FUDGE Farscape: Combat
Armour | Muscle-Powered Weapon Damage | Ranged Weapon Damage | Penetration by Damage Type | Melee Weapon Attributes | Ranged Weapon Attributes
Combat Essentials | Unarmed Combat | Melee Combat | Ranged Combat | Grenades and Explosives | Wounds and Injury | Cinematic Quality

ARMOUR

Protective rating reduces damage taken.

MUSCLE-POWERED WEAPON DAMAGE

Add Strength and attack success level to Damage Rating.

Weapon Quality : -2 for TERRIBLE, -1 for POOR, +1 for GREAT, +2 for SUPERB.

RANGED WEAPON DAMAGE

Add attack success level to Damage Rating.

PENETRATION BY DAMAGE TYPE

Modifies protective rating of armour (displayed as light | medium | heavy).  Can not reduce protection below zero, nor does this value effect the damage taken if armour is not worn.

MELEE WEAPON ATTRIBUTES

RANGED WEAPON ATTRIBUTES

COMBAT ESSENTIALS

Combat is broken up into elements.  Each element is roughly three seconds long, or long enough to perform a fairly simple action, such as fire a ranged weapon, reload, exchange blows in melee or unarmed combat, perform a physical feat (such as diving for cover, dodging or forcing open a door), perform a simple technical task (like trying to open a locked door), or some such activity.  Longer, more complex actions may take several elements to complete.

The order of actions in an element is determined by the Speed attribute of the participants, modified by injury and other factors.  This value is the character's Initiative.  The character with the highest Initiative acts first, the lowest last, with the others in between in descending order.  Characters with the same Initiative compare their Agility; again, the highest acts first and so on.  A tie here means they act at the same time.

Sometimes a character or group of characters can catch their opponents by surprise, such as by springing an ambush.  Two groups can even surprise each other if they come upon each other unawares.  In the first case the group that is caught by surprise (usually by failing to spot the ambush) will 'freeze' and be unable to act for one element, not even to defend themselves or seek cover.  This freezing can be attributed to simple surprise or shock, or a group being sent into total confusion.  Characters with the Cool Head Talent will still be able to act, however.  Every element after the characters must make a Fair Willpower test to regain their wits.  This difficulty is modified by the circumstances and the nature of the character; a soldier would recover faster, and a librarian attacked by monsters in his library would typically have a harder time recovering.

When two groups surprise each other they must determine who gets the drop on the other.  The leader of each side must compare their Initiative values; a Cool Headed character gets a +2 bonus if they are the leader, or the leader gets a +1 bonus if another character has that Talent.  A leader more intelligent than his opponent (compare Intellect traits) gets a +1 bonus, as does having a better appropriate Tactics skill.  The GM can assign other modifiers.  The side that wins can act normally, while the other side is initially frozen as for normal surprise and must also roll to recover in the same way.  However, the difficulty of the recovery roll decreases by one level each element after the first.

UNARMED COMBAT

Unarmed combat is, obviously, fighting without weapons, hand to hand.  There are basically two forms of hand to hand combat, dependant on the type of fighting.

Brawling: Fighting with the Brawling skill is a fairly simple affair, involving little or no training or true skill, just brute force and speed.  There is little to it beyond simply slugging it out with punches and kicks, and anyone can throw a punch or two without training.  But a skilled brawler can give a martial artist a run for their money.

Martial Arts: The Martial Arts skill covers a wide variety of trained ways of fighting, not just actual martial arts.  It represents a more systematic approach to unarmed fighting, using specific moves that are more refined versions of the brawler's attacks, and also teaches proper ways to defend oneself.

Grapple: This is a special skill used to resolve locks and holds.  Exactly how it can be employed is determined by the primary unarmed skill being used (in other words, either Brawling or Martial Arts).

For simplicity all unarmed combat is resolved as a single Opposed contest between the unarmed skills being used by the combatants.  This is intended to represent an exchange of blows and manoeuvring for position.  The result of each character's roll is applied to both their offence and defence values, however.  Normally these are the same (the unarmed skill being used) unless the character assumes a more defensive or offensive stance; a +1 bonus to one is balanced by a -1 penalty to the other, up to a maximum of +2/-2.  Any combatant whose final offensive value beats the final defensive value of their opponent scores a hit on them; they may also choose to retreat and attempt to escape in the next element, or maybe step back and draw a weapon if they wish.  However, the actual attacks (or other actions) are resolved in order of Initiative, which means that if the character with the highest Initiative successfully incapacitates their opponent the other does not, in fact, get to act before going down, unless they achieved a critical roll.

