Combat and Damage

Now for the totally revamped combat and damage system. This system was developed with some very helpful brainstorming sessions with RabidHystrix on Reddit. As such, I’m calling this damage system the Hystrix System. Instead of going with the Cortex Plus Stress system for direct physical damage, it will be a body hit location system. All characters no matter how experienced they are have the same durability. Damage has been reworked, Trion Drain has been reworked, as well as how Shield is handled.

Hit locations

Where a character is hit during an attack is determined by the margin of success. However much higher than the defender you rolled determines which zone is hit. Each zone has a different amount of hit boxes associated with it. The total durability of a Trion body is 150 hit boxes. Each box represents 1 point of damage taken in that area. If one area has taken all their hitboxes worth of damage, it is considered gone, severed, blown off, etc.

For example, if Zone 3 on the upper left arm takes a full 10 points damage, the arm is considered severed at that point. It also means that zone 1 and 2 of the left arm are no longer there to take damage. This is one way in which critical hits doing more damage is represented. Here is a quick picture I sketched with the basic idea:

The hit location zones:

• Zone 1: Hands/Feet – rolled 1 higher than defender
• Zone 2: Calves/Forearms – rolled 3 higher than defender
• Zone 3: Thighs/Upper arms – rolled 5 higher than defender
• Zone 4: Lower Torso – rolled 7 higher than defender
• Zone 5: Upper Torso – rolled 9 higher than defender
• Zone 6: Head – rolled 11 higher than defender
• Zone 7: Direct hit on Trion Relay or Trion Supply – rolled 13 higher than defender

The idea of going this route is that with every attack it is assumed that everyone is aiming for Zone 7, and the defender is doing everything they can to keep Zone 7 away from the attacker. Rolling 1 higher means the defender was also almost successful in completely dodging, so only the extremities will likely take damage.

Trion Drain

When a character is hit, there is trion drain from the Trion Body. A character’s Trion Drain Value is equal to 10 times the Trion Parameter. A Trion Parameter value of 5 has a Drain Value of 50. Hit location determines the total amount of Trion Drain for being hit in that location.

The Hit location’s Zone is how many Action rounds a character suffers Trion Drain due to that wound. If a character with a Trion Parameter value of 5 was hit in zone 3 upper left arm and it got severed off, for 3 rounds the character would subtract 50 Trion from their capacity. Considering a Trion Parameter value of 5 has 594 to 788 total Trion, 150 less Trion is about 19 – 25 % of their total Trion. After those three rounds, the wound is considered sealed and no more leakage will occur from there.

Shield Value

A character’s Shield value is determined by their Trion parameter + Defense Parameter. In the case of Raygust in defense mode, it is based off of Shield technology but is considered stronger than shield. It’s base durability of SS gives it a value of 12 + Trion + Defense if used in the place of Shield. This is the base value, and this value can be modified. For each time a character uses Shield, or Raygust to deflect an attack, the trigger skill dice is rolled and added, representing a situational variability element.

The base Shield size covers 4 Zones. Usually these are zones 4 – 7. Each zone covered by the shield, or Raygust will absorb damage equal to it’s shield value plus the trigger skill dice roll. Changing the size of the shield to cover more zones, or less zones in the case of a focused shield, will change the shield Value. For each zone extra covered, subtract 2 from the shield value. For each zone less covered, add 2 to the shield value. A focused shield on zone 6, the head, will have a total of 4 added to the shield value. Even in the case of focused or expanded shielding, each zone covered can absorb the shield value in damage.

Going Full guard with 2 shields will double the Shield Value.

Damage

The attack parameter now directly affects the damage that a character can inflict, which more accurately represents the way this parameter is supposed to be. Each Trigger type has a base damage. The total damage that is done by an attack is calculated by: base value + attack parameter + trigger skill dice roll. The Trigger skill adds a random situational element, but is not the majority of the damage calculation.

Trigger base damage values:

• Kogetsu (A): 8
• Scorpion (A): 8
• Raygust (B): 6
• Egret (B): 6
• Lightning (C): 4
• Ibis (SS): 12
• Asteroid (D): 2
• Hound (E): 0
• Viper (E): 0
• Meteora (E): 0

Some may think it strange that the Shooter/Gunner triggers have very low base damage, but remember that multiple bullets can be fired.

In the case of Gunners, the gun type of their trigger determines how many bullets are fired. Semi-automatic fires 2 bullets per action. Burst fire can do 2 bursts per action, with 3 bullets per burst. Full Auto can fire up to 12 bullets per action. Each additional bullet fired does less damage than the first, subtracting 2 per bullet.

A character with a 7 Attack firing an Asteroid SMG with 2 bursts would do 9 damage on the first, 7 damage on the second, 5 damage on the third, 3 damage on the fourth, 1 damage on the fifth, and the sixth would be 0. Total damage would be 25 plus the dice assignment for that trigger skill. The plus 2 per bullet on Asteroid really shines here. If Hound were instead used, it would be 7 damage for the first, 5 damage for the second, 3 damage for the third, 1 damage for the fourth, and 0 for the other two bullets. The total damage would be 16 plus the dice assignment for that trigger skill.

In the case of shooters, the dice assignment for the Trigger skill determines how many bullets of the many they split up were able to hit on target. Similar to gunners, each extra bullet subtracts 2 per bullet.

Combat Phases

Combat is a big part of the game, especially during the Rank Wars. There are two phases involved in a combat round, one is the movement phase, and the other is the Action/Reaction phase. One phase must be complete before moving on to the next phase. The amount of time passed in the combat round is about 10 seconds.

