Maneuvers

A "maneuver" is an action that you can take on your turn. Each turn, you must choose one of the following maneuvers: Aim, All-Out Attack, All-Out Defense, Attack, Change Posture, Concentrate, Do Nothing, Evaluate, Feint, Move, Move and Attack, Ready, or Wait. Your choice determines what you can do on your turn, and sets your options for active defense and movement.

Active Defense and Maneuvers

The maneuver you choose affects your "active defenses" – your ability to dodge, parry, or block attacks (see Defending). You only have to select an active defense if you are attacked. Your most recent maneuver governs the active defenses you can use.

For the purpose of active defenses, your maneuver is considered to be in effect until you select another maneuver on your next turn. For instance, if you chose All-Out Defense (which gives a defensive advantage), its benefits would apply if you were attacked after you took your turn, and would persist until it was your turn again and you took a different maneuver.

If you're attacked before you've had a chance to choose a maneuver – usually at the start of combat – you're considered to be taking a Do Nothing maneuver.

Movement and Maneuvers

Most maneuvers allow some form of movement. The Move and Move and Attack maneuvers allow you to move quickly, up to a number of yards equal to your full Move score. Other maneuvers, such as All-Out Attack, limit you to a fraction of your full Move.

Step

Many maneuvers restrict movement to a "step." This is movement up to 1/10 your Move, minimum 1 yard, in any direction, a change of facing (for instance, to turn around), or both. You can perform your step before or after the rest of the maneuver; for instance, you could step and attack or attack and step.

See Step at Movement and Combat for more details.

No Movement

Some maneuvers allow no movement. In particular, you cannot move if you Change Posture or Do Nothing. For more on movement, see Move and Movement and Combat.

Free Actions

"Free actions" are things you can do during any maneuver. Some examples:

Talk

You can always talk. If the GM wants to be realistic, he should allow only one sentence of communication per second...but it is usually more fun when you ignore this limitation!

Maintain Spells or Psi

As long as you remain active, you can maintain a spell or ongoing psi ability, no matter what else you do.

Drop an Item

You can drop any "ready" item at any time during any maneuver. If you're moving, you may drop it at any point within your reach during your movement.

Crouch

If standing, you may opt to crouch (to make yourself a smaller target for ranged attacks) at the beginning of your turn. This will usually slow your movement speed (see Movement), and you cannot crouch and sprint. If you were already crouching, it is a free action to rise from a crouching position at any time.

Do Nothing

Anyone who is just standing still is assumed to be doing nothing. In particular, when combat begins, anyone who has not yet taken a turn is treated as if he took this maneuver before entering combat.

Someone who is conscious but stunned or surprised must take this maneuver. On each turn of Do Nothing, he may attempt a HT roll to recover from physical stun or an IQ roll to recover from mental stun. On a success, he recovers at the end of his turn – that is, he Does Nothing this turn, but may act normally next turn.

Movement: None!

Active Defense: Any (unless you're tied up, etc.). If you are stunned, however, your active defenses are at -4 until your next turn – even if you recover.

Move

Move, but take no other action except those specified under Free Actions (see above). You may move any number of yards up to your full Move score. Most other maneuvers allow at least some movement on your turn; take this maneuver if all you want to do is move.

Players must tell the GM exactly where their PCs move to so that he can keep track of the combat. The GM decides where his NPCs move, and will inform any players whose PCs are in a position to witness the movement. If you are controlling a vehicle or riding a mount, take a Move maneuver to spend the turn actively controlling it. Instead of you moving, the vehicle or mount moves on your turn (carrying you and other occupants). See Mounted Combat and Vehicles for details.

Sprinting: If you run forward for two or more turns in a row, you get bonus movement on your second and later moves; see Sprinting.

Movement: See above.

Active Defense: Any.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Acrobatic Movement
• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Move

Change Posture

This maneuver lets you switch between any two "postures" (stances in which you can pose your body).

Valid postures are standing, sitting, kneeling, crawling, lying prone (face down), and lying face up. Any posture other than standing slows your movement and penalizes your attack and defense rolls, but also makes you a smaller target for ranged attacks.

You cannot stand up directly from a lying position. If you are lying (prone or face up), you must take a Change Posture maneuver to rise to a crawling, kneeling, or sitting posture first. A second Change Posture maneuver lets you stand from any of these postures. (Going from standing up to lying down, however, only takes one maneuver – or none at all, if the change was involuntary!)