Other skills may be used to determine the defensive value if desired, such as using the Speed attribute or the Acrobatics skill to dodge.

If a character is fighting multiple opponents, the character rolls only once but the result (and the resulting offensive and defensive values) are compared to each opponent's results one at a time.  The lone fighter gets a -1 offensive and defensive penalty for each additional opponent after the first.  Each opponent who beats his defences will score a hit, but he has to beat or match all of them offensively in order to land a blow or whatever.  If he beats all of them, he may hit the opponent of his choice; if he ties his best opponent, he can only harm another whose result is at least two levels below his.  The fighter can hit more than one of them; extending the attack gives a -1 penalty to the offensive value against each extra foe.

All damage in unarmed combat is Stun Damage, unless the attacker is making use of things like natural or implanted claws or spines, knuckledusters, or fighting gauntlets.

Brawling Moves

Punch: A simple fist applied to the enemy.  Has a -1 Damage Rating.  The combatant can put more power into the blow (as either a roundhouse or similar) to get a +1 to the damage but receives a -1 penalty to the offensive value.

Kick: Usually little more than getting the boot in.  Has a +0 Damage Rating.  Always gives a -1 penalty to the offensive value.

Body Blow: This covers using elbows, knees and shoulders.  Has a -1 Damage Rating.  Such attacks can only occur when the combatants are very close together.

Grapple: Used in conjunction with Brawling, the Grapple skill amounts to little more than brute force wrestling with little or no finesse.  A successful Opposed Action with the Grapple skill means the attacker can choose to hold their victim in a simple, painful lock, which can be held or broken as per the result of an Opposed Strength contest.  Any attempt by the grappler to attack their pinned opponent gives a -1 penalty to both the attack and the Opposed Strength roll.  The pinned character defends with a -2 penalty to their skill, and gets a -1 penalty to their Opposed Strength roll to escape if they do so.

Blocking: This is about defending against attacks.  Brawlers suffer a -1 penalty to defend against kicks.

Martial Arts Moves

Hand Strike: This covers everything from direct punches to knife hand strikes.  Has a +0 Damage Rating.  More powerful strikes give a +1 damage bonus but incur a -1 penalty to the offensive value.  Faster blows do the reverse, balancing an attack bonus against a damage penalty.

Kick: Martial art kicks are much more complicated than simply hitting out with the feet.  Has a +1 Damage Rating.  Typically, bonuses to the attack roll due to speed or a non-linear method (such as coming from an unanticipated direction) are balanced by penalties to damage, though not always.

Body Blow: This covers using elbows, knees and shoulders when in close proximity to an opponent.  Has a +0 Damage Rating.

Grapple: When used with Martial Arts, the Grapple skill covers the use of moves such as arm locks as well as more traditional locks.  As well as enabling the fighter to put their opponent into a direct lock as with Brawling, a martial artist may also attempt to catch them in a lock if they successfully defend themselves against attack.  In such cases, the martial artist must win an Opposed contest between their Grapple skill and the opponent's Speed to get them in a lock.

Sweep: A special kick intended to knock the opponent's feet out from under them.  Success means the opponent is knocked off their feet.

Blocking: A martial artist is better at defending against unarmed attacks and suffers no penalty against kicks.

Other Moves

Feint: This move is used by an attacker to convince an opponent that they are about to make an attack when they are, in fact, not.  The intention is to put the opponent's defences out of place so the next attack gets through.  The degree which the feinting attacker wins their current offensive contest gives the penalty to their opponent's defence value when they attack in the next element.

MELEE COMBAT

Any sort of fighting with melee weapons like knives, swords or rocks is melee combat.

All melee combat is resolved like unarmed combat, and the same rules apply for fighting multiple opponents as well.  However, a number of other, melee-only factors apply.

