COMBAT

Combat is largely based on 2ed combat, with attack rolls, reactions (dodge/parry), and damage rolls. Some 4ed elements have been adapted and some further adjustments made.

Initiative

At the start of the first round of combat each character makes an INITIATIVE (Ag-based skill) Test.

Each combatant then acts in order of SL.

·         If two or more characters are tied in SL, whichever has the higher Agility acts first.

·         Spending a point of Fortune at the start of the round lets you choose when to act during that round only (a good way to ignore surprise during the first round of combat, see below).

Awareness & surprise

At the start of combat characters are either aware of the impending danger (and can act normally) or they are not and gain the Surprised condition.

·         Surprised characters cannot act on their turn, cannot make reactions, and when they are defending the attacker gains a +20 bonus to their attack.

·         The surprised condition is lost at the end of the first round of combat or after a character has been attacked for the first time, whichever comes first.

Attack sequence

The acting character becomes the ATTACKER and may declare a single attack against a single DEFENDER.

·         Some talents and combat options allow for multiple attacks, either against the same target or multiple targets.

Attack step

Make a check using the appropriate skill (almost always WS for melee attacks and BS for missile attacks).

A success means a HIT, a failure means a MISS.

·         Attack rolls are frequently modified to account for difficult combat conditions. Darkness, bad footing, previous injury, fatigue, and many other effects can make hitting your target harder (or sometimes even easier).

Automatic success

Sorry, there is no such thing in Warhammer: Storm of Shadows. The Chaos/Dice gods are too fickle for that.

Critical hits

Any hit that is also a double is a CRITICAL HIT.

·         Some talents, combat options, and equipment grant additional critical conditions.

Example: Weapons with the Impale quality also cause crits on any single digit ‘0’ on the attack roll.

·         A critical hit can only be successfully defended against by another critical success.

In addition to hitting, a CRITICAL INJURY will be inflicted on the defender during the appropriate step (see below).

Automatic failure

Any roll of 96 or more is automatically a miss, even if your effective skill is higher.

Fumbles (critical failures)

Any miss that’s also a double is a FUMBLE. Since any roll of 96+ automatically misses, a double ‘0’ is always a fumble.

·         Fumbles vary in severity (but are never good): make a d100 roll on the Fumble table and suffer the effects.

Multiple attacks

Characters can normally make only ONE attack (or take another actions) during each of their turns, but some talents, combat options, and equipment grant additional attacks.

Note: You’re free to describe how your character lashes out at their enemies with great speed or whatever, but from a mechanical standpoint you only get one attack within the span of a round unless specifically granted more attacks by some source.

Some common sources of multiple attacks:

·         Dual Wielding: Characters armed with two weapons potentially (if the off-hand isn’t used to parry) get 1 attack with their main hand at -20 and 1 with their off-hand at -40. Certain talents (Dual Wielder and Ambidextrous, among others) will make dual wielding more effective.

·         Swift Attack increase base attacks by 1 but incurs a -10/-10 or 0/-20 penalty.

·         Lightning Attack talents increase base attacks by 2 respectively but incurs a -20/-20/-20 or 0/-20/-40 penalty.

Defense step

If the attack hits, the defender may attempt a defensive REACTION, either a PARRY (WS-based weapon skill) or a DODGE (Ag-based skill).

·         To PARRY, the defender must have ready a suitable melee weapon or other object, otherwise a parry cannot be attempted. Swords, parrying weapons, and shields grant bonuses to parries.

·         To make any kind of defensive reaction, the defender must be aware of the attack, otherwise no defense may be attempted. In most cases it’s enough not to have the Surprised condition but the GM may rule otherwise.

To defend, make an OPPOSED skill check vs the attackers roll. If the defender wins, the hit is canceled. If the attacker wins, the hit is maintained but the attacker’s SL is reduced accordingly.

·         Some talents, combat options, and equipment grant additional reactions. Only a single reaction can be attempted per attack, even if the defender has multiple reactions.

Shields & parrying weapons

If the defender has a shield or a second weapon in the off-hand, he gains a bonus parry reaction each round.

Example: Thesalva is armed with two vicious poisoned daggers. She’s eligible for a bonus parry reaction but instead makes a frenzied two-weapon attack and hopes her dodge reaction will be sufficient.

Two-handed weapons

If the defender is armed with a two-handed melee weapon, he gets a bonus parry reaction. This includes fighting two-handed with hand weapons.

Example: Ulfberth wields his fearsome beard-axe with two hands, giving him the extra leverage needed to both attack and defend. He gains a bonus parry reaction (so he could parry twice or make one parry and one dodge).

Example: Wigmar grabs the ancient longsword he got from the undead Knight Panther with both hands. He gets a bonus parry reaction (so he could parry twice or make one parry and one dodge).