You can switch between kneeling and standing (only) as the "step" portion of any maneuver that allows a step – you don't need Change Posture for that. This is instead of using the step to move. Thus, you could go from prone to kneeling with a Change Posture maneuver on one turn, and then stand up in place on your next turn by taking a maneuver that allows a step.

Crouching does not require a Change Posture maneuver; see Free Actions (above).

Movement: None. You remain in place as you change posture.

Active Defense: Any. Postures other than standing penalize your defense rolls, but also make you a smaller target for ranged attacks.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Change Posture

Aim

This is a full-turn maneuver used to aim a ranged weapon (or a device such as a camera or telescope). You must choose a specific target. You can't aim at something that you can't see or otherwise detect.

Specify the weapon you're aiming with and your target. If you follow an Aim maneuver with an Attack or All-Out Attack with the same weapon against the same target, you get a bonus to hit. Add the weapon's Accuracy (Acc) to your skill, plus any bonuses for targeting systems used: sights, targeting computers, etc.

If you brace a firearm or crossbow, you get an extra +1 to Acc. A firearm or crossbow is braced if you can rest it on a sandbag, low wall, car, etc. A one-handed firearm (e.g., a pistol) is considered braced if used two-handed. A two-handed firearm (e.g., a rifle) is considered braced if you are prone and using a bipod.

If you Aim for more than one second, you receive an additional bonus: +1 for two seconds of Aim, or +2 for three or more seconds.

Your combined bonus from all targeting systems (scopes, sights, computers, etc.) cannot exceed the weapon's base Accuracy. For instance, if you add a telescopic sight that gives +4 Acc to a pistol with Acc 2, the bonus is +2, not +4.

Movement: Step. Exception: You cannot step if using a braced, two-handed weapon.

Active Defense: Any, but you automatically spoil your aim and lose all accumulated benefits. If you are injured while aiming, you must make a Will roll or lose your aim.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Aim

Evaluate

This maneuver is the melee combat equivalent of Aim. It lets you take time to study an adversary in order to gain a combat bonus on a subsequent attack. You must specify one visible opponent who is close enough to attack unarmed or with a ready melee weapon, or whom you could reach with a single Move and Attack maneuver. You are sizing him up and looking for the right moment to strike.

An Evaluate maneuver gives you +1 to skill for the purpose of an Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack, or Move and Attack made against that opponent, on your next turn only. You may take multiple, consecutive Evaluate maneuvers before you strike, giving a cumulative +1 per turn, to a maximum of +3.

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: Any. This does not spoil your evaluation.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Evaluate

Attack

Use this maneuver to make an armed or unarmed attack in melee combat, or to use a thrown or missile weapon in ranged combat. To use a weapon to attack, it must be ready. If you are using a melee weapon or unarmed attack, your target must be within reach. Resolve the attack as explained under Melee Attacks. If you took an Evaluate maneuver (above) last turn, you will have a bonus to hit. If you took a Feint (below), your opponent may have a penalty to defend.

If you are using a ranged weapon, your target must be within the weapon's Max range. Resolve the attack according to Ranged Attacks. If you took an Aim maneuver last turn, you will have a bonus to hit.

Movement: Step. You may step and then attack or attack and then step - your choice. To move further and still attack, take All-Out Attack or Move and Attack.

Active Defense: Any.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Attack

Feint

"Fake" a melee attack. You cannot Feint someone unless you could have hit him with a melee attack – that is, your weapon is ready and your foe is within reach. This maneuver is not an attack, though, and does not make your weapon unready.

When you Feint, roll a Quick Contest of Melee Weapon skills with your foe; if either of you is unarmed, you may roll against an unarmed combat skill instead. Your opponent may opt to roll against Cloak or Shield skill, if he is suitably equipped and this would give him a better roll. If his DX is better than his combat skills, he may roll against DX instead.

If you fail your roll, your Feint is unsuccessful. Likewise, if you succeed, but your foe succeeds by as much as or more than you do, your Feint fails.

If you make your roll, and your foe fails, subtract your margin of success from the foe's active defense if you attack him with Attack, All-Out Attack, or Move and Attack on your next turn. For instance, if your skill is 15 and you roll a 12, your foe defends against you at -3 next turn.

