Other Actions in Combat

Other Actions in Combat

Combatants can perform actions other than attacking and moving. Physical actions usually require Ready maneuvers, while mental ones call for Concentrate maneuvers.

Readying Weapons and Other Gear

When Is a Weapon Ready?

A weapon is "ready" if it is in your hand and ready to attack. It takes one turn to ready a weapon from its scabbard (but see Fast-Draw). A few special rules:

Changing Grips: Some long weapons require one extra turn of readying to go from a one-yard to a two-yard reach, or from a two-yard to a three-yard reach, or vice versa. An unready weapon may be re-readied to any legal reach, regardless of how you used it before; this is just part of the Ready maneuver.

Unbalanced Weapons: A few large and unwieldy weapons are carried out of line by their momentum when you attack. Unless your ST is at least 1.5 times that required to wield the weapon, they become unready after you attack with them; to use them again, take a Ready maneuver. If you fall down, lose your balance, or are stunned, and your weapon is one that requires readying after each use, it becomes unready!

Holstering: It takes one second to return a pistol to a holster.

Scabbarding: It takes two seconds to return a weapon to a scabbard or belt-loop.

A "ready" item is one that is in hand, ready for action. A weapon or other device is unready if in a holster, scabbard, pocket, belt, or pack; on the floor or a table; etc.

It generally takes a single Ready maneuver to ready an item that is on your belt, in a pocket, in a scabbard or holster, or slung over your back. If you stand still, a single Ready maneuver also lets you ready an item from a table, wall rack, etc., provided it is within your reach (normally one yard).

A single Ready maneuver lets you accept one item that another person is holding out to you. He must be close enough to reach you (one yard, for a human), and he must have taken a Ready maneuver on his turn in order to hold out the item for you. You must both stand still. Note that you cannot exchange two items simultaneously. Each object exchanged requires a separate Ready maneuver on the part of each person involved. (Recall that these rules are for combat; obviously two people walking down the street can hand things back and forth at will.)

Some additional rules:

Picking something up from the ground. You must be kneeling, crawling, sitting, or lying down to do so, unless you have arms with a two-yard reach! If you are standing, you must first take a Change Posture maneuver to kneel, sit, etc.

Readying a weapon. You can only attack or parry with a weapon that is in your hand and ready to use. You must "ready" some weapons again after each attack! For instance, you must ready a poleaxe after each swing, because its momentum carries it away. See the weapon tables to learn which weapons require readying after use.

Reloading a weapon. This requires several consecutive Ready maneuvers. The number of Ready maneuvers required appears in parentheses after the weapon's Shots statistic. For example, a longbow requires two Ready maneuvers: one to ready the arrow by removing it from your quiver, and one to ready the bow by placing the arrow to the string and drawing it. That takes two turns. On the third turn, you can Aim or Attack.

Readying a shield or cloak. If a shield or cloak is on the ground, or slung on your back, it takes a number of Ready maneuvers equal to its Defense Bonus to prepare it for combat. It takes the same amount of time to don your cloak or sling your shield again – but you can drop it on the ground with a single Ready maneuver (not a free action!). For the purpose of readying, treat a buckler as a weapon, not as a shield.

Long actions. Many physical actions take more than one second to complete. In combat, choose the Ready maneuver each turn until you are finished. This is not a specific maneuver, but a "generic" choice that lets you do one second's worth of any multi-second action. The GM decides how many turns each action takes; see Typical Long Actions for examples. Some things (like piling up rocks to stand on) can be interrupted in the middle if necessary, to take any necessary maneuver or other action. Other things (like ritual magic) can't be interrupted; if you stop in the middle, you must start over.

If an action takes a long time, you can help the GM keep track of events by counting the seconds each time you announce the maneuver. For instance, to reload a weapon, you would say, "Reloading my gun – one second" on your first turn, and, "Reloading my gun – two seconds and finished" on your second turn.

Typical Long Actions

Action	Time
Pick up a heavy object in one hand (weight up to 2×BL)	2 sec.
Pick up a heavy object in two hands (weight up to 8×BL)	4 sec.
Open an unlocked box, briefcase, chest, door, etc.	1 sec.
Find a loose item in a box, briefcase, pack, etc. (if it's not hidden)	2d seconds
Find an item in your own pocket	1d seconds
Write a brief note	5 sec. per sentence
Read a brief note	2 sec. per sentence
Swallow a pill or potion	2 sec.
Light a candle, cigarette, fuse, match, torch, etc.	2 sec.
Replace a weapon in its scabbard, drop a small item into your pocket	2 sec.
Search an unresisting person fairly thoroughly	1 min.
Put on a suit of armor	3 sec. per piece (30 sec./piece for a vacc suit or battlesuit)

See the table above for the duration of typical long actions. You must take a Ready maneuver each second.

The times required for long actions are realistic, but they can also sideline a player – for instance, if his character rummages through his backpack. If the GM deems it dramatically appropriate, he may let PCs shave off a few seconds by making a successful DX or IQ roll, at the cost of failure having other problems (e.g., dropping the backpack and spilling its contents).