Movement Phase

Everyone determines where they move simultaneously. This is to reflect a more organic approach to combat, where the way an opponent moves may affect the way your character moves. Changes can be made whenever needed during the movement phase, but once the phase is over, no changes to movement can be made. Before the phase can end, everyone must be unanimous in their agreement to end the phase.

The distance a character can move in a round is equal to their mobility rating in meters. In the case of using Thruster or Grasshopper to increase the distance, it is increased up to a maximum of their dice step assigned to the associated Trigger skill in meters. For instance, if someone has a d6 skill in Raygust with thruster, and wants to increase their movement, they can move up to a maximum of 6 more meters in that phase. The same with Grasshopper. Please note that the dice does not need to be rolled to determine the distance the character can move, the character simply decides how far they will extend their movement range.

The only exception is Teleporter with a set distance of up to 12 meters no matter the dice assignment to the skill. This is reflected in the cost of using the trigger. Thruster and Grasshopper use 1 Trion per meter of movement, whereas Teleporter costs 25 Trion to use. Teleporter also doesn’t always need to be used by the person who placed the pad. Similar to Grasshopper, it can be placed for someone else to step on.

Action/Reaction Phase

During the Action/Reaction phase, character’s perform actions in an order determined by the last person who acted. This adds a more tactical approach to this phase of combat. On the first Action/Reaction Phase, the GM always Acts first. After the GM acts for all the GM controlled characters, the GM decides which player will Act next. After that player acts, they choose the next player that gets to act next. This carries on until every character has Acted that round. There is no rolling for initiative. Just that after you do your action and all the effects of that action are done, you choose the next person to make their action.

The person who acted last on the previous action/reaction phase gets to choose who acts first on the new action/reaction phase. Anyone can be chosen, including themselves. Be careful with selecting who acts next. Choosing the GM to act last in the phase may not be the best course of action, because there is a possibility that the GM can choose themselves to act first next phase, meaning all the GM controlled characters can act twice before any of the player characters can act.

But why is it called Action/Reaction phase? Because each Action has a reaction. When a player chooses their action and it can affect another character, or GM controlled character, that character gets to react. Both people build their dice pool and keep the two highest dice with the one who rolled highest winning the contest. Not all actions cause reactions though. So to give a clear idea of the type of actions that are possible, there is the following list:

Attack

One character attacks another character. The character chooses a Distinction, Support Function, Role, Trigger Skill, and Parameter to assemble their dice pool. The character reacting does the same. An attack is not always as straightforward as it would seem. There is strategical and tactical aspects to consider. Each attack action/reaction can include two components, either two attacks, and attack and defense, or a full defense. This is to give combat a realistic feel. A reaction to an attack can be a counterattack and isn’t always a defense.

For an example:

John’s Character decides to attack a GM controlled character for his action. He describes his attack action as going in blazing with both revolvers, no defense available since both Main and Sub Triggers are being used. However since one of his distinctions is “Trick Shot Parry” he can use his Revolver Triggers to defend. This goes along with his character’s High Concept of “Hair Trigger Hand Cannon” also so he has a choice of two distinctions for his dice pool depending on the reaction of the GM controlled character.

The GM controlled character has a kogetsu and a submachinegun with asteroid as an all-rounder, and describes their reaction as turning off kogetsu, putting up a shield and returning fire with a burst.

So for assembling the dice pool, John gets the d8 for his Distinction, a d10 support since he’s going in solo, a d8 for the Skill Parameter, a d4 for the gunner role since he’s still a C-rank and hasn’t increased his basic skills in this role yet, and a d8 for his trigger skill in asteroid.

The GM controlled character has a d6 for solo, uses The asteroid Trigger skill at d6 (even though he is also using shield he can only add 1 dice from the trigger skill category), a d6 for Gunner role since he has more experience at it than John’s character, and the character’s defense parameter with a d8. The GM decides there is no distinction that aids the controlled character and has only the 4 dice.

They both roll and compare the results.

John rolls a 4 on the d4, an 8, 7, and 5 on his d8 dice, and a 6 on the d10. His highest two dice are 8 and 7, giving him a 15 on the roll, quite good.

The GM rolls a 5 on the d8, and a 3, 4, and 5 on the d6 dice. His highest two dice are 5 and 5, giving him a 10 on the roll.

The scene plays out, John’s character blazes in shoots 2 bullets from each revolver at the GM’s shield, which absorbs some of the damage, but one or two shots break through. The return fire from the SMG is met with asteroid bullets from John’s character’s trick shot parry defense. The GM controlled character will now take damage. Had John rolled lower and the GM controlled character rolled higher, his character’s asteroid bullets would have been too spread out to break through the shield and his reaction speed too slow for one or two of the bullets from the return fire and John would have had his character take damage instead.

As can be seen damage can be taken by either one involved in the action/reaction pair. This can be especially brutal in melee.

Support / Aid

Instead of attacking, a character’s action can instead be an action supporting another member on their squad. This does not cause a reaction response. When a player has their character aid/support an ally, the player assembles the dice pool as they would for an attack, but instead only takes the highest dice. This dice is then added to their ally’s roll when they perform their action. It gets included in the result on top of their ally’s highest two dice. Support can be lent in the form of defensive aid as in using a shield on an ally for reactions or actions.

Creating/Destroying a minor aspect

Instead of attack, a character’s action can instead involve creating an advantage for their squad or disadvantage for the opposing teams. This can involve laying traps, setting up an ambush or crossfire or clearing the terrain for their sniper’s line of sight. In a way it’s like Support or Aid, but the aspect is persistent during the combat until someone clears it, destroys it, or it gets countered with another aspect. Creating or Destroying a minor aspect costs a plot point and can be found in the section on plot points also.