If you and your foe both succeed, but you succeed by more, subtract your margin of victory from the foe's defense. For instance, if your skill is 15 and you roll a 10 (success by 5), and your foe's skill is 14 and he rolls 12 (success by 2), you win by 3, so he will defend at -3 if your next maneuver is to attack him.

You cannot Feint if your foe is unable to observe you! However, if your foe runs away, turns his back on you, or loses sight of you in some way after you successfully Feint, he will still suffer his defense penalty if you attack him on your next turn. If you lose track of the foe, or cannot attack him next turn, your foe's defense penalty vanishes.

A Feint is good for one second! But if you Feint and then make an All-Out Attack (Double), the feint applies to both attacks.

In all cases, your allies cannot take advantage of your Feint. The defense penalty applies only to your next attack.

Shield Feints: After you have attacked your foe once by striking with your shield, you may also Feint with your shield, rolling against Shield skill.

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: Any. However, if you Feint and then parry with an unbalanced weapon, you cannot attack on your next turn, making your Feint pointless.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Feint
• Feint (Martial Arts Technique)

All-Out Attack

Attack any foe with a ready weapon, making no effort to defend against enemy attacks. If you are making a melee attack, you must specify one of these four options before you attack:

• Determined: Make a single attack at +4 to hit!
• Double: Make two attacks against the same foe, if you have two ready weapons or one weapon that does not have to be readied after use. Attacks with a second weapon held in the off hand are at the usual -4 (see Handedness) unless you have Ambidexterity.
• Feint: Make one Feint (see above) and then one attack against the same foe. The Feint applies to this attack instead of one you make on your next turn.
• Strong: Make a single attack, at normal skill. If you hit, you get +2 to damage – or +1 damage per die, if that would be better. This only applies to melee attacks doing ST-based thrust or swing damage, not to weapons such as force swords.
• Long: GURPS Martial Arts gives an additional option: All-Out Attack (Long)

If you are making a ranged attack, you must specify one of these two options before you attack:

• Determined: Make a single attack at +1 to hit.
• Suppression Fire: Take the entire turn to spray an area with automatic fire. This is a full-turn maneuver, and you can only choose this option if your weapon has RoF 5+. See Suppression Fire.

Movement: You may move up to half your Move, but you can only move forward.

Active Defense: You may make no active defenses at all from the point you take this maneuver until your next turn. If someone attacks you after you make an All-Out attack, all you can do is hope he misses – you can't dodge, parry, or block!

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: All-Out Attack

Committed Attack

See Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Committed Attack.

Defensive Attack

See Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Defensive Attack.

Move and Attack

Move as described for the Move maneuver, but during or after your move, make a single, poorly aimed attack – either unarmed or with a ready weapon.

You attack as described for the Attack maneuver (above), but at a penalty. If you are making a ranged attack, you have a penalty of -2 or the weapon's Bulk rating, whichever is worse – and if you took an Aim, you lose all of its bonuses. If you are making a melee attack other than a slam, you have a flat -4 to skill, and your adjusted skill cannot exceed 9.

Movement: As described under the Move maneuver – but since you are trying to do two things at once, you are -2 on any rolls the GM requires to avoid falling, tripping over obstacles, etc.

Active Defense: Dodge or block only. You cannot parry and you may not retreat (see Retreat).

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Move and Attack

All-Out Defense

This is the maneuver to choose when you're beset by foes – especially foes who like All-Out Attacks! You must specify one of the following two options:

• Increased Defense: Add +2 to one active defense of your choice: Dodge, Parry, or Block. This bonus persists until your next turn.
• Double Defense: Apply two different active defenses against the same attack. If you fail your defense roll against an attack, you may try a second, different defense against that attack. For instance, if you fail a block, you may try a dodge or a parry. If you try a parry (armed or unarmed) with one hand and fail, a parry using the other hand does count as a "different defense."

Movement: If you choose Increased Dodge, you may move up to half your Move. Otherwise, the only movement you may take is a step.

Active Defense: You may choose any legal active defense, with bonuses as described above.

All-Out Defense (Mental Defense)

Optional maneuver from Psionic Powers book.

This is another option available for All-Out Defense, for use when you are under psychic attack (or think you will be this turn). You add +2 to any rolls to resist psionic or similar mental attacks. This includes abilities resisted by physical attributes (e.g., HT), so long as the GM agrees that increased concentration and focus would make a difference. This bonus persists until your next turn. Your active defenses are unchanged.

