Reloading Weapons – With or Without SATS

Reloading mid-combat generally takes a single action, but it varies depending on the type of weapon you’re using. Not all weapons have the same type of holding mechanism for their ammunition. The type of mechanism a weapon uses to hold its munitions determines the speed with which it can be reloaded, and is listed under the “Reload” column for that weapon in chapter 4. DTM stands for detachable magazine; the other identifiers are more or less self-explanatory.

Above is a table of the costs (in actions and in AP for SATS) of reloading different types of weapons, according to their listed reload type in the weapons tables in chapter 4. In the case of magazine-fed weapons, this table assumes that your character had the forethought to pre-load an extra magazine ahead of time. Loading a magazine with bullets mid-combat will fill it as though it was a breech-loading weapon; the Dash Speed Reload (Rapid Reload) perk allows characters to fill a breech loaded weapon or a revolver as a single action, which by extension allows them to use a single action to fill a magazine. Needless to say, it’s better to have spare magazines prepared ahead of time if you can manage it.

Races with telekinesis may reload a revolver or breech-loaded weapon to its full capacity as a single action, without a speed loader. Bunch ’a cheaters.

Spending SATS to reload a weapon for its listed reload type cost will always load that weapon to full capacity.

If you attempt to reload a gun and fire it in a single action (a feat that cannot be done in SATS), you take a 1 MFD step penalty to your accuracy rolls with that weapon. Autoloaders reload as a free action, and as such do not incur this penalty.

Cover, Blocking and Dodging

If a character or creature is targeted by an attack during combat and hasn’t yet taken one or both of their actions for the round, then they may spend their next action ahead of time to either attempt to dodge out of the way or to take cover, as the situation and their location allows. If the incoming attack is melee based or if they have an appropriate method for doing so, they may also choose to try and block the damage.

Blocking

Blocking incoming fire and attacks is a reliable way to deflect a good amount of damage by shifting the attack’s location to someplace more armored. A character may spend an action at any point in the round that they have one available to block incoming attacks.

To block, you must be able to do two things: see your opponent (or the source of the attack), and have a way to deflect or move something into the way of the attack. Otherwise, you should try dodging instead.

The actual act of blocking consists of putting something in between you and the attack, be it a shield (physical or magical), a limb (hopefully one with armor, for your sake), or even another character or opponent (both you and the shield-to-be must roll strength, and you must beat their roll by at least 1 MFD step).

What you need to roll to successfully block depends on what you’re trying to block with. While blocking with another character is always a contested strength roll, blocking with a limb is done with an unarmed roll (MFD of 1 step easier than your current MFD to be hit), and moving something in between you and your opponent’s attack such as a table, a sheet of plywood, or some other object is a melee weapons roll (MFD ¾), which may change based on the availability of improvised shields and the weight of what’s available. Your character must reasonably be able to move the object into the line of fire within three seconds to block with any of these options.

Successfully blocking a melee or unarmed attack with a limb reduces damage dealt by half (unless they have the Unstoppable Force perk). If the attack is blocked by something not attached to the target, like a steel plate or a piece of debris, then it deals no damage whatsoever; the attack failed to connect.

Dodging

For most characters dodging out of the way is done with an AGI roll, and requires only that the character attempting dodge still have an action remaining to spend. (It doesn’t even require that you know exactly where the incoming attack is coming from!)

Just as with blocking and diving for cover, this action can be coming up or it can be held over from their position in initiative. The lowest MFD that your character makes on their roll to dodge becomes the new target MFD that the opponent must hit in order to have landed a shot. The Contortionist trait grants a bonus to this roll. Characters with alternative methods of locomotion (flight, digging, teleportation, etc.) may roll their relevant skill instead of rolling agility. For non-teleportation dodges, dodging moves a character up to either 5’ or half their normal movement, whichever is higher.

Unlike dodging and blocking by movement, teleport and hadowflash dodges are 100% effective in preventing an attack from hitting if the spell or ability is cast successfully. A successful teleport dodge means that whatever player the target character dodged against cannot directly target them for the remainder of their actions during that round. The tradeoff for this is that, unlike other forms of dodging, these dodges only move the caster out of the path of a single attack or group of attacks. Theydo not change the dodging character’s MFD to be hit by any other characters during that round.

If a character has already dodged during a round, their dodge MFD is now the MFD required to hit them for the rest of that round unless or until they take another action.

If a character is specifically diving away from an explosion or incoming explosive, they may wish to go prone. Going prone is a specific kind of taking cover that grants that character +10 DT to all locations versus explosions and AoE damage, but does not require an agility roll. The downside to going prone is that it requires an AGI roll (or magic, flight, etc.) MFD ¾ to recover from; otherwise, prone characters cannot move without first spending an action to stand back up.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 927