Note: Fighting with two-handed weapons is superficially similar to fighting with two weapons but there is no option for a bonus attack, just the extra defense. Effectively the same as wielding a shield, except shields have better defensive options. Then again, two-handed weapons do more damage so it evens out.

Defending against missile weapons

Defenders can react normally to missile attacks in melee (predominantly pistols and the odd archer with special talents), dodging or parrying by knocking aside the weapon.

Additionally:

·         Thrown weapons can be defended against normally using dodge at +0 or parry at -20.

·         Other missile weapons (arrows, bolts, bullets etc.) can only be dodged at -20.

·         Shields provide their AP bonus vs all missile attack unless the GM decides the attack comes from a quarter not protect by the shield. This can typically happen if the defender is surprised or attacked from a great distance.

Fighting defensively

If the defender foregoes attacking on his turn, he gains a bonus parry or dodge reaction until his next turn.

Example: Ulfberth want to buy his allies time to get into position so he foregoes attacking with his two-handed beard-axe to gain a bonus parry reaction (or a bonus dodge, but his WS is better than his Ag), for a total of two bonus parries or one bonus parry and one bonus dodge.

Damage step

Roll 1d10 and add the weapons damage bonus.

·         If the number of SLs is higher than the number rolled, the attacker may cancel the damage die and add the number of SLs to damage instead, even if that number exceeds ‘10.’

Hit location

Determine hit location by reversing the dice of the attack roll and referencing the hit location chart.

·         Some abilities, combat options, and equipment affect hit location determination.

Revised hit location chart (WIP):

·         01-39 (11, 22, 33, 10, 20, 30): Body

·         40-49 (44, 40): Head

·         50-64 (55, 50, 60): Right/main arm

·         65-79 (66, 77, 70): Right/main leg

·         80-89 (88, 80): Left arm

·         90-99 (99, 90): Left leg

Damage reduction

·         Armor: Reduce damage by the number of armor points (AP) in that location.

·         Toughness: Further reduce damage by a subtracting the defender’s Toughness bonus.

Injury

If any damage remains, the defenders has been INJURED. Reduce the defender’s CURRENT WOUNDS by the amount of damage suffered.

·         Some abilities and combat options, such as poison, are only triggered by wounding attacks (as opposed to triggering from a hit) as opposed to stuff that triggers from a successful hit.

Zero (0) Wounds

When the defender reaches 0 Wounds, he’s reached his limit and immediately collapses, helpless and at the mercy of his enemies.

·         Champion-tier opponents may make a Willpower +0 test to keep on fighting. If they fail, they are not necessarily dying or even seriously injured (depending on their critical injuries, if any), but they are bruised, battered, and unwilling/unable to keep fighting.

·         Characters with at least 1 point of resolve (PCs, companions, and Master-tier enemies) may keep on fighting despite their injuries until critical injures put an end to them.

Note: Even if a character manages to keep on fighting at 0 Wounds, he’s in grave danger: any wounding hit will automatically become a critical and his luck will soon run out…

Critical injuries

Critical injuries are caused by critical hits and by any hit against a defender with 0 Wounds.

Not all critical injuries are equally severe. Roll d100 and cross-reference the table for that hit location.

·         If the defender is at 0 wounds, add 5 to the critical roll for each remaining point of damage.

Example: Anna is currently at 1 Wound (after having been brutalized by a now-dead troll) and is hit by a goblin arrow in the face doing 6 Wounds after Toughness. The goblin adds 6-1=5x5=25 to the critical roll. It rolls 48 for a total of 73, breaking Anna’s jaw, stunning her, and ruining her good looks forever. The moral of the story: don’t let trolls beat your woman and then allow goblins to shoot them in the face.

Armor deflection

When a defender suffers a critical hit, he can choose to have his armor deflect the blow. Reduce the severity of the crit by 20. Then permanently (can be repaired) reduce AP in that location by 2 (if AP is 1 reduce the crit by 10 instead).

·         Only Champions and Masters, or opponents with at least 1 point of Resilience, can use this option. The lesser folk may not.

Example: If Anna had been wearing a helmet (which she never will, being a vain female wizard), she could have reduced the crit to 73-53, “Fractured Jaw.” Still painful but not nearly as permanent.

Note: Unless you’re at 0 Wounds, this rule will prevent your from randomly dying to a lucky crit.

Sudden death criticals

Instead of tracking crits for Minions, the GM can use a simple d100 roll to determine their fate:

·         01-20: Grazing blow. No effect beyond laughing at your feeble attack.

·         31-40: Seriously injured. Fight at -20. Made a Cool test or immediately flee.

·         41-65: Critically wounded. Prone and stunned indefinitely.

·         66-100: Dead.