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: Any.

Concentrate

You concentrate on one primarily mental task (even it has a minor physical component, like operating controls, gesturing, or speaking). This may be casting a magical spell, using a psi ability, making a Sense roll to spot an invisible warrior, making a Leadership roll to give orders, making an Electronics Operation roll to operate a sensor, or any similar action, including most IQ-based skill rolls. This is a full-turn maneuver.

Some activities (e.g., casting spells) require you to take the Concentrate maneuver for multiple seconds. If you are forced to use an active defense, knocked down, injured, or otherwise distracted before you finish, you must make a Will-3 roll. On a failure, you lose your concentration and must start over.

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: Any. However, it interferes with concentration as noted above.

All-Out Concentrate

Optional maneuver from Psionic Powers book.

You focus on one particular mental task, as for the Concentrate maneuver, but with more intensity. This gives you +1 to any rolls required to perform your ability, skill, spell, etc., at the cost of your active defenses. When using an ability that requires multiple seconds of concentration, you may alternate between Concentrate and All-Out Concentrate maneuvers, but you only get the +1 bonus if you All-Out Concentrate for the entire time. If you are knocked down, injured, or otherwise distracted, you must make a Will-2 roll (the usual Will-3, at +1 for this maneuver) to maintain your concentration.

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: None, as for All-Out Attack.

Ready

Take a Ready maneuver to pick up or draw any item and prepare it for use; e.g., to pull a sword from its sheath or a gun from its holster, or to reload a firearm. In some cases, you may also need a Ready maneuver to regain control of an unwieldy weapon after a swing, or to adjust the reach of a long weapon – see the Melee Weapon Table.

You can use a Ready maneuver to perform physical actions other than fighting: opening or closing a door, picking a lock, digging, lifting, etc. Continuing activities may require multiple, consecutive Ready maneuvers; see Other Actions in Combat.

Finally, a Ready maneuver lets you switch an advantage "off" or "on" if it is not always on and does not require an Attack or Concentrate maneuver to use.

For more information, see Readying Weapons and Other Gear and When Is a Weapon Ready?

Movement: Step.

Active Defense: Any.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Ready

Wait

Do nothing unless a particular event you specified in advance occurs before your next turn; e.g., a foe moves into range. If that happens, you may transform your Wait into an Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack (you must specify the option before acting), or Ready maneuver. If you are reacting to someone else, this interrupts his turn, but he can resume it after you've acted.

You must specify exactly what your action will be when you take the Wait maneuver, and what will trigger it. For instance, "I'll make an All-Out Attack (Determined) with my sword on the first orc to move toward me."

You may take a Wait with a ready ranged weapon; this is known as "covering" a target or area. If so, you must specify the zone that you are covering with that weapon. There is no penalty to cover a one-yard area. For larger areas and additional rules, see Opportunity Fire.

You can use the Wait maneuver for any "reflex action" you want to plan in advance, provided you specify both the response and the action that will trigger it. This can include holding a knife at a hostage's throat, or even a noncombat action (e.g., "If Dora sees any orcs, she will pull this rope immediately – otherwise, she does nothing."). An action only qualifies as a "reflex" if you could do it in a single motion. The GM's decision is final.

Finally, you can use Wait to coordinate actions with slower friends.

Stop Thrust

Stop Thrust: If you have a ready thrusting weapon, you can use a Wait to brace your weapon to receive a possible enemy charge. Simply state, "I brace for a stop thrust." You can convert your Wait into an Attack or All-Out Attack against any one foe that moves one or more yards toward you to make a melee attack (armed or unarmed, including a slam or a grapple) or evade (see Evading). You strike first if you have the longer reach. If you hit and your foe fails to defend, add +1 to thrust damage for every two full yards your attacker moved toward you.

Movement: None until your Wait is triggered. At that point, you may move as allowed by the maneuver you specified (Attack, Feint, All-Out Attack, or Ready).

Active Defense: You may defend normally while you are waiting or after your Wait is triggered. But if you defend while taking a Wait, you may not transform your Wait into an All-Out Attack; you must convert your Wait into an Attack instead.

See Also

• Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Wait

See Also

• Martial Arts: Additional Combat Options