All damage in unarmed combat is normal damage, unless, for example, the attacker chooses to bludgeon their opponent with the flat or pommel of a sword.  In that case the attacker gets a -1 penalty to their offensive value and the damage they do is Stun Damage instead, with a -1 to the Damage Rating.

Melee Moves

Feint: This move is used by an attacker to convince an opponent that they are about to make an attack when they are, in fact, not.  The intention is to put the opponent's defences out of place so the next attack gets through.  The degree which the feinting attacker wins their current offensive contest gives the penalty to their opponent's defence value when they attack in the next element.

Other Factors

Weapon Size: A larger, longer weapon has a greater reach, but typically is slower to use.  Using a larger weapon against an opponent with a smaller weapon gives the fighter a penalty to Initiative equal to the number of steps between the Sizes of the two weapons.  So someone using a greatsword would have a -1 penalty to their Initiative against an opponent using a one-handed sword, and a -3 penalty against a foe wielding a dagger.  However, to attack a foe who has a longer weapon can be a dangerous prospect, as the character must get in closer to reach them and can be held at bay by the longer weapon if that character continues to win the Opposed offensive contests.

GOOD	Knife, rock
FAIR	Shortsword, machete
MEDIOCRE	Sword, club, axe
POOR	Greatsword, big axe, spear
TERRIBLE	Halberd, pike

Shields: Shields, which also means improvised protection like chairs or even tables, give a bonus to a character's defence value dependant on their size.  However, larger shields can also impede attacks.  If a character wishes to use a shield to defend themselves they must use their Shield skill to determine their defence value.

type	examples	defence	attack
SMALL	Buckler, portable computer	+1	-
MEDIUM	Riot shield, computer screen	+2	-1
LARGE	Tower shield, coffee table, door	+3	-2

Unarmed vs. Melee:  A brawler can only dodge a melee attack or hope to take out their opponent before they get hit; a martial artist can defend themselves but only by attempting to block the limbs holding the weapon in question rather than the weapon itself.  In both cases there is the danger that the armed opponent will keep them at a distance with their weapon and prevent them from getting in close enough.

RANGED COMBAT

Much as with the standard FUDGE rules, a ranged attack can be either an Opposed or Unopposed action.

If the target is unaware of the attack, or is caught by surprise, the attack is an Unopposed action.  The GM sets the base difficulty as determined by the range to the target, and then applies modifiers for the conditions, lighting and so forth.

Otherwise the attack is an Opposed action, matching the attacker's skill (modified by weapon accuracy, the circumstances, cover and conditions) against the appropriate defensive trait.  Usually this is the Agility attribute, but characters can use skills such as Acrobatics instead.  A thrown weapon is easier to dodge, and gives a +1 or +2 bonus to the character's dodge.  Additionally, the attacker must achieve a minimum result dependant on the range, the difficulty being the same as for attacking an unaware target.

A character's single dodge result applies against all ranged attacks, but not always at it's full value.  Use the full value for the first attack (highest Initiative) and decrease the value by one level for every additional attack directed at them after that, in Initiative order.

If a character is dodging while trying to do other things (like fire back) they get a -1 penalty to either their dodge or their attack (or other roll); they pick which one they are concentrating on more.

Other Factors

Semiautomatic Recoil: Each shot after the first is at -1.

Automatic Fire: Every burst number of rounds that are fired (up to the maximum rate of fire) gives a +1 bonus to hit.  Recoil is already figured into this.  Weapons that can fire on automatic can usually also fire on semiautomatic, with a rate of fire of three, unless otherwise stated in the weapon description.  A character can trade a +1 burst bonus for a two motra fire arc.  A separate attack roll must be made against each target in the arc.  Each extra +1 traded adds another two motras to the arc.

Two Weapons: The attack bonus is based on the total number of shots fired from both weapons using the automatic fire rules.  If firing two different weapons, the base damage is the damage of the more powerful weapon; the attack bonus of each weapon must then be calculated separately and both added to this base damage.

Firing Into A Melee: If a character fires at another character currently engaged in an armed or unarmed fight, an attack that fails by one hits another combatant in that melee, which sometimes means one of the character's allies...  Such attacks are almost always Unopposed actions, modified by the bonus/penalty value of the target's Agility attribute (i.e. Great Agility gives +2, Mediocre Agility gives -1 and so forth) to take into account their movement while fighting.

