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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brisk-sg" data-source="post: 1121030" data-attributes="member: 5037">CHAPTER TEN: CombatChapter ten deals with how combat is handled in Stargate. Many of the rules presented here will be familiar to anyone who has played a d20 game before. There are differences however. I will strive to point out many of the differences in the chapter.CombatThis section describes the basics of Stargate combat, describing the basic mechanics for attack and damage rolls. Damage reduction and hardness as described here as is defense. Of note, a character’s defense bonus is derived from one of two categories; character class defense bonus, or gear defense bonus. These two values never stack, and the character must take the gear defense value if wearing armor. There are no attacks of opportunity in Stargate. Stargate uses a simplified round system, made up of two half actions or one full action. The Vitality/Wound system is used instead of hit points in Stargate.The Sequence of CombatThis section begins with a step by step sequence of combat, followed by a one page combat reference sheet. The section then goes on to describe the initiative rules. Stargate uses modified version of standard d20 initiative called ‘fluid initiative’. Fluid initiative works as normal initiative except that certain actions such as aiming a weapon the previous round add a modifier to the characters initiative for the round. This system makes for more dynamic initiative, but likely would require better organization between the GM and players. Static initiative is also presented as an option. An interesting action is included within the Fluid Initiative called Press. Press allows someone with an initiative count of 26 or higher to lose sacrifice 20 from their initiative count to gain a free action for the round.AttackingThis section details standard attack actions. It begins by describing melee attacks and ranged attacks, damage rolls, as well as automatic hits & misses. Next, the mechanics for Critical Hits and Critical Misses in combat are discussed. Basically, all weapons/attacks have a threat range for critical hits, and an error range for critical failures. Critical hits by the characters normally require an action dice to be spent to activate a threat as a critical hit. Critical hits bypass vitality points and do damage directly to the wounds. When a character scores a critical threat against a faceless no-name bad guy, a critical threat will drop the bad guy to 0 wound points without spending an action dice. Critical misses occur when a player rolls within the error range of his weapon/attack. The GM or opposing player must spend an action dice to cause a critical failure. The results of critical failure are listed later in the Gamemastering Stargate chapter. The rest of the section details the damage from standard unarmed attacks as well as the mechanics for attacking with two weapons, these rules are consistent with standard d20.Attack ActionsThis section details the type of attack actions. I have detailed them below:Standard Attack: Make one attack. Some feats and gear may provide extra attacks.Autofire: This action is used with automatic weapons. It fires a volley at a single target. For every 4 points above the targets defense, an extra bullet hits.Burst Attack: A burst action allows a character to either increase his damage at the expense of his attack bonus, or to increase his attack bonus slightly. Either action uses 3 bullets instead of 1.Coup-de-grace: Same as standard d20 rules. Allows character to do kill a helpless adjacent foe.Cover Fire: This full action provides +4 dodge bonus for a round to one character. Additional characters add +1 each.Disarm: Same as standard d20 rules except for critical threat. Allows character to disarm an opponent.Grapple: This full action is described later in the chapter. Same rules as standard d20.Strafe Attack: Attack multiple foes in adjacent 5 ft. squares. Suffer -2 to attack bonus for each square targeted.Strike an object: Damage objects.Suppressive Fire: -4 penalty to attack and skill checks to an opponent for one round. Additionally, if opponent does not have cover, gain one bonus single attack against the target after maintaining for at least one round.Trip: Trip an opponent. Same as standard d20.One problem I had with this section is a typo in the description for the Strafe Attack action. When discussing the amount of ammunition that can be expended on the action it says “number of adjacent 5-ft. squares up to H the ammunition”. I assume it is half the ammunition, but you know what they say about assumptions.Attack ModifiersThis section details the bonuses, penalties imposed by unusual circumstances in combat. The section begins by saying the GM may always apply modifiers due to circumstances. Next, the rules for cover and concealment are explained. Cover and concealment provide a bonus to defense, not a % miss chance. Cover also provides a bonus to reflex saves. Rules for fighting defensively, flanking, helpless defenders, and shooting into melee are described. They all appear to use standard d20 mechanics.Special Attacks and DamageThe section describes the mechanics for blast