Combat and Recovery

Initiative

Calculated by Dex + Wits + Initiative skill total (a Resolve skill)+ Roll one dice and add that to the total.

The highest initiative acts first on their initiative, they then take 10 away from their initiative if they still have a positive initiative they gain a further action at that initiative.

Anyone who's first action has a higher initiative total than their opponent gains a +2 dice bonus for their first action.

Surprise

Gaining surprise on an opponent via ambush or a unexpected attack increases your Initiative total by +6 against surprised foes.

Stick them up

If you have the first action, surprise, a ready weapon and are in short range/ melee range with your weapon you have the option of telling your opponent to "stick them up". This gives you a +6 dice bonus to intimidation and if you attack grants you a no penalty targeted attack.

Actions

An action is something a normal person could do in 3 seconds.

You can accompany a action for free moving up to your walk, or saying anything that could be managed in 3 seconds.

If you simply must get more than one action in a single action you can elect to do two things badly at half the lowest dice pool round down for each roll.

When its your turn you can use your action or you can hold it and interrupt any action of lower initiative than your own. If you have multiple actions in a initiative your next action is 9 lower than the action you interrupted, if its zero or less you extra action is lost.
A action can be held from one initiative to the next for interruption but you only gain the +2 dice bonus if your initiative beats your opponents.

Ready a weapon

If your weapon is not in your hand ready for use you must either make it ready or possibly draw said weapon. Getting a weapon out of a bag takes two actions, drawing from a holster takes one action. A skilled weapon user can split their pool as above using the weapon skill for the act of drawing said weapon.

Attack roll

Normal vs Targeted shots

When deciding to attack an opponent you can choose to target the person or part of that person.

If targeting the person pull a card for location, Red for left side of target Black for right side.
If targeting a part of said person add Black dice penalty to your roll but do not draw a card.

Fighting from Horse back

All actions from horse back suffer a extra +6 black dice penalty unless Cavalry Trained when its a +2 Black dice Penalty.
Melee weapons of sword length or longer gain +2 weapon damage
Generally you need a ride skill of 4 to fight from horseback.

Melee

If one person spends a action to attack the attacked person can elect to engage or evade. If the attacked person has no action to engage or Evade with they still get to act but their dice pool is halved round down for each extra action.
For example 1 fencer evading with evade at (7) vs 3 thugs: first evade rolled at (7), the second at (3) and the third at (1).

Engage

A series of parries and swings occur between opponents, both opponents roll to hit highest successes scores a hit.
If your opponent has a weapon over a foot and you are unarmed you suffer +3 Black dice.

Evade

As Engage above but the Evader gets to add their dodge skill to the roll. If the person using evade wins they do not score a hit but get to disengage from the combatant. If you cannot disengage and one combatant is willing and capable the melee combat continues into the next initiative.

Ranged

You spend a action to shoot etc at a foe. Your role is modified for range by the range table for each weapon.

All out dodge

When you roll your initiative you have the option of declaring a all out dodge. Your skill in dodge is doubled for the initiative but you can do nothing else other than dodge or evade.

Typically bullets cannot be dodged, at point blank range though you can use half your dodge pool as a action needing more successes than your attacker to avoid being hit.

Arrows or bolts can be evaded at half dodge

Thrown objects are evaded with your full dodge.

Grapple

When using the Fisticuffs skill or some specialist weapons you have the option to grapple rather than doing damage on gaining the most successes. If you elect to do so you have your opponent in a hold this action.

• On your opponents action they can attempt to break free of your hold with an opposed STR+ Fisticuffs roll. If they win they are free, if they beat you with a margin of 5 successes they now have you or your weapon in a hold. If you win the hold in maintained.
• On your action with an opponent in a hold you can attempt to Hold them still giving them a black dice penalty to their next action equal to your STR.
• On your action you could also attempt to choke them by making an opposed STR+ Fisticuffs roll if you win they must make a Fortitude + Resolve roll with a black dice penalty equal to your cumulative margin of success across multiple sequential initiatives of choking. If this roll is failed they loose consciousness.

Charge

You charge using your run speed to close in on an opponent and make an attack this starts on your action and completes at the end of the initiative. When you get to make your attack assuming you get there, you suffer +4 black dice to your attack roll. However if you hit your attack does +3 weapon damage +6 weapon damage if your a centaur.

Horseback charge

You charge using your horses run speed to close in on an opponent and make an attack this starts on your action and completes at the end of the initiative. When you get to make your attack assuming you get there, you suffer +6 black dice to your attack roll. However if you hit your attack does +4 weapon damage
Being Cavalry trained alter the black dice penalty on your attack roll to +2 black dice and the damage bonus to +6.

Disarm

Target the hand or hands used to wield the weapon.

Striking to knock out

This can only be done with a blunt weapon and must be declared before the attack. You must hit the head or neck, if successful you do half bashing damage and your target must succeed in a Fortitude + Resolve check with a Black dice penalty equal to the three times damage done.

Firing into Melee

Shooting into a melee imposes an additional 5 Black dice penalty. If the black dice cause a ranged attack to miss where it would have hit the shot will hit one of the others in the melee.

Aiming

For each uninterrupted action spent aiming at a single target +1 dice bonus capped by the level of the skill.

Firing from a Rest

You lean your gun on a wall fort support, this allows a extra round of aiming it also counters a 2 black dice penalty produced by volley fire. You cannot dodge or move in the same initiative as you fire from a rest.

Cover and Armour

Unless you aim a shot at a particular area of an opponent it will hit a person that is not covered in some other fashion.

Ideally at the beginning of combat cover for each person will be agreed what is covered and with what. Example lower half is hidden behind wooden fence

Armour should be described in what areas it covers and have a AV or Armour value. AV is directly deducted from total damage if this takes weapon damage to zero the hit does not penetrate regardless or how well aimed it was. Bare in mind all armour is half as effective round down as its listed value vs Firearms.

Armour values

Damage & Heath

Damage is Bruising marked with a (/) or Lethal marked with a (X) on your heath track. Type is determined by the weapon with blunt or unarmed generally being bruising and blades and firearms being generally lethal. At points Bruising might be called Bashing.

Running out of health through bruising damage renders you automatically unconscious, taking and further bruising damage wraps around into lethal damage. Running out of health to lethal damage means you are unconscious and dying.

Base Damage is determined by the weapon and is rolled

• For Melee add your Strength modifier to the dice pool
• The number of successes you achieved over your target/ opponent are counted as automatic successes.
  Once damage is rolled remove any Armour value as appropriate.

Massive damage

If taking in a single hit to one area of more damage than your Fortitude you may suffer a permanent injury. Make a Fortitude + Fortitude roll with a number of black dice equal to the number of points of damage over your Fortitude score. If you get negative result then you suffer a permanent injury, otherwise its just another scar. A permanent injury severity depends on the margin of failure.

• • 1: A distinctive scar either visibly noticeable or the injury effects how a person moves that others can notice.
• • 3: Options on loss of fingers/ toes/ hands/ feet/ eye/ ear or with the right surgeon it can be saved but will never work as well as it did.
• -6: Loss of Limb or partial paralysis

Bleeds

Bleeds occur when particular areas of the body are hit. A bleed causes one additional bruising damage each initiative.

Bleeding can be slowed but putting pressure on a wound with at least one hand, half the bleed round up as free action.

Bleeding can better be delt with with a bandage/ first aid kit and a Average Wits+ Medicine/ Animal Care/ Science: Biology roll will stop all bleeding taking two actions per bleed.

Prone

Some times people are either knocked prone or make themselves prone to dive into cover. To be prone is to be lying on the floor. It takes one action to get back up, when prone any dodge dice pool is halved, if already halved no dodge is possible.

Recovery

Dying

If some one is dying (out of health due to lethal damage) they will survive their Fortitude+ Resolve + number of natural limbs (normally 4 less implants but for a Centaur its 6) initiatives before being beyond saving. During this time any person can attempt to stabilise them with a Wits+ Medicine roll if successful they will not die then and there and can be moved ideally to a hospital or doctor. If the dying person is saved on the edge of death in the limb rounds they will survive but will loose limbs to loss of blood/ catastrophic damage.

Battered and Bruised

You recover 1 bruised box every hour of non strenuous activity, fighting running or being on horse back during an hour pauses recovery. Sitting, sleeping and even talking are relaxing enough.

Getting patched up

Out of the stress of combat a skilled doctor with the right setting and equipment can see to your wounds. For each wound they can roll a Wits + Medicine roll with dice modifier determined by setting, medicines and tools

Recovery

Once a wound has had medical attention, the rest must be left to nature. Scars/ lost limbs will not regrow but over time a person heath pool will recover providing they get some rest.