Reloading: It takes one element to reload; it can be done while dodging but not without getting a -1 penalty to the roll.

The Quick Draw: This is typically just a Opposed action matching the Speed attributes of the characters against each other.  Aptitudes or special equipment (quick draw holsters, for example) modify the results.

GRENADES

Grenades are used with the Throwing Weapon skill; the base difficulty is based on the range to the target area and modified by environmental conditions.  A successful throw means the grenade lands where it was aimed; each level the roll fails by means the grenade lands two motras away from the target point in a random direction.  Characters in the radius of the grenade's effect can attempt to escape the blast by running for cover; their dodge result counts in enabling them to attempt to clear the area.

Most grenades explode and do two types of damage.  First is the concussive effect of the actual explosion; this typically falls off very quickly with distance, the damage being reduced by one for every motra away from the actual grenade.  Armour protects from this damage depending on exactly how it protects the effected areas of the victim's body; an armour vest is no use if the grenade catches the target's legs.

Second is the more dangerous fragmentation effect; this usually covers a much larger area.  Avoiding the fragments requires a Superb Agility result, if the characters know the grenade is there and about to explode, although they can choose to stand firm.  This difficulty is reduced by one for every three motras from the centre of the explosion; if the grenade exploded on the ground there is a +1 bonus for being prone.  Each level the roll is failed by gives a +2 to the base fragmentation damage.

There are a number of grenades that do not simply explode.  The rules for such weapons can be found under the relevant entries in the Equipment chapter.

Explosives are much like grenades, except that typically they are usually put in place before detonation, their damage rating is much higher and any fragmentation effect they produce is due to the explosion throwing around pieces of whatever has been blown up.  Otherwise explosive charges are almost always employed to either destroy something or make a hole in a piece of architecture.  The exact quantity anf technique required to do so correctly and safely is determined by the GM, and requires the use of the Demolitions skill.

WOUNDS AND INJURY

Characters can receive the following types of Lethal Wounds:

Healthy: The character is not injured at all.

Scratch: This wound is barely noticeable and has no real game effect.  Enough scratches can be lead to greater injury, however.

Hurt: The character has been significantly wounded, enough to slow them down; -1 penalty to all appropriate actions and reduce Move by one level.

Very Hurt: The character has been serious injured; -2 penalty to all appropriate actions and reduce Move by two levels.  In most cases the character will also have to make a Good Willpower roll or become Unconscious (see Stun Damage).

Incapacitated: The character is so badly wounded as to be incapable of doing almost anything but speech (barely) and dragging themselves along the floor.  In some cases a character can perform more complex actions on a Great Willpower roll, but the action has a -3 penalty.  Most of the time the character will also have to make a Great Willpower roll or become Unconscious (see Stun Damage).

Near Death: The character is not only definitely unconscious but will almost certainly die within an arn unless given serious medical attention.

Dead: The character has moved on to whatever afterlife awaits them.

The damage track for Lethal Damage is as follows:

It is obvious that there is no specific amount of damage listed for Dead.  As in basic FUDGE this is left to the GM to determine, to prevent accidental character death.  However, there are situations where characters will almost certainly die instantly; knives at throats, falling off tall buildings, being shot in the head and so forth.  But even then some can survive such injuries...

Stun Damage is dealt with a little differently:

Healthy: The character is perfectly normal, although definitions of "normal" may vary...

Dazed: The character is a little off, and gets a -1 penalty to all appropriate actions for one element.

Stunned: The character has had their wits addled, enough to slow them down for one element; -1 penalty to all appropriate actions and reduce Move by one level as they stagger around.

Very Stunned: The character is seriously affected; -2 penalty to all appropriate actions and reduce Move by two levels for two elements, then down to -1/one level for the element after that.  In some cases the character may have to make a Good Willpower roll or become Unconscious anyway.

Unconscious: The character has been rendered totally unconscious.

Unlike Lethal Damage the Stun penalties are only temporary but the damage remains until it is "healed", meaning further Stun Damage will effect the character appropriately.

