AREA AND

SPREADING

ATTACKS

Some attacks – dragon’s breath, gas

bombs, etc. – affect a wide area.

Damage from all such attacks uses the

Large-Area Injury rule (p. 400), unless

the victim is so big that only a single

body part is contained within the area.

Area-Effect Attacks

Gas bombs, Molotov cocktails, and

similar attacks – including anything

with the Area Effect enhancement

(p. 102) – affect everyone within a

specified radius. Damage does not

usually decline with distance. On a

miss, use the Scatter rule (see p. 414)

to determine where the area is cen-

tered. Active defenses don’t protect

against an area attack, but victims

may dive for cover or retreat out of the

area; see Dodge and Drop (p. 377).

Cone Attacks

Dragon’s fire, wide-beam micro-

wave and sonic weapons, and any-

thing with the Cone enhancement

(p. 103) are examples of cone attacks.

A cone attack requires a roll to hit . . .

but it might still catch the target in the

area of effect on a miss! On a hit, the

cone is on target; otherwise, use the

Scatter rule (see p. 414) to determine a

new target point. Once you know the

target point, imagine (or trace on a

battle map) a line between the attack-

er and that point. The cone spreads to

either side of this line, out to its maxi-

mum range.

A cone is one yard wide at its ori-

gin, but increases in width at a “rate of

spread” equal to its specified maxi-

mum width divided by its maximum

range. For instance, a cone with a

maximum range of 100 yards and a

maximum width of 5 yards would

spread by one yard per 20 yards of

range; out at 60 yards, it would be

three yards wide. If maximum width

is unspecified, assume the cone

spreads by one yard per yard of range.

A cone affects everyone within its

area, but anyone who is completely

screened from the attacker by an

object or person is behind cover,

which protects normally. Targets may

attempt a dodge defense to leave the

area or get to cover; see Dodge and

Drop (p. 377).

Dissipation

Certain cone and area attacks dissi-

pate with distance. This is common for

realistic wide-area beam weapons and

area-effect burning attacks. Attacks

with the Dissipation limitation

(p. 112) also use these rules.

In the case of a damaging attack

(e.g., Innate Attack), damage declines

with the target’s distance from the cen-

ter of the area or the apex of the cone.

For a cone, divide damage by the

cone’s width in yards at the target’s

distance from the apex. For an area

effect, divide damage by the distance

in yards between the target and the

center of the effect.

For an attack that allows a HT roll

to resist (e.g., Affliction), find the

“damage divisor” as above, but do not

apply it to damage (if any). Instead,

use the divisor as a bonus to the HT

roll to resist; e.g., two yards from the

center of an area effect, add +2 to HT.