb.
  As for an arm or leg, but damage over 1/3 HP in one blow inflicts a crippling major wound (excess damage is still lost). This gives you a chance to cripple the foe with little real damage. However, your foe might just switch hands (or hop) and finish you off!
  Note: The penalty to hit a hand holding a shield is -8.

• Weapon (varies): The place to strike if you need to take the foe unharmed, if you have to disarm a friend, or if you just want to show off. See Striking at Weapons.

Grappling and Hit Location

Halve hit location penalties (round up) if you are grappling a body part – it’s easier to grab a body part than to strike it.
This does not apply to grabbing a weapon!

Notes:
[1] An attack that misses by 1 hits the torso instead.
[2] Only impaling, piercing, and tight-beam burning attacks can target the eye – and only from the front or sides. Injury over HP/10 blinds the eye. Otherwise, treat as skull, but without the extra DR!
[3] The skull gets an extra DR 2. Wounding modifier is *4. Knockdown rolls are at -10. Critical hits use the Critical Head Blow Table.
Exception: These special effects do not apply to toxic damage.
[4] Jaw, cheeks, nose, ears, etc. If the target has an open-faced helmet, ignore its DR. Knockdown rolls are at -5. Critical hits use the Critical Head Blow Table. Corrosion damage gets a *1.5 wounding modifier, and if it inflicts a major wound, it also blinds one eye (both eyes on damage over full HP). Random attacks from behind hit the skull instead.
[5] Limb. Reduce the wounding multiplier of large piercing, huge piercing, and impaling damage to *1. Any major wound (loss of over 1/2 HP from one blow) cripples the limb. Damage beyond that threshold is lost.
[6] If holding a shield, double the penalty to hit: -4 for shield arm, -8 for shield hand.
[7] Human males and the males of similar species suffer double shock from crushing damage, and get -5 to knockdown rolls. Otherwise, treat as a torso hit.
[8] Extremity. Treat as a limb, except that damage over 1/3 HP in one blow inflicts a crippling major wound. Excess damage is still lost.
[9] If rolling randomly, roll 1d: 1-3 is right, 4-6 is left.
[10] Neck and throat. Increase the wounding multiplier of crushing and corrosion attacks to *1.5, and that of cutting damage to *2. At the GM’s option, anyone killed by a cutting blow to the neck is decapitated!
[11] Heart, lungs, kidneys, etc. Increase the wounding modifier for an impaling or any piercing attack to *3. Increase the wounding modifier for a tight-beam burning attack to *2. Other attacks cannot target the vitals.

Injury Tolerance and Hit Location

The Injury Tolerance advantage can alter the effects of hit location.

• Diffuse or Homogenous: Ignore all knockdown or wounding modifiers for hit location. (Eyes and limbs can still be crippled.) All injuries use the wounding modifiers from Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.

• No Brain: Hits to the skull get no extra knockdown or wounding modifier. Hits to the eye can cripple the eye; otherwise, treat them as face hits, not skull hits.

• No Eyes, No Head, or No Neck: You lack the hit location(s) in question, and your foes cannot target it. 

• No Vitals: Hits to the vitals or groin have the same effect as torso hits. 

• Unliving: Hit location has its usual effect, save that piercing and impaling damage to any location other than the eye, skull, or vitals uses the wounding modifiers from Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.

Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets

The Wounding Modifiers and Injury rules assume a human, animal, or other ordinary living being. Machines, corporeal undead, swarms, and other unusual entities are much less vulnerable to certain damage types:

• Unliving: Machines and anyone with Injury Tolerance (Unliving), such as most corporeal undead and silver rankers, are less vulnerable to impaling and piercing damage. This gives impaling and huge piercing a wounding modifier of *1; large piercing, *1/2; piercing, *1/3; and small piercing, *1/5. 

• Homogenous: Things that lack vulnerable internal parts or mechanisms – such as uniformly solid or hollow objects (e.g., melee weapons, shields, and furniture), unpowered vehicles, trees, and walls – are even less vulnerable! This includes animated statues, blobs, and anything else with Injury Tolerance (Homogenous). Impaling and huge piercing have a wounding modifier of *1/2; large piercing, *1/3; piercing, *1/5; and small piercing, *1/10.

• Diffuse: A target with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) is even harder to damage! This includes swarms, air elementals, nets, etc. Impaling and piercing attacks (of any size) never do more than 1 HP of injury, regardless of penetrating damage! Other attacks can never do more than 2 HP of injury. Exception: Area-effect, cone, and explosion attacks cause normal injury.

Example: Edmund Zhang empties his 9mm machine pistol (2d+2 pi damage) at an approaching zombie. He hits three times. After subtracting the zombie’s DR 1, he scores 8 points of penetrating damage with the first bullet, 7 with the second, and 10 with the third. The zombie has Injury Tolerance (Unliving), so the usual x1 wounding modifier for piercing damage drops to x1/3. Rounding down, the three bullets inflict 2 HP, 2 HP, and 3 HP of injury. The zombie had 24 HP, so it has 17 HP left. Undaunted, it shambles forward. Edmund should have brought an axe or a flamethrower!

Targeting Non-Humanoid's and Vehicles

The rules for targeting creatures with more or less limbs than a typical Demi-Human or for targeting a vehicle can be found here.

Large-Area Injury

Some attacks affect much or most of the victim’s body – for instance, dragon’s breath, a bomb blast, a huge fire, or immersion in an acid pit. In particular, any damage described as being “area effect” or “cone,” and any external explosion, inflicts large-area injury. 

A melee attack from an attacker whose Size Modifier exceeds that of his target by seven or more is also a large-area injury – if the attacker is striking unarmed or with a weapon scaled to his body size. (If he wishes to target a hit location, his tiny victim must be pinned or otherwise immobile.)

Damage Resistance protects normally against large-area injury – but if your DR varies by location, your “effective DR” is the average of your torso DR and the DR of the least protected hit location exposed to the attack (which could still be your torso), rounding up. If your DR varies against different attacks, “least protected” refers to the location with the lowest DR against that particular type of attack. A location protected by cover or masked by the body does not count as “exposed to the attack.” Against an explosion or cone, only locations facing the blast or cone are exposed (e.g., if you’re turned away, your face and eyes aren’t exposed). For damage caused by immersion in a hazardous environment (e.g., fire or acid), only the immersed locations are exposed. 

Against a true area effect, all locations are exposed.

Don’t modify large-area injury for hit location (that is, treat it as a torso hit) unless only one location is exposed. If a single limb (hand, arm, etc.) is exposed, damage in excess of that required to inflict a major wound is lost.

Targeting Chinks in Armor

You may use a piercing, impaling, or tight-beam burning attack to target joints or weak points in a suit of armor, vehicle, etc.
Roll at -8 to hit a chink in the foe’s torso armor, or at -10 for any other location (face, eyes, vitals, arm, etc.), instead of using the usual hit location penalty. If you hit, halve DR. This is cumulative with any armor divisors.