damage, grapple checks, grenade-like deviation, and unarmed attacks. Blast damage is measured in increments, and may be in a radius or a cone depending on the source. Each increment away from the blast center takes half as much damage as the last increment. The described grapple checks are consistent with standard d20 rules. The grenade-like deviation rules describe what occurs when a character misses the dc to hit the opponent. A d8 is rolled to determine direction. Deviation distance is determined by rolling the specified dice, based off of range increments thrown. The unarmed attack rules are standard d20.MovementThe movement rules presented are standard d20 rules. Face/Reach do not use the new face/reach rules presented in the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook 3.5, but the original face/reach rules.Movement ActionsThere are eight movement actions presented here; Standard move, charge, crouch, high crawl, low crawl, run, total defense, and withdraw. Crouch provides a -1 penalty to all ranged attacks made against the character, but limits the character to moving 10 ft. of move per half action expended. High Crawl allows the character to move up to 15 ft per round, providing a -3 penatly to all ranged attacks made against the character, and +3 to all melee attacks. Low Crawl treats the character as prone, but allows the character to take a single 5-ft step.Other Common ActionsThis section describes other actions that are not covered in the other sections. The following mechanics are detailed:Aim: Character aims at a target that does not move more then 5ft before attacking, gains +1 to his attack action.Brace: Character braces his ranged weapon, gains +2 to his attack actions against a single opponent. Does not stack with Aim unless noted by an ability/feat.Draw Weapon: Half action unless character has quick draw.Feint/Diversion: Action used to deny target its DEX bonus, or to reposition away from the target.Manipulate object: Use an object. Up to the DM and the specific gear rules on how this works.Refresh: Rest for one round and spend one action dice to replenish 2 wounds or action dice worth of vitality.Reload: Reload weapon. This is a half action unless character has quick reload.Stabilize character: Use First Aid to stabilize a dying character.Stand up: Stand up from a prone position.Taunt: Taunt an opponent into attacking you using the Bluff skill opposed by Sense Motive.Threaten: Make an opposed intimidate check to give the opponent negatives to one out of several options.Trick: Cause subdual damage to an adjacent opponent by making a jump or balance check opposed by concentration. Failure results in the character taking one subdual damage.Injury or DeathThis section details character injury, death, and conditions. The section begins by describing the various conditions such as ability damage, being blinded, helpless, or prone. These conditions all appear to be standard d20 mechanisms. Next, damage reduction and hardness is covered. These rules are the same as presented earlier in the chapter except for two sections, bruising and penetrating damage. A mechanism for bruising is listed. When a character with damage reduction takes 0 damage from an attack, he takes 1 or 2 points of subdual damage. Penetrating damage bypasses damage reduction and hardness. Penetrating damage includes falling, poison, and damage from touch attacks. Subdual damage is described next. When the amount of subdual damage is greater then his vitality he is staggered, when it is above the combined vitality and wounds he is unconscious. When confirming a critical hit, the subdual damage can be compared directly to the targets wounds, if greater the target is knocked unconscious. Damage reduction is twice as effective against subdual damage.Normal damage is described next, and the vitality/wound system is explained further, as is massive damage. These appear to be the standard starwars/spycraft vitality/wound system. When a character is reduced to 0 vitality he is considered fatigued and makes a fortitude save (dc 10) or becomes stunned. When a character drops to 0 or lower wound points he is unconscious. At -10 wounds the character dies. At -25 wounds the character’s remains are destroyed. In extremely deadly circumstances, the GM may spend an action dice to declare that any attack or instance of damage inflicted during the citation is an automatic critical hit.HealingHealing is described in this section. In general, a character heals 1 vitality point per level per hour of rest and 1 wound point per day of rest. Assisted healing and gear may increase these rates. Spending action dice can be used to heal a character outside of combat or during a refresh action during combat.Combat ExampleThe last section of the chapter is a five page example of a standard combat between SG-1 and a band of Jaffa. I did not read this section but it is included for those who want an example of the combat rules in action.Good: Makes use of the Vitality/Wound system. All actions are either half actions or full actions. Attacks with automatic weapons use different attack actions that do not require multiple attack rolls.Bad: Minor editing mistakes.</blockquote>

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