Martial Arts: Additional Combat Options

Untrained Fighters

Untrained fighters are a danger to themselves...and often to their allies, too! These optional rules simultaneously make such combatants less predictable and limit their choices. They're realistic but add extra complexity.

Fear

Combat is frightening to the unprepared. At the start of hostilities – when "slow" time starts and combatants start acting turn-by-turn (see Time During Adventures) – those with neither combat skills nor Combat Reflexes must make a Fright Check. Apply the usual +5 for the "heat of battle" and any bonus for a successful Leadership roll by the group's leader. The GM may rule that those who fail simply drop their weapons and flee instead of rolling on the Fright Check Table.

"Coin Toss" Option

If someone with neither combat skills nor Combat Reflexes passes his Fright Check, he may elect to back off (a series of Move maneuvers) instead of turning his back to the foe and fleeing. If he chooses to fight, though, roll 1d at the start of his turn:

1-3 – He attacks the nearest foe that poses a danger – to him, a Dependent, an Ally, an adventuring companion, or a bystander, in that order. To offset his lack of skill, he makes an All-Out Attack (Determined) without realizing it!

4-6 – He decides to protect himself. He uses All-Out Defense (Increased Dodge) to move away from the nearest foe. If he has a ready weapon or shield, he may select Increased Parry or Increased Block instead.

Roll again each turn!

Limited Maneuver Selection

Untrained fighters have a narrower tactical palette than skilled martial artists. Only combatants with at least DX level in a melee combat skill (1 point if Easy, 2 points if Average, or 4 points if Hard) can choose a Committed Attack, Defensive Attack, or Feint maneuver, or exercise combat options such as Deceptive Attack, Defensive Grip, and Rapid Strike.

Exception: Anyone can attempt a Telegraphic Attack. Unskilled fighters are more likely to choose this option!

Combat Art or Sport Fighters

Those who know only Combat Art or Sport skills might count as "untrained." Actual combat skills default to their Art/Sport analogs at -3, so a fighter who has only an Art/Sport skill needs DX+3 level (8 points if Easy, 12 points if Average, or 16 points if Hard) to choose the maneuvers and options above.

Grab and Smash!

Grapples can set up vicious strikes. These tactics are realistic but complex. It's the GM's call whether to allow them.

All-Out Grapple and Strike

Martial artists and brawlers often grab opponents and pull them into thrusting attacks. Such strikes are powerful and hard to avoid. Examples include yanking a head into a Knee Strike (famous in Bando and Muay Thai), throwing an Uppercut in a clinch (illegal but common in Boxing), and pulling someone onto a knife. The perks Clinch and Neck Control are handy here!

This is an All-Out Attack (Double). Use the first attack to grapple your rival. If it works, he'll suffer the standard defense penalties against the ensuing strike; see Defense While Grappling.

Your second attack can be a strike with anything except the arm(s) used to grapple. This is a close-combat ttack. If you use a weapon longer than reach C, see Long Weapons in Close Combat.

If the grapple works and you hit the grappled location with a thrusting attack, your strike gets the damage bonus for All-Out Attack (Strong). This also applies to blows to the groin, spine, or vitals if grappling the torso; the eye, jaw, or nose if grappling the head; or an artery or joint if grappling a location containing such a target. You may retain your grapple after striking or relinquish it immediately.

Use these rules only on the turn when you initiate your grapple. You must All-Out Attack to grapple and receive bonus damage. To brutalize an adversary you grappled on an earlier turn, use All-Out Attack (Strong).

Kiss the Wall (Carpet, Car Door, ...)

If you've used two hands to grapple a foe and you're standing or kneeling, you can ram him into a wall or other massive object within a yard – or the ground, if he's lying down. This isn't a Judo Throw, but an attempt to hold onto your victim and propel him using your own momentum.

This is an attack rolled against DX, Brawling, Sumo Wrestling, or Wrestling. You can target any hit location but the feet, at full penalties. If your victim is lying down, you can only target his face or skull. Your opponent may either dodge or parry with a free hand, subject to Defense While Grappling.

A successful attack inflicts thrust crushing damage, +1 for a hard surface, plus your skill bonus. Treat the ST bonus for Sumo Wrestling or Wrestling as a damage bonus. A critical miss means you slip, take this damage to your face, and lose your grapple!

Twofers

You can knock two foes together! Use the rules above, with these changes:

All-Out Grapple and Strike: As your initial grapple, make a Dual-Weapon Attack (-4) against adjacent foes in close combat. Both defend normally. If you grapple only one, your grapple counts but you can't strike. If you grapple both, make a DX, Brawling, Sumo Wrestling, or Wrestling roll to ram them together. They may defend as usual. If both fail, you inflict thrust-1 crushing damage to the grappled location on each. The only damage bonus is +1 if you grapple two skulls and knock them together.

Kiss the Wall: You may ram your grappled adversary into any hit location on an enemy within a yard. Use the worst hit location penalty; e.g., bashing a face (-5) into a leg (-2) gives -5. Your second opponent defends normally, although the incoming body counts as a weapon with weight equal to the first victim's ST (see Parrying Heavy Weapons). If either foe defends, nobody is hurt. If both fail, each takes thrust crushing damage, plus skill bonuses. The +1 for a hard surface applies only when ramming skulls together.

A "combat option" is a tactic that a fighter can use in conjunction with more than one maneuver (e.g., Deceptive Attack) or active defense (e.g., Retreat). It doesn't necessarily have any connection to specific techniques; then again, it might form the basis of a technique or be available only when performing certain techniques. The GM chooses the options allowed in his campaign. They can spice up combat by giving warriors more choices...but the modifiers and conditions they add can also slow down combat, which is a steep price to pay in a cinematic game.

Melee Attack Options

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Telegraphic Attack

You can carefully line up an attack in combat much as you would during a stress-free practice session, gaining the +4 for routine skill use discussed at Base Skill vs. Effective Skill. Such an attack is often termed "telegraphic" because it transmits your intentions to your foe. This makes it easy to avoid: all active defenses against a Telegraphic Attack are at +2!

A Telegraphic Attack is the opposite of a Deceptive Attack and you cannot combine the two. Likewise, you cannot use a Telegraphic Attack as a Riposte and it gains no benefit from an earlier feint. The +4 to hit doesn’t "stack" with the bonus for Evaluate, either. You can combine it with all other combat options.

There's also a restriction on the results of a Telegraphic Attack: the +4 to hit doesn't affect your chance of a critical hit. Use your skill before the bonus to determine this. For instance, if you had skill 11 and the +4 made it 15, you would roll a critical hit on 3-4, not on 3-5; if you had skill 15 and the +4 gave you 19, you would score a critical hit on a roll of 3-5, not 3-6.

Use this option when you must attack at a penalty but All-Out Attack (Determined) or Committed Attack (Determined) would be too risky. Fighters most often use Telegraphic Attack to offset the -3 for Combat Art or Sport skills in combat (athletes often have good accuracy but little subtlety), shock penalties, and penalties for attacks that are at the edge of their skill level (e.g., for specific hit locations)...and to strike from behind!

Close-Combat Options

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Ranged Attack Options

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Active Defense Options

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Riposte

A gambit popular with martial artists is a parry that carries the attacker's weapon out of line or otherwise compromises his defenses, "setting up" a counterattack – or riposte – that exploits the opening. Executed correctly, the riposte is difficult to avoid. However, it often requires the defender to begin his attacking motion early and give up some of his own ability to defend. Thus, it can backfire spectacularly!

To set up a Riposte, declare that you wish to do so before you parry. Choose a penalty to your Parry score – the larger the penalty, the greater your focus on the counterattack. This cannot reduce your Parry, before all other modifiers except Enhanced Parry, below 8.

Then add the remaining modifiers and try to parry the attack. You can retreat – but if your foe steps back after attacking, you might end up too far away for a Riposte.

Success means you parry and set up a Riposte. If your first attack next turn uses your parrying weapon against the foe you parried, one of his active defenses against it suffers the penalty you accepted on your parry. If you parried his hand or weapon, reduce his Parry with that hand (with either hand, if his attack used two hands). If you parried his shield, lower his Block. If you parried an unarmed attack other than a hand strike (bite, kick, slam, etc.), reduce his Dodge. Apply half this penalty (drop fractions) to any other defense he attempts against your attack – including rolls to resist grappling moves that use Quick Contests instead of active defenses (e.g., takedowns).

Failure means you’re hit, as for any failed parry. Your attempt gives you no special benefits – although you can still attack your foe on your next turn, if his attack leaves you in any shape to do so.

Example: Harry the Good and Black Odo are dueling with broadswords and medium shields. Harry has Broadsword-16 and Enhanced Parry 1, for a Parry of 12. Odo attacks Harry with his sword and Harry decides to attempt a Riposte. Odo being his mortal enemy, Harry goes for broke and takes the maximum penalty: -4, which drops his Parry to 8. With +1 for Combat Reflexes and +2 for his shield’s DB, his final Parry is 11. He succeeds, warding off Odo’s attack. This allows him to Riposte with his sword (not a shield bash, kick, etc.) on his turn. He does so and succeeds! If Odo tries to parry with his sword, he has the same penalty Harry did, or -4. If he attempts a dodge or block, he has half this penalty, or -2.

A Riposte is most effective when you’re more skilled than your foe, when you have many defensive bonuses (Combat Reflexes, shield, weapon with a Parry bonus, etc.), or when your target is already compromised – e.g., kneeling or on bad footing.

The active defense penalties from Riposte and from feinting are cumulative. If on your turn you successfully feint a foe, and on his turn he attacks and you parry at a penalty, then you can Riposte on your next turn, forcing him to defend with penalties for both the feint and the Riposte. This takes two turns and offers many opportunities for failure...but when it works, it’s devastating!

You cannot combine Deceptive Attack and Riposte, though. A Riposte is a Deceptive Attack – just one where you’re taking a defensive risk instead of an offensive one.