The damage track for Stun Damage is as follows:

Hit Locations

An added complication is where an injury is located.  Typically, the higher the success level of an attack the higher the bonus to the damage and thus the more vital a location is struck.  The GM must interpret high attack results to determine where a particular blow or shot hits the target.

However, in some cases there is a need to hit a specific part of the target's body, such an arm to disarm them, or a leg to slow them down.  In such cases the following modifiers apply (for most anthropoid races):

The exact result of hitting a specific location must be determined by the GM.

Healing

Characters that allow time to heal all wounds must spend their time resting.  The amount of time taken to reduce a character's overall Lethal wound level by one depends on the current level of injury, and requires a successful Constitution roll.

Scratches essentially heal themselves, provided a character takes a few minutes to see to them an arn or so after they got them.

Otherwise characters must seek medical attention to recover from Lethal Damage.  This requires the use of either the First Aid skill or the Medicine skill.  Medicine is good for all wounds but First Aid is not so good with higher levels of injury.  The difficulty and time for healing the current wound level and reducing it to the next, as well as the First Aid penalties, are as follows:

The medical equipment available to the person performing the medical attention can give a bonus or a penalty.

A rolled degree of two or more levels higher than is required halves the time needed to reduce that level of wound to the next lowest.

Recovering from Stun Damage is much simpler.  It takes an arn of rest to recover from each level of Stun Damage, which means that an Unconscious character usually takes an arn to regain consciousness, although they do get a Great Constitution roll every quarter arn to recover before then.  This also applies to characters knocked unconscious by sustaining Lethal Damage or by receiving a blow to the head.

CINEMATIC QUALITY

These are modifications to the standard rules for combat and injury, intended to reflect the frequently cinematic nature of Farscape combat.

Style and Grace

Put simply, the better and more dynamic the description of a character's actions the better a bonus they get.

Protagonists and Antagonists

These are the primary characters in the game, the player's and the direct enemies and opponents of their characters: the PCs, a character's Nemesis, the game villain.  Such characters have the following special attributes:

Attacking: Character uses the standard rules.

Dodging: Character always gets their full dodge against all attacks.

Lethal Damage: Character uses the standard damage track.

Stun Damage: Character uses the standard damage track.

Allies and Henchmen

Such characters are the friends and associates of the primary characters: allies and subordinates and helpful acquaintances.  They have the following special attributes:

Attacking: Character uses the standard rules.

Dodging: Character dodges according to the standard rules.

Lethal Damage: Character uses the following damage track:

DAMAGE VALUE	1 - 2	3 - 4	5 - 6	7 - 8	9+
WOUNDS	Scratch	Hurt	Very Hurt	Incapacitated	Near Death
BOXES	O O	O	O	O	O

Stun Damage: Character uses the following damage track:

DAMAGE VALUE	1 - 2	3 - 4	5 - 6	7+
WOUNDS	Dazed	Stunned	Very Stunned	Unconscious
BOXES	O O	O	O	O

Bystanders and Minions

Everyone else falls into this category, whether they be the being on the street or a rank and file Peacekeeper trooper.  They have the following special attributes:

Attacking: Character always fires a warning shot or burst before shooting for effect.  In other words, the first shot they fire (or blow they land in unarmed or melee combat) always draws the attention of other characters to their presence, allowing them to dodge from then on.

Dodging: Character does not dodge at all.  All attacks are effectively Unopposed, using the appropriate trait (attribute or combat skill) as the difficulty.

Lethal Damage: Character uses the following damage track:

DAMAGE VALUE	1 - 2	3	4	5	6+
WOUNDS	Scratch	Hurt	Very Hurt	Incapacitated	Near Death
BOXES	O	O	O	O	O

Stun Damage: Character uses the following damage track:

DAMAGE VALUE	1	2	3	4+
WOUNDS	Dazed	Stunned	Very Stunned	Unconscious
BOXES	O	O	O	O

Fighting in the Background

The easiest way of dealing with large combats is simply not to roll for every participant.  When secondary characters fight each other the outcome should either be determined by a situational roll (negative one side winds, positive the other does) or be part of the larger picture.  In other words, if the PCs are winning their fight then their allies generally should too, unless the story requires them to be driven away or